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CONFLICTS OF JESUITS AND SECULARS
IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH

A HISTORICAL SKETCH
OF THE CONFLICTS BETWEEN
JESUITS AND SECULARS
IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH
WITH A REPRINT OF
CHRISTOPHER BAGSHAWS 'TRUE RELATION
OF THE FACTION BEGUN AT WISBICH'
AND ILLUSTRATIVE DOCUMENTS
By THOMAS GRAVES LAW
LIBRARIAN ; SIGNET LIBRARY

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LONDON:
Published by DAVID NUTT in the Strand
1889

U4I

CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION,
1. The Seminaries and the Jesuit Mission,
2. The Armada and its Consequences,
3. Disturbances at the Roman College,
4. The Prisoners at Wisbeach,
5. The Appointment of the Archpriest,
6. The Appeal and the Books,
7. The Judgment of Rome, .
8. The Sequel,
9. Bibliographical Notes,
A TRUE RELATION, .
The Memorial against the Jesuits,
Censure of the Paris University,
Letter of Dr. Dorel, .

PAGE i
V
XV
xxviii
xxxviii lix
Ixxxiv cii
cxx
cxxviii

96
123126

APPENDIX— A. List of Priests imprisoned at Wisbeach,
B. Letter of Blackwell to Cardinal Cajetan, .
C. Letter of Henry Tichborne, S.J., 1598,
D. Extract from Father Lister s Adversus Factiosos,
E. John Sicklemore to Dr. Bagshaw, Aug. 1598,
F. Letter to Dr. Bagshaw, June 4, 1599,
G. John Mush to Dr. Bagshaw, May 1599, •

135137
139 143
145146147

Contents.

PAGE
H. John Blackfan, S.J., to John Floyd, S.J., Sept.
7, 1599,  149
/. Dr. Bagshaw to Mr. Thomas Bluet, April 27,
1601, . . . . . .150
J. Letter of the Archpriest Blackwell to his
Assistants, June 23, l601, . . . 151
K. Declaratio Thomae Bluetti exhibita cardinalibus,
etc., 1602, . . . . .153
INDEX, ....... 159

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION.
The True Relation qf the Faction begun at Wisbeach is
something more than the story of a quarrel among Roman
catholic priests of interest only to themselves. The quarrel
was indeed fierce and prolonged' and widespread, and could not
but leave its mark upon the condition and character of the
clerical body itself. But although on the surface it seemed
principally concerned with matters of ecclesiastical government
and discipline, this Eight Years' War of the priests had its \
origin and its issue in political differences of no small historical
importance. The faction led by the Jesuits contended for the t
Spanish succession and the subjection of England to the pope J
by force of arms. Their opponents were for the king of Scots
whether catholic or protestant. The one party upheld the
papal claim to depose princes, while the members of the other
party came to protest that in case of any attempt to enforce
such a claim they should be bound in conscience to defend
their sovereign in defiance of all ecclesiastical censures. These
same men aimed at securing some measure of toleration for
their religion, and at establishing a modus vivendi with the
state. The Jesuit zealots were for war to the knife, and for
obvious reasons detested the thought of toleration.^ Their
ecclesiastical scheme which gave most offence — the appointment
of an archpriest — was mainly projected with the view of
gaining vantage-ground for political action. These grave con-
^ See the interesting letter of Father Tichborne, infra. Appendix C. pp.
141, 142. a

ii Introduction.
tentions therefore caused as much anxiety at the court of
Madrid as they did at Rome, and were watched throughout
with eager interest by the government at home. The end of
the struggle found the seminarists as a whole standing in a new
relation both towards the pope and the English crown. There
had meanwhile sprung up among the clergy a strong national
party. The back of the great catholic reaction, in England
at least, was already broken. A direct outcome of petty
disputes about the morals and behaviour of certain Wisbeach
prisoners in 1595 was the famous protestation of allegiance
drawn up by thirteen of the leading secular clergy, January 3,
1603, the very day that Elizabeth was seized with her last
illness. This was the significant though tardy response on
their part to the bull of Pius v., and their virtual condemna
tion of the insane act of John Felton, now beatified as a
martyr, who had stuck that bull on the bishop of London's
gate just thirty-three years before. Thus with almost her last
breath the queen may be said to have won a decisive moral
victory over her lifelong foes. If the winds and the waves had
fought for her against the catholic Armada, this her final
victory was given into her hands by the priests themselves.
Catholic Europe, which had looked on for many years with
pious hope and pride on the combined onslaught made upon
protestant England by the forces spiritual and temporal of the
pope and his seminarists, the Guises and the king of Spain,
now witnessed with disgust a disaster more humiliating than
the wrecking of Philip's ships. Priests, Jesuit and secular,
were flying at each other's throats ; and ' designed martyrs '
and confessors were reviling each other in language not
exceeded in bitterness or violence by the most hostile of the
puritans. Protestant preachers were pointing at the scandal
with derision, and statesmen were chuckling over the suicidal
follies of men who had been boasting of adding new glories to

Dr. Bagshaw's Book. iii
the catholic Church. 'It was a pitiful thing,' cried one of
the leaders in the fray, looking back upon his own battlefield,
' that men dedicated to God's service in so high a duty and
holy a work ' should be turned aside, ' and fall the one upon
the other, seeking to buffet and break heads with the laughter
of all their enemies and the intolerable grief of their friends
and superiors.' No one knew better than Father Parsons
what this buffeting of heads had cost the cause for which he
spent his life.
To the ecclesiastical historian the episode is well worthy of
attention. In the institution of the archpriest we have a
novel experiment in church government, while the disturbances
which arose out of it present some instructive examples on the
one hand of the kind of discipline possessed by the clergy,
and the procedure of the papal court on the other, at a time
when a more than usual strain was laid upon their relations.
The picture of prison life among the veterans of the pope's
clerical army is unique. We learn something too of the
manner of men who left the universities at home to join the
papal seminaries abroad, what sort of training they there re
ceived for their new vocation, and how they lived and acted
as confessors for their faith and in expectation of martyrdom.
Much has been written of the religious enthusiasm of these
men, their undoubted courage and heroism under the rack and
on the scaffold. We have here the reverse of the medal, but
no less a faithful portrait.
Well-nigh a score of contemporary tracts, of which some
detailed account will be given later on, were written upon
these affairs. Dr. Christopher Bagshaw, whose book is here
reprinted, is not the most respectable or the most impartial
of the writers. His is however by far the most full and
circumstantial narrative of the so-called 'Wisbeach Stirs,' or
the earlier stage of the quarrel in which he was one of the

iv Introduction.

chief actors ; and his work possesses the further advantages of
being written in English, and being in the form of a con
secutive narrative, and not, as is the case with the majority
of these books, an answer to a preceding work or an argumen
tative disquisition on points of controversy. Moreover,
although Dr. Bagshaw was a bitter partisan, and his tone
towards his adversaries and his de facto superior nothing less
than insolent, his statements of fact are the statements not of
himself alone, but of his party. The Wisbeach prisoners on
his side and the appeUant priests give one version of the
details with scarcely a variation. The archpriest, the Jesuits
and their adherents, give, with almost equal unanimity, another.
The main outlines stand out clearly enough. Whether this or
that charge brought by the one set of priests against an indi
vidual member of the opposite party be true or not, it may
be impossible now to decide, and is often unimportant. But
in any case this fact is both undeniable and important that
a number of grave priests, among whom were men at one time
respected as bishops, doctors, confessors and martyrs, unite in
denouncing the principles and policy of the Jesuit missionaries
as dangerous and criminal, while the responsible chiefs of the
society are as outspoken and deliberate in exposing the vices
which in their opinion had brought disgrace upon the secular
clergy. From this point of view alone the literature is suffi
ciently instructive. The leaders of the one faction in writing
down the character of their opponents often enough betray
their own ; and where a large part of the controversy turns
upon questions of temper and conduct, the situation can only
be fully appreciated when the ipsissima verba of the disputants
are before us. No apology should therefore be needed for
making a beginning of this study with the treatise of Dr.
Bagshaw. The True Relation may be taken as a fair
specimen of its class. It should be followed perhaps by the

The First Decade of Elizabeth's Reign.

Apologie of F. Parsons, whicli is a reply to some half-dozen
works in Latin or English on the appellants' side, and by the
answer to the Apologie by Dr. Humphrey Ely, professor of
canon law at Pont-a-Mousson, whose Briefe Notes is the
only contemporary tract which can strictly be said to proceed
from an impartial and independent hand. But, meanwhile, in
order that the story may be as complete as possible within
the hmits of a single volume, and that this book may serve in
some sort as a general guide to the literature of the subject,
a number of notes and documents, drawn chiefly from other
scarce tracts, or from inedited papers of the time, have been
added in illustration of the author's text, while in the present
introduction an attempt is made to fill up some gaps in
Bagshaw's narrative and to tell, what he was unable to tell,
the end of the story.
I. The Seminaries aiid ihe Jesuit Mission.
When the Jesuit fathers, Parsons and Campion, entered
England in the summer of 1580, Elizabeth was completing the
twenty-second year of her reign. The young men at the uni
versities could remember nothing of the days of queen Mary
and the mass. For the first half of those twenty-two years the
history of the Roman catholic church in England is a blank.
Never had a church so completely gone down before the first
blow of opposition. Some nine thousand parish priests were
content, with good or bad consciences, to read the book of
Common Prayer, and to preserve their livings. Several of their
former bishops were dead, others were in prison or on parole,
or fugitives abroad. There was no attempt on the part of
Rome to fill up vacant sees or to provide for ecclesiastical
organization and government. Every ecclesiastical movement
was left to private enterprise. A few scholars wrote contro
versial tracts in safety at Louvain. The laity at home were

vi Introduction.

left without pastors, guides or instruction. The nation, pes
tered with religious troubles and the fires of persecution for the
past thirty years, now enjoyed a short period of rest and growth.
Thanks to the apathy or helplessness of the papal hierarchy, the
national church was scarcely conscious of the revolution it had
gone through. Pius v. for a moment indeed seemed to rise to
the occasion. He ventured so far as to send a couple of priests
into England with a commission to proclaim that attendance at
the Anglican service was a mortal sin, and with faculties to
absolve from heresy. But he soon betook himself to political
intrigues with Ridolfi and the queen of Scots, and to stirring
up rebellion in the north of England, with promises of aid to
the insurgent earls. Early in 1570 came the fatal bull of ex
communication and deposition. By this cruel act the harassed
consciences of the unfortunate catholics were tormented ten
fold. They were told by the vicar of Christ that it was a duty
to rebel and a sin to obey the queen. Dr. Sander assured the
pope and the Christian world that the insurrection of 1569 had
failed only because of the ignorance of catholics on the doctrine
of the buU.^ Henceforth, he promised, they should be better
instructed. It was the pope now and not Elizabeth who was
the aggressor. His money and indulgences, his soldiers
and missionaries were at the service of any foreign invader
or rebel at home. The bull identified in the mind of Eliza
beth the religion of perhaps half her subjects with secret
treason. The seminarists became in effect recruiting sergeants
for king Philip. If many of the old catholics brought up in
other traditions could be trusted to defy the papal curses,
should it come to fighting, not so the converts. As to her own
life, it was in constant danger from the assassin. It was the
fault of Pius V. and his successors if the English government,
in face of this imminent peril to the nation, refused to dis-

' Sander, De Visibili Monorchia, p. 706.

The Seviinaries, 1568-1580. vii
tinguish between allegiance to the pope and disloyalty to the
state. Yet, notwithstanding the indignation of parliament,
and its savage additions to the coercive legislation against
catholics, the executive was for the next ten years surprisingly
patient and tolerant. Bishop Challoner ventures to claim only
three victims of the penal code as martyrs for their religion
before the year 1581.^
Meanwhile William Allen, whose many noble qualities
marked him out as the leader among the catholic refugees, had
almost single-handed founded the seminary at Douai in 1568 ;
and in 1574 he was able to despatch four young priests into
England. Before another six years had gone by he had sent
over as many as a hundred. These men were as a rule un
distinguished by birth, learning, or abilities. They excited
even less attention in the country at large than might have
been expected ; and we know very little of their doings. One
effect however of the foreign seminary was noteworthy. With
its offers of board and education free to all comers, it served as
a disturbing force upon the universities at home. Young
men with catholic tendencies and ambitious of martyrdom, dis-
1 The list of Elizabethan martyrs given in bishop Challoner's Memoirs of
Missionary Priests (1741-42), and generally accepted by Roman catholics, was
approved in the ordinary process instituted by cardinal Manning in 1874, and
by him forwarded to Rorae in view of the further canomcal steps to be there
taken for their beatification. By an unusual procedure, the congregation of rites
added to this traditional roll four martyrs, whom, with all others whose martyr
doms were painted on the walls of the English college in 1582 by Circignani,
Leo XIII. beatified in December 1886. The four were Plumtree, the chap
lain to the insurgent earls, who was hanged as a rebel in 1579 ; John Felton,
already mentioned ; Dr. Story, the civilian, one of the worst instigators of the
Marian persecution, who stoutly refused allegiance to the queen ; and Thomas
Woodhouse, a priest, claimed by the Jesuits, who also, on the strength of Pius'
bull, refused to acknowledge the right of Elizabeth to the crown. Challoner
excluded these men because, in his opinion, they had not suffered purely on
religious accounts. Some earlier martyrologists, as Wilson in his Enghsh
Martyrologe (1608) and Richard Smith, the bishop of Chalcedon, in his official
catalogue, prepared by order from Rome (1628), had indeed admitted Felton,
Story and Woodhouse, but rejected the rebel chaplain.

viii Introduction.

contented and restless boys in quest of adventures, students
who had got into scrapes at their colleges, ran away abroad.
With them went, so Parsons tells us, ' poor serving men, soldiers
and wanderers,'^ not to speak of others whom curiosity and
cupidity led to play the spy and sell their information to the
government. All such deserters were welcome to the camp of
the large-hearted and unsuspecting Allen. He soon had more
on his hands than he could manage. With the aid of his
friend Dr. Owen Lewis he projected a second establishment at
Rome. Thither some picked scholars were sent from Douai as
early as 1576,^ and two years later the colony numbered about
thirty students. Dr. Maurice Clenock, bishop-elect of Bangor
in queen Mary's time, was appointed rector, and two Italian
Jesuits were chosen to take part in the direction of the college,
one as procurator, and the other as prefect of studies. Cardinal
Moroni was named protector of the college.
Events now occurred which, though not immediately con
nected with the main subject of our story, showed the temper
of the men we have to deal with, and led indirectly to results
of the greatest iraportance. Dr. Clenock was, according to all
accounts, a most incompetent ruler. The English students
complained that he favoured his countrymen, the Welsh, who
were a quarrelsome set, with whom it was impossible to live in
peace. He gave each Welshman a room to himself, while the
English had to put up with the narrowest corners. The Welsh
were made comfortable in winter with new suits of clothes, while
their fellow-students from England were left to shiver in the
torn and worm-eaten cassocks of summer. Moreover, Welsh
men were admitted into the college who were morally and

^ Briefe Apologie, foi. 20.
^ The names of some of these first students, WiUiam Holt, Ralph Standish,
Thomas Bell, John Mush, Jonas Meredith, etc., will often occur in the following
pages.

Rebellion at the Roman College, 1579. ix
intellectually unfit. Dr. Clenock, add the malcontents, ' evi
dently designed that Welshmen, who at home serve the
Enghsh, should rule them at Rome, and if England is soon to
be converted, as all hope, these men would be promoted to the
highest places, to the endless disturbance of the kingdom.' ^ In
a few months the English scholars rose in open mutiny against
their superior. They sent deputations to the pope and to the
cardinal protector, demanding the dismissal of Dr. Clenock, and
petitioning that the government of the college might be given
to the Jesuits. The pope sternly bade them obey their rector
or leave the college. Cardinal Moroni was equally firm. They
must accept Dr. Clenock or go. The students were obstinate,
and the cardinal lost his temper. He threatened them with
imprisonment and whipping, and finally bade them ' go and be
hanged.'^ Meanwhile there was danger of bloodshed within
the college walls. The students wrangled with the rector in
the dining-hall. ' He began at the table,' writes one of the
leaders of the English faction, ' presently to revile some of our
company with foul words, and [the Welshmen] preparing their
knives in their hands to have strucken some of those that sat
next to them . . . judge you what time we had to look to our
selves.' ^ Orders came at last that Martin Array, John Mush,
John Gore, and Richard Haydock should at once swear obedi
ence to Dr. Clenock or lay down their cassocks and depart, and

' The documents are printed in Tierney'sZ'o^i;/(vol. ii. p. cccxlvi seq.) : 'Causae
quare scholares Angli tantum abhorrent a regimine D. Mauritii,' etc., and 'Ad
card, protectorem petitio scholarium Anglorum pro patribus societatis habendis.'
^ ' Abire in malam crucem,' a pious malediction which was literally fulfiUed
in the case of one of the ringleaders present, the 'Blessed Ralph Sherwin,' who
was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, December I, 1 58 1.
3 ' Yea, it went so far (writes Allen), woe be to our sins, that as we were
advertised mischief and murder had like to have been committed in ipso collegia.''
Letter to Dr. Lewis, 12th May 1579 {Douay Diaries, p. 78). See the full
narrative in Haydock's letter to Allen, and compare Dr. Owen Lewis' letter also
to Allen (Tierney's Dodd, vol. ii. p. eccl).

Introduction.

if they refused this be sent to prison. The rest of the faction
cried out that they would all throw in their lot with the four,
and go with them. Accordingly, early next mormng, which
was Ash Wednesday, thirty-three students marched out of the
college, declaring they would go in procession with the cross
before them to Rheims, or if needs be to England. They
paraded the streets of Rome, going from church to church
soliciting alms. The Jesuit preachers pleaded from the pulpits
the cause of their too zealous friends. ' They (the fathers) were
almost out of their wits for us,' says Haydock. A thousand
crowns were soon collected. Messengers hastened to the pope to
represent the scandal of such an exodus. Dr. Owen Lewis im
plored his holiness to take pity on silly youths who thought it a
mortal sin to obey any one but a Jesuit. The pope relented, and
summoned his rebellious children to his presence. There was
much weeping on both sides, and the students were sent back
to the college and their requests granted.^ Father Alfonso
Agazzari was soon after appointed the first Jesuit rector.
Allen had watched these tumults with a heavy heart. He
feared the spread of the disorder to Rheims. Notwithstanding
his ill-health he made a point of being present in hall at
dinner and supper. He saw some sign that 'the Scottish
nation begin to put in for it.' It was reported to him that
Dr. Lewis had said to Lesley, bishop of Ross, ' My lord, let
us stick together ; for we are the old and true inhabiters and
owners of the isle of Britany : these others be but usurpers
and mere possessors.' One Hughes, 'of a bitter, odd, and
incompatible nature,' had written both to Allen and to Dr.
Bristowe ' most plainly, that the Jesuits have been and shall
be proved the council and counsellors of all these tumults,' and
though Allen did not believe this, but rather rejoiced that the
college was put under the care of the society, he nevertheless
1 Dr. Ely's Certayne Briefe Notes, pp. 73-75.

The Jesuit Mission Projected, 1580. xi
apprehended ' new and endless stirs,' and thus he exclaimed
bitterly, ' I shall be weary of my life.'^
The fears of Allen seemed about to be realised at once. In
the autumn of 1579 William Holt and four other students
joined the society, and were thus apparently lost to Allen and
the English mission. A reaction set in against the Jesuits.
They were accused of putting their sickles into other men's
harvests, and of making use of their position in the college to
entice the most promising pupils into their own order. Par
sons, then at Rome, sent for Allen to help in making peace,
suggested as a means of reconciliation that the Jesuits should
be sent into England, and offered to go himself.^ Allen, who
was free from all narrow jealousies and was already looking
out for fresh auxiliaries, seized the opportunity of urging
Mercurianus, the general of the society, to send his English
subjects, or some of them, to take part in the mission. Long
and anxious were the deliberations on this point. The chiefs
of the society argued with caution and considerable foresight.
The risks in England, they said, were greater than those in
India. The fathers would be suspected of political aims, and
thus bring greater odium upon the whole enterprise. There
would be disputes with the secular priests, and there were no
bishops to hold the balance or to exercise proper ecclesiastical
jurisdiction. Would the ultimate gain be worth the inevitable
loss of life? The objections were overruled. Claudius
Aquaviva, afterwards general, spoke warmly in favour of
Allen's proposal, and asked to be himself sent into England.
The pope promised to solve one difficulty by dispatching
Goldwell, bishop of St. Asaph, with the missionaries, as ordi
nary of all England.* The Jesuit mission was determined
^ Allen to Levns, apud Tiemey, vol. ii. p. ccclxx.
2 His letter is printed in Letters and Memorials of Cardinal Allen, p. 74.
3 Goldwell went as far as Rheims, but, terrified at the prospect, turned back
at the last moment under pretext of ill-health, to the great disgust of the nuncio
of France. — Letters and Memorials, p. 403.

xii Introduction.

upon, and Parsons and Campion were appointed to lead the
way, April 14, 1580.^ Campion begged for a mitigation of
the bull, which pressed heavily upon catholics, subjecting them
to the ban of the church if they acknowledged the queen. He
obtained this much, that 'rebus sic stantibus' — as long as
matters stood as they were — catholics should be permitted to
render civil allegiance to their excommunicated sovereign.
This cunning and suggestive proviso — ' rebus sic stantibus ' — is
a key to much that followed. It was the business of the pope,
the Guises and the king of Spain to see that the present
situation should be brought to as speedy a termination as
possible.^ Meanwhile the rules drawn up for the guidance of the
fathers were, from a Roman catholic point of view, most edi
fying. One of them, at least, represents an ideal which stands
in such strong contrast to the facts as they are reported in
Bagshaw's Relation and elsewhere that it deserves to be quoted
here in full. Another affords some evidence that political
action formed no part of the mission as originally planned by
the Jesuit superiors: 'They (the fathers are told) must be
most particularly careful not to give the slightest handle for a
suspicion of avarice and greediness ; and therefore, except in
great necessity, they must not ask or accept alms ; and when
they have need, it will be better to accept them from one or
two faithful and devoted men ; in fine, they must so behave
that all may see that the only gain they covet is that of souls.
. . . They must not mix themselves up with affairs of state,
nor write hither news concerning the state, nor in England must
they either speak or allow others to speak in their presence
^ A fuller account of this debate will be found in Simpson's Campion (pp.
97-99), taken from Theiner's Annales, vol. iii. pp. 219, 700.
2 ' The mitigation would thus be made to appear like a truce obtained upon
false pretences by one belligerent party, only in order to gain time to recruit his
forces for a new attack.' — Simpson, p. 130.

The Synod of Southwark. xiii

against the queen ; except, perhaps, in the company of those
whose fidelity has been long and stedfastly proved, and even
then not without strong reasons.'^
The campaign of the two Jesuits ended, after eighteen
months of stirring adventures and brilliant successes, with the
execution of Campion and the flight of Parsons. But in that
brief period more was done to give vitality to the catholic
movement than had been done by all the old priests, the
exiles and the seminarists for the past twenty years. The
enthusiasm and rhetoric of Campion, the audacity of his ' Brag
and Challenge,' the ingenuity and cunning of Parsons, the
rapidity and secrecy with which both worked their travelling
press, and scattered tracts over the country, took the half
hearted catholics by storm ; secret sympathisers hastened to
declare themselves, and converts were made by the hundred.
Meantime it was, apparently, as far as the fathers were them
selves personally concerned, an accident, though an accident by
no means unfavourable to their prestige in some quarters, that
Dr. Sander had just landed in Ireland with a force of papal
and Spanish soldiers, and that rumours were afloat of other
more formidable designs on the part of catholic princes for
the invasion of England, and carrying out what the pope had
proclaimed as the ' Holy War.' Some prudent men among
the catholics, clerical and lay, on the other hand, suspected
danger from the too close connection between the advent of the
Jesuits and the newly threatened political combinations. Par
sons felt the necessity of disarming these suspicions. A synod
was convened at Southwark in July 1580. The fathers there
exhibited their instructions, and took solemn oaths before God

' Inventaire des archives de la province des jesuites (No. 1085, Royal
Archives, Brussels) : from a collection of Mr. Simpson's transcripts now in the
possession of the Rev. Augustus Jessopp, D.D., to whose kindness, for the loan
of these volumes and for much else, the editor is greatly indebted.

xiv Introduction.

that their mission was purely spiritual, and that they had no
concern with or knowledge of affairs of state. As to Dr.
Sander's expedition, they declared with apparent truth that
they did not even know of it till they had reached Rheims on
their way to England. How far Allen was at this time in the
secrets of the pope and king Philip is somewhat doubtful.
Mr. Simpson believes he was much disconcerted when the news
reached him of this protest of the Jesuits.^ It is, however,
clear that Campion was throughout quite innocent of meddling
with pohtics. He believed that England could be converted
with the rhetoric of his ' Ten Reasons.' Parsons knew better.
Campion, as his biographer suggests, could in good faith write
the words : ' The day shall come, Elizabeth, the day that will
show thee clearly who loved thee best, the society of Jesus
or the brood of Luther.' But Parsons probably ' laughed in
his sleeve when he gave them the imprimatur.''^ This born
conspirator saw at a glance that England could be brought
back to the pope by force only, and he lost no time in acting
upon this conviction.* Six months after the oath-taking at
Southwark we find him in communication with the Spanish
ambassador, and in correspondence with the queen of Scots.
He wrote to the general for fresh hands, and caused F. Holt,
a kindred spirit, and a little later F. Creighton, to be sent
into Scotland to spy out the land and negotiate with the
young king. Meanwhile ' he lost no opportunity,' writes
F. Knox, ' of acquainting himself with the political state and
sentiments of the catholic body, and he enjoyed exceptional
¦^ Campion, p. 234 ; cf. p. 169.
2 Ibid., p. 215.
^ Sir Francis Englefield gave forcible expression to this conviction in a letter
to king Philip (Sept. 1596) : ' Without the support and troops of Spain it is
scarcely probable that the catholic religion will ever be restored and established
in that country [England]. Even the seminaries, powerful as they are in pre
paring men's minds for a change, must fail to complete their object without the
aid of temporal force." — Tierney, vol. iii. p. 49.

Plans of Invasion, 1581-1588. xv

means of gaining the information through the many cathohc
gentlemen who spoke to him on the subject when treating with
him of their consciences.' ^ When Parsons recrossed the channel
in 1582 the results of his dealing with consciences were speedily
shown. II. The Armada and its Consequences.
The political intrigues, the plans for the invasion of Eng
land, and even for the assassination of the queen, which
followed without intermission for the next seven years, until
the pope and his champion received a temporary check in the
defeat of the armada, are revealed in a new light in the
Letters and Memorials qf Cardinal Allen, a valuable collection
of documents, many of which were edited for the first time by
the late F. Knox.^ Allen and Parsons, the respective heads of
the two missionary bodies, secular and Jesuit, were the soul of
the new enterprise. When Phihp procrastinated, or the pope
was cautiously counting the cost, it was these men who pas
sionately entreated and goaded them to war, drew up plans
of campaign, named the catholics in England who would fly
to the foreign standard, promised moral aid from the priests,
and assured the invaders of success. The foreign princes
seemed to depend for their information far more upon the
reports of the Jesuits than upon those of their ambassadors.
When F. Creighton returns from his mission to Scotland with
letters from Lennox to the duke of Guise, he confers with
Allen, the archbishop of Glasgow and the French nuncio.
The nuncio communicates the plot to the cardinal of Como,
entering into details as to ships and ammunition of war required,
and the arms to be supplied to the catholics in England who
were expected to rise, but he adds significantly, ' nothing can
' So Tassis, the agent of Philip in France, expressly reported to his master.
Letters and Memorials (Knox's Introduction, pp. xxxiii, xxxix).
= Published by D. Nutt, London, 1882.

xvi Introduction.

be done just now owing to the illness of F. Robert [Parsons],
a Jesuit who has arrived from England, where he has had this
affair in hand for the last two years, and has in his mind all
that should be done.'
Parsons was soon himself again. In May he attends
councils of war with the duke of Guise, F. Mathieu the
provincial of the French Jesuits, and others, in the house of
the nuncio at Paris. The plan of campaign there decided upon
is dispatched by F. Creighton to the pope, while Parsons
himself is deputed to carry it to Phihp at Madrid. Mean
while in a memorandum which had been forwarded to Rome
by the nuncio. Parsons indicated not obscurely the part which
the missionaries were to play ' At the proper time,' he tells
the pope, 'the principal catholics in England will receive
information of the affair by means of the priests. But this
will not be done until just before the enterprise, for fear of
its becoming known ; since the soul of this affair is its secrecy.'
A little later in the year we have fresh light on the Jesuit
instructions and the Southwark oath. The duke of Guise, who
was then head of the enterprise, tells the nuncio (Nov. 6) that
' in eight or ten days he expects a Jesuit father, whom, after
these troubles in Scotland, he had sent in disguise to the queen
of Scotland, and who is on his way back to London ; and
from him he will hear what the said queen can promise on
behalf of her friends in England and Scotland, and he will
leam too what arrangements this father has made with the
gentlemen in England about the affair on hand, and in what
state it is.' It is not necessary to enter into the various
phases through which the conspiracy passed. In May 1583
the duke of Guise, the Scottish archbishop, and the nuncio
were engaged in their plot for having Elizabeth assassinated
by a catholic, who asked 100,000 francs for the deed. The
troubles of France led in 1585 to Philip taking the holy war

Disappointments, 1588. xvii
into his own hands. About the same time the energetic Sixtus v.
succeeded Gregory xiii., and for the next three years the nego
tiations which led to the armada are almost entirely in the
hands of four men. Parsons, Allen, the pope and the king
of Spain. To the clerical promoters of the invasion its issue must
indeed have been a severe blow. More bitterly disappointing
than the loss of the Spanish fleet was the discovery by the
exiles that they could no longer count upon the disloyalty of
the catholic laity at home. The very men whom Allen and
Parsons had boasted of as their trusted alhes had taken up
arms for the detested Jezebel. It was but a few years before
that Allen or one of his lieutenants had issued an authoritative
report to the pope, in order to show 'The easiness and
opportuneness of the sacred expedition.' ' Catholics,' says the
writer, ' are now better instructed by our men [i.e. better than
at the rising of 1579]. Of aU the orthodox in the realm there
is not one who any longer thinks himself bound in conscience
to obey the queen ; and we have lately published a book
especiaUy to prove that it is not only lawful, but our bounden
duty to take up arms at the bidding of the pope, and to
fight for the faith against the queen and other heretics. As
this book is greedily read by all catholics, it is impossible but
that when the occasion serves they should enrol themselves in
the cathohc army. Because we still have, in spite of the
number banished, nearly three hundred priests in various
noblemen's and gentlemen's houses, and we are almost daily
sending fresh ones, who, when it is necessary, will direct the
catholics' consciences and actions in this matter.'^ The
effect of the Spanish defeat on the protestants, and on the
neutrals or 'schismatics' was decisive. It was naturally

^ Th.e\nei[, Annates, vol. iii. p. 480; quoted in Simpson's Campion, p. 377.
b

xviii Introduction.

viewed by numbers as a direct intervention of Providence on
behalf of the protestant cause. The Une between protestant
and papist was drawn more sharply. Waverers had to choose
sides ; and the country at large, which twenty years earlier is
said to have contained a great majority of secret catholics,
now became protestant to the core. The effect on the semin
arist clergy was no less marked. One of them, in a letter
addressed to Mendoza the Spanish ambassador in France, has
put on record the sentiments of the party. They too took
the great disaster as a sign from heaven. 'We here con
tinued,' writes this priest, ' all this year past in assured hope
'of a full victory until last month. But alas ! and with a
deadly sorrow we must aU at home and abroad lament our
sudden fall from an immeasurable high joy to an immeasur
able deep despair. ... I do find and know that many good
and wise men, which of long time have securely continued in
most earnest devotion to the pope's authority, begin now to
stagger in their minds, and to conceive that this way of re
formation intended by the pope's holiness is not allowable in
the sight of God, by leaving the ancient course of the church
by way of excommunication, which was the exercise of the
spiritual sword, and in place thereof to take the temporal
sword, and put it in a monarch's hand to invade the realm
with force and arms.'i A strong reaction set in. Many of
the clergy who had been kept in ignorance of these designs of
' blood and force ' were shocked on discovering what had been
going on. They had not reUshed the recent utterances of
their master and chief when, in his tract in defence of Sir
William Stanley's betrayal of Deventer to the Spaniards, he
^ ' The Copie of a Letter sent out of England to Don Bernardin Mendoza,
ambassadour in French for the king of Spaine, etc.,' printed in 1588, reprinted
in 1746. This letter is by some said to have been written by Richard Leigh,
one of the martyrs. But this is impossible, for his postscript is dated ' Sep
tember,' and Leigh was executed at Tyburn on the preceding August 30, 1588.

T'he Reaction. xix

declared that all acts of EUzabeth since her excommunication
were ' void of the law of God and man,' and that her subjects
(in spite apparently of the supposed ' mitigation ' of the bull)
were forbidden to obey or serve her in any way.^ They de
nounced the ' vile, irreverent and violent speeches ' of the
'Admonition' of 1588, which, though probably penned by
Parsons, was signed and promulgated by the cardinal of
England. The affection and reverence of such priests for
Allen personally led them to judge him in this matter too
gently, and to lay the blame too indiscriminately upon his
Jesuit friends and advisers. For the principles in question had
been held and taught by the most eminent of the secular
clergy abroad, by Drs. Webbe and Morton, Sander and
Bristow, and all the chief founders and supporters of the
Douai seminary. The answers given to the famous Six Ques
tions propounded by the English government to Campion and
his fellows in 1581 showed too that these early missionaries were,
with very few exceptions, well tutored in the doctrine of the
bull. But the political intrigues and conspiracies, the pro
vocation to civil war and foreign invasion, which followed as
a necessary consequence of the doctrine, and the attempts at
assassination which in fact followed, led moderate men among
the clergy to view the doctrine itself in a new light and to recoil
from it. Clearly it was no longer possible for them to expect
deliverance by the sword. Every fresh scheme of the pope had
only led to the tightening of their chains. The catholic
EngUshmen who flattered and encouraged Spain, exaggerated
1 ' The Copie ofa Letter written by M. Doctor Allen : concerning the Yeelding
up of the Citie of Dauentrie unto his Catholike Maiestie by Sir William Stanley,
knight. Wherein is shewed both howe lawful, honorable, and necessarie that
action was, and also that al others, especiallie those of the English Nation that
detayne anie towns, or other places in the low countries, from the King Cathohke
are bounde upon pain of damnation to do the like. Imprinted at Antuarpe,
1587.' Edited, with an excellent introduction, by T. Heywood for the Chetham
Society, 1851.

XX Introduction.
the papal power and from safe retreats abroad poured insults
upon the queen and her ministers, came to be regarded as the
worst enemies not only of their country but of the catholic
cause. The Jesuits especially became the objects of jealousy
and resentment. They were accused of ambitiously seeking
the aggrandisement of their order, of usurping the lead in the
affairs of the mission, and of domineering over the seminarists
with the view of drawing them on blindly to promote the
aggressive schemes of king Philip, thus involving the whole
clergy in the odium of their treason.
A large section of the secular clergy and the friends of the
Jesuits were drifting asunder. While the former party was
gradually, and to some extent unconsciously, shifting its ground
and becoming more loyal, the Jesuit faction was growing more
obstinate and fanatical in its attachment to Spain and its
dreams of foreign conquest. The seminarist from Douai,
Rheims or Rome, would after some years' residence in his
native country naturally shake off the foreign influences to
which he had succumbed at coUege and recover something of
the patriotism of his forefathers. He would become attached
once more to the almost forgotten customs, liberties and quasi-
independence of the ancient national church. The English
Jesuits had no such tendency. Their traditions were of yester
day. Their centre of gravity was in Rome. Not half a dozen
of them even resided in England. Their policy was guided by
superiors abroad, who aimed at getting the ruling power,
ecclesiastical and political, into their own hands. For secur
ing the necessary unity and centralization of the clerical forces,
which they hoped to control in England, ancient canonical
discipline and ordinary episcopal jurisdiction would more often
be a hindrance than an aid to them. They needed ample
freedom of action and extraordinary powers. It was, more
over, not their interest to encourage ecclesiastical studies

Divergent Policies. xxi
outside their own ranks. Where secrecy and unity were
essential, it was undesirable to multiply counsellors, and
learning would lead to independence of judgment where the
qualities most needful were docility, obedience, and reverence
for their self-appointed leaders. The Jesuit therefore wished
the secular priest to be content with ministering to the
spiritual wants of the humbler classes, and to leave the direc
tion of the rich and noble, the control of ecclesiastical policy,
and above all the management of affairs of state, to picked men
of the society. The gentry were to be taught to regard the
Jesuits as their natural leaders, and to intrust their secrets
and their alms exclusively to the fathers, who would know best
how to utiUze both for the greater glory of God. Let the
catholics of England but place themselves unreservedly in the
hands of Father Parsons, and they need never fear lest a pro
testant should succeed to the throne of EUzabeth. If the
coveted supremacy could not in prudence be openly asserted
it must be acquired by stealth. The acquisition, so it
seemed to the Jesuits, would be hastened by the frequent
lapses and scandals of their secular brethren. These scandals
should by aU means be hidden from the protestant public if
possible,! but it would be weU to whisper in the ear of influen
tial laymen the general untrustworthiness of the ordinary
clergy, for the protection and warning of the laity themselves
and for the greater credit and profit of the society.
This at least was the view' which the conduct and aims of
the Jesuits presented to the eyes of the more sagacious and
more charitable of the secular clergy. Others expressed the
same notions in coarser terms, or imputed to their rivals
motives of a baser character.^ Mr. Mush, one of the most
1 See, for example, Parsons' eulogium upon the seminarists in reply to the
proclamation of 1591 (Philopatris, pp. 198-819), where the queen, anticipating
Parsons' later language, had described them as abandoned and dissolute youths.
2 As in the ' Memorial,' infra, p. 97 seq.

xxii Introduction.

respected of the missionary priests and a favourite disciple
of AUen, addressing the pope in the name of the appeUant
clergy, traces the germs of the quarrel as far back as the
second year of the Jesuit mission. 'At their first ingress,'
he writes, 'the Jesuits so acted as to provoke the queen and
magistrates to enact most cruel laws, before unheard of, against
the seminarists. The fathers had even interfered with the
government of the clergy. One of the Jesuits ^ conducted
himself as if he had been a legate a latere of the holy see. He
took upon himself to convoke a quasi-provincial synod ^ of the
clergy, and there to the trouble of our church and to the sorrow
of cardinal Allen and of all good men, presumed to abrogate
the ancient national fasts of Friday and certain vigils of the
B. Virgin, which had been religiously observed from the very
cradle of the English church.' He presumed to interdict the
priests from preaching, and prohibited and suppressed the acts
of the twelve martyrs which had been approved and edited by
command of Allen himself.* As to Father Parsons, 'the
principal author, the incentor and mover of all our garboils at
home and abroad,' he is said to have ' fled from the mission
like a dastardly soldier consulting his own safety,' but ' his
intercepted letters, which talked of the invasion of the realm
by foreign armies, and his political publications so incensed the
English magistrates, that under the semblance of a just cause
they rise up in vengeance against us and execute their laws.
They exclaim that it is not the concern of religion that busies
us, but under that cloak we are meditating politics and prac
tising the ruin of the state. Meanwhile Robert Parsons
stationed at his ease intrepidly conducts his operations, and we
'Jasper Heywood, who came into England with William Holt in the summer
of 1581, taking the place of Parsons.
* In Norfolk, 1581. See Watson's Sparing Discoverie, p. 47.
^ Declaratio motuum ac turbationum ad S. D. N. Clementem octavum
exhibita, ab ipsis sacerdotibus, etc., p. 8.

Father Parsons, 1588-1595. xxiii
whom the press of battle threatens, innocent of any crime and
ignorant of his dangerous machinations, undergo the punish
ment which his imprudence and audacity alone merit.' ^ These
words were printed in the year 1601. They exaggerate the
political innocence of the secular clergy as a whole, and exhibit
towards Parsons a personal animosity which recent events had
greatly inflamed. Nevertheless they fairly express the senti
ments which were finding voice among the clergy and giving
strength to a large party rising up between 1588 and 1595.
Allen himself was not altogether free from the influence of this
reaction. Old age, growing infirmities and a new interest in
some ecclesiastical studies, undertaken in Rome, may have in
clined him to peace. He kept up an outward show of friendship
for the society, but in secret he dreaded and lamented the selfish
and ambitious policy which in his opinion threatened to ruin
the work of the mission.
Meanwhile Parsons learned no lesson and lost no hope from
the discomfiture of 1588. God was merciful, he said, and
wished to preserve the withered tree of England to a third
year. The first expedition of Caesar was unsuccessful but the
second succeeded. Twice were the Israelites defeated in their
attack made by the divine command upon the tribe of Benjamin,
the third time they were victorious.^ King PhiUp was bidden
to take heart and build another fleet. In 1589 Parsons left
Rome for Spain to set about collecting funds for the foundation
of more seminaries. In that year he estabUshed the coUege of
ValladoUd, San Lucar in 1591, Seville and Lisbon in 1592, and
St. Omer for boys in 1593. The object of these institutions,
says no less an authority than cardinal d'Ossat, was to instU
1 IHd. p. 24. The passage here abridged is quoted at length in Berington's
Memoirs of Panzani, p. 23.
2 Elizabethae Reginae Angliae edictum, promulgatum Londini, 29 Novemb.
anni mdxci— Andreae Philopatri ad idem edictum Responsio, 1593 (pp. I39.
140).

xxiv Introduction.

into the minds of the missionaries the Spanish poUtical creed,
and for that rather than the cathoUc faith they were, if neces
sary, to suffer martyrdom.! During the same period the
college at Rheims, then under the presidency of Dr. Barret,
alarmed at the accession of Henry iv., returned to Douai,
whence it had migrated fifteen years before. .Allen, under
Jesuit advice, had appointed Barret as his successor at the
coUege in 1588. The new president had a bad temper, no tact
or administrative ability, and was entirely subservient to the
fathers of the society. Under his rule the coUege rapidly
decUned. Students were drafted off to Rome and to Parsons'
new Spanish houses. Lectures were dropped, the course of
studies abridged, the revenues fell away, and the Jesuits finally
reaped the advantage.^
The society now had its grip upon all the seminaries.
Parsons was practically the paymaster of Philip. Through
the power of the purse, and with the help of his haughty
and impetuous colleague, WiUiam Holt, he held in check
the restless and impoverished pensioners of the Spanish king
' Lettres, Nov. 26, 1601. D'Ossat, as Henry's ambassador at Rome, would
look indeed with suspicion on Spanish schemes, but he was a man of rare pene
tration and, withal, pious and devoted to his church. Moreover, he was not un
favourably disposed towards the Jesuits.
It is nevertheless doubtful if the Jesuits made or retained many converts
to their Spanish policy among the clergy in England after the Armada of
1588. Tierney (in. Ixvii.) prints an important memorial, addressed to the
Spanish minister, Pegna, on the subject of the proposed invasion of England in
1 597, and reporting that ' his catholic majesty hath for him in England no heretic,
and for the catholics he hath only those who defend upon the direction of the
Jesuits, who are few ; nor all these, for because the Jesuits dare not labour openly,
as the secular priests do, to gain a great number. And of four hundred secular
priests which are in the kingdom, there are not thirty which follow the fathers'' direc
tion to draw the catholics to embrace the designment of the catholic king, and so
the greater part are for the king of Scotland his succession unto that kingdom.'
The writer shows in many particulars a remarkable understanding of the political
situation. He perhaps puts the number of clerical adherents of the Jesuit faction
in England too low, but in any case they were in a considerable minority.
^ See note, p. 103 infra.

The Succession to the Crown. xxv
in Flanders.^ The reins of the ecclesiastical and poUtical
government of the English catholics at home and abroad
seemed to be falling into his hands. In 1594 appeared his
famous work on the succession to the crown of England, setting
aside the claims of James as a heretic and suggesting the
infanta of Spain as the lineal representative of John of Ghent.^
It was Parsons' wish, as he explained to Holt, that the infanta
should strengthen her claim by marrying the cardinal Famese,
who was also a descendant of John of Ghent,' and this sugges
tion he communicated to the pope. The cardinal was to be
secularized for the purpose. The audacity of this Jesuit
manifesto aroused the indignation of the catholic supporters
of the Scottish succession, and intensified on the part of
the moderate priests their growing distrust of the society.

' See note p. 114 infra, and compare ' The estate of English fugitives under
the King of Spaine and his Ministers,' by Thomas Scarlet, 1596.
^ W. C, in his Replie to Parsons_(fol. 68), insists against the Jesuit's denial
that the scholars in the Spanish seminaries were made to subscribe to the
infanta's title. Whether this was so or not the persuasive influences brought to
bear upon favourite disciples are well illustrated in a letter written in 1596 by
the Rev. Henry Bell from Madrid to his friend Holt. The young priest, who
had been a short time on the mission in England, tells how, on his arrival at
Valladolid he was sent on by Parsons with five other priests to Father Creswell
at Madrid. There Creswell took them to kiss the hand of the king and the
infanta, and singled out Bell from the rest for some talk with his majesty. ' For
five or six days,' sa;7s the writer, ' Father Creswell carried us up and down to
see noblemen and women, they sending their coaches for us and giving us
great entertainment.' 'The noblemen were almost at strife who should have us
to dinner.' Some of the grandees made great protestation, we are told, that
their desire was not to conquer and possess England, but ' only to set up a king
catholic in the country and have it their friend.' Mr. Bell adds, ' Here is
gathering of soldiers every day for an armada ; ' he reports the sending of ships
from Lisbon to Ireland, the repulse of Drake and of Hawkins, and it is not sur
prising that the flattered and gratified novice should conclude, ' I am already,
God be thanked, received into the society.' — Douay Diaries, p. 398.
^ See Parsons' own abstract of this letter in Italian (Tierney in. Ivii.) and
not the abridged translation, given by Plowden {Remarks on the Memoirs of Pan
zani, p. 350), which misses some important points. Parsons afterwards reported
to Don Juan d'Idiaquez that he found the pope ' as warm in the cause of the
infanta as could be desired.'

xxvi Introduction.

Two years later (1596) appeared the ' Memorial of the Refor
mation in England,' which was more prudently disseminated in
manuscript only. In this ' proud pamphlet ' Parsons, in case
he should not ' himself live to see the reduction of England,' set
down some hints for the guidance of the government. The
second Reformation was not, he said, to be huddled up as in
queen Mary's time by a certain general absolution, whereby
fallen priests were admitted to the altar with no other satisfac
tion than to send away their concubines, and when matters
went as a stage-play, men changing their persons and parts
without changing their minds — the new Reformation was to be
thorough. Perhaps it would be good not to press men's con
sciences at the beginning for matters of religion, at least not for
some few years. A ' Council of Reformation ' should at first be
appointed to deal with ecclesiastical livings, church property,
etc. With regard to the abbey lands, laymen are warned that
it is not sufficient for the security of their consciences to say that
the apostolic see had tolerated the retention of this property in
Mary's time. The toleration was upon constraint and fear of
further inconveniences. Restitution, or at least some equit
able composition, must be made ; and if friends of the church
may expect lenient treatment, enemies, persecutors and impious
men must be dispossessed with rigour. Before the Council
finishes its work it must establish in its place ' some good and
sound manner of Inquisition.' ' Perhaps it would be best to
spare the name of Inquisition at the first beginning in so new
and green a state of religion, . . . but afterwards it will be neces
sary to bring it in by that or some other name.' ^ Whether
the form and manner of the inquisition should be that of
Spain, ' whose rigour is misUked by some,' or that used in parts
of Italy, ' whose coldness is reprehended by more,' or that of
Rome itself, which takes a middle course, is not easy now to
' Cf. pp. SI. SS, 98. 99-

Competitors for the Cardinalate. xxvii
determine ; but, in divers points, it is clear to Parsons that
' the dihgent and exact manner of proceeding in Spain ' is abso
lutely necessary.
The storm was gathering on every side. In England an
anti -Jesuit party was rapidly forming and an ecclesiastical
quarrel on a large scale was imminent. The refugees in
Flanders were divided into factions, and Charles Paget and his
friends were denouncing the fathers as intolerable tyrants ;
while in the English college at Rome the students were once
more ready to rise in revolt against their Jesuit masters. Allen
died Oct. 16, 1594. There was at once a struggle for the suc
cession to his dignity and power, which still further embittered
the party feeling. The Jesuits coveted the hat for Parsons ;
their opponents were for -Allen's old fi-iend. Dr. Lewis, while
some few were in favour of Dr. Stapleton. Clement viii. had
indeed intended to promote Lewis at the next creation of
cardinals, but the bishop died, Oct. 1595. The pope then
thought of Stapleton and summoned him to Rome. It might
be supposed that the author of the Apologia pro rege catho
lice was sufficiently Spanish to satisfy the most ardent Jesuit
partisan, but this was apparently not so. Father Agazzari was
in alarm at the threatened danger and wrote earnestly to
Parsons, then at Madrid, ' to remedy it by procuring the pro
motion of some one about whose fidelity to the crown [of
Spain] there can be no doubt,' while Stapleton himself was in
one letter after another assuring the same all-powerful Parsons
that coram Deo he would always remain ' a true and trusty
servant to his majesty of Spain.' ^ Meanwhile no cardinal of
England was appointed. The EngUsh priests were left practi
caUy without a head and with scarce a shadow of organization
or self-government. 1 Douay Diaries, p. ciii.

xxviii Introduction.

III. Disturbances at the Roman College.
All eyes were now turned to the college at Rome. Since
the disturbances of 1579, already referred to, the seminary had
by no means enjoyed unbroken peace. Mush, who was one of
the first scholars sent thither, declares that during his seven
years of residence there were as many outbreaks. Five of these
'stirs' are briefly described by Dr. Ely (pp. 73-77).' In 1585
Sixtus V. had to send two bishops, one of whom was Sega, after
wards cardinal, to quell a disturbance in which the malcontents
were favoured by cardinal Mondovi, the protector of Scotland.
The Italian rector, Agazzari, was on this occasion superseded
by the EngUsh Jesuit, Holt. Parsons and CresweU in turn
succeeded Holt. There was then a return to Italian rectors,
first to Vitelleschi, afterwards general of cthe society, and in
May 1594 to Fioravanti. The students now numbered in all
about forty-seven, sugfirintended by eight Jesuit fathers and
two extern prefects. JVIush, in his Declaratio, boldly tells the
pope that on the death of AUen the fathers, no longer held in
check by his authority, put forth all their strength to crush the
youths, or those who would not bow to their every whim, and
deliberately sowed divisions in the college on the principle of
divide et impera. The Jesuits undoubtedly believed that their
opportunity to seize the helm was at hand. But they made the
common mistake of holding in too great contempt the men and
the influences opposed to them. They committed errors of
judgment and of diplomacy at every step, and it is curious to
observe that their most signal failures were made in respect to
what has been considered their peculiar gift, the training of
^ Parsons {Apologie, foi. 49) refers to a treatise entitled : ' Brevis narratio
eorum qu^ gesta sunt in Coll. Angl. de Urbe tempore tumultuum, an. 1594, 95,
96, & 97,' written by Robert Chambers, who at one time ' followed the trouble
some,' but afterwards favoured the Jesuits. He was subsequently confessor to
some Englis nuns at Brussels. Is this treatise extant ?

Disturbances at Rome, 1594-1597. xxix

youth. If they succeeded in this better elsewhere, it may be
that elsewhere their aim was more purely scholastic or their
materials more pliable.
At Rome the problem was a complicated one. To
cajole or intimidate a number of spirited and somewhat
unruly English lads into tame and passive instruments of a
Jesuit faction for the conquest of their country by Spanish
arms, and for its conversion to the faith by the methods of the
Inquisition, was no easy task. The scholars suspected the
designs of their superiors and were prepared to resist. Forty-
three, of whom eleven were already in priest's orders, sent a
respectful supplication to Dr. Lewis, deploring the want of
bishops or ordinaries in England, and insisting on the import
ance of the distribution of faculties being placed in the hands
of impartial and experienced persons conversant with English
affairs, but above all not in the hands of the Jesuit fathers.
They finaUy implored Dr. Lewis to tak'^ the duty on himself.
They presented a similar petition to Cajetan, the cardinal pro
tector, begging him to at least delegate as much of his powers
to Dr. Lewis as would enable him to decide matters of ordinary
occurrence. Cajetan was even persuaded to second their
petition to the pope. It was, however, unsuccessful. The
pope was resolute and bade them mind their books. He
wisely refused (writes Parsons) to give faculties to the bishop
and gave them to the protector. The students were convinced
that their object had been frustrated by the underhand opposi
tion of the Jesuits. The general, they said, was doublefaced
and had hoodwinked them. The government of the fathers
became offensive to them. The old discipline of the coUege,
'hallowed by the blood of many martyrs, and suited to the
character of Englishmen,' had been, so the students declared,
exchanged for a new system which was intolerable. The fathers
are said to favour, coax and make presents to those who had been

xxx Introduction.

drawn to their side, and to treat harshly and unjustly the others
whom they insult as ' low-born, obscure paupers, ne'er-do-weels.' ^
They are described as being without charity, meekness, fair-
deaUng or the capacity of government.^ The childish penances
inflicted by them upon the students in public were ill-adapted to
their character or age, and only excited ridicule and contempt.
The spy system was particularly odious to these English
youths. This characteristic Jesuit institution may best be
described in Dr. Ely's words : ' The second [cause of discon
tent] is their spies, which the rectors have always in store,
which by an honester name are called Angeli custodes. These
spies, at recreation-time and in other places, speak liberaUy
against their superiors, of their government and usage towards
them, of their apparel, meat and drink, and against the
strait keeping of them in, and against whatsoever they think
is not well done in the college. And all this to sound their
companions. Now if one or two hap to discourse, as he doth,
against the superior, these spies carry the whole discourse
straight to the rector. After a few days the others are called
coram nobis, and are either punished or rigorously reprehended
for the same. These good feUows afterwards recaU to mind
before whom and in whose presence and what company they
spake such things, and having discovered this good fellow, they
from that day forwards hate him as a spy and a traitor. If
this be a charitable way of government, judge you, and whether

1 The seminarists were often made to smart under these sneers at their
assumed low birth. The scorn and ridicule with which Parsons in particular
seemed to regard poverty in a priest, and his habit of taunting his opponents on
that score, are notable features in his method of controversy. W. C. retaliates
with what he calls the ' genealogies ' of some of the fathers. He tells us that
Parsons himself was a blacksmith's son ; Garnet, ' a very poor and mean man's
child ' ; Currey, the son of a tanner ; Oldcorn, an apothecary's apprentice ; Percy
{alias Fisher), ' a poor boy sent over by a priest, one of our friends ' ; and Banks,
a tailor's son {Replie, p. 87).
^ Foley, Records, vi. 19.

Jesuit Misrule. xxxi

this be true and practised continually or no, I refer to the
conscience of as many of you (united brethren) as have been
brought up in that seminary, and to the knowledge of all others
that have been brought up therein, yea to those themselves
that have been these good Angels. Nothing so contrary to an
Enghshman's nature as to be betrayed by him whom he
trusteth. If such spies were in Oxford (whose colleges have as
good statutes and ordinances for bringing up of youths, if they
were put in practice — no displeasure to the fathers — as they
have or can devise), if such spies, I say, were in our colleges of
Oxford, they would be plucked in pieces.' i
That there was gross misride on the part of the Jesuits is evi
dent. Their strong partisan. Dr. Barret, who had just visited
the college, wrote confidentially to Parsons (10th April 1596) :
'The rector (Fioravanti) will never be able to rule in this place.
Many things I can tell you of that must be amended con
cerning this college in the manner of government and con
cerning better correspondence with the college of Douai,
otherwise you will never have peace. Trust those that be your
true friends.'^ The pope sent cardinal Toleto to arbitrate.
The cardinal, who, as Mush remarks, ' knew the society well,
being one of them,' took the side of the aggrieved scholars.
Fioravanti was in consequence removed from the rectorship.
Toleto however died in September of that year, and Agazzari,
who had meanwhile again become rector, was able to confide to
Parsons his sentiments of pious gratitude towards God who
had thus, as in the case of .Allen and Lewis, removed by death
an opponent of the divinely-favoured order.
According to this same Agazzari, it was one of the chief
aims of the discontented students to oppose themselves to the
designs of the cathoUc king. ' They speak (he tells Parsons)

1 Briefe Notes, p. 8i. ^ Tierney, iii. 74.

xxxii Introduction.

often and spitefully against the Book of Succession and against
its author — Parsons, as they suppose — whose name they cannot
endure. They delight in the failure of the Spaniards, as lately
at Cadiz ; and they grieve over their successes as at Calais.' ^
Barret had given Parsons a similar report of the situation a few
months before (April 10) : ' I find their heads full of false bruits
and differences betwixt Jesuits and priests in England. Yea,
the self-same faction that is at Brussels, to be here against the
Spaniards and such as take that way.' ^ Parsons attempted to
introduce his book into the college and to have it read in the
refectory in place of the customary devotional works.* A
young divine, Jasper Lobery, flatly refused to read it.*
But what, perhaps, more than aU else helped to bring the
rebellion to a head, was the charge of gross immorality brought
against some of the Enghsh party by Father Harewood, the minis
ter and vice-rector. Dr. Ely describes the circumstances in lan
guage too plain for literal quotation. Harewood declared that
he had discovered certain youths, whose names he would not at
that time divulge, attempting an abominable crime. Insulting
precautions against the commission, or for the more easy detec
tion of this unnameable offence had previously been taken in
side and outside the building, by the cutting down of a grove
and otherwise, in Father Creswell's time. The students now
rose in indignation against the minister ; they violently erased
his name from the college books, and petitioned the pope to
send him to the galleys for so ' dishonouring and discrediting
the college, themselves, and the nation.' ° They in fact secured
his removal.® Dr. Ely adds that Harewood was less to be
blamed than another father, 'who in revenge of the factious

1 Tierney, III. 75. ^ Parsons' Briefe Apologie, foi. 55.
' Butler's Memoirs, ii. 24 ; Tiemey, III. 38.
4 W. C. Replie unto a Certaine Libell, p. 69.
6 Briefe Notes, p. 83. « Ibid., p. 81.

Abominable Crimes. xxxiii

scholars, without respect of their honour or of the honour of
our nation or of his own conscience, letted not to send about
the world general articles against the scholars and priests of
that faction, the which contained more grievous and abominable
sins than Father Harewood discovered.' ^
The truce estabUshed by Toleto was of short duration.
Towards the end of 1596 the large majority of the students
was in open revolt. Studies seem to have been entirely
suspended. Thirty- seven youths, including four priests, accord
ing to Parsons, ' took a corporal oath to stand by each other,
and not to return to their obedience without the consent of the
whole faction.' ^ They held meetings together and were not on
speaking terms with the ten who adhered to the Jesuits. They
made use of the pulpit to preach ' seditious sermons ' against the
society. On one occasion they broke out of the college and ran
furiously towards the pope's palace. Four students, two of
whom were priests, were expelled Uke criminals by an armed
force in sight of the Roman people,* the fathers all the while
audibly giving vent to their triumph, and exclaiming, ' Victory !
Victory ! ' The pope at last commissioned cardinal Sega, a
second time, to visit the college.* The mutineers openly in
sulted him and tore in pieces the proclamation he had

¦^ Dr. Gifford, in a letter to Parsons [May 20, 1597], alludes to the public
charges against the scholars : ' Truth it is I never was one of the humour to rail
either against some noblemen and gentlemen in these parts [Brussels] or to
charge the scholars of Rome with horrible and enormous crimes of heresy,
whoredom, sodomy, enmity to his catholic majesty and such like ; and in all
places to cry out and declaim against them as men worthy of expulsion, gallies,
prisons, degradation and the like, being not able to prove any such thing against
them ' {Douay Diaries, p. 98).
^ Apologie, foi. 50.
' They were, however, afterwards restored to the college.
* W. C. asserts that Monsignor Moro was at first joined with Sega as visitor,
but that the cardinal 'finding him inclined to equity and no whit partial to the
Jesuits, he shaked him off, taking the matter wholly into his own hands ' {Replie,
foi. 83).

xxxiv Introduction.

posted up in the hall to bid them keep the peace during the
visitation. The results of this pontifical inquiry may be read in Mr.
Foley's Records, where abstracts of the various memorials sub
mitted to the pope on the occasion, together with the report
of Sega himself, are printed.^ The memorial of the aggrieved
scholars sets forth their complaints in great detail. They de
mand the removal of the fathers from the government of the
college. Upon their political grievances they are silent,
perhaps under the circumstances prudently so. But they pre
face their censures of the Jesuit misrule in the college by an
attack upon the conduct of the fathers in England. The
Jesuits are accused of systematically driving from his place or
ruining in his reputation every priest who is not entirely sub
servient to them. They are said to have obtained special
faculties for absolving the holders of church property on condi
tion of the penitent paying a sum of money in compensation.
These privileges gain for them access to the houses of certain
rich catholics, and much influence in consequence. The money
is diligently collected by the fathers, but instead of distributing
it, as it should be, for the benefit of the mission or the clergy
in general, they apply it to their own uses. Should a secular
priest perchance acquire similar faculties, he scarce ventures to
use them for fear of the persistent hostility of the society. The
retort of the Jesuits on this head is characteristic. If a pre
ference, they say, is given to the society by the rich, it is because
the fathers are religious, and having divested themselves of their
own belongings are not likely to keep back what is due to
others. They have, moreover, given proof that they can be
safely trusted, whereas certain seminarists have been found to
divert the funds, derived from the source in question, to their

' Vol. vi. Diary of the Roman college.

The Pontifical Inquiry. xxxv
own personal uses, and have left England with large sums in
their possession. So much so that the seminarists themselves,
in order to prevent unpleasant doubts, have preferred that the
fathers should take charge of all such cases.
A memorial also proceeded from the minority of ten. These
youths speak strongly in condemnation of the contempt for
authority, the reckless detraction and dissolute behaviour of
their companions, and call for the expulsion of the ringleaders.
The report of cardinal Sega might have been written by one
of the fathers. In his eyes the Jesuits are models of every
virtue. The origin of the disturbances must be sought for,
partly in the greed and ambition of the late bishop of Cassano,
who egged on his partisans to create dissensions in the college
in order to take revenge on the society; and partly in the
machinations of Cecil and Walsingham, who, finding their
brutal rage availed nothing against the constancy of the priests,
had recourse to fox-like arts, and introduced spies into the
seminaries to foment discord and rebellion, and by witch
crafts and treachery sought to overturn these citadels of the
catholic faith. The fathers of the society are by all means
to be retained both in the college and on the mission. It was
necessary, he writes, that there should be in England some
priests to whom the charge and government of the catholics
should be speciaUy committed, and in whom laymen could
safely put trust. This influence and authority unquestionably,
in the opinion of the cardinal, belongs to the handful of
Jesuits working in England, so much so that catholic laymen,
terrified by the many and deplorable falls of the seminarists,
wUl hardly hold intercourse with them unless they bear a
recommendation, written or verbal, from the fathers.^ To rob
England of their services would be to ecUpse the sun of that
affUcted church. 1 Parsons adopts this statement. See note infra p. 99.

xxxvi Introduction.

Meanwhile the general of the society, wearied with these
continual difficulties, had serious thoughts of resigning the
superintendence of the college. The Spanish party was in
despair. Petitions poured in from Spain and from Flanders
imploring the pope to prevent a step so fatal to the cause of
the church. Parsons hastened to Rome (1597), and, strange
as it may appear, in view of the prejudices against him and
his policy, by his strength of character and diplomatic arts he
contrived to win the confidence of the impulsive students, and
in a short time effected an amicable settlement of the quarrel.
He was now appointed rector a second time, and when secure
of his authority got rid of the leaders of the late commotions
by sending some at once as missionaries into England, and ten
more to Douai, to there continue their studies in preparation
for the priesthood.^ He complains indeed of some fresh dis
orders towards the end of the year, but these were compara
tively insignificant. Some scholars who had been in the habit
of frequenting taverns and other disorderly places during the
late mutiny persisted in the practice and were arrested by the
papal gj^lice. They would have been carried to the public

1 Sega had suggested the dismissal of some whom he called ' wanton or las
civious colts. ' W. C. affects to doubt if these terms really proceeded from the
cardinal, seeing that ' the chiefest of such as were to be dismissed, whom he
termeth wanton colts, were to be addressed for our country, as they were ' {Replie,
f. 83). Many of the mutineers, however, subsequently became persons of consequence
and much respected in their community, e.g. , John Jackson, who ' stood candi
date for a mitre' in 1635 ; Edward Bennet, one of the ringleaders, who was
nominated with William Bishop for the episcopate in 1621, and on the death of
Colleton became dean of the chapter ; Thomas Hill, formerly an Anglican
clergyman and afterwards a benedictine monk, who wrote the Quatron of Reasons
which George Abbot thought worth while to refute; and the better known
Anthony Champney, an able controversialist, who has left a ' History of the
Reign of Elizabeth to her 31st year,' which deserves to be printed. The two
Pitts', Henry and Robert, were also among the discontented. Three or four
others, according to Mr. Foley, ' atoned for their conduct ' by eventually becom
ing Jesuits themselves.

Decline ofthe Seminaries. xxxvii
prisons had not Parsons, so he tells us, secured the favour of
their confinement to apartments in the college. He moreover
contrived that their expulsion, which, for these and other
offences, was subsequently decreed by the protector, should be
effected without infamy ; and the six students, two of whom were
in priest's orders, were quietly transferred to other colleges,
and were liberally provided with money for their journey.
The laxity and discord which had now distracted the
coUege for nearly twenty years made of it a strange noviciate
for apostles bent on the conversion of England. There is
an oft-quoted legend of the simple St. Philip Neri being wont to
greet the English students in the streets of Rome with the words
of the hymn to the Holy Innocents, ' Salvete flores martyrum ! '
If half the statements of Father Harewood be true the flowers
must have lost something of their perfume. The declension
of the young divines from their own ideal is admitted and
deplored by Mush. Very rarely, he says, do those who are
placed under the care of the fathers make the progress in
learning which was expected of them, or retain their former
piety or virtues. They go full of fervour, and return with
spirits crushed and virtue gone, useless for the labours of the
mission.i This was not, as cardinal Sega would have us
beUeve, the work of the ubiquitous spies of EUzabeth, nor was
it, perhaps, as Mush supposes, entirely due to the intrigues
and mismanagement of the Jesuits. A similar process of
decline had been visible in the older seminary of Douai and
Rheims, where the sinister influence of the society could not
have been so directly felt. Dr. Worthington, the vice-president
at Douai, in a memorial addressed to cardinal Cajetan in 1596 ^

^ Declaratio, pp. 129, 130. ' Mittuntur ad eos (he exclaims) sancti, pacifici,
pii, simplices, spiritu dei ferventes, sed per brevissimi temporis curriculum in
collegio commorantes heu quantum mutati ab illis ! '
^ Douay Diaries, p. 369.

xxxviii Introduction.
traces the rapid steps by which his own college had deteriorated.
Worthington is not indeed to be trusted as altogether an
impartial witness. He in that same year made a secret vow
of obedience to Father Parsons, and was virtually, as many
others were at that time, ' a Jesuit in disguise.' To attenuate
the failure of his Jesuit friends, he is ready to befoul his own
nest. While Allen ruled at Douai, he tells us, all was charity.
No word injurious to peace, purity or piety was heard. This
was the golden age. When AUen became often absent and
often sick, and gave over the helm to others, then came the
silver age. But when Dr. Bristow was dead and Allen promoted
to the cardinalate, the age of brass, not to say of iron, suc
ceeded. It was hoped that Dr. Barret would restore tran
quillity. So far from this, that just before the cardinal's death
there was even a question of dissolving the college altogether.
Discipline had become relaxed, the students were imbued with
a spirit of ambition and were divided into factions. All this,
adds Worthington, was prior to the irruption at the Roman
college. Out of five students sent thither from Rheims four
were infected with sedition, ' and carried with them a vehement
aversion to the government of the society.'
IV. The Prisoners at Wisbeach.
We must now turn from this picture of the rising genera
tion at the seminaries to that of the veteran missionaries in their
stronghold at Wisbeach.
The castle of Wisbeach in the isle of Ely belonged to the
bishops of the diocese. It had been built, or rather rebuilt, by
cardinal Morton, bishop of Ely, about 1480, but in the follow
ing century had become neglected and somewhat dilapidated.
The buildings were surrounded with four acres of ground
protected by a strong wall and wide moat.^ They had been
1 Morris, Troubles, ii. chap. xv.

The Prisoners at Wisbeach. xxxix
occasionally used for the confinement of state prisoners, and in
1579, when the country was alarmed at the threatened invasion
of the papal confederates, the castle was set apart for the
custody of certain influential priests, bishop Watson, abbot
Feckenham, and half a dozen others whom it was thought
prudent to remove to a safe distance from London or the chief
centres of population. In 1585 the castle opened its gates for
a few more of such ' capital doctors and priests,' who were
thought to be 'busier in matters of state than was meet for
the quiet of the realm.' ^ Meanwhile the queen's councillors
were becoming embarrassed with the number of seminary priests
falling into their hands. The parliament of 1585 had made ^
it high treason for any English subject receiving Roman orders
abroad to enter, or remain in, the kingdom. Already, between
the years 1579 and 1585, twenty-three priests had been exe- i
cuted. In this last year seventy-two more were taken from
their prisons and shipped abroad. The government was warned
against needless bloodshed. 'Too many executions,' it was
said, ' move others to compassion,' especially when the victims
protested on the scaffold that they died for religion and not
for treason. On the other hand the banished men in great
part retumed — they could scarcely do otherwise; they had
taken their oaths to go on the mission, and there was no means
of liveUhood for them on the continent. Some who did not
retm-n did more mischief abroad. There was Edward Rishton,
for example, who saved his Ufe at his trial by the profession of
tolerable opinions on the pope's deposing power, but when he
got safe abroad edited, with violent additions of his own, the
dangerous and treasonable De Schismate of the arch-traitor
Dr. Nicolas Sander. If such men could not be hanged it ,
were at least wiser to keep them under lock and key.
The seminarists were therefore henceforward officially divided
1 Simpson's Campion, p. 165.

xl Introduction.

into two classes, some ' learned and politic and of great per
suasion ' ; others ' simple, with neither zeal, wit, nor learning.'
It was proposed to dispatch the first sort to Wisbeach, where
they may be ' restrained from access and intelligence,' and to
send the others into banishment, or keep them in the London
gaols, ready, if need be, to be hanged. Economical con
siderations had also some weight in determining the destiny
of the prisoners. The less fortunate seminarist, unprovided
with a Jesuit passport, with no rich friends or great talents,
and therefore with an empty purse, became a burden upon the
country and unprofitable to his keeper. Consequently we find
the London prison certificates of this date significantly anno
tated with marginal suggestions such as, 'meet for the gal
lows,' ' meet to be banished,' ' able to bear the charges — meet
for Wisbeach'; or, in the case of laymen, more contemptuously,
'meet for what place you please.' ^ So in 1586 the keeper
of Wisbeach shrewdly petitions Walsingham for ' some of the
best priests,' that is the wealthiest.^ In dread of the armada
a dozen priests, of whom William Weston, the hero of Bag
shaw's story, was one, were added to the select few at the castle,
raising the total number of catholic prisoners to about thirty-
five. They were, indeed, comparatively fortunate, for in the
frenzy of joy which took possession of the nation in the autumn
of 1588 the queen, as Lingard expresses it, 'celebrated her
victory by the immolation of human victims.' Six new gallows
were erected in and near London ; and throughout England
twenty priests — all obscure persons of whom little or nothing
is known — ten laymen and one woman were hurried from prison
to the gallows. Weston himself had a narrow escape, for an
agent of Walsingham had just reported him as 'the only
Jesuit in England to be Tcept if not hanged.' Some of the elder

1 Foley, Records, i. pp. 478-480. 2 Morris, Troubles, ii. p. 231.

Laocity of Prison Discipline. xli
priests at Wisbeach could not be brought within the compass
of the statute 27th Eliz., for they had never been free from '
custody since the passing of the act.
Weston in an autobiography, of which all that is extant has
been printed by F. Morris {Troubles, Second Series), gives, not
withstanding some lapses of memory, a good account of prison
life within the castle at this time. The picture, which is a
surprising one, can be completed from the paper printed by
Strype {Annals, iv. p. 274), and other contemporary writers.
The prisoners were at first locked up in separate rooms, except
for meals, when they met in a common hall with the keeper at
one end of the table and his wife at the other. Half an hour
before and after dinner and supper they were at liberty to take
recreation in the garden. But no visitors were aUowed at any
time. K any cathoUc brought them alms, one or two had leave
to go and fetch the money. Four justices of peace were re
sponsible for their conduct, Mr. Thomas Gray being their
keeper. Night watches were arranged within and without the
walls. This rigorous restraint, however, lasted only three or
four years (not six as Weston relates), and even then the priests
managed to say mass in their chambers and were bold enough
to decorate their improvised altars with pious pictures. Before
Gray's death his custodianship, for some unexplained reason,
became remarkably lax. Perhaps, the Spanish danger growing
less, the justices exacted from him less vigilance, or perhaps
he was more heavily bribed. The sagacious foresight of
Cecil and Walsingham had even possibly suggested that if
the priests were given rope enough they would hang them
selves. The prisoners were now exempted from dining at the
keeper's table. They set up a kitchen and pantry of their
own, paying twelve shiUings a month for their rooms— a
high rent for those times. Friends sent them venison,
wine and spices. Gentlemen and ladies came to dine, sup

xlii Introduction.

and visit them in their chambers. No day passed without a
guest. They had leave to go out as they pleased. They be
came popular with the tradesmen of the town, and with the
poor, to whom they liberally contributed a portion of their
superfluous alms. The priests formed themselves into a sort
of college. Metham, the intended archbishop of York, gave
lectures, it is said, on the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures. De
bates were held on ecclesiastical affairs, and an active corre
spondence kept up with friends abroad. In the eyes of simple
catholics this ' sepulchre of priests ' became a holy place, like
the catacombs of Rome to the early Christians. It was made a
place of pilgrimage. Men came there with cases of conscience
to be solved ; or to be reconciled to the church. Ursula Gray,
the daughter of the keeper, himself a fierce puritan, was made
a Roman catholic. A tenth part of the missionaries — and the
most active part — were here in fact lodged with far more Uberty
and comfort, and with far more power to carry out their pur
pose than those who were hunted over the country from one
hiding-place to another. What is perhaps still more surprising
is that the prisoners were permitted to keep lads, of ages
varying from thirteen to eighteen, as attendants or pages. The
names of thirteen of these youths and of the priests for whom
they acted as servants are given in a paper preserved among
the Harleian mss. A few were, or pretended to be, natives of
Wisbeach. Many were gentlemen's sons sent there probably
for their education. When a stricter regime was restored, and
these boys were put through a series of examinations, it turned
out that the names and parentage which they had at first re
ported were false.^ Thus, Thomas Everard, who had on a pre
vious examination declared himself to be the son of a Norfolk
yeoman, now admitted he was the son of Sir Thomas Knyvett
^ Compare the list (Harl. MSS. 6998, f. 226) printed by Morris, Troubles, ii.
p. 266, with the State Papers, Dom. Eliz. (Sept. 1599), vol. cclxxii. n. 107.

Father William Weston. xliii
of Buckenham castle, and was sent by his mother to wait upon
Dr. Bagshaw. Another lad, known as Nicholas Clayton, four
teen years of age, who was servant to the Rev. Christopher
Thules, turned out to be Nicholas Bagshaw of Chapel le Frith,
in Derbyshire, and a kinsman of the author of the True
Relation. Similarly, the Rev. Lewis Barlow was waited upon
by his relative, Robert Barlow, the son of a gentleman of
Hathersage, Derby. No wonder that indignant complaints
were made to the council that ' through the favour of the
keeper. Gray, the prison was growing to be as dangerous as a
seminary college, being in the heart and midst of England.'
Such was the life of the Wisbeach confessors when the
famous ' Stirs ^ began in the winter of 1594-5. An official
list of the prisoners wiU be found in the Appendix (A), and
some description of the men, as their names occur in the text,
is given in the footnotes. Of the two leaders of the factions a
few words may be said here.
William Weston was born at Maidstone in 1550. .After
taking his bachelor's degree at Oxford he was drawn to Douai
and thence to Rome, where he joined the Jesuits in 1575. He
completed his noviciate in Spain, and then in various colleges
of the order, chiefly at SeviUe, he remained till in 1584 he was
summoned, with Henry Garnet, at the strong recommendation
of Parsons, to the English mission. He was to take the place
of Heywood as quasi-provincial or superior of the Jesuits (see
note iifra p. 12), but when he landed, there was no Jesuit, or
none known to be such, in the country. Garnet and Southwell
did not follow him tiU 1586 ; and when shortly afterwards
Weston was captured and imprisoned Garnet in his turn
became superior. Weston had a reputation for some leaming
and much piety. In the Spanish coUeges he was frequently
discovered in unexpected times and places upon his knees in
prayer. He woke his companions at midnight with the sound

xliv Introduction.

of his self-flagellations, and gained from them the name of
' holy William.' An undoubted zeal and an unusually stubbom
will enabled him to retain a great command over his adherents at
Wisbeach, while the moroseness and spiritual pride which seem
to have accompanied his aggressive puritanism intensified the
dislike of his opponents. On his arrival in England he had
distinguished himself by making a convert of Philip Howard,
earl of Arundel, and still more by his success in a new venture
as leader of a band of exorcists. He went from one country
house to another with a number of priests, among whom were
Dibdale and Cornelius, afterwards martyrs ; Tyrrell the ' apos
tate ;' BaUard, hanged for the Babington conspiracy ; Dryland
and Thules, subsequently his fellow-prisoners at Wisbeach, the
former his confessor and the latter an opponent ; and half a
dozen more who cast out devils and performed many prodigies
upon certain maidservants and others who finaUy, with the
priest Tyrrell, crueUy betrayed them. But before their ex
posure or dispersion the exorcists had made for their church at
least five hundred converts, some say several thousands.
It is not flattering to the good sense of the English people,
but so great was the renown which followed these supernatural
exploits that a protestant minister, John Darrel, was tempted to
imitate them, and did so with some profit. Weston recorded his
triumphs over the evil spirits in a curious treatise, which Dr.
Harsnet,^ who has fortunately quoted from it many passages,
' ' A Declaration of egregious Popish Impostures to withdraw the harts of
her Majesties Subjects from their allegeance and from the truth of Christian
Religion professed in England, under the pretence of casting out of deuils.
Practised by Edmvnds alias Weston, a lesuit, and diuers Romish Priestes,
his wicked associates. Where-unto are annexed the Copies of the Confessions
and Examinations of the parties themselues which were pretended to be pos
sessed and dispossessed taken upon oath before her Majesties Commissioners for
causes Ecclesiasticall. At London : Printed by James Roberts, dwelling in
Barbican, 1603.'
This rare book by Dr. Samuel Harsnet, chaplain to the bishop of London,

The Casting out of Devils. xlv
calls the Booh qf Miracles. Eye-witnesses swore to the facts.
They actuaUy saw the devils gliding about in immense numbers
under the skins of the possessed like fishes swimming. Dibdale
took balls of hair, rusty nails, and pieces of lead from the
cheek or body of the girl Friswood Williams. A number of
the devils revealed their names and offices under the interroga
tions of Weston ; and Shakespeare has perpetuated the memory
of Modo, Mahu, Hobbididance and Flibbertigibbet, foul
fiends who did homage to the relics of Campion and testi
fied to the sanctity of Weston.^
There is no need to suppose, with Harsnet, that in all this
there was deliberate fraud on the part of Weston. He was grossly
superstitious and credulous even for his time, and may have been
deluded by the tricks of Dibdale, and the malingering of im
modest maidservants who ultimately confessed their share in the
imposition. He apparently in all sincerity believed that Lord
Burleigh's contemptuous rejection of the above-mentioned story
of the visible devils which a spectator had on his oath repeated
to the lord treasurer, could only proceed from a culpable shutting
of the ears to the unwelcome but demonstrable evidence of the
Roman creed. TyrreU, however, declared that not only did
the ancient priests, that is, the queen Mary priests, shake their
heads, but ' the graver sort that were then imprisoned at Wis
beach ' were greatly offended, and foretold that in the end these
and afterwards archbishop of York, deserves to be reprinted, if only for its
vigorous English and Rabelaisian wit. Apart from the accusations of indecency
brought against the priests, which may be exaggerated or even false, there is
much which bears the stamp of truth in the confessions of the accomplices. The
quotations from the Book of Miracles are very instructive.
1 ICing Lear, Act iii.. Scene 4; Harsnet, pp. 45-50, 180. A famous Spanish
Jesuit tells, in a funeral sermon upon Weston, what F. Morris calls ' a capital
story. ' In the midst of an exorcism a devil begged the father to let him enter
queen Elizabeth. Weston refused, for, says More {Hist. S. /. p. 155), she was
his queen, and he wished her no harm. ' Well, then,' the devil asked, 'may I
come into you?' 'As God pleases,' replied Weston. 'I had as soon go into a
holy water pot,' said the devil. — Troubles, ii. 282.

xlvi Introduction.

proceedings would bring discredit upon the clergy and their
calling.^ Nor is there any sure ground for asserting with
Bagshaw that Weston was a hypocrite. He may have been
cunning and underhand ; he had nothing of Campion's humour
or geniality, nothing of Parsons' knowledge of the world or
common-sense, but he was fanaticaUy in earnest with the saving
of his own soul and the souls of others according to the strictest
Ignatian method. It is safe, however, to say that his aUeged
austerities are not altogether credible. His friend and fellow-
prisoner, Giles -Archer, reports what the more sceptical Bagshaw
omitted to record, that for seven years at Wisbeach Weston
never went into a bed or ate more than one meal in the day.
In the winter of 1598 he was removed from Wisbeach to the
Tower of London, and there, it is said, continued to add to
the hardships of his imprisonment self-inflicted tortures. The
devils moreover whom he had specially provoked took vengeance
upon him. He assures his superiors, at whose request he wrote
his autobiography, that the demons struck him physical blows,
audibly suggested suicide to him, and offered him a knife
wherewith to cut his throat. They so roused him from sleep
with their castigations that for fifty days, so he declares, he
had but ten hours' sleep in all. It can therefore be only by a
miracle that he escaped insanity. He was finally, on the
accession of James, set free with other priests and sent
abroad. He taught theology once more in SeviUe, and died
at VaUadolid in 1615. His skuU is preserved as a relic at the
noviciate at Roehampton.^
Dr. Christopher Bagshaw was a person of quite another
temperament. He belonged to a Derbyshire family which has
given some men of note, with indeed a marked hereditary
character, to various religious denominations. He was im
petuous, combative, outspoken and noisy. In defence of his
1 Harsnet, p. 254. 2 Morris, ii. 283.

Bagshaw and Parsons at Oxford. xlvii

church's creed he was no less zealous than Weston, and proved
to be an active missionary and able controversialist. But he
was little of an ascetic. He was proud of his English birth
and Oxford training, and devoutly believed in the old English
saying that 'an Englishman Italionate is a devil incarnate.'
The crooked ways and intrigues of the papal court irritated
him, and he probably preferred to meet, and if needs be to use,
a direct lie, rather than to employ the amphibologies and
equivocations which, partly from the pressure of the times and
partly from the attraction of a theological novelty,-^ his Jesuit
rivals were just then seeming to revel in with a satisfaction that
was inordinate. He was as ambitious of drawing to himself a
party as was Weston himself, and when two such men with
such opposite ideals and poUcy came together an explosion
was inevitable.
Like most Englishmen of mark on the catholic side in his
own generation Bagshaw had been bred a protestant. He
obtained a fellowship at Balliol college in 1572, and in 1579
was made principal or vice-principal of Gloucester hall. It
was at BaUiol that he first came into conflict with Parsons,
who was master of arts at the same college, and at that time
reading Calvinistic theology. Parsons was unpopular. Dr.
Squire, the master, who attributed certain lampoons directed
against himself to Parsons' pen, owed him a grudge ; and
archbishop Abbot, who was a fellow of BalUol, remembered that
Bagshaw, whom he calls ' a smart young fellow ^ and one who
thought his penny good silver,' had been ' with some despite
swinged by Parsons, being dean of the college,' and was in
consequence 'most hot in prosecution of him.' Parsons, as
dean, had evidently exercised authority with indiscreet severity.
He became suspected of leanings towards Rome. His enemies
gave out that he had, as bursar, dealt dishonestly with the
' See note infra p. 107.

xlviii Introduction.

coUege property, and that, moreover, he was of illegitimate
birth, and therefore had intruded himself into the college
in defiance of the statutes. They threatened to publicly
eject him. Parsons despairing of justice and fearing disgrace
obtained leave to resign.^ Some young men to hasten his
departure had a peal of bells at Magdalen parish church rung,
as they said, to ring him out. Parsons beUeved, as Abbot
did, that this insult was a contrivance of Bagshaw, and he
never forgave it.^ The two men carried their animosity with
them into the catholic fold. When, in later years, Bagshaw
told the story of this forced exit from Balliol, Parsons retorted
that his opponent had himself been expelled by cardinal
Buoncompagni from the English coUege at Rome. This
statement has been repeated by a number of Jesuit writers
and, on their authority, too easily accepted by independent
historians. Bagshaw, who did not join the Roman church till 1582,
eight years after the secession of Parsons, brought with him
to Rheims the reputation of an able man and a good Greek
scholar. A few months after his arrival at the college we
find him writing to his protestant brother John of his own ' un
speakable comforts ' and many friends ; in characteristic language
deploring the heretic's ' damnable case and beggarly atheism,'
and holding out splendid inducements to him to come over
(Nov. 1582, Cal. S. P. ci.v. n. 109). He was ordained priest
in May 1583, and three months later he proceeded to Rome.
His own story is that he went there with the leave and advice
of Allen, to return or to stay as long as he pleased. But
' He left England shortly afterwards with the intention of making medicine
his profession, and apparently at that time had no intention of becoming a Roman
cathohc. See the statement of James Clark, Petyt MSS. xlvii. 44.
^ Compare the discrepant accounts given by Parsons {Apologie, foi. 192-4)
and by Bagshaw with the reminiscences of archbishop Abbot, communicated in
a letter to Dr. Hussy, printed in Bliss's edition of Wood's Athenae, vol. ii. p. 66.

Bagshaw at the Roman College. xlix
seeing the state ofthe college, the number ofthe discontented and
the notorious injuries to which they were subjected, he resolved
to return to Rheims. The Italian pain of the chest detained
him. Allen wrote urging him to return. Agazzari, the
rector, on the other hand begged him to remain and to be
united to the fathers, for they were then in the thick of what
Dr. Ely numbers as the third of the periodical disturbances.
Buoncompagni, who was then cardinal protector of the college,
'asked me,' writes Bagshaw, 'whether I would stay, and I
told him, no. The cardinal said that I should resolve to
depart. I answered, that day rather than the next. After
this when I came to the pope himself of blessed memory,
Gregory xiii., he moved my stay unto me. I answered his
holiness I had a firm resolution to go to my country, where
upon he dismissed me with the rest with most fatherly words
of affection and granted all the requests we proposed unto
him.' He adds that Agazzari gave him favourable testimonials
under the college seal.^ Nevertheless during his short stay
at Rome he had grievously disappointed and offended the
Jesuits. He had sided with the malcontents and even pro
posed that the college should be handed over to the dominicans.
At Rheims Bagshaw had shown himself well-disposed towards
the fathers, and had defended them, so Dr. Barret tells us,
against those ' who did not love the society as they should.'
Agazzari had even expressed a wish to have him at Rome.
He had started from Rheims with thirteen other picked
scholars, and Barret despatched with them a remarkable
letter to Agazzari,^ in which he describes them as among the
very best men he had. Of one alone he had his fears —
Bagshaw, for whom Agazzari had written. He had good

^ ' An Answear of M. Doctor Bagshaw to certayne poyntes of a libell,' etc.,
pp. 30-32.
^ Douay Diaries, p. 331. d

I Introduction.

enough talents and was studious, but was irascible, unmanage
able and restless.^ He could not brook correction, and would
need aU Agazzari's skiU in government. But if his headstrong
and immoderate temper could be kept under control he gave
good promise and would be a credit to the college. This
character of Bagshaw is the more to be reUed upon as the
writer professes to have a personal affection for him.^
When Bagshaw returned to Rheims (April 1585) we find
him a doctor of theology. He contrived to obtain the cap on
his road through Italy from the university of Padua. His
talents and learning undoubtedly deserved it, but the Jesuits,
always jealous of such academic honours, and who after
wards obtained a papal decree putting obstacles in the way
of their acquisition by the seminarists, dubbed him doctor
erraticus and doctor per saltum.^
His stay at Rheims on this occasion can have been but
very brief,* for perhaps before the end of May and certainly
before September he was already safe in the Tower, writing
to the council that he has ' ever been free from all practices

^ ' Valde est iracundus et difificilis, atque inquietus ' {Douay Diaries, p. 331).
^ ' Quem unice diligo ' {ibid. ). Parsons, who did not love him, reports Bag
shaw, in a memorial to the pope, as ' a man of suspected faith and unchaste
living' (Tierney, vol. iii. p. clvii).
2 Of this degree Parsons writes in the Apologie : ' Consider we pray you this
man's talent in picking quarrels . . . and all this stir to make room for his
Doctorship, which God knoweth in what corner of the world he got it and how
worthily ; but certain it is, so far as we are informed, by ordinary commenda
tion of his superiors he had it not ' (foi. 76). A. P. remarks upon this ' scorn
ful speech ' : ' God and the world knoweth that he had his Doctorship at which
this fellow gibeth, in no corner of the world, unless one of the most fainous
Universities in Italy be to be termed a corner of the world. For it is well
known he took his Doctorship in Padua and he took it so worthily as this poor
fellow might come learning divinity of him these many years. And it is certain,
howsoever this fellow is misinformed that he had it by the ordinary commenda
tion of his Superior who at that time was no other than his Holiness ' {A Reply
to a Notorious Libell, p. 156).
* Douay Diaries, pp. 205, 206.

Riots at Wisbeach. li
against her majesty,' and praying for his release.^ He was
probably soon afterwards despatched to Wisbeach, where he
found full scope for his activity. He spent altogether four
teen years in prison. After obtaining his freedom, and when
the appellant controversy was over, he once more retired
abroad and devoted himself to ecclesiastical studies at Paris.
He there, on one occasion, engaged in a theological disputa
tion with Dr. Featley, the chaplain of the English embassy,
before a distinguished audience, and by his skill in contro
versy won some compliments from his opponent.^ He died
some time after 1625.
Writers on both sides of the Wisbeach quarrel agree that
all was peace and edification in the castle up to the date of —
the turning-point of English catholic history — the death of
Allen. This is at least true of the earlier years. Even in
1593 Garnet, who visited the castle with some of his friends,
was so enchanted with what he saw that he ' thought himselfe
all that while to haue felt the ioyes of Heauen.' * Yet in 1587,
the year in which Weston arrived, the elements of rowdyism
were already visible. George Potter, for instance, a recent
importation from Rome and a comparatively young man, who
had been described by Dr. Barret in the letter cited above as
a scholar ' of an excellent disposition and most gentle manners,'
took part with three other priests in some schoolboyish and
offensive rioting which called for the interference of the magis
trates. It may have been scenes such as these (described in
the note to p. 23) which gave to Weston his first opportunity
1 Cal. S. P. Dom. Eliz. CLXxix. 6i ; CLXXXii. 3 and 4. His name appears in
a note of prisoners in the Tower, erroneously dated May 27, 1585, for on that
day the Douay Diaries register his departure from Rheims.
2 ' Transubstantiation Exploded, or an encounter with Richard the titularie
Bishop of Chalcedon ... by Daniel Featley, D.D. Whereunto is annexed a
publique and solemne disputation held in Paris with Christopher Bagshawe D.
in Theologie and Rector of Ave Marie College,' 1638.
3 Infra, p. 61.

Iii Introduction.
to pose as a censurer of his brethren. There was certainly at
this critical moment especial need of decent behaviour and
orderly rule among the clergy both inside and outside of prison.
It was all-important for Weston as representing his order to
secure the presidency within the waUs of this Zion towards
which the eyes of the faithful were so eagerly turned. His
manoeuvring with this object, as pictured by Bagshaw, is natural
and credible. He must become the leader, and must make it
appear that he was reluctantly driven to assume the position.
By a majority of suffrages and the aid of Garnet he succeeded,
and the two parties which had been watching each other with
increasing jealousy and distrust for the last seven years now
broke out into open hostility. It may be well here to notice
the shape which the story has gradually assumed under the
hands of some modem writers of a conciliatory tendency.
Father Morris, whose historical researches have added greatly
to our knowledge of the sufferiiigs of Roman cathohcs at this
period, under one point of view at least, and whose statements
will carry more than ordinary weight, refers in his Life of
Weston briefly and apologetically to what he terms this ' now
happily forgotten discord.' The division at Wisbeach, he
writes, ' had its origin in the strong desire of eighteen of the
priests there confined to render their imprisonment as conducive
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 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 159y, and on the 8th of November, Dudley
and Mush, two ancient missioners who had gone with Father

Origin ofthe Rupture. liii
Garnet's concurrence to Wisbeach as pacificators, were able to
write to him and say that the division was an end.' ^
The readers of the following pages, or indeed of Parsons'
Briefe Apologie, will be able to judge of the accuracy of this
account. It is, to begin with, evident that those who rejected
Weston's scheme of government did so, not merely in the exer
cise of their liberty to decline a work of supererogation, but on
the ground that the rule in question was proposed and carried
out as a practical condemnation, and, as they protested, an
unjust and scandalous condemnation, of the conduct of the
minority. The scheme was suspected from the beginning as
an attempt of the Jesuits to usurp a superiority over the
seminarists to whose aid Allen had invited them. This
superiority was moreover dreaded not alone from the dishke
of the secular clergy to be ruled by religious, but because of the
political projects which were foreseen to underlie the aim at
ecclesiastical power. Wlien Weston failed to obtain anything
like a unanimous consent to his coveted ' agency,' he pleaded
that a community Ufe and a stricter discipline were for himself
and his friends a necessity to preserve their own morals from
contagion, and as a protest against the scandals of their feUow-
prisoners w ith whom otherwise they would be deemed accom
plices. The dissentients were further exasperated by the mode
in which the Jesuit inveigled adherents to his faction. Mush,
the ' pacificator,' the tacitly recognised leader of the northern

1 Troubles, Second Series, p. 264. With this account may be compared the
less amiable misstatements of father Plowden : ' Of thirty-five catholic prisoners
confined in Wisbich castle, ten or twelve, partly priests, partly laymen, sided
with Bagshaw to disturb the tranquillity of the rest and to calumniate their friend
F. Weston. Four of these men repented and atoned for their misbehaviour.
It was remarked that most of the others died unhappily. One was struck with
an apoplexy and died senseless in the prison! Others renounced their religion and
practised the vile trade of informers and priest-catchers. Some of these were
afterwards executed for various crimes ' (' Remarks on a book entitled Memoirs
of Gregorio Panzani, by the Rev. Charles Plowden.' Li^ge, 1794. P- ii7)'

liv Introduction.

clergy, who was expressly invited to arbitrate between the con
tending parties, declares, in his book to the pope, that Weston
allured to his side some so-called 'covert Jesuits' who were
already bound by a secret understanding to the society, or were
deceived by the pretence of higher sanctity ; and that he bribed
others by distributing to them more than their share of the
alms which came into his hands, or by holding out to them
hopes of rewards and dignities to be given to them by favour of
the Jesuits in the event of a successful invasion of the country.
The introduction of the hobby-horse, with probably some
mummers or morris-dancers, into the castle hall at Christmas
for the amusement of the ' designed martyrs ' brought matters
to a crisis. Weston, shocked at such intolerable levity, with
drew with his nineteen foUowers (for besides the eighteen priests
on his side he had with him Thomas Pound, a recusant gentle
man, who had in one of his many prisons been admitted into
the society on the footing of a lay brother), and on the 2d of
February he dedicated his disciples to the Virgin. A few days
later the eighteen priests wrote from their retreat to Garnet
the much-discussed letter, enabling him to confirm Weston in
the leadership, which he, on condition of this confirmation, had
already accepted, and to give his approbation to the new rules.
These twenty-two rules imply what was elsewhere explicitly
avowed by Weston and Garnet and emphasized by Parsons, as
the justification of Weston's arbitrary measure, viz. 'the
whoredom, drunkenness and dicing,' not to speak of the beat
ing of priests to the shedding of blood and other enormities
practised or tolerated by the fourteen priests of the minority.
Weston now despatched Southworth to announce his resolu
tion to live apart from the rest to Bluet, who had been for
years the collector or treasurer of the imprisoned clergy, and
was nominally the chief of his opponents. Bluet was at the
same time required to give up to the majority the high table

Public Scandal. lv

and public kitchen. Bluet and Bagshaw protested. Weston
withdrew, shocked the old-fashioned Dolman by turning the
bishop of Ely's disused chapel into a buttery, made shift with
a private dining-room, engaged a new brewer, laid in a stock of
beer, and barred out his profane associates, three of whom
had been, to use the favourite phrase, ' confessors in chains ' for
twelve years, others for thirteen and fourteen, one for twenty-
two, and another (it is said) for no less than thirty years.
The sensation created among catholics in London by the
news ofthe schism, the story of the jesuited priest going mad
with remorse, the attempts at peace made in vain at Easter-
time by Dolman and Dr. Bavant, and again, later on, by Mush
and Dudley, the temporary success of a second effort by these
last when they had finaUy shamed Garnet into insisting upon
Weston's surrender, the foolish squabbles and the worse out
break which foUowed closely upon this momentary reconcilia
tion, and the rest of the extraordinary details are sufficiently
described in Bagshaw's narrative. But the question of how far
Weston's serious accusations against his brethren are well
founded is not easily answered. He as a ride avoided mention
ing names, preferring that the odium should attach indefinitely
to the whole of the party opposed to him.^ On the one hand it
is noteworthy that on both occasions when the affair was sub
mitted to the judgment of two arbitrators, one of them incUned,
at least, to the side of Weston. Bagshaw's account of the
priest being found in the chamber with Mary the maid is not
clear. He appears to be holding something back. But how
ever hasty Dr. Bavant may have been in jumping to a conclu
sion without examining the accused, he undoubtedly judged
that some grave fault had been committed. On the other hand
the habitual recklessness with which Parsons, either secretly to

1 These accusations appear to have been especially directed against three or
four priests {Petyt Mss. xlvii. 113).

Ivi Introduction.

the pope or publicly in his writings, blackens the character of
any individual who stands in his way, must make his denuncia
tions more than suspected. He probably believed all the
reports brought to him of the immoralities of men so widely
respected as Colleton, Bishop, and Mush with as much sincerity
as these or their associates believed that Parsons himself
was the promoter of assassination, or that father Walpole
had designed to poison the queen's saddle.
But though it may be difficult to suppose that a priest
occupying the position of Bluet could have been an habitual
drunkard, or that he administered sacraments in a state of in
toxication and had at one time fallen drunk into the Thames,
it is probable enough that there was some hard drinking at
Wisbeach, perhaps gambling with the alms of the faithful, and
still more probable that the priests occasionally came to blows.
Insolent and abusive language seems to have been common.
Bluet may have struck Ithell, who afterwards abandoned his
profession, or Wigges, who at a later period went over to the
Jesuit side. It is less Ukely, notwithstanding his alleged threat,
that he at any time ' trounced ' Dr. Bagshaw.
The rupture within the castle had already lasted for nearly
two years, the mutiny at the Roman college was at its height,
and the missionary body seeming on the point of faUing to
pieces, when the heads of the clergy outside of Wisbeach,
alarmed at the gravity of the situation, took counsel together
for the saving of their cause. Bluet and Bagshaw for a moment
fall into the background, and men of another character come to
the front. One of these is John Colleton, a devout, earnest,
melancholy and rather dull man, with some learning in
canon law, who had already been acknowledged as leader of
the southern clergy as Mush was of the northern. He was
now about fifty years of age. He became eventually dean of
the English chapter and vicar-general of the bishop of Chalce-

Colleton and Bishop. Ivii
don. In his youth, after leaving Oxford, he had entered the
noviciate of the Carthusians at Louvain. He was not however
suited for an order devoted to the choir. He was oppressed
with an irresistible sleepiness, and was incapable of singing a
note. His superiors tried upon him in vain six masters, and
when the last, a famous musician, reported that he could ' as
soon teach a cow to bellow in tune ' the fathers recommended
the young novice to choose another state of life.^ He then went
to Douai during the ' golden age ' of the seminary, and thence
was sent on the mission some years before the Jesuits entered
England. He was put on his trial with Campion and others
for the imaginary plot of which the scene was laid at Rheims
and Rome, but saved his life by proving that he had never been
in either place in his life. His name may yet be seen cut on
the walls of his chamber in the Tower of London, where he
remained till his banishment in 1585. He returned to England
two years later. His sufferings and zeal gave him great weight
with his brethren, while his loyalty to the state was as un
doubted as his fidelity to his creed. ^
Another priest who now takes a prominent place in the
story and who deserves special mention is William Bishop,
the well-known theologian and man of letters, afterwards (in
1623) promoted to the episcopate with jurisdiction over the
clergy of all England and Scotland.* In the Menology qf
Etigland and Wales, recently published by authority of the
Roman catholic hierarcliy, his merits are commemorated on

1 See Colleton's own candid account {Just Defence, p. 298 seq.'). Parsons
had cruelly hinted that the good man had violated his vows of religion.
^ Pitts, Angliae Scriptores. ' Vivit adhuc in vinculis clarus Domini Confessor
anno domini 1611.'
2 Some account of Dr. Bishop is given in the notes to p. 82 infra, but for
the lapsus pennae ' vicar apostolic ' read ' titular bishop of Chalcedon.' It is not
clear, from the language quoted p. 84 infra, whether Bishop is described by
Parsons as an ' incontinent person ' or merely as a ' maltster and horse courser.'

Iviii Introduction.

the 13th of April as of 'a servant of God' deserving the
veneration of the faithful. Practical talents of a high order
however these men did not seem to possess. Their abortive
attempt to form a voluntary association of secular priests
with one or two heads was, however, very significant of
the sense of their own helplessness and want of organiza
tion. They saw well enough that without some better unity
and discipline they must fall an easy prey to the schemes
of a dozen Jesuits well drilled and backed by all the resources of
a powerful society having its centre at Rome. They hoped at
least that their project when laid before the Roman court
would drive the pope more speedily to grant their request for
episcopal government. Meanwhile the association was intended
to provide funds, assign chaplaincies, settle disputes and pro
mote good manners. Especially was it to aim at the twofold
and diflScult object of maintaining peaceful relations with the
Jesuits, and of discountenancing disloyal publications and plots
against the crown.
The news of what looked like a formidable combination
against the society was at once despatched to Parsons at
Madrid. He saw in it the ghost of the old English jealousy of
Rome. The priests were aiming at a dangerous independence.
They wanted the election of their own prelates. Their leaders
were sinfully ambitious of mitres, and for this end were willing
to purchase a treacherous peace with the government. It is
characteristic of his indomitable energy and tenacity of purpose
that, nothing daunted with the triple revolt against his dictator
ship — in Rome, Flanders, and England — or with the vanishing
chances of a Spanish conquest, he was ready not only to take
command of the rebellious coUege at Rome, but to propose to
Clement the eighth a novel hierarchical scheme by which he
still hoped to ' carry under his girdle ' the seminary priests and
lay the English crown at the feet of the pope.

The Demand for Bishops. lix

V. The Appointment qf the Archpriest.
The idea of an archpriest governing the secular clergy in
subjection to the advice of a Jesuit superior seems to have
been, on the part of Parsons, a sudden inspiration. He had
himself felt and urged the need of bishops for the giving of
confirmation, the blessing of holy oils, and for other pontifical
functions. His aim had hitherto been merely to limit or con
trol the episcopal jurisdiction. Even in this last year, 1597,
he had drawn up a memorial, in which he advocated the
appointment, not indeed of a regular hierarchy with ordinary
jurisdiction, but of two bishops in partibus, the one to reside
in Belgium and the other in England, exercising a concurrent
jurisdiction over the whole country. These bishops were to
have a number of assistants, who were in part to be chosen at
Rome, and, under the name of archpriests or archdeacons,
were to act as episcopal delegates in the provinces.^ Strange
to say, the opposition to an episcopate of any sort came
chiefly from the Roman court. The notion of a poor bishop
wandering in disguise and hiding in garrets seemed to be re
pugnant to the papal sense of dignity, or to be dreaded as
likely to give scandal to the faithful.^ AVhen in 1580 bishop
GoldweU could not or dared not enter England, though com
missioned to do so, there was no attempt to find a substitute
for him ; and the bishop himself freely enough expostulated
with Gregory xiii. for his inaction or indifference in the matter.
' I cannot but marvel,' he wrote, ' that after God has given
your holiness grace to, as it were, plant anew and support the
cathoUc faith in that kingdom, you make so many difficulties
' See TurnbuU's notes to Sergeant's Account of the English Chapter (p. ii),
where the memorial is printed (p. 123).
^ Simpson's Campion, p. 106.

Ix Introduction.

about creating three or four titular bishops to preserve and
propagate it.' It was perhaps a mistake on the part of Rome
not to have filled up the vacant sees from the beginning, and
so to have ignored the Elizabethan appointments. But to
send in missionary bishops now, after raising such high hopes
of the immediate reduction of the kingdom at the first onset
of the seminarists and their allies, might have looked too much
like a confession of defeat. It is, in any case, not probable
that Gregory xiii., or Pius v., or Sixtus, was fearful of exaspe
rating Elizabeth, or had any tender regard for the susceptibili
ties of her protestant subjects.
Parsons was, however, quick enough to turn the petitions
of the clergy and the hesitation of the papal court to his own
account. To allow the priests a choice in the selection of their
superiors, whether bishops or not, would be fatal to Jesuit
ascendancy.! gy^ ^ master he was determined they should
have. In hasty counsel with half a dozen of his friends at
Rome, he hit upon George Blackwell as the man for his pur
pose, and elaborated the device of the archpriest, which he
recommended to cardinal Cajetan. Clement viii. very pro
bably saw in the scheme, or in as much of it as was laid before
him, no more than a means to put an end to scandalous dissen
sions.^ But Blackwell's one-sided and extravagant eulogium
of the fathers (printed in the Appendix, p. 137), should alone
have been sufficient to disqualify him for the delicate task of
acting as peace-maker or judge in so heated a quarrel ; and if
Parsons' primary object had been the restoration of ecclesi
astical harmony and decorum, he would have seen this himself.
But political expediency was with him before everything.
Ehzabeth's death could not be far off, and it was all-important
' He is reported to have admitted as much.
^ So at least thought Lingard (History, 6th edit., vol. v. ch. ix.), remarking,
however, that ' the projectors of the measure had a great political object.'

Political Objects. Ixi

to Parsons that at that critical moment the whole influence
of the catholic body should be concentrated in the hands of
one man attached to his party. A memorial drawn up in
favour of the archpriest proclaimed that 'the principal
reason of the institution was not only to preserve union
during the hfetime of the queen, but much more, to procure a
catholic successor cfter her death, in conformity with certain
h-iefs which his holiness has already most prudently addressed
to the catholics.'' ^ This object was well discemed by cardinal
d'Ossat and by the EngUsh government ; and even Pasquin at
Rome is said to have made fun of the Jesuit's state-craft by the
satirical advertisement, ' If there be any man that will buy the
kingdom of England, let him repair to a merchant in a black
square cap in the city, and he shall have a very good penny
worth thereof.' ^
BlackweU was now about fifty years of age, and it was just
twenty-four years since he had abandoned his feUowship at
Trinity college, Oxford, and gone over to Douai. His charac
ter and abilities had hitherto gained for him great respect.
Ely, who knew him well and had been with him at Oxford, at
Douai, and on the mission, writes of him : ' If the bishop or
archbishop had been made by election, I should have given my
voice to him as soon as to any man I know in England ; ' but
adds, ' Honores mutant mores, if all be true that is set down in
the priests' appeal, quantumque mutatus ab illo. It is not
the same M. Blackwell I knew him to be ... in those his

^ Lingard, vol. v. p. 313. Tierney also (iii. 47) quotes, from a Stonyhurst
paper, the statement : ' La stessa institutione (del arciprete) fu drizzata speci-
almente alia promotione delli disegni del re di Spagna contra quel ehe alhora
era il vero pretensore, et adesso e il possessore, di nostra corona.'
2 Colleton prints this in large type {yust Defence, p. 241). But Parsons, or
the scribe employed by him, writes from Rome (June 1602) : ' It is a ridiculous
fable that was written by Pasquin ; we hear of no such matter here ' {Cal. S.P.
Dom. Eliz. CCLXXXIV. 89).

Ixii Introduction.

answers and doings he showeth neither quietness, modesty, nor
learning ; but rather haughtiness, severity, and much indiscre
tion, tossing the censures of the church like tennis balls for
every default, threatening the taking away of faculties, suspen
sion, interdiction, or excommunication. Worthily was he
checked in his holiness' last bull for his over-much severity'
{Briefe Notes, p. 104).
The new constitution was notified to Blackwell in a letter
addressed to him by the protector, Cajetan. The more sacred
the cause, remarks the cardinal, the more violent are the at
tempts of the devil to spoil it. In England Satan has not
feared to assail catholics and some missionary priests 'who
hitherto have shown themselves leaders or chieftains of the
rest,' in order to make them to bicker one with another and
break down the wall of union. Similar mischief had recently
been essayed at the Roman coUege, but was there remedied by
the high wisdom and fatherly love of his holiness. With the
view of spreading elsewhere the peace and quietness there now
enjoyed,^ the pope 'hath by special commandment given
charge unto us that we should employ ourselves for the procur
ing of this end with all diligence . . . forasmuch therefore as
some men think it would not a little avail for this purpose if
a subordination were estabUshed among the English priests —
and the reasons yielded by the priests themselves for this same
object were approved by our holy father.^ We following the
most godly and most prudent will of his holiness, have decreed
to ordain the same ; and for the directing and governing those
priests of the English nation who converse in the kingdoms of

' ' Great peace,' remarks Colleton in a marginal note (p. S)> 'when two
cannot speak together without a third, nor the students of one chamber recreate
with their fellows of another chamber.'
'^ Colleton notes : ' We know not to this day who were these priests, or what
were the reasons they yielded.'

T'he Constitutive Letters. Ixiii

England and Scotland, or shall hereafter reside there, while
this our ordination shall continue, we choose you, to whom for
the time we commit our stead and office.' The cardinal pro
ceeds to grant to Blackwell ' the title and authority of an arch
priest over all the seminary secular priests, with faculties to
direct, admonish, reprehend, and also chastise those priests, to
remove them from one residence to another, to determine con
troversies and repress schisms.' He nominates six assistants,
viz. Drs. Bavant and Henshaw, Nicholas Tirwit, Henry Shaw,
George Birkhead, and James Standish. Finally, he reminds
the archpriest that the principal intention of the pope and
himself is to secure peace and concord between brethren and
priests, particularly with the fathers of the society, for ' whereas
they have no kind of jurisdiction, nor pretend to have over the
secular priests,^ it seems a manifest stratagem of the devil,
designed for the overthrow of the whole English cause that any
catholic should excite emulation against them, when contrari
wise all affection and reverence should be shown them.' The
more private letter of instructions which accompanied the
document, commanding the archpriest in all grave affairs to
take counsel with the superior of the Jesuits, bears the same
date, March 7, 1598.
How so important a measure, involving the institution, as
Ely declares, of a jurisdiction unheard of in the previous
annals of the church, came to be promulgated without bull or
brief or any papal document, by the mere letters of a cardinal
whose office of protector, as such, gave him no canonical supe
riority, has had no sufficient explanation. It was reported by
some that the pope would not himself impose the new order
for fear of having his authority set at nought.^ Others saw

1 ' Would this were true,' remarks Colleton.
- Signor Acarisio declared to Bishop and Charnock that he had heard this
explanation from the pope's own lips. Colleton, p. 34.

Ixiv Introduction.

grounds for believing that the measure was intended to be only
temporary ; and on trial, to be withdrawn or made permanent,
according to the wishes of the clergy.^ It was certainly the
interest of Parsons not to give the appointment too fixed a
character, and to keep the power which made and could un
make the archpriest in the hands of a friendly cardinal. But
in any case, it was the absence of any proper credentials on
the part of the protector which gave to the priests, who were
afterwards known as the 'appellants,' their main ground for
disputing the canonical vaUdity of the ' Constitutive letters.'
The letters reached Blackwell, May 9, 1598. He at once
sent for Colleton and Charnock, and formally announced to
them his appointment and powers. They were permitted to see
but not to take copies of the letters. Blackwell was detected
in quoting, as part of his commission, faculties which he did
not possess, a procedure which Parsons afterwards justified on
the ground that the archpriest could truly say he had these
powers, seeing that he had only to write to Rome to obtain
them. The suspicions of the priests were aroused. They
feared some new trick of Parsons, and with reason doubted if
the orders really proceeded from the pope. In the first place,
says Colleton (p. 33), ' the clergy had quite recently received
assurances from Clement, that he would not appoint any govern
ment in the country before the good priests in England (so
gracious were his holinesses words) should advertise him what
kind of government were fittest and best sorted with the
miseries of our church.' It was notorious that the appointment
was made without the consent or even knowledge of any but a
handiul of priests at Rome. Moreover, it did not appear likely
that the pope, if he were made acquainted with the facts,
would inflict upon the suffering church a superior with such

' Relatio Compendiosa, pp. 25, 26.

Validity of the Letters Disputed. Ixv
excessive penal powers ; or, for the appeasing of the present
dissensions, would set over the secular clergy a ruler who was a
creature or the nominee of the adverse party in the quarrel. For
the archpriest could remove at will priests from their residences,
and this, while it enabled him to give profitable and influential
posts to his favourites, would often involve the destitution or
capture of those who were in his bad graces. He could take
away their faculties without trial, and this under the circum
stances meant starvation ; and while he had no authority what
ever over the Jesuits, he was bound to consult their superior.
This appeared tantamount to placing the seculars under the
entire control of Garnet. ^ Was it probable, too, they argued,
that the pope would unnecessarily exasperate the English
government and risk the increase of persecution by imposing
upon the priests a scheme which had so evidently emanated
from the busy brain of that notorious traitor, Parsons ? ^
In fact, the letters were founded upon false information,
and this was enough to destroy their validity. But above all,
it was argued with considerable force, on strictly canonical
grounds, that the appointment of a prelate possessed of a juris
diction and faculties in some respects exceeding those of a
bishop, and extending over the subjects of two separate king
doms, could not be validly instituted without apostolic letters
duly attested; and furthermore, to receive such a superior
unless he produced authentic papal credentials would consti
tute on the part of the clergy a grave offence. What, asks
Champney, would be thought of an EngUsh nobleman sending

1 Or, as another priest less temperately expressed it, ' All catholics must
hereafter depend upon Blackwell, and he upon Garnet, and Garnet upon
Parsons, and Parsons upon the Devil, who is the author of all rebellions,
treasons, murders, disobedience, and all such designmenls as this wicked Jesuit
hath hitherto designed against her majesty, her safety, her crown, and her life
(Sparing Discoverie, p. 70).
2 Relatio Compendiosa, p. 29.

Ixvi Introduction.

letters into Ireland to proclaim the establishment there of a
new government on the strength of his bare word that he was
empowered to do so by the queen ; and what of those who
submitted to his claim, and placed themselves at his disposal ?^
The reasons which induced a number of the clergy to
' stand off' are detailed with abundant references to legal and
theological authorities and with wearisome iteration in half a
dozen treatises. A paper in the Petyt mss. (xlvii. 93) gives at
length thirty reasons to show ' That we cannot in conscience,
policie, nor equitie, admitt of Mr. Blackw. archipresbyterie.'
Colleton reduces these reasons to five, but takes three hundred
pages 4to to develop them. Ely, a professed canonist, treats
the question with more conciseness and vigour, and insists, in
replying to Parsons and Lister, that Blackwell was an intruder
and unjust possessor, and all that he did was of no force, and
that the ' united priests,' as Parsons calls his adherents, were
punishable for receiving the archpriest before his appointment
was confirmed by the pope's brief.^ ' Mary,' he exclaims, ' if
you can show me that a protector hath, without bulls by the
' Copies of certain Discourses, pp. 21-30; cf. Relatio Compendiosa, pp. 17-26.
It was argued on the other side that the dissentient priests were bound to believe
the cardinal on his word, and that they could not but admit it to be morally
certain that the pope had given to Cajetan the requisite authority. Yet, without
impugning Cajetan's veracity, it was possible to suppose he had mistaken or
exceeded his powers. A somewhat parallel plea was set up, two centuries later,
by Dr. Milner and his ultramontane friends, in opposition to the rescript of
monsignor Quarantotti bidding catholics accept the veto proposed by the
British government. Pius vn. with his cardinals was in captivity or exile, and
the clerical partisans of the 'schismatical bill,' writes Milner, 'through gross
falsehoods and malicious representations . . . fraudulently obtained ' the rescript
which on that account was pronounced 'irregular.' In this document, Quaran
totti, secretary of the propaganda, declares : ' We who in the absence of the
supreme pastor are placed over the concerns of the sacred missions, and for that
purpose are invested with full pontifical powers , . . do decree,^ etc. It turned
out that Quarantotti was in error as to the powers delegated to him. His action,
at least, was subsequently disavowed by the pope. The appellant priests had
ground for hope that Clement vill. would thus disavow Cajetan.
^ Briefe Notes, pp. 1 16-150.

The Office of an Archpriest. Ixvii
express commandment of his holiness, instituted a new dignity
which was never in England or in the church of Christ before,
then will I burn my law books and quit that profession, for it
is against law, against custom, and against the style of the
court of Rome. Be not offended if I term it a new dignity,
never heard of before in Christ's church since Christ's ascension.
I mean for the ampleness and extension of his jurisdiction.
For an archpriest to have as great and ample, yea, greater,
jurisdiction over all the priests of two realms as had all the
bishops of those realms when they were catholic, is new and
extraordinary. It is a mockery that you [Parsons] call it an
ancient dignity in Chrisfs church. Who knoweth it not ? The
question is not of the ancientness of the dignity but of this
new and never-before-heard-of jurisdiction and authority. It
is an ancient dignity in Christ's church, you say. I confess,
but with all I say, it is the lowest and basest dignity in Christ's
church. It is such as followeth. His jurisdiction did not
further extend than the church. His office is to govern the
choir, to see that the service be decently said ; and in the
bishop's absence he must sing mass upon holy and festival days.
It is his office to begin the service or to appoint another to
begin it. To his office it appertaineth to see that sick persons
die not without confession and receiving the blessed sacrament
. . . An archpriest's authority extendeth no further than the
church's door. . . . None but the pope, and that by his buUs,
can institute or erect a new dignity or office in God's church.'
This firm position, however, was only taken up at a later
stage of the controversy when the appellants were arguing in
self-defence against the charge that they were guilty of schism
and had incurred excommunication.
They at first proceeded tentatively and with caution. They
asked Blackwell to send to Rome to make further inquiry of
the pope's wishes, or to obtain satisfactory confirmation of the

Ixviii Introduction.

letters. He scouted the proposal and insisted that his appoint
ment was final and without appeal. They then determined
to send a deputation to Rome on their own account. Colleton
summoned Bishop from Warwickshire, and proposed that he
and Robert Charnock should undertake the somewhat perilous
journey. Before starting the two priests had more than one
interview with Blackwell. He would not prohibit the journey,
but warned them significantly of the prisons that awaited
them.! They protested that they did not reject his authority,
but merely asked for delay until they could ascertain more
certainly the pope's mind.
The delegates were poorly equipped for such a mission.
They had no recognised chief. They had little opportunity to
confer together or to agree on a definite policy. They ran the
risk, especially if they carried with them compromising papers,
of being captured as priests by the pursuivants before they could
cross the Channel. There is not a sign of tlieir having any
understanding with the queen's council. When the queen, a few
years later, so much as lifted a little finger on their behalf, the
fact and the consequences were plain enough. The priests had
not the forethought to secure the protection or aid of tlie French
king. They went without commendatory letters from Black-
well, and probably made their way, as a rule, through even
catholic countries in the disguises adopted by them in England.
Their commission was generally to give information to the
pope of the true state of affairs in England, to do their best
with Parsons and the pope to obtain a withdrawal of the arch-
priest's appointment, and to get bishops in his place. But
each of their friends had his say, and the delegates imprudently
burdened themselves with many impolitic complaints and peti
tions. The principal objects of the deputation, as conceived
! See Charnock's letter to Bagshaw, with Bishop's postscript, infra, p. 83,
note. The deputies did not leave England until after August 9.

The Mission to Rome. Ixix

by wiser heads, are weU expressed in a letter written by Mush
to monsignor Morro or Moro, a prelate who had shown some
friendliness towards the aggrieved students when he had visited
the Roman college with cardinal Sega, at the time of the recent
commotions. The writer, in the name of many other priests,
petitions, 1st, for bishops, to be elected by the common suf
frages of the clergy and not by Jesuits only ; 2dly, that the
govemment of the English coUege should be intrusted to
EngUsh priests, or at least to some religious order other than
that of the Jesuits ; 3dly, that the pope should prohibit and
suppress aU books dealing with matters of state which tend
to increase the rigour of the penal laws ; 4th, that the clergy
should be permitted to make for themselves certain rules
adapted to the special circumstances of the mission, such as
were proposed by the association.^
The news of the intended embassy had reached the pope
through Parsons, who was in communication with Bellar
mine, afterwards cardinal, then in attendance upon Clement
VIII. at Ferrara. The pope bade BeUarmine write to Parsons
for further particulars, telUng him to let the two priests
know that if they presumed to come to Ferrara they should
at once be thrown into prison. This BeUarmine did on
October 17, and Parsons, in the belief that the priests would
travel through Flanders, forwarded the letter there, but it did
! The letter, dated 27th[May 1598, is printed in the Declaratio Motuum,
pp. 122-142. Parsons, whose object was to misrepresent and caricature the
petitions ofthe ' ambassadors,' pretends to believe that this temperate and able
letter was never sent to Rome ; but see Mush's remarks to Bagshaw, infra.
Appendix G. Mr. Gillow (Diet. vol. i. p. 475) inadvertently describes the
recipient of the letter as Thomas More, the agent of the clergy in Rome.
The clergy had no agent in Rome at this time, and More was not appointed to
that office for many years later. Parsons calls the prelate in question ' Mon
signor Morra, now bishop ' (Apol. i. 16S), and A. P., in his Reply, refers to him
as ' Mon Seignior Morto (sic), a bishop in Italy who was joined with doctor
Lewes, bishop of Cassana, in many affairs Ofthe church ' (p. 313).

Ixx Introduction.

not reach them, as they travelled by way of France.^ Cajetan
also wrote from Rome (November 10) to Blackwell, charging
him, in the name of the pope, to send information as to the
character of the deputies and of the other priests of their
party. Bishop and Charnock reached Rome in safety on Decem
ber 11, and went at once to the English college. Parsons
received them with undisguised anger, and was with difficulty
prevailed upon to grant them the usual hospitality accorded
to pilgrims. The next morning he informed Martin Array
and Dr. Haydock that they were nominated by the archpriest
as his proctors, and that on his behalf they were to treat with
the deputies. ' On that day,' writes Haydock, ' we gave them
their welcome in such sort as I suppose their former brags . . . are
prettily abated;' and he boasts that they ' remained melancholy
all that night.' ^ After five days they were expelled the college,
on the ground that they had attempted to disturb the peace
of the house, and were spreading false information regarding
English affairs. These charges are, however, vehemently denied
by the appellants. The very day they were dismissed the
college they visited the vice-protector, Borghese. Cajetan
' Mr. Maziere Brady (Episc. Succession, iii. 58), followed by Mr. Gillow
(art. Charnock), says that the pope sent word to the deputies that whenever
his commands should reach them they should stop their journey, but that they
nevertheless persisted in their design. The statement in the text is made on
the authority of Parsons' Apologie, f. 120. Compare A. P. Reply, pp. 231-241.
^ Letter of Haydock (dated December 19), reporting his proceedings as
proctor, in the Petyt MSS. Three out of the first five letters written by the two
proctors — the last is dated February 20, 1599 — are preserved in this collection,
vol. xlvii. ff. 123-135. With these letters, and Parsons' account of the transac
tions at Rome during the next five months (Apologie, chap, ix., and his letter to
Bishop and Charnock, October 1599, printed in the Copies of certain Discourses),
must be compared John Bennet's censure upon this letter, and Dr. Bishop's own
answer to it, both printed in the Copies ; an Answear unto the particulars
objectea in the Apology against Master Doctor Byshope, printed with Ely's Briefe
Notes, and the 14th chapter of the Reply to u. Notorious Libell by A. P., which
last contains much valuable information.

The Deputies Imprisoned, Dec. 1598. Ixxi

was away from Rome with the pope. Borghese promised
they should have an audience of his hohness before they were
judged. But the cardinal assured Haydock, the proctor, who
had immediately foUowed them, that the pope would certainly
punish them as they deserved. Cajetan, whom they saw on
his retum to Rome, December 21st, told them to draw up their
case in writing. They now made an attempt to gain the good
offices of d'Ossat, but, as they brought no letters from the
French king, the ambassador let them know that he could
not act officially, but would do what he could as a friend to
gain for them the desired audience of his holiness. The pope
had meanwhile returned from Ferrara on December 20. The
overflow of the Tiber, which put half Rome under water, gave
the priests a few days' respite. But after nightfaU, on December
29, the feast of St. Thomas a Becket, they were surprised by
Parsons rushing breathlessly into their lodgings with the news
that the papal officers were at the door to carry them to prison,
but that he (Parsons) had interceded for them that they should
be spared so public an infamy and be committed instead to
his own custody in the EngUsh college. By this means, remarks
Tierney, Parsons' main object of preventing the pope from
getting information was secured.
The two priests were at once made close prisoners, ' in the
best rooms of the college,' says their gaoler. They were locked
up in separate apartments, of which Parsons kept the keys.
They were not permitted to say or hear mass. They were
allowed no writing materials, and every scrap of paper they
had brought was taken from them.^ Parsons assisted at the

1 From these papers Parsons reduced the demands of the deputies to eleven
articles, which he gives, with his own interpretation and inferences, in a docu
ment entitled ' Puncta principalia et secreta quse habent in mandatis duo sacer
dotes inquieti ex Anglia venientes ut ex literulis et memorialibus patet qus
secum attulerunt 29 Decembris 1598' (Petyt MSS.).

Ixxii Introduction.

ransacking of their baggage, and held up to the derision of
bystanders ' a nightcap, with a border of black silk two fingers
deep, a dozen of silk points fine socks, a sword, and a dagger.'
Charnock's handkerchiefs and ' night coifs,' says Parsons, ' were
so wrought with silk and gold lace as they might seem to serve
for any secular prince in the world, and the socks of his feet
were of so fine hoUand, as the commissary said he was well
assured that his holiness never wore such for his shirts.' ^
The news of this strange treatment reached cardinal d'Ossat.
In a" paper, written and signed by Bluet and preserved in the
Petyt collection,^ it is said that the ambassador ' went to the
pope and told him that in the imprisonment of these two men
he had done that whereof no example could be given in any
age. " For," saith he, " if they had come in their own names
they had deserved to be heard ; but now, coming in the names
of so many, and to be imprisoned unheard, is such an example
as never was seen. Therefore, I beseech your holiness, give
them audience." Whereupon the pope promised that they
should have audience. But forthwith cometh the Spanish
ambassador (suborned by Parsons) and dissuadeth the pope
from what he had promised, saying that the two priests were
seditious, and for that cause came to sow sedition ; and further
said that if he would give them audience he would alienate his
master, the Spanish king, from his affection to his holiness.
Hereupon he denied audience again. The second time the
French ambassador came and urged as before, and again audi
ence was granted, which being known to the Jesuits they pro
cured the said Spanish ambassador to come again to dissuade
the pope, affirming that it was a matter of greater importance

1 A. P. Reply, p. 328.
' It was printed by Watson in his preface to the Important Considerations.
Parsons in'his Manifestation laughs at the story. W. C. (p. 72) refers to Nicholas
Fitzherbert, formerly cardinal Allen's secretary, as able to vouch for its truth.

The Trial. Ixxiii

than he conceived, and that he should not give the audience if
he intended to entertain his master's good will. By this means
they were excluded from doing their message.'
The judicial proceedings which now took place in the
coUege were curious. The prisoners were, in the first instance,
examined by Parsons and Acarisio, canon of St. John
Lateran, the papal fiscal. Charnock's examination began on
the 4th of January and ended on the 4th of February. That
of Bishop, which was conducted separately (for the deputies
were allowed no intercourse of any kind with each other) began
on January 10, and was over on the 25th of the same month.
They were allowed no counsel ; but Father Tichborne, the
Jesuit prefect of studies, was deputed to act as their notary.
Parsons made much of the discrepancies in the motives assigned
by the two priests for their mission ; and they complained that
their depositions were inaccurately taken down by the notary,
and that Parsons altered or amended them as he pleased.
It was a point of importance to deprive the commission of
all appearance of authenticity and to strip the delegates of
their assumed character as appeUants to the Roman see. They
represented, it was urged, no one but themselves or a mere
handful of discontented men. They came with no credentials
beyond a number of 'tickets or scrolls,'^ generally without seals
or addresses — scraps of paper — such as one would not deign to
use, so said a cardinal, as a cover for the meanest vessel. Mr.
Bishop, writes Parsons, 'being asked about his mission, who
sent him .? with what authority '^ why he and his fellow were
sent above the rest .? and other like points, was somewhat
troubled in answering, saying, Nescio quis fuerit, etc. I know
not who was the first author of this mission, nor know I for
certain why we two were chosen for this mission above the rest.

1 Apologie, f. 133.

Ixxiv Introduction.

. . . These are his own words, and by this we may perceive
what an authentical mission and commission this was ' {Apol. f.
132). Parsons, however, suppresses Bishop's answer to the first
questions. Who sent him, and with what authority ? This
answer, which is not wanting in dignity, is supplied from
Bishop's own copy, by his apologist in Ely's book, and was as
follows : —
' There was not in England either prince or catholic magis
trate to give us any customary letters of credence. Nor any
noble lay catholic could write for us to his hoUness without
imminent danger of his liberty and life. And we have no other
ecclesiastical prelate besides M. archpriest, who neither was
confirmed in that authority, nor was it to be expected that he
should write in our commendation, knowing full well that we
went about the moderation of his power. Whom, nevertheless,
we gave to understand of our enterprise, and he would not
prohibit it. We bring with us the humble petitions of nine-
and-twenty ^ learned and virtuous priests, which were for the
most part addressed unto his holiness in form of supplication.
Seven of the ancientest of them committed the charge of pre
senting of them unto us, as their letters do bear witness.
Neither are small pieces of paper, brought out of an island
where most narrow search is made at every port, to be smally
esteemed ; which of purpose we made choice of for the faster
conveyance, misdoubting nothing less than that the virtue of a
testimony shall lie in the largeness of the paper wherein it was
written. As soon as we came into a catholic country, we got
letters of commendations from the right R. bishop of Paris, in

^ Compare with this the report of Martin Array : ' These men being
pressed upon their oaths to say how many they knew assuredly to be of their
party . . . they answered, "some twelve they knew, but presumed of more,"
which made the commissary to laugh and yet to be angry also, to see such per
versity ofa few ' (Letter of Jan. i8. Petyt mss.).

Charges of Ambition. Ixxv
the name of cardinal Gondy, his uncle, unto cardinal Aldo-
brandino, his holiness' nephew. Thus furnished we came, pre
suming that his holiness' grave wisdom and experience would
not stand upon such formalities with us coming out of a
country where was neither magistrate nor notary catholic.
Neither were the humble requests of fewer priests than they
to be contemned, considering with what peril of their lives, and
with how small worldly recompense they had a long time
laboured in our blessed Lord's vineyard, principally when some
of them were of the most ancient, best qualified, and best
esteemed priests of England.'
As a proof that the deputies were ambitious of securing for
themselves bishoprics. Parsons alleged that one of the papers
found upon them was addressed ' To your LL."" If the fact
were admitted, it could hardly be regarded as furnishing evi
dence against either of the two priests. But they both stoutly
denied it, and repeatedly asked, but in vain, for a sight of the
document, which Charnock challenged as a forgery. John
Bennet, indeed, supposes that the superscription in question
was that of a letter to Charnock written by Bagshaw, who was
accustomed to address his friend by an alias beginning with the
letter L. Bagshaw wrote his m with a long downward stroke,
which resembled, or could be made to resemble y. Hence, it
was suggested that, by supplying a second L, the innocent
'To fyjr. L' could by an adroit penman be easily converted
into the incriminating ' To ^r LL."" ^
The conclusion of these grave contentions and proceedings
was duly reported to the pope, who then commissioned the
two cardinals, Cajetan and Borghese, with the fiscal, to hear
the whole depositions read in presence of the prisoners, and to
learn if they had anything else to say ; for it was evident that

Copies Of certain Discourses, p. 127.

Ixxvi Introduction.

there was much in the papers found upon them which had not
yet been touched upon.
The cardinals accordingly held their court on the 17th
February in the English college. The prisoners, who were, as
before, called in separately, swore that they had nothing to
say. They were justified in this, says John Bennet, seeing that
they were commissioned to speak jointly and in concert, not
separately. After a time they were again summoned, and this
time together, with the two proctors. The two deputies, who
had not seen each other for seven weeks, embraced. The proc
tors now deUvered up in dumb show a libel which was read by
Tichborne. The accused asked at once for a copy, that they
might make answer to it. Thereupon the proctors threw them
selves upon their knees before the cardinals, and begged that in
the interests of peace and charity the request might be refused.
The cardinals refused accordingly.^ The proctors wrangled
awhile with the prisoners, and charged them with insisting that
the cardinal protector should be changed. The two priests
were then solemnly admonished by the cardinals, who declared
that they found no grave fault in them save that they had
taken this journey unadvisedly, and had thereby given great
scandal to many in England. The priests expressed their
regret that any such scandal should have been taken, and were
then recommitted to their chambers to await the sentence of
the pope.
The indiscreet eagerness which Bishop had shown to reply
to his prosecutors' libel was the cause of the continued strict-
1 There is a copy of the libel, ' Objecta de seditione,' etc., in the Petyt MSS.,
and with it the original draft in Charnock's handwriting of the answer, drawn up
by him at a later time, entitled ' The Aunswer to the Lybell w'='> 'iA'- Richard
Haddocke D. of Diuinity and M"^- Martin Aray both preists and proctors for the
Archpriest preferred to the two Cardinals Caetan and Burghesius 17 P'ebr, 1599,
in the English CoUedg at Rome, agaynst the two preists M'-, William Bishop
and Rob. Charnock, at what tyme (notwithstanding it was earnestly desyred by
them that then they myght make their aunswere unto it), they could not have it.'

Sentence of Banishment. Ixxvii

ness with which these helpless men were still kept apart and
under restraint. But shortly after the trial they were on one
occasion, by the indulgence of Parsons and with due precau
tions, permitted to meet and take recreation with the students.
Bishop was guarded by the minister or vice-rector of the coUege
and by Father Owen, the confessor; Charnock, by Father
Tichborne and Parsons himself. The prisoners were then
stationed between their guards on opposite sides of the college
for an hour and more. They were told that this was to be the
beginning of their liberty. But the experiment seemed to have
been considered dangerous, for they were again kept in close
confinement for another six weeks.
Meanwhile a papal brief was issued, dated April 6, approv
ing, confirming, and giving the fuUest authority to the letters
of Cajetan appointing the archpriest. On April 21 the sen
tence of the cardinals was pronounced upon the two priests.
Bishop was banished to Paris, and Charnock to Lorraine. They
were forbidden, under severe penalties, to return to England,
Ireland, or Scotland, and they were put upon their oaths to
observe these injunctions. They were not to travel together
or to leave Rome on the sarae day ; and, notwithstanding their
entreaties to be allowed at least the consolation of each other's
company on the road, it was sternly refused them. They were
not given a penny for their maintenance in exile. Charnock
remained for a short time at Pont-a-Mousson, a guest of
-Arthur Pitts, the dean of Liverdun. He was also befriended
by Dr. Ely and Father Darbyshire, but could get no sufficient
means of support. He therefore soon joined Bishop at Paris,
and took his degree of bachelor in divinity at the Sorbonne.
His reasons for considering his sentence as no longer binding
are given in a letter to cardinal Borghese, printed in the
Relatio Compendiosa. Pitts wrote in his favour and com
mendation to BlackweU, AprU 11, 1600 (Petyt mss. xlvU. 224).

Ixxviii Introduction.

Bishop's apology will be found in Ely's book. But the arch
priest was not easy to appease. Charnock had no sooner
quitted Lorraine than the archpriest fell upon him with his
censures : ' Rob. Charn,ock having rashly violated this decree
[of banishment] I hereby declare him suspended and warn all
the faithful to avoid him, and nullify all his acts as a priest '
{Cal. S. P. Dom. Eliz., cccxxv. 115). They both, however,
found canonical pretexts for evading their punishment, and of
returning to England before a year had gone by. Bishop took
the opportunity of his sojourn at Paris to obtain his doctor's
cap, in spite of the apparent prohibitions of the brief of 1597.-'
During the nine months which had elapsed between the
departure of the two ' ambassadors ' and the arrival in England
of the brief of confirmation, the exasperation of party feeling
had reached a point at which all decency and self-respect
seemed thrown aside. In the winter of 1598-9 there came a
crisis in the quarrel at Wisbeach, which had now raged, almost
without intermission, for four years. Bagshaw and Bluet had
no interest in concealing their aversion to the Jesuits and their
policy, even if concealment had been possible. The schism
among the prisoners, the scandalous charges brought by the
one faction against the other, the licence which prevailed in
disregard of prison discipline, were the talk of the whole
country. The puritans were murmuring, and the government
could remain passive no longer. Weston and several of his
friends were removed to the more rigorous custody of the
Tower. This was said to have been the treacherous work of
Bagshaw, and Parsons charged him with procuring his own
removal to London in order to treat with the council as soon
as he heard of the imprisonment of the two messengers at
Rome. Bagshaw's own statement, that he was sent for by the

See note p. 109, infra.

Bagshaw's Dealings with the Council. Ixxix
council, oddly enough, on suspicion of being concerned in the
alleged conspiracy of Father Walpole and Squiers to poison
the queen, is abundantly confirmed by the state papers. He
was, indeed, sent to the Gatehouse in October 1598, before the
arrival of the deputies in Rome, and he remained a prisoner in
London until the following February. But although Bagshaw
could truly affirm that his visit to London was under compul
sion, and had no such motive as that alleged by Parsons, there
can be no doubt that, in order to free himself from suspicion,
or to obtain for himself and his friends the favour of the
government,' he gave valuable information regarding the points
at issue between his party and that of Parsons and the arch
priest. Harsher measures towards Weston and his adherents,
then in custody, or, rather, more lenient dealings with priests
who could be trusted as hostile to the Spanish claims and
willing to betray any plots against the throne, were the natural
results. The memorandum endorsed ' 19 October 1598 — Bag
shaw of Fisher's coming from Rome,' etc. {Hist. MSS. Report,
xi. pt. vii. p. 263), was probably intended for the council ; and
another paper (also belonging to the Petyt collection) contain
ing ' Heads of instructions for Fisher on his being sent to Rome
to oppose the Jesuits, and to deal with Cardinal Toleto to prose
cute his purpose for removing them out of the English college
of Rome and out of England,' is subscribed: 'From D. B. to
Mr. Wade, in presence of the B. of L. and Mr. Lieft,' which
certainly looks like a communication made by Dr. Bagshaw to
the clerk of the council, the bishop of London, and perhaps
the lieutenant of the Tower.
Other priests, about this time, made on their own account
certain tentative overtures to the government. In April 1599,
the notorious William Watson, an erratic, vainglorious, and
not altogether veracious priest, who had, however, suffered a
severe imprisonment and cruel tortures from Topcliff'e, wrote

Ixxx Introduction.

' to the attorney general, or, in his absence, to William Waad,' a
1 long epistle in which he pleaded for his liberty, on the ground
I of having been maligned and persecuted by the Jesuits because
of his opposition to their designs. Watson states that he had
made sundry collections for a book ' which was meant to go
only among catholics to show what men the Jesuits were, and
-whereunto their ambitious Spanish pretences did incline.'
After consulting Bagshaw, he wrote, before he was appre
hended, fifteen sheets ' dialogue-wise,' with a preface dedicatory
to the queen, ' all of which were perused, as I was told (says
Watson), of her majesty, my lord of Essex, my lord chamber
lain, Mr. Secretary, Mr. Comptroller, and others, but especially
Sir John Stanhope, who, I think, by the bishop of Limerick or
Mr. Udall's [or Ithell's] means, was first made privy unto it, and
acquainted her majesty therewithal, to my most comfort of her
so gracious acceptance of my poor mite, her highness keeping
one copy and my lord of Essex another of the sum or contents
of the whole work. The epistle to her majesty Sir Robert
Cecil saw in my lord of Essex's hands, and disliked only, or
rather doubted (as was told me), of this word toleration, that
her majesty would not grant it. It was sent back to alter it :
I did so, and returned it again (the very day that I was taken
on) ; my lord of Essex using these honourable speeches, that he
could wish with all his heart that we might have liberty of
conscience.' His clerical brethren thought the projected work,
which was mainly an answer to Parsons' book on the succession,
very necessary, and by none so fit to be handled as by himself.
He adds that promises had been made him on the part of the
queen that no Jesuit should know of the printing, and that he
should be free from all imprisonments ; yet he had been stripped
of all his money, writings, and books, and now ' laid close in
prison.' Watson was not altogether trusted by the wiser men of his

The Outlook at Wisbeach, 1598-99. Ixxxi

own party among the priests, and the attorney-general evidently
had his own suspicions of the man. The queen's councillors,
indeed, were embarrassed by an excess of secret information, and
did not always know whom or what to believe. When many
priests, for example, assumed the reality of Squiers' plot,
Cecil could hardly be sure that Bagshaw was not, as Squiers
asserted on his examination, an accomplice of Walpole. One
imaginative informer discovered that the whole of the Wisbeach
quarrel was a pretence — a trick devised by Bagshaw in concert
with Parsons, the better to blind the government to their
ulterior designs.^ An absurdity like this may have been
laughed at by Cecil, but there were reasons enough to warn him
against entering upon any general understanding with the
appellants, or rendering to them as a body active assistance in
their conflict. The government therefore proceeded warily,
and it was not for two years after this date that an approach
to such an understanding was effected.
On the removal of his friend from Wisbeach to London,
Bluet, disheartened with the outlook of affairs, had made a con
fidant of Richard Blunt, then keeper of the castle. Of the
curious conversation which ensued the keeper wrote a memorial,
of which a copy, ' lost or negligently left among papers,' fell
into the hands of Parsons, who gives in the Apologie (f. 152)
what purports to be the whole of it verbatim. Another report
ofthe same conversation, very largely differing from that printed
by Parsons, and entitled ' Information of the keeper of Wis
beach Castle,' is preserved among the Petyt mss., and has been
recently printed by Mr. Macray in- the eleventh report of the
Hist. MSS. Commission (pt. viii. p. 266). Bluet, it appears,
' with tears in his eyes,' communicated to the keeper his fears
lest letters should come from Rome commanding the priests to

J Cal. S. P., Dom. Elis., CCLXXXVI. 57.
f

Ixxxii Introduction.

obey Weston, who would then swear them all to be true to the
infanta of Spain, ' as Parsons had caused the priests that were
in Spain to be sworn,' but Bluet protested that ' before he
would take such an oath he woidd be starved to death in the
castle of Wisbeach.' He also, according to Parsons' version,
begged the keeper if he were writing to Wade, the clerk of
the council, to warn him not to put trust in Ralph Ithell, a
priest, who had been a Jesuit for eight years, still favoured
that faction, and was even now (so said Bluet) in correspond
ence with Father Gerard, who had broken from the Tower.
The news that Bagshaw was free from danger, and perhaps
in favour with the council, seemed to revive the spirit of
his party at Wisbeach. One of Parsons' correspondents from
the castle reported that Bluet on one occasion claimed for
Bagshaw a portion of the common funds from Archer of the
opposite party, who refused it, and that Bluet thereupon fell
into a great rage, and ' swore before God that he would call the
constable, which he did, but when he [the constable] came in,
he [Bluet] had but little to say to him, but entertained him
courteously with a pot of beer.' He nevertheless threatened
Archer that he would write to the council. In the winter,
when Weston was got rid of. Bluet announced that he would
now come into commons, but the remnant of the Jesuit faction
resolutely held out, refusing to break bread with their oppo
nents unless they submitted to the archpriest and to Weston's
prison rules.
Meanwhile Blackwell, impatient of any delay in the complete
recognition of his authority, had called upon all the priests to
make a formal submission to him. Many respectfully declined
to do so until they had certain knowledge of the validity of
his appointment. They had sent messengers to Rome for
information, and would await their return. Meanwhile they
would yield outward obedience. The Jesuit, Lister, now fanned

The Malcontents submit to the Archpriest. Ixxxiii
the flames by the publication of the violent and imprudent
treatise (see p. 85 vrfra and Appendix D), in which he denounced
these men as guilty of the crime of schism, and as ipso facto
excommunicated. The word was given to shun their ministra
tions, to treat their absolutions as invalid, refuse them alms,
and shut the doors against them, as men ' having the plague
sore.' They were, to use the language of to-day, boycotted
without mercy. The censures of the archpriest had just
fallen heavily upon Colleton, Mush, and Heborne when the
brief of April 6, forwarded by Parsons to Garnet, arrived in
England. The malcontents were true to their pledges. Further
resistance was now indeed no longer possible. Garnet wrote
to Parsons acknowledging the receipt of the brief on the 19th
of May, and on that same day, at four in the afternoon, Colleton
and Mush sat down to supper with the archpriest. They stayed
with him all night, amicably discussed the whole matter, and
finally made their entire submission. They moreover under
took to bring in all the rest, including the party at Wisbeach.
Edward Bennet, Benson, Anthony Champney, and even Watson
surrendered at once. Garnet therefore wrote once more to
Parsons : ' The customer [i.e. Blackwell] is much comforted
by the conforming of the sodalitians who humble themselves
to him,' though he added doubtfully, ' I know not how matters
pass in Warwickshire where the worse crew is.' The leaders
felt there might be some difficulty with Bagshaw, and there
were suspicions of the fidelity of Robert Drury. But the
hesitation was scarcely for a moment. Colleton and Mush
were at Wisbeach for the three days before Whitsunday (May
27-29), and procured the submission of the terrible doctor,
who had by this time retumed from his London prison to
Wisbeach, where (as one of his opponents reports to Parsons),
he ' hath in some sort obtained his desire, for now he reigneth

Ixxxiv Introduction.

king in Mr. Pound's chamber . . . yet he is at last constrained
to yield his obedience to our superior with the rest of his
confederates.' ^ VI. The Appeal and the BooJcs.
Not the least surprising of the many strange features of this
history is Blackwell's conduct when at last peace was restored,
and all his subjects without exception had made public recog
nition of his authority. He now proclaimed that it was not
enough that his former opponents should make their submission.
They must confess their previous action had been schismatical,
and make due satisfaction for their sin before receiving absolu
tion.^ The inculpated priests protested that there had been
no schism, and that reparation was rather due to those who
had been falsely charged with such a sin. Blackwell pretended
that he had received instructions from Rome to the effect that
the priests in question were schismatics. He went further.
He formally approved the statement, made public by a Jesuit
theologian of the name of Jones, that any one who maintained
the contrary proposition, viz. that the priests were not schis
matics, would himself incur the censures of the Church.
This was enough to lead to the renewal of the feud in an
intensified form. For more than three years from this time
confusion little short of anarchy reigned in the missionary
camp. Bagshaw has briefly touched upon the immediate
sequel, and there is no need to enter here more fully into the
details. All proposals to submit the question in dispute to
arbitration, all overtures of peace except upon his own terms,
were contemptuously rejected by Blackwell. When the ag
grieved priests sought and obtained from the theological
faculty of the Paris university a decision which declared them

Apologie, f. 151. ^ See note to p. 89, infra.

Renewal of the Feud. Ixxxv
to be innocent of any sin of schism or disobedience in having
withheld their submission to the archpriest before the arrival
of the brief, Blackwell forbade any priest, under pain of sus
pension, ipso facto, or any layman, under pain of interdict, to
defend that decision. The clergy were forbidden under severe
penalties to pubUsh any writings, to hold meetings, or to get
names subscribed to any public document on the subject.
Many priests defied these censures as tyrannical and invalid.
Laymen scarcely knew who had faculties to absolve them and
who had not. A second formal suspension of Colleton and
Mush, 17th October 1600,^ drove their friends in despair once
more to seek for redress ' at the infallible seat of the holy
apostle St. Peter.'
With the setting out of this able and powerful appeal to
Rome, dated from Wisbeach, November 17, 1600, and signed
by thirty-three priests, Bagshaw's True Relation comes to an
end, and our story enters upon a somewhat new phase.
The appeUants, as they were now called, who had hitherto
stood in some fear of Blackwell's threats against those who
should presume to publicly defend themselves, now rushed into
print. They appeared to hold that, while their appeal was out,
the archpriest's authority was in abeyance. They determined
at least that this time the pope should know the facts.
Mush therefore undertook to address his holiness directly in
his weU-written Latin treatise, the Declaratio Motuum, in
which he printed the text of the appeal. Bagshaw at the
same time prepared his Relatio Compendiosa, which contains
less of narrative and rhetoric than the preceding book, but
gives the principal letters and documents, including the whole
of Lister's tract, upon which the controversy turned. This he
in form addressed to the cardinals of the Inquisition. Mean-

1 Infra, p. 93, note.

Ixxxvi Introduction.

while there appeared in English, for the information of the
catholic laity at home, the Copies qf certain Discourses, issued,
it is said, under the editorial care of Dr. Bishop, and contain
ing letters and treatises by Bishop himself. Parsons, Champney,
John Bennet, Mush, and others. These three works, and
especially the two Latin books, were acknowledged by the
leaders of the party as representing their case. The Declaratio
and the Copies, which were published in the early part of the
year 1601, were briefly and, as the appellants considered, con
temptuously noticed in a letter of Blackwell to his assistants,
June 23. The letter was printed and answered by John
Bennet in his Hope qf Peaxe — a title adopted apparently in
ridicule of the archpriest's words, 'our endeavours were for
peace.' Bennet's tract displays scant respect towards his
superior, and is by no means a model of good taste. It was
followed very shortly by the Tru.e Relation, which was also in
great part occasioned by Blackwell's letter, described by Bag
shaw as 'a sheet of paper fraught with neither wit, honest
dealing, discretion, or learning,' and 'containing as many
shifts and lies almost as lines.' ^ BlackweU is now openly
derided as an ' archpriest of clouts,' ' a beggar on horseback,'
' a Jesuitical idol,' and ' a puppy to dance after the Jesuit's pipe.'
As month after month passed away without bringing any
response to the appeal from Rome, the controversy grew more
bitter. It was now the turn of the secular priests to ' whet
their tongues' against the Jesuits ; but if the appellants so far
dealt in print the heaviest blows, their adversaries who held
the purse strings knew how to retaliate. The lot of the appel
lants at this moment was not an enviable one. Half of them,
as usual, were in prison. Under the circumstances this was

1 The letter will be found as Bennet printed it infra. Appendix J. It is
indeed difficult to reconcile Blackwell's fourth paragraph with truth. Compare
the language of his decrees quoted in the notes to pp. 87, 89, infra.

The Brief of 1601. Ixxxvii

often the safer place, as securing for them food and lodging.
To be deprived of his priestly faculties would at least matter
less to the inmate of a gaol than to a resident chaplain or an
itinerant priest depending for his sustenance upon the alms
given to him in retum for his masses and absolutions. But
even the confessors in vinculis were not out of reach of the
archpriest's rod. William Clark, then suffering for his alle
giance to the pope in the Clink prison, had signed the Wis
beach appeal. Blackwell, on February 20, 1601, sent two com
missioners, Robert Barwise and Anthony Rouse, into the gaol
to call the prisoner to account, and on receipt of these officers'
report he abrogated Clark's faculties on the ground of his ' hav
ing refused to answer respecting a seditious letter ^ signed with
his name, and dated November 17.' This sentence of the arch
priest, duly countersigned by the two reverend commissioners,
is preserved among the Petyt mss. The incident, a curious
example of an imperium in imperio, is not without dramatic
interest. Two priests — their own lives forfeited to the laws —
boldly enter into the queen's prisons, there hold a miniature
court of inquisition, and pass sentence of spiritual death upon
an unfortunate brother in durance for their common cause.
A word from the doubly condemned man might have consigned
his new judges to the gallows.
The year 1601 passed away before any word from the pope
reached the appellants in England. Early in January 1602
appeared the Apolog, written by Parsons in the assumed
name of 'priests united in subordination to the archpriest,'
with the Permissu superiorum announced prominently on the
title-page. Immediately after the issue of this volume Black-
well pubUshed (January 26) a papal brief which was dated

1 'Seditious letter' and 'seditious libel' were the favourite terms which
Blackwell applied to the appeal.

Ixxxviii Introduction.

August 17 of the previous year, and which he had held in his
possession and suppressed for more than three months. His
motive for this extraordinary conduct did not seem far to seek.
The brief strictly prohibited any further writings on the con
troversy. Blackwell, it is said at Parsons' persuasion, waited
to give the Jesuit the last word.^ So obvious a trick led to
the treating of the document by both parties as so much
waste-paper. The tone of the brief was paternal and conciliatory. If
the pope had written such a letter two years earlier it might
have produced some effect. But even now he appears to be
but imperfectly acquainted with the facts regarding the origin
of the quarrel. He sadly laments the dissensions and the
bitterness shown by both sides, and asks the appellants what
reasons they had to refuse obedience in the first instance to
the cardinal's letters, which ' they surely should have obeyed.'
He declines to receive the appeal. He had, on the other hand,
learnt with grief that when, on receipt of the former brief,
the priests had submitted, Blackwell had insisted that they
should make satisfaction, and so had opened the wounds anew.
He exhorts the archpriest to mingle gentleness with severity,
and reminds him that his authority was given to him for
edification and not for destruction. By apostolic authority
he suppresses Father Lister's Treatise qf Schism, and forbids
under pain of excommunication any writing, calculated to
foster the present discords, being edited, divulged, or retained.

1 ' For it (the brief) being sent towards hira from Rome shortly after the 17th
August, and coming to his hands about Michaelmas, he kept it close and
suppressed it until towards the end of January following, that in the mean
season the goodly piece of work of their Apologie might be hatched : and then,
peeping out with an antedate, might seem to the simple to have been made
before the brief (Preface to Ely's book, p. 4. Compare the prefaces of Colleton
and A. P. ; also Tierney, iii. p. civ. )

Parsons' Apologie. Ixxxix
Finally, he utterly extinguishes and abolishes the name of
schism, forbidding the very mention of the word.'^
Parsons' Apologie, approved by Blackwell in spite of this
decree, was an attack upon the appellants generally. It is the
old story, he says, ot the jealousy of secular priests against
religious. The unquiet and discontented priests were im
patient of discipline or control, they were disobedient to
superiors, they raised scandalous seditions at Rome, in Flanders,
and in England. They have treacherously dealt with the
heretical council ; they have slandered good men, and highly
offended God. They were guilty of ingratitude towards the
society of Jesus. Parsons gives his own version of the Wis
beach stirs, the aff'airs at the Roman college, and the establish
ment of the ' subordination.' He reviews in particular the
Declaratio and the Copies, and bitterly inveighs against the
wilful passion, the falsehood, the shamelessness, the rancour of
malice displayed in these two libels, especially in the calumnies
' laid upon F. Parsons, without all foundation or regard of
Christian and priestly modesty.' A month or two later he
wrote an Appendix, in the preface to which he pretends to
have heard of, but not to have seen, the recent brief. He
now reminds the appellants that their books are prohibited ' as
they treat expressly and principally everywhere the matter of
schism forbidden by his holiness' brief (as to us it is written)
under pain of excommunication ipso facto ' ; but as for himself
or those in whose name he is writing, ' we obeying, as our duty
is, shall not so much as name the same in this or other our
writings.' He proceeds to deal with the ' twins,' viz. the
Hope qf Peace and the Relatio Compendiosa, which had ap
peared simultaneously, with what must have greatly shocked

1 'Ac nomen schismatis, hac de causa, inter vos penitus extinguimus et
abolemus, et ne ullam amplius illius mentionem faciatis, vobis sub iisdem psenis
interdicimus et prohibemus.'

xc Introduction.

Father Parsons, 'a false inscription and a feigned place of
printing, with the printer named under a devised name (at
which our brethren make no scruple).' Colleton, who had some
time before begun a book, but had desisted partly out of
deference to the archpriest's decrees, and partly because he
believed the measures taken to prosecute the appeal would
have been more speedily successful, now at the instance of his
brethren once more took up his pen and published, with his
own name, his Just Defence qfthe slandered Priests. Dr. Ely,
a little later, wrote from abroad his temperate censure of the
Apologie. These two English books may be added to the two
Latin works as fairly representing the position taken up by
the accepted leaders of the party. Another serious and valu
able reply to the Apologie, dealing largely with matters of fact,
was published by a priest writing under the initials A. P.
But meanwhile wilder spirits intervened. William Watson,
with his intolerable style, his exaggeration, conceit, and even
doubtful sincerity, played fast and loose into the hands of his
opponents. He wrote or edited in rapid succession Important
Considerations, a Sparing Discoverie of the English Jesuits,
Dialogue between a Secular Priest aiid a Lay Gentleman, and
his Decacordon qf Quodlibetical Questions. A priest, under the
name of Philalethes, reprinted and ridiculed Blackwell's letter
in favour of the society which had been written five years
earlier, and Anthony Copley, a layman, joined in with an
Answer to a Letter qf a Jesuited Gentleman. These violent
invectives, chiefly directed against the Jesuits for the political
plotting which was alleged to be the true cause of all the dis
sensions between the priests as well as of the extreme rigour of
the penal laws, goaded Parsons to a retort as venomous as the
attack. His Manifestation qf the great folly and bad spirit
qf certain calling themselves Secular Priests treats mainly of
Bagshaw's True Relation, the Memorial, and the books of
Watson and Copley.

The Important Considerations. xci
The most notable of these later writings on the side of
the appellants was the Important Considerations. It forms,
however, an exception to the general character of Watson's
productions both in matter and style. Indeed it has so little
of Watson's manner that it is not improbable that he was the
writer of no more than the prefatory epistle, which is signed
with his initials. The book itself professes to be 'published
by sundry of us the secular priests,' and is a brief, and, on the
whole, fair historical survey of all the rebellions, plots, and
' bloody designments ' set on foot against England by the pope
or others, mainly at the instigation of the Jesuits. But if,
urges the writer, her majesty had not been ' depraved, irritated,
and provoked' by these ungodly and unchristian practices,
' most assuredly the State would have loved us, or at least
borne with us, and where there is one catholic there would
have been ten, there had been no speeches amongst us of racks
and tortures, nor any cause to have used them ; for,' he con
tinues, with considerable exaggeration ' none were ever vexed
that way, simply for that he was either priest or catholic, but
because they were suspected to have had their hands in some
of the said most traitorous designments.' Watson at least
could not pretend to have clean hands in the matter of political
intrigue. He had himself been active enough as a partisan on
the Scottish side, and this bias no doubt added the greater
bittemess to his hostility to Parsons.
The controversy, however, had rapidly degenerated from
questions of canon law or national politics to the grossest
personalities. Philalethes reminds Blackwell that his father
was ' a pewterer by Newgate in London, a man of an honest
occupation, it is most true, but not the best neighbour to
dweU by,' and he excuses himself for this 'scornful jesting' on
the ground that ' it is not amiss to put sometimes a peacock
in mind of his feet.' Bagshaw at his worst is less insolent than

xcii Introduction.

Philalethes to the archpriest. But neither could equal the
scurrilous abuse indulged in by Anthony Copley. This catholic
gentleman describes Parsons as ' a man who being the mis
begotten of a ploughman . . . hath accordingly demeaned
himself first in begetting two bastards, male and female, upon
the body of his own sister between the age of seventeen and
three and twenty, which was the cause he ran away (as fearing
the sheet, etc.), and so became a Jesuit; secondly, or rather
formerly and continually, by being a common ale-house squire,
and the drunkennest sponge in all the parish where he lived ;
thirdly for being a heretic of the family of love all his life till
he became a Jesuit.' '^
Such language gave Parsons a great advantage. He was
at this moment, in private to the pope and cardinals, casting
aspersions upon the characters of the appellants, which were
probably quite as unproven as the worst of Copley or Watson
against himself. But the Jesuit, in his Apologie at least, had
kept his temper under better control. His misrepresentations
were framed with more art. He was a master in the suppres
sion of the true and the suggestion of the false. He could,
moreover, write better or more forcible English than his
adversaries, none of whom, with the exception of Ely, could
in this respect approach him. His sarcasms and ridicule were
well aimed and went home, and he lectures all the appeUants,
whom he does his best to identify with Watson and Copley,
with a well assumed air of moral superiority. He warns them
that for defaming the fathers of the society they were ' in a
damnable state of mortal sin,' and bound to restitution even
were it with the loss of their own good names — that the
canon law says of any one who should pubUsh by word or
writing a contumelious thing and not be able to prove it.

' For this and similar quotations see Bell's Anatomie, p. 71, etc.

Parsons' Manifestation. xciii
flagelletur, let him be whipped, and that for defaming a whole
religious order there is a special excommunication, the absolu
tion of which is reserved to the pope. He is indignant with
' the brave and bold protestation ' of the writers, that ' if the
pope should come in person with an army under pretence to
establish catholic religion by force, they would oppose them
selves against him, and spend the best blood in their bodies in
that quarrel.' 'Behold,' exclaims Parsons, 'valiant soldiers,
brought up in the pope's seminaries, braving against him !
Who would believe this to be spoken by priests except they
avowed themselves authors of the book.' ^
But Parsons is at his best in hitting off the personal weak
nesses of his enemies. 'If,' he writes of Copley, 'he be the
man we do guess . . . some of us knew him first a little
wanton idle-headed boy in the English college, so light witted
as once (if we remember well) he went up with a rose in his
mouth to preach or make the tones (as there they call them)
before the college out of a pulpit. After that he fell to such
devotion as he not only took the oath of the college to be a
priest, which now we see how well he hath observed, but also
pretended to be an augustin friar, and proceeded so far therein
as the friars every day expected his entrance, but how far he
proceeded therein for one or other obligation we will not
affirm, for we are more fearful of conscience to avouch things
we know not for certain than he seemeth to be to protest
and swear matters that he knoweth to be false ' (foi. 96).
Watson had in one of his books begged of catholics a
charitable remembrance of his ' poor sinful soul.' So Parsons
jeers : ' That you may know better this sinful lad and his poor
sinful soul indeed . . . you may take a scantUng of him both
in body and soul by this narration, and thereby make a guess

Manifestation, f. i6. The quotation is from Watson's Quodlibets.

xciv Introduction.

how poor, defections and sinful he is in the one and other.
For as for his body and outward feature (if you know him)
you will hardly think him a creature to talk so much of
"natural blazons," or enamorados of ladies' beauties, or of
" royal damsels of rare aspect," himself being so wrong shapen
and of so bad and blinking aspect as he looketh nine ways at
once, as scarcely he can discern anything that toucheth not his
eyes,^ which yet we object not as nature's defects, but as rather
representing the state of his mind, which seemeth by this filthy
description of Venus and her posteriora, so often mentioned,
as also by the wanton imaginations of pleasing objects and
sweet blissful cheehs, and other such lascivious apprehensions,
contemplations, and desires, no marvel that he cry out so
hideously against Jesuits that are swom enemies to the very
thoughts thereof. . . . His coming out of England and the
manner thereof we know nothing, nor greatly doth it import,
only we know that he came to the English seminary at Rheims
in France a poor little begging boy, where, being taken out of
charity, his first allowance was for a good time pottage only,
and licking the dishes which other men had emptied before
him, after that again he was admitted to make beds, sweep
chambers, and other like offices belonging thereto, in which
kind he served especially one M. Boast, a good priest and a
holy martyr since, which if he had known then or suspected that
the squint-eyed boy (for so he called him) would have proved
so wicked a man, he should never have come (no doubt) within
his chamber door. And yet further you must note that all
this while, Wil. Wat., besides his poor estate, was the most
1 A description of Watson is given in Kennett's MSS. (xvi. p. 500 ) : ' William
Watson, priest, is a man of the lowest sort [i.e. in stature], about six and thirty
years of age, his hair betwixt a brown and a flaxen. He looketh asquint and
is very purbUnd, so that if he read anything he putteth the paper near to his
eyes. He did wear his beard at length, but information is given that now his
beard is cut. '

William Watson. xcv

contemptible and ridiculous thing in all that house for many
years, for that his grace was in tumbling and making sport
to others, for which his body (if you know him) was fitly
made, and so he passed by the name of Wil. Wat or Wat
Tumbler. But at length after divers years, pretending much
devotion and humility, he was upon compassion made priest
and sent into England, where for a time he used himself not
evil, but by little and little falUng to liberty and sensuality,
and not having either sufficient wit or learning (but especially
grace) needful for the government of such a charge, he fell
into divers great disorders and absurdities, whereof one was his
foul fall by going to the protestant church, and thereupon the
discovery of many catholics to the persecutors, whereof M.
Bishop (if you remember) speaketh in his depositions at Rome
1598, and we have made mention thereof in our Apologie, and
the matter is notorious.' ^
One more sentence, although already quoted by Tierney,
may be here reproduced as a specimen of the tone adopted by
Parsons towards his reverend adversaries, and that, as we have
seen, after the pope had under pain of excommunication pro
hibited aU writings which should tend to widen the breach or
add fuel to the flames. ' And here now,' he writes in reference
to the Sparing Discoverie, ' the very multitude of these out
rageous libels, with the immensity of hatred, helUsh spirit and
poisonous entrails discovered therein, do force us, against our
former purpose, to cut off and stay all further passage and pro
ceeding in this horrible puddle of lies, slanderous invectives,
and devUish detraction ; for that the very looking them over
doth weary the heart of any true Christian ; and consequently,
whereas before we had determined with ourselves to give you
some taste or examples out of them aU, yet now finding the

1 Manifestation, ff. 83, 84.

xcvi Introduction.

multitude to be without end, and the quality so base, vile,
and malicious as the venom of any lost or loose tongue, armed
with audacity and defended with impudency, stirred up with
envy, and enraged with fury, and bounded noways by any
limits of conscience, piety or fear of God, can vomit or cast
out, to defame their brethren — finding this, we say, we have
thought good to cease here, without further stirring the loath
some rags of so filthy a dunghill.' ^
A reply to the Mcmfestation, and a defence of Watson in
particular, put out justitiae et innocentice permissu, by a priest
who signs his preface with the initials W. C, bears on its
title-page the date 1603. But we must now return to the
more important events of the spring and summer of 1601 .
Before the greater portion of these passionate writings had
been published, and before the long-delayed brief in reference
to the appeal of 1600 had even reached England, a decisive
step had been taken through the enterprise of the aged Bluet,
which for the first time turned the fortunes of the day in
favour of the appellants. On July 1, 1601, he wrote to his
friend Mush as foUows : ' The case standeth thus : — I have by
opening the cause unto their honours and to Caesar obtained
that four principal men shall be banished after a sort to
follow the appeal, doctor Bagshaw, Bluet, Champney and
Barneby, all prisoners. They shaU be here with me on
Wednesday next. A month they shaU have within the
realm of liberty to ride abroad for money amongst their
friends, and then choose their port to be gone with some
countenance. I hope no man will be offended with this plot
of mine, but with their purses assist us. It hath cost me
many a sweat and many bitter tears ere I could effect it.
I have in some sort pacified the wrath of our prince against

1 Manifestation, f. 94. Tierney, iii. p. ccviii.

Bluet's Plot. xcvii

us, and of her council, and have laid the fault where it ought
to be, and proved that the secular priests are innocent for
the most part.' ^
The circumstances which gave rise to the ' plot ' Bluet
later on described more fully in his Declaratio, drawn up for
the information of the cardinals Borghese and Arrigoni.^
Early in the year thirty-six priests, including Bluet himself,
had been, under circumstances of considerable hardship, trans
ferred from Wisbeach to Framlingham Castle. The arch
priest, ' adding affliction to affliction,' had prohibited catholics
from giving them alms. Bluet therefore obtained from the
keeper leave of absence for ten days in order to visit some
catholics in London, where he had not been for twenty-four
years, and to take counsel for the remedy of the evils to which
this command of the archpriest had exposed them. He went
to one of the London gaols where there were seven priests
confined. In t'heir delight at seeing him the exclamation
escaped them — ' It is Father Bluet.' The keeper overheard the
name and asked if it was " Bluet of Wisbeach,' and at once re
ported his presence to the royal commissioners. The bishop
of London sent for him, and finally received the queen's orders
to keep him in free custody. The old man probably found
himself lodged more comfortably during the three or four
months which he now spent with Bancroft than he had ever
been before, even in the laxest days of Wisbeach. The bishop,
he said, showed him letters and books of Parsons, Holt, and
other Jesuits, inviting the king of Spain to invade England,
and urging individuals to assassinate Elizabeth. Roman
cathoUc ecclesiastics in high place undoubtedly encouraged or

1 The letter, or rather all of it that Parsons cared to quote, is printed in the
Apologie, f. io8. , „ , ,
2 An English abstract of this document will be found m the Calendar op
State Papers. The original Latin of the first part is printed in the Appendix.
s

xcviii Introduction.

connived at projects for killing the queen, and the late
F. Knox has explained the principles of casuistry by which
these divines would probably have justified the act.^ But there
is no conclusive evidence that Parsons or the Jesuits in England
had their hands in any such attempt. Nevertheless Bluet
believed the charge, and lets the cardinals know he believed
it. He merely declares the innocence of the secular priests.
A supplication was now offered to the queen protesting
the fidelity of priests and catholics in general, petitioning for
the suppression of Parsons' book on the succession and similar
writings — as if the government had not already done its best
to suppress them, — and pleading for liberty of conscience.
Bluet records Elizabeth's verbal answer. Parsons refers to it
as incredible. To others the keen appreciation of the situation,
the humorous irony of the speech, and the delight shown in
teasing her victims, will not appear inconsistent with the
queen's character. After reading and re-reading the suppli
cation, she is said to have burst out : ' These men, perceiving
ray lenity and clemency towards them, are not content, but
want everything, and at once. The king of France, truly, may
without peril of honour, life, or kingdom, grant liberty of
religion to the Huguenots, but it is not so with me, for if I
grant this liberty to catholics, by this very fact I lay at their
feet myself, my honour, my crown, and my life. For their
chief pastor pronounced sentence against me whilst I was yet
in my mother's womb. Moreover Pius v. has excommunicated
me and absolved my subjects from their oath of fidelity ; and
Gregory xiii. and Sixtus v. have renewed the same at the
instance of the king of Spain that he may enlarge his own
borders, and so to my peril it remains.^ As to him who now
^ Letters and Memorials of Cardinal Allen, Introduction, p. 1.
2 The French king expressed to the nuncio his surprise that the pope ' used
no good means to the queen to deal more favourably with the catholics.' The

The Queen's Speech. xcix
holds the helm, I have nothing to complain, but that he is
Clement in deed as well as name. He found France disturbed
with tumult, civil war, slaughter, and homicide, all which, as
far as in him lay, he reduced to peace, embracing king and
kingdom, so that they now enjoy a rich peace. In this he
showed himself to be worthy of his place, worthy to be called
vicar of Christ, doctor, and master of the nations.'
To this speech no one dared reply. But subsequently
Bluet made bold to request leave for hiraself and four or five
other priests to go to Rome to prosecute their appeal and
explain to the pope the true state of affairs. The queen
referred the matter to her council, and it was finally decided
— partly indeed through fear that the priests might make use
of their liberty to tum traitors and join the Jesuits, but chiefly
in order to save appearances — that a sentence of banishment
should be pronounced against them.
Bluet declares that the queen at his request mitigated
the captivity of many priests, and even bade the judges, when
going on circuit, not to take the lives of priests unless proved
guilty of treasonable practices.'^
Added to this official declaration of Bluet is a series of
complaints of Parsons' political actions and writings. He tells,
for instance, how Parsons provoked king Philip to prepare a
second expedition against England, and promised to send with
the fleet twelve priests to induce the people to rise. Four of
these embarked, but a fifth, a prudent and learned man, said,

nuncio replied that it would do no good, but rather irritate her. The king
answered, ' Yes, so as he would assure her they should not practise against her
as they had done.'— Sir H. Neville to Cecil, Oct. 24, 1599 (Winwood, i. 126).
^ This statement has been suspected of exaggeration, as in fact four priests,
not to speak of two catholic laymen, were executed in the spring of 1602, and
one, William Richardson, on February 17, 1603. On the other hand Father
Rivers, the London correspondent of Parsons, in referring to this last execution,
adds that the chief justice 'would have put four more to death at Bury, but the
queen forbade it' (Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz., CCLXXXVI. 52).

Introduction.

' Father, if you will send me into England with the Bible in
one hand and the sacred missal in the other, as becomes a
priest, I will go willingly and shed my blood in defence of the
gospel and catholic faith, but I will not ascend an enemy's
fleet armed against my beloved country,' etc. Parsons there
upon expelled the priest from the college without his viaticum.
He, however, reached England, was eventually captured and
condemned. Bluet wrote to his new friend, the bishop of
London, and the priest was reprieved, brought to London,
and there kept as a nominal prisoner.
The letter of July 1, already quoted, in which Bluet begged
Mush to keep his arrangement with the privy council a secret,
seems to have fallen into Parsons' hands. The appellants
scarcely took a step which was not at once known to their
opponents. The month of freedom allowed to the ' banished '
men extended to six weeks and was well spent. On Septem
ber 6th a correspondent of Blackwell informs him that ' this
day our embassadors for Rorae depart, if Mr. Colleton's scribe
can raake an end of such things as he is in copying out.' It
was reported that Mush, Champney, and Barneby were to go
at once to France, and to remain there till they were joined by
Bagshaw, and by Bluet if his age permitted him to travel.
They were said to have collected ¦£'600 in money and another
^£"400 in jewellery. They set out provided with passports
from the government. Nevertheless the vigilant officials at
Dover apprehended them on suspicion, and compelled them
to send back to London for fuller credentials.^ We hear of
them again at Paris, where they appear to have remained
some time. Their object was to obtain the support of the
French king, and, if possible, of the papal nuncio at Paris.
Parsons, who had insisted that they would never dare to come
on to Rome, and were insincere in their pretence of prose-

^ W. C. Replie, f. 78.

The Banished Priests at Paris. ci
cuting the appeal, made every effort to thwart them.^ The
English agent at Paris, Ralph Winwood, was evidently not
well pleased to be the protector of priests, and owned himself
perplexed how to reply to the frequent inquiries addressed to
hira. He pretended to sorae that the liberty of these raen
proved how false were the libels of their sect that any priests
were persecuted for religion only. To others he pointed out
that the priests were not the first who had been banished, and
that the ' pursuit of these quarrels (foUowed on both sides
with so much acrimony) doth show their turbulent and
seditious spirits, and how incompatible liberty of conscience
would be with the repose of her majesty's govemment, since in
the persecution (as they term it) they prosecute one another
with this deadly hatred. They are gone to Rome,' he writes
to Cecil (Jan. 6, 1602), ' to try the justice of their cause by
the teeth ; where, which party soever shall gain, the common
cause must needs lose, whose nakedness will be discovered, and
shown displayed to the view of the world.' ^
Villeroi, the French minister, took exception to the word
' banishment ' in the passport. Winwood declined to meddle
with the matter pro or con, but warned the priests to use her
majesty's gracious favours soberly and discreetly. He was
pleased, at least, to reflect that the French king would be
under an obligation to Elizabeth, seeing that the Jesuits'
pretensions for their re-establishment in that country, whence
they had been expelled, would be hereby much weakened, and
the nuncio in despair how further to advance them.
^ Copley, in a postscript to his book, finished November 31, 1601, writes —
' Since the departure of the three B-ees [Bluet, Bagshaw, Barneby] onward into
their exile and defence against these hornets, you have heard, I daresay, of the
fatal auguries which have been blown out of the Jesuitical trunk after them (to
wit) how that no sooner shall they enter into Rome but straight they shall be
clapt up into the inquisition or sent away to the gallies. . . . Brag is a good
dog on the Jesuits' side ' (Answer to a Letter, etc. Cf. W. C. Replie, f. 80).
2 Winwood's Memorials, i. p. 373.

cii Introduction

Tlie three priests referred to by Winwood as leaving Paris
about the 1st of January 1602 were Bluet, Mush, and
Champney. They were accompanied, or shortly afterwards
joined, by Dr. John Cecil; and the four arrived together at
Rome on February 14. Barneby had meanwhile retumed to
London. Bagshaw remained at Paris to watch the interests of
the party there. VII. The Judgment qfRome.
The deputies learnt caution from the experience of the
previous embassy of Bishop and Charnock. They decUned to
go near the English college, or to have anything to do with
their adversaries, ' except by way of civil salutation.' ' We
are safe,' they wrote after a few weeks, ' under the protection
of the king of France, otherwise we had been fast at the
first. Parsons is very badly disposed and strongly backed by
his society and the Spanish, yet I hope we put him to his
trumps. He hath defamed us with pope, cardinals, and aU
the town, yet his credit weareth out apace, and he becometh
to be thought a very Machiavelian, and not worthy of credit
in anything he raileth against us. Yet none list to displease
hira.' 1
Tlie obstacles to be surmounted by the four priests were
considerable. Parsons and his friends at Rome had the ad
vantage in possessing a practical knowledge of the ways of
the papal court and of personal friendship with many of the
cardinals ; for, as Mush, who seems to have taken the lead
in the coramission, wrote, ' every day I raust attend in courts
... all goeth piano, piano, and friends do more than the
equity of a cause.' Eight months had to be spent in repeated
1 Tierney, iii. p. clvii.— Simon Digby wrote to Cecil (March i8) that Parsons
was so troubled with the coming of the priests ' that he will speak to none of
his friends' (Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz.).

The Four Priests at Rome. ciii
interviews with cardinals and ambassadors, and the writina;
and presenting of endless memorials, before the final pontifical
judgment could be elicited. The successive steps of the
negotiation are recorded by Mush in a diary ^ which has lain,
until quite recently, undiscovered or unexamined, among the
manuscripts of the Inner Temple. On their arrival in Rome
the priests received word from Philippe de Bethune, the
French ambassador, that he had instructions from his king
to assist them, but that they must keep quiet for a time.
Cardinal d'Ossat sent a message to the same effect, and
counselled them to present themselves first to the pro
tector (Famese) ^ and vice-protector (Borghese), lest by the
neglect of such courtesies these cardinals should be made
their enemies. One of the first visits made by the deputies
was to Chiesa Nuova ; for the fathers of the oratory, follow
ing the traditions of their founder, maintained a sympathetic
interest in the affairs of the English mission. Tommaso
Bozio, the author of De Signis Ecclesice, in which much is
raade of the Elizabethan raartyrs, was ' very friendly and
comfortable.' Cardinal Baronius, the superior, was also friendly,
but willed them to keep that to themselves.
On February 20th they went to the inquisition, where the
commissary received them courteously, but, says Mush, 'he
found great fault with certain English books which had been
delivered him, containing much bad matter. These were laid
to our charge by him, but we disclaimed from them, as in
truth we were not privy to the making or divulging of them,
nor did know the author or what they contained. The two
Latin books we stood to, and the commissary commended
them.'

^ Petyt MSS., No. 538, vol. 54, ff. 190-199.
2 Cardinal Cajetan died in 1599, and was succeeded as protector by cardinal
Odoardo Famese.

civ Introduction.

It was in this matter of the books that the deputies found
their greatest difficulty. It must be remembered that the
four priests had left England before any of Watson's works
— perhaps before the True Relation — had issued from the press.
Bagshaw at the end of this book (p. 133 infra) wrote : ' We
are here constrained to break off for fear of some danger of an
intended search.' It has been suspected that this was a ruse.
The ' intended search ' was probably no more than the summons
to London which he received when it was decided that he should
form one of the company of banished priests to prosecute the
appeal. If this be so, it is likely enough that he may have
been constrained to bring his book to an abrupt close, and to
have either hurried it through the press at the last moment
before quitting England, or to have left his manuscript to be
printed off under the care of others after his departure. The
traveUers had crossed the Channel before Blackwell had pub
lished the papal brief which prohibited further publications
on the subject, and they were a month in Rome before they
even got a sight of Parsons' Apologie. But as fast as the
more violent books on the appellants' side appeared in Eng
land they were forwarded to Parsons, who made use of
thera against the deputies. He was able to extract passages,
such as that quoted above, denying by impUcation the
pope's deposing power, or professing loyalty to the queen
in spite of any possible excommunication which might
be pronounced against her. These propositions, which
were undoubtedly held and afterwards publicly proclaimed by
the leading appellant clergy, would to a Roman cardinal savour
strongly of heresy. Parsons had, in his answer to the queen's
proclamation of 1593, maintained that the deposing power was
an article of faith.* The recent communication of the appel-

' Philopatris, Responsio ad Eliz. edictum, p. 149.

Audience qfthe Pope. cv
lants with the privy council and an heretical bishop could
also be made to bear a very ugly look, and give colour to the
charges against their orthodoxy. That they were sincere,
however, in their assertion that they were not privy to the
publications of Watson is evident from their confidential letters
addressed to Edward Bennet and their other friends in Eng
land. On the 4th of March they wrote, ' Here is objected
with us the printing of certain books containing heresy and
evil sounding propositions ; they are said to be divulged in the
narae of the secular priests. Our answer is, and raost truly,
that we neither knew nor consented to the printing of any such.
If any of our brethren therefore have committed any such error,
it is necessary that he acknowledge it and satisfy for it.'
Watson had sent a copy of his Quodlibets, one of the books
in question, to Bagshaw, who replied (February 7) that he and
his friends in Paris disliked the style as being too bitter.^
It, however, soon became clear that in the universal opinion
of the Roman princes and doctors the appellants were free
from the guilt of schism in their dealing with the archpriest ;
and thus success in the main object of their appeal seemed
already assured to them. It was, in consequence, all the more
necessary for their adversaries to shift the point at issue. The
priests had charged the archpriest and his Jesuit advisers
with libel, misgovernment, and tyranny. In case, then, that
the appellants should be regarded as innocent of the guilt of
schism, or as unjustly treated in the occurrences of 1598-99, it
was the policy of Parsons to exhibit them as men who, on other
grounds, were utterly unworthy of sympathy or redress.
On the 24th of February the French ambassador obtained
from Clement a promise to give the priests audience. The pope
asked the ambassador who they were, and how they came out

' Hist. MSS. Commission, uth Report, pt. vii. p. 300.

cvi Introduction.

of England, complained of their books, and said he had heard
they were contentious and troublesome. On March 5 the
audience took place. ' The pope,' writes Mush, ' answered to
all the points of our speech, said he had heard very many evil
things against us, as that we had set out books containing
heresies, that we came to defend heretics against his authority
in that he might not depose heretical princes, etc., that we
were not obedient to the see apostolic and the archpriest con
stituted by him. For a tolei-ation or liberty qf conscience in
England — it would do harm, and make catholics become heretics,
that persecution was profitable to the church, and therefore
not so much laboured for to be averted or staid by toleration
. . . [some words erased] offended that we named her queen
whom the see apostolic had deposed or excommunicated.' ' So
that we knew not how to name her. . . . He asked what
reasons we had to refuse the archpriest. Our protestations of
obedience to him he called verba and parole. All we proposed
seemed to dislike him.' The pope finally resolved that the
cardinals Borghese and Arrigoni should hear and examine their
case, and he commanded the priests ' to impart their affairs to
no more cardinals but to them two.'
The appellants accordingly delivered their two Latin books
to these cardinals with other documents, and Father Parsons
was desired to put a statement of his objections in writing.
Meanwhile two proctors, Mr. Parker, and Giles Archer of
Wisbeach notoriety, arrived from England to act on behalf of
the archpriest. Several weeks passed as before in repeated
visits to cardinals, for the pope's restriction in this matter
seems to have been subsequently relaxed. They frequently
visited d'Ossat, who expressed his satisfaction with the memo
rials drawn up by them. Bellarmine received them graciously,
' read their two books,' ' found fault," says Mush, ' with ours
for bitterness, but none with Mr. Lister's treatise, but seemed

Activity of Parsons. cvii
to excuse it.' The cardinal, however, admitted that the
account in the Declaratio Motuum of his letter to Parsons in
1598, which led to the order for the imprisonment of the two
deputies, was ' very true.'
On one occasion the appellants came face to face with
Parsons. He ' marvelled we were so strange as not to come to
the college nor to converse familiarly with him and others on
his side. He said he was glad of our coming to Rome, for now
all would be ended.' Parsons was at this moment exhibiting
his gladness in the Manifestation, the first copy of which found
its way into England about April 27. The activity and ver
satility of the Jesuit kept men of every party on the alert.
He managed to persuade Edward Drummond, then at Rome
as secret agent for James vi., that the appellants were hostile to
his king, and under that impression the Scotsman was driven
to make complaint to the French ambassador, and urge him
to withdraw his protection from them. Parsons' proceedings
were meanwhile carefully watched by the English government.
An intelligencer writes of him, ' He has notice in 12 or 14
days of all that happens in England. He receives his letters
on Wednesday, and on Thursday calls his secretaries — Walpole,
Stephens, Smith, and John Wilson — who write continually till
midnight on Saturday. They break open any letters they like,
but think it a mortal sin if any of theirs are intercepted.'*
The agents of Cecil were at least as industrious and un
scrupulous as the Jesuits in their methods of obtaining news.
There was no difficulty in getting at the account of matters
as told by the appellants. Dr. Bishop, as well as Bagshaw,
was in comraunication with Bancroft frora Paris. Francis
Barneby was at his elbow in London. But Thomas Phelippes,
the spy and decipherer of Cecil, thought it well to supply his

' Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz., Add., xxxiv. 40, but wrongly dated 1601.

cviii Introduction.

master with the views of the other side, and at regular
intervals for six months he forwarded to him letters or
abstracts of letters which he had, with unusual facility, inter
cepted.* 'The reports,' says Mr. Foley, who prints the
substance of them in the first volume of his Records, ' are well
¦ftriiien, pi-obably by a catholic, and evidently one friendly to
the archpriest's cause.' They are, in fact, presented by Mr.
Foley as giving quasi-independent observations. But it is
rather more than probable that they were written by, or under
the direction of. Parsons himself. They all proceed frora the
sarae hand, and two of the series were printed many years ago
by Tierney from rough drafts, in Parsons'' own handwriting,
now preserved at Stonyhurst college.^ Parsons, as a skilful
general, was perhaps not unwilling that certain of his
despatches should go through the enemy's hands. There is
nothing inconsistent with this supposition in the fact that he
is spoken of in the third person, or that statements are made
which he must have known to be false.
The months of April and May were taken up with the pre
senting of statements and counter-statements by both parties.
The cardinals apparently intended to deliver their judgment
piecemeal. On April 11, Borghese made known to the
appellants his holiness' 'definition of the controversy on the
point of schism.' He pronounced the priests who had deS^yed
to receive the new subordination before it was confirmed by his
brief to be free from all schism and disobedience, and that the
confessions made to these priests during that delay were valid
and in no case to be iterated. He promised that they should
have a brief to this effect before their departure. ' Laus Deo ! '
piously ejaculates Mush. The deputies were naturally elated.
It was their first success, and they prepared a formal Latin
' Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz., CCLXXXIV. 4, 25, 88, 89, and CCLXXXV. 46.
^ Tierney, iii. pp. clxi, clxxvi.

Alleged Immorality ofthe Appellants. cix
letter to announce it to the chiefs of their party in England.*
Parsons was indignant. He denied the accuracy of their
report, and insisted that it was in flat contradiction to the
brief of the preceding August. The priests showed their
letter to the two cardinals, and through them to the
pope, for their approval, before despatching it, and irritated
their judges by asking to have their judgment in some
authentic form. The exasperation was heightened by Parsons
complaining that his adversaries had gone through the city
crying victory ! and the wrangling continued until the cardinals
lost all patience, and Arrigoni declared, as Mush candidly
reports, that they ' on both sides were terribiles.''
There still remained for discussion the Gravamina of the
appellants against the government of the archpriest, their
petition for his removal, with their proposed remedies, on the
one side, and the examination of the books charged with
heresy on the other. Parsons met ' the Gravamina first with a
denial of the facts, and then with a defence of them. He drew
up and presented a memorial in the name of the archpriest's
agents, setting forth the most grave scandal and irreparable
injury which would accrue to the church if any change in the
existing ecclesiastical state were conceded to the importunity of
these turbulent priests, whose success in the present instance
would encourage them to make further demands, would be a
source of triumph to protestants, and a concession to men
' whose morals and whose practices have degraded them in the
eyes of the catholics.' Another memorial, also written by
Parsons, insists that the discontented priests were not more
than thirty in all, that half of thera had been among the
mutineers at the EngUsh college, that all were noted for
ambition, sedition, and dissolute lives, and had been recently
guilty of ' manifest conspiracy with the public enemy of the
1 Addressed to Colleton and Heborne, and printed in ihejttst Defence, p. 291.

ex Introduction.

faith,' a conspiracy begun tentatively and by degrees towards
the end of 1598, and of late openly and publicly to the great
prejudice of catholics. In yet another paper, entitled 'An
account of the morals of some of the principal appellants,' he
enters into more particulars regarding the character and
conduct of eleven priests whom he names. Tierney, who
possessed a copy made from the original, in Parsons' hand
writing, thus describes it — ' After a pathetic declaration of the
unwillingness with which he enters on so painful a topic, the
writer proceeds to state the reasons that have induced him to
sacrifice his feelings to the public good ; calls God to witness
that he has no enmity to gratify, no intention to injure the
unfortunate subjects of his address ; and then at once passes to
the immediate object in view, the lives and character of his
principal opponents. The parties here noticed are Cecil,
Bagshaw, Bluet, Watson, Clark, Colleton, Charnock, Calverley,
Potter, Mush, and Charapney. Among these, however, the first
place in infamy is assigned to the present deputies of the appel
lants. Cecil is a swindler, a forger, a spy, the friend of heretics
and persecutors, and the betrayer of his brethren. Bagshaw is
a sower of sedition, an expelled and degraded student of the
Roman college, a man of suspected faith and unchaste living,
the author of the opposition to Blackwell and the corresponding
agent at the present moment between the appellants and the
English government. Bluet's qualifications are of a different
order.* . . . Champney and Mush, though treated with
less virulence than their companions, do not entirely escape.^
Both, says the writer, have been candidates for admission into
the society, and both have been rejected on account of their
impracticable tempers. Hence the enmity of each to the

1 These are given in the note on Bluet, infra, p. 13.
2 Mush had been already sufficiently defamed by Standish. See note to p.
51, infra.

Bishop Bancroft and the Books. cxi
fathers, and hence Mush, in particular, yielding to the sugges
tion of an impetuous and resentful disposition, has been led to
join with the heretics against his brethren, and to assist in
writing these books which have at once defamed the society
and scandalized every orthodox catholic' He further en
treated 'the pope's permission to deal with them in such a
manner as to make them feel the enormity of their crime, and
to be thankful for any future indulgence.' * It is not surprising
if, as Anthony Tracy reports to Cecil, the result of Parsons'
twenty days' work was ' such as to incense the pope and make
cardinal Borghese, one of the commissioners and his chiefest
friend, to say he had a diabolic spirit.' *
On the 3d of May the two cardinals laid before the appel
lants seven or eight books all in English, and ' unknown to us,'
writes Mush. Few things raore affronted the Jesuits than this
resolute refusal on the part of the deputies to accept the re
sponsibility of books written without their knowledge or after
they had left England. Father Rivers, one of Parsons' London
correspondents, assures him that when this denial reached the
ears of Bancroft, the bishop declared that ' most of the books '
were written before they went, and that ' he had their hands to
every page of the same, and this he meaneth to publish to the
world as soon as he shall hear they are departed frora Rome.' ^

1 Tierney, iii. pp. clvii, clxiii, note.
2 From Venice, May 3. Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz., CCLXXXIV.
3 Letters of F. Rivers, Foley's Records, i. p. 42. Parsons by no means
reserved his scandalous tales for privileged communications to pope and cardinals.
The rev. John Copley, some time a secular priest and afterwards a clergyman of
the church of England, relates that Parsons read publicly to the scholars in the
Roman college, and in Copley's own hearing, a letter, disclosing ' the horrible
sin of one William, a priest, that had many years lived too familiarly with a
tailor's wife.' The tailor, it was reported, went about the streets of London,
pistol in hand, with intent to shoot the sacrilegious adulterer ; and this priest,
said Parsons, 'was an earnest appellant.' Upon inquiry, however, Copley
could never get confirmation of this story.—' Doctrinall andMorall Observations,
by John Copley, Seminarie Priest' (Lond. 16 1 2), p. 104.

cxii Introduction.

Another Jesuit, probably Richard Blount, reports: 'The
Manfestation and Appendix [to the Apologie^ are here very
current and are greedily read by protestants as well as
catholics with good liking of all, and Mr. Bancroft had one
delivered unto him, which he took in so good part that he told
the gentleman (which was a protestant) that if he had brought
him ,£100 he could not have done him a greater pleasure, and,
scratching his elbow, said that this was what he looked for
all this while, viz., that one should write against another.'*
He hopes that Parsons has meanwhile received a later book of
Mr. CoUeton, ' no whit inferior to Watson's QuodUbet in many
things, as malice, pride, want of learning, etc., but as for folly
and falsehood I think it at least equal, if not superior.' ^ ^ It
passed the approbation of my Lord of London,' adds Rivers,
' and Thomas Mann, his familiar, a stationer, printed the same.' ^
^ F. Rivers writes of the bishop, ' he termeth both sides knaves, but the
appellants good instruments to serve the State ' (Foley, i. p. 42).
^ Foley's Records, i. p. 39. Rivers, a month later (28th July), gives a more
favourable account of the yust Defence from a literary point of view, ' as
written with a curious style, judiciate words and great gravity, the same being
also speedily bought by the ministry, who fill up their pulpits with priests' dis
cussions ' (Ibid., p. 45).
' It is probable that some of Watson's books or the later publications of the
appellants were printed with the help of the bishop, but it is very unlikely that
this was the case with the earlier works, or at least the four books printed before
Bluet had come to an understanding with the privy council. Bennet seems to
deny the fact altogether. He writes in the Reply to the Apologie : ' This fellow
[Parsons] his affirmation that M. Bluet had conference with the bishop
of London, council, and queen herself, for the printing and publishing of
"these Libels" (as he termeth them), said to be printed at Roane is most false.
For these books were not printed by any such means, but at the charge of the
priests and in most secret manner. And their charge was double in regard of
the printer's danger,' (p. 332) ; and again (p. 333), 'The priests never had any
print, but to their double, yea treble charge, and by great friendship of a
gentleman got their books printed, they themselves neither know where nor by
whom, but as it should seem by some mean and needy printer who in con
sideration of being well paid adventured to print them.' William Jones, a
printer, got into trouble with the Speaker in May 1604 for bringing before the
House of Commons information against the bishop for having treasonably pro
tected the printers of popish books.— Ca/. .S. P., Dom. James, vill. 21-25.

Judgment ofthe Inquisition. cxiii
He makes bad guesses as to the authorship of the more recent
publications, of which the deputies at Rome protested that
they knew nothing, thus : ' Mush is thought to be the author of
the Dialogue, Bluet of the Important Considerations, Bagshaw
of the Sparing Discoverie, and divers others. Watson was but
the prolocutor in adding the prefaces, as he confesseth.'
When confronted with the passages, thirty-nine propositions
in all, which Parsons delated as erroneous, scandalous, or hereti
cal, the appellants maintained that the passages were not fairly
quoted, nor were any of them contrary to the faith, but they
nevertheless expressed their own disapproval of the proposi
tions ; and, according to Parsons or his secretary, one of the
deputies said that ' Watson deserved to be whipped about the
streets of Rome.' Mush in particular repudiated Watson.
On the 21st of May Champney and Mush met the two pro
curators ofthe archpriest and two Jesuit fathers in presence of
cardinal Borghese, for a conference upon the eleven Gravamina
adduced by the appellants. Of this conference we have varying
accounts. Parsons reports that all present were moved to
shame, and that the cardinals found the charges self-contradic
tory. The appellants, on the other hand, relate that seven of
the Gravamina which were discussed so completely bore out
the general complaints on their side that it was deemed un
necessary to go into the rest.
On the 17th of June Dr. Cecil had a favourable audience of
the pope ; and about the same time M. Bethune let Mush see a
letter from the French ambassador in England, which conveyed
an express message from Elizabeth thanking the ambassador at
Rome for his good offices in aid of the appeUant priests. But,
a few days later (June 27), the deputies learnt to their great
mortification that the pope, who had at last, in consequence
perhaps of Dr. Cecil's audience, become alive to the gravity of
the issues involved in the quarrel, had committed the whole
h

cxiv Inti'oduction.

cause to the judgment of the inquisition. 'Thus,' exclaims
Mush, ' we were after five months to begin again.'
Dr. Cecil was commanded by the pope to make the other
four cardinals of the inquisition — Borghese and Arrigoni were
themselves members of the congregation — acquainted with the
state of the question. Thomas Fitzherbert and Archer did the
same on behalf of the archpriest and Jesuits. They found that
one at least of these cardinals, Domenico Pinelli, came to the
subject with a fresh and unbiassed mind. He was very inquisi
tive, ' asked from whence we came, who sent us, if any of us
had been at the Roman college, how many priests were with us,
and,' strange to say, ' f Father Parsons zvas alive.'' ' A few
days later,' adds Mush, he proposed ' to make us a dinner, and
invite also F. Parsons that we might agree. We thanked him,
but refused to have any dealings with F. Parsons.' Pinelli's
chief objection to the appellants was their familiarity with the
heretical magistrates in England and their seeking the protec
tion of the king of France. Cardinal Sfondrati, however, spoke
also in condemnation of Parsons' dealings in matters of state.
It was not till the 9th of August that cardinal Borghese
delivered to the priests the report of a congregation of the
inquisition held on the first of the month and approved, so the
cardinal said, by the pope. Parsons, it now appeared, had been
successful in persuading the court that any change in the
present form of government was undesirable. He had succeeded
also in obtaining a condemnation of the books written by the
appellants, and a prohibition of all treating with heretics to
the prejudice of catholics. But in all else the Jesuits and the
archpriest were losing ground. The illustrious lords were of
opinion that the archpriest had inflicted great grievances upon
the priests by proclaiming them to have been guilty of disobe
dience and schism, and on that account depriving them of their
faculties, prohibiting them from defending themselves, from

Both Parties Discontented. cxv
meeting together, collecting suffrages, or from going to Home
to make appeal to the holy see. The archpriest, however, was
somewhat to be excused — not, as Parsons instructed his secre
tary to report, on account of ' his great zeal ' — but from his
ignorance of law and his having probably acted on the advice of
others.* He was enjoined not to exceed his faculties, as it
appeared he had done, both in inflicting penalties and censures,
and by proceeding against laymen over whom he had no juris
diction. The faculties of the priests are therefore to be
restored, and the archpriest is never to proceed against them
in future without consulting the cardinal protector. Blackwell
was, raoreover, to be admonished to be more faithful in the
distribution of alms intended for the relief of his brethren, and
finally he was to be prohibited from communicating with the
Jesuits in the affairs of his office.
While the archpriest was thus reprehended no censure was
passed upon the conduct of the appellants in regard to their
appeal. Their books, however, said to have been printed in
England and at Rouen, and to contain many things offensive
to the Jesuits, and even many propositions which savoured of
heresy {hceresim sapientia), were utterly to be condemned.
The priests were not content. They urged that the prohi
bition to communicate with an heretical government might be
captiously taken or misunderstood. They had hoped at least
that a like prohibition would have been placed upon conspiring
with the enemies of the state. They desired that the arch
priest should be given specific instructions to render an account
of alms distributed by him, and especially did they with justice
demand that Parsons' books should be condemned and pro
hibited as well as their own.

^ ' Tum quia non est jurisperitus, tum etiam quia verisimile est plura ex his
fecisse ex aliorum consilio.' The acts of the congregation were in the hands of
Tierney, but he unfortunately only prints a few extracts, vol. iii. p. clxxvii.

cxvi Introduction.

Parsons was still less content. He had hoped to prevent any
censure of the archpriest, or any reference to the money matters
which too nearly touched the honour of the society.* He had
in vain urged that the appellants should be disgraced. He
now bent all his efforts to avert the condemnation of his own
books, and above all to get expunged the clause which prohi
bited the archpriest from taking counsel with the superior of
the Jesuits. This last was indeed the essential point in the
conflict. It was the obligation to consult the Jesuits attached
to the office of the archpriest which gave odium to the appoint
ment, which otherwise, as a temporary scheme of government,
might have presented little objection beyond its novelty and
the manner of its institution. It was this which justified
Bluet's ' appeal to Caesar.' The object for which the Jesuits
had been striving, remotely since 1580, and fiercely and undis
guisedly since Allen's death, would be utterly frustrated if the
proposed concession were made to the secular clergy.
The contest now turned upon the terras of the papal brief,
which was to be framed on the basis of the report of the
inquisition. The wearied but patient pontiff once more con
sidered the objections on both sides, and summoned a special
congregation for their settlement on the 6th of September.
He ordered the Apologie to be examined, also the Supplication
of Father Southwell. If, asked the appellants, they were to
be blamed, as they had been even by the pope himself, for
using civil speeches to Elizabeth or recognising her sovereignty,
what was to be thought of Southwell who addressed her
as ' most clement and sovereign lady under God ? ' This, at

^ The brief admonishes the archpriest to generously a.nA faithfully distribute
to the poor, and especially to prisoners for their faith, the abundant alms which
are collected. Blackwell afterwards admitted to Colleton that during the period
of his rule he had divided these alms equaUy between the two bodies, the society
and the secular clergy, by which means each Jesuit received from twelve to fifteen
times as nmch as a secular priest.

T'he Draft of the Brief. cxvii
least, is Parsons' account of their complaint against this
apparently harmless work. More formidable was the new
petition now put forward by the deputies that some of their
own party should be appointed assistants to the archpriest, and
that the archpriest should not act without their consent. The
further the investigation went the raore favourable to the
appeUants were the results. When at the last moment it became
evident that the clause prohibiting the archpriest from taking
counsel of the Jesuits would appear in the brief, Blackwell's
procurators begged that the pope would say that the fathers
of the society had themselves petitioned to be relieved of the
duty of giving such advice.* This the pope very properly
refused to do.
From the 12th of September, when monsignor Vestrio
received instructions to raake a draft of the brief, there was
much manoeuvring on all sides to get a sight of it. For four
weeks raore the appellants were in a fever of anxiety. The
pope would not let the French ambassador know its contents
unless he took an oath of secrecy, which he declined. Parsons
was said to have spent four or five nights together in confer
ence with cardinal Farnese. There was some mystery about the
delay in issuing the document ; and when, finally, it was pub
lished after the Spanish ambassador had had a long audience of
the pope, it was surmised by the deputies that the first draft
had contained some prohibition against ' dealing in state
matters,' and that the clause was deleted at the last moment
at the instance of the Spanish ambassador. Mush in this
supposition may have been mistaken. Clement himself could
not, with consistency, have said anything just now to dis
courage the clergy from interfering with affairs of state. The
appeUants were not aware that at this moment Garnet held in

¦'¦ Tierney, iii. p. clxxxii.

cxviii Introduction.

his hands briefs which the pope had sent to his nuncio in
Flanders, addressed to the English clergy and laity, to the eff'ect
that none should consent to any successor to Elizabeth ' when
soever that wretched woman should depart this life,' however
near in blood, who would not submit himself to the apostolical
see. Nevertheless, the remonstrances of the appellants were
not in vain ; and it is not improbable that it was in great
measure in consequence of their representations that we find, a
few months later, on the accession of James, both the pope
and the general of the Jesuits doing their best to stay all
attempts at insurrection or violence.
Meanwhile the diary and correspondence of the deputies
reveal what they call a stratagem or plot of Parsons, and
which they appear to regard with the utmost disraay. The
story is told in the diary with ranch detail. Briefly, it seems
that Parsons, when nothing more was to be gained by fighting,
naturally desired to mitigate the scandal by bringing about a
public reconciliation. The unwilUng deputies were to be
entrapped into some show of embracing Parsons in the
presence of a number of cardinals and others at an audience of
the pope. The pope was himself a party to the ' stratagem,'
for he had declared that the priests should not pass out of his
chamber door till he had made them all friends. The deputies
did not, until they were within the palace, discover the trap
laid for them. After distant salutations had been exchanged,
they placed themselves as far off as possible. They prayed,
writes Dr. Cecil,* to God and our Lady to divert this
'raalheure' from them. Their prayers were answered. The
audience was postponed, and next day the terrified priests flew
to their friend M. Bethune, who persuaded the pope to

' Letter to J. Hill, esq., in Paris, August 7. Hist. MSS. Commission,
eleventh report, pt. vii. p. 299.

Publication of the Brief , Oct. 1602. cxix
abandon his charitable intention of making the adversaries
'join hands.'
The brief was dated October 5. Copies were delivered to the
contending parties on the 12th. The report of the inquisition
was substantially adopted, but with some important modifica
tions. All books on either side are equally condemned and pro
hibited, without any distinction and without any reference to
heretical [propositions. Lest new contentions should arise, the
archpriest is forbidden, as before, to communicate the affairs of
his office to the provincial of the society or to other Jesuits in
England, or to any of the same religious at Rome or elsewhere ;
and this not because the pope entertains any sinister suspicions
of the Jesuits, for he knows them to be led by motives of sincere
zeal and piety, and to truly seek the things of God, but the pro
hibition is made for the sake of peace, and is approved by these
reUo-ious themselves. Further, it is ordered that three of the
appellant priests should in succession be appointed assistants
of the archpriest as soon as vacancies should occur to admit
them. Finally, in a long paragraph declaring the penalties to
be incurred by anyone who should by any kind of book, tract,
or letters, injure the good name of a catholic or renew the
present contentions by defending or attacking one side or the
other, there is introduced a clause which subjects to the same
penalties those who, ' under any pretext, participate or com
municate with heretics to the prejudice of catholics.' *
Neither party was entirely satisfied with the result. The
Jesuits made the most of this last clause and of the recognition
of their own pious motives, and at once intrigued to get rid of
or evade the sentence which forbade the archpriest to consult
them. The appellants, if they had not secured the removal
of the archpriest or a condemnation of Jesuit statecraft, had
• ' Denique qui cum haereticis in prejudicium catholicorum quovis pretextu vel
causa participaverint aut communicaverint.'

cxx Introduction.

obtained raore than they expected in the designation of three
of their number to the post of assistants to the archpriest.
This alone was a sufficient answer to Parsons' aspersions upon
their characters, for it could hardly be suggested that for the
sake of securing a present peace the pope would run the risk of
handing over the government of the English church to men of
doubtful faith and disreputable lives.*
The pope had treated the deputies during their stay in
Rome with generosity, and had supplied them with money.
They received their passports from the cardinals Aldobrandino
and Borghese on the 22d and 23d of October, and from the
French ambassador on the 31st. On the 25th of December
a pursuivant brought Bluet to the bishop of London, with
whom he was once more to be committed as a prisoner, and
the bishop next day writes to Cecil, ' I will take from him as
fast as I can all points of importance and send them to you.'
In the opinion of the bishop there was 'like to be another
appeal from a pope who is chaplain to the king of Spain to a
pope the true vicar of Christ.' ^
VIII. Tlie Sequel.
The deputies on their return to England were met by the
cruel mockery of the proclamation which had been issued on
November 5, and which was virtually the royal response to the

' Of those who had signed the appeal, Colleton, Mush, Edward Bennet, John
Bennet, John Boswell, Cuthbert Trollop, Richard Button, and Roger Strickland
became assistants of the archpriest, and, later on (with the exception of Mush
who was then dead), canons of the episcopal chapter.
2 Letters to Cecil, Cal. S. P. , Dom. Eliz. , CCCLXXXVI. i6, 17. The appellants,
on their side, evidently did not allow the report of the inquisition, or even the
terms of the brief, to interfere with the freedom of their intercourse with the
bishop of London. As late as October 27, Dr. Bishop wrote from Paris to
Bancroft reporting the progress of the appeal and asking leave for some of his
party to go to the bishop safely for the settling of better correspondence (Hist.
MSS. Commission, eleventh report, pt. vii. p. 301).

The Queen's Proclamation, Nov. 5. cxxi
papal brief. The queen began by regretting that her late for
bearance and clemency in relaxing the execution of the penal
laws had been so notoriously abused by her unfaithful subjects,
who sought the utter ruin of herself and her kingdom. Both
secular priests and Jesuits had of late invited the king of Spain
to invade Ireland. Moreover, ' almost all the secular priests by
yielding their obedience to a new kind of subordination among
them have in eff'ect subjected themselves to be wholly directed by
the Jesuits (raen altogether alienated frora their true allegiance
to us and devoted with all their might to the king of Spain).'
They all profess that the queen's subjects are bound to fight
against her and to join any forces the pope raay send ; or if any
are of a milder way of thinking it is enough for them to incur
the hatred and persecution of the rest. She touches on the recent
dissensions, admits that the appellants not only protest against
these plots for the invasion of the kingdom but offer themselves
to be the first to discover and take means to withstand all
such traitorous designs. Yet, however much they may be at
variance with the Jesuits and their faction, these priests,
' masking themselves under the vizard of pretended conscience,'
labour day and night to withdraw her subjects from their due
obedience to the laws, and ' knit them to our mortal enemy the
pope, increasing thereby his numbers and diminishing ours.'
Furthermore, they carry theraselves with so great insolency
that they do alraost insinuate ' that we have some purpose to
grant a toleration qf two religions within our realm.'' God
knows the queen's innocency of any such imagination ! Their
said conceit of such a toleration and intolerable presumption
has come to such a pass that ' they dare adventure to walk in
the streets at noon days, to resort to prisons publicly and
execute their functions in contempt of our laws.' Therefore
all Jesuits and secular priests are ordered (within a specified
date) to depart the realm, except such as shall meantime

cxxii Introduction.

present themselves to the lords of the privy council, acknow
ledge their duty and aUegiance, and ' submit themselves to our
mercy, with whom we will . . . take such further order as shall
be thought to us most raeet and convenient.'
Not utterly disheartened by the offer of this sraall raeasure
of mercy. Dr. Bishop drew up and with twelve other priests
signed the solemn protestation of allegiance already referred to.
They here confess that the queen has as full authority, power,
and sovereignty over all her subjects as any of her predecessors
ever had. They admit and deplore divers conspiracies against
her majesty and the state, and sundry forcible attempts to
invade and conquer her dominions, ' under we know not what
pretences and intendments of restoring the catholic religion by
the sword,' by reason of which violent enterprises the queen had
been moved to ordain and execute severer laws against catholics
than ever would have been thought of if such hostilities had
not been undertaken. They, however, protest that in such at
tempts, howsoever or by whomsoever projected, under pretence
of restoring the catholic religion, they will defend her majesty,
they will detect and reveal any conspiracies known to thera,
and will earnestly persuade all catholics to do the same.
Moreover, if upon any excommunication denounced, or to be
denounced against her majesty, the pope should excommunicate
everyone who would not forsake the aforesaid defence of her
majesty, and take part with such conspirators or invaders,
they think themselves and all lay catholics ' bound in con
science not to obey this or any such censure.' Yet they
acknowledge the bishop of Rome as the successor of Peter,
and to have as ample authority as that apostle, and no more ;
and they conclude : ' For as we are most ready to shed our
blood in defence of her majesty and our country, so we will
rather lose our lives than infringe the lawful authority of
Christ's catholic church.'

Oath of Allegiance. cxxiii
It is said that this protestation was never seen by Eliza
beth. She died March 24, 1603.
When the news of James' accession reached Garnet he
threw into the fire the briefs which he had held in his posses
sion for a year or more, and which called upon all catholics to
do their utmost to prevent any protestant succeeding to the
throne.* It was just thirty-three years since the bull of deposi
tion was fulminated against EUzabeth, and the war which it
challenged was virtually decided before this last hostile brief
was consumed in the flames.
That there was any further resort to violence was due to the
faithlessness of James. Without the provocation or the excuses
of Elizabeth, he threw away the opportunities of granting such
a measure of toleration as he had repeatedly led catholics to
expect. His breach of faith drove extreme men on both sides to
desperation. Watson, Clark, and Copley (which last in the
meantime had been reconciled to Parsons) were led into the
insane plot of 'the Bye,' for which the two priests suffered
the penalty of traitors. Zealots on the Jesuit side planned the
gunpowder plot ; and Garnet, who had been privy to, if he
had not aided and abetted, a treasonable correspondence with
Spain on the part of his friends Catesby, Tresham, Winter, and
his brother Jesuit Greenway in the last year of Elizabeth, and
who knew enough of the gunpowder plot, apart from the con
fessional, to make him legally and morally responsible for its
concealment, followed his old enemies to the scaffold.
The immediate outcome of this last plot was the imposition
upon catholics of the oath of aUegiance, framed by bishop
Bancroft with the assistance of Christopher Perkins, formerly a

1 But not before he had shown them to Catesby and Thomas Winter, and
they in tum had let them be seen by Percy. Catesby argued ' if it was lawful
by force of the pope's briefs to have kept the king out, it was as lawful now to
put him out when he had declared himself the enemy of catholics.'

cxxiv Introduction.

Jesuit priest. It is said that the ex -Jesuit had craftily suggested
the insertion in the oath of the words which condemned the
papal claim to the deposing power as a doctrine ' false, damn
able, and heretical,' in order to create or intensify divisions
among catholics. If so, it may be questioned whether he did
not over-reach his object. The dissensions caused by the oath
were serious enough, but it was at least impolitic for the state
to define or insist upon others defining a doctrine as ' heretical.'
The term served to divide catholics less than if it had been
omitted, for it gave the pope colourable ground for condemning
and prohibiting the oath. Many catholics who could subscribe
Dr. Bishop's protestation of allegiance, or go the length of
declaring the doctrine of the deposing power to be false and
odious, would shrink from pronouncing a tenet, held at that
time by, probably, a majority of their brethren, and un
doubtedly by the pope himself, to be technically heretical.
Two appellants, Robert Drury and Roger Cadwallader, who
had signed Dr. Bishop's protestation, and are now by the
recent decree of Leo xiii. entitled venerable martyrs, died rather
than save their lives by taking the oath after its condemnation
by Paul v.* Nevertheless, to the surprise of all men and the
scandal of many of his former friends, Blackwell, released from
the pressure of his Jesuit advisers, took the prohibited oath,
and by circular letter urged his assistants and the clergy subject
to him to do the same. So it came about that the archpriest,
then a prisoner in the Gatehouse, was deposed from his office by
the pope. He died adhering to his position in spite of Bellar
mine's arguments and the papal decrees.
The course and results of the appellant controversy were
undoubtedly of national iraportance. The kingdom owed
perhaps raore than is generally admitted to the appellant
' Clement viii. died in 1605 after a reign of thirteen years. Cardinal
Borghese was elected pope (Paul v.) May 16 of that same year.

Results ofthe Conflict. cxxv
priests for the failure of the later Spanish attempts, and (not
withstanding the Watson episode) for the peaceful accession of
James. By their firm resistance to a policy of aggression and
violence, and their known readiness to divulge any treasonable
projects, they thwarted the Spanish faction at every point.
The views which they were the first to broach in opposition to
the deposing power, and which ultimately prevailed among the
clergy in general, were at least indirectly a gain to the country
on the side of liberty and peace.
One marked and immediate result was the breaking down
of the Jesuit ascendancy in affairs either political or ecclesiastical.
Other events, indeed, concurred to this same result, or at
least served to secure it firmly when once gained. At the very
time the appellants were pursuing their appeal, a number of
English benedictines frora Italian and Spanish monasteries
were entering England, and contemplating the erection of a
college of their order at Douai. Their advent upon the mis
sionary field excited in the Jesuits the fiercest jealousy and
resentment. Parsons drew up a memorial setting forth as
usual the crimes of his new adversaries. They were raen, he
said, who were notorious for their share as students in the
rebellions and disorders of the Roman college. They had
entered among the benedictines only to vex and oppose the
Jesuits. They had in England sided with the appellants, they
were in treaty with an heretical government, and one of them
at least had defended the oath of allegiance.* ' I think it is the
devil,' wrote Father Creswell to Dr. Worthington, 'who
attempts now by lewd persons under pretence of a monk's cowl
what he could not before effect by appellants' cloaks.' Once
more the inquisition had to interpose and to compel the com-

1 Additional mss., British Museum, No. 21203, ^°^- '6. Compare Weldon's
Chronological Notes, pp. 72-75.

cxxvi Introduction.

batants to terms of peace. It was not long after this that a
band of franciscan friars, for the most part simple-minded raen,
coveting martyrdom and caring little for politics, also joined
the mission. The existence of such formidable rivals made it
impossible for the Jesuits to recover their former position.
They continued to grasp at power, and especially to aim
at the control of the seminary at Douai, but this served
only still further to weaken and divide the clerical forces of
the mission. The assumption of Jesuit leadership was at an
end, and with it went all hope of a political dictatorship of any
kind. Another consequence of the appellants' success, though not
so immediately visible on the surface, was the changed attitude
of all catholic parties towards the civil govemment. The brief
of Clement destroyed by Garnet was the last of the belligerent
manifestoes issued from Rome. The holy see appeared at last
to be converted to the views of the appellants. Bluet's
' appeal to Csesar ' in 1601 estabUshed a precedent which could
not be ignored. The pope himself, on the accession of James,
was, indeed, the first to treat with the heretical sovereign.
He commissioned Dr. Gifford, the principal opponent on the
continent of the Jesuit policy, to go into England to see the
king, and to offer to withdraw from the country any priests
whom James might name as troublesome. The Jesuits them
selves, though they still raade complaint of others having-
dealings with or giving secret information to the council,
quickly learnt from their opponents the advantage of the
practice. Garnet did not indeed reveal the treasonable plans
of his friends in 1602, nor did he or Father Greenway give
notice of the gunpowder plot ; but when Watson and Clark,,
acting in the spirit of the briefs referred to, engaged in their
treasonable conspiracy. Father Gerard, who was in their secret,
despatched a friend to give information to the government..

Triumph of the Appellants. cxxvii
He had however been anticipated by Blackwell and Garnet,
who found means to reveal it to the bishop of London. The
Jesuits, moreover, learnt to appeal to Ca;sar in matters more
purely ecclesiastical. When, after a series of petitions and
missions to Rome, the representatives of the secular clergy
were on the point of securing the long desired episcopal
government, their adversaries as a last resource employed
Toby Matthews, a convert of Parsons, devoted to the society
and said to be himself a secret Jesuit, to alarm the king by
giving information of the project to the lord keeper. Williams
saw through the device. 'I am afraid,' he wrote to Bucking
ham, ' that Toby will prove but an apocryphal and no
canonical intelligencer, acquainting the state with the project
for the Jesuits' sake rather than for Jesus' sake.'i Neverthe
less, whatever their motive, these parleyings with the privy
council constituted a new departure which was in the long run
profitable both to the catholic community and to the state.
The triumph of the appellant party was complete when, in
1623, the pope, no longer able to resist the entreaties of the
clergy for episcopal rule, could find no fitter person to preside
as bishop over the united kingdoms of England and Scotland
than William Bishop ^ — the former chief of the appellants, the
prisoner of Parsons, and the author of the protestation of
allegiance — at the head of whose newly erected chapter was
placed the steadfast and long suffering John Colleton.

^ Tierney, v. 90-93 ; Lingard, History, 6th edit. vii. 279.
^ It was originally intended that there should be four bishops in England, but
on James announcing his determined hostility to the arrangement, Gregory xv.
compromised the matter by appointing only one. The Scottish catholics success
fully protested against the bishop exercising jurisdiction in Scotland.

cxxviii Introduction.

IX. Bibliographical Notes.
The following are the titles in full of the chief contemporary
works written on both sides of the appellant controversy.
Many of these volumes are exceedingly rare. Of the few
copies extant some are imperfect, or the books themselves are
imperfectly described by bibliographers. A few notes are
therefore here added respecting their general character, their
contents, and, where necessary, their supposed authorship.
I. ADVERSUS FACTIOSOS in Ecclesia [1598].
By Father Thomas Lister^ S.J. Of this short tract, gener
ally referred to as the Treatise on Schism, enough is said below in
the notes to pages 84-86. A third part of the treatise is printed
in the Appendix D.
II. DECLARATIO MOTVVM ac Tvrbationvm quae ex Con
troversiis inter lesuitas iisq; in omnibus fauentem D.
Georg. Blackwellum Arch ipresby terum et Sacerdotes
Seminariorum in Anglia, ab obitu ill™ Card"^ Alani
pise memorias, ad annum vsque 1601.
Ad S. D. N. Clementem octauum exhibita ab ipsis
sacerdotibus qui schismatis, aliorumq; criminum sunt
insiraulati. Videhunt recti et loeiahuntur : et omnis iniquitas oppilahit os
suum. — Psal. 106.
Rhotomagi apud lacobum Molseum, sub signo
Phenicis 1601.
By John Mush, of whom some account is given in the note to
page 51, injra. This book, the first published in support of the
appeal, must have appeared early in the year. It consists of 140
numbered pages in 4to besides the title leaf and two pages of
errata for which the author pleads excuse on account of the
printer's ignorance of Latin. The last page of the text is, how-

Bibliographical Notes. cxxix

ever, wrongly numbered 142, the numbers 88 and 89 being omitted.
At the top of the first page is a repetition of the title with some
variation : ' Ad S. D. N. Clement. 8. vera et succincta narratio prse-
cipuarum rerum controuersarum inter P. lesuitas iisque in omni
bus obsequentem D. Georg. Black.,' etc. The text of the appeal
occupies pages 95-119. The tract concludes with the copy of a
letter (pp. 121-142) addressed, 'ad Rni™i D. Morrum' — i.e. monsig
nor Morro, an Italian prelate, dated '27 Maii 1598,' and signed
' Joannes Musheus, Presbyter Romanus.' This important letter
was written at the request of Anthony Heborne, and sent to
Bagshaw and Bluet at Wisbeach (May 28), for their consideration
and amending, ' for,' says Mush, perhaps too modestly, ' I am out
of use in writing Latin.' {Hist. MSS. Commission, Rep. xi. pt. vii.
p. 263; cf. note to p. Ixix. supra.)

III. THE COPIES OF CERTAINE DISCOURSES, which
were extorted from diuers as their friends desired
them, or their aduersaries driue them to purge them
selues, of the most greeuous crimes of schisme, sedition,
rebellion, faction, and such like, most uniustly laid
against them for not subscribing to the late authoritie
at the first sending thereof into England.
In which discourses are also many things discouered
concerning the proceedings in this matter abroad.
Dicit piger, Leo est in via. — Prouerb. 26. The slothful
excuse themselues saying There is a Lyon in the way.
Imprinted at Roane by the heires of la. Walker, 1601.
190 pages, 4to. Contains : —
1. The preface to the reader, 6 pages, signed 'Yours in all
true hartie affection.'
2. ' Certaine considerations to satisfie such as either are, or may
be, by any sinister informations or ill conceipts incensed against
vs, or alienated from vs because we have not yeelded ourselues to
the designments and wills of others, in subscribing to the late
authoritie,' pp. 1-8.

cxxx Introduction.

3. ' Other reasons to the same purpose, by another, under the
forme ofa Letter,' pp. 9-1 6.
4. ' Maister Champney's Letter of the same argument to a
reverend friend of his,' pp. 17-46. This is signed by Champney.
5. 'The copie of a letter written by F. Rob. Parsons, the
Jesuite, 9 Octob. 1599, to M. D. Bish[op], and M. Ch[arnock],
two banished and consigned Priests, the one in Fraunce the other
in Lorraine by the suggestions of F. Parsons for presuming to goe
to Rome in the affaires of the Cathohcke Church,' pp. 49-67.
6. ' A censure upon the Letter whicli F. Parsons writ the 9 oi
October 1599. . . • Given by M. I. B [i.e. Mr. John Bennet],' pp.
68-135. 7. ' Doctor Byshops Answere to Fa. Parsons Letter of the 9
of October 1599-' Ends, 'I tak my leave the 10 of Aprill, anno
l600, yours in his praiers, William Bishop,' pp. 136-177.
8. ' A Letter of Mr. MV. [i.e. Mush] to Father Parsons,' dated
' London 1 3 of November 1 600, yours as you are to our Church,
I. M.,' pp. 178-186.
Mr. GiUow, in his Dictionary, places the work among the pub
lications of Dr. Bishop, to whom, he remarks, it is generally attri
buted, referring to Tierney in. p. clvi, note ; but Tierney in this
passage speaks only of the authorship of the several Discourses,
and says nothing of the editor or publisher. Among other works
of Dr. Bishop, Dodd mentions ' A defence of the king's honour
and liis title to the kingdom of England,' but does not say
whether it was printed or manuscript, Latin or English. Mr.
Gillow states that it was written during the controversy on the
oath of allegiance and in answer to Parsons' Conference on the
Succession. No other work on the appellant disputes except the letter here
printed in the Copies can with certainty be ascribed to Anthony
Champney. This learned theologian acquitted himself so much to
the satisfaction of the secular clergy in his negotiations at Rome
in company with Dr. John Cecil in l602, that the two were again
despatched as agents on a similar mission to the pope in l606.
Champney took his degree of doctor of divinity at the Sorbonne,
became in I6l9 vice-president of Douai college, and in 1637 suc
ceeded Edward Bennet as dean of the English chapter. His
controversial works are well known.

Bibliographical Notes. cxxxi

IV. THE HOPE OF PEACE by laying open such doubts
and manifest vntruthes as are divulged by the Arch
priest in his Letter or Answere to the Bookes which
were published by the Priestes.
Zacha. 8. — Veritatem tantum et pacem diligite. Loue truth
onely and Peace.
Imprinted at Franckford by the heires of D. Turner,
1601.
By John Bennet. A well-printed tract of 45 pages 4to. The
preface (4 pages) begins ' Two bookes haue beene lately set foorth
by the priests in the necessary defence of their good name and
fame,' and ends ' yours in all true hartie affection, I. B.' ' The copie
of M. Blackwell his letter' (pp. 5-10) which follows the preface is
printed in the Appendix infra. The tract, though mainly contro
versial, contains some interesting biographical notices. That it was
not printed at Frankfort but in London, Bennet (in his ' Reply to
the Appendix of the Apologie,' printed at the end of A. P.'s book),
admits ; and he justifies the common and innocent practice by the
example of St. Peter, who did ' in a manner date his first epistle
from Babylon . . . though no man doubted but that he was then
in Rome.' He, however, denies on the authority of the person
who paid for the expenses, not improbably Bennet himself, that
the book was printed ' by the favour of the Bishop [of London] and
permission of his pursuivants,' as ' this fellow' Parsons asserted.
John Bennet and his brother Edward were gentlemen of inde
pendent fortune and strong character, and took a very active part
on the side of the appellants. Dr. Barret wrote from Douai to
Parsons in 1596, of one of the brothers : ' This Benet is the
greatest dissembler and most perilous fellow in a community that
ever I knew ' {Douay Diaries, p. 386). Both brothers were held
in high esteem by the secular clergy. John was despatched to
Rome in 1621 as agent of the clergy, with Mr. Farrar, to petition
for a bishop and to persuade the pope to grant a dispensation for
the proposed match between prince Charles and the infanta of
Spain. He left in manuscript a work of which two copies exist in
the archives of the ' Old Chapter,' entitled, ' Narratio historica ea
summatim complectens quse ab initio regni Elizabethae ad religion-

cxxxii Introduction.

em et jurisdictionem in Clero Anglicano ad presentem annum l621
declarandum spectare videntur ' (Gillow, Diet.). Edward, who in
1621 was nominated by his brethren for a bishopric, succeeded
Colleton as dean of the chapter in 1635.

V. RELATIO COMPENDIOSA TVRBARVM quas lesuita;
Angli, vna cum D. Georgio Blackwello, Archipresbytero,
Sacerdotibus Seminariorum populoq; CathoUco cociuere
ob schismatis et aliorum criminum inuidiam illis iniuriose
impactam sacro sanctae inquisitionis officio exhibita, vt
rerum veritate cognita ab integerrimis eiusdem iudicibus
lites et causae discutiantur et terminentur.
Judica me deus et disceme caussam.—Vs\L. 42.
Rhothomagi, per lacobum Molaeum sub signo
Phaenicis.
By Dr. Bagshaw. 103 pages 4to, but numbered inaccurately 102.
The preface is addressed 'Ad Ill™os et R"""^ D.D"^ sacro-sanctse
Inquisitionis Praesides,' and is signed ' 111™^ D°i'>'^ V™ Addictissi-
mi, qui in Anglia pro fide laborantes schismatis sunt accersiti.' On
page 7 begins the narrative : ' Origo et progressio praesentium
turbarum quae inter jesuitas et sacerdotes cum haud mediocri scan-
dalo existunt.' The last of the several documents printed in this
volume is the letter to cardinal Borghese (pp. 87-96) dated from
London, Nov. 4, I600, and signed 'Robertus Charnocus, Presbyter
Anglus.' The signature so stands as to appear to be the proper
termination of the book, which has in consequence been sometimes
erroneously ascribed to Charnock. Thus in Sotheby's sale cata
logue of Tierney's books it is set down as ' auctore Charnoco,'
though Tierney himself had rightly attributed it to Bagshaw.
Dodd also makes Bagshaw the writer, but by a strange mistake
adds, ' under the name of Mush.' There is nothing to show that
Mush had any hand in it, and his name certainly nowhere appears
in connection with it. Charnock's letter is followed by three
pages of text, the appeal to the cardinals of the inquisition, and
one page of errata.

Bibliographical Notes. cxxxiii

VI. A BRIEFE APOLOGIE or Defence of the Catholii<e
Ecclesiastical Hierarchic, & Subordination in England,
erected these later yeares by our holy Father Pope
Clement the Eyght ; and impugned by certayne libels
printed & published of late both in Latyn & English by
some vnquiet persons vnder the name of Priests of the
Seminaries. Written and set forth for the true information and
stay of all good Catholikes, by Priests vnited in due
subordination to the Right Reuerend Arch-priest, and
other their Superiors.
Heb. 13. vers. 17. — Obediie prcepositis uestris et subiacite eis
eic. Obey your superiors, and submit your selues vnto them.
1 Thess. 5. — Rogamus vos fratres corripite inquietos. We
beseech yaw brethren represse those that are vnquiet
amongst yoiv.
Permissu Superiorum.
By Father Parsons. Contains altogether 500 pages Svo.
The numbering of the folios of the text is full of errors, and
the last should be 222, and not 232 as it is printed.
Following the index or table of contents is ' A Table of certayne
principal deceyts,falshoods and slaunders conteyned in the libels set
foorth bythe discontented priests which in this our Apologie more
at large are confuted,' with ' A list of the principal persons that
are iniured by these libels and defended by our Apologie.' Then
follows the preface (6 pages) addressed ' to the Catholikes of Eng
land most worthy of this honorable name,' etc.
This important volume is one of the rarest of the whole series.
There is no copy in the British Museum. Parsons prints in it a
number of letters or extracts from letters which are not to be found
elsewhere ; and although his statements, if unconfirmed, are to
be received with as much caution as those of Watson, the position
which the Jesuit held, his diplomatic ability, his masterful style, and
the hard blows which he dealt to his opponents, give his writings
an interest such as attaches to no other in the same degree.

cxxxiv Introduction.

VII. AN APPENDIX TO THE APOLOGIE lately set
forth, for Defence of the Hierarchie and Subordination
of the English Catholike Church, impugned by certaine
discontented Priestes.
Wherin two other books or libels of the impugners,
the one in English the other in Latin, no lesse intem
perate then the former, are examined, and considered,
by the Priestes that remaine in due obedience to their
lawful superior.
August, lib. 17. contra Faustum Manicheum, cap. 4. — Iam
ptito sufficere, quce dicta sunt ad studiosos commonendos, et
ad cahifmiiosos conuincendos. We think that sufficient hath
byn sayd nom, both to rvarne good and vertuous men, as
also to confute those that delight in slaunders and calumnia
tions.
Imprinted with License.
By Father Parsons. A tract of 56 pages Svo. Begins with a
preface ' to the godly, staled and prudent reader,' and consists
almost entirely of a criticism of the Hope of Peace. The second
book referred to is the Relatio Compendiosa. In a supplementary
note at the end of the volume the author withdraws an accusation
he had made in the Apologie against Bagshaw and others, viz., that
they were the cause of the apprehension and execution of ' M.
Thomas Bensted, a martyr.' The Appendix appeared, as has been
said, many weeks after the Apologie, but the two books are some
times (as far as I know in all extant copies), bound in one volume.
Lowndes in describing the Apologie has overlooked the Appendix.
Parsons printed an edition or an abridgment of both these books
in Latin, which I have not seen. Straker announced a copy in
his catalogue of 1853, thus : Apologia pro Hierarchia Ecclesiastica
Clemente P.P. viii., his annis apud Anglos instituta cum Appendix
\sic\ 2 vols. 12mo, Permissu Superiorum, 1 601-2.
VIII. A TRUE RELATION, etc.
The original edition consists of ^0 pages of text, Svo, with 6
pages of preface. It is here reprinted verbatim et literatim, except

Bibliographical Notes. cxxxv
that two or three long paragraphs have been subdivided. The
headlines have been added by the present editor. The British
Museum Catalogue of English books printed before 1640 {sub voce
Weston) queries W. Watson as the author. Dodd was certainly
correct in ascribing it to Bagshaw {Church Hist. ii. 67). The type,
paper, and printer's device seem to proceed from the same press
as the Sparing Discovery and the Dialogue.

IX. IMPORTANT CONSIDERATIONS, which ought to
move all trve and sovnd Catholikes, who are not wholly
lesuited, to acknowledge without all equiuocations,
ambiguities, or shiftings, that the proceedings of her
Majesty, and of the State with them, since the begin
ning of her Highnesse raigne, haue bene both mild and
mercifuU. Published by sundry of vs the secular Priests, in
dislike of many treatises, letters and reports, which
haue bene written and raade in diuerse places to the con
trarie : together with our opinions of a better course
hereafter, for the premoting of the Catholike faith in
England. Newly imprinted, 1601.
Quarto. Text, 43 pages ; preface, 25. The text begins ' Right
worshipful and our very dear friends. We your ancient teachers
and spiritual Fathers the secular priests in England,' and is signed
' your true friends the secular Priests.' The writer or writers sub
mit 'to the censure and judgment of our holy mother the Catholike
Church ' . . . ' whatsoever is written or contained in these Bookes.'
' The Epistle generali in stead of a Preface ' is written in Watson's
peculiar style, and is signed ' W. W.' It is characteristically addressed
to ' Lords, ladies, earles, countesses, vicounts, vicountesses, barons,
baronesses, knights, ladies, gentlemen, gentlewomen, bachelors,
virgins, maried, single.' ' Give me leave (he asks) by an epistle
patheticall in one generali passage to speake unto you all alike, in
two adoptive surnames, Catholike and English, with sentences
Apostrophall as of great weight and warinesse as the worth of the

cxxxvi Introduction.

matter exacteth at my worthlesse hands.' The point of his preface
lies in the sentence : — ' though no appeal had been, we all of the
secular cleargie . . . una voce do utterly disclaim and renounce
from our hearts both archpriest and Jesuits as arrant traytours
unto their Prince and countrey : whom to death we will never
obey : no, if the Popes Holinesse should charge us to obey in this
sense, to advance an enimie to the English Crown, we should
never yeeld to it : as by no law of nature of nations or of man to
be compelled thereunto : no more than to commit adulterie, incest,
or to murther our selves, our children, our parents, etc'
If the rest of the book is attributed to any other hand than
Watson it is chiefly because it is comparatively free from Watson's
extravagancies of style and statement. Watson, however, in re
plying to criticisms made upon the book, appears to completely
identify himself with the author {Quodlibets, pp. 334-361). The
importance of the matter has led to the treatise being frequently
reprinted. The 'Considerations' were reprinted without the
preface in a collection of several treatises concerning the Penal
laws in l677, and again in 1688.
The Epistle was separately reprinted in l689 in a ' Brief histori
cal account of the behaviour of the Jesuits and their Faction for
the first twenty-five years of Q. Elizabeth's reign,' and in the third
volume of Gibson's '^ Preservation against Popery.' More recently,
1831, the Rev. Joseph Mendham reprinted the complete work
with a preface of his own.

X. A SPARING DISCOVERIE of ovr English lesvits, and
of Fa. Parsons' proceedings vnder pretence of promoting
the Catholike faith in England : For a caueat to all
true Catholiks, our very louing brethren and friends,
how they embrace such very uncathoUke, though
lesuiticall deseignments.
Eccles. 4. — Vidi calumnias quce sub .sole geruntur, et lachry-
mas iiinocentium, et neminem consolatoreni.
Newly imprinted, 1601.
By William Watson. Octavo, 70 pages of text, with 'an
Epistle to the Reader,' by W. W. In this epistle, composed in

Bibliographical Notes. cxxxvii
Watson's most extravagant style, occurs the laboured description
of the portrait of Venus, which brought him under Parsons' lash.
He suggests, though he does not positively state that ' the ensuing
discourse, advisedly void of passion,' etc., was written by another ;
and for his own pains in editing it he craves from his readers only
' a charitable remembrance of my poor sinful soul in their catholic
religious devotions,' but he cannot let pass any of his brethren's
works that may fall into his hands, ' without an exhortative epistle
unto all true hearted English catholicks to beware of Jesuiticall
poyson.' The text is more in the style of the True Relation than
of Watson's writings, and was not unnaturally suspected by the
Jesuits to have proceeded from the doctor's pen. It consists, first,
of a number of anecdotes illustrating the several charges against
the Jesuits summarised in the Memorial, their practices of equivo
cating, their methods of attracting novices and riches to their
order, their use of calumny to destroy their enemies, etc. ; and,
secondly, of a sketch of Parsons' own career (pp. 39-70) ; the whole
ending with the prayer which the author proposes to add to the
Litany, ' A machinaiionibus Parsoni libera nos Domine.'

XI. A DIALOGVE betwixt a Secvlar Priest and a Lay
Gentleman, conceming some points objected by the
lesuiticall faction against such Secular Priests as haue
shewed their dislike of M. Blackwell and the lesuit
proceedings. Printed at Rhemes, jidci.
Octavo, 134 pages and 20 pages of preface. In the pre
face, signed as usual W. W., Watson again suggests that the book
was not written by himself. ' Amongst many letters and trea
tises [he writes] that have come unto my hands concerning the
question betwixt the Secular Priests and the lesuits, one of the
most moment, pyth and substance (in mine opinion) is the ensuing
Dialogates diseourse.' Although the book covers much the same
ground as the Sparing Discovery, it is, as the title indicates, less
a direct attack upon the Jesuits than a defence of the secular
priests against the accusations of the former. Parsons, in his
Manifestation (f. 94), says that though W. W., 'to wit, Wyly Wat

cxxxviii Introduction.

tumbler,' put the preface to the book, 'the author thereof is
esteemed by many to be M. Mush, one of the chief appellants gone
to Rome; and for the little substance thereof it may be well
enough, though we doubt not but he will deny it when he cometh
thither.' Parsons wrote this at Rome after the arrival of Mush ;
but in any case it is impossible to ascribe the authorship of the
Dialogue to Mush.

XII. AN ANSWERE TO A LETTER OF A lESUITED
GENTLEMAN, by his Cosin, Maister A. C.
r Appeale
concerning the^ State
t lesuits
Recta Securus.
Newly Imprinted, 1601.
By Anthony Copley. 124 pages 4to. Sig. A — Q 2. Begins
p. 3, without preface, in a style imitating or resembling that of
Watson : ' Good Cosin, I have received your letter of the first of
the present, written in a spirit too derogative from the innocence
of the Appealant Priests, and supererogative in the praise of the
Jesuits as it were above Jesus.' The Letter, ending on p. 120, is
dated 'London, this last of November l601,' but it is followed by
3 pages of postscript. The writer submits the whole of his discourse
'to the censure of holie church.' Dodd, followed by Mr. Gillow
and by Mr. Cooper (in the Diet, of National Biography), ascribes this
book — strange to say without expressing any doubt — to Anthony
Champney, to whose compositions it bears no resemblance. Mr.
R. C. Christie, in his notice of Copley (also in the Diet, of Nat.
Biography) rightly attributes it to Copley, and mentions a second
tract of the author, entitled, ' Another Letter of Mr. A. C. to his
Disjesuited Kinsman concerning the Appeale, State, Jesuits. Also
a third letter of his, Apologeticall for himself against the calumnies
contained against him in a certain Jesuiticall libell, intituled ' A
manifestation of folly and bad spirit,' l602, 4to (Bodleian). Some
of the calumnies in question have been quoted above, p. xciii.
There is no copy of this second tract in the British Museum, nor
does it appear to have been known to Tierney or Roman Catholic

Bibliographical Notes. cxxxix
bibliographers. Copley had published in 1595 'Wits, Fittes, and
Fancies, . . . also Loves Owle'; and in 1596 'A Fig for Fortune.
Recta Securus. A. C, London, 4to.' There is no notice of Copley
in Mr. Gillow's Dictionary.

XIII. A DECACORDON OF TEN QVODLIBETICALL
QVESTIONS concerning Religion and State :
Wherein the Authour framing himselfe a Quilibet
to euery QuodUbet, decides an hundred crosse interro-
gatorie doubts, about the generali contentions betwixt
the Seminarie Priests and lesuits at this present.
Eccles. vii. — Noli amare mendacium aduerssus fratrem tuum,
neque in amicum similiter facias.
Do not loue a lye against thy brother, neither do the like
against thy friend.
Newly Imprinted, 1602.
By William Watson. 4to. This is the largest and the most
characteristic of Watson's books, containing 36l pages, and 10
pages of preface. He gives his name in full in the last paragraph,
submitting himself and this work to the censure of the Roman
church, ' with the other ten volumes,' which he declares he has
ready for the press. The long involved sentences, the newly
coined words, and the affected style, render the book tedious
reading, but it abounds in curious information and personal anec
dotes, which represent in a coarse and exaggerated form the
generally accepted traditions of the extreme anti-jesuit party.

XIV. A MANIFESTATION OF THE GREAT FOLLY
and bad spirit of certayne in England calling them
selues Secular Priestes.
Who set forth dayly most infamous and contumelious
libels against worthy men of their own religion, and
diuers of them their lawful Superiors, of which libels
sundry are here examined and refuted.
By priestes lyuing in obedience.

cxi Introduction.

2 Tim. 3. — Their folly shalbe manifest to all men.
Luc. 11. — The uncleane spirit ment foorth and took seaven
spirits more wicked then himself, and all entring dwelt
there, and the ending of those men was worse than the
bediming.
Superiorum permissu, 1602.
By Father Parsons. 4to. The preface to the Catholike
Reader, 5 pages. The contents 1 page. The text Sig. A — Ff 2.
230 pages numbered in folios.
The several chapters are entitled : —
Ch. 1. 'The manifest folly and apparent bad spirit of the
wryters of these libels,' etc.
Ch. 2. ' Their folly and passionate spirit,' etc.
Ch. 3. ' Their folly and presumptuous spirit,' etc.
Ch. 4. ' Their folly and unshamfast spirit in uttering so open
and manifest untruthes and contradictions to their
owne discredit.'
Ch. 5. ' Their folly and malignant spirit in objecting certain
books to F. Persons, which, if they be his, cannot
but give him much credit and commendation ; with
a brief confutation of a fond pamphlet set forth in
answere to the book of succession.'
Ch. 6. ' Their folly and deceaved spirit,' etc.
Ch. 7. ' Of five other books, or rather absurd and scandalous
libels come forth since the answering of the former
two,' etc.
Ch. 8. ' Certayne directions unto Catholikes,' etc. ; ' with an
examination of divers notorious and infamous lyes
of W. W. in his book of Quodlibets.'
The five books referred to in Chapter 7 are the Sparing
Discovery, the Dialogue, Copley's Answer, the Memorial, and
the Quodlibets. The books 'foolishly and malignantly' ob
jected to F. Parsons are his Philopatris and TVamword, the
authorship of both of which he tacitly admits ; the book on the
succession, which is now proved to be his (Tierney, iii. 31-35),
and the ms. Memorial for Reformation, which no one doubts to be
by him.

Bibliographical Notes. cxli

XV. AN ANS^VERE MADE BY ONE OF OUR
BRETHREN, a secular Priest, now in prison, to a
fraudulent Letter of M. Geohge Blackwels, written
to CardinaU Caietane, 1596, in commendation of the
lesuits in England.
Newly Imprinted, 1602.
By ' Andreas Philalethes,' a priest. Forty pages, i.e. 8 of pre
face and 32 of text, in Svo. The preface purports to be by another
hand than the rest of the book. Its style is a caricature of Wat
son's. 'I here commend unto you,' it begins, '(good Catholike
Reader) this Treatise following, penned by a Catholike Priest.'
The editor then referring to the ' vanity and falsehood ' of Black
well's letter, which is in this book printed and answered, continues,
' which two qualities together with his [Blackwell's] rude pre
sumptuous Epistolizing to Graces, doe so anatomize the man, as I
could not let him passe uncoated with a Preface, agreeing to the
Treatise.' ' I have here laid before your eyes the Crow, Blackwell
suited in fables, set upon a stake, in pale proper, pinyoned, as it
were the while, until you may blazon him the Cras croaking foule
in her own pure naturals . . . this Black-wel-mand-statist . . .
imagined himself to be Monos, though in very deed hee is but a
lesuit's Spanified Monopolos, that is in plain English (abstract
from all Hyperboles and Rhetorical figures) the extortional tythes
and imposts, or rather the very dregs ... of all the Jesuits,
Machiavellian drifts, Prothenian plots and Catelinian counter
mined conspiracies,' etc. The text, which is in the form of an
epistle to Blackwell himself, taking up and replying to his Letter
paragraph by paragraph, is comparatively sober. The writer, who
has not been identified, signs himself, ' Your ancient acquaintance
and loving friend, Andreas Philalethes.'

XVI. A IVST DEFENCE OF THE SLANDERED
PRIESTES Wherein the reasons of their bearing
off to receive Maister Blackwell to their Superiores

cxiii Introduction.

before the arriuall of his Holines Breue, are layd downe,
and the imputation of disobedience, ambition, conten
tion, scandall, &c., is by able arguments and authorities
removed, the obiection of the aduerse part sufficiently
answered, and the Pope's sentence in the controuersie
truly related. By John Colleton.
Curam Jiabe de bono nomine, hoc enim maius permanebit tihi
quam mille thesauri pi-etio.n et magni. — Ecclesiastic: Ca.
41, vers. 15. Have care of thy good name, for this will
remayne longer vnto thee then a thousand treasures precious
and great.
Newly imprinted, 1602.
Quarto. 303 pages, with 8 pages of preface and 4 of table of
contents. The most learned and weighty of all the works written
on the controversy. It was published about June l602 after the
two cardinals had given their decision upon the question of schism
in favour of the appellants. Colleton gives translations of the
principal documents and letters which had been printed in the
Latin books, and carries on the story to the date of his going to
press. He argues the case mainly as a theologian and canonist,
but the honesty of the man and the prominent part which he took
in all negotiations with Blackwell at home, especially at times
when other principal appellants were absent abroad, give a par
ticular value to his narrative of facts. He writes, as we have seen,
in the opinion of one Jesuit critic, 'with judiciate words and great
gravity,' but it must be admitted with more earnestness than
brilliancy or grace. His book is remarkable for the number of
theological authorities referred to and cited, including more than
fifty canonists and schoolmen. Many of these works were not
likely to be found in any library in England to which he could
have got access even with Bancroft's assistance. Dr. Bishop and
Bagshaw were probably giving help from Paris. When the volume
reached Rome Parsons promptly delated the author to the inqui
sition on the ground of his having transgressed by its publication
the papal decree of August l601, and thereby incurred excom
munication. Blackwell seems to have, before long, recognised the

Bibliographical Notes. cxliii
worth of Colleton, for, on his own deposition by the pope, he con
stituted or attempted to constitute his former opponent as interim
archpriest.

XVII. (1) CERTAINE BRIEFE NOTES VPON A
BRIEFE APOLOGIE set out vnder the name of the
Priestes vnited to the Archpriest.
Dravvne by an vnpassionate secular Prieste friend to
bothe partyes, but raore frend to the truth.
Whereunto is added a seuerall ansvveare vnto the
particularities obiected against certaine Persons.
Foiie est vinum, fortior est Rex, sed svper omnia vincit Veritas
et manet in Mternum. — 3 Esd. 3.
Imprinted at Paris, by Peter Sevestre. With
Priuiledge.

An Ansvvear of M. Doctor Bagshaw to certayne
poyntes of a libeU called An Apologie of the Subor
dination in England.

An Ansvveare vnto the Particulars objected in the
Apology against Master Doctor Byshope.

An Answere made by me Charles Paget, Esquier,
to certayne vntruthes and falsityes, toching my selfe,
contayned in a booke, intituled a briefe Apologie or
defence, of the Catholike Hierarchie & Subordination
in Englande, & cet.
The 'Briefe Notes' by Dr. Humphry Ely, another of the
more important as it is, historically, the most interesting and

cxliv Introduction.

impartial of all these books, appeared about the same time as
the treatise of Colleton. Prefixed to it is the approbation of
two doctors of the Sorbonne. This is followed by an anony
mous ' General] Preface ' in commendation of the author, ' a very
ancient wise and learned priest living in honour and at his ease
far from his native soil,' and justifying the publication of the
book in spite of the brief of August I6OI, with which Parsons
' very peartly playeth at bo-peepe.' To this is added ' The
Opinion of Mr. Rob. Parkinson,' formerly confessor of cardinal
Allen, extracted from a letter, dated May 31, l602, making in all
25 pages. 'The epistle ofthe author to his friend M. D. W[orth-
ington],' who had sent a copy of the Apologie to Ely, occupies 8
pages and is signed H. F. The 'Briefe Notes' is separately
paged 1-312, including an ironical address 'To the United Priests,'
the supposed authors of the Apologie (pp. 1-5) and another Pre
face (pp. 6-53). Dr. Ely had formed one of the band of mission
aries who entered England in 1580 with Parsons and Campion.
He taught canon law at both Douai and Rheims under Allen
before he received his appointment as professor at Pont-a-Mousson.
The archpriest and some of his principal supporters among the
secular clergy were personal friends of Ely, who was intimately
acquainted with only Edward Bennet and Bluet among the appel
lants. He disapproved of the hard things said against the Jesuits
in the later books, but avoided entering into the controversy until
his sense of justice constrained him to expose the Apologie, and to
show that the Jesuits were both the 'occasioners and renewers' of
the troubles. Unlike Colleton, the professor had some sense of
humour; and though occasionally diffuse, he, as a rule, writes
clearly and forcibly, while his use of quaint similes and old-
fashioned phrases gives to his style a character of its own.
The treatises which follow Ely's ' Notes,' and were bound with
his book, are separately paged but have no proper title-page.
They treat of the Apologie only as far as it concerns themselves.
Bagshaw's answer, 43 pages, is signed by himself. The answer
made on behalf of Dr. Bishop (19 pages) is by an anonymous
friend. Lastly Charles Paget speaks for himself in 24 pages. The
book consists of 431 pages in all.
This volume is extremely rare. The fathers of the London
Oratory, followed by Mr. Cooper {Dictionary of National Biography),

Bibliogt-aphical Notes. cxlv
speak of the copy in the Grenville library, British Museum, as
' probably unique.' Mr. Gillow says more correctly that ' only
four or five copies' are known to exist, though others may be
found in private libraries. There is a copy in the Bodleian, one in
the Signet library, and another in possession of the present writer.
Dr. Ely says comparatively little of the political offences of the
Jesuits in his book, but writing to one of the privy council (Aug.
30, 1602) he speaks plainly enough. He declares that the secular
priests and catholic gentlemen on behalf of whom he writes will
suffer imprisonment, rack, or death in defence of their lawful prince
against any opponent, 'be he Spaniard, French, Scot or whosoever
else.' This they have often testified in words and by printed
books. Their plight is miserable indeed : ' at home afflicted for
our conscience, abroad persecuted for our fidelity to our prince.'
If the queen knew this, she would surely of her clemency make a
distinction between them, her natural children and subjects, 'and
those unnaturall Bastardes who do attend to nought else but
conquestes and invasions.' He offers to come to London upon the
least intimation that his correspondent would grant him audience.
(Mr. Macray's report of Petyt papers, Hi^t. MSS. Commission, xi.
pt. vii. p. 298.)

XVIII. THE JESUITES CATECHISME or Examination
of their doctrine. Published in French this present
yeere 1602 and nowe translated into English. With a
Table at the end of all the niaine poynts that are dis
puted and handled therein.
Printed Anno Domini 1602.
A translation of the work of Etienne Pasquier, the eminent
lawyer, who, says his biographer, hated a Jesuit rather more than he
hated a Huguenot. Quarto, 258 leaves with 20 unnumbered pages
of preface, and 4 pages of a table of contents at the end. The
preface is dedicated ' To all English Catholicks that are faithfull
subiects to Queene Elizabeth, our most dreaded Soueraigne :
The Secular Priests that are diuersly afflicted doe wish all pros-
peritie, iustice, peace, ioy, and happines in our Lord lesus Christ.'
h

cxlvi Introduction.

The ' Jesuits' Catechism,' so called to distinguish ' the new devices
and instructions and plottings from the sincerity of the ancient and
approved form of Christ's Catechism,' is a savage attack upon the
institution of the Jesuits, their history, and the life of their founder,
who was not at that time canonised or even beatified, in the name
of ' the secular priests,' by one who, although he expresses regret
at the bitterness of Watson's treatises inasmuch as they seem to
have shocked catholics, is no less bitter himself. Its professed
object is to warn English catholics, from the example of the recent
troubles in France, that to receive Jesuits into a kingdom is to
receive ' vermin which at length will gnaw out the heart of the
state both spiritual and temporal ' — that the English gcfvernment
must look sharply to the attempts of the Jesuits to rule the clergy,
for if they prevailed ' it would not be long before the country were
brought into a general combustion.' They themselves had said,
in so many words, that cardinal Allen and father Parsons as Moses
and Josue had long since out of doubt possessed the realm of
England had not the disobedience of some and their most dis
pleasing murmuring hindered it.' 'Blessed was that disobedience,
and happy was that murmuring,' cry the writers of the preface,
'that delivered this kingdom from such uncathollc and most
traitorous designments.'
In the British Museum catalogue W. W. is queried as the
author of this translation, but the preface does not exhibit any
decided traces of Watson's peculiar hand. There are no data
whereby the date of publication can be fixed to a month. It was,
however, written after the appearance of the Manifestation.
XIX. A REPLY TO A NOTORIOUS LIBELL, Intituled
A Briefe Apologie, or defence of the Ecclesiastical
Hierarchie, &c. Wherein sufficient matter is discouered
to giue all men satisfaction, who lend both their eares
to the question in controuersie betveene the lesuits and
their adherents on the one part, and the Saecular Priests
defamed by them on the other part. Whereunto is also
adioyned an answere to the Appendix.
Psal. 26. — Mentita est iniquitas sibi.
Imprinted Anno 1603.

Bibliographical Notes. cxlvii

By Robert Charnock [.?]. 390 pages 4to. Mr. Gillow ascribes
this work to Thomas Bluet, remarking : ' The preface is signed
A. P., i.e. A Priest, and though it is not certain that Bluet was the
author there is strong internal evidence, and it is known that he
was engaged in this controversy. From some statements in the
book it is clear that it was written in l602, in all likelihood before
Bluet went to Rome. It is one of the most important works in
the Archpriest controversy.'
But some of these suppositions are certainly incorrect. The
book cannot have been written before Bluet went to Rome, for this
was in January or February l602, and the author refers to the
preceding works of Colleton and Ely, which were not written until
the middle of that year, as weU as to Parsons' Manifestation
(pp. 186, 326). It is extremely improbable that Bluet, when at
Rome, in the teeth of the difficulties made about these books,
would have troubled himself to write against the Apologie, which
was as far as he was personally concerned even then an old story.
Far more probable is the suggestion of Tierney, who (according to
Sotheby's sale catalogue of his books) in a ms. note to his own
copy attributed the work to Charnock. The details which are
furnished in the book itself regarding the embassy to Rome in
1598-9, and in reference to Chamock in particular, bear out this
suggestion. I do not know where Tierney's copy now is, or what
his grounds for the attribution were. Charnock, like Colleton and
other leading appellants, signed Dr. Bishop's protestation, but in
obedience to the pope refused to take the oath of allegiance in
the terms proposed by James. The author, whoever he was, had
been in oral communication with the nuncio of Flanders, from
whose lips he received a denial of Parsons' suggestion that he, the
nuncio, had written to the pope against Bishop and Charnock, or
had advised their imprisonment. This, if we exclude from the
authorship the four deputies at Rome in 1602, almost certainly
restricts us to Charnock, Bishop, Bagshaw, or Barneby, who alone
of the appellants had the opportunity to speak to the nuncio in
question. In the present work, for convenience sake, reference has been
made to the writer of the Reply under the initials with which the
preface is signed, but A. P. there says that although Ely and
Colleton have learnedly handled its principal points, 'yet upon

cxlviii Introduction.

the earnest desire of some who have seen this reply in my hands I
emboldened myself without the author's privity to publish it.'
Although the title-page bears the date l603, there is nothing to
show that any part of the book was written after the brief of
November l602. The editor in his preface refers indeed to 'the
last years brief of the 17 of August 16OI,' and excuses himself for
issuing the book in spite of it on the ground that Parsons had
nullified the prohibition by the publication of the Apologie,
Appendix, and Manifestation.
A Reply to the Appendix of the Apologie by J. B. {i.e., as before
stated, John Bennet), occupies pages 341-387, and is followed by
2 pages of the ' Contents of the Chapters,' etc. It was written
after ' 20 July l602,' the date assigned in page 373 to the judgment
of the Inquisition, which is referred to as clearing the priests from
disobedience.
XX. A REPLIE VNTO A CERTAINE LIBELL, latelie
set forth by Fa: Parsons in the name of vnited Priests,
intituled A Manifestation of the great folly and bad
spirit, of certaine in England, calling themselues secular
Priestes. With an addition of a Table of such vnchari-
table words and phrases, as by him are vttered in the
said Treatise, as well against onr parsons, as our bookes,
actions, and proceedings.
Pro iustitia agoniisare pro anima iua, et vsque ad mortem
certa pro iustitia, et Deus expugnabit pro te inimicos tuos.
 ECCLESIAST. cap. 4.
Noli esse humilis in sapientia tua, ne humiliatus in stultitiam
seducaris. — Ibidem, cap. 13.
Justitiae, et innocentiae permissu, Anno Dom. 1603.
232 pages, 4to. ' An epistle to the priests,' 2 pages ; ' preface
general to catholicks,' 2 pages; the Replie 214 pages, concluding
with 12 pages of the ' Table of passionate and uncharitable words,'
all numbered in folios. The author signs both prefaces with the
initials W. C. Mr. Gillow ascribes this book, without any expres
sion of doubt, to William (sometimes called Francis) Clark. The
initials by themselves are no sure guide. It may be worth noting

Bibliographical Notes. cxlix
that in foi. 67 the author, making a mock profession of faith, writes,
' Ego, F. B. do professe,' etc., and in the Errata tells his reader,
' for F. B. read W. C On the supposition that, by a slip of the
pen, he had in foi. 67 betrayed his real initials, there is much in
the book which would well suit Francis Barneby. In Sotheby's
sale catalogue of Tierney's books it is ascribed, but surely not on
Tierney's authority, to Anthony Copley. The author was certainly
a priest, and was present and interposed in the quarrels at Wis
beach in the summer of 1596. See the passage quoted in the
note p. 41, infra. Neither Clark nor Barneby indeed was a
prisoner, and I am not aware of any evidence to show that either
was residing as a visitor, in the castle at this time. The writer
also (foi. 97) lets us know that when a student at Rheims he heard
during a period of three years Dr. Gifford preach. Gifford was at
Rheims from 1582 to 1595, and within this time both Clark and
Barneby spent exactly two years there ; the former from Aug. 6,
1587, to Aug. 18, 1589 ; the latter from Jan. 13, 1591, to Jan. 19,
1593. The data again, if we must stand to the initials W. C, may
fairly enough fit William Clargenett or Clarionet, one of the anti-
jesuit faction at Wisbeach, who was ordained priest and sent upon
the mission from Rheims in 1585. The writer of the book was, in
any case, well acquainted with all the incidents of the conflict, and
puts on record many details not preserved in the other books.
He follows the Manijestation closely with his criticisms, and warmly
defends Bluet, Bagshaw, and Watson from Parsons' attacks. He
has the worst opinion of the Jesuits, supporting the principal
charges of the memorial, and not disguising his own suspicions
that the fathers had got rid of Allen and the Bishop of Cassano
as well as Sixtus v. by poison.
Lowndes {sub voce Parsons) inakes a jumble of the two preced
ing titles, thus : — ' Replie to a Libell called a brief Apologie of the
Hierarchie by W. C. (William Charke),' and this is copied literatim
into Halkett and Laing's Diet, of Anon. Literature. ' Charke ' is
probably a misprint for Clarke.
To this list may be added a work which, though not strictly
speaking the production of either party to the quarrel, gives a
general criticism of the literature from the protestant point
of view :

cl Introduction.

XXI. THE ANATOMIE OF POPISH TYRANNIE :
wherein is conteyned a plaine declaration and Christian
censure of all the principali parts of the Libells, Letters,
Edictes, Pamphlets and Bookes, lately published by the
secular priests and English hispanized Jesuites with
their Jesuited Arch-priest ; both pleasant and profit
able to all well aff'ected readers. London, 1603. 4to.
This was written by the Rev. Thomas Bell, a clergyman of the
church of England, who had been for many years a seminary priest.
His signed dedication of the book, addressed to Toby Matthews,
bishop of Durham, is dated 24 Jan. l602[3], but he says in his
preface that his whole work was compiled and ready for the press
by October 10, l602. He quotes passages from all the English
books described above. From this it appears that the books of
A. P. and W. C. with the imprint of l603 were not only written
but published before the date ofthe brief (Nov. l602) which pro
hibited such publications. The objectionable practice of publishers
post-dating the works issued by them seems to have been at least
as old as the days of Elizabeth. Bell gives his own opinion
(p. l60) that ' the seculars are overmatched, and that howso
ever they brag that they will have audience or else die for it one
after the other, yet are they more like, many of them, if they go
to Rome, to be cast into their holy, most holy Inquisition, for
Parsons hath now by reason of their writings matter enough to
work upon.'
Amid the new interests and fresh topics of contention which
arose after the accession of James, the story told in the sup
pressed books was soon forgotten or ignored. In John Pitts'
De Anglice Scriptoribus there is scarcely an allusion to the
controversy. The abbreviated title of Colleton's work, there
given, raight mislead the reader to the supposition that this
zealous priest had written to defend the clergy frora the
slanders of protestants. Father More in his history of the
English Jesuits, and Dodd in his church history, touch briefly

Bibliographical Notes. cii
the outlines of the story frora opposite points of view. Dodd
indeed in his history of Douai college, and later on, Berington
in his edition of the memoirs of Panzani, revived in a more
hostile spirit the old complaints of the mischief wrought by
Jesuit arabition and statecraft, and evoked replies in a similar
tone on the part of the society. But no new facts were
brought to light ; the old books had already become rare, and
by a tacit understanding the subject, as one that was dangerous
or discreditable, was practically dropped. Father Plowden in
replying to Berington does not venture to defend the principle
of Parsons' policy on the ground that the deposed Elizabeth
was not a legitimate sovereign, or that insurrection was under
the circumstances justifiable. He shuts his eyes to the plain
facts. 'I, who have searched,' he writes (p. 147), 'through
volumes of ms. records and letters written by them, have not
yet discovered a trace, a symptom, of any plot or contrivance
to dethrone or to destroy Elizabeth in which the founders of
the seminaries, or any of their friends or dependants, had the
smaUest concern.' Canon Tierney by his annotations upon
Dodd's history, and by the printing of numerous unedited
documents which were saved at Stonyhurst and in other
Roman catholic repositories from the wreck of the seminaries
abroad, once raore gave the matter the prominence it deserved.
Mr. Foley further contributed to its elucidation by printing a
portion of Parsons' and Rivers' correspondence {Recoi-ds, vol. i.).
But the interesting contemporary tracts still remained un
edited. Mr. W. B. D. D. Turnbull at one time announced his
intention of republishing sorae of the more important historical
books of the kind, but he went no further than the re-editing
of Sergeant's Account qfthe English Chapter (1706).
The biographical notices in the Dictionary qf the English
Catholics, now in course of publication by Mr. Joseph Gillow,
are necessarily brief, but in so far as the archpriest controversy

ciii Introduction.

is concerned no writer has treated the subject with more
impartiality and candour.
Meanwhile the Royal Commission on historical mss. has
called attention to a mass of valuable papers, quite unknovvn
to Tierney and other Roman catholic historians, preserved in
the library of the Inner Temple. A nuraber of these papers
evidently formed one of the collections in the hands of the
appellant writers. Many bear the indorsement of Bluet. As
the missionaries can have had no safe depository for such docu
ments in England, it is not surprising that they all fell,
perhaps at the time of the raid upon Watson and Clark, into
the hands of some government officials. In any case they
eventually became absorbed into the large collection of hooks
and MSS. made by Sir William Petyt, keeper of the records in
the Tower in the reign of queen Anne. After his decease they
came into the possession of the hon. society of the Inner
Temple, of which Sir WilUam Petyt was at one time the
treasurer. Mr. Riley's description of a portion of this collection
appeared in the second report (1871). For the facilities
afforded me in the exaraination and use of these papers I have
to express my warm thanks to the Masters of the Bench of the
Inner Temple and to their librarian. Mr. Macray has more
recently issued a supplementary report, describing a further
batch of appellant papers in the same collection (eleventh
report, pt. vii. 1888), but this unfortunately did not appear
until after the greater part of this introduction was through
the press. I have therefore been able to examine and make
use of little more than Mush's diary of the proceedings at
Rome in 1602. There is undoubtedly much valuable matter
yet to be gathered from these papers, as well as from others on
the same subject long preserved at Stonyhurst college, in the
archives of tiie archbishop of Westminster, and in other Roman

Bibliographical Notes. cliii
catholic repositories, but which have not yet seen the light.
The appeUant papers in the Petyt collection at least deserve to
be printed m extenso. They are the necessary complement to
the Records qf the English Catholics published by the fathers
of the London Oratory.
Finally I have to gratefully mention my obUgation to many
friends who have lent me, or furnished me with extracts frora,
rare books not to be found in Edinburgh. Especially I beg to
thank his grace the archbishop of Canterbury for the loan of
the two ' Latin books ' from the library of Lambeth, and the
authorities of the Bodleian for the loan of Parsons' Apologie,
before I had the good fortune to procure copies of these books
for myself. To ray friend the Rev. W. E. Addis I am also
much indebted for some useful corrections as the sheets were
passing through the press.

A TRUE RELATION

True relation of the faction begun
2XVViJhich^\yfY2i.Edmonds.^aliasVVeJion.^
a lefuite, 1595. and continued fince by Fa. Walley,
alias Garnet, the Prouinciall of the lefuits in Eng
land, and by Fa. Farjons in Rome, with
their adherents :
Againft vs the Secular Priefts their bre
thren and fellow Prifoners, that difliked of nouel-
t'tes, anti thought it difhonourable to the auncient Eccle-
ftafiicall Difcipline ofthe Catholicke Church, that
Secular Priefts Jhould be gouerned hy
lefuits.

Newly Imprinted.
I 60 I.

To the true Catholick Reader.
/N such bookes as some of our brethren haue bin lately constrayned
to set out for your satisfaction ; there is often mention made of
fhe contention at Wisbich begun 1595. Of this contention, there haue
gone many reports : and as yet the truth thereof hath not bin so fully
published, as it is conuenient : the indirect course of our nem aduersaries
considered. Such as are infected mith our English lesuitisme, do ascribe
all the blame in that behalf e vnto vs, that are secular Priests : in that me
could not be hrought to alter our old orders for the aduauncement qf Fa.
Weston a lesuite to become our Gouernor or Agent ; as his faction
tearmed him. To make this matter therefore as cleare as the sunne,
and that no indiscreete Catholike may he ignorant ofthe truth herein, if
he will not milfully shut his eyes, or stop his eares, as our Archpriest
would haue them ; me haue thought it our duties to deliuer vnto you
from point to point (as in the sight of God) the beginning and proceed
ing of those garboyles then amongst vs. And at this time, me are the
rather moued so to do : because it hath pleased Maister Blackwell our
sayd Arch-priest, very lately to send to his tmelue Assistants to be di-
uulged a certaine Censure, or (me know not mhat to tearme it) a sheet of
paper, fraught neither tvith wit, honest dealing, discretion, or leaming :
but in eff'ect mith as many shifts and lyes almost as lines, in derogation
not only of some ofthe said bookes set out by our brethren, tearming the
same (as if either he himselfe, or some of his commaunders the lesuites
had made them) to he seditious hookes : but likewise taketh vpon him, to
touch the said contention, not in many words, hut mith muckfollie and
great vntnith. We mill be bold hy may of Preface, a Uttle to touch
them.

A True Relation.

These are his words. The first point (sayth he, meaning ihe
diuision at Wisbich) mas a thing long since ended with great edifica
tion, and by the meanes principally of those which are most condemned.
It toucheth the greater and better part of that company. It nothing
concerneth our authoritie : it being more auncient, and hauing orders
taken at the attonement hy their omne consent. It is well knomne at
Rome hy mhose meanes they mere disanulled. Neither is it more vn-
Jitting for those mhich lined in one house to institute rules for such as
voluntarily demaunded and accepted them then to procure a sodality
abroade. Thus farre our Arch-priest : and it is all he writeth to his
assistants of this matter : mhich me the rather note to shem the extremity
of his pride, in supposing by such an ansmere to the sayd bookes con
cerning that diuision to wipe away those imputations Sf matters, wher
with Fa. Garnet, 8f Fa. Weston, <^ he himselfe in some sort are
charged. That which here he sayth either touching our contention at
Wisbich, or any thing whereof he hath written to his sayd assistants
against the sayd hookes, is fully answered in print by one of our
brethren, a true Catholick Priest : We hartily pray you to procure the
booke, and then iudge of our Arch-priest as you Jlnde him. In the
meane while and because this our treatise may come to your hands before
the other, although the history following doth sufficiently confute his
words hy vs now cited : yet will we giue you some little tryall of our
new Gouemors misedome and sinceritie, hy that which here he
mriteth. The first point (sayth he) mas a thing long since ended. And mhat
then maister Blackwell ? will you reason thus ? It was long since
ended : ergo, maister Garnet and maister Weston, the firebrands of
that garhoile mith their factious adherents are not to be blamed as our
brethren haue writ of them in their sayd booke ? But we beseech you
sir vpon your small credit tell vs, is that contention long since ended ?
Nay rattier (speake man) is it ended as yet ? It mas in effect : whether
it were meete, and according to the auncient ecclesiasticall Discipline,
\ that a lesuite should haue the commaundement ouer secular Priests.
And is this point yet decided ? There mas me conf esse (as me thought)
an end made amongst vs 1596. hy maister Mush, and maister Dudley,

The Author's Preface.

and that mith edification : but it fell out farre othenvise. The edifica
tion you make mention of mas nothing sutahle to that edification, whereof
the Apostle speaketh : but was much more agreeable to the building of
Babell that tower of confusion. For whitest we qf the vnitie were quiet,
and supposed all had bin well : maister Garnet, and his subiect maister
Weston, were so moued, that they had bin disappointed of their sayd
gouemment amongst us, as like prowde Nymrods and boisterous hunters
they cast about how to bring vs vnder them by another stratageme, as hy
the historic it will appear.
When he also further sayth, that the end he mentioneth was made by
ihe meanes principally of those mhich are most condemned : he meaneth
maister Garnet and maister Weston to be those principali persons ; or
else his speech is senselesse : and then also he mriteth most falsely. For
true it is, that the end mhich me supposed had bin made, mas compassed
by maister Mush and maister Dudley full soi-e against the harts and
good likings of the sayd tmo lesuites. Mary if he meane such an end
of the sayd contention as they two propounded to them selues, which was
but an interim to a further mischiefe, such an end, as then they respected
and sought after, and do now perswade themselues to haue found it
(whilest maister Garnet ruleth tlie roast) then indeede Fa. Garnet and
Fa. Weston may tmly be sayd to haue bin the especiall contriuers of it :
otherwise it proceedeth from incredible boldnes to pretend them to be
authors of any good peace, who breathe forth nothing hut dissension and
cruelty. And where he sayth (as me suppose) that maister Garnet and
jnaister Weston, are tmo men now most condemned : it is true that
they are indeed condemned for their Machiuilian practises against their
brethren : being (vnder pretence qf their Fatherhoods) so puft vp with
pride and arrogancie, as it is scarse probable to relate. But yet some
exception may iustly be taken to his words, in that he sayth, they are
most condemned. For in good sooth, me thinke his maistership as farre
too blame as either of them, or more : in that being a secular Priest, he
doth so tyrannize ouer his owne brethren hy calling, and hath not the
wit to see, how he is abused and made a puppie to daunce after
their pipe, and to execute what they do commaund him.

6 A True Relation.
But it followeth forsooth : that the said diuision toucheth the greater
and better part ofthat company. Alack alack, doth it so ? It toucheth
indeede the greater part : and that very neerely : for it shewed them for
the time to he very factious : such as secretly banded, and combined
themselues mith a lesuite against their fellow prisoners and brethren.
And therefore in that hee sayth those conspiring companions were the
better part, he speaketh like himselfe very vntruly, as me in our iudge-
ments do esteeme of honest men. Mary in his sense, and according to
the common saying, the veryer knaues, the better luck : they may well be
reckoned the better part : because none are iudged vertuous or of any
estimation that oppose themselues against the lesuites, or refuse to worship
their lesuiticall Idoll, our Arch-priest. And yet we mill be content to
let them go for once as he would haue them : so he ioyne those words
with the other that follow : and to this effect. The sayd contention
toucheth the better part, and therefore it concerneth neither himselfe nor
any of his louing assistants, nor their impregnable authoritie. But in
good sooth, maister Blackwell, speake truly man : doth not that con
tention in some sort touch your high authoritie ? Was it not the
ground of it? If we had yeelded to Fa. Westons agencie, had you
bin euer aduaunced as you are ? Did not our garboyles beget your
greatnes ? If maister Weston had preuailed with vs, maister Garnet
would haue wiped your nose for dealing like a yong prince abroade as
you do. And therefore indeed in a right good sense, wee are your good
maisters, and so you ought to esteeme vs. But if we should deale more
seriously with you, and vrge you to set downe, wherein the said great
part was, or is the better : what durst you say, if you haue any sparke
of the feare of God before your eyes ? Are they better leamed ? for
shame you rvill not say it. Are their Hues more sincere ? I hope you
will charge vs mith no dishonestie : or if you dare, me defye you : being
in our Hues we trust hlameles before men, and euery way as honest as
your selfe at the least.
As touching the orders you speake qf; they were yeelded vnto (it is
true) by our consent, and that most willinglie : but as for maister
Weston, it so stroke him to the hart to yeeld vnto them, as he fell downe
presently before the company into a swoune : such mas his pride, and so

The Author's Preface.

vnmilling he ivas to be ouer-ruled for tlie time. And whereas our Arch
priest saith : that it is melt knonme at Rome by mhose means the said
orders were disanulled : me are glad to heare it, and haue taken some
little paines in this treatise to make it also as well knomne here in
England. If his meaning be that me of the Vnity did first disanull
them, he sayth vntruly, and they in Rome are falsely informed. No,
no, those orders crossed too much the lesuites deseignements to haue
any long continuance, where they had any factious creatures to infringe
them. But that which follometh, is worthie some especiall consideration.
Neither mas it more vrtfitting (sayth maister BlackwellJ for those
which lined in one house to institute rules, for such, as voluntarily
demaunded and accepted them, then to procure a sodality abroade. In
good faith we are sory, that we are compelled to disclose this fellowes
falshood, and hom much he is sunne-bumt with lesuitisme. It is a world
to see how aHifidally he doth smooth ouer in this place diuers false, and
some very absurd points. And first consider, we pray you : whether it
was as fit for Priests in prison to choose a lesuite to rule them, as for
other Priests abroade, to desire to haue a Bishop to goueme them :
and whether suiteth better rmth the auncient discipline of the Catholick
Church for secular Priests to sue to the Prouinciall ofthe lesuites to haue
a lesuite for their head : or for others to sue to his holynes to assigne
them a Bishop. But let this passe : and proceede we to the rest : and
when you heare the truth in a word, then consider the mans sinceritie. It
will appeare vnto you by the history following, that Fa, Weston had
bin laboring for a superioritie ouer his brethren for the space of seauen
yeeres. To that purpose he had insinuated himselfe by hypocrisie, and
vnequall distribution of money ^ into the fauors of the yonger sort, such
as mere either themselues lesuites, or else inclining thereunto. The
Rules he speaketh of were of Fa. Westons owne making. And all this
was done secretly, the grauer sort of the company being neuer acquainted
with it. When they had contriued their busines, as you haue heard :
they pretend themselues to he more holy, then ihe rest qf vs whom they
misliked : and that therefore, in respect of the sinnes that raigned
amongst vs j they would no more either eate or drinke with vs, but

8 The Author's Preface.
would haue their diet by themselues. And in ccmclusion, they seuered
themselues from vs, and dealt as you shall perceiue in this treatise at
large ; more like Donatists, then Catholick Priests. And all this iniquitie
doth this lesuiticall Arch-priest couer in the sayd words, so Clarkly
masked with good tearmes, without any regard either of conscience or
common honesty, but to abuse the world, for the better vpholding of his
owne credit : which being gotten by falshood, is still yet so mainteined.
But we keepe you too long from the story it selfe : and therefore refer
ring you for this matter to the sayd printed discourse, in ansmere both of
it, and many other points, me commit you by our prayers to Almighty
God, mho open your eyes and harts, that you may truly disceme betmeene
molues and tme pastors of your soules, and accordingly to imbrace them,
as heretofore you haue done, and we hope will do hereafter.

A true relation of the faction
begun at Wisbich.
IN the yeare 1579. M. Saunders was dispatched from Rome
to Ireland : and not long after the Pope sent other forces
thither.^ About the same time also, the King of Spayne
intending to assayle Portugall, vpon the death of King Henry
the late CardinaU, prepared an Army and a Nany (as it was
pretended) for England. And to countenance the same, he
procured by CardinaU Alexandrlno his meanes, the renouation
of the Bull published by Piu^ quintus against her Maiestie :
and printing of them to the number of 1500. at the least, he
was content they should be spread abroad.^ Not long after
Father Parsons, and two other lesuites his subiects. Father
Campion and Father Cotham, came into England^ with such

^ Dr. Nicolas Sander, fellow of New college, Oxford, who wrote to Dr.
Allen in 1577 that ' the state of Christendom dependeth upon the stout assailing
of England,' proceeded from Spain to Ireland as nuncio of Gregory xiii. to stir
up war against Elizabeth. The pope spent 230,000 scudi upon the expedition,
sent five ships full of soldiers and munitions of war, and a plenary indulgence to
all who should join or assist the insurgents (Theiner, Annales Ecd. iii. 217 ; Simp
son's Campion, p. 102). Sander died, it is said, wandering among the mountains of
Ireland, in misery and want, at an uncertain date between 1580 and 1583.
^ Sander, or his editor, Rishton (Anglican Schism, Lewis's Translation, p. 305),
states as one reason why catholics in general still continued to obey the queen,
that they were ignorant that the apostolic letters of Pius were again issued and
confirmed by his successor, Gregory xiii.
' Father Parsons landed at Dover in ' a captain's uniform of buff, trimmed with
gold-lace, with hat and feathers to match,' on June 1 1, 1580 (Simpson's Cajnpion,
p. 122). Campion followed, as ' a merchant of jewels,' on the 2Sth. But Thomas
Cottam, formerly of Brasenose college, Oxford, did not belong to the mission.
He had been discharged from the society of Jesus on account of his weak health,

10 The first Prisoners at Wisbeach.
a noyse, as mooued great expectation in some, and diUgent
caution to be had of their proceedings by others. These
things hapning thus together : her Maiestie and the State (as
fearing the worst) disposed of the aflPayres in the Realme
accordingly : and thought it conuenient to carry a hand more
hardly vpon the Catholicks. So as in the yeare 1580. Doctor
Watson Bishop of Lincolne, Doctor Fecknam Abbot of West-
min.ster. Doctor Young, maister Metham, Doctor Oxenbridge,
and maister Bluet, were sent to remayne as prisoners in the
Castle of Wisbich^ where they lined in great vnitie and
brotherly kindnes : every man interraedling only with his
owne afFayres and priuate meditations. They were all in
coramons with the keeper: and for their recreation, had a
Garden there to walke in, and to solace themselues as they
thought good. Such money as was sent to any particular man
he had himselfe the disposition of it as he thought it con
uenient, that which came for the common vse, was by all their
consents deliuered still to mayster Blust, who diuided the sarae
to euery man alike. There was then no affectation of superi
ority, but euery man yeelded of his owne accord that duty and
with a promise, however, that he should be received back if he recovered, and
he came into England in the same month of June in company with Dr. Ely,
Edward Rishton, and others, simply for change of air. He was committed to
the Marshalsea a few days after his arrival, was tried for treason with Campion,
and executed May 30, 1582 (Challoner, Missionary Priests, i. 102).
^ Bishop Watson, Abbot Feckenham, and Dr. Young, master of Pembroke
college, Cambridge, had been in various prisons, or in private custody under
more or less restraint, since the beginning of the reign, and Metham since about
IS7S- Andrew Oxenbridge, doctor of laws, is not commemorated by Sander or
Bridgewater in their lists of sufferers for the faith. He subscribed at Wisbeach,
May 14, 1583, a very ample protestation of allegiance to Elizabeth as his
sovereign dejure ' against the bull, if any, be it of Pius v., Gregory, or any other
Pope heretofore or hereafter,' and declared the deposing power under any pretext
to be ' a traitorous article ' (Strype, Annals, in. i. 276). Besides the six prisoners
mentioned by Bagshaw, there were in the castle at this time two others, Wind
ham and Wood (Report to the Privy Council, i6th Oct. 1580, printed by Father
Morris, Trouliles of our Catholic Forefathers, ii. 227). Dr. Richard Wood had
been confessor to the late Queen Mary (Dodd, ii. 108). A certain Ralph Windon,
fellow of St. John's, Oxford, is said to have been at one time imprisoned in Wis
beach, but the Windham named in the Report is more probably the Dr. Nicholas
Windham, or Wendon, who is described later on {infra, p. 32).

T'heir Unity and Brotherly Kindness. 11
precedencie which to euery one was due, the keeper hauing the
commaundement ouer thera all.
Afterwards within about three yeares, eight or nine Gentle
men were likewise sent to remayne there as prisoners, vpon
certayne speeches that the Duke of Guise had sorae intendment
against England^ whereby the number of the prisoners in
creased, without any disturbance at all to the foresayde vnity.
These Gentlemen Uued at their owne charges, and as most
dutiful! children demeaned themselues towards their fellow
prisoners, and spirituall fathers. If at any time some little
indiscretion hapned in any, a word (especially of his ghostly
father) was more then sufficient to reforme it : or if vpon such
like an occasion Bishop Watson were mooued to reprooue this
or that, his answere was. What .'' are we not fellow prisoners 't
Are we not at the commaundement of an other } Shall I adde
affliction to one that is afflicted .? Are we men who professe
our selues to be examples to others in suffering for our con
sciences, and shaU we not be thought then able without con
trollers to gouerne our selues .? Be content : I will not take
vpon me to reprooue my feUow prisoners. And indeed this
was the course that euery man held : so as by submitting
themselues one to an other, euery man had a comraaunding
power one ouer an other, such was the most christian and
brotherly affection amongst them. In this sort they Uued till
all were either dead or gone, but maister Metham and maister
Bluet, which was for the space of about sixe or seauen yeares.
Afterwards (vpon new attempts by Babington and his
associates against her Maiestie, and by reason of the rumours
of the King of Spaines preparations) aboue thirtie priests that
were prisoners elsewhere, were in the year 1587 (as we re-
1 The story ofthe Duke of Guise's ' intendment,' 1582-84, is fully and candidly
told by Father Knox in his introduction to the Letters and Memorials of Cardinal
Allen (^p. xxxiv. -Ixxi.). It included a plan for the assassination of Elizabeth
(May 1583) by the hand of a secret catholic near her person. The proposal —
described by F. Knox from the Record Office transcripts of certain papers in the
Vatican archives which had never before been printed — was approved by the
archbishop of Glasgow, by the nuncio at the French court, by the cardinal of
Como, by King Philip, and, as the editor admits, 'perhaps by the Pope himself.'

12 Arrival qf Father Weston, 1587.
member) sent likewise to Wisbich. In which number was
maister Edmonds, alias Weston, a lesuite: a man, who after
Heywoods departure out of England, was sent hither by Par
sons from Paris to bee his substitute, or Prouinciall: Vpon
whose apprehension maister Walley, alias Garnet, by order
from Fa. Parsons, did succede him in that office.^ This com
pany had scarsely consorted themselues with maister Metham
and maister Bluet by the space of a weeke, but Fa. Weston
(hauing in him the reliques of his late prouincialitie) began to
cast about how he might aduance himselfe aboue his brethren.
To which effect, entring amongst his best acquaintance into a
great commendation of discipline, he offred to their considera
tions a very simple man one maister Dryland (a Seminary
priest, and his ghostly father ^) for a fit person, to take vpon
him the direction and ouersight of the whole companie : add
ing, that if they thought that there were any thing in him
(the sayd Weston) worthy the reckening of, he would imploy
the same at their commaundement to the assisting ahd direct
ing of him the sayd Dryland for the full supplying of any
defects in him. This motion finding little successe, it being
very absurd to make choyse of a head, that must borrow his
discretion and directions of an other (as at this day our Arch
priest Blackwell doth of Fa. Garnet the lesuite) he the sayd
Weston gaue it ouer for about three weekes. And then he

^ It is not correct to describe Weston and Garnet as Provincials. The English
Jesuits were at that time governed by a Prefect of the mission resident in Rome,
i.e. F. Parsons until his death in 1610, and afterwards F. Thomas Owen until
1618. The Prefect appointed the local superior or Vice-Prefect. On Parsons'
retirement from England in 1581 he was succeeded by Jasper Heywood as Vice-
Prefect, who, on his banishment in 1585, was succeeded by Weston, as Bagshaw
relates. ^Vhen Henry Garnet and Robert Southwell landed on the Norfolk
coast in July of the following year, Weston (says Dr. Oliver, Biography S. f. ,
p. 84) was the only English Jesuit in the country. Before Garnet's death their
number reached to forty. Vitelleschi raised the mission in I.|,I9 to a Vice-
Province, F. Blount being named the first Vice-Provincial (ibid. p. vi.).
^ Christopher Dryland was ordained and sent on the mission from Rheims in
1582. He was seldom out of prison, and was finally banished in 1603. He
subsequently joined the Jesuits in Rome. See the ' Note of certain priests ira
prisoned at Wisbeach' (1587) printed in the Appendix.

Contests for Superiority. 13
began againe (though in a more generali sort) to insist very
grauely vpon his sayd pretended discipline : ayming with all
his skill at his owne particular preferment : for thus the case
stood. Maister Bluet (being a man that had bin chiefely im
ployed in the affaires of that house) was iunior to maister
Metham : and he the sayd maister Metham (hauing more lately
entred into the society of the lesuits then maister Weston) was
thereby (notwithstanding that otherwise he was farre his
auncient) yet his inferior according to the rules of that calling.
Now one of these three (if there should haue bin a gouernour
chosen) being supposed to be the fittest amongst all the rest
for such a place : maister Weston gessed, that in that choyse
they would haue omitted maister Bluet in respect of maister
Metham ; and him the sayd maister Metham in regard of him
selfe, and that so they should haue bin driuen to haue chosen
him the sayd Weston. But it fell out otherwise : for in their
consultation it was thought that maister Bluet, by reason of his
long experience in that house, and of his acquaintance in that
towne, together with the generali knowledge had of him with
all Catholicks in England, in respect of his long dealings with
the common money, could in no sort be omitted : ^ So as they con-

1 Thomas (wrongly named by Dodd, Richard) Bluet, had been for some time
a clergyman of the Church of England, in the diocese of Exeter. He passed
over to Douai in 1577, and in the following year returned as a priest upon the
mission. He was soon afterwards captured, and had at this time been in prison
for sixteen years, a confessor for his faith. He is said to have been much
respected by the clergy for his learning and ability (cf. Douay Diaries, p. 149). His
character, however, given by Parsons in a memorial drawn up for the pope
and cardinals, is thus summarised by Tierney (ill. p. clvii.) : 'A drunkard, a
brawler, he has at one time hurled a priest down stairs, and at another fallen
intoxicated into the Thames ; in one instance he has been prevented from mur
dering a fellow-prisoner only by the interference of his companions, and in
another has attempted, but in vain, to administer the sacraments whilst reeking
and staggering from the effects of a drunken debauch.' In the ' Relation ' sent to
Parsons from Wisbeach (Apologie, f. 72), it is asserted that, ' when M. Wigges, an
ancient master of art, and priest, spoke but one word in misliking of certain over-
hard speeches and dealings of M. Bluet towards M. Ithel, another priest, he was
beaten twice, by the said M. Bluet's fist, as all can testify that were then present.'
According to Mr. Gillow (Bibliogr. Dictionary, ii. 244), Bluet, after his release ]
from prison, laboured for many years on the mission with great zeal.

y

14 The Jesuits lay their Plots.
eluded, that if they must be driuen to haue any such gouemment
ouer them, it was most expedient to choose them all three.-^
Whereupon maister Weston perceiuing that he could not get the
whole regiment to himselfe, gave that attempt ouer : vnder pre
tence, that he being a lesuite, was forbidden by the rules of his
order,and others his superiors, to raeddle in matters of gouemment.
But it is here to be obserued : that the lesuites long before
this time, hauing gotten the regiment of the English Seminary
at Rome : our countriemen of that order no sooner came into
England, but presently (as the sequele declared) they began to
lay their plots how they raight bring the secular priests heads
vnder their girdles. For notwithstanding their said rule (of
not interraedling with gouemment) mentioned by Fa. Weston,
they haue so many wayes to qualify it, as indeed it is but a
1 ¦ AU the company,' writes F. Parsons, ' in that time of peace, having no
special superiors, referred themselves and their affairs to the direction of three
men, who were F. Edmund [Weston], M. Metham, and M. Bluet, which last
was in very good tune all the time that M. Metham lived, for the great respect
he bare unto him.' Bagshaw is said to have been disliked by both Metham and
Bluet on account of his quarrelsome temper, and he, on his part, according to
Parsons, had an equal dislike to Bluet, ' reporting everywhere in corners most
contumellously of M. Bluet's hasty, rude, and fiery nature.' For this Bluet pro
tested ' that he would trounse him (for so were his words), and this falling out
grew to such an excess one day in a good priest's chamber that had long been
sick, and liveth yet to testify to the same, that good F. Edmund was forced to
fall upon his knees, and with much entreaty to make them friends again'
(Apologie, f. 70). The same authority declares that when Bluet afterwards
lacked the stay of Metham's good counsel, he fell by age and wearisomeness of
his long imprisonment into impatience, and would ' not only revile and threaten
men, but strike and beat them also as occasion was offered.' Bagshaw is said
to have now taken the opportunity of flattering the old man, and of defending
his excesses, and thus from enemies they became fast friends.
Father Constable ascribes the origin of the division to three men whom he
affects not to name. ' The first [Bagshaw] had been sent away from Rome for his
misbehaviour, etc' At Wisbeach ' he was presently for playing the Doctor. An
unfortunate case of one striking a priest happening in the prison, he gave such a
decision upon it that F. Weston was obliged to oppose it. The opposition
enraged the Doctor, and he flew into excessive revilings of the holy man. The
second in the faction was a doctor of physic [Norden], a catholic in profession,
but turbulent and scandalous in his manners. He who had given the blow to
the priest was the third [Bluet], formerly a Presbyterian parson, now a catholic,
but little altered, especially as to excesses in drink and anger ' (Specimen of
Amendments, p. 89).

Cunning and Hypocrisy of Weston. 15
mask to couer their sleights with, till opportunitie doth serue
them. Whereof Fa. Weston hauing sufficient intelligence and
skill, did not from time to time (almost by the space of seauen
yeares) omit to put the same in practise.^ He laboured, as
cunningly as he could, to creepe into the fauour of the yonger
sort. When strangers came, it should escape him narrowly,
but he would be the first that should bid them welcome : and
no friendship could be held with him, except he might make
the collation at such times vsuall. In which collations he
would seldome omit to insist vpon the commendation of order
and discipline : which being things in themselues of great
worth, he was still therein to thera that vnderstood him not
very plausible. Being a man as impatient as sorae of his
fellowes, and of as haughty a spirit as any raan can be : it was
wonderfuU to consider, what humblenes and simplicitie he
would pretend. His sighs and zeale seemed to be extra
ordinary : as though the perfection of true mortification had
bin the only thing he aymed at. Marry, with all this hypo
crisie he deceiued none, but such as did not looke more
narrowly into his proceedings: a righter Pharisee cannot
easily be found. In ye middest of his humilitie nothing
troubled him more, then that maister Doct. Bagshaw (being
a Doctor of Diuinitie) should haue place before hira at the
^ ' How can it be imagined,' asks Parsons, ' that this man [Weston] would so
ambitiously seek govemment over his fellow-prisoners, . . . what profit could
the Jesuits get thereby, what preferment, or what other probable reason can
there be to make this fiction likely ? ' The author of the Reply to the Manifes
tation (ff. 4-6), argues at length that the Jesuits found in the circumstance of
Wisbeach the fittest and most convenient means ' for the secret compassing of
this design, that their policy might not presently be spied before the matter were
cock sure.' 'Could there be a better means devised,' he asks, 'than first to
begin in that place where the gravest and best deserving priests of our country
were in durance for God's cause ; by the presence of whom the very house was
a Sion unto our country and a Lantern unto all Catholics abroad ? For why ;
if once they had .settled their government there without check or control, what
priest durst to have gainsaid their dominion abroad, but straightway he should
have had his mouth stopped with the voluntary submission of these grave priests
and designed Martyrs ? . . . Let him read the annals of the primitive Church,
and he shall find what authority the actions and examples of Confessors in prison
carried with the Christians of those days.'

16 Metham discerns underhand Practises.
table : insomuch as the better to content him, we were driuen
to place him at the tables end with him. The lesuites
abroad hauing gotten the greatest part of cotribution for
prisoners into their hands, ranch was sent to be distributed,
by this good father: wherewith (through his vnequaU dis
tribution of it) he laboured nothing more, then how he
might draw, and binde men vnto hira, to make his side and
faction strong inough against the time, he had occasion to
vse them. These & many other such his vnder-hand practises
being well discemed by maister Metham and others, he the
sayd maister Metham was very much mooued, and did greatly
lament the same. This maister Metham was a vertuous leamed
Priest, who when he was prisoner in the Tower vowed to become
a lesuite ; as admiring that calling, because he was not acquainted
with their courses : but afterwards at his being in Wisbich, he
found by wofuU experience that all was not gold that glistered.
Sundry times he hath sayd to some of our company, not without
teares in his eyes, Keepe this feUow downe asmuch as you can,
meaning Fa. Weston : by labouring to be popular, he becometh
the ringleader of all mutinies in the house, which in time
will breede faction against you. This house will come to
vtter shame through his folly. I pray God that I dye before
it commeth to passe, for I do foresee such a mischiefe. Thus
maister Metham.^
Cardinal! Alane, when the lesuites first came into England,
^ Thomas Metham, said to be the son of Sir Thomas Metham, a noted
recusant of Yorkshire, was sent from abroad upon the English mission in 1574,
and imprisoned in the Tower in the following year. He was received as a
member of the society of Jesus by Mercurian, the general, whose letter, dated
May 4, 1597, is given by 'NioK(ffist. Prov. Angl. S./., p. 141). An important
memorandum printed by F. Knox in the Letters and Memorials (pp. cvi, 303)
shows that Metham, of whom little is otherwise known, was held in high esteem
at Rome and by the cardinal himself. From this paper, which contains
suggestions for 'filling up the churches and offices of the king and kingdom of
England ' in the event of the success of the Armada, we learn that the cardinal
was to be archbishop of Canterbury, but that, although Owen Lewis, bishop of
Cassano, was spoken of for the archbishopric of York, 'Alien judges that it would
be better filled by a certain Thomas Metham, a priest, who is now a prisoner in
England, and has been many times in prison, and with great danger to his life, on

Cardinal Allen and the Jesuits. 17
told sundry of his friends, that certainely they (the sayd
lesuites) would rayse great garboyles in this countrey, by seek
ing to disgrace secular priests, and to aduance themselues aboue
them. He had great experience of the ambition which raigned
in many of that societie, and therefore indeuoured (as he might
conueniently) to represse that humor in our English lesuites,
which kept them within some reasonable corapasse whilest he
liued.^ But afterwards they heard no sooner of his death, and
shortly after of the death of Doctor Lewys Bishop of Cassane
(of whome they stood in some feare, suspecting he should haue
bin made Cardinal! in the others place) but their insolencie
burst foorth as a flame that had bin long suppressed. They
depraued both those worthy persons now dead very slaunder-
ously, charging the CardinaU to haue bin but a simple man, and
of no great worth ; and the Bishop to haue bin a factious person
in Rome : and all this (forsooth) because sometimes they both
had crossed sundry of their lewd attempts. Fa. Weston at
Wisbich (as a man who had long trauailed with his imaginary
account of religion.' Alban Dolman wrote to his friends at Rheims, Feb.
1579, that the oath of supremacy had been offered to Metham and that ' Yf the
byght sheepe of London [Aylmer] may hange hime it is looked for he will '
(Douay Diaries, p. 149). Parsons (Apologie, f. 70) declares that Metham had a
great dislike of Bagshaw's restless turbulent nature, ' as he said he had a wind
mill in his head.' On the other hand, Metham's name appears in a curious list
of about a hundred persons, including eighty priests, ' infamed and evil spoken of
by the Jesuits ' (Petyt MSS., xlvii. f. 95), which in some degree confirms the state
ment in the text. He was about sixty years of age when he died at Wisbeach,
June 28, 1592. (Foley's Records, i. 482, and ii. 608-613.)
^ In like manner John Mush, in a memorial addressed to Clement viil.,
declares that the cardinal used often to say complainingly of the Jesuit fathers
that they sought more the interests of their society than the peace of their
colleges or the good of the country (Declaratio Motuum, p. 9, quoted by Knox ;
Douay Diaries, p. c). Parsons (Apologie : Table of Deceytes, f. 3) tails this
statement ' a notorious untruth' ; but it is impossible any longer to deny the fact
that the cardinal came at last in some measure to distrust his Jesuit allies, and
to disapprove their schemes. Charles Paget, addressing the Jesuits (in his
Answer to the Apologie, p. 20), writes that the cardinal ' began in his latter time
to mislike yours and F. Persons violent humors in such sort as if he had lived he
would have curbed you shorter for meddling either in matters of state or in the
seminaries or missions of priests. And this was seen by his causing F. Cresswell
to be removed from the government of the English college at Rome [1592],

18 The Hobby-horse at Christmas.
discipline) hearing of these mens deaths, and being as he
thought, backed sufficiently by his confederates, began to bring
forth the fruits thereof. He lifted vp his coutenance, as if a
new spirit had bin put into him, and tooke vpon him to con-
troll, and finde fault with this and that : (as the comming into
the Hall of a Hobby-horse in Christmas) affirming that he
would no longer tolerate these and those so grosse abuses, but
would haue them reformed.^ At this his pride and vanitie
some of vs greatly maruayled, but the reason thereof (which we
then knew not) was this. We were then prisoners in the house
whose indiscreet and tyrannical behaviour deserved the same. And for the
which act both he and F. Persons used against the said cardinal, among their
secret friends and followers, such uncivil and irreverent speeches as ever after
there was but hollow liking between them.' But more important than any of
these statements is the direct evidence of Agazzari, the Jesuit rector of the
EngUsh college at Rome, 1596-97, in a letter written Sept. 25, 1596, quoted by
Berington (Memoirs of Panzani, p. 38), and printed in full in the Douay Diaries
(p. 387, cf. xcviii). Agazzari regarded the unlocked for death of Allen, his
former friend, as an almost miraculous interposition of God's hand, and a great
and visible sign of his love for the society, the college, and the cause of England.
'For,' he adds, 'so long as Allen walked aright in this matter, in union with,
and fidelity to the Company, as he used to do, God preserved, prospered, and
exalted him, but when he began to leave this path, in a moment the thread of
his plans and his life were cut short together.' This characteristic letter was
written to F. Parsons himself. Compare also the statement in the Hope of Peace
(p. 21): 'Doctor Haddock, who pretended that he was the cardinal's nephew,
moved in spirit after the cardinal's death, writ unto a worshipful knight in
Spain these words to my remembrance : Profecto bene mortuus est, si enim
vixisset et sibi et patriae suae maximum dedecus peperisset. He is dead in a
good time, for if he had lived he had most greatly dishonoured himself and his
country. And why master Doctor ? Forsooth he was carried away against the
Jesuits.' On the other hand, see the letter of Thomas Audley to Bagshaw,
26th June 1595, printed in the Letters and Memorials (p. 378), from which it
appears that the cardinal to the last moment implored his seminarists to avoid
all differences with the fathers, for dissensions and emulations (so he wrote)
' would bring his gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. '
' The hobby-horse, one of the principal performers in the Morris dance, was
represented by a man equipped with as much pasteboard as was sufficient to
form the head and hind-parts of a horse. In this fashion he exhibited his skill
in burlesque horsemanship and jugglery (Donee's Illustrations of Shakespeare,
vol. ii. p. 467). ' During the reign of Elizabeth the Puritans made considerable
havoc among the May-games by their preachings and invectives. Poor Maid
Marian was assimilated to the whore of Babylon, Friar Tuck was deemed a

The Letter to Garnet. 19
to the number of 34. whereof by his foresayd practises he had
allured vnto him 19. who by his direction had chosen him to be
their head, and giuen him the name of their Agent. Where
upon this grand senior thus promoted, withdrew himselfe to his
chamber by the space of a fortnight, of purpose (as we after
wards perceiued) to rowze himselfe, and to deuise sorae such
new orders and lawes, as he thought raost conuenient for the
gouemment of his subiects, which being resolued vpon by hira,
he did dedicate them vpon Candlemas day to the blessed
Virgin, as himselfe afterwards confessed. You must vnder-
stand, that he did not proceede thus farre, without Fa. Garnets
priuity and consent. Howbeit, his sayd subiects being ignorant
thereof, they poore fooles raust needs write a letter to his
fatherhood, to craue his approbation of their sayd election.
Besides, Fa. Weston had so practised vnder hand with some of
his sayd 19. subiects, as this his new preferment must be ob
truded vpon him, whether he would forsooth or not. And
accordingly the sayd letter was framed : signifying to maister
Garnet, that he the sayd maister Weston was as a man taken with
the palsey of the mind, and would in no wise accept of their
election, except that he by his commaunding authoritie, would
bid him rise vp and walke before them in the way of the
righteous.^remnant of Popery, and the hobby-horse an impious and Pagan superstition, and
they were at length completely put to rout as the bitterest enemies of religion.
King James's ' book of sports restored the lady and the hobby-horse, but during
the Commonwealth they were again attacked by a new set of fanatics ' (Ibid. ,
p. 463). Father Weston might have said with Bomby in Beaumont and Fletcher's
tVomen Pleased, Act iv. —
' I do defy thee and thy foot cloth too.
And tell thee to thy face, this profane riding,
I feel it in my conscience, and I dare speak it.
This unedified ambling hath brought a scourge upon us. '
^ This letter, Feb. 7, 1595, preserved at Stonyhurst, is printed by Tiemey
(vol. iii. p. civ). Parsons translates the first portion of it (Apologie, f. 72). The
writers begin : ' We have conferred among ourselves these days past (venerable
father and brother) how to bring in some better discipline for avoiding of these
evils, or appearance of evils, or open scandals, that have fallen out among us
vpithin these seven years, or at least ways to avoid the peril of such scandals.'
They urge that they need a law for the protection of their own weakness, and

20 Weston desires Separation of Commons.
With this letter they sent also the sayd lawes or rules,
being in number 22. whereof some of them were ridiculous, and
some of them very scandalous.^ These things (as we coniecture,
for the distinct times were kept close from vs) being sent to Fa.
Garnet ; the new Agent after he had withdrawne himselfe from
the rest of the company by the space of a fortnight, directed
raaister Southworth a Priest,^ and our fellow-prisoner vnto
raaister Bluet, to signifie vnto hira, that Fa. Weston desired
him to allot to him, and to his company being 19. the high
table in the Hall : and that leauing the ordinary Kitchin to
not only a law, but ' a judge, a corrector and censurer over us. ' ' And whom
think you,' they add, 'do we desire for this: your Edmund or rather ours.'
Parsons continues : ' This and much more they write in that letter, alleging
many reasons of their demand, and how that F. Edmund had wholly refused and
could not be persuaded unto it, but yet that without his yielding therein, either by
entreaty or commandment, it was impossible for them to live in any quiet or
security of conscience.' The statement here italicised has been repeated by
many Jesuit writers. In the passage covered by Parsons' 'etc.,' Weston, so far
from wholly refusing the office, distinctly accepted it, on condition that his
superior consented. He says, ' Proinde hoc dictamen tanti momenti et ponderis,
addo et gravaminis, quo ego magis oneratus quam honoratus ero, sic mihi
assumo si ita vultis, et ita oportet fieri, ut, annuente patre meo, vobis placeam ;
renuente ver6, mihi ipsi satisfaciam,' and, in accordance vnth the fact. Parsons
himself (as Tierney points out) has endorsed the letter containing this quotation :
' Literae sacerdotum in castro Wisbicensi ad P. Garn. 159S, pro confirmandd
electione P. Edmundi.' Garnet, with these words of Weston before him,
boldly reported to his general 'Ille obfirmatissime renuit.' So Constable : ' His
humility made him absolutely refuse the place ' (Specimen of Amendments,
p. 90). ^ Garnet, in his report of the affair to Aquaviva, his general, July 12,
1595 (printed by Tierney, vol. iii., pp. cv-cix) gives some of these
rules : ' Each one is to behave so as to give edification to others : — If any one
should commit scandal (which God forbid) or show levity or immodesty,
especially towards women, he should allow himself to be judged and punished
as the community may determine. They should abstain from quarrelling and
brawling. They should not contend for places at table. They should be
present at public prayers and exhortations. ' On the supposition that they were
not needed, such rules, framed for confessors and divines daily looking for
death, might with reason be described as ' ridiculous,' and even ' scandalous.'
^ Christopher Southworth, of the diocese of Chester, son of Sir John
Southworth, a constant recusant and prisoner for his faith, entered the
college at Rome in 1580, and was sent into England in 1586. In the
following year he was imprisoned in the Counter, London, and soon after
transferred to Wisbeach.

Whoredom, Drunkenness, and Dicing. 21
them, he the sayd maister Bluet, with the rest (but twelue in
number) would be content to prouide themselues of another.
What meane you by this raessage, quoth raaister Bluet ? Can
not the Hall and Kitchin serue vs aU now, as heretofore they
haue done ? No, sayth maister Southworth, we are determined
(20. of vs) to draw our selues into a more strict order of life :
and haue therefore resolued to keepe commons together amongst
our selues, thereby the better to auoyd such sinnes, as whore-
dome, drunkennes, and dicing, the same being too ordinarie
with some in this house. What, quoth maister Bluet: hath
Fa. Weston sent you vnto me with this message ? and he
answering, yea : He the sayd maister Bluet went to Fa. Weston,
who iustified the sayd message: sauing that he qualified the
mentioning of the sayd crimes with humme and hah : saying at
the last {as, though butter would not haue melted in his raouth)
indeed we reuerence you, and maister Doct. Bagshaw: but
amongst the rest, there are some enormities, which we would be
glad to auoyd : ^ and do therefore purpose to impose vpon our
selues a more strict order, leauing you and others, to follow
such courses, as you shall thinke good. With this his answere,
maister Bluet being somewhat moued : Haue you kept your
chamber (sayth he) all this while, for this ? Shall we haue a
new Donatus amongst vs, to reuiue againe that pestilent
schisme ? Can you name any in the house, worse then your
selues ? WeU, well : I pray you leaue this course : it is naught.
Be content to eate and drinke with vs still : for, assure your
1 In a letter to Garnet in January of this year the partisans of Weston had
reduced their charges against the rest to ten heads, of which Parsons quotes the
first five : ' (i) Idleness and lazyness, and a great ceasing from good study and
exercise of vertue ; (2) brawling, chiding, and contumelious slanders, etc. ;
(3) fighting among themselves and buffeting even to the effusion of blood, etc. ;
(4) beating of priests little esteemed, or rather defended; (5) banquetting, eating,
compotation, etc' (Apol., f. 71). According to Garnet's report to Aquaviva, the
' compotations ' took place during the religious exercises ; and he adds, what
Parsons in his book omitted ' for brevitie's sake,' dishonest dealing with money
and suspected familiarities with women : 'in publicis litaniarum aut exhortationum
exercitiis multorum sive compotationes sive clamores, in recipiendis aut tradendis
pecuniis non optimam fidem, et quod caput est, suspectas cum feminis
familiari tates.'

22 Appeal to the Keeper for a Kitchen.
selfe, we will neuer yeeld, that you should haue any seuerall
roomes graunted vnto you ; thereby to seuer your selues from
vs. And so after many other speeches, for that time they parted.
When maister Bluet had imparted vnto vs the sayd message,
and his sayd discourse with Fa. Weston, it did very much grieue
vs all, as foreseeing what publick scandale it would grow vnto :
and therefore diuers of vs dealt with them particularly, that
they would desist from that their purpose, and be content that
we might line together still, like prisoners, and louing brethren,
as we haue done before. But all was in vaine : they inlarged
their calumniation and slaunders of vs, and began to spread the
same abroad to our great discredits : and would in no wise be
stayed from the course they had begun. Howbeit, we hindered
as long as we could their publick separation from vs, by keep
ing our old places, sorae of vs, at euery table : so as they could
not choose, except they would haue forborne their dinners and
suppers, but that they must needs sit amongst vs. Whereupon
Fa. Weston sent the sayd Southworth to our keeper, with the
like message in effect to the former, concerning their intent
(for the auoyding of sinne) to keepe commons by themselues,
apart from the rest : and therefore to intreate him, that they
might haue a roome assigned them, to make a Kitchin of, and
some other places meete and conuenient for them ; offering him
some large consideration for his good will therein. But he con-
sidting with sorae of the grauer sort, disliked their attempt :
and reiecting their suite, commaunded them to continue in
peace and quietnes, as the State had appointed, and as he
found them, at his first comming to be their keeper : vnlesse
they could shew vnto him against the rest, sorae capitali crimes
which might warrant him to graunt their separation : for (sayd
he) I am a Iustice of peace, qualifyed to take notice of such
crimes.^ To whom maister Southworth answered : that in this

' ' Our first gaoler [Thomas Gray] having been removed by a most dreadful
death,' says F. Weston, ' another [William Medeley] was chosen in his place
who wished to be considered as a gentleman, being sprung from the same
family, according to his own account, as William Cecil, the Lord Treasurer, by
whose goodvrill and authority he obtained an excellent position, being made by

Mr. Southworth's Craft. 2S
case, the Queene could not make him a competent iudge : and
that the crymes were such and so great, as in conscience they
could not keepe company with vs. Why (sayd raaister Medlye)
what crymes are those so horrible, that the Queenes authority
cannot reach to take knowledge of ? Maister Bluet can tell
you (sayth maister Southworth) for I haue signifyed thera vnto
him. Very well quoth maister Bluet : I see the old prouerb
verified now in you : An Englishman Italionate, is a DiueU in
carnate. If you told me the causes why Weston and you do
attempt to make this schisme and diuision in the house, why
raay not your slaundering toong vtter the same to maister
Medlye our keeper ? Must I be your Bedle to proclayme your
lyes ? But maister Medly, this Italionated companyon hath
this craft in his budget : if I should now relate vnto you what
he hath told rae of this matter, then would he being meerely
lesuited, deny it, and so turne the blame vpon me, that I tell
ing it you publickly, do slaunder the house, and not he, nor his
fellowes, that told it but secretly. Vpon this, and such like
communication, maister Medlye fell to the commendation of
the quiet behauior of those prisoners, which were first sent to
Wisbich : ^ saying, that it was nothing, but the turbulent spirits.

him Justice of the Peace. This man, being appointed as keeper and governor of
the prison, was in hopes that, in consequence of his 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 . . . ' It is at this point that an unfortunate mutilation of the
original MS. interrupts F. Weston's autobiography. (Morris, Troubles, ii.
263,264.) 1 Medeley must refer to the period anterior to 1587. The characters of several
priests who were transferred to Wisbeach in 1587 are given in the official report
of that year, printed in the Appendix (A). Portions of this document were
printed by Father Morris (Troubles, ii. 237), who, however, charitably omits the
description of Francis TiUotson. In or before September of the same year the
keeper, Gray, had to complain to the Council of mutinous conduct on the part
of several prisoners. The justices of the Isle of Ely were thereupon commissioned
to examine the charges and assist the keeper in maintaining order. It appears

24 Two Priests escape from Prison.

and humour of youth, that wanting due wisdome, discretion,
and grauitie, thrust thera into these noueltyes.
Much iangling they kept both at this tirae and afterwards
for seueraU roomes : but fayUng of their desire therein, they
grew to a great disUke with the keeper : and to be reuenged
vpon him, procured in short time two Priests to escape from
him out of prison, which they knew would grieue him much.'
Besides, the ordinary Chappell belonging to the Bishop of
Ely, lying fitly by them, they aduentured of themselues to
dedicate the same to Bacchus for their Buttery: and enter-

that Charles Borne and Nicholas Scrope, gentlemen, were the principal offenders,
and they were supported by four priests, George CoUinson, Isaac Higgins,
Nicholas Knight (or Knighton), and George Potter. Scrope rebelled against the
removal of his bed by the keeper to another chamber, retaliated by taking forcible
possession of the keeper's own bed, threatened his life, and beat his wife and
servants. The conduct of Borne was such that the Commissioners put him in
irons. Collinson, a young seminarist from Rheims, used bad language, ' abused
his keeper's bed as Scrope before,' bounced upon the boards over Gray's head
while his family was at prayers, and was, moreover, guilty of grossly indecent
conduct in the presence of the keeper's wife and six other women. Higgins and
Knight, who also had recently come from the seminary, climbed the castle wall
with Scrope, and cried to the town to enter the castle for their relief. George
Potter, whose real name was Stransham (Douay Diaries, p. 193), is the only one
of these young priests whom we find still at Wisbeach in the Stirs of 1595. In
addition to general charges of violence and insolence the following particulars
are recorded against him by the Justices : ' Item — He refuseth to go to his
chamber at his hours, and tarrying while the keeper and his family went to their
evening prayers, he said there should no prayer be said there, but he would out-
whistle it, which he performed between his fingers and his mouth. And laying
his hand upon the Bible said that the prayer therein said was the prayer and
service of the devil ' (P. R. O. Dom. Eliz., vol. ccill.. No. 38, iv.). In a later
paper printed by Strype (Annals, iv. p. 274), from Lord Keeper Puckering's mss. ,
and dated 1594, the 'Jesuits and seminary priests' are too indiscriminately
reported to be ' all young and lusty people, disposed to mirth and viciousness vdth
women ; known to attempt them as well with deeds as words, with enchanted
almonds ; as the keeper's maiden and his two daughters have been in a whorish
manner, one of them run from thence and hath had children from her husband ;
and overthrown in popery, ofa modest fair young wife.'
' There may be some confusion of memory as to the date of this escape from
prison. Two years later (Feb. 17, 1597) Medeley wrote from Wisbeach to
Secretary Cecil : ' I pray you to inform the Lord Treasurer that during my absence
in London on a subpcena, two priests named Geo. Potter and Wm. Parry
escaped from Wisbeach Castle by beating out the iron bars of their windows, and

F. Garnet approves qfthe Agency. 25
tayning an other Brewer (one Palmer) laid such Beere in it as
they thought meete. It is not almost credible what brablings
were about these matters : and with what malice and impietie
they did also prosecute vs, by seeking to blemish our good
names, as though they had quite forgot that we were Catholick
Priests, and their fellow prisoners. The common enemy could
not haue vsed vs much more despitefuUy.
By this time Fa. Garnet hauing perused the sayd rules and
letter, returned his approbation of thera in a generali letter to
that company, and alluding to a point mentioned in their
letter to him, commaunded his subiect Fa. Weston as an hypo-
criticall paralytick, to take vp his bed and walke : that is, he
gaue him leaue to accept of the Agency, imposed forsooth by
them vpon hira : but vnder-hand sent to Fa. Weston himselfe
a priuate letter ; wherein he admonished him in any sort so to
take vpon him that his new Prelacy, as both his the sayd
fathers name for auoyding of enuy might be concealed : and

letting themselves down by their bed cord. I will spare no cost for their appre
hension and have laid wait along the coast of Norfolk to stay their passage over
sea. . . . These priests were of the meanest condition of all the company, and
Potter broke from prison before in Gray's time. ' Medeley here certainly speaks
as if this was the first occurrence of the kind in his time. (P. R. O. Dom. Eliz.,
CCLXII., No. 42 ; Calendar, p. 361.) Parry and Potter were of opposite parties,
the former belonging to the Jesuit and the latter to the anti-jesuit faction. It
may be presumed that at this moment they were on speaking terms.
On the other hand the case of a single prisoner, whose escape is said to have
been advised by Weston's friends, and whose recapture is ascribed to Bagshaw
within three months after the pacification, can only refer to TiUotson, the
'amorous priest' (Appendix A) who, on March 31, 1596, was in the Gatehouse,
Westminster, with HaU, the former Wisbeach porter. HaU extracted from
TiUotson, and reported to the Attorney General, how ' Mr. Tilletson came over
the castle wall with a rope about midnight and went to the waterside, where he
met Ellis with a boat, when they rowed together to Willingham, in Cambridge
shire, where they landed and went on foot to Rampton, three miles from Cam
bridge, to Mrs. AUcock, a recusant, who had been to Tilletson at the castle.
There they took horse and rode to Mr. Skrogg's house within two miles of
Bedford, but he durst not receive them ; thence they went to Mr. Willowes's,
three miles beyond Bedford, where they lodged that night and were taken.'
Ellis is said to be TUlotson's ' man, who dwelt at Wisbeach, and some time came
to the castle (his wife being laundress to Mr. Tilletson, and a recusant).' (Cal.
S. P., Dom. Eliz. CCLVI., No. 116.)

26 Mr. Dolman visits the Castle.

that it might seeme to proceede wholy, from the importunity
of those that had chosen him. All these particulars were at
this time vnknowne vnto vs: they played fast and loose in
comers (as you see) buying and seUing of vs (as honest men as
themselues) at their pleasures.
Whilest they were thus in this garboyle with vs, animated
therein by Fa. Garnet: it hapned that raaister Dohian (a
graue Priest) ' came to Wisbich, with some contribution for the
whole company : who perceiuing and lameting what a breach
he found of our auncient vnity, did endeuor for the space
almost of a weeke, to haue reduced vs thereunto againe, being
earnestly desired by vs all so to do. At this his being there,
maister Southworth drew him with importunitie into his
chamber, and did shew vnto him their foresayd letter, and
rules, which they had sent to Fa. Garnet, entring into a long
discourse with him, concerning their purpose, to separate them
selues from vs. Whereunto raaister Dolman aunswering, that in
so doing, they would assuredly be the occasion of great scan-
dale : he replyed, that their company were resolute to go
through with it.
^ Alban Dolman was an old priest who has been by some identified with the
' Thomas ' Dolman who is mentioned by Wood and Dodd as a fellow of AU
Souls', Oxford, ejected in the first year of Elizabeth's reign. , Charles Paget says
of him in a letter to the Queen of Scots (quoted by Mr. Gillow) : ' He is of
comely personage, and when attired like a gentleman, you would deem him a
Justice of the Peace. ' Bagshaw in his Answer to the Apologie naturally speaks
highly of him as ' a man well known for his singular solicitude towards afflicted
catholics, and of long time a special provider for prisoners, in which respect he
was and is a great moat in the Jesuits' way, which are said to seek themselves
and not Christ or his' (p. 21). He adds that none could more fitly have been
chosen as arbiter on account of his great experience, judgment and sincerity. He
is said by Mr. Gillow to have possessed a mild disposition, and to have been
always spoken of with great respect. From the houses which he frequented it
would appear that he had been on friendly terms with the Jesuits. His name is
now chiefly remembered from its having been borrowed by Parsons for his Con
ference on the Succession, said on the title-page to be ' published by R. Doleman ' ;
' a trick,' remarks Dr. Ely, ' which brought that priest into some danger ' (Briefe
Notes, p. 58). Parsons in his Manifestation of course denies the ' trick,' and at
the same time, more suo, lets us have his own modest opinion of Mr. Dolman :
' The author of the book neither knew any priest to be named Dolman when he
wrote that book, nor so much as thought on him, but alluding to the word of the

Consents to act as Mediator. 27

We had heard before of the sayd letter and rules sent to
Fa. Garnet : but (as we then told M. Dolman) we could neuer
come to the sight of thera : and therefore we desired him to be
a meanes, that we might haue the perusing of them. Where
unto he did very willingly yeeld ; as thinking our motion
therein very reasonable : and thereupon going to maister
Southworth, he so preuayled with him, as that he the sayd
maister Dolman brought them vnto vs : which when we had
read, we were much perplexed, finding our credits to be greatly
touched by them. Howbeit, maister Doctor Bagshaw, in a
very mild and charitable sort, did then desire maister Dolman,
that by his mediation he might haue conference with Fa.
Weston: promising, that he would be a meanes, that this
controuersie should be ended to his honor & credit, and to a
further increase of amity and charity, then euer there had
bin for a long time amongst vs. Maister Dolman being a glad
man to heare so much from him, dealt with Fa. Weston accord
ingly : whome he found so stiffe, as he could by no meanes
perswade him to admit of that godly offer : notwithstanding
it was made vnto him thrice ; and so oft pressed by him the

Scripture, vir dolorum, he called himself Dole-man, in respect of the grief and
sorrow he bore in his heart for the affliction and calamity of his country. After
wards it fell out that there was a priest in England called Dolman, who being
drawn by these men to favour their faction, as it seemeth, was persuaded also to
complain that he was made to be the author of the book which no man yet, we
think, that knoweth him and hath read the book will easily believe or accuse him
of, his talent being known to be far inferior to such a labour, and consequently
the complaint is both fond and ridiculous.' If we may judge of Dolman's
literary abilities from a letter of his preserved in the Douay Diaries (pp. 149, 150)1
it is true enough that he could hardly have written the book in question. That it
was written by Parsons himself has been proved once for all by Tierney (iii. p. 34).
The authorship is, in fact, shown to have been ' distinctly and unequivocally
acknowledged ' by the Jesuit. It is however curious to observe the different
turn to this interpretation of Doleman given by Parsons at a later date, Oct. 18,
1603, in a letter to James i., when it was the writer's object to persuade the king
that the principal catholics had all along supported the Scottish succession.
They merely suggested a Spanish Succession in the book (says Parsons) in case
James was not inclined to become a catholic, as a ' last spur of irritation that
way ; ' and the name was chosen ' to insinuate the grief and sorrow they felt in
being forced to come to this last means,' etc. (Ibid., p. Ixxiii; cf. More, p. 161.)

28 The Buttery in the old Chapel.
sayd Dolman. Whereby maister Dohnan gathered, that Fa.
Weston had receiued some commaundement from maister
Garnet, to take vpon hira his sayd Agency: and for the
better contenting of Doctor Bagshaw and his friends (being
somewhat moued, that maister Weston had so oft refused con
ference) told them so much : adding, that he thought maister
Weston his sayd refusal! to be thereupon grounded : it being
vnlawfuU for him to reiect, or call into question that, which
his Prouinciall had imposed vpon him. But afterwards he tlie
sayd maister Dolman imparting to maister Weston what he had
sayd to Doctor Bagshaw and his friends, maister Weston flatly
denyed that he had receyued from maister Garnet any such
approbation or comraaunderaent, either by letter, or otherwise.
With which his aunswere, maister Dolman acquainting vs, we
did the more maruaile why he disdayned the sayd offer of con
ference. Howbeit, seeing their courses, we sayd that we would
not irapeach any order, which they theselues thought meete
to line vnder : only we desired to line in commons together
with them, that the world might not take notice of any such
schisme amongst vs : but this was reiected. Whereupon maister
Dolman demaunded of Fa. Weston whether they meant to keepe
any more strict or large dyet by themselues, then the rest ? who
answered, that they did not. Why then (quoth he) haue you
taken another Brewer ? Maister Weston aunswered : it was, for
that he brewed better Beere then ye other. Vpon occasion of
these speeches betwixt them, maister Dohnan told him, that by
reason of the choyse of the sayd new Bruer, the Townesmen
began to talke at large of their great breach in the Castle :
and further sayd, that some scandale was already growne, by
appointing the said Chappell for their Buttery. To which last
point maister Weston replying, aunswered : that he thought (as
the case stood now in England) they raight vse things beere as
they found them: which words of his gaue maister Dohnan
occasion to shew the contrary, both out of S. Thomas and out
of Nauarre, in his Commentaries De spoliis.
It were too long to set downe what then passed amongst vs, at
this time of maister Dolmans being with vs : but he perceiued such

A Jesuitical Trick. 29

opposition to his godly motions, as that he desired to haue some
ioyned with him : and that he might then depart, and returne
with his Colleague, named by them one Doctor Bauin i a fort
night after Easter. Hereunto we all willingly yeelded : and sp
after sixe dayes trauayle amongst vs, he bade vs farewell. But
consider now a lesuiticaU trick that hapned.^ As maister
Dohnan was going to horseback, maister Southworth met him
in the Porters lodge, and told him with great vehemencie of
spirit, that Fa. Weston had greatly abused both him the sayd
maister Dohnan, and the whole company : in that he had re
ceiued a fortnight before a letter from Fa. Garnet in approba
tion of their choyse to haue him for their Agent : ^ and had kept
the same in his hands so long, without making his company
acquainted with it : which he tearmed to be double dealing.

' John Bavin, or rather Bavant, of the diocese of Chester, was, according to
Dodd (vol. ii. p. 59), one of the first fellows, and first professor of Greek in
St. John's CoUege, Oxford. He was there tutor to Edmund Campion and Dr.
Gregory Martin. An interesting letter of Campion from Bohemia, showing the
affection which he entertained for his old master, then at Rome, is printed by
Simpson (Campion, p. 86 j cf. Douay Diaries, p. 315). Bavant was made
doctor of divinity at Rome, spent some time at Rheims with Allen, and
returned to England in June 1581. He was subsequently, in 1598, appointed
by Cardinal Cajetan one of the assistants to the Archpriest.
^ The 'Jesuitical tricks ' were not all upon one side. Hall, in his report
quoted above, referring to the contention among the priests ' last Michaelmas, '
says that a ' Mr. Laiton seemed to bear great sway amongst them, and I thought
favoured Edmundes's authority, as Mr. Caverley — understanding that Laiton
was in town and purposed to have come to the castle — came to me, being then
porter there, and asked me to signifie to Mr. Barloe, a priest of the house, a
special friend of Laiton and Caverley's adversary, that my master had received
a warrant from Council for apprehending Laiton, whereby he might not come to
the castle. They wanted to bar him the place, because he caused the contro
versy among them. I gave the message to Mr. Barloe, though knowing it at
the time to be false, and Laiton did not come to the castle at the time, but he
has been there since. I do not know whether he is a priest or not. '
' Parsons says (Apologie, f. 66) that Garnet yielded to the requests of the
eighteen with these limitations : ' First, that he [Weston] should not be called
their Superior, but their Agent. Secondly, that he should have no voice in
determining anything, especiaUy for the reprehension or punishment of any man
that should offend against the rules of that congregation, but that all should be
done by the voices of the major part without him. Thirdly, that he should not
take any place or precedence at the table or elsewhere in respect of this office. '

30 The Scandal becomes Public.
as indeed it was in them both. But maister Southworth pre
tending his great discontentment in that respect, perswaded
maister Dolman to returne back to maister Weston, and then
hearing the sayd letter read, and perceiuing that it was ambi
guously written, so as the time did not serue him to enter into
any discourse of it (hauing a great iourney that night) he
departed, without making any of vs acquainted with the sayd
letter : much meruailing (as since he hath confessed) to finde so
grosse a falshood in maister Weston.
In the meane time that we were in expectation of maister
Dohnans returne with his Colleague, it was a world to heare
the people, that before had honored and admired vs, so long as
we kept vnity and integrity, how they changed their opinions
of vs, especially of the lesuites, tearming them in all ordinary
assemblies, prowde, ambitious, and vindictiue persons, per-
turbers of states, countries, and commonwealths. What would
these men do (say they) if they had all in their hands : that
being in a Gaole, dare take vpon them to rayse vp such
tumults and garboyles.? Certaine good men relating these
things to maister Weston, desired him humbly vpon their
knees, to consider what scandale he gaue to the world, and
how God and his truth were much blasphemed by this dissen-
tion : but he, with great contempt and irrision aunswered, that
he waighed not any mans iudgeraent : let them alone (sayth
he) caeci sunt 4" duces ccecorum : if it be a scandall, it is scan-
dalu/m per accidens, which I care not for : this matter is gone
further then may be controlled by man : you shall see it with
hands and scales confirmed, ere it be long. With this fathers
obstinacy many were discontented: and maister Bluet did
thereupon thinke it conuenient to write to maister Perpovnt^
and to desire him (hauing bin a prisoner before at Wisbich) to

¦' Gervais& Pierrepoint, and his brother Henry Pierrepoint, of Holme Pierre-
point and Thoresby, Nottinghamshire, ancestor of the earls of Kingston, were
among the first members of the secret Association of wealthy catholic laymen
organised by George Gilbert in 1580 to guide and assist the missionaries. While
Gilbert accompanied Parsons on his first journeys in that year, Pierrepoint per
formed the same dangerous service for Campion (Simpson, pp. 157, 187). He

A Priest falls out of his Wits. 31
moue maister Weston by his letter to some better quietnes.
But the sayd maister Perpoint being now altogether lesuited
(which maister Bluet knew not of) shewed his letter to Fa.
(Garnet, who taking it in euill part, writ himselfe thereof to Fa.
Weston, aduising hira, that seeing raaister Bluet had begun to
write abroad of the affayres in that place, they should not now
spare either him or any of the rest, to requite them with the
like. So as thereupon maister Weston stirred vp a young
Priest very weU learned, to write a bitter, rayling, and an
vnghostly letter to a Gentleman in London (a lay brother of
that society) against Doctor Bagshaw and maister Bluet: to
the intent that the sayd lay brother (being weU esteemed
amongst all the chiefest Catholicks) should blaze and spread
the same abroad, to their exceeding discredits. But Doctor
EarbecJc ^ being about that time in London, and knew very weU
the affayres then at Wisbich : vpon the sight of this letter by a
Noble man, dealt very roundly with the sayd lay lesuite, for
the indignity and vnchristian dealing offered to those two per
sons secretly behinde their backs, where they could not defend
their innocencie. He did at that time after a sort, satisfye the
Gentleman so farre forth, as the spirit of that generation will
be qualified in such a matter: and besides so informed the
Noble man of such things as he knew, as that he was pleased
with some disdaine to teare the letter in pieces. But the poore
Priest that was vrged against his conscience to write it, being
admonished thereof, feU out of his wits, and threatned to kill
those that set him on worke : whereby they were driuen to in
treate their keeper to shut him vp in a close chamber, where he
remayned a tweluemoneth, and confessing willingly, that for
was more than once confined in the Tower, and was a fellow-prisoner vidth
Weston at Wisbeach some time before the death of Metham. In April 1600
he got into trouble again for being found in possession of the letter written by
Parsons to the earl of Angus (Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz., ccLXXiv., Nos. 110-116).
' ' Dr. Farbeck is a doctor of physic, and commonly lies in term time at his
chamber in the New Rents in Holborn ; he is thought to be a recusant, and
about once in two or three months visits the priests, but chiefly Dr. Bagshaw.
(Examination of HaU, the porter, March 31, 1596 ; Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz.,
CCLVi.) He was buried at Wisbeach, Nov. 14, 1598.

32 Mr. Dolman consults Dr. Windham.
abusing his penne against innocents, he was thus tormented :
he asked the sayd parties forgiuenes. You haue heard per-
aduenture of a Machiuilian maxime : detrahe audacter, aliquid
adhcBrebit : and here you haue seene the practise of it.
Maister Doleman (as you haue heard before) being departed
from vs, hath reported vpon occasion, how carefully he im
ployed himselfe on our behalfe. I met (sayth he) with a deere
friend to you all : a man well knowne to be excellently well
learned in both lawes, and for his vertuous wisdome and other
singular good parts in him well beloued, and greatly esteemed
of all that know him. I meane Doctor Windam : ^ vnto whom

^ This appears to be Nicholas Wendon of Trinity college, Cambridge, arch
deacon of Suffolk in 1559, and afterwards a canon of Norwich. In Cooper's
Athena Cantab, he is said to have been ' admitted an advocate of the court of
Arches, 4th October 1567, having previously commenced LL.D. in some foreign
university, as is supposed.' He was also rector of Witnesham, Suffolk, although
a layman, and was ' accustomed to appear in public in a cloak with a Spanish
cape, having a rapier byhis side.' He is said to have declared himself a catholic
in 1575 or 1576 (Dr. Jessopp's One Generation ofa Norfolk House, p. 55). In a list
of exiles in the Low Countries in 1576, 'Mr. Wendon, an archdeakon, somme
tymes of Suffolke ' is mentioned as having gone towards Rome (Douay Diaries,
p. 301), and at a later date the same person, apparently, is recorded as one of the
pope's pensioners, and in priest's orders : ' Doctor Wendon, prieste, hath xiiii
crownes by monthe.' We hear of him again, or of one corresponding vrith his
description, in a letter of this same Dolman, which reached Rheims Feb. 1579 :
' The Suffolke and Norfolke gentlemen that were committed for there consciens
in her Ma" prograce remayne style prisoners in ther country, excepte D.
Wyndam that is close prisoner in the fleete,' with which agrees the entry in
Foxe's Ust of prisoners, anno 1579: 'D. Windam, LL.D., 50' in the Fleet.
From the Fleet he was perhaps removed that same year to Wisbeach (see note
supra, p. 10). Dodd gives no place in his biographies to this Dr. Nicholas
Wendon or Windham, but, on the authority of Wood (Hist, and Antiq. of
Oxford, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 145), gives some account of Ralph Windon, fellow of
St. John's college, Oxford, who is said to have been sent on the mission from
Douai, and afterwards imprisoned in Wisbeach. The registers of the coUege,
however, contain no such name. They indeed make mention of a William
Wendon, a priest and doctor of divinity, who lived at the seminary for some
time, and obtained a canonry at Cambrai in 1578 (Douay Diaries, p. 26). But
there is no trace of his having retumed to England, and he died abroad. Dol
man's friend, 'learned in both laws,' can only be Nicholas Wendon, LL.D.,
again described by Bagshaw in his Answer to the Apologie (p. 16), as 'a most
excellent and renowned lawyer.' His career, however, has not hitherto been
traced further than his exile in 1576.

Dr. Windham's Opinion. 33
I opened plainly and sincerely the whole matter, and craued it
earnestly at his hands, that he would take some paynes therein,
and for the loue he bare the generali cause, the especiall affec
tion he had to your company, which I know is as great as he
can giue and you desire, and for the old acquaintance and loue,
that was between vs beyond the seas, he would aduise and
instruct me what to deliuer vnto you. How much he lamented
this controuersie amongst you, I am not able to expresse.
After three dayes aduisement, he told me, for any that Uued
together as you do (presupposing he vnderstood your state very
well) to diuide themselues from the boord, from the rest of the
company (things so standing as they do now) though their
purpose were right good, was both against charitie and pollicie.
Whereupon hearing his great mislike, I made some hastie re
turne, and let Fa. Weston, with some of his company, vnder-
stand his resolution, with mine owne therein. Thus farre
maister Dolman. This his returne was within tenne dayes
after his departure, and before the time limited to him and his
Colleague to deale in our causes. Vpon which his sayd speeches
and communication with Fa. Weston concerning Doctor Win-
dams opinion : Would God (sayd maister Weston) with most
earnest affection (as it seemed) that you maister Dolman were
as well able to perswade the rest, as you haue done me. For
mine own part, I raind to giue ouer and meddle no further, but
to commend the cause wholy to God : assuring you, if I could
do the least of this house good for his soules health, by laying
my head vnder his feete, I would most willingly do it. I pray
you talke with some of our company, and see whether you can
perswade them. And thus farre this dissembling lesuite (by
maister Dohnans report) very well putting Father Garnets
aduise in practise, so to enter into his course of gouemment,
as that it raight be thought to be imposed vpon him in effect
against his will. But how found maister Dohnan this Agents
subiects ? Fa. Weston could haue told him, like a crafty com
panyon, if he had list to haue saued the poore old mans labour.
For he no sooner moued them to reunite themselues, but they
startled thereat, and sayd, they were still resolute to proceede

34 Grave Charges of Immorality.
in the course which they had vndertaken : and would heare
nothing to the contrary.
At this time (as we remember) of maister Dolmans being at
Wisbich, maister Bluet entred into speech with maister Weston
in his the sayd maister Dohnans presence, conceming both
their desire of seuerall commons, and also their rules and lawes
before mentioned : and sayd vnto hira : that it seemed very
strange that he should persist as he did, in defence of these his
proceedings. To whom maister Westons ghostly father aun
swered : that as he, and Doctor Bagshaw, had caryed away the
glory and fame of all that was heretofore lawdably done in that
Castle : so from henceforth Fa. Weston would indure it no
longer, but would haue the same ascribed to himselfe, and to
the lesuites. Fa. Weston halfe ashamed of this so plaine a
confession, tooke vpon him to mend it : saying, that their
intent of separation was, rather to auoyd such sinnes as were
in the house, as whoredome, dronkennes, and dicing, then for
any such cause, as the party before had mentioned. And
being further vrged to speake plainly, whether he knew him
selfe of any such sinnes to be in the house, he aunswered, that
he spake not in particular, but in generali of them.'^ Where
unto maister Bluet replying, affirmed, that in saying as he did,
and charging no man in particular, he inuolued the whole
house as guiltie of those sinnes, and was a detractor thereby in
the highest degree. He also the sayd maister Bluet proceeded
further in effect, as followeth. If there be such enormious
sinnes amongst vs, haue we not ghostly fathers to reforme
them .'' or can you name any that herein hath bin refrac-

^ Parsons and Garnet seem to take pride in this position of Weston and his
friends. ' They deduced,' says Parsons (Apologie, f. 71), ' all their disorders to ten
principal members, disguising notwithstanding their speech by general terms,
lest it might fall into the enemy's hands, and touching no man in particular.'
So Garnet writes to Bagshaw in the following October that they, the separatists,
had never written to him a word, ' quo cujusvis fama lasderetur.' That is, no
one of their dozen opponents was injured in character by the grave charges of
immorality brought against them as a body, because no one in particular was
named. (See the letter of Garnet, with Tierney's note, in his Dodd, vol. iii.
p. cxiii., and compare W. Cs Replie to the Manifestation, f. 7.)

Mr. Bluefs Discourse. 35
tarious ? Is not the sacrament of healthfuU penance a suffi
cient remedie for men in our cases, to keepe vs from such
enormities .? If the meanes appointed by Christ, haue not
sufficient force to remedie these euils : what extraordinary
grace or power can we expect from your supposed authoritye
and lawes to effect the same ? Againe, if such sinnes were in
the house : either some particular men were guilty of them, or
all : if some, why are they not denounced, that the rest may
know, as well those that committed them, as those that fauour
or defend them in such their turpitudes ? And whereas we are
prisoners beere against our wils, and therefore cannot choose
but of necessity must dayly conuerse and be together, by order
and commaundement of the State, and condition of the prison :
how dare you (except you will incroach vpon her Maiesties
authority) thus violently attempt to separate her subiects,
promulgate lawes, execute punishments, and make your selfe
in effect to haue as full power as the Pope hath himselfe ?
In that you seeme tvithout his authority to make a new order
of Religion, or I know not what, with bands, lawes, rules, and
punishments, except your power be more then we can dreame
of: you incurre thereby the sentence of excommunication : and
by the lawes of this Realme, it is well knowne, that omnis
coitio in the kingdome not prescribed by her Highnesse, is
subiect t< a very heauy censure. When laines and lohn
priuatly and therefore vnlawfully sought by mediation of
their mother, the right hand and the left: the rest of the
Apostles did worthily dislike that attempt : but when Peter
and these two were called ^'p to Mount Tabor to behold Christ
in his Maiestie ; all the rest tooke it in good part, and neuer
grudged, because they were called thither by lawfull authority.
Besides, if you and your pretended subiects wil keepe no com
pany with vs, because of our sinnes (as you pretend) be your
surmises true or false : yet (as you proceede) you ioyne therein
with the Donatists ; who because they would not defile them
selues (pure creatures) with other mens sinnes, departed from
the Church, and perished in their foule schisme and heresie.
In the proceeding of this discourse there were sundry interrup-

36 Arbitration of Dr. Bavin and Dolman.
tions : but the summe was, that maister Weston did Uttle re
gard it : notwithstanding his pretence of yeelding mentioned
before, if his companie would be thereunto perswaded.
When maister Dolman was to depart, he moued maister
Weston and others, that forasmuch as he had acquainted them
already both with Doct. Windams opinion and his owne, con
ceming the intent of his company for diuiding themselues in
Commons from their brethren : he might with their good
fauours be released of his promise or coming againe after
Easter. But they would in no sort yeeld thereunto : but
desired him in any wise, as he loued them, to keepe the time
appointed. Which made some of vs to meruaile, knowing now
by maister Dolman, that Fa. Garnet had approued maister
Westons Agency : although neither then nor since we could
euer obteine a copy of his letter to that effect. Howbeit
afterwards we perceiued his drift herein : which was to make
tryall, if by any possible meanes he could winne of the sayd
Arbitrators ; to determine that some other order, then
formerly had bin vsed in that place, was necessary to be
appointed. For then presently by way of a consequent
depending vpon Fa. Garnets authority, he would haue ob
truded vpon vs his owne Agency : or at the least haue gotten
some aduantage against vs, to haue depraued vs to those, who
would not consider, that the admitting of maister Weston for
our head, we had thereby subraitted our selues to Garnet, and
should so haue become meere subiects to the lesuites.
At the time appointed our two Arbitrators, Doctor Bauyn
and maister Dohnan comraing to Wisbich : we found him the
sayd Bauyn much more stiffely lyned with lesuitisme, then euer
we could haue suspected. He being in maister Bluets chamber,
and demaunding the cause why they were sent for : aunswere
was made, that their presence was desired for the examining
and deciding a fact of great scandale and deformitie : yea a flat
schisme (as we thought) begun, and prosecuted in prison by Fa.
Weston : and to reduce vs againe to our auncient vnity. To
this Doctor Bauyn sayd, that he would do his best indeuour, to
set quietnes amongst vs : and further told vs ; that he had with

Conferences with Bluet and Weston. 37
disdaine read Father Westons lawes and platforme, and was
fully resolued to casheere them, whatsomeuer came of it : but
yet (quoth he) you must haue some order and forme of gouem
ment amongst you. It was aunswered him; that we had
desired their company, but to iudge, whether the breach they
liad made, was lawfull or no : iudge that first (quoth we) and
then we will friendly conferre, what is meete to be done here
after. We are in prison, and sometimes close prisoners, not in
case to speake one with an other : and perhaps must be, as
heretofore we were at the Keepers dyet : what shall we then
trouble our selues, with rules, orders, or common wealthes ?
Are not the Canons of Councels, the lawes of the Church, and
the sacrament of penance sufficient for Priests, that are in
prison for the Catholick faith.? Did the Bishop oi Lincoln c
when he Uued here, trouble himselfe with any such matters : or
hath this yonker amongst vs, a lesuite, more wit, grace, experi
ence, and authority, then he had, being the Popes Legate ouer
all England? To admit these his new lawes and penall
statutes, were to confesse in effect, that we had lined inordin-
atly, vntill this lesuiticall youth came to reforme vs. No, no,
they shall haue no such aduantage against vs : it is the But,
they ayme at, to make the simpler sort of Catholicks beleeue,
that we secular Priests are no body, nor able to do any thing
for our selues, except the lesuites may haue the commaunde
ment ouer vs, to direct and commaund vs, as they thinke good.
After such communication had in maister Bluets chamber,
maister Dolman and he went to maister Weston, and his ad
herents, to know wherein they would commaund their seruice.
But maister Weston after the new fashion, desired them first to
fall downe and pray with him : which done, he arose ; and
framing his countenance as though he would haue wept, sayd
vnto them thus in effect. Your comming hither maketh vs
glad, and heauy : glad, if that you will assist vs in that we
haue begun ; and so we will giue you prayse and bene
diction : but if you will crosse our designements, and con
demne our indeuors, you shall giue vs very great cause of
sorrow. Aduise therefore your selues very well what you do :

38 The United threatened with Starvation.
for the matters are of great importance, which we put into
your hands. Then Doctor Bauyn (to pay maister Weston with
his owne coyne) pretended to be so mooued with his words, as
if he likewise could scarsely haue refrayned from teares : which
raaister Dolman and we obseruing, we doubted to finde him
but an halting Arbitrator. Besides it seemed, that they were
halfe vnwilling, to commit their former designements to these
mens arbitrement : had it not bin for feare, that else the world
woidd haue condemned theme and therefore they laboured
thera in secret, with all their might and maine to approoue
their enterprises. Whilest we were in consultation (sayeth
maister Dohnan) good Lord, how were we dealt with vnde?--
hcmd, to allow wlioly qf their doings, atid to reprooue the others.
Many iarres hapned in these conferences. One of them that
stood for the vnity, told the Arbitrators that a brother of the
separation, threatned him, and all the rest that stood against
maister Weston, that if they would not submit themselues vnder
the lesuites obedience, and Hue vnder their statutes and lawes,
they should starve, and 7iot haue a morsell qf bread to put in
their mouthes.^
When Doctor Bauyn and maister Dohnan grew to the con
sideration of Fa. Westons rules, and other his designements, he
the sayd Doctor Bauyn did vtterly reiect them. Marry withall
he made mention of a certaine draught and forme of discipline,
which was more beneficiall to the lesuites, then their owne :
and such a one (as he himselfe hath confessed) the lesuites
abroad had agreed vnto. In this platforme, eight (besides
raaister Weston) were to haue bin chosen out of the brethren
of the separation, and two of the vnited to make vp tenne :
which tenne should haue gouerned all the rest ; maister Weston
being appointed euer for their mouth. So that as before in

^ Compare the statement in the Relatio compendiosa (p. 99) : ' Jesuitte
tandem et archipresbyter eleemosynas qu:e per universum regnum in incarcera-
torum sustentationem et alios pios usus, a fidelibus erogantur, in suas prius
manus deportandas curant quam in egenos distribuantur : eae autem ad carceres
mittuntur cum mandato, ut illi sacerdotes, qui ab iis non stant, earum non fiant
participes,'

The Proposed Reconciliation. 39
his owne common wealth called the Agenage,^ he was maister
Agent : so in this other of Doct. Bauyns (tearmed the tenne
men, and the mouth) this our deuout lesuite was to haue bin
called in proper speech, raaister mouth. In communication
about this new platforme of Doctor Bauyns, there grew some
beate betwixt him, Doctor Bagshaw, and maister Bluet : both
of them with great earnestnes, and very forcible arguments
impugning the same, which Doctor Bauyn tooke in euill part,
but was afterwards wel inough appeased. Then after a day or
two our said Arbitrators (hauing taken great paines this way
and that way) agreed together vpon a forme of pacification, to
be offered vnto vs all : the principali effect whereof was : that
we should reconcile our selues generally one to an other, re
mitting freely and wholy each to other, all pretended or sup
posed iniuries past, vttering the same in order by some short
word or speech, without any rehearsall, debating, or reasoning
of any matters past, and without any condition, or exception
for the time to come. This pacification being first shewed to
Doctor Bagshaw, and maister Bluet, they did most ioyfuUy re-
ceiue it : and desired the Arbitrators very instantly, that for
Gods sake, they would go forward with it. Afterwards they
went to Fa. Weston, and maister Southworth, and deliuering
them the copy of it, they seemed very willing to accept the
same : so as an bower the next day after dinner was appointed
for the mutuall recociliation of all the company, according to
the effect of the pacification before mentioned. Against whicli
time maister Dohnan being in the Gallery ready to go into the
Hall to dinner. Fa. Weston drew him aside to a window, and
vsed these words vnto- him : I trust (maister Dolman) this re
conciliation shall not preiudice our determination, of diuision
of Commons : to whom maister Dolman aunswered, that all
their breach was about that matter: and that therefore, he
and his fellow could in no sort like thereof, nor permit the same.
Then sayth maister Weston very sharply, you do vs great
1 Agenage is not a misprint. It occurs four times in this tract, pp. 23, 30, 35,
and 41, original edition (pp. 45, 50, 59, infra). Compare 'these troublesome
Agens' in Parsons' Apologie (f. 121'') and Agenistxxv Bagshaw's Answer (p. l8).

40 Articles of Peace.
^vrong. I meane you no wrong, quoth maister Dolman, but all
the good I can wish or deuise : yes mary do you (sayth he) and
so you would confesse, if you saw but our extract : which con
teyneth three sheetes of paper of the enormious crymes, that
we haue to charge them withall. But I pray you (sayth he)
let vs intreate maister Doctor Bauyn, and you to stay this re
conciliation, vntill to morrow : for we haue certaine Articles to
shew you first, that cannot so soone be made ready. Vnto this
motion the Arbitrators condescended, hoping it would haue
turned vnto the best: but it fell out quite contrary. For
they found that nothing would content them, except they
would agree vnto the separation of Commons.
The Articles exhibited concerning vs, together with our
Articles which we were constrayned thereby to offer to our
said Arbitrators, we haue thought good here to set downe.
First theirs (which are rather indeed Interrogatories to examine
ye Arbitrators, then matters that do much touch vs) and then
our owne : which we offer to all men, to be censured, as they
shall think good.
1 Whether (say they to the Arbitrators) will you stay the
time to examine those Articles, which any may be accused of ?
2 Whether you thinke it secure for vs, that line and meete
together raany times in the day (not hauing the meanes to
auoyd each other) to haue those things proposed, and examined,
and whether you can corapasse our quiet ?
3 That whosoeuer doth come to declare any matter, shall
submit themselues to you, as to their Ordinary, to declare
without all equiuocation, or lying, any thing, whereof you
thinke necessary to the manifestation of the verity.
4 That you do take the promise of euery one that is
caUed before you, to behaue themselues with modestie and
good tearmes.
5 This supposed : we are all for our parts contented, that
they obiect, what they can against vs.
6 We require also, that they shall giue their consent, that
they are all contented, to heare what may be layd out against
thera.

The Arbitration fails. 41
7 Euery thing being heard : that you pronounce sentence
against those, that you shall finde culpable.
When our sayd Arbitrators had perused these Interroga
tories, no maruaile though they troubled the, being so con
trary to their expectation :' and deuised of purpose to breake
oft' all hope of reconciliation by their meanes : and such like
wise, as by lesuiticall shifts might haue bin prolonged, if they
had list, for we know not how many yeares. With these
Articles we were no sooner acquainted : but presently we set
downe these fower in some sort to aunswere them.
1 We require that sufficient satisfaction may be made
for the slaunder and diffamation of vs by their breach and
letter : if sufficient causes cannot be proued for their so doing.
2 We require that euery accusation be set downe in writing
\nder the accusers hands, sub posna talionis, if it be not proued.
3 We will aunswere in all things according to the order
in the Canon law : supposing these men to be our lawfull
ludges. 4 We will susteine any censure, with this condition, that
being censured by these men, we may be secured thereby from
all other censures concerning that matter.
When these our Articles were deliuered to Fa. Weston, and
he with some others had perused them : they began first (sayth
maister Dohnan) to take exceptions against the fourth Article :
and in the end against them all, plainely shewing indeed, that
they liked nothing, but their owne designements, being resolued to
proceed in them : let it fall how it should either back or edge, as
the common proverb is. Whereas we (by the testimony of the
sayd maister Dolman) professed our selues very desirous of re
conciliation : and offred our readynes to aunswere any matters
that might be obiected against vs : protesting that we would
only indeuor to niaifitaine our owne credits, without any re
crimination at all.^

^ With this may be compared the following passage from the Replie to the Mani
festation (f. 7) : ' Thirdly, I answer, that of my own knowledge, being present
at the ripping up of these matters, general leave was given by the united part
unto the separated to say what they could, and accuse whom they could of any

42 Dr. Bavin turns his Tippet.

But the truth is, that our sayd Arbitrators saw so many
inconueniences that would haue followed, if they had entred
into this course, as they by no meanes would be drawne vnto
it : but still insisted to haue lapped vp all discontentments in
their sayd generali reconciliation. Whereunto we for our parts,
were all of vs well inclined : insomuch as maister Dolman him
selfe protesteth, that he will euer charge maister Weston ami
his company, to haue bin the causes that the sayd good worke so
greatly vrged by him and Doctor Bauyn, was not effected by
them. For (sayth he the sayd maister Dohncm) all our motions
were irkesome vnto them : and two or three, one after another
came vnto me: and told me, that except I would remoue my
opinion touching the breach qf commons, they wished me to be
gone. Whereupon he writ a letter to our whole company, and
concluded thus. As before God I speake it in conscience, I am
throughly perswaded : you, ihat shall vnder pretence qf sub
mitting your selues vnder a head, and to Hue vnder cm order,
diuide your selues fi-om the rest, shall do a thing sirvfull. This
is my minde : this is my censure. And so the good old man de
parted from vs.
After his departure, notwithstanding that Doctor Bauyn,
to our owne knowledge was very resolute against our diuiding
of Commons ; as maister Dohnan and diuers others can also
witnes : yet we know not, how afterwards it came to passe
(through their lesuiticall practises with him) but (as we haue
heard) within two dayes he turned his tippet, and incouraging
such crime sub patta talionis, and they would admit any competent or indifferent
judge to have the hearing and censuring of the delinquents ; and they refused
to join any such issue with them. Furthermore, myself being present and
witness unto all this, I went unto Fa. Weston and asked him if he would accuse
any man in particular, and he refused : whereupon I told him that he and the
rest of his company were then bound to clear them of such unjust suspicions,
which if they would do, either by word before witness, or under their hands,
the refusing part would suffer them to go forwards with their course begun,
which if they refused to do, being in conscience bound thereto (as I told him
my opinion was they were), then could they not suffer them to proceed in that
manner unless they would wiUingly undergo such infamy as thereby redounded
unto them. . . . But all was in vain. He refused and rejected all offers with
out regard to my motion. '

Garret makes a Secret Confession. 43
them to take their owne course, went his way like a charitable
Priest, and neuer bade vs farewell. We would be loth to do
him iniurie, if this matter hath bin misreported vnto vs : but
this we do affirme, that since that time his credit hath so
increased amongst the lesuites, as now he is become one of
their Archpriests assistants : and that within a day or two
after his departure from Wisbich, maister Weston and his com
pany, entred into an actuall and publick schisme : they refused
either to eate or drinke with vs : they left the Hall altogether :
they made the Chappell their Buttery, maister Bramstons^
lodging their Kitchin, and their Agents chamber their Re
fectory. Whilest Fa. Weston and his consorts were talking, as you
haue heard before, of certain great matters which they had
against vs, why they could not keepe company with vs any
longer : he the sayd good father, to shew what good stuft'e
they had in store, called one Garret ^ forth, and perswadeth him
to vnfold to the Arbitrators his owne confession, that vnto
Weston his ghostly father, he had made a yeare and a halfe
before. This demy-Iesuite, although the thing seemed most
absurd and irreligious, obeyeth wiUingly to vnfold to the Com
missioners, either what he had vttered in his confession of one
of his feUowes, or at the least, what he had deuised between
him and maister Agent. Well : propter bonum societatis, he
commeth most sadly (as if he had bin compelled) and telleth
the that he is most vnwilling to vnfold that which turneth
to the diffamation of a Priest: but yet for disciplines sake,
which was seene decayed in the house, and for the obedience
which he ought vnto his ghostly father, he will informe them
of that, which may giue the light to proceede, as they

1 Thomas Bramston, a seminarist from Rheims, was ordained in 1585, and
sent upon the mission in the following year, with eighteen others, seven of
whom (including William Watson) were hanged (Douay Diaries, p. 30).
2 Alexander Garret or Gerard, a fellow-student of Bramston at Rheims, sent
on the mission in 1587. He was, according to Mr. Gillow (Biog. Dictionary),
the son of William Gerard of Ince, county Lancaster, by Jane, daughter of Sir
Alexander Osbaldeston. His elder brother, Thomas Gerard, was also a prisoner
at Wisbeach, and is said to have died there sometime before April 29, 1598.

44 The Priest and the Keeper's Maid.

thought good. Marry he wiU not haue it knowne, but vnto
themselues in secret. This protestation made, he sayth, that
one of raaister Medlye his men, an heretick told hira, how that
a Priest (and named him)^ was in the greene chamber (which
was the keepers lodging) talking with Mary maister Medlyes
mayde : and that the Porter ^ (who was in loue with her) was by
maister Southworth willed to go vp to the greene chamber, for
that there was such a Priest talking with Mary : who in all

^ Can this be Francis TiUotson before mentioned, the ' great persuader of
women ' ? TiUotson eventuaUy abandoned his profession, and became a govern
ment spy. In 1608 he supplied sensational intelligence which Lord Salisbury
described as 'unlikely and absurd,' adding, 'I know this priest is a. knave.'
(Foley's Records, i. 509.)
^ This was Edward Hall (p. 25, fiote). The unfortunate man got into trouble
shortly afterwards for unguarded speeches in favour of his prisoners, and before
the end of the year was himself confined in the Gatehouse, Westminster. The
facts of the case illustrate some features of prison life at Wisbeach, and are
otherwise instructive. On Dec. 21, 1595, we find Foxley, a shoemaker, and
Wagg, a butcher, at Wisbeach, giving evidence before the keeper, Medeley, that
one day in Weedon's alehouse they had asked Hall ' what all the babbling and
great noise which the papists made at dinner-time meant, ' and that Hall had replied
' It was foolish to call it babbling, as it was but reading certain chapters of the
bible in latin ; ' others reported how Hall had declared ' it would not be well in
England till there was a mutiny. ' The shoemaker and butcher heard the word
' mutiny,' but could not say what was meant. Further information was given a
little later to Mr. Palmer, the Queen's chaplain, by WiUiams, a servant.
Williams deposed that on St. Luke's Day last (Oct. 18, 1595) he had visited
his friend HaU at the porter's lodge, where they were joined by two priests,
Calverley and Meredith, and Peter Garnett, a joiner, who since had become a
recusant, and had fled the country. On Calverley remarking that ' they were
prisoners there, and accounted to be dead men, as they looked for nothing but
death,' HaU remarked, 'No, no, Mr. Calverley, 38 is at hand.' HaU did not
explain his meaning, but Williams, hearing afterwards that he had been carried
up to London on some misdemeanour, had thought of this speech, and voluntarily
betrayed it. Hall meanwhile was put through an examination by the Attorney
General, who elicited from him some interesting information regarding the state
of matters at Wisbeach. He denied all remembrance of having uttered the
speech ' 38 is at hand,' which seems to have given unnecessary alarm to the
government as indicating the ' foreknowledge of some dangerous event. ' The
words probably referred to some prophecy current among the priests that the
38th year of Elizabeth's reign (17th Nov. 1595-96) would bring them relief or
victory. See the Calendar of State Papers, Dom. Eliz., 1595-96 (pp. 13, 20,
142, 185, 192, 194), where, however, some of the documents are wrongly dated,
and the index is inaccurate.

Accusations filling three Sheets. 45
hast went vp, and finding the Priest not in the chamber with
Mary, he looked into the Study within the chamber, and found
him there with an english booke in his hand, whereat he was
offended. Now (sayth maister Weston) you see matter suffi-
ciet for to leade you to giue sentence with vs. Indeed (sayth
Doctor Bauyn) this is a matter that moueth me to be willing to
giue my iudgeraent : what thinke you maister Dolman ? The
Romanes being Pagans (quoth raaister Dolman) would not con
demne S. Paul vpon the request, and accusations of the lewes,
before they heard Paul defend himself in a publick place : and
shall we here codemne a Priest, and in him 12. more, vnheard,
vnexamined, and no place of defence left them .? Maister Ba.
I will not do it : but I will heare what the Priest can say for
himselfe. I do not thinke (quoth Bauino) that we can do so :
for this matter is vttered to vs in secret, not to be opened
againe. How then, shal we pronounce an externall sentence
(quoth maister Dolman) as we are externall iudges, and con
demne these 13. but it must be knowne ? Well, well, this is
very strange : and so that matter was dasht.
If maister Agent and Doct. Bauyn had proceeded with the
rest of their supposed enormious crimes against vs (so many as
filled vp three sheetes of paper) and that M. Dolman would
haue bin aduised by the : you see what a prety course of
iustice would haue bin held in these assises. What all those
seueraU accusatios were, we could neuer haue the fauour to be
informed : either by M. Agent or his assistants. You may
suppose they were not great, in that we had been receyued
with great applause, as companyons with them of their holy
order : if we would but haue yeelded to Fa. Ed. Westons
Agenage, thereby admitting a kinde of Fryer to be the head of
secular Priests : as rare a deuise, as lightly hath hapned. But
to returne where we left. A separation is made, and maister
Agent is in his ruffe, sitting in a corner with his obedient
subiects. If we should haue tearmed him Vsher of their new
Hall, which was his owne chamber, and maister Brampston in
the like respect, their chiefs maister Cooke, hauing good
opportunitie, though he had lyen in his bed, to haue ruled

46 The Public Separation.
the roast : the phrases had not bin very improper. Howbeit,
such manner of conceits were then farre from vs : our hearts
being very greatly replenished with griefe, to see so many of
our brethren Catholicke Priests, and imprisoned for the sarae
cause with vs, so irreligiously to separate themselues from vs.
Besides : we were otherwise set on worke by them, in laboring
to defend our selues from their diuelish practises in slaundering
of vs : as though we had bin the men, that had made the
faction, and not they : whereas it was most apparant to those
that would not shut their eyes, that we swarued not one iot
from that course which had bin held both by vs, and our very
honorable & reuerend predecessors in yt prison : as me that
detested such childish innouatios. Furthermore, our sayd
griefe was greatly increased, in that we were daily aduertised
from our friends abroad, how many Catholicks in euery comer
(otherwise very graue and zealous) began to fauour this new
deuise : being possessed with a conceit, that we (formerly
reputed their deere and louing fathers) were become on the
sodaine, without any change at all in vs, persons of great
licentiousnes ; such as could neither indure any good order
nor holesome discipline. Lord (thought we) whither do these
things tend : or what will become of the most auncient and
Catholick Romane Religion ; if the old and constant professors
thereof do begin to delight in change and innouations ? And
here by the way, we would gladly haue it obserued, that as well
in all the aforesaid garboyles, as in the rest that follow here
after: we that stoode for vnitie, haue alwaies been in effect
meerely passiue, standing still vpon our defence : our aduer
saries (for so our brethren did make themselues) practising
their best actiuitie to hurt and wound vs.
For to keepe their hands and tongues in vre, this Gentlema
our said new Agent was no sooner inuested in his lesuiticall
authoritie, but presently he sendeth abroad certaine reasons
(fine in number) to his friends, least he should (forsooth) haue
been mistaken in bis said publicke separation from vs. In
which pretended reasons, many points being childish, and
many false, we hold them not fit to be here inserted : only we

The Beginning of New Garboils. 47
haue mentioned them, because they driue vs againe to our
Apologie, by incountring them with fine others, which we
will also pretermit : the fact it selfe attempted by the Agent
and his confederats being so absurd, and schismatically
handled, as whosoeuer doth well know it, his owne reason
and iudgement (if he haue any) are sufficient to condemne it.
You haue heard at large before of our troubles, which
Doctor Ba. and maister Dolman would gladly (wee are per
swaded) at the first, haue compounded, but as the matter
feU out, their paines therein, did not only, not end them, but
through maister Agents lesuiticall skill in shifting and false
glosing, were the beginning of other new garboyles. For he
hauing gotten into his hands certaine writings and letters of
Doct. Bauyns, did pretend and giue it out amongst his
friends, that he and his adherents had been very willing to
haue entred into any good pacification, had we not been so
obstinate as no reason would content vs. He shewed some
Priests of the said Doctors letters, wherein (as it should seeme)
he affirmed, that their separation was in effect, no separation.
Besides, it was giuen out, that we vtterly refused to haue the
crimes obiected against vs, sifted by the arbitrators and looked
into. Againe, they said, that we hauing giuen the said Com
missioners full authoritie to decide all matters betwixt vs, did
for feare, or because we would be still wilfuU in our disorderly
courses, reuoke the same : so as thereby nothing could bee
effected. Also they quarrelled with vs concerning our yeeld
ing to haue receiued such new lawes, as the Arbitrators should
thinke good to impose vpon vs. All which particulars, with
many more such like, being most falsly layd to our charges,
they went from hand to hand, farre and neere, and were re
ceiued by such Catholicks, as began to be infected with
lesuitisme, as if they had been true : thereby taking occasion
to depraue vs exceedingly. Insomuch as the good old Father
maister Dolman was driuen to write diuers letters, for the
cleering of the said false accusations, and was so earnest in
them, as these and diuers others such like sentences fell some
times from his pen : Detrahere, aut detrahentem audire quid

48 The Distraction of Catholics abroad.
horum fit damnabilus non Jiicile dixerim : it is hard to say,
whether is the greater sinne to be a slaundercr, or giue ear vnto
him : sub Christi specie dcemon inique lates ? thou art disguised
{Sathan) in the habite qf Christ ? O secula nostra, hoc phari-
saismo plenissima! our times are pestered with pharisaicall
hypocrisie !
By these and such like courses which this lesuitical faction
did thus practise against vs, the Catholickes abroad were
greatlie distracted : some leaned to vs, but more inclined to
them : it being tbe fatall calamitie of our Nation to be too
much addicted to faction and nouelties. They of the new
guise, sent vs word that in opposing our selues against the
lesuits, wee laboured but in vaine, and lost thereby our reputa
tion : that order being qf such excellencie, as it might not be
withstood. An other writ vnto vs a long discourse, dated the
26. of lune 1595,^ how vnwilling the lesuits are to take vpon
them anie superioritie: that Father Westons Agencie was not
worthie to be tearmed by the name qf superiority, because it was
not pragesse sed prodesse : that CardinaU Allen a little before had
willed sundrie Priestes that came fior England, to acknowledge
the lesuits for such men, as had beene their superiours and
maisters : and that therefore, they should make no difference but
keepe peace with them, and goe vnto them for their aduise amd
direction. And afterward in the same letter, the Catholickes
(saith he) are so wholie affected to the society, (§• haue them in
such estimation, that whosoeuer shall shew himselfe to fauour anie
part against them, or not so throughlie to effect them, yea though
he be one qf owr owne coate (meaning a Priest) hee shall be lesse
gratefull and welcome to them. And a third : in his letter dated
in August 1595. the same yeere, writeth thus vnto vs : / can
assure you, that in the generali opinion qf the best sort qf Catho-
^ This letter was written by the Rev. Thomas Audley to Bagshaw himself,
and is printed in the Letters and Memorials of Allen (p. 378) from the original
in the archives of the archbishop of Westminster. The original is endorsed,
' Thomas Audley to Bagshaw, movinge him to like of the Jesuits. What charge
CardinaU AUen gave that the preists in England submitt themselves to the
Jesuits. Thiit the Jesuits are allready in such creditt as what priest soever shaU
oppose himselfe against them shall discreditt himselfe. '

Letters received from the Friendly. 49
lickes, the tide is against you ; and if you loue me, contend not
with Father Weston.
This and much such like stuffe wee receiued from the fanci-
fuU. But on the other side, they that plodded in the old steps
of antiquitie, and had a great disgust of nouelties, did now and
then write vnto vs, after another sort : Sometimes they signified
vnto vs with great indignation, the abuses offered vnto vs, how
our fellow prisoners qf the faction did write in such manner
against vs, and they were in horrour to thinke ofit: and how
also the gaUants abroad (being at libertie) did insult vpon our
miseries, treading vs vnder their feet, as though no secular
Priest were worthie to be named the same day, that mention
is made of a holie lesuit. And some of great fame said vnto
others, ihat Father Westons separation from vs, was so odious,
as they thought it expedient in their opinions, that seeing they
deuided themselues from our table, wee should deuide our selues
from their prayers. An other moued vs to this effect : that
seeing the old sigillum Salomonis, and our Sauiours direction
failed, wee would inuent some new pentacle to binde these furious
spirits (meaning the lesuiticall faction) which will do much hurt,
if God be not mercifuU, and men prouident. An other also in
one mans person describeth vnto vs, the right qualities of our
English lesuits, as wee our selues haue found by experience,
and the world in the end shall trie them. The man he writeth
of, is now one of the assistants to the Archprelate : and these
are his words : he is the lesuits Cursitor, alwaies in motion for
them, either for gathering qf monie, or for harkening after
newes. If he can learne qf any legacy giuen to your house,
he seeketh by all the meanes he may, to conuert itfrom you
to their vses, so {as I verilie thinke) there is not qf a Priest
a greater enemie to your companie then he is. Notwithstand
ing if he talke with anie, yea, that he likes not, he will most
palpablie flatter him; but behinde his backe hee will most
monstrouslie detract him. Let him be told againe qf it in
such sound manner, as with no face he may denie it ; then
hee looketh awhile vp to the heauens, and cfter answereth : hee
remembreth no such matter. Neuertheles for humilities sake.

50 Some ofthe Faction draw back.
he will say he will render what satif action you will : and so with
that gesture, and this hypocrisie, hee will shuffle ouer all matters,
be they neuer so foule, that he shall be charged with. O Lord
graumt him better grace. And some there haue bin, who haue
by their letters, bin so farre frora disliking of our proceedings
at that time : as in lulie 1595. they moued vs earnestlie to con
tinue, as wee had begun, and in rm wise to giue place to faction,
and nouelties : adding that they had not talked with any, that
were either qf learning or iudgement, which did not greatlie con
demne father Weston for his vnquietnes : deeming him either to
be growne into great melancholimes, or els vnto too much sim
plicitie. We spare to trouble you with more to this effect ;
our purpose onlie being in this point to let you see the diuision
in the Church : procured by this breach amongst vs then at
Wisbich. Whereof a godlie father writing thus generallie vnto
vs al, saith : if through the continuance qf your dissentions and
discord, you will so greatly terrific vs, as we shall think : our
holie anehor drayling afloote : our visible Church to be hid vnder
a bushell : our forme {through the great good conceit wee abroad
had qf you) qf heauen, to be now a figure qf hell : looke then
hereafter for smal commiseration Sj- pitty, when too late you shall
lament your incurable woe, which by giuing the full reynes to
your passions, you haue indrenched and implunged your selues
into. But howsoeuer at this time, many Catholicks were growne
to be of Father Westons faction : yet it seemeth that some of
themselues, who best knew the impietie of it, & what a danger
ous scandall it gaue to the Catholicke cause, began to draw
backe, as repenting verie much that euer the said Agenage was
attempted. For if M. Perpoint the lay lesuit, be an honest
man, and his report to M. Dolman true, made in lulie 1595.
M. Garnet himselfe vpon occasion said : that he was neuer
willing with the breach or diuision qf commons : which being
made plaine to him the said M. Perpoint to be as false as God
is true, his owne letters testifiyng the contrarie, he the said M.
Perpoint answered, that he was well assured ofit, that M. Garnet
did now vtterlie mislike it. Whether this last cause was true or

An odious Opinion on Detraction. 51
no, it doth not much concerne vs, because no man is able to
bind vpon any lesuits word, they haue so manie shifts, and so
little conscience in speaking truelie, except it be one of them
selues to another. Otherwise their manner is, to frame their
speeches, according to their companie : alwaies applying them
selues to the times and occasions, as they fall out : if their
disseignements proue wel, they take the contriuing of them to
themselues : if not, there is none will more condemne them :
vtterlie renouncing them, as hauing neuer liked them, or con
sented vnto them. Some further experience hereof, you shall
finde in the processe following concerning this good Prouinciall.
You haue heard before in some sort, how we were vsed by
the aforesaid faction amongst vs at home, and by their ad
herents abroad in deprauing vs, and slaundering vs, farre
beyond the limits of all Christianitie. They charged vs to be
straglers, backbiters, liuers vpon rapine, extortioners, impugners
of order, men of confusion, violent persons, deteyners of other
mens goods, and with we know not how manie other impieties :
whereof our consciences beare vs witnesse, wee were as cleare
and free as the best lesuit in Christendome. Neither durst the
diuell himselfe haue bin so impudent (as we suppose) to haue
fraught their hearts with these conceits of vs, or framed their
tongues to haue vttered them, had hee not first inueagled them
with this most odious opinion : That detractio in generali (so
that a singuler person be not named) is no offence. Vpon
which ground, they ranne a great while, not daring to touch
vs with any particularities till at the last in plaine termes, they
laid theft in effect to some of our charges.
Now these and such other like reports, flying farre and neere
against vs, as though we had bin not Catholike Priests, but diuels
incarnate, it pleased God to moue the discreeter sort of Catholickes
in the North, to send vnto vs about a quarter of a yeere (after the
aforesaid separation of commons) two learned Priests, M. Mush^

¦' John Mush held a very high place among his secular brethren. He does
not appear to have had a university education, but after spending six months
at Douay in 1576 he passed to the English college at Rome, where he lived for
seven years, and distinguished himself by his abilities. In 1583, the thirty-first

52 Arbitration of Mush and Dudley.

and M. Dudley,^ to see and vnderstand how matters went with
vs, and whether wee were such men, as the reports (made by
year of his age, he was sent into England, where he resided chiefly in Yorkshire,
his native county (Foley's Records, vi. 69, 134). He was a great favourite of
Cardinal Allen, and was granted special faculties for the mission, being, it is
said, the only one, with perhaps the exception of Colleton, who had the power
to subdelegate (Tierney, vol. iii. p. cxlvi, «.). Allen's letter to Mush, urging
him to preserve peace between the Jesuits and secular clergy, is often quoted
(see Letters and Memorials, p. 356). He became a leader among the Appel
lants, was one of the thirteen priests who signed the Protestation of Allegiance
to Elizabeth (Jan. 31, 1603), and was subsequently appointed an assistant to the
archpriest. As Mush, according to Dodd, ' was a master of style in the
latin tongue, his brethren borrowed his pen upon several occasions ' (ii. 115).
Dodd ascribes to him, besides the famous Declaratio Motuum, a treatise against
Thomas Bell, the chief of the Yorkshire missionaries, who had abandoned his
faith ; and an account of the sufferings of Cathohcs in the northern parts of
England. He was the spiritual director and the biographer of Mrs. Anne Clithero,
who was pressed to death, according to law, for refusing to plead (Life and Death
of Margaret Clitherow, the Martyr of "York, nm) first published from the original
MS., by W. Nicholson, London, 1849). Bishop Challoner, who speaks with
respect of Mush's missionary labours, says, that ' after having suffered prisons and
chains, and received even the sentence of death for his faith, he died at length in
his bed in a good old age, in 1617 ' (Missionary Priests, vol. i. p. 189). In
contrast with this estimate of his character we must set the foUowing declaration,
made on oath by the Rev. Ralph Standish : ' De Mutio mihi retulit nobilis
quaedam foemina Cathohca, et cognatione mihi conjuncta, vehementerque
questa est, se vidisse hunc Mutium in amplexibus et osculis cum filii suS super
lectum, unde valde timebat mater filiae suae periculum ; cumque non haberet ad
quem confiigeret remedii causi, conquesta est apud patres in castro Wisbicensi
detentos, qui tamen pro auctoritate, aut ex imperio, nihil facere poterant. ' Mr.
Turnbull, who quotes this passage in his edition of Sergeant's History of the
English Chapter (p. 13), remarks that Standish, with a view to exalt the fathers
of the society at the expense of the secular clergy, made similar and ' even worse '
charges against other priests, including ' the venerable and venerated confessor,
John Colleton.' Certainly these men, if innocent — as it may be safe to say they
were, though the alternative be to condemn a fellow-priest of calumny and
perjury — suffered something more than chains and the rack. Parsons ridicules
'Dr. Dodipol Mush,' as he was nicknamed, for having been 'a poore rude
serving man.' He declares that his opponent, when a young man, had made a
vow to enter the society ; that the fathers pmdently deferred his admission ' to a
better satisfaction of his nature and behaviour,' but now that he had run so
desperately to the other extreme, it became a question of conscience whether he
was not guilty of ' secret apostasy from religious vocation ' (Manifestation,
ff. 9S> 96).
1 Richard Dudley, described by Dr. Barret as ' magnse nobilitatis adolescens,'
was eldest son and heir of Edmund Dudley of Yanworth, Westmoreland. He

New Articles rejected by Weston. 53
our aduersaries) went of vs. These two, both of them very dis-
creete and zealous persons, men of great traueile and paines in
their vocations, and of especiall estimation in the parts of their
abode, for their great wisedome, learning, and sinceritie, com
ming vnto vs, and finding such garboyles amongst vs : they so
demeaned themselues, as on all sides, we were content to impart
our griefes vnto thera, and to be aduised by them. Whereupon,
after the debating of manie things, hauing considered with
themselues, what course it were best to hold, for the repayring
of the rent that was amongst vs (so scandalous and offensiue to
all true Catholickes) they drew twelue articles, wherof one was,
that wee should all ioyne againe in commons in the coraraon
Hall : and the rest did containe such other orders, as they
thought meete for quietnesse to be obserued by the whole
companie. Which articles, they first offered to M. Weston
and his fauourers to be perused, allowed, and subscribed by
them : but they albeit they shewed then no dislike of them,
yet they intreated M. Mush and M. Dudley to carrie the same,
first vnto M. D. Bagshaw and M. Bluet (hoping as the euent
declared) that they would presentlie haue reiected them, as they
had done before D. Bauyns ten men and the mouth : whereby
hee himselfe, and his adherents might haue more iust colour
likewise to disclame them. But contrarie to his expectation,
wee of the vnitie, hauing well considered them, did presentlie
without any further delay, subscribe vnto them verie willinglie
and readilie. Whereat raaister Agent and his subiects were
much amazed : and in fine it pleased the good Father vtterlie
in effect to reiect them : saying, that hee and his, had certaine
rules of their owne approued vnto them, which they must
follow, & minded not now to alter or change them, for these
which they offered or any such like.
had been educated in London for the law, but, abandoning his family and
inheritance, went abroad to Rheims in June 1583, and was shortly afterwards
sent by Allen, with Bagshaw and a dozen others, to Rome, where he was
ordained priest in 1588. After spending some months at Valladolid, he
crossed over to England in September 1589. At the date of his visit to
Wisbeach he was thirty-two years of age. (Letters and Memorials, p. 204 ;
¦Foley's Records, vi., 160.)

54 The Articles approved in London.

Hereupon maister Mush and maister Dudley (supposing
they should not be able to doe any good amongst vs) left vs :
and took their iournie towards London, of purpose to conferre
with the CathoUckes there, about these matters and scandals
amongst vs. At their comming to the Citie, they found the
laytie generally, and likewise manie of the Cleargie, exceeding
stiffely bent to iustifie maister Weston, with aU his proceedings,
and to condemne vs, especiallie D. Bagshaw, and maister Bluet,
as men of no worth, vnrulie, disordered, and disobedient per
sons, not to be fauoured or respected by any. Besides, such a
preiudicial opinion, they perceiued to have possessed mens hearts,
through their admiration of lesuitisme, as if the Catholicke faith
had neuer beene trulie preached, nor any good order rightlie
established, or practised, by vs poore secular Priests, or any of
our predecessors: before these yonkers thrust theselues, with
high lookes and great bragges into our labours, and that it
might be sufficient for vs, if we might haue but some curate-
shippes to say Masse, and so much fauour as to attend vpon
them, to know their maistershippes pleasures what they would
commaund vs.
These two godlie Priests, seeing the violence of this streame,
offered at the first but little resistance : but as though they had
inclined to the imputations against D. Bagshaw and maister
Bluet, drew forth their said articles before mentioned : and
hauing read them in the hearing of some principali Catho
lickes, addicted as you haue heard, desired their iudgements of
them : who (thinking they had beene maister Westons rules)
did answere verie readilie, that they were reasonable, discreet
and godlie : such as no honest Priest would, or could refuse to
admit & allow of. And these be the articles (quoth maister
Mush) that D. Bagshaw and the rest of the vnited companie
haue very willinglie subscribed vnto : but haue beene verie per-
eraptorilie reiected by Father Weston and the ninteene his ad
herents : whereby you see, that matters goe not at Wisbich, as
(I well perceiue) you haue beene informed. Here they that
were so readie to condemne vs, began to blush, and hold downe
their heads, being willing to heare and know, what before (like

Garnet' s proud Answer. 55
proper iudges condemning Catholicke Priestes vnheard vpon an
imagined opinion that the lesuits could not doe amisse) they
would not indure to heare mentiojied. So as after true know
ledge, taken of the estate and disposition of both sides, and
remebring what letters Father Weston & his adherents had
sent abroad against D. Bagshaw and maister Bluet, and the rest
of the thirteene vnited to the effect, that no Catholicks should
send them any reliefe, or countenance them, that therby through
want, they might be compelled to yeeld to the regiment imposed
vpon them by Father Garnet:''- they repented them of some
courses, which formerly they had held against vs : and desired
verie instantlie these two learned Priests to goe backe againe to
Wisbich, and to spare no paines vntill they had brought vs all
to peace & concord, giuing them great thanks, praise, and bene
diction, for that which they had done alreadie. Whereunto
they answered, that they could be well content, to spend if it
were their lines to bring that to passe ; but at Wisbich, they
thought they could doe no good, except they could first per
swade him to order, who had been the authour and contriuer
of those nouelties (which had procured such garboyles there)
and that was (as they were informed) Father Garnet the Pro
uinciall of the lesuits. If we can (sayd they) bring him to
argue with vs touching that action, we doubt not, but that we
shall preuaile with him : and then our trouble is in effect at an
end before we begin : Eius est soluere, cuius est liga/re ; his letters
to maister Weston <§• his fauourers, were the cause qf their
separation, and a word from him, will be sufficient to reunite
them. Now (as God would haue it) it so fell out, that according
to their desire, they met with maister Garnet, who at their first
incounter, seemed to be inexorable, affirming that he saw no
reason why the lesuits might not gouerne, and haue as well the
preheminence ouer all the secular priests in England, as they

^ So A. P. in his Reply to the Apologie (p. 85) : ' The lay gentlemen by whose
charity the Castle had been reheved were dealt withal by the Jesuits, or their
factious adherents, to withdraw their charity from all those who would not
subject themselves to F. Weston.'

56 Jesuit Statecraft condemned.
had at Rorae, ouer the English Seminarie.^ With which proude
answere they were somewhat sharpened, and entred more
roundlie into farther communication with him : no whit fear
ing to teU him what they thought, aswell of his said wordes
vnto them, as of other the lesuits proceedings in matters of
state, succession of the Crowne, and such like (hauing latelie
perused maister Parsons booke of titles :) ^ and also what

' The words here attributed to Garnet rest only on the authority of his
opponents, as is remarked by Tiemey (iv. 45), who, however, thinks the
statement not improbable. Parsons, at least, in his Domestical Difficulties,
cites and adopts the extraordinary language of Cardinal Sega, who, when there
was a question of removing the Jesuit fathers from the college at Rome, assured
the pope that the society was essential to the existence of religion in England,
and that the fathers were necessary to support, correct, and restrain the secular
priests, who already, by their vices and their apostasies, had become objects of
aversion or of distrust to the catholics. Were the fathers to be removed,
added the cardinal, ' the people would be left without advisers, the clergy
without guides ; the salt would be taken from the earth, and the sun blotted
out from the heavens ofthe EngHsh Church' (Tiemey, ibid., cf. p. clxii).
^ The full title of this book was : ' A Conference about the next succession to
the Crowne of Ingland, divided into two partes. Whereof the first conteyned
the discourse of a civill lawyer, how and in what manner propinquity of blood
is to be preferred. And the second, the speech of a temporall lavpyer, about
the particuler titles of all such as do or may pretende within Ingland or without,
to be the next successior. Whereunto is also added a new and perfect arbor or
genealogie of the discents of all the kinges and princes of Ingland, from the
Conquest unto this day, whereby each man's pretence is made more plaine.
Directed to the Right Honourable the Earl of Essex, of her Majesties privy
councell, and of the noble order of the Garter. PubUshed by R. Doleman.
Imprinted at N. with licence, mdxciiii.'
This treatise, proposing the Infanta of Spain for the English crown, gave
great offence to the party of peace. Dr. William Gifford, writing from Brussels
to Thomas Throgmorton, June 5, 1595, calls the book 'the most pestilent ever
made,' and adds, ' I have given an abstract of Parson's book to the nuncio,
who is mad with him, and says he could not have done anything more disgust
ing to the pope' (Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz., cclii. 66). The book, or a com
pendium of it, was accordingly sent to cardinal Aldobrandino. For this Dr.
Gifford was denounced by Father Holt and his party as a traitor to the King of
Spain, and a favourer of the Scottish faction, 'although,' writes Gifford to a
c jrrespondent at Rome (Aug. 8, 1596), ' at the same time they sent it to Eng
land, printed by two thousand copies, and had dedicated it to the Earl of Essex ;
whereby it is evident that they would have their doings rather known to the
heretics and arch-heretics than to the see apostolic' He adds, 'Tell the
cardinal plainly that never anything was written which hath made such a broil
as hath this book ; the authors, by the king's ministers, persecuting all that

Garnet yields to the Arbitrators. 57

account the secular Priests haue had with all true Catholickes,
before his societie was borne, and must still haue of necessitie,
except God in his secret iudgement, doe purpose sorae greater
ouerthrow to the Catholicke faith, then they relying vpon his
mercie, did any wayes expect. Manie words passed betwixt
them, and some in such heat, as he threatned to be euen with
them for their good wils to the lesuits : but in the end hee was
content to yeeld vnto them, and bidding them farewell, did
write his letters to maister Weston, D. Bagshaw and some
others, of his pleasure and purpose, that the said Agencie
should be committed to their further consideration, to be
either petained, or disanulled, as they should thinke meete :
very hartilie desiring them so to compound all matters
amongst themselues, as that hereafter they might line in
quietnes.^ Amongst many fayre florishes, vsed by him to raaister
speak or mislike with it ; a thing far unfit to proceed from Father Parsons, a
Jesuit, printed by Father Holt, a Jesuit, who have in England and every
where professed that, by order of the society and his holiness, they were com
manded not to meddle with any matter of estate : and was not this hundred
years a matter of estate of greater importance handled by any man than is this,
the translating of a realm to a new race, and which needs must be begun, main
tained, and ended with infinite blood ' (Tierney, iii. xcv. ). Parsons, in a paper
dated June 15, 1599, printed in full by W. H. Hall in his Index Expurgatorius
Anglicanus (pp. 23-32), declares that Allen had ' read over the book more than
once, and that with much attention,' and gives at length the cardinal's opinion
in approval of its argument. Parliament, in 1595, made it high treason to
possess a copy.
' One of these letters of Garnet, dated Oct. 8, 159S, is printed by Tierney
(ibid. cix). It is written in a very conciliatory spirit, especially towards Bag
shaw, whom he addresses as 'amantissime domine,' adding, ' equidem omnes
vos ea charitate atque amore complector qu^ par est ; te impriviis cui me semper
charum esse summis votis expetim.' His defence of his own conduct in the
affair of Weston's Agency, and his statement of the motives which led to the
separation, are not in accordance with the facts, or with the account written by
himself, three months earlier, to his general. He still declines to interfere with
the arrangement of Weston, but implores the prisoners, for the love of Christ, to
let catholics understand that in this separation of bodies there was the closest
union of hearts. He begs Bagshaw to let Weston and his friends live in the
manner they wished, while, on the other hand, with amazing inconsistency, he
now exhorts his opponents to continue to live as they hitherto have done, as
becomes learned and pious priests : ' Vos interim vivite ut vultis ; id est, ut
presbyteros doctos ac pios decet, quod hactenus fecistis.'

58 Weston falls in a Swoon.
Doctor Bagshaw, he writeth thus : Edmundum meu tibi socium
<§¦ adiutorem adhibeo. In this busines, I assigne vnto you, as
your companyon and assistant, my beloued maister Edmonds.
And againe : hisce ego Uteris eum vehementer moneo S^c. by
tliese my letters to you, I do earnestly admonish him {maister
Edmonds) alias Weston, and also in the name qfowr Lord lesus
Christ, and in the vertue qf his obedience, commaund him, that
he apply his minde seriously to the propounding and establishing
qf some rules, whereby an honest and firme friendship may grow
and continue amongst you. And in an other of his letters to a
friend of his in Wisbich at that tirae, he sayth after this sort :
/ do determine, that if an agreement be not now made, to write
to the 20. that Fa. Edmonds may Hue priuatly as the rest, all or
some by course performing that which was laid vpon him. What
he writ to Fa. Weston we know not : but craftily inough, we
are assured by his practises towards vs since : being as meere a
lesuite, as if he had bin spit out of Fa. Parsons mouth.
The aforesayd two godly Priests, hauing wrought with
maister Garnet as you haue heard, returned to Wisbich, where
notwithstanding the sayd letters, they found Fa. Weston ex
ceeding loth to lay downe the scepter of his Agencie, casting
out some words, as though he had not bin bound in that case
to the obedience of his Prouinciall. Howbeit maister Mush,
and maister Dudley so vrged him before aU the company, that
sundry of his owne adherents, perceiuing how the matter went,
began to draw back from him, and sayd, they would haue peace
with their brethren, and diuide themselues no longer from them.
Whereupon (quoth maister Weston) very pitifully: Ha, my
maisters, wiU you forsake me thus ? I would neuer haue left
you, but sith it is so, I am content to giue ouer: and thus
speaking, corruit inter manus discipuloru., he fell downe as if he
had bin in a swoune, and much ado there was in recouering him.^
1 This statement was first made by Mush in the Declaratio Motuum ;— ' mutus
subito et obstupefactus in terram quasi exanimis corruit, non sine justo, ut puta
batur, dei judicio ' (p. 20). Parsons denounced it as an impudent fiction and a
most injurious and notorious lie, ' refuted by authentical testimonie of all the
quiet prisoners ' (Apologie : Table of Deceytes No. 17, and f. 80).

Touching the Stolen Pewter. 59
This entrance towards our vnity being made, then many things
came in course to be debated, and particularly the report of
theft published abroade by them of the Agenage : viz. that
maister Bluet and maister Potter had riotously deteyned from
them so much Pewter, and other furniture, as amounted to the
value of 17. pound, and that they could haue no iustice for the
recouering of it. And first for the better triall thereof. Fa.
Weston, maister Bluet, and maister Potter, were required by the
sayd two Priests, that they would cause all the Pewter, and
other kitchin furniture which they had in their hands, seuerally
to be brought forth : which was done by them all accordingly.
Then raaister Mush and maister Dudley, sent for a Pewterer,
and wiUed him to view all the sayd Pewter, and kitchin furni
ture, and to tell thera truly, what he iudged it to be worth :
which vpon due consideration, and view had of it by the sayd
party, he affirraed it to be all scarce worth foure pound. Well
then (sayd maister Mush) yesterday, you maister mine (naming
the partie) exclaimed that we had not the courage to say with
Saint lohn Baptist, non licet tibi habere, but now we aunswere,
that although we are not comparable to Saint lohn Baptist,
yet as Priests we must tell you playnely : non licet, it is not
lawfull for you to infame and belye your fellow-prisoners, as
we find you haue dealt with M. Bluet, and M. Potter.'- For we
saw your letters abroade, wherein you charged them two, to
with-hold from you 17. pound value in Pewter and kitchin
furniture : and now we see, that all that both you and they
haue, is scarce worth 4. pound. And therefore we say againe
with Saint lohn Baptist : non licet. You ought not so to haue
belyed them, but are bound in conscience to aske them for
giuenes : and with your second letters to reuoke this slaunder
that you have so raysed against them : whicli if you shall refuse
to do, we must be glad to do it for you. Now it is to be

* Thomas Pound, the Jesuit lay brother, was apparently the author of this
accusation. ' Touching the pewter stolen, that matter was publicly convinced
for a notorious calumny before Ma. Mush and Ma. Dudley, with great shame
and check to his pupil Ma. Pond, who urged the matter against Ma. Potter and
others' (W. Cs Replie to the Manifestation, p lo).

60 Peace concluded, Nov. 6, 1595.
obserued, that when maister Weston and his adherents diuided
themselues from vs, and raade maister Brampstons chamber their
kitchin, they found an oportunity to go into the common
kitchin, and tooke from thence such Pewter and other furni
ture, as had bin prouided, and euer before vsed for the com
pany in the common Hall ; and afterwards thought it a kinde
of theft, that any was deteyned from them, but that they might
haue had all.^
These matters and others likewise, these two good Priests
hauing compounded amongst vs, they fell to the draught of
new Articles, increasing the said 12. after much discussing of
them on all sides to the number of 19. Whereunto we all sub
scribed in the yere 1595. the 6. of Nouember ; and so after our
long dissensions, a generali peace was concluded to our great
contentment, we dare be bold to say it ; and maister Weston
and his friends returned vnto vs againe, and tooke their com
mons with vs in the common Hall, as before their breach made
they were accustomed.^ Now we being all of vs thus reunited,
not long after it pleased raaister Garnet to write an other letter
1 Parsons has preserved another anecdote of this domestic inspection : ' When
M. Mush came to make the peace, he being led about (saith the Relation) to
see the orders of this lesser number, was shewed 6 or 7 butteries for 13 persons,
they not suffering the 20 to have any. And further, the party that directed
him, after he had shewed him all these, he brought him to a chimney where
also there was good ale, and said. Here is another buttery. Nay, said M. Mush,
there is the devil, whereof that place was called afterwards merrily by some
" the devil in a corner." ' — (Apologie, f. 82).
^ Two days later (Nov. 8) Mush wrote what Parsons characterises as ' a very
kind letter ' to Garnet in his own and Mr. Dudley's name. It is printed by
Tiemey (ibid, cxiv) . The two peacemakers thus describe the scene they had
just witnessed : ' Such humiliation, one at another's feet ; such wringing, clip
ping and embracing ; such sobs, tears, and joyful mourning, — that for joy also
our hearts were like to burst among them. And, verily, father, neither among
themselves, nor to our sight, they appeared, after, the same men they were before.
We thought it one of the joyfiiUest days that ever we had seen.' They add :
' We are yours, good sir, from our hearts ; and we beseech you to write to the
whole company some sweet and comfortable letter at your best leisure, of the joy
you have of their union, and that you would in particular write friendly to Mr.
D. Norden, that from hence you and yours do forgive and forget all matters past
of discontentments among you. . . . Remember us, we pray you, to our dear
friend father Thomas Lis[ter]. ..."

General Rejoicings. 61
to maister Doctor Bagshaw, dated the 17. of Nouember 1595.
Wherein it is very strange to consider, what ioy he pretendeth
in that behalfe, whereas indeed, we are able to affirme it vpon
our owne knowledges, that the ouerthrow of maister Westons
agencie went to his heart : we meane vexed him, and angred
him exceedingly. But heare the diuelish Politician how he
transformeth himselfe into an angeli of light. When the blessed
soules in heauen (sayth he) did sing with one consent. Glory be
to God on high, you at Wisbich preached, and restored comfort
and in earth peace to men qf goodwill : then no doubt the princes
went before, the singers followed after, and in the middest were
the damsels playing on their tymbrels. Also he telleth vs, that
as there is a ccelestiall Hierarchy in Heauen, so we had then an
other at Wisbich, which all England did reuerence: which the
Queene qf Saba admired : and which many from the vttermost
borders qf the earth came to see and behold : adding, that those
men were blessed together with our seruants that stood in our
presence, that heard our wisedome, and beheld our mutuall loue.
Hereunto also, it may please you, that we adde some other
words of his written to maister Doctor Bagshaw two yeres
before, after himselfe had bin with vs at Wisbich in the yeare
1593. conceming his iudgement of our whole company at that
time : / assitre you (sayth he) that the being with you hath
wrought such effect in the harts qf all that were with me (being
indeed three or four Gentlemen, whom we afterwards tearmed
his Deacons, and Subdeacons) that they neuer saw place or per
sons which mme delighted them: and for mine owne part, I tell
you very sincerely, that it was the greatest comfort to be amongst
you, which I had these whole seauen yeeres. Testis enim mihi est
Deus, quomodo cupiam omnes vos in visceribus lesu Christi:
Which sentence of S. Paule being read that very day in tlie
Epistle in the Church, when I came flrst vnto you, with other
many most confortable sentences, I was both not a little recreated,
with a conscience of an vnfeyned loue towards euery one of you,
and moued to thanke God almighty. Super communicatione vestra
in Euangelio Christi a prima die vsque nunc : considerans quia
qui ccepit in vobis opus bonum, perfkiet, sicut est mihi iustum

62 Garnet's Sincerity suspected.

sentire de omnibus vobis: And {that which contented me most qf
all) comforted with an assured hope, that you are they, who in
your singular charities will haue me dayly in corde &;¦ in vinculis
vestris, |- in defensione 8^ confirmatione Euangely socium gaudij
vestri. Hitherto maister Garnet then : and now againe in the
letter before mentioned he professeth : that being at that time
with vs, he thought himselfe all that while to haue felt the ioyes
qf Heauen. Now we referre our selues and our cause to your
considerations, to iudge as God shall mooue you : If he the
sayd Garnet did thinke then truly of vs, and writ sincerely as
he thought, what cause had his subiect maister Weston before
the yere 1593. or afterwards, we continuing as before we were,
to moyle and make a faction amongst vs for the setting vp of
his Agency, as though we had bin not such men, as maister
Garnet sayth he found vs, but as Fa. Weston to colour his
ambition reputed vs, that is, persons of all disorder, licen
tiousnes, and confusion. And againe if maister Garnet at his
being with vs three or foure dayes, did thinke himselfe all that
while in Heauen : what a hell did he afterwards finde in his
conscience, when he had bin the chiefe cause that Father
Weston and his adherents did separate themselues from vs.
Moreo uer if the sayd letter congratulatorie for our vniting pro
ceeded from maister Garnets hart : and that thereby we were
indeed in his opinion so charitable, so wise, and so admirable
persons : how iustly may all Catholicks, that tooke part with
the sayd separators from vs, and factious against vs, blame and
condemne themselues, in that we continuing our former courses
without alteration, either in our conuersation, or in our regi
ment (if it may so be tearmed) from the time that maister
Garnet was with vs, vato the very instant of our sayd recon
ciliation: the ioyning againe of maister Weston and his ad
herents vnto vs, is now reckoned by him the sayd maister
Garnet to be a matter so glorious both to God and men, as he
hath described it.^ But we will proceede.
^ WhUe Bagshaw was thus commenting on the contradictions of Garnet, Parsons
with equal justice was exposing similar inconsistencies on the part of Bagshaw
and Mush (Apologie, ff. 78-80). Bagshaw especially laid himself open to such

Weston shifts his Place at Table. 63
The aforesayd Agencie being thus ouerthrowne, and a peace
concluded amongst vs, we for our parts, were replenished with
great ioy : but you are farre deceiued, as we our selues were, if
you thinke as we then thought : that either maister Garnet,
maister Weston, or their lesuiticall crue, did take this so great
a foyle in good part : we afterwards perceiued to our griefe,
that maister Weston would neuer haue yeelded to haue ioyned
in commons with vs againe, except maister Mush, and maister
Dudley vnder-hand had consented vnto them, that if afterwards
he and his company should thinke it conuenient to separate
themselues againe from vs, they should haue these, and those
roomes, such a table in the Hall, such a place for their Kitchin,
and such other roomes, as they held conuenient for them : all
which they set downe particularlie vnder their hands, and left
the sarae sealed vp with them : which God knoweth, wee neuer
dreamed of. Besides, maister Weston did not long sit at the
vpper Table with vs, and below maister Bluet, and Doctor
Bagshaw, where his due place was, but that he desired, and had
it easily graunted vnto hira, that he might leaue his said place,
and sit in some other as he thought good. Whereupon as
disdaining to sit where he did before, he bound himselfe after
wards to no certaine place, but sate (you must thinke) for
humilities sake, now here, now there, as he list. Moreouer
notwithstanding our sayd reunion, such abroade as had de
praued vs poore Priests, and charged vs as you haue heard : did

criticism, for, in a letter to Garnet on the pacification (Tierney, ibid, cxvi) which
Parsons does not fail to quote, he not only thanked his correspondent for his
prayers and his 'letters full of solicitude, sincerity, and charity,' but warmly
commended Weston for the prudence and amiability with which he conducted
the negotiations for peace : ' Gratulor tibi Edmundum nostrum, qui in hoc
negotio componendo, et obedienter erga te, et amanter erga fratres, et propter
eos qui foris sunt prudenter se gessit. '
But, exclaims Parsons, ' If it be true that F. Edmund behaved himself so well
in making peace, with what truth or modesty can he [Bagshaw] tell all the world
now in print that Father Edmund was so unwilling to do it that he said he would
rather cast himself down from the Castle walls and that he was so astonished by
the very treaty thereof that he was mute and beside himself. ' The particular
words here quoted by Parsons from the ' Latin book ' occur, however, in the
Declaratio Motuum (p. 20), which was written not by Bagshaw but by Mush.

64 Renewal of Heart-burnings.
continue (to shew their constancie in their former good wils
towards vs) iustifying in their common assemblies, what before
they had reported of vs. Maister Dolman who dealt like a
very honest man, to haue compounded all strifes amongst vs, as
is before expressed, was likewise very sharply galled by them,
because he deemed their sayd separation from vs to be a sinne,
and that he had before greatly blamed them for making the
Chappell at Wisbich their Buttery. Which particulars being
reprochfuUy cast into his teeth, he maynteyned his former
assertions : adding, that by their sayd prophaning that Chappell,
ihey were scandalous, sacrilegious, irregular, and excommunicated
persons. Whereof maister Garnet hauing notice, he desired
maister Doctor Bagshaw, by his letter to pacifie and stay
maister Dolman, from these or any such like speeches, which
might tend to the renewing of the memorie of our former
breach. Which maister Doctor Bagshaw vndertooke, putting
hira the sayd Fa. Garnet, notwithstanding in minde how vilely
he the sayd maister Dohnan had bin dealt with, by such as he the
sayd Garnet had great interest in : in that first Fa. Parsons had
set out the booke qf Titles in maister Dolmans name, which {not
withstanding that he detested the contents qf it) might haue
brought him into great daiiger : and secondly, for that one {a
lesuite) vnder his commaund, had very cunningly thrust him out
qf a place, where qf long time he had found great entertayne-
ment, and so wrought, as foure pound yerely haue since bin
deteyned from him, which was giuen vnto him, as a legacy
by will. Againe : within some quarter of a yere, after our sayd
established concord, great hart -burning grew, and many
slaunderous speeches were cast abroade against some of vs by
maister Weston and his old friends, concerning a priest and
prisoner with vs, his escape from Wisbich : who being aduised
so to do by some of that crue, and with Fa. Westons priuitie,
his taking againe was ascribed by them to maister Doctor
Bagshaw and some others: which gaue not only them occasion,
but many of their friends abroad to write and rayle against
vs exceedingly. Not long after, viz. in September, maister

Lewd Assertions of Father Archer. 65
Archer '- a lesuite (that Uued with vs in prison) gaue an
other occasion of very great garboyles by affirming that the
stewes in Rome were there cum approbatione (testified ynder the
hands of Doctor Norden,^ maister Buckley,^ maister Meredith,*
^ Bagshaw means by 'Jesuit ' an adherent of Weston. Giles Archer was not
a member of the society. He was ordained at Rheims in 1587. In the winter
of 1 598-99 he was sent with Weston and Pound to the Tower. He subsequently
managed to get free from prison ; and in 1602, from April 5 to October 18, we
find him a guest of the college at Rome (Foley, Diary and Pilgrim Book, p. 575),
where, as we shall see, his accusers followed him.
^ Norden, a priest and doctor of medicine already mentioned (p. 60, note),
made himself especially obnoxious to the Jesuit party. He is described as a man
of violent temper and language ; and his sudden death, which took place just
after the dispute mentioned in the text, was a triumph for his opponents which
they celebrate in their writings as a divine judgment on their side. God took
up the controversy, writes Parsons, by ' cutting off M. Norden strangely '
(Apologie, f. 80). Bagshaw, in his Answer (p. 19), defends his friend, and adds,
' A strange and marvellous death must be ascribed to D. Norden who yet as he
had ever lived honest and sincere, so he died in prison for the confession of his faith
of an apoplexy in quiet and Christian manner, referring his cause to be discerned
by God betwixt him and his factious detractors." A. P. (Reply, p. 11) also
indignantly denies Parsons' assertion that the doctor was stricken with dumbness
till he died ; and writes, ' It is well known that he died of a lethargy, and that
he spake many times after he was first taken therewith, and died in all points as
became a Catholic priest, as there are many to witness who were present.'
Mush, in a letter to Garnet already quoted, gives Norden a favourable character :
' He is sharp, you see, and bitter when he imagineth to have an adversary, but
yet kind enough again when he findeth courtesies and thinketh he is beloved.
. . . We find him most tractable, and no man of that side yielding more frankly
to concord and pacification than him' (Tiemey, ibid. cxvi.).
^ This Buckley, called ' Father Buckley ' in the official list of Wisbeach
prisoners, was either, as bishop ChaUoner supposes, John Buckley, alias God
frey Jones, a franciscan, who was hanged at St. Thomas Waterings, July 12,
1598, and is enrolled in the catalogue of martyrs; or more probably, as F.
Morris believes, Sigebert Buckley, the sole survivor of the benedictine monks of
Westminster, who in 1607 perpetuated or restored his order in England by
solemnly clothing two secular priests with the benedictine habit in the Gatehouse
prison. He died, aged 93, in 1610. Father Buckley belonged to the anti-jesuit
faction. (Morris's Troubles, ii. 271; GiUow's Dictionary.) In 1596 he had
been already, according to Tierney, ' a confessor in chains ' for nearly thirty years.
^ Jonas Meredith, another of the party opposed to Weston, was a seminary
priest of mature age and experience. He crossed the channel on his way to
Douai in 1574 with eleven others, including John Colleton, William Holt, and
George BlackweU. He returned to the coUege in 1577 after a year's labour and
imprisonment in England, when the diarist records of him : ' in spiritual! messe

66 A fond and false Distinction.
and Doctor Bagshaw :) that the stewes were as lawfull in Rome,
as any Citizen there : (testified vnder the hands of Doctor
Norden, maister Buckley, and maister Meredith:) that the
stewes were in Rome, as lawfully as any Magistrate in that
Citie : (testified vnder the hands of Doctor Norden, and
Doctor Bagshaw :) that the stewes were in Rome as lawfully
as the Pope himselfe, or any order of religious men (testified
vnder the hands of Doctor Norden, and Doctor Bagshaw :) and
that they were most necessarie (testified vnder the hands of
Doctor Norden, maister Buckley, and Doctor Bagshaw.) Which
very lewde assertions, comming to Fa. Westons eares, and vnder-
standing how they were impugned by maister D. Norden, he
the sayd M. Weston, did take vpon him by a fond and false
distinction to defend thera. Whereupon maister Doctor Bag
shaw being drawne into that opposition, diuers long treatises
passed betwixt him, and Fa. Weston: he the sayd maister
Doctor Bagshaw impugning those lewde positions, and maister
Weston with all his shifts and skill laboring to defend them.^
multum lucri fecit' (p. 124; cf. pp. 7, 124, 289). In 1585 he was banished
from England (with Colleton, Rishton, and others) after a second imprisonment.
A third visit to England brought him to the Gatehouse, Westminster, and thence
to Wisbeach. At this date (1596) he had been about twelve years in prison.
' These propositions of Archer were taken very seriously by the Appellant
priests. They were set down in the Declaratio Motuum addressed to the pope,
and may be seen on the back of a draft letter (also written to the pope and signed
by Cecil, Bluet, Mush, and Champney) among the Petyt MSS., vol. xlvii., f. 276.
The ' fond and false distinction ' of F. Weston is stated as follows : ' Responsio
et distinctio Patris Edmundi qui tunc erat in carcere Wisbicensi — Magister
Archerius vult dicere et inteUigere lupinaria esse Romse cum approbatione zeque
licita atque aUquem civeni, magistratum, ordinem religiosorum vel papam, sed
non peccatum simplicis fornicationis. Postera die dixit idem Archerius se velle
defendere istas propositiones contra quemcunque et se dehberatfe et ex animo
istas asseniisse. Dictus Egidius Archerius assertor harum propositionum Romam
venit et manet in Collegio Anglorum.'
Parsons (Apologie, f. 80) refers to these charges as ' false accusations laid upon
M. Archer, a venerable priest, whom since they have caused to be put into the
Inquisition of the Tower of London,' and declares the argument was used by him
simply ad hominem to confute Norden, who had laid down a general proposition
that ' toleration could not be without approbation.' To which Bagshaw rejoins
(Answer, p. 20) that this denial ' is so without the compass of human modesty
as it seemeth a very league with hell against truth and honesty.'

The final Disruption at Wisbeach. 67
About these points, there grew such parts-taking and hatred,
as that the sayd orders established amongst vs by maister
Mush and maister Dudley, (in that they crossed these and such
like demeanors) were in the latter end of the yeare 1596. vtterly
cashierd and reiected.^ So as notwithstanding we kept com
mons still in the Hall together : we Uued (God knoweth) there
with great disquietnes : many of our old friends abroad being
so farre drawne to lesuitisrae, as that they blaraed vs, and
tooke part with them in defence of these so abhominable
absurdities.^ And now it may please you to leaue vs in our sayd troubles
and discontentments, and to be aduertised of the beginning of
^ Parsons quotes from the Relation of Wisbich the following account of this
renewal of hostilities : D. Norden, they say, ' having been mulcted often times
by force of the rules for his foul tongue, and lastly desiring to see the Authentical
Copy which was in the hands of the better part, when he had got them into his
fingers (notwithstanding he had promised upon his word to restore them faith
fully) he ran away with them to D. Bagshawes chamber, and so after they could
never be put in ure again ' (Apologie, f. So).
A. P. in his Reply (p. 154) lays the blame on the Jesuits, and asserts that they
would not keep the new mies. ' If he [Norden] tore the paper or burned it,
they tore the rules and cancelled them before, when they refused to stand to
judgment according as the rules between them had ordered it. '
^ The sequel of the story is thus told by the opposite faction : ' These 13 then
that were of the other party (or rather some two or three heads that incensed
the rest) being most violent and passionate men as they shewed themselves
to be by beating a priest of the other side [marg. M. Wigges : See the Relation
of IVisbich, 1601] and defending it to be scarce a venial sin ; fell to more out-
ragious dealing than before, and among other things they joined with the jailor
being an heretic, and by that means vexing and afflicting the other side extremely
both in word and deed, writing also divers treatises with most untemperate and
furious words, which are yet extant, until God stroke one of the chief actors in
this kind [marg. D. Norden] with a strange accident of repressing his tongue by
dumbness until he died. Another of them [marg. M. Ithel] played the Apo-
stata and made himself Chaplain to the B. of London, with whom he is to
this day. Two more brake out of prison, but one was taken again. Two
other passed to the better side, so as they remaining only 7, were yet so
divided among themselves as in the year 1597, one writeth [marg. F. Edm. in
his letter to F. O., 1597] that they did eat and take their diet in 4 several
places, having notwithstanding first driven out of the common hall, by help of
the jailor, the other part though far the greater' (Apologie, f. 67). This story
of the subdivision of the party in question is contradicted in the Reply by
A. P. (p. 156).

68 Beginning ofa more bitter Tragedy.

a more bitter tragedie. Whilest after our said peace we were
lulled asleepe for a time in Wisbich, by maister Garnets in-
chaunting letter of congratulation, and exercised with the un-
iust afflictions of our brethren, as before we haue touched : he
the sayd maister Garnet with his complices bestirred themselues,
and that secretly, so as then we did not suspect, or looke for
any further plots to be in contriuing against vs. We will be
bold to acquaint you with one of their notable stratagemes,
which argueth more wit and foresight, then playne dealing or
honestie. It appeareth that by the lesuites practises here
amongst vs, in disgracing and abusing the secular priests very
shamefully, there was some rumor thereof in Rome, to the
great impeachment of the lesuites credits there, being then as
turbulent in that Citie in their dealing with our English
Seminary, as they had bin, and were still firebrands amongst
vs. For the better incountering of which rumor, it being-
thought inconuenient, that any of their owne calling by com
mending themselues, should take vpon them that office, a
secular priest was found out, a raan of a quicker penne, then
either of wisedome or sinceritie : who being well acquainted
with all the iarres and quarrels betwixt vs, and the lesuites ;
and hauing written himselfe a letter vnto vs, as presuming to
aduise men of farre greater experience then himselfe, concem
ing our troubles about the sayd Agencie : this man (we say)
did so harden his forehead, or in his simplicitie was so seduced,
as contrary to his owne conscience he writ the tenth of lanuary
1596. to Card. Caietane, Protector of the English Seminary, in
the behalfe of the lesuites, a most false and impudent letter.
Wherein amongst many other things, he assureth the CardinaU,
that of his owne knowledge, for twenty yeeres, there had not
bin any dissension betwixt the secular priests and the lesuites :
and that the reports made against these good Fathers, con
cerning their ambition, were so farre from the truth, as that
indeed the lesuites were in all places most notable examples to
the secular priests of singular humilitie, gentlenes, patience,
pietie, and charitie. The letter it selfe with some obseruations
vpon it, you shall finde amongst other things to this story

T'he Clergy project an Association. 69
annexed.! With this cunning trick of these good Fathers,
we were not then acquainted : it was well handled of them,
that they had got so false a brother fr5 amongst our selues to
fit their deseignements so aptly, that is so lewdly, according to
their desire.
After that maister Weston had begun his said Agencie, as
hath been before mentioned, our brethren abroad of the grauer
and wiser sort, began to foresee : that if the sarae did continue,
raaister Garnet would shortly after, as well by M. Westons
example in Wisbich, as also by the example of the lesuits
gouemment of the Seminarie at Rome, challenge, and take
¦vato himselfe, ere it were long, the Prelacie and gouemment
ouer all the Priests in England. For the preuenting whereof,
as also there being many Catholicke Priests in England, and
many wants, as of authoritie of confirmation for the full accom
plishing of the effects of Baptisme, and of holy oyle, being of
so necessarie imployment, they thought it conuenient to deuise
certaine orders, for a general association,^ amongst all secular

^ The letter which was not annexed by Bagshaw for the reason given by him
in his concluding paragraph is now printed in the Appendix from the translation
edited by Andreas Philalethes in ' An Answere made by One of our Brethren,
a Secular Priest now in prison, to a fraudulent Letter of M. George Blackwel's,
etc. : Newly imprinted 1602.' See also _fust Def ence (p. 21), where, in answer to
Blackwell's statement in this letter that for twenty years he had never heard of
any dissension among the clergy which was not easily blown over, Colleton
remarks : ' For the space of the latter two years, immediately before he [Black -
well] wrote the said letter, not only the whole realm was grievously scandalised,
but the pulpits mng also everywhere with the greatest contentions which were
between the Jesuits and priests at Wisbich. And these scandalous stirs were so
little unknown to Master Blackwell as himself indited a general letter unto them •
persuading to mutual peace and concord. '
2 Tierney, who had seen a copy of the rules of this Association or Sodality
among the Stonyhurst MSS., says : ' It was projected by Mush and Colleton on
the principle of a voluntary association soon after the pacification at Wisbeach.
It was to have had two independent branches, one in London, the other in
Lancashire.' Its affairs were to be 'entrusted to the management ofa person,
to be caUed the "Father," aided by two assistants and a secretary, all to be
elected annually by the majority of the members. Their duties were to
administer the funds of the society, to assign reUef to its indigent brethren, to
preside at the meetings, and determine the disputes of the fratemity. Other
matters were to be decided by a plurality of voices. The members were to

70 Mr. Standish shifts his Sails.

Priests : and in the end concluded to referre the estate of our
Church here, together with their reasons and most humble
suppUcation to the Popes Holines, that it raight stand with
his good pleasure (if he thought it conuenient) to graunt vnto
them that they might haue some Bishop or suffragane here : as
he had yeelded heretofore to our brethren in Ireland. In
these consultations, one master Standish a Priest was a great
interraedler, no man being therein more forward then himselfe :
but finding in the end so many fitter men in all respects' then
himselfe for any imployment or extraordinarie preferment in
that companie : he shortly after shifted his sayles, & going to
employ their influence in procuring permanent missions for the clergy belonging
to the congregation : they were to be guardians of each other's fame, the cor
rectors of each other's failings, and were each to seek, by prayer and recollection,
to improve themselves in the virtues of their state.' The Reply to the Manifesta
tion makes mention of other objects of the sodality (f. 8). It was ' for the pro
vision of such as came newly and rawly over ; for the disposing of them abroad
to their better security ; for the provision of prisoners in durance ; for the better
relief to Cath. abroad in matters spiritual ; for the particular good of every
priest ; and for the checking of some exorbitant and unnatural courses taken bythe
Jesuits against their prince and country; to abolish such meddlings in those affairs,
as impertinent to our function and vocation, and to strengthen and enable our
selves in these matters by a mutual union : this, I say, was the end of our Sodality
which we imparted unto the Jesuits that they should see our sincerity and honesty
in those proceedings : but we were too sincere and plain to deal with such crafty
crowders ; for they well perceived that this course would discover much of their
juggUng in matters of state, and also put an everlasting block or bulwark against
their intended superiority.'
CoUeton also gives an analysis of the rules, which provided among other
things (he says) for preaching monthly and catechising weekly, of adventuring
upon any danger for saving or comforting a soul in extreme necessity, . . . of
declining all such occasions as might breed variance with others, especially with the
fathers ofthe society (Just Defence, p. 123). The chief opponents of the Asso
ciation among the secular clergy were Dr. Bavant, Mr. Blackwell, and Mr.
Tirwit. Tiemey thinks there was much that was faulty in the machinery of the pro
posed institution, and that some of its rules were impracticable. ' Still its object
was laudable ; its effect, moreover, could it have been perfected, must have been
to raise the character and restore the influence of the clergy ; nor did it contain
anything to justify the violent and offensive language with which Persons, both
in manuscript and print, in England and to the pope himself, continuaUy assailed
its projectors ' (vol. iii. p. 45, note).

The Association is opposed. 71
the lesuits, did acquaint them with the whole course that the
secular Priests had taken, and intended to proceede in.
Whereof they (the lesuits) hauing full notice (as we gesse by
the euent) sent into Spayne, to admonish Father Parsons of
all the premisses, aswell concerning maister Westons said
Agencie, and the ouerthrowe of it, as of the enterprise, whicli
our brethren the secular Priests here had in hand : and like
wise to impart vnto him, an other course deuised by them, &
to be better managed and brought to passe by his great policie,
wisedome and credit. What answere Father Parsons returned
vnto them, wee can but also gesse. But we thinke wee may con
iecture it, by that which followed, viz. that he would thinke of
the matter, and that they should send one to meet him at
Rome with further instructions, for his better proceeding to
the accomplishment of their desires. Now you haue heard
before, what a way they had made alreadie for themselues, and
for the repayring of their credit in Rome, by maister Blackwell
bis false letter mentioned, very well knowing, that if any
meanes might be had to aduance their credits, and set them
aloft, it must come from thence, and therefore laid that
machiuilian ground for Father Parsons their only hope to
work vpon afterwardes : which as you see fell out, as they
could haue wished at that tirae.
Also the said Father Parsons (then as wee suppose) or
shortlie after, hauing taken notice what our brethre the secular
Priests were in hand with in England, did send to some of the
best account amongst them, and likewise to some others that
in any sort, they .should not proceed in that course : assuring
them that it would be very offensiue to his holines, because of
this knowledge, the very sarae in effect, hauing heretofore
beene offered to his consideration, hee did vtterlie reiect the
same as inconuenient in all respects as things stood for England.
Besides to our further abuse, and to keep vs occupied with our
own conceits, that wee might not somuch as suspect any thing
of theirs : wee in our plaine dealing acquainted them with our
whole drift, and purpose. Whereunto for a time, they craftilie

72 Mr. Standish despatched to Rome.

applauded :'¦ as hoping shortlie, by their former courses to haue
it dasht : but afterward perceiuing that their owne purposes
could not so soone be compassed : (as wise men in their genera
tion fearing the worst) the they mightilie opposed them selues,
and depraued ours.^ And then maister BlackweU himselfe
amongst others could write a discoursing letter with very
much earnestnes and rhetoricall arguments against so ambi
tious a cogitation, as once to thinke of any one mans
Soueraignty ouer all his brethren, during the times of our
persecution. Howbeit wee continuing resolute in our former purpose, but
prosecuting the same with great dulnes, maister Garnet and his
followers, dispatched the saide maister Standish, our false
brother to Rome in the latter end of the yeere 1596. there to
expect Father Parsons comming. We will here leaue this
honest man about his busines in that Citie, and put you in
mind, that after CardinaU Aliens death, the students in the
English CoUedge there, felt no lesse oppression by the lesuits
their tyranizing gouernours, then wee did at home : because we
withstood their deseignements in aspiring to the like soue-
raigntie ouer vs here. It may be that hereafter sorae of our
brethren, will set out those tragedies at large, which indured
long, and will appeare to all men of indifferencie to haue beene
verie intolerable.^ In the meane while you shall vnderstand

^ ' When the matter was broken to Father Garnet, for understanding his liking
and opinion in the same : he answered that it was the best thing which was taken
in hand in all this Queeiis time, if it could be effected. Likewise when the affair
was communicated to Father Weston, he seemed to like it very well ' (CoUeton,
p. 123). ^ According to the Declaratio Motuum (p. 25), Parsons, ' suo nimirum pede
alios metiens,' unscrupulously asserted that the projectors of the Association
sought not the good of the church but bishoprics for themselves. They, on the
other hand, accused Blackwell of opposing their scheme from similar motives of
personal ambition, seeing that his only chance of promotion lay in the favour
of the Jesuits.
3 A brief but impartial and curious account of the several disturbances which
took place at the English coUege at Rome, 15 78- 1596, is given by Dr. Ely,
who spent four months in the house with Allen (Notes upon the Apologie, pp.
73-93). Compare on the Jesuit side Father Hunter's Modest Defence ofthe clergy

Memorial against the Jesuits. 73
that two or three, being of likelihood more grieued then the
rest, or hauing a greater sense of our calamities, both at home
and abroad, then manie others : did write a treatise of the
lesuits dealing, & naming it a meraoriall, dedicated the same
in Latine to his holines in the yeere 1597. about which time
Father Parsons being come to Rome, was in the middest of all
his machiuilian plots, and vnder pretence of compounding the
stirres in that Seminarie, first so dealt, as in verie short time
by cousoning the Rector, he got that place for himselfe, and
now enioyeth it.
The imputations laid vpon the lesuits in the saide meraoriall
(the effect whereof you shall finde at the end of this historic) '
were so verie sharpe, and touched their freehold so neerely, as
no meruaile if Father Garnet bestirred his stumps^ to salue
their credits by all the meanes and wayes he could deuise.
And therefore he held it best to write his letter to all the
secular Priests : wherin after certaine flourishes, how much
they were beloued and honoured by him and all his brethren of
the societie, he intreateth very earnestlie their testimonies in
their behalfe, against those reports made of the lesuits in the
said meraoriall. And that hee might obtaine a faire shew of
many hands, hee was content to play small game before hee
would sit out (as our English prouerb saith :) and therfore he
commendeth to them such a triple answere, as he thought
woidd fit the raost. Although (saith he) we are not so well known
to many qf you, as you all peraduenture will pronounce the
whole contents qf the said treatise to be false : yet one qf these
and religious (pp. 44-66), in answer to the History of Doway College, by R. C,
i.e. Tootle alias Dodd (pp. 11-13). A number of original documents bearing on
the subject are printed by Tierney (Dodd, vol. iii. pp. lxxiii,cv), and by F. Knox
in the appendix to the Douay Diaries (pp. 368-375). A full report, favourable
to the Jesuits, on the disturbance of 1595-96, was drawn up by cardinal Sega,
who made a visitation of the college at the command of the pope. A translation
of the original in the Vatican library is printed by Mr. Foley (Records, vol. vi.
pp. 1-66).
^ Infra, p. 96.
2 Parsons resents this disrespectfiil language, ' a style fitter for Ruffians and
Eouldiers than for sacred and anointed priests, if they were priests that write
this ' (Manifestation, f. 11).

74 Testimonials in favour of the Jesuits.
three answers may fit all your turnes. Some may say all is
false: other that they themselues haue nothing to accuse the
lesuits with, and doe not therefore beleeue the said reports to be
true : and the rest may affirme without any scruple, that for their
parts, they neuer dreamed qf the said memoriall, nor doe in any
sort approue the same. And the better to perswade them thus
to answere, he sweareth by more then his little honesty, that
there is not a true word in it. There is a saying amongst such
lawyers as are of experience, that they seldome fall out to be
the honestest men, who are driuen so oft to seeke testimonials
for the approuing of their good behauior. But that is no
matter with thera, and peraduenture, that conceit here holdeth
not at Rome, so as maister Garnet did content himselfe with
his owne course, and made such haste therin, as before August
the same yeere, the testimonial he got, was with Fa. Parsons in
the English Seminary. And here we cannot omit one thing,
which indeede made vs a little merry in the middest of our
sorrow, how good Fa. Parsons was troubled with one mans sub
scription to the sayd testimoniall. For thus he writeth : as he
pretendeth from Naples, primo Augusti 1598. to the sayd party.
After I saw a particular testimony qfyou/r owne hand in latine,
concerning the memoriall giuen vp against the societie, I could
haue bin content you had not written it : but either haue sub
scribed simpliciter, as many other auncient and graue Priests did
to tlie cunning letter, as it was written {being very modest and
most true) or that you had sayd nothing at all: as well you
might haue omitted: the memoriall being writ and sent from
Flaunders, whilest you were yet in Italy : and so that it was
done, and exhibited, Te neque consentiente, neque conscio {for
those are only the words qf testimony that you giue) was not
needefull : the thing being euident qf it selfe, and your parti
cular writing so bare a thing vnder the common letter, was to
detract from all the letter before : and for the matter it selfe
{which was most abhominable, false, and slaunderous,) you leaue
it indfferent to be beleeued, or not beleeued t^c. Were it not
that you might hereby perceiue what packing, and practising
is amongst these fellowes for the maintenance of their owne

Standish attends upon Parsons. 75
credit : ' and how swift they are in the expeditions they take in
hand : we would haue made no mention hereof, because thereby
our owne dulnes may iustly be condemned, who all this while
had not sent our messengers to Rome, for the information of
his holynes, as touching our estates here, and the common
desire of vs secular Priests, for a Bishop as before is mentioned.
In which slow proceeding, we will leaue our brethren for a time,
and returne to raaister Standish attending vpon Fa. Parsons in
Rome.
After this good Father had gotten the Rectorship of the
English Serainary, it then pleased his Worship to proceede
with the cause commended vnto him by his subiects in England,
Fa. Garnet and the rest. We doubt not, but that in the

' One of these attestations, drawn up in favour of Father Holt and the society
by the English catholics in Belgium, November 1596, is printed by Tierney
(vol. iii. p. Ixxxix). It is signed by eighteen clergymen, fifty-one officers and
soldiers of Sir William Stanley's legion (including Guy Fawkes), eight private
gentlemen, four lawyers, and six ladies.
In illustration of the complaints made by Bagshaw regarding the methods by
which these testimonials were got up, Tierney prints also (ibid. p. xc) a letter of
Dr. James Younger of Douay, who himself, under pressure, had signed one of
the documents. He writes to Dr. Gifford, ' We hear by Dr. Worthington that
certain who term themselves chief and principal of our nation have written unto
the pope that they are tyrannized by an English Jesuit here in Flanders, with
like tyranny they have complained to be used by Jesuits in England against our
seminary priests. . . . To give a counterbuff to these mens proceedings who
have thus reported against the Jesuits, Dr. Worthington hath taken in hand this
worthy journey, as to travel up and down from place to place to get every mans
hand who will not be counted a miso-jesuit to subscribe to a bill drawn up by
him and his therein to clear Father Holt from all crime as likewise the Jesuits
in England.' He adds that it is not reckoned enough to say we know nothing
of the matter, 'we must also say that we disallow and disprove, and count
slanderous all that the other parties object against the Jesuits. To this we oppose
that in conscience we cannot, seeing we know not the causes by which the others
are moved to write to the pope : we offer to write to the president a blank
wherein he may testify in all our names that which in conscience he thinketh
may be said. This is not yet enough. . . . Father Alfonso must have our
names to use when necessity shall require. If this be refused, then general
speeches are used that we are Scottilini generis, unde sequitur nos non favere
jesuitis ; ergo nee Hispanis ; ergo nee causa catholicae : quo si recte innectantur
invitae colligationes, dicam ego, ergo Sarmentitii sumus, fidei proditores, digni
flammis et ^ternis ignibus.'

76 The Pope shamefully deceived.
meane tirae he had conferred with his friends, and was resolued
of the plot he raeant to effect : the execution whereof was in
manner as followeth. Standish that honest man must haue
accesse to the Popes holynes, accompanyed with two runna-
gates, both of them Priests, Doctor Haddock, and maister
Martin Array. ^ These must take vpon them, and so they did,
that they were men deputed from the secular Priests in England,
most humbly to intreate his Holynes that he would be pleased
by his most preheminent Authority, to appoynt a superior
ouer the Church of England. And the rather to perswade
him thereunto, they affirmed like very lying wretches, that
there was such great dissension betwixt the secular priests and
the laytie, as great inconueniences would certainely insue,
except one were placed amongst them, that by his authority
might reforme and reconcile them. Now it is too well knowne,
that the strife which was beere, rested betwixt vs and the
lesuites ; no one lay Catholick (for ought we know) being at
enmity with any other secular Priests, then with some few of
vs, that were at Wisbich, and one or two more abroad that
tooke our parts : and the dislike that such lay persons had of

^ Richard Haydock — son of Vivian Haydock of Cottam HaU, Lancashire,
who after the death of his wife became a priest — studied at Douai and Rome,
and was sent into England in 1580. He was back in Italy again in 1596. A spy
describes him at Rome, in 1601, as ' Parson's coachman, for that he keepeth his
coach and horses, and are at his command.' He died in 1605. (Foley, Diary
of English College, pp. 131, 379.)
Martin Array accompanied Haydock on the mission from Rome. He found
himself before long in a London gaol, but, as Father Southwell wrote to Agaz
zari, 'he [in 1586] procured by money to be pardoned his life, but shall be
banished,' or, in the words of another report, he was 'for a round sum bought
from the shambles ' (Morris, Troubles, ii. pp. 164, 309). The two priests acted
as the proctors of the archpriest in the affair of the delegates to Rome in 1598-99,
and consequently met with no favour at the hands of the appeUants. They are
described in the Declaratio Motuum (p. 31) as 'cowardly deserters of God's
camp. ' Haydock is said to be an idler in Rome who had been compeUed to
leave England from his lax and disedifying mode of life, and more than once
had been dismissed or threatened with dismissal from the house of cardinal
Allen on account of his turbulence. As to Martin Array, they point with sus
picion to ' the unwonted benevolence of the heretics,' which obtained for him a
discharge from prison.

An Ungodly Shift. 77
vs, was procured by the false practise of the lesuites : we our
selues, otherwise hauing neuer offended them, nor interteyned
any quarrell with thera, God is our iudge. His Holynes hear
ing and marking well their suite, demaunded of them, in
expresse tearmes, if that which they had sayd vnto him, pro
ceeded from the desire and consent of his louing Priests in
England, affirming that otherwise he would in no sort giue
any eare vnto them. Whereunto maister Standish, very well
instructed before by Father Parsons, and sufficiently assisted
by the sayd two lying Priests, answered, that what he had pre
sumed to deliuer to his Holynes, he had done it most assuredly
by their consent. \f Ananias was iustly charged with lying to
the holy Ghost, in telling Saint Peter an vntruth, being re
plenished with that holy spirit, we see no cause, why we may
not so charge this dishonest companyon with aU his assistants
(Fa. Parsons and the rest) in that they lyed so apparantly to
Saint Peters successor the Popes Holynes, who we doubt not,
but that he is likewise indued with the spirit of God in such
plentifuU sort, as the excellency of his high calling doth
require. For it is well knowne, and may be proued most
euidently, (if any dare be so shamelesse as to deny it) that if
you except Fa. Garnet, and some one or two of his adherents,
the rest of the Priests in England generally were altogether
ignorant of that deuise. Insomuch as the sayd Standish after
his returne into England, being asked by certaine Priests, how
he durst presume so impudently to abuse his Holynes with so
intolerable an vntruth, he excused himselfe in this sort, viz.
that when he sayd, he had the consent qf the secular Priests in
England to make that motion, his answere therein was made by
hwn Caute, that is, subtiUy, or by equiuocation, meaning to him
selfe, viz. as he supposed, or presumed ; which words he kept in
his minde and vttered not. By which vngodly shift, the tyranny
wherewith now we are oppressed, was hatched.^
1 The appellants make a great point of this ' false information.' In their book
to the pope they write, ' Et qui jam laqueum pararant fratribus non verentur,
non erubescunt hujus modi confictis mendaciis tuae Sanctitatis sapientia et boni
tate abuti, ac tam nefanda mendaciorum injuria ipsam Petri sedem afficere '

78 The Tyranny hatched.
By this so false and lesuiticall a sleight, the Popes Holynes
being abused as you haue heard, committed that matter (so
propounded vnto him) to the further consideration of CardinaU
Caietane, protector of the English Seminary, and to CardinaU
Burghesius, which was the very plot Fa. Parsons before had
layd : the sayd CardinaU protector,^ being one, with whom he
(Declaratio Motuum, pp. 31, 32 ; cf. Relatio Compend. p. 23). Besides Stan
dish, Array, and Haydock, Parsons mentions WilUam Baldwin, a Jesuit recently
returned from England, and Mr. Thomas Allen, who were specially consulted
by the pope (Apologie, ff. 98, 99), 'Well,' sarcastically remarks Dr. Ely, 'it
seemeth good to these 6 Englishmen to give the Priests in England a Superior
of their own order, who should not be a Bishop, whose dignity being Culmen
dignitatis, the highest order in God's church, would have obscured and dimmed
(as your brethren say) the estimation of the fathers in England, but an Archpriest
whose ordinary office and dignity is the lowest in God's church' (p. 102).
Parsons declares that Baldwin and Standish came from England expressly to
demand some ' subordination,' the one on behalf of the society, and the other on
behalf of the seculars. CoUeton denies this in regard to Standish. ' The
second falsehood uttered [i.e. in Blackwell's letter] was that Master Standish
(whom the Jesuits employed in negotiating this business wdth his Holiness, as
is confessed in the Apologie, and who had at that time given his name to be
one of their order) told his Holiness (but by what kind of equivocation or
strange subintellection we know not) that he had the consents of the priests in
England, and came in their names to intreat the appointing of a superior : whereas
in truth he never acquainted the body of our clergy with his going, and less with
the business he went about. Nay, he was so cunning in cloaking his intention
that even to those priests (who were not also above two or three) from whom he
could not conceal his journey, he pretended the cause of his voyage to be a long
desire he had to visit the holy places, and perhaps to enter into religion, forget
ting therein the advice of St. Paul, Non ambulantes in astutia, not walking in
craftiness, intending one thing and making semblance of another ' (Just Defence,
p. 22).
1 Henrico Gaetani, or Cajetan, was created cardinal by Sixtus v., and made
protector of the English college in 1587. He was employed in important
legations in France and Poland, and during his absences from Rome he was
represented by vice-protectors — by cardinal Toleto in 1593, and after his death
by cardinal Borghese, 1596. Cajetan returned to Rome in 1597, suffering
greatly from the gout, and died of fever in December 1599. Bagshaw should
have stated that the cardinal was at this time named' protector of the English
nation as well as of the seminary.
Camillo Borghese, afterwards pope Paul v., was born at Rome in 1552. He
was a learned canonist. Clement vili. sent him into Spain as legatus h latere,
and in 1592 appointed him his vicar in Rome. In 1600 Borghese was made
one of the cardinals of the Inquisition. He also enjoyed the dignity of pro
tector of Scotland.

Blackwell named Archpriest qf England. 79
the sayd Parsons had especiall familiaritie and friendship ; and
by reason of his protectorship ouerruled the other CardinaU as
he thought good : so as they two being appointed for this
seruice. Parsons deseignement was in effect thereby accom
plished. Well it had hapned to vs, if his Holynes had bin at
that time indued with that, worthie gift of the holy Ghost,
tearmed discretio spirituum : that when he made this deputa
tion to the Cardinal!, he might haue sayd to the aforesayd
false wretches : why haue you lyed to the holy Ghost, that
thereby, either some extraordinary calamitie might haue fallen
vpon them, or his Holynes haue taken some other course for
the inflicting vpon them such punishment as they deserued.
But the matter passed as you haue heard : and Parsons must
contriue it as he thinketh it conuenient, which he did in sort
as followeth. One must gouerne all the Priests in England,
but Parsons durst not name a lesuite for that purpose : that
had bin too grosse dealing, he must then be a secular Priest,
there was no remedie. And who should that be, but maister
Blackwell, who was knowne to be a chiefe parasite of the
lesuites, and would be sure, if he might haue this authoritie by
them, neuer to do any thing, that might in any sort displease
them. Whereupon Blackwell is named for the Arch-priest of
England : assistants are appointed to wayt vpon him : a letter
with the Cardinals consent is framed by Father Parsons, dated
the seauenth of March 1598. rules are made, and one in effect
you raay be sure, that maister Arch-priest and his assistants
shall do nothing in any matter of importance, without the
lesuites consents.^ AU things thus dispatched, msiister Standish

' CoUeton printed the ' Constitutive Letter ' of the cardinal in Latin and EngUsh
in his /ust Defence (pp. I, 5). It will be found also in Dodd and Tierney.
Certain private instructions accompanied the formal letter. Both were received
by Blackwell, May 9, 1598. The direction that the archpriest should 'in
causes of greater importance use the advice ofthe superior of the Jesuits ' formed
part of the instructions, a summary of which, and of all other official letters and
papal breves addressed to Blackwell, which subsequently came into the hands
of the archbishop of Canterbury, is given in the valuable Uttle tract entitled,
' Mr. George Blackwel (Made by Pope Clement 8 Archpriest of England), his
Answeres upon Sundry his Examinations : Together with his Approbation and

80 The new Authority called in Question.
(as wee thinke) is sent back with this stuffe into England ; and
euen when our two messengers were ready at the last to go
towards Rome, he arriueth: maister Blackwell receiueth his
authoritie, and publisheth the same for want of a Cryer by his
owne letters : requiring all Priests to subscribe vnto it.
Hereof when sundry of vs had notice, we conferred together
as we could : and finding that the Cardinals directions were not
warranted, by any Breue from his Holynes : we feared some
false packing by Father Parsons. Also some of our brethren
talking with maister Blackwell, about the Cardinals constitu
tions, tooke him directly with a manifest forgery, in pretending
certaine to haue come from the Cardinal! which he was driuen
to confesse, were of his owne making.^ Besides we considered,
that if the Pope were made acquainted with the sayd Cardinals
designements ; what he did, or allowed therein, was vpon false
suggestion, (for as then wee did not certainely know, how
Standish had played the lesuite by Parsons aduise as is before
expressed). Againe, wee perceiued by the Cardinals instructions,
that maister Blackwell was made no better in deede then an
Arch-priest of cloutes, being limited to do nothing, but as it
should please maister Ga/rnet. And it could not sinke into our
heads, that his Holynes being throughly acquainted with these
plots, would euer haue bin drawne to haue yeelded, that his
Clergie of England should be ouertopt, and controuled by the
new vpstart lesuites. We also did easily see into what danger
this subordination would bring vs, being left in effect to Father
Parsons directions. For these, and sundry other considerations,
we desired that we might not be vrged to subscribe to the sayd
authoritie, vntil wee might either see the Popes Breue to ratifie
it, or haue time to know his Holynes further pleasure : when
we should haue informed him the truth in these matters. Vpon
our stay herein, (which seemed to vs so reasonable,) it is scarse

taking of the Oath of AUegeance : And his Letter written to his Assistants and
brethren, raooving them not onely to take the said Oath, but to advise all Romish
Catholikes so to doe. Imprinted at London by Robert Barker, Printer to the
King's most ExceUent Maiestie, 1607.'
^ Compare the Relatio Compendiosa, p. 25.

Certain Letters of Thanks to the Pope. 81
credible, how we were slaundered and abused : insomuch as
through such and many other iniuries offred by the Arch-priest
and lesuites vnto vs, we were compelled to appeale to his Holy
nes. But we were still too slow and dull in our proceedings,
and indeede wanted money, and other fit oportunities to make
such quick dispatch as we desired. Whereupon Father Garnet,
and maister Blackwell abounding in all things, and perceiuing
our intent, they presently dispatched their cursitors into euery
part of the Realme, to get hands to certaine letters (drawne
either by them, or by their direction) of thankesgiuing to the
Pope, and Protector, for their singular care ouer the Church
heere, in appointing vnto them so excellent a forme of gouem
ment : with much more to this purpose. And such a course
was taken with our poore brethren, who many of them had
neuer heard of this matter before, as partly through ignorance
in some, through threatning and feare in others, and by faire
promises to many ; a number of hands were gotten to the sayd
letters.^ This exployt thus effected, they sent the sayd letters
1 The famous letter of thanks, ' Olim dicebamur,' is printed in the Relatio
Compendiosa (pp. 33-35), where examples are given of the way in which certain
signatures to it were obtained. It is said, for instance, that when a pious priest,
a prisoner, declined to put his name to the document. Garnet sent him a message,
saying, ' You wiU not for old friendship's sake refuse me this,' and thereupon
added his name without his permission or knowledge. Compare Colleton,
pp. 50-53-
It would be interesting to know how many names in favour of the new sub
ordination were actually obtained. Tierney (iii. 49), followed by Turnbull
(English Chapter, p. 16), reduces the number, on the strength of admissions
made by Parsons and Garnet, to 57, not including the archpriest and his
assistants, out of an estimated total of 400 priests. But Garnet, giving the
signatures of 57 secular priests and 12 Jesuits to the ' Olim dicebamur,' asserts
that 24 seculars and 6 Jesuits in addition had given power to others to subscribe
for them, and remarks that there could be no doubt 34 more would subscribe if
they could be reached. See Father Plowden's Remarks on the Memoirs of
Panzani, p. 336, and Parsons' Apologie, ff. 105, 106. On the other hand there
is no sufficient ground for Plowden's statement that ' the great bulk ' of the
clergy ' contentedly acquiesced ' in the new form of government. Few, indeed,
may have had the courage or the means to actively side with the appellants, but
it may fairly be inferred from the comparative paucity of these signatures in the
face of the strong inducements there were to sign, that the large majority of the
priests regarded the institution in question vrith suspicion and dislike. CoUeton
F

82 Mr. Bishop and Mr. Charnock.
with all speede to Rome, and procured by their messengers as
they went, other letters, from sundry persons beyond the seas
to their friends in that City to depraue our enterprise as much
as possibly they could, affirming that what our messengers,
when they came thither, should propound against the subordi
nation in England, did proceede only from a few that were
factious, and that it would be very dishonorable to his Holynes
former proceedings, if they should finde any fauour or counten
ance there.
With these aforesaid Machiuilian practises, wee were not
then acquainted, but as honest and plaine dealing men ; when
our said messengers, maister Bishop and maister Charnock, two
leamed Priestes,^ were readie to goe to Rome to prosecute our

(p. 159), quoting a letter of Blackwell, in which the archpriest complains 'the
laity had need to stick to him for the priests were fallen away,' gives his own
opinion that ' hardly twenty besides the assistants in all England ' could, if put
upon their oaths, declare themselves contented with the new govemment.
Martin Array, acting as Blackwell's proctor, wrote from Rome, Feb. 1599,
that ' the Protector said well neer 200 had written to him agaynst the sedition '
(Petyt MS., xlvii. f. 97). This may be the exaggeration of a partisan ; or it may
include correspondents from Flanders and elsewhere on the continent. The
statement is, however, confirmed by Parsons in a letter to Bishop and Chamock
(Copies of certaine discourses, p. 57). Tierney's estimate of the total number of
priests in England at the time is perhaps rather over the mark. A report of Father
Holt in 1596 sets down the missionaries as ' over 300,' and the surviving ' Queen
Mary priests ' at ' about 40 or 50 ' (Douay Diaries, p. 378). In 1593 there were
in England eight Jesuit priests; in 1598, sixteen (Foley, vn., Ixvi.).
1 William Bishop, doctor of the Sorbonne, afterwards bishop of Chalcedon, and
Robert Charnock, son of William Charnock of Blacklach House, Leyland, co.
Lancaster. Dr. Bishop, eldest son and heir of John Bishop of BraUes in Warwickshire,
left Oxford after three or four years' residence at the university, settled his
estate on his younger brother, and joined AUen at Rheims, whence he proceeded
to the college at Rome. He entered upon the English mission in 1581, his
26th year. Before 1598 he had twice been imprisoned and twice banished.
He took a leading part throughout the Appellant controversy, and drew up and
signed the protestation of loyalty offered to Elizabeth in 1603. On the death of
Harrison, the third archpriest. Dr. Bishop was appointed by Gregory xv. Vicar
Apostolic, with ordinary jurisdiction in England and Scotland. He was con
secrated in Paris June 4, 1623, landed at Dover July 21, and died near London,
April 16, in the following year. He is said to have been beloved by both clergy
and laity for his modest and peaceful disposition (Wood's Athence). He was

Deputies despatched to Rome. 83
causes there : we acquainted our Archpriest therewith and
desired, (if so it might stand with his pleasure) to sende some
thither also, that might be furnished to answere for him, if we
should be thought to informe amisse. This motion of ours,
was so greatlie disdained by his maistership, as wee thinke the
highest CardinaU in Christendome, could not with greater con
tempt haue reiected y^ meanest Priest his sute y' liueth. And
relying vpon Father Parsons, and his other said plots, hee pre
sumed to teU vs plainelie (to the great preiudice of iustice in
the Court of Rorae) that if we sent any thither, they should
not be heard, but finde that entertainement, which they little
expected. Howbeit wee neuer imagined, nor could in deed
thinke, either of those messages which they had sent before, or
of that which followed : but rather supposed he had vsed such
speeches vnto vs of purpose to stay vs from proceeding in our
former determination.^ And therefore we dispatch them hence,
who being gone, our Archpriest chafeth : the Prouinciall his

the author of many books of controversy, and edited, with additions of his own,
the De Anglice Scriptoribus of his friend John Pitts. Dodd (ii. 361) ascribes to
him a MS. ' in the keeping of Mr. Bishop of Brayles,' described as ' An Account
of the Faction and Disturbances in the Castle of Wisbich, occasioned by Father
Weston, a Jesuit.' ChaUoner, in his Memoirs (ii. 121), speaks of Dr. Bishop as ' a
person of an apostolic spirit and life, ' and reckons him among the confessors of
the faith.
Of Charnock's career less is knovra. He was educated at Oxford, and after
wards spent six years at the English college at Rome, where he was ordained
priest. He returned^to England in 1587. Several of his letters relating to his
delegation to Rome, including a long one in Latin, addressed to cardinal Bor
ghese (printed in the Relatio Compendiosa, pp. 87-96), are preserved among the
Petyt MSS. (vol. xlvii. ).
^ Charnock writes to Bagshaw, Aug. 9, 1598 : 'Good Mr. B., we labour here
as much as lyeth in vs to doe to bring our matters to some good pass, and yf we
cannot doe as we would doe, we will attribute it to God's disposition, & think
that all thinges are not rype. Absurdyties are dayly committed hereabout, &
so gross as they are to be wondered at. P'chance the prysons are not as yet
made ready for vs, w"'' are threatnd vs, yf we goe to appeale, . . . what will
come after thes bitter threatnings God knoweth, I hope the officer [archpriest]
doth speak thus but ad terrore, w'^'' vrill take litle effect in me resolute to suffer
in a iust cause. ' In a postscript to this same letter Dr. Bishop writes, ' Ysteday
I was sent for to the archp'sbiter to heare a large discourse in the p'sence of two
laie gentelmen onhe. . . . He pleaded mightilie that no appellation could be

84 The Jesuits whet their Tongues.
good maister, clappes him on the backe and egges him forward :
the rest of the lesuits whet their tongues and prepare their
pens to speake and write what they can falselie deuise against
vs to make vs odious :'¦ so as presentlie, we are become a
by-word in their mouthes, & are nothing with them but
Rebels, Apostataes, and what they list to report of vs. One
Lister ^ a lesuit writeth a booke to proue vs al schismatikes,
made duUe frora the autoritie he is invested in, w^ii he affirmed was absolute,
not dependinge any whit at all vpon the likinge or gaine sayinge of priests here.
Againe, that he had received certaine adv'tisment that whosoeuer should be
employed or adventure to goe and coplaine o' grives should be fined and im
prisoned, order alreadie beinge given to that ende ' (Petyt MSS. xlvii. ff. 298, 299).
' ' The messengers were reported, the one to be a Maultster and Horse-courser,
the other for an incontinent person. O tongue liberty whither runnest thou ?
O Father Parsons how credulous are you in bad matters ? Let but this latter
be proved, notwithstanding you said (who perchance counteth such a saying no
bad policy) that a priest sware it, and two other priests took their oaths that
they heard him sware it, and we do all here yield ourselves without further
conviction to be traitors to God and his church and crave the faggot ' (Colle
ton, p. 38). It was not, however, the Jesuits only who attempted to prejudice
the Roman court against the deputies. The president of Douai college and
three of his assistants wrote a joint letter to cardinal Cajetan (Oct. 25, 1598),
accusing the messengers of insubordinate and factious intentions, and asking
' that some example of severe correction should be used upon these two ' as a
warning to others. Dr. Worthington also wrote from Brassels, hoping that this
' new sedition be repressed by his Holiness with some severity.' Other letters
to the same effect, written while the unfortunate deputies were on their way to
Rome, are quoted by Parsons (Apol., ff. 123-127).
2 Thomas Lister (alias Butler), a native of Lancashire, was sent in his 20th
year to the Roman coUege, with an excellent character from Dr. Barret, 1579.
He entered the Jesuit noviciate in 1583, and was made D.D. at Pont k Mousson
in 1592. On the English mission he generally resided with Father Oldcome at
Henlip. The sheriff' of Herefordshire reports in June 1605, 'When the Queen
was dead North the priest came out of Monmouthshire in all haste into Here
fordshire, signifying that catholics were up in arms there : and stirred as ear
nestly as he could the catholics of Herefordshire to do the like. And Lister
one of the Jesuits with his companions were as busy in Worcestershire, telling
thera that the catholics in Herefordshire were in arms.' He was afterwards ban
ished, with forty-five priests and Jesuits, in 1606, but returned and became superior
of the Oxford district in 1621 (Foley's Records, iv. 270, seq., vii. 1440). Garnet's
private opinion of his character (in 1597) is indicated in a letter to the General,
quoted from a Stonyhurst MS. by Tierney (vol. iv. p. cxxv) : ' Angor animi ac
dubius atque anceps haereo quid [cum] Ulo agam, cujus omnis morbus non tam
cerebri infirmitate, quam ex animi perturbatione ac levitate proficiscitur.'

Father Lister's Treatise qf Schism. 85
who had appealed to Rome, and both maister Blackwell and
Father Garnet subscribed vnto it. In this booke, besides the
tearmes before expressed, we are said to haue fallen from the
Church, and the spouse qf Christ : to haue troden vnder our
feete our obedience due to the highest bishop : to haue lost our
faculties, whereby we ought to haue wonne soules vnto Christ : to
haue made owr selues irregular : to haue incurred the senterwe qf
excommunication: to haue giuen a scandall to all good men: to
be in all mens mouthes as irfamous persons : to be as publicanes
and sinners, and to be nothing better then soothsayers and
Idolaters.^

1 Mr. Gillow (Dictionary, ii. 393), says of this treatise, described by Dr. Ely as
'the biting, passionate, and slanderous book,' that it was 'apparently only
circulated in MS.' The appeUants commonly speak of it as 'published' (Hope
of Peace, p. 36; W. C, Reply, f. 81), and 'sent abroad, not only in England
but into remote places beyond the seas ' (A. P., Reply, p. 342). The ' innocency,
fame and good name ' of the appellants, says Dr. Ely (p. 274), ' was blotted
and blemished both at home and in foreign countries by Fa. Lister's book, the
copies whereof flew over into strange countries, sent and dispersed everywhere
by the Fathers.' Its proper title is Adversus factiosos in Ecclesia. Bagshaw
incorporated the whole of it in his Relatio Compendiosa, where it occupies no
more than twelve short pages. The small size of the treatise, and the fact that
the pope suppressed it and the Jesuits became ashamed of it, may account for the
disappearance of the printed original, if printed it was. There is a MS. transcript
of it among the Petyt Mss. The first four sections treat of Schism in general ;
the fifth lays down the various penalties incurred by schismatics ; the sixth and
seventh, entitled Factiosorum subterfugia and Factiosorum crimina, will be found
in the Appendix, infra (D).
The issue of this tract formed the first of the six grounds upon which was
based the solemn Appeal of the 33 priests, who thus refer to it : —
' The reasons of which appeal are these that ensue. First, for that your
reverence hath often approved the too great injuries and reproach which the
fathers of the society, in word and deed, most wrongfully laid upon us ; as,
namely, when Father Lister, Jesuit, composed and had set forth a Treatise of
Schism against us, . . . in which, beside other unseemly speeches, he hath
these slanders in the fifth paragraph : —
" These factious persons are stricken down with the dolour of their own ruin,
in that they have resisted the pope's decrees. They have lost their places among
priests : they are debarred the practice oftheir holy function : their judgment is to
be contemned, and already they are condemned by ihe holy apostolic church.
And in the conclusion, or seventh paragraph, these : —
"I. ¦ye are rebels.
"2. Ye are schismatics, and are fallen from the church and spouse of Christ.

86 The two Deputies imprisoned at Rome.

We haue now brought this story to the setting out against
vs of the sayd treatise of schisme : and for the rest do referre
you for a larger discourse to the bookes lately printed and
pubUshed by some of our brethren. Therein you shall finde
that by Father Parsons practises, our sayd messengers no
sooner came to Rome, but within sixe or seauen dayes they
were cast into prison, and could neuer be suffred to come to
the Pope. Whilest they were in prison, his Holynes Breue
is procured for the confirmation of maister Blackwels authoritie.
Afterwards the poore men are set at libertie, but kept asunder,
and banished into diuers Prouinces, not to repayre into Englaitd,
"3. Ye have trodden under foot the obedience you owe to tlie pope.
" 4. Ye have offended against all human faith and authority by rejecting a
?noral certainty in a moral matter.
"5, Ye have run headlong into excommunuation and irregularity.
"6. Ye have lost the faculties by which you should have gained souls to Christ.
"7. Ye have raised up so great scandal in the minds of all the godly, that, as
infamous persons, you are tennised in every man's mouth.
"8. Ye are no better than soothsayers and idolaters, and in regard ye have not
obeyed the Church, speaking unto you by the highest bishop, you are as ethnics and
publicans." ' When after the publishing of these detestable untruths, we made petition to
your reverence, to know whether you did approve these defamations against us,
you answered under your own handwriting as followeth, March 26, 1599 : — " I
allow of the said discourse and censure. George Blackwell, Archpriest."
Furthermore, when at another time we made humble request to your reverence
for the revoking of the said slanderous treatise, you wrote back this answer,
April 1599: — "Your request is that we should call in the treatise against your
schism, and this is unreasonable, because the medicine ought not to be removed
before the sore be thoroughly cured. If it grieve you, I am not grieven thereat.
George Blackwell, Archpriest. " ' (Tiemey, vol. iii. p. cxxxiii. The original
Latin will be found in the Declaratio Motuum, pp. 95-119.) The appellants
also make complaint of the public approbation given to the book by F. Garnet.
Colleton writes (Just Defence, p. 197) : ' Father Lister accused us of a foul
crime : the infamy was divulged in all parts of the Realm, and in many places
beyond the seas : our company grew thereon to be shunned : our benefactors
were put in fear that their souls would find smart in the next world for harbour
ing of us in their houses : several means were practised and attempts given to
remove us and not to leave us where to hide our heads. Father Garnet the
superior of the Jesuits affirmed that we ministered and received sacraments in
deadly sin, that we gave poison in lieu of medicine, that we were such by the
opinion of all the learned as his brother Lister, had censured us to be, that our
criminous, sinful, irregular, and excoraraunicate state was so plain and notorious
as none under sin could forward or assist us in the exercise of our functions.'

The Clergy submit to the Brief. 87
vntill they should haue leaue from Rome.^ The sayd Breue
commeth hither : wee being informed thereof, submit our
selues to our Arch-priest : shewing our selues to be farre from
schismaticks ; and such was our desire of peace, as we were well
content to remit all the former slaunders imputed most falsely
vnto vs.
Besides, for the auoyding of further contention, we desired
our Arch-priest, (whome now we reuerenced as we were bound
in dutie) to take such order, as that hereafter there might not
be so much as once mention made of the sayd pretended
schisme. Whereunto he yeelded very wiUingly, and made a
Decree to that effect : promising to be a meanes tliat our sayd
two brethren might be released of their banishment. His
dealing with vs in this kinde sort did very much comfort vs,
because we being men, who still had bin afflicted, any thing
seemed a great benefit to vs. But shortly after we well per-

^ Parsons devotes the ninth chapter of his Apologie to a justification of the
extraordinary treatment to which the two deputies were subjected at Rome, in reply
to the account drawn up, as Tiemey remarks, ' under the eye of Dr. Bishop him
self,' in the Declaratio Motuum. The same subject is discussed by Colleton
(pp. 34-40), and, with further information, by A. P. in his Reply to Parsons
(pp. 229-265). A number of original and unedited documents ou the matter
will be found in the 47th volume of the Petyt mss.
Dr. Ely's expressions of indignation against Parsons are worth quoting.
The Jesuit, referring to the imprisonment of the two priests, had euphemistically
remarked ' that his Holiness took order that they should be retired to the
English coUege. ' 'Retired (quoth you),' exclaims Ely, ' from such retirement
Libera nos Domine. If close prison be but a retreat, I know not what prison-
ment is ! You do well to cover and mitigate so great injustice with so mild and
favourable a term. Certes, they are retired to the English college, as M. Bishop
was retired in England to the Marshalsea, and there put in close prison by a
heretical Justice of the peace. . . . Cloak and disguise it so well as you can
now, the posterity hereafter will wonder to hear or read that two cathoUc
priests coming as appellants to Rome out of an heretical country, in which they
maintained constantly, with danger of their lives, the honour and preservation of
that See, and one of them had suffered some years' imprisonment, with banish
ment afterwards, for the article of S. Peter or his successors' supremacy over
all other princes and prelates, that these priests (I say) should, before they were
heard what they had to say, be cast into prison, yea and imprisoned in the
house and under the custody of their adversaries. Never was there heard of
such injustice since good S. Peter sat in the chair.' (Briefe Notes, p. 107.)

88 Blackwell j-evives the Quarrel.
ceiued, that our former appellation and sending to Rome with
our refusall in the meane time to bow vnto him, did stick in
his stomack. For whether prouoked by the malitious lesuites,
or stirred vp by his owne pride, and rancor to be reuenged
vpon vs, now that we had submitted our selues vnto his gouem
ment, he renewed the remembrance of the old sore, contrary to
his sayd decree, and that vnder the pretence of a letter that
should come vnto him from Rome, from two lesuites, Tichborne,
and Warford : ^ wherein he sayd, it was expressely set downe,
that we were iudged in Rome to be schismaticks before the
obteyning of the sayd Breue, in that we did not subscribe to
his authoritie, when the Cardinals first letters were intimated
vnto vs. And vpon this false ground (except these two lesuites
and some one or two more of that crue had so iudged vs) he
writ his letters abroade to that effect, as well what forsooth he

^ Henry Tichborne, said to be the brother of Sir Benjamin Tichborne, some
time sheriff of Hampshire, went over to Rheims in 1583, and joined the society
in his 17th year (Oct. 1587). In 1597 he was prefect of studies in the
English coUege at Rome, and afterwards was appointed confessor and professor
of moral theology in the seminary at Seville founded by Parsons. He died at
Seville in 1606, ' with a great repute of sanctity and learning ' (Foley, Collectanea,
PP- 775i 1456). Mr. Foley mentions, but does not print, a letter of this pro
minent member of the society to a brother Jesuit, Mr. Thomas Darbyshire,
which found its way to the hands of the government, who, no doubt, gave to
it the consideration it deserves. As the letter throws light upon the political
differences which were at the bottom of the quarrel between the Jesuits and the
appellants, it has been reproduced in the Appendix (C). It will be seen that the
writer's only fear was ' liberty of conscience at home ; ' for this meant ' the
expulsion of the society. ' Toleration, he sees, will ' disanimate princes from
pursuing our enterprise ; ' and Spain ' would then stoop to a peace which would
be our ruin.' ... Sir Thomas Tresham, as a friend to the State, is held by us
as an atheist, and all others of his humour.' So zealous and pious an opponent
of peace could only regard the appellant movement with religious horror.
WUham Warford, formerly fellow of Trinity college, Oxford, became a
catholic at Rheims in 1582, and was ordained priest two years later at Rome.
In 1591 he went upon the Enghsh mission, but, in 1594, returned to Rome,
joined the Jesuits, and was made penitentiary at St. Peter's. In 1599 he left
Rome for VaUadohd, where he died in 1608. He wrote, under the name of
George Donley, certain devotional works, and left behind him an inedited
account of some recent English martyrs with whom he was acquainted (Oliver's
Biography, S.J., p. 217). The manuscript, which was unknown to Challoner,
is preserved at Stonyhurst.

He demands Satisfaction. 89
had receiued from Rome, (concealing the names of the sayd two
Machiuilian lesuites) as also that he would receiue none to his
fauour or absolue them, which would not acknowledge that they
had sinned, and giuen a great scandale by tbeir sayd prolonging
to acknowledge his authoritie.^ When we heard hereof, it
grieued vs much to see the weakenes of our new Gouernour :
but more in that we perceiued what new troubles and dissen
sions would thereby insue. We did write therefore both to him
and to his assistants, that they would be pleased, the old con
trouersie amongst vs might lye buryed still in the graue of
obUuion, and not to be againe now renewed. But they shut
their eares to our humble suites, and reiect vs with contume
lious and reprochfull words, for presuming so rashlie (forsooth)
to intermeddle with any thing that they had resolued of.
Notwithstanding because they were our brethren, and many of

^ ' We have, ' wrote Blackwell, ' received a resolution from our mother city
that the refusers of the appointed authority were schismatics ; and surely I would
not give absolution to any that should raake no conscience thereof. . . . And
therefore my direction is that they make account thereof, and do make satisfac
tion before they receive the benefit of absolution. '
The aggrieved priests in their Appeal declare the divulging of this resolu
tion to have been the 'too too unlucky fact' which was ' the total cause of our
new debates.' 'And,' runs the appeal, 'according to the purport of this
dispersed resolution (which albeit by your own affirmance you received it either
from Father Warford or Father Tichborne, two English Jesuits resident at
Rorae, yet your reverence did so propose and grace the same, as raany did,
and as yet sorae do, believe that the said resolution came as a definitive sentence
from the see apostolic), yourself would not restore Mr. Benson to the use of his
faculties, neither upon his own humble suit nor mediation of his fellow-prisoners,
who also had and then did suffer very hard imprisonment with great constancy,
unless he would first agnize and testify under his hand that he was grieved for
his adherence to the schismatical conventicle ; your reverence being pleased to
dub our company with so hateful a name. Also, in your letter to another priest
[Mush], bearing date the 22d of Febraary 1600, thus you write : — " I determined
that hereafter whosoever had faculties fare he should first be content to recall
his peevish opinion" — terming the opinion peevish that doth not hold us for
schismatics. ' Furthermore, your reverence affirmed (which shook and galled the new
peace not a Uttle) that assertion of Father Jones, a priest of the society, to be
true ; avowing aU those to incur presently the censures of holy church who
should stiffly defend that we were no schismatics ; which position you again
ratified in your letters given the 14th of March 1600.'

90 Arbitration scorrifully rejected.

them before that time some of our inferiors ; we aduentured
once againe to intreate this fauour at their hands, that two or
three of the best leamed amongst them, might be appointed to
conferre of this matter with as raany of vs : that so the contro
uersie might be compounded, before it brake out any further.i
How this was taken at our hands, it is scarcely credible : they
tearmed our supplication a tumultuous expostulation, being
fraught (as they sayd) with the forgetfulnes of our duties, and
with the spirit of pride and presumption. And hereupon euen
now, that we were become his subiects, after we had vnder-
standing of the Popes Breue, and looked to haue bin greatly
cherished and defended frora iniuries by the strength of his
soueraigne authoritie, we are againe as sharply prosecuted with
imputations of schisme and rebellion as we were before, which
caused vs to propound the question in controuersie amongst vs,
to the famous Vniuersitie of Paris: hauing offered to them
before, but in vayne, if it pleased them to ioyne with vs
therein. That worthie company after due consideration,
determined the matter on our side. Whereof the Arch-priest
being informed, addresseth out his owne edict, and condemneth
therein their sayd iudgement : inflicteth great censures vpon
those Priests that should at any time maynteine that deter
mination : and spareth not likewise to mulct the laytie (ouer
whom for ought we know he hath no authoritie at all) as
many as should incline to the irabracing and fauoring of it.^

^ The conditions of the proposed conference are given in the Relatio Com-
pendosia (p. 65). Garnet and Lister, and any others of the society whom they
raight choose, were to represent the Jesuit side against three secular priests on
the other. The arbitrators were to be two or three of the senior assistants of
the archpriest, together with Mr. Dolman. If the seculars were judged guilty
of schism they were to beg pardon of the archpriest and fathers of the society
on their knees. If, on the other hand, no such fault had been incurred, the
fathers, and Lister in particular, were to withdraw the treatise De Schismate,
and to make due satisfaction for the injury done.
^ The Censure of Paris and the archpriest's ' edict ' will be found in the author's
appendix (infra, p. 123). Three days after Blackwell had issued his edict he
wrote exultingly to Gamet (June i, 1600) : ' CoUeton, by my censure, is defeated
of all his triumphs. He hath twenty sheets ready for the print to disprove us :
but he saith ' ' I will take heed not to incur the pain of the censure lest I lose

Oppressions of the Archpriest. 91

When we saw this our Arch-priest with his assistants thus
pereraptoriUe bent by strong hand to oppresse vs : and without
either conscience, or consideration of raorall honestie to spreade
abroade againe to our discredits their former calumniations,
and very grosse and palpable slaunders : we thought it our
best course if it were but to heape coales vpon their heads, to
commend vnto them this consideration : whether it might not
stand with their good liking to send two Priests to be chosen
by them, with two others of ours to Rome, to know his Holynes
opinion and direction in this cause so hotly impugned by them :
the sarae being the assured rule for the ending and finall de
termination of it : adding, that if we were condemned for
schismaticks, for delaying our obedience, as is before expressed,
tiU we knew his Holynes pleasure, we would most willingly
subiect our selues to the heauiest censures that might be im
posed vpon vs : and if cleared, the least satisfaction that they
would thinke good to award vs, should fidly please and content
vs. But this our last suite was more disdained (if it were
possible) then either of the former : and so farre the Arch
priest was from yeelding ¦vnto vs herein, or to affbord vs other
wise the least shadow of his fauour, as he cast abroade his
decrees, that our sayd deferring to receiue his authoritie before
the Breue came, was schisme, and prohibiteth any vnder grieuous
paynes, either by word or writing to affirme the contrary.^
my faculties, which are greater than Mr. Blackwell will or can give rae.'
Now questions are moved whether they may defend their own private opinion,
that they were not schismatics, or whether they raay not utter so much. I
answer that I will not have any more speech in defence thereof ; and so much
the words imply directe aut indirecte. They be at their %vits' ends, and cry out
"Sharp, sharp." It is hoped that I vrill not signify the matter to Rome.
Charnock must be censured with suspension a divinis et amissionis facultatum :
for he hath brought in with hira an answer, as I am told, of three sheets against
Father Parsons' Reply ; and this made by no doctor Bishop.' (Stonyhurst MS.,
printed by Tiemey, iii., cxxxii).
' Blackwell's decree quoted in the appeal is as follows : ' We, by our
authority received from his holiness, do pronounce and declare that those first
letters of our institution did truly bind all the catholics in England ; and that
those, who have any ways wittingly impugned our authority, were truly dis
obedient to the see apostolic and rebellious against our office instituted by the
same see. . . .

92 The Appeal ofthe Thirty Priests.

Whereupon we were compeUed, as hauing no other refuge at
all, to appeale againe to the infallible seate of the holy Apostle
Saint Peter : thinking with our selues that thereby (at the least
tiU the cause were decided) our aduersaries would haue forbome
the prosecution of their malice against vs. But the humor they
are possessed with, being altogether lesuiticall, that is violent
and implacable, they ceased not but still continued, contrary to
all course of law & iustice, euery day more and more to wound
and oppresse vs. Our sayd appellation subscribed with the
hands of 30. Priests,^ men of good desert and reputation, they
' We forbid all priests, in virtue of holy obedience, and under pain of sus
pension and interdict (the absolution whereof we reserve to ourselves), I add
also, the loss of all their faculties, to be incurred ipso facto (the laity likewise,
under pain of interdict to be incurred ipso facto), that none of them presume
in anywise by word or writing, directly or indirectly, to defend that foi-mer
disobedience, the cause of so great perturbation of peace araongst us.
' Instructed by long experience, what great inconveniences have grown, to
the upholding of discord, by those privy meetings, which in forraer years we
have prohibited so far as they have been the nourishment of schisms [we] do
therefore once again strictly forbid all such assemblies, comraanding all our
assistants and other reverend priests that they advertise us of all such meetings
and assemblies which tend not to the furtherance of piety and hospitality or
civility and peace. And we prohibit, under pain of suspension from divine
functions and loss of all faculties, that no priest in anywise, by word or writing,
go about to seek or give any voices for what cause soever, before the same be
communicated with us or with two of our assistants.'
1 The formal conclusion of the Appeal with the thirty original signatures runs
as follows: 'In the name of God, Amen: In the year of our Lord, i6oo,
thirteenth indiction, the 17th day of the month of November, and in the ninth
year of the papacy of our most holy Father Clement, by the providence of God
the eight of that name,
' We, English priests, whose names are underwritten, finding ourselves
aggrieved in the premises and fearing more grievous oppressions in the time to
come, do make our appeal and provocation to the see apostolic, and ask of you.
Master George Blackwell, the first, second, and third time, instantly, raore
instantly, and most instantly, our apostles or disraissory letters, subraitting our
selves and all we have, persons, faculties, goods, and rights, to the tuition,
protection, and defence of our most holy Father Clement the Eight and to the
see apostolic. And we make this appeal in our own names, and in the names
both of the clergy and laity ; of which latter there are many hundreds, whose
names for just causes are concealed, that adhere unto us by means of the con
troversy of schism or in any of the aforesaid matters, or dependence or prosecu
tion thereof, or after any other sort ; desiring, if there be anything to be added,
taken away or changed, as the form of the law shall require.

Ten are forthwith Suspended. 93
tearme an infamous libell, and presently vpon the sight thereof,
de facto, do suspend and depriue tenne of them from their facul
ties : eight of them being prisoners at Wisbich, and two others,
both of them persons of extraordinary note and worth. ^

' Given at Wisbeach, the year and day of the month, indiction, and the year
of the papacy as above.
Thomas Bluet. John Mush. John Bingley.
Christopher Bagshaw. William Watson. John Boswell.
Christopher Thules. WiUiam Clark. Robert Thules.
James Taylor. John CUnch. Cuthbert Trollop.
John Thules. Oswald Needham. Robert Benson.
Edmund Calverley. Roger Strickland. Richard Button.
Williara Cox. Robert Drury. Francis Foster.
James Cope. Francis Montfort. Edward Bennet.
John Colleton. Anthony Hebourne. John Bennet.
George Potter. Anthony Champney. William Mush. '
Colleton, who gives the docuraent in English (pp. 192-203), adds : ' Since
the raaking of this Appeal there are others who have subscribed thereunto and
given their names, as Master Doctor Norris, Master Roger Calwallador, and
Master Jasper Lobery, besides some others, who, for fear of the extremities
used against the appeUants, durst not (their friends being few and their state
mean) manifest themselves to our Archpriest, but sent their Appeals by our
brethren that are gone to Rome.'
1 The archpriest wrote a letter, March 10, 1601, by which, says Colleton
(p. 183), 'he suspended and interdicted eight ofthe prisoners at Framlingham
and myself.' The greater part of the Wisbeach prisoners had before this time
been transferred to Framlingham.
Mush, Anthony Hebome, and Colleton hiraself had been suspended April 4,
1599, a few days before the arrival of the brief confirming the archpriest's
authority. On their submission to the brief they were restored to their faculties,
but Mush and Colleton were again suspended, 17th October 1600, before the
appeal, in spite of the caution attributed to the latter by BlackweU (supra,
p. 91, «.). A letter from Mush on his first suspension, addressed to Bagshaw at
Wisbeach, will be found inthe Appendix (G).
Blackwell's decree suspending Robert Drury, afterwards venerated as a
martyr (Challoner, anno 1607), is preserved among the Petyt MSS. : ' Universis
cathoUcis Anglis salutem. These are to give you to understand, and are to
declare. That Mr. Robt. Drury, Priest, hath incurred the pains of suspension
and of the loss of all his faculties, not in respect of Appeal (which I do not deny
any one), but for his disobedient breach and contempt of ray fourth and fifth
penal decrees pubUshed 18° Octob : anno Dni 1600, of which he taketh notice
by his subscription to the letter and the pretended Appeal dated 17 Noverabris
1600. And to this my declaration I have subscribed with mine own hand and
thereunto set my seal. This 17th of December 1600.
' Georgius Blackwellus,
Archipresbiter Catholicorura Anglorum.'

94 A Beggar on Horseback.
There hath bin of long time an old saying in England :
that set a begger on horseback, and he will ride a gaUop : our
said new gouemors sitting in their thrones, and scorning that
any should refuse to worship them, can finde no limits for the
stay of their fury, but still runne on from one mischiefe to
another. For, our cause thus depending, they forbid all the
lay Catholicks to keepe vs company, to relieue vs, or to suffer
vs to execute any spirituall function with them : affirming, that
whosoeuer shall be present at one of our Masses, or assist vs
therein, doth commit a great sinne : and that to receiue the
sacraments at our hands, is loco medicaminis, to receiue a deadly
poyson. None may confesse their sinnes vnto vs, and none may
heare vs preach, at the least of those (which are too many)
that yeeld themselues to the direction and pleasure of such
absurd commaunders, and wicked condemners of their brethren,
notwithstanding we be exempted from such their prohibitions
by our appellation, and do therefore still inioy the full libertie
of our Priesthood. The course they hold against vs, or at the
least their stomack, may appeere vnto you, by that which a
lesuite hath written concerning vs, to one of his friends : Detest
(sayth he) my deere mother the cursed crue qf the disobedient to
lawf idl authoritie : if you know any, either (four coate, or qfthe
lay sort, that be tainted with this pestilent poyson, eschue his com
pany, as you would auoyd one that hath a plague-sore runmng
vpon him, assuring your selfe, that if such rebellious persons do
not submit their necks to the yoke qf their superiors, ihat vnlesse
God shew them some extraordinary fauour {which in such cases
he vsually denyeth to such malitious Rebels) their reuolt and
Apostasie from the Catholicke vnitie, will be the iust reward qf
their obstinacie and malapert opposition against their ordirmry.
God be mercifuU unto vs poore men : some of vs are prisoners,
and are daily in the Magistrates hands to be cut off, and finish
our ihiseries at their pleasures ; and on the other side, where we
should finde comfort, we are dealt with, as you see : and all is
either because we are readie to offer our lines for the Catholick
faith, or refuse, tiU we raay be heard by the Popes Holynes : to
acknowledge our selues to be Rebels, Schismaticks, contemners
of the See Apostolick, Ethnicks, Publicanes, Idolaters, Aposta-

Now for our Conclusion. 95
taes, and what not ? because we did not at the first subscribe to
our Archbishops authoritie, but appealed as you haue heard.
Which accusations, we trust no man Uuing by learning or argu
ments shaU be able to prooue against vs : and in the meane
time, God is our witnes, how free we are in foro conscientice,
from any of these wicked imputations. In the aforesayd
processe with these our aduersaries, some of our brethren haue
bin as carefuU to defend vs from schisme by writing, as they
haue bin busie to accuse vs : and amongst sundry of our dis
courses to that effect, two haue bin lately published in print,
which we desire you would procure : ^ and hauing duly perused
them, then thinke and iudge of us as you shall finde cause.
Now for our conclusion, if any lesuitical humorist, shall
blame or seeke to discredit vs, because in the premisses of this
Narration we haue forborne to vse any sharp speeches against
our common enemyes, we thinke it conuenient for the preuent
ing of their malitious collections, to yeeld vnto you our reasons
thereof. First, the story gaue vs no occasion so to do.
Secondly, we reteyne still the opinion which we have signi
fied to his Holynes, that the lesuiticall persecution begun
against vs, is much more grieuous vnto vs, then that which we
are subiect vnto from the State.^ Thirdly, we haue found by
experience, that the rayling course which the lesuiticall crue
haue taken and vsed in many of their treatises against her
Maiestie : and the proceedings by the lawes of the Realme :
hath done the Catholick cause exceeding much hurt. Fourthly,
as our case standeth, and for ought we see, if the pretended
holy Fathers may haue their willes, we shall be driuen to relye
more vpon her Highnes fauour for our temporall reliefe, that
^ Bagshaw probably means the two English books which had preceded his
own : The Copies of certaine discourses and The Hope of Peace. The latter we
have already seen hira heartily recommending in his Preface (supra, p. 4).
^ The reference is to the Declaratio Motuum, where the writer, enlarging
upon the insults and injuries received by the appellant clergy from the Jesuits,
concludes : idque adeo quidem ut multd nobis grauior esset persecutio quara
contra nos excitarunt patres Jesuitae and Archipresbyter, quara quae a communis
hostis insidiis nobis quotidii immineret (p. 37). Corapare p. 57, where the pope
is told how the heretics raake raerry over the sight of priests appealing to the
holy see being subjected to as great indignities at the hands of a single Jesuit in
Rome itself as ever they suffered for defending that see in England.

96 A Prayer.
we perish not with famine, before we be cut off by her lawes,
then vpon aU the world besides. And lastly, howsoeuer we
dissent from the State in the profession of our Religion : yet
we are her Maiesties borne subiects, and vassals, and ought not
for any cause, as we are perswaded, to withdraw in that respect,
our duties, loue, and allegiance from her Highnes, or our natiue
Countrie : much lesse to slaunder, or seeke the cruell ouerthrow
of both, as our trayterous aduersaries of the societie, not indeede
of lesus, but of the Diuell, and their adherents haue done. And
thus praying to God with all our hearts, to heape vpon her
Maiestie all temporall and heauenly blessings, and vpon our
state sufficient wisedorae and prouidence, for the good continu
ance of it : and vpon our Countrie all prosperitie and happines,
and vpon the Church a dayly increase of zeale for the propaga
tion and maintenance of the Catholick faith, and vpon our
lesuiticall aduersaries such riches of his mercie, as seeing the
height of their owne pride, and the extremities of their pro
ceedings, they may become humble in their owne eyes, and
desist from their very prowde Machiuilian and cruell deseigne
ments : and vpon all Catholicks sufficient grace to take heed of
those that are the authors of schisme and contention : delight
ing in nothing, but in factions and nouelties : and vpon our
selues constancie to continue in his obedience, and patience, to
be able to indure whatsoeuer calamities shall happen vnto vs
for our profession of the truth, and the discharge of our con
sciences : we take our leaues, and do heere end for this tirae.

The memoriall mentioned Page 52.^ is hard to be got : few
or none of vs that are secular Priests could euer come vnto the

^ Page 73 of this edition.

The Memorial against the Jesuits. 97
sight of it. Certaine abstracts of it are common. We haue
seen two : whereof one hath annexed vnto it certaine obserua
tions of the lesuites cariage of themselues in Rome : and both
are as followeth.

An abstract qfthe memoriall sent by certaine Englishmen out qf
the Low-country es, to the Popes holines Clement the eight,
against the lesuites labouring in the English Vineyard,
September 1597.^
The inscription of the memoriall.
A briefe declaration qf the miserable state qf Catholicks in
England.
After the Preface, it followeth in these words.
THe lesuites that are in England, desirous either to bring
vnder bondage, or vtterly to beare downe the Cleargie
of the Church of Emgland, haue dared to attempt it by
a wonderfuU stratagem. First, their will is, that in euery Catho
licks house, (and such houses are in steed of the Church) either

'^ In a letter to the nuncio of Flanders, six assistants of the archpriest (May 2,
1601) referred to this document as ' a most detestable meraorial written and
given up to his Holiness in name of the English people.' But they add ' who
or how many were the authors we cannot certainly say, but all men do suspect
that it carae firora the same shop or forge (though secretly) which the former
platform of Association did. This infamous libel the most of all our secular
priests not only denied constantly to be theirs, but confiited also every article
therein contained, and by their coraraon letters to Cardinal Caetan, our Pro
tector, they deUvered these good Fathers frora those unworthy slanders and
calumniations.' (Apologie, f. 91.)
The Memorial, coraraonly called ' Fisher's Meraorial,' is said to have
been drawn up in 1597 by the Rev. Robert Fisher, in the house of Dr. Hugh
Griffith, provost of Cambrai, frora letters and notes written chiefly by Charles
Paget and Dr. William Gifford, then dean of LiUe and afterwards archbishop of
Rheims. This Fisher had visited Wisbeach, and travelled to and fro, according

98 The Memorial against the Jesuits.

they themselues may be the Pastors, or others deputed by
them in their roomes. And if happilie there be any, that do
deny the faculties graunted by thera ; or will not take notice
that such asserablies, or companies of Catholicks depend on
thera; or will not obediently (as it were at a beck) execute
those things, that they haue commaunded ; such shall be
censured either as Apostataes, or Hereticks, or taynted at
least with some infection of heresie. So holie, so godly, so
religious would they seeme to be ; as nothing is holie, that
they haue not sanctified ; no doctrine Catholick, and sound,
that commeth not from thera ; ho dispensation auailable, that
is not graunted by them : and which is worse, they haue

to his own statements, on the business of the anti-jesuit party in England and
abroad. He narrowly escaped apprehension at Brussels. At Liege he left
behind him his bag, in which Dr. Barret discovered ' a little compendious note
of all their articles against the Jesuits at Rome.' This was duly reported to
Parsons, and accordingly when Fisher arrived in Rome he was arrested and put
through a severe examination on oath by the papal fiscal. He then represented
hiraself as converted to the Jesuit side, and from his sworn depositions or con
fessions Parsons derived a large part of his charges against the appellants. But
Parsons hiraself describes Fisher ' as one of the most exorbitant disorderly fellows
in the Roman stirs,' and deprives his confessions of much of their value by the
cautious qualification, ' albeit we will not affirm all to be true which he said '
(Apologie, ff. 94-97). Dr. Ely says, 'the miserable fellow being apprehended
and fearing the gallies or the gallows, to save his life and limbs, was ready to
swear and forswear . . . such things as he knew would best please the offended
persons ' (Briefe Notes, p. 165) ; and Bagshaw, in his Answer to the Apologie
(p. 27), declares that Parsons threatened ' to put hot irons to his (Fisher's) arms
if he would not confess what he would have. '
The Memorial and the extracts from letters upon which it was founded
were first circulated in Latin by the Jesuits themselves in order to shame their
adversaries by the apparent extravagance of the charges contained in them, and to
secure counter memorials from their friends. A. P. maintains, further, that
the Jesuits made an English translation ' for women to see it and understand it ; '
but it probably did not appear in print before its publication by Bagshaw in his
book. Cf. A. P. Reply to the Apologie, pp. 166-171 ; Plowden's Remarks on
Panzani, p. 109 ; TurnbuU's English Chapter, pp. 22-24. Parsons touches
briefly on some points of the Memorial in his Apologie, but in his Manifestation
he takes up the abstract here printed, quoting and contemptuously denying each
article of accusation, especiaUy those of the ' Certajme Chiefe points.' W. C, in
his Reply (ff. 13-26), once raore goes over the whole ground, justifying the
several charges, and bringing forward a number of facts in confirmation of them.

Their Tricks to degrade the Clergy. 99
beaten into the heads of the raost, that the Masse is not
rightly, and orderly celebrated of any, but a lesuite.^
When any of the Cleargie graunteth a dispensation in any
case ; by and by there is doubt made of his power and author
ity ; some question ariseth of his life, and conuersation ; as if
his Priesthood, and calling were not certaine, or assured.^ It
is not inough for the Cleargie to line a godly, and an holie
life, vnlesse withall they will acknowledge the lesuites to be
their superiors ; thus some man shall be tormented, another
some turraoyled, a third some troubled : for who so gathereth
not for and with them only, he shall be iudged altogether to
scatter. And that they may the better set this their deuise
abroch, they cause to be made knowne to all men the faculties
His statements have some biographical interest, and are at least curious as
exhibiting the current gossip of his party.
Father Plowden admits that Dr. Gifford, ' though liable to passionate
prejudice,' ' possessed learning and other good qualities ; ' that ' it was re
corded of him that he was charitable to the poor,' and when promoted to the
archbishopric ' he governed his diocese with repute till his death in 1629.' This
vigorous opponent of the Jesuits and their policy seems, indeed, to have been
endowed vrith a singularly gentle and amiable disposition. He had been a
friend and admirer of St. Charles Borromeo, and acted for some time as the
cardinal's theologian at Rome. After holding the deanery of Lille for ten
years, he relinquished it to enter the order of St. Benedict, which he did at
Rheims in 1608, taking the name of Gabriel of St. Mary. A pleasing descrip
tion of his character will be found in the ' Discours Funebre sur la raort de feu
Monseigneur le Reverendissirae Gabriel de Ste. Marie Archeuesque Due de
Reiras, premier Pair de France and Legat ne du S. Siege ApostoUque, par
Dora Guillaume Marlot, Docteur en Theologie, etc. Seconde edition. A Reims,
1630.' Charles Paget, Gifford's political ally, was a man ofa very different
stamp— quarrelsome, treacherous, and vindictive.
1 As to this last assertion W. C. remarks soraewhat diffidently, ' Sure I ara,
and I think all the world knoweth it to be true, that they have such tricks and
poUcies to put some such extraordinary conceits into catholics' heads that I see
not but in sorae part this assertion raay be verified,' and adds that the fathers get
their friends to proclaim that any catholic, coming to confess or communicate to
a Jesuit for the first time, vrill receive a plenary indulgence. But whether they
have such extraordinary privileges, W. C. cannot say (f. 13).
^ Parsons, in his ' Story of Domestical Difficulties ' (quoted by Tiemey, iii. p.
cUx), declares that catholic laymen, alarmed at the moral ruin of so many of the
seminarists (tot tantisque naufragiis), would hold scarcely any intercourse with
these priests unless they were specially recommended by the Jesuits ; nisi a patribus
societatis vel voce vel scriptis vel denique signo fuerint comprobati.

100 The Memorial against the Jesuits.
graunted vnto them by his holynes the Bishop of Rome ; and
they giue it out, that the most vnlearned lesuite doth farre
excell the most learned secular Priest, both in faculties, and
priuiledges. And it is noysed about, as it were by the common
cryer that they haue power from his holynes to graunt to all,
and euery one, all and singular their faculties ; insomuch as it
shall not be lawfull and safe for any to vse their priuiledges
though graunted them many yeres before fro his holynes, but
with the leaue, and consent of these Fathers of the societie.
And when they do giue out their faculties, they do not bestow
them on leamed, godly, or holy men ; but on vnlearned, vn
godly, and irreligious ; nay seditious persons, such as follow
their humor, stoupe at their beck, and stand bound euer after
vnto them.^
Further they endeuor, that by all meanes possible, both
those almes which are giuen for the reliefe of them that are in
prison, or any other poore afflicted whatsoeuer ; as also whatso-

' Until the appointment of the archpriest. Garnet had authority to grant or
subdelegate faculties to secular priests as well as to members of his own body.
No one araong the forraer, except Mush, and perhaps (as Tierney thinks) Colleton,
possessed such a power, and this ceased with Allen's death. Garnet, in a letter
to Parsons, quoted by Tiemey (vol. iii. p. cxli), laments the new mle by
which Blackwell was to communicate faculties to the seculars, and Garnet to his
own subjects only. His words throw some light upon the complaint in the
meraorial. Referring to the restriction in question, he writes : ' It will be a
matter of sorae triuraph unto such as chiefly sought to have our faculties abridged.
. . . By this also have I lost the chiefest means I had to win the favour of good
honest priests. . . . And verily it vrill be no sraall prejudice to the common
necessities when no one can communicate but the archpresbyter alone, who cannot
so easily be met vrithal.' He makes a similar complaint in a holograph letter
(preserved among the Petyt Mss., vol. xlvii. f. ii6) addressed to John Payn,
attributing the regulation to the envy of other priests, but boasts that yet the
Jesuits have in other respects ampler faculties than they had before. W. C.
accuses the Jesuits of denying to the secular clergy the power to grant dis
pensations from fasting in Lent, thus compelling priests to seek such faculties
yeariy at their hands. The fathers, however, may have been right as to the fact.
At least no such power is mentioned among the ' facultates concedendae sacer
dotibus in Angliam euntibus cum remissione ad Archipresbyteram ' granted by
cardinal Cajetan, Feb. 2, 1599. (Petyt Mss. xlvii. 137). It is obvious what
a great advantage, in this fierce struggle for maintenance and power, would be
held by any raan possessing extraordinary faculties in or out of the confessional.

Their Misappropriation of Alms. 101
euer is paid in cases of dispensation, may come to their hands.^
Heretofore (when Priests had the collection of these almes)
prisons were therewith maintayned ; the want in CoUedges was
supplyed ; the banished Catholicks (whose goodes were forciblie
taken from them by Hereticks) were yerely succoured: but now,
what is done with them we know not. Prisons and CoUedges
are depriued of them ; the banished haue them not ; the Priests
see them not : but there are hired herewith seditious persons ;
deuisers of fables, slaunderers of their brethren, and skorners of
the Saincts are herewith enriched ; these, and such as these, re
ceiue large stipends of their labours.
And yet so great a masse of monies cannot be consumed,
with so small charges, and expences, but that the Fathers also
bestow much vpon themselues. For they go indeed in great
gallantrie ; no lesuite goeth but to visit any one, or trauelleth
from one place to another, but he is richly apparrelled, he is
attended on with a great trayne of seruants, as if he were a
Baron, or an Earle ; ^ whicli is not necessary, but playnely

' The diversion of the alms of the faithful into Jesuit channels became an
increasing source of complaint on the part of the seculars and their superiors. Birk
head, who succeeded BlackweU as archpriest, writes in 1609 : 'Even those who
have been thirty years in England are now destitute, and call to me for places of
residence. Want of relief will be the bane and ruin of many of our brethren. '
And again, ' raore workmen do daily come over, and think much they have not
relief from me, which I assure you they should if I had it. But exceeding little
cometh to my hands. The great gobbets go when the distributors please, who
are all for our opposites ; for I have as yet small favour amongst ^them. I believe
it is done to weary rae. My old assistant. Dr. Bavant, told me that he, sending
to the places of their residences within his circuit, received no other answer about
the collections than that he should raake none there at all, because they meant to
bestow their alms only upon the fathers.' (Tiemey, v. 7 n.) This is ascribed, in
a memorial addressed to Paul v., to the frequent calumnies spread by certain
catholics that raany secular priests, even the leaders among them, were in the
habit of treating with heretics and betraying their affairs to the government.
Holtby, for instance, writing to Parsons, May 6, 1609, mentions Finch, a priest,
' and some four or five more not yet discovered ' as ' intelligencers for the bishops,
with Mr. CoUeton, Mush, R. S[raith], Bishop, and others.' (Ibid. p. 25.)
2 ' This paragraph also our good father shuffleth off with an interrogation, sc.
whether in our conscience this be true?' writes W. C, and proceeds to give
sorae instances which curiously illustrate the ways and means of the Jesuit
missionary in and out of prison. As to Father Heywood, aU catholics know

102 The Memorial against the Jesuits.

ridiculous and absurd. The secular Priests themselues do go
also Gentlemen-Uke because of danger ; but not arayed in that
sumptuous manner, nor guarded with so many attendants, as
the lesuites. They wrangle ; and reproue the Priests garments,
and spendings ; whereas the expences of one lesuite were able
to mayntayne twentie Priests plentifully, and richly. Neither
by this meanes also could so great a quantitie of almes be
wasted, but that (as the report goes) much treasure is con-
ueyed beyond the Seas, but to what purpose, we know not,
vnlesse it be bestowed vpon their bodie, their corporation, or
societie. Besides they desire (as some conceiue) that longiand should
be conuerted of none but lesuites only. For they wUl admit
well that ' his port and carriage was more baron-like than priest-like. . . . Was
he not wont to ride up and down the country in his coach ? Had he not both
servants and priests attendants that did hang on his sleeve in great numbers ?
Did he not indict councils, make and abrogate laws ? Was not his pomp such as
the places where he came seemed petty courts by his presence, his train and
followers ? ' Garnet is said to have spent not less than £s<x> a year. The ' mighty
and extraordinary excess of Father John Gerard,' we are told, was notorious.
His church stuff was worth ;r^200. A lady gave him a vest of needlework valued
at lOO marks. ' Myself have known him to have two geldings in a gentleman's
stable at 30 pound a gelding, besides others elsewhere, and horses of good use. '
During his confinement in the Clink prison he kept a private table continuaUy
vrith a great store of dainties and much resort daily. Besides he paid his ordinary
commons at the common table and chamber rent. ' Let those who have lived at
the Clink but judge what this would come to in the year.' He ordinarily kept
his gelding in tovm and his man. ' He rode into the country at his pleasure and
returned, which I think you vrill suppose cost his purse well in bribes to such as
were his keepers if to no other. He also maintained two houses in the town with
servants in them. . . . Sure I am and such as Uved with hira in the Clink were
of opinion that he could not maintain all this I have spoken of under 400 or 500
pounds by the year. See the pomp ofa young Baronet at the least. '
Father Oldcorn, ' was but a petty Jesuit in this kind,' yet his apparel cost 30
or 40 pounds. He had eight good horses at one time. An ordinary Jesuit will
spend more than five seculars, and will go only ' to places of account where their
entertainment may be good and with the best. . . . And such as have heretofore
been secular priests, and were then wont to go on foot sometiraes and visit poor
people willingly to relieve them and comfort them, becoming afterwards Jesuits
have been so a cockhorse that it must be thought no sraall favour to be worthy
of their presence, and that not without their attendants and other cereraonies ;
Witness this Ma. Bancks, Ma. Blunt, and others now Jesuits' (ff. 14, 15).

Their Hostility to Douai College. 103
no fellow-laborers : and they vse the same meanes they hereto
fore vsed in the CoUedges, to disswade many for the order of
their calling, counselling them by aU meanes to enter into their
societie ; and this they dayly attempt by flatterie, by gifts, and
rewards, & sometimes by threatnings. They neuer send one
scholler out of England to the CoUedge at Doway to studie
there, but hinder what they may them that are going thither.
They care not for that CoUedge, because they cannot draw it
into their societie : nay they haue laboured by all meanes
vtterly to dissolue it.^
Moreouer, they challenge vnto themselues a spirituall
Monarchic ouer all England, as it may appeare by a certain
contention in the prison at Wisbich, in which there were, and

' The grievances here complained of by the memorialists as existing in 1597
were felt far more keenly a few years later. Dr. Richard Barret, who had suc
ceeded Allen in the presidency of the college then at Rheims, died in May 1599.
He was incompetent for the position, and, as his latest biographer remarks, ' his
complaisance to the Jesuits prepared the way for later encroachments, as he not
only succeeded in alienating the sympathies of the most influential of the clergy,
but lost the respect of those whom he governed by his display of ill-temper and
his disobliging spirit (Gillow, Bibliogr. Diet.). W. C. declares that Barret
grew weary of the Jesuit yoke, and ' cried they had burst his back . . . and this
not long before he died.' On his death the college petitioned for a superior of
their own choice. This was refused through the influence of Parsons, who pro
cured the appointment of Dr. Thomas Worthington, long known as ' " blind
and unyielding partisan ' (Tiemey, v. 4-7). Worthington had two years before
placed himself under a vow of obedience to Parsons. ' His first step was to dis
card the confessor of the house, and to substitute a member of the society. . . .
By degrees the old profession was removed ; the ancient institution of theological
lectures was abolished ; youths only just emerging from their studies were taken
from the schools and thrast into the chairs of divinity ; and while men notorious
for their party predilections were associated with the president in the manage
ment of the house, a negotiation was actually opened with a view to surrender
the estabUshment to the society. In the meanwhile the effects of these and other
innovations were already manifesting themselves in England. Subjected to no
probation, trained to no discipline, the scholars were, in many instances, hurried
through an imperfect course of study, and despatched with the hasty gleanings of
a few weeks' or months' instruction to enter on the duties of the mission. As
they came without learning, so they not unfrequently came without virtue and
religion. Scandals of course ensued. The enemies of religion looked down with
triumph on what was passing. The adversaries of the clergy sought to create
a prejudice against the whole body of the secular priesthood. Unfortunately they

104 The Memorial against the Jesuits.
are in hold for the profession of their faith 32. Priests, dayly
looking for their death. These Uuing a long time a godly, and
an holy Ufe, did eate altogether, studied altogether, vsed euery
day to preach, to dispute, to intreate of cases of conscience, to
expound the scriptures ; and exercised the sarae studies, as they
were wont to practise in the Vniuersities : all were of one minde ;
all of one heart ; all as brethren ; one bearing with another.
The towne of Wisbich loued them ; all the land praised them ;
the hereticks admired them ; the keepers of the prisons greatly
affected them : so that they inioy ed euery day more and more
libertie. Their maintenance came to them from all places, yea
the very Ministers (though hereticks) very often helped to
relieue them. Many yeeres Uued they in this godly, holy, and

were but too successful. The catholics, filled with a vague suspicion of danger,
gradually closed their doors against every member of the clergy with whom they
were not personally acquainted. To increase the evil. Dr. Worthington from
Douai still continued to pour in his iUiterate recmits. . . . Idleness and destitu
tion, and the associations consequent on their poverty, were now added to their
other misfortunes. A feeling of recklessness grew up amongst many of them ;
apostacies and immoralities followed ; and all the evils resulting from the degra
dation of its ministers seemed about to descend upon religion.' An instance is
given in the career of a Rev. Mr. Chambers. He entered Douai as an aluranus
in June 1605, was ordained priest six months later, and sent upon the mission.
' Here (writes John Bennet, apud Tierney) he fell into the hands of the pursui
vants, apostatised, became a servant in one of the cathedrals, and, having been
ultimately detected in the commission of an odious felony, terminated his life on
the gallows. ' Birkhead remarks : ' A monstrous scandal it was. ... If he had
been relieved at first, he had never played that part.' He was debauched by the
heretics, and 'protested at his death that he was never infected with that
abominable sin until he joined with them.'
W. C. complains that all the youth of good family, wealth or talent were sent
by the Jesuits to their seminary at St. Omers. 'Since the erecting of this
seminary, what gentleman's son (he asks) hath been sent over by any Jesuit in
England but to that house ? ' The right of presentation originally belonged to the
archpriest and superior of the Jesuits in England, but was gradually extended to
other members of the society. So that the patronage of Douai passed almost
exclusively into their hands.
The diary of the college relating to this period of decadence and misgovern
ment, subsequent to the retum from Rheims to Douai in 1593, is extant in MS. in
the archives of the archbishop of Westminster, but unfortunately remains un-
printed. A mass of interesting documents on the subject has been coUected in
the fifth volume of Tierney's Dodd.

Their fawning upon the Rich. 105

deuout kind of life, vntill a lesuite, one Edmunds by name (in
spired we know not with what spirit) gaue to some occasion to
doubt of the well imploying of the almes receiued. This
foundation laid, he so insinuated himselfe with faire demeanour
and false deuises into the hearts of many, as that he deuided
the Priests into two parts, whereof the one part drew to him,
the other stood against him.
They vse also to fawne vpon men of noble birth, especially
if they be rich, and inueigle them by all faire meanes to sell all
that they haue, and enter into their Societie. Women also are
induced by them to become Nunnes, and to leaue such goods as
they haue, to them. Which thing many that are godly-wise
allow not. For such rich Laitie (all circumstances considered)
are able to further more the establishing of the faith in Eng
land, then the lesuites consider of. For such as they, might
giue maintenance to Priests ; enrich the prisons of Catholicks
with their gifts ; help the afflicted : they may more freely, and
with lesse danger speak of the Catholick religion, and faith ;
more coraraonly argue and discourse with hereticks. But the
lesuites consider not, that these, and such other things may be
done, and would be done by them without any difficultie. But
in this manner do they make merchandise of the conuersion of
England ; thus do they dispose of the last wils of the sick ;
thus loue they to intermeddle with the manages of raany,
with their temporall goods, and indeed with all things : Alwayes
taking that course with all men, that something happen to their
share, hauing minde indeed of nothing, but their owne gaine.
They skome to come to any one, but where they may be
daintily, and costly entertayned : ^ they looke not after the

' ' Dainty and costly entertainment ' cannot easily be associated with the
harassed and hunted lives of such men as Henry Walpole or John Gerard. But
to all the fathers, in their moments of rest or of hiding, the doors of the best
catholic houses in England were open, while they were as a rule closed or
opened with mistrust to other priests, or at least to those who did not bring with
them some certificate of approval from a Jesuit. As an illustration — not by any
means of the charges adduced in the memorial, but of the mode in which the
bounty and alms of the rich flowed in upon the favoured society — it may not be
out of place to quote a few lines from the biography of Anne, countess of Arundel

106 The Memorial against the Jesuits.
cottages of the poore, nor minister their hel)3 to them, be
there neuer so much need.

and Surrey, written by her Jesuit confessor. ' And first, to begin with priests '
(writes the author in a chapter on her ' charitable deeds to priests and religious
persons,' 1 593- 1 630), ' although she had little or no acquaintance with any ofthe
secular clergy, yet at several times, to my knowledge, she has given good sums of
money for their relief, and would have done more had not less discretion of some
made abate something of her accustomed liberality towards them,. And how
willing she was to have helped any of them in just occasions is manifest by what
she did for the delivery of Mr. Blackwell, the first archpriest.' The writer goes
on to relate how she procured Blackwell's escape from a dangerous hiding-place,
where he was watched, by bribing the pursuivants. ' She was so charitable to
religious persons that besides what she gave to particulars she met vrith by
accident, there was no order in England of which she had notice but at one time
or other received some considerable alras frora her, nor scarce any college or
religious house of our nation [in Flanders, Italy, or Spain]. But to none nor to
all the rest together was she so beneficial and bountiful as to those of the society
of Jesus. For, besides her keeping ever some of them in her house for the space
of raore than forty years, and the relieving in sundry occasions divers other
particular persons of them, she gave every year very large alms to their com
munity here in England, and continued it to her dying day. And to the end
they might not want that, or a better means after her decease, she sent at several
times 2500 pounds beyond seas, thereto put in bank and increased till her death,
and then the profit thereof to be eraployed for their use and raaintenance here. '
The money was lost ; but yet, not discouraged, she bought for them the house in
Ghent. ' Not only to those of the society of our nation was she so beneficial as
has been said, but to others also of the same society of other nations, as unto
Father Mutio Vitelleschi, then general of the order,' etc. That which made her
so specially affected to the society, we are told, was the good opinion of it she
had heard from her grandmother. Lady Mounteagle, and the good reports she
heard of Father Campion and Father Parsons, also the conversation she had with
Father Gasper Heywood soon after her conversion. ' But afterwards meeting
with some who buzz'd many things against thera, she was not a little aUenated
(as she has often told rae) until being inforraed of the truth by Father Wilham
Weston, who reconciled the earl, her husband, but chiefly by Father Southwell,
she remained so well satisfied that ever after she continued a most constant friend
and perpetual benefactress. . . . The very last night of her life she told rae, who
ara a Jesuit, and helped her to die, that nothing did then raore corafort her than
what she had done for the society, and in particular the setting up the coUege
in Gant.' ( The Lives of Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, and of Anne Dacres,
his wife. Edited by the Duke of Norfolk. London, 1861.)
With this may be compared an account of the ' entertainment ' given to the
fathers, often half a dozen at a time, in a quaint and in many respects pleasing
biography of Mrs. Dorothy Lawson (bom in 1580, died 1632), daughter of Sir
Henry Constable of Burton Constable, written by Father Palmer, S. J., the lady's
confessor (p. 46, seq., Newcastle, 1855).

Their Delight in Equivocation. 107
Moreouer, they are so delighted with equiuocation, or a
subtile and dissembling kind of speech, as that to the scandall
of others they are not ashamed to defend it in their publick
writings. There were read before the ludges on the bench in
open Court, and in the hearing of all the people the letters of
a certain lesuite named SouthweU, wherein equiuocations were
most absurdly defended, which gaue cause of laughter to the
hereticks, and occasion of scandall to the Catholicks. They
take pleasure also to scatter rumors, and to suggest certaine

' A certain Jesuite named Southwell ' was the weU-known poet and martyr
Robert Southwell, who had been hanged at Tyburn two years before, Feb. 20,
1 595) after suffering with marvellous patience and fortitude, at the hands of the
monster Topcliffe, tortures raore horrible than perhaps any which were inflicted
upon his fellow-victims. At his trial Southwell was charged with having
instructed Anne Bellamy, who betrayed him, that if she were asked at any time,
by a pursuivant whether there was a priest in her house she should deny the
fact, and, if need be, on her oath. SouthweU defended his position at the bar,
citing the example of Jesus, who had said that no one knew the day of judgment,
' neither the angels nor the Son,' i.e. that Jesus had no such knowledge as he
could communicate to others. At this the judges and the court, we are told by
the Jesuit historian, Bartoli (Inghilterra, ii. 70), ' made a show of being highly
scandalised, and would have stopped their ears.' This was apparently the first
occasion on which the theory and practice of equivocation were brought into
public notice in England. There is no extant treatise on the question by
SouthweU hiraself, but he had evidently written one, and the notoriety of his
case led to the composition of a tract, of unknown authorship, but corrected and
prepared for the press by Garnet, in defence of Southwell's thesis. This tract,
written between 1592 and 1595, was found in the lodgings of Francis Tresham
at the time of the Gunpowder Plot, and the identical copy so discovered, with
the annotations in Garnet's handwriting, is now in the Bodleian hbrary. It was
edited with a preface by D. Jardine in 1851. The author (p. 4) informs us
that ' Mr. SouthweU himself wrote long since a particular instruction of this
matter, and no better defender could we have of Mr. Southwell than Mr.
Southwell himself, if either that writing were easy to be found,' etc. ; and pro-
raises ' that other labour of Mr. Southwell shall be (God wiUing) with convenient
leisure published.' He refers in another place (p. 46) to 'that Blessed Father
Southwell, his doctrine, whom some would glad with their calumniations fetch
out of heaven if they could.' The original title of the MS. was : 'A Treatise of
Equivocation, wherein is largely discussed the Question whether a Catholicke or
any other person before a magistrate, beyng demaunded uppon his oath whether a
Prieste were in such a place, may (notw"'standing his perfect knowledge to
the contrary) wi^out Periury and securely in conscience answere. No, w* this
secreat meaning reserued in his mynde, That he was not there so that any

108 The Memorial against the Jesuits.
nouelties in the eares of Catholicks, yea to forge and inuent
things that are not, insomuch as they are commonly held now
adayes great lyars ; and it is come to that passe, that though
they sweare, men will not beleeue them.
All Vniuersitie men, and such as haue taken any degree in
schooles (and such in our countrey are most regarded) they hate
most, despise, contemne, and reproch.^ It is a coraraon report
man is bound to detect it.' The question is of course answered frankly and
plainly in the affirmative. Garnet ingeniously altered the title to : ' A Treatise
against Lying and Dissimulation newly overseen by the author, and published
for the defence of Innocency and the instruction of Ignorants.' BlackweU
approved and gave his Imprimatur to the tract as ' valde doctus et vere pius.'
Parsons gives his own opinion briefly in the Apologie (ff. 199, seq.), and reports
a discussion which took place on the question between Mr. Thos. Bensted, ' a
martyr,' and Dr. Bagshaw, in the course of which the Doctor declared 'he
never could abide equivocations.' Parsons accordingly notes in the margin
' He that sticketh not at lies never needeth to use equivocations ; ' and
referring to Southwell's speech at the bar, denounces ' these good fellows,' i.e.
his clerical brethren, who, ' conspiring with the persecutors, have sought to
disgrace him ever since for the same, and not only him, but his whole order.
Examples of the extent to which Gamet and Tresham theraselves carried the
practice of equivocation will be found in Mr. Jardine's volume referred to above.
Parsons discusses the question more fully in ' A Treatise tending to Mitigation
towards Catholicke-Subiectes in England . . . against Thomas Morton,
Minister . . . by P. R., 1607,' where he devotes 255 pages to a defence of his
doctrine. A learned answer to this treatise was published by Dr. John Barnes, a
benedictine, in a volume entitled Dissertatio contra jEquivocationes (Paris, 1625).
The author insists against Parsons that the doctrine so far from being ' estab
lished these forty years by the practise of the whole Christian world, and by
the common teaching of the schools of theology,' as the Jesuit had maintained,
was in fact a novelty devoid of authority : ' recentiorum minutorum theolo-
goram sententiam, a qua theologi veteres abhorrent ' (p. 3).
¦^ Parsons attributes the authorship of this ' calumniation ' to Bagshaw himself.
Dr. Ely devotes several pages to the subject (Briefe Notes, pp. 84-94). ' The
fifth cause of discontent,' he writes, ' is that the Rectors (yea our English
Rectors) in the Roman College have no respect of such graduates as are made in
our Universities in England, but will make more of a boy, and give him better
countenance and place him higher at the table, than to a batchelor or a M. of Art
which cannot be but a great corrisive to such graduates, and a great fault in
govemraent, especially of English Fa., who either do or should know what
esteera learning and degrees take in schools. . . . But the Fathers, whether it
be under the colour of making them humble, or for some other cause best known
to themselves, do give very little or no credit or countenance at all to graduates.
And another thing (which hath been noted of some men), they never sent any
from that college into England with any degree of schools on their back, two

Their habitual Use of Calumny. 109
in England, that had it not bin for the pride, and ambition of
the lesuites, there had eare this bin graunted some toleration
in Religion. To conclude, omitting all other things (which are very
many) I wil only rehearse one, which I haue heard of many ;
that it is corae to this passe now, that the Catholicks stand in
more feare of the lesuites, then of the hereticks. For the
only excepted [marg. D. Barrett, D. Stillington], who, being speciaUy
favoured and loved of Father Alfonso, were made Doctors in Rome before their
mission, but were both stayed at Rhemes. ' . . .
' To the man you note in the margin (who complained of the disgrace
of degrees), when he was sent frora Rheraes to Rorae, I said thus to him —
Master Bagshawe, you are going to Rome, and in your company such and such
(naming 2 poor scholars that served him and the rest at the table), when you
come there, you shall see these boys (your servants here) as well clothed, lodged
and served as yourself, peradventure more in favour and better liked of the
superior than you and to sit higher at the table than you, can you abide this ?
think on it for so it will happen, as it did indeed. Which made him. Master
Stafferton, Warford (now a Jesuit), Fixer, D. Cicill, and others having all
been Graduates and of good account in Oxford to dislike and storm at it, as
many others have done since and still will do till graduate be better respected.'
Immediately after peace was made at the Roman college, and a few weeks
before the date of the Memorial, Clement VIII. issued a decree, Sept. 19, 1597,
prohibiting any English divine frora taking the degree of doctor until, in addition
to the usual four years occupied in theological studies, he shall have spent an
additional four years in perfecting and consolidating these studies. Moreover,
the candidate was to provide himself with a certificate of approval from the rector
of the seminary in which he was educated, as well as from the cardinal protector
or his vicegerent.
'The promulgation of this decree,' says Tierney, 'produced considerable
excitement among a large portion of the clergy. Connecting it with the late
events in the English college, they regarded it as a species of retaliation, and
persuaded theraselves that it was a scheme devised by the Jesuits for the purpose
of degrading the secular clergy ' (iii. 40). Tierney himself thinks the tendency
of the regulation was rather to redeem the body from disgrace by providing that
the substance and name of learning should be united. Dr. Ely, however, who
says the decree was not printed till three years later, i.e. till 1601, points out
with much indignation the practical inconveniences and hardships of ' this buggy
bull.' He suspects that the object was to prevent others from following the
example of Bagshaw and other students, who, leaving the English college without
degrees, took them afterwards on their own account at some foreign university.
These were called in derision Italian doctors. Bagshaw was nicknamed doctor
erraticus or per saltum. ' God be blessed,' exclaims Ely, ' that some of us were
Doctors before these men [the Jesuits] carae to govern the court and country, else
raight we have gone beg our bread and many a one blow their naUs besides. '

110 The Memorial against the Jesuits.
hereticks (say they) can but chasten the bodie only ; but the
lesuites wound both their bodies, and their good name.^ They
do not indeed directly cause Priests to be apprehended, but in
directly. That is, hauing spread some reports of them, whereby
their good name is taken away, so as they stand suspected either
of heresie, or of some other heynous offence,^ no Catholick enter-
tayneth them, and so consequently, they are driuen to pouertie,
how can they escape the hands of the hereticks ? And albeit
they lye in prison, and bonds, and are raany wayes tormented,
if they be not crowned with the glory of martyrdome, they shal
neuer be purged from that former suspition, but shall be ac
counted euery day more and more, as hereticks.

^ W. C. names several catholics upon whom the Jesuits had cast ' their continual
infamies. ' But he adds, ' a whole volume would be little enough to comprehend
the catalogue of such gentlemen and priests as have tasted of this kind of whip
from the Jesuits and their followers.' Among the martyrs he mentions the case
of the franciscan ' Jones, alias Buckley, as notorious. I myself was particularly
acquainted therewith, and his letters writ to Fa. Garnet, after his condemnation,
may be a sufficient testimony. ' Harrington was so oppressed with such calumnies
that, having the offer of a means of escape, he neglected it, saying that ' he must be
hanged to prove himself honest. ' He was hanged in 1 594. Mr. Fixer was forced
by their slanders to leave England, and finally, through their bad usage, lost his
life with grief and sorrow. Mr. Pibush [mart. 1601], during his stay in Gloucester
prison, 'was calumniated by thera as inconstant in his faith and suspicious of
revolt : myself am witness thereof. ' Mr. Plasden was so wronged by Mr. John
Gerard and others that he could not be received amongst his old acquaintance in
London. By which means he fell into the officers' hands and was executed [1591].
Mr. Wingfield was called into suspicion for Southwell's apprehension. Witness
their dealings with Mr. Edward Bennet, ' whom they so defamed with the note of
espiall and the like that he was thrust out of his residence, and the calumniation so
generally spread in the country about him that, had not an old gentlewoman taken
pity on him, he would have been reduced to extremities.' 'Verilie,' says the
writer, ' I think the third priest now in England hath not escaped their spiteful
tongues.' ' Mr. George Beesley [martyr 1 591] was notoriously abused by them.'
The list in the Petyt MSB., referred to above (p. 17, ».), contains the names
of fourteen martyrs cum plurimis aliis, said to have been defamed by the Jesuits.
^ Dr. Gifford, writing to two English priests who had opposed themselves to
the proceedings of Father Holt, says : ' They (the Jesuits) have of late spread
a report at Brussels, and a certain one returning to Douai has proclaimed it
in public, that you are guUty of heresy, fomication, and an unmentionable crime
(nefandi sceleris), and that his holiness had at one time resolved to condemn
you to the gallies, but had spared you for the honour of our nation. Although
very raany repudiated such a calumny with horror, it nevertheless obtains credit
with some ' (quoted by Turnbull, English Chapter, p. 6).

Certain chief Points of Accusation. Ill
Certayne chiefe points qf accusations, wherewith many English
men haue iustly charged the lesuites vnto the Pope, and
diuers Cardinals : taken out qf the Memoriall and other
letters : some qfthem dated at Rome 8. qf Nouember 1597.^
Touching the lesuites in England.
THe Fathers of the Societie do dissent aniong themselues.
Fa. Henrie the superior, and Fa. Edmonds, in the Prison
at Wisbich, and there are 26. Articles of their dissension.-

^ The history of these articles is told by Parsons in his Manifestation, as
follows : —
'The second and third catalogue of slanders . . . were written by
some oftheir own friends, and this very secretly and covertly underhand, and
by them sent to Rome, thereby to incense the flarae of the Roman sedition
when it was on fire, with order to spread the said slanders abroad, but in no
wise to discover the authors thereof. These they now divulge in print, under
the title of " Certain Chief Points."
' And further where it is said that many Englishmen gave up these false
accusations, we find but two named in the latin original, to wit Ch. P. and
W. G., who by these men are guilefully omitted in the English, and by us also
should not be mentioned but that we are forced in some sort to figure their
names by the first letters for testimony of the truth : for seeing they denied the
same afterwards by many protestations to many, and one of them before a public
magistrate, and the matters objected being so absurd, impious, and apparently
false in themselves we would willingly have held silence therein. . . .
' We must note that these calumniations which here they set abroad were
certain brief articles coUected by some of our fathers in Rorae out of a great
raass of seditious letters, which, at the making up of the peace and ending of the
strife in the city, were partly discovered and exhibited voluntarily upon scruple
of conscience by those that had been troublesome, and partly found by chance,
or rather perhaps by God's providence, the better to confirm the said peace
within the college, which letters had been written and sent thither by the fore
said two friends, C. P. and W. G., out of Flanders for the intent before men
tioned of increasing those troubles. ' ' These documents, ' adds Parsons, ' were put
together in a good large book yet extant,' entitled 'Acta Seditiosa C[aroli]
P[agetti] et G[ulielmi] G[iffordi], etc., Romje, anno 1596 & 1597, contra Patres
societalis. ' They were then sent to Gifford, hoping to move him at the sight
to some retractation ' (ff. 5, 6).
The marginal references to sorae of the sources frora which the extracts were
drawn, and which Parsons accuses the author of the Relation of unfairly sup
pressing, are supplied in the foUowing notes.
2 This article is attributed to ' Ch. P., in coUoquio cum P. Bonard, ut patet
ex ejusdem Uteris, 27 Sept. 1597.' (Manifestation, f. 9.) Parsons points

112 Certain chief Points of A ccusation.

If any Priest haue a conuenient place of residencie, the lesuits
will not cease vntill they haue cast him out, and that by wicked
meanes, by defaming him, and bringing him into suspition.
That the lesuites are the firebrands of all seditions.
That the lesuites by right or wrong seeke simply and
absolutely the Monarchic of all England.^
They are enemies to all secular Priests.
They are the causes of all the discord in the English Nation.
They are called of the schismaticks horse-leaches, or bloud-
suckers. That Fa. Parsons, and Sir Era. Inglefeild Knight, deuised
the complot to set the Cardinals Aldobrandinus, Caietane, and
the Bishop of Cassana together by the eares : and to fall foule
one vpon an other.^
out that it stands in contradiction to the common charge that the Jesuits are too
much united, the one obeying the other's beck. W. C. retorts that they are
like ' Sampson's foxes, who were all tied together by the tails, running with
their heads divers courses, yet all into the Philistines' corn,' and adds that
' Sixtus Quintus of famous memory was wont to say of them (as divers of credit
in Rome reported) Qui tangit unum tangit omnes. . . . Witness the jars
between Fa. Crighton and Father Parsons for Scottish and Spanish affairs, the
like between him and Fa. Haywood in England, etc. . . . This point is so
evident to all the world, as I assure myself no one reUgious order in God's
church cometh near unto them therein : witness their daily expulsions out of
their order and the multitude departing from them yearly ' (Reply, f. 22).
^ This is evidently borrowed from Dr. Gifford, who, writing from Brussels to
Tho. Throgmorton at Rome that Parsons and his faction, Stanley, Holt, etc.,
are instruments of mischief, and deal for the ruin of the nation, adds, ' Parsons
seeks the simple monarchy of England /^?- yai et nefas.' (May 17, 1595. Cal.
S. P., Dom. Eliz., ccLll., No. 8.)
^ This article also appears to have eraanated frora Dr. Gifford. In a letter to
Thrograorton, then residing with the bishop of, Cassano, Gifford writes frora
Brussels, May 20, 1595 : ' Surely the device of setting by the ears Cajetan, Cas
sano and the principal of the Jesuits comes from Verstegan [Parsons' agent and
correspondent at Antwerp] and the old knight [Englefield] with Parsons in
Rome ' (Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz., CCLII. 16). Aldobrandino, the pope's nephew,
had been vice-protector ofthe college in 1586.
Dr. Owen Lewis, bishop of Cassano, in the kingdom of Naples (cf. supra,
p. 17), formerly a fellow of New college, Oxford, left England in 1561, and was
made professor of canon law in the university of Douai and canon of Cambrai.
He gave much help to his friend Allen in the establishment of the serainary at
Douai, and was chiefly instraraental in founding that of Rome. At Rome,
Gregory xiIl. and Sixtus v. employed him in important offices; and in 1580,

The Firebrands of Sedition. 113
N. wrote to CardinaU Allen, that Fa. Holt stoode guiltie,
and might be accused by him of such infamous matters, as he
durst not make metion of in his letters.

St. Charles Borromeo, who afterwards died in his arms, raade him one of the
vicar-generals of his diocese at Milan. He was consecrated bishop in 1588. Dodd
speaks highly of his piety and ecclesiastical virtues (ii. 43 ; cf. the opinion of Dr.
Champney, quoted by F. Knox, Douay Diaries, p. xcvii). In the early days of
the college at Rome, when the English students broke out in mutiny against
their Welsh rector. Dr. Maurice Clenock, Dr. Lewis warmly supported his friend
and countryman, so that, when finaUy the cause of his opponents triumphed and
the care ofthe college was committed to the society, 'he conceived,' says Father
Plowden, ' a violent disgust against the Jesuits, which he seems to have retained
to his death. ' He was, moreover, ' soured with the expulsion of his nephew,
Hugh Griffin [or Griffith], frora the college for disorderly behaviour.' He lost
credit at Rome, according to the same authority, by his connection with the ill-
advised projects of the adventurer Stukeley, and by the confidence which he
placed in Lesley, bishop of Ross, ' whose flattering letters to Queen Elizabeth
had given great dissatisfaction. ' He is accused of having formed a party, which,
by secret correspondence or otherwise, left no means untried to harass the
superiors of the coUege and to create disturbances among the scholars. Even
tually, when his influence was weakened and his party discountenanced, he is
said to have 'retired in disgust to Milan.'
Many years later, on the death of Allen, the old party animosities were
revived. The friends of the bishop of Cassano made interest to obtain for him
the cardinal's hat, and the friends of the society were as keen in canvassing for
Parsons. To the intrigues and the quarrels which ensued Dr. Gifford refers in
another letter (Cal. S. P., ibid. 66) : ' Owen and the rest laugh at Cassano's being
cardinal, and it is thought that it will be rather Cajetan [Stapleton ?] or Parsons,
They accuse Cassano of being Scottish, and plot his ruin and utter overthrow. I
wish our countrymen would end this controversy about a cardinal, as it causes much
faction. A letter was subscribed in favour of Parsons, but Fitzherbert hindered
it. Sir Fr. Englefield causes all this broil by favouring first one and then the
other. No trust should be given to the king of Spain's ministers, but Cassano
should build on the pope.' To the credit of Parsons, it must be said that he was
clear of any personal ambition in the matter. This is admitted by Dr. Ely, who,
however, insists that Parsons did all in his power to prevent the red cap falling
to his rival. Ely prints, on the other hand, a querulous letter received by hira
frora Dr. Lewis, March 10, 1595) in which the bishop does not appear to rauch
advantage. ' We have lost (he writes) our good Card. Aliene, he made me
executor of his will with 3 cardinals, and we ever have been friends though some
evil disposed did seek to separate us for their own gain and ill purposes. And
now there is such a stinking stir in Flanders, Spain, and Rome, to make Fa.
Parsons cardinal and so by consequent to exclude me that it is alraost incredible.
. . . The doers of this are but 2 or 3 of our nation which tumble all up and
down. All the rest, best and wisest, do love and honour me' (Briefe Notes,
pp. 94-96). H

114 Certain chief Points qf Accusation.
That Fa. Holt did not only intend, but would indeede giue
wretched England in Conquest to himselfe and his fauorites.^

1 William Holt, of Oriel college, Oxford, was ordained at Douai in 1576, and
joined the Jesuits two years later. In 1581 Parsons sent him into Scotland on a
secret mission, bearing letters from Queen Mary to her son. Holt was caught
and imprisoned, and was only saved from the rack by the intervention of James,
who had him expelled the kingdom. For a short period he was rector of the
English college at Rome, but in 1588 he was sent to Brussels as an agent of
PhiUp II. and administrator of the funds which the king assigned, by way of
pensions, to the English exiles in Flanders. He was, says Tierney, ' a zealous
advocate of the Spanish succession,' and 'a man of character and talent, but the
austerity of his manner was embittered by the violence of his politics ; and the
' ' tyranny " of Father Holt became a. topic of loud and unceasing complaint
among the members of the opposite party. ' 'What is called ' the English Faction '
besieged the pope with petitions for his removal, while the partisans of Spain and
the society were as urgent with memorials in his favour. The cardinal archduke
Albert was presented with an indictment containing thirty-six grave charges
against Holt, which were exarained by Oliver Manareus, the Jesuit provincial,
and J. B. de Tassis, the agent of King Philip. Upon the private report of
Manareus, founded, Tierney thinks, ' not so much on the evidence of facts as upon
a vrish to prevent an enquiry, ' the archduke declared the charges to be unfounded,
trivial, or doubtful, and Holt, being simply admonished to be more conciliatory
in manner, was able to hold his enemies in defiance. In ' A brief note of the
practices that divers Jesuits have had for killing princes and changing of states '
furnished to the English government, in 1597) Charles Paget goes so far as to
accuse Holt of conspiring to assassinate Elizabeth (Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz.,
CCLXVII. 67). Holt was on the other hand warmly defended by Allen to
the end. Jesuit historians credit this distinguished meraber of their society
with patience, equability of temper, and a remarkable spirit of forgiveness.
Dr. Oliver declares that slander and persecution 'never ruffled the peace of
his innocent and upright soul.' The account given by More (Hist. S.J., pp. 268-
272) and foUowed by Foley (vii. 1231 seq.) should, however, be compared with
the letters of Manareus himself, addressed to F. Duras, assistant of the society.
In these letters (printed by Tierney, vol. iii. p. xciv, seq.), written with a
moderation and impartiality which shocked and distressed Father Parsons,
Manareus has much to say in defence or excuse of the English 'nobles,' as he
calls the opponents of Holt. Dr. Gifford, indeed, and his schemes he detested
— hominis ingenium et moliraina detestati sumus. Paget he thought superior to
the rest in talents and prudence ; and that he might have been won over, had he
been kindly treated by Holt. Paget had been accused — probably by Hugh Owen,
who was to Holt what Paget himself was to Dr. Gifford — of various crimes to
the duke of Parma, but on investigation had been honourably acquitted.
Attempts had been made to deprive the anti-Spanish leaders of their pensions or
to remove them from Flanders (see letters of the duke of Feria and of Parsons :
Tierney, iii. liii, Ixvii). Manareus admits there was cause for dissatisfaction

Tyranny and Insolence of Father Holt. 115
That Fa. Holt and his companions had gathered such an
infinite masse of money from the Catholicks in England, for
dispensations, or vnder the colour of expending it to their
vses, as many credibly affirmed it to exceede the summe of
50000. pounds english, which make two hundreth millions of
Italian Scutes.^

with the alienation of funds from the objects for which they were collected.
Yet he finds the ' nobles ' valde humanos, even when he has cause to reprehend
them, whereas Hugh Owen and his party are ' most bitter, headstrong, proud,
menacing, and foul-mouthed.' Manareus trembles when he has occasion to
confer with this angry and abusive ally of Holt. As to Holt himself, the good
father is so impetuous and carried away by such strong passions that, since his
exculpation, he goes about boasting that now ' he no longer cares for what the
others may think or wish,' and thus adds to the general exasperation. He is, in
fact, a man ' indisposed to peace, and unable to control himself if he fancies him
self in the least degree injured. ' Manareus, therefore, is strongly of opinion that
the father should be removed. Holt was withdrawn from the province a year or
two afterwards, and died at Barcelona, 1599.
'^ The original Latin (derived from a letter of Gifford to Robert Markham,
Sth August 1596) puts the number of scuti at ducenta millia. Parsons, of course,
derides Bagshaw for the slip of the pen by which ' thousands ' are turned into
' millions.' But it was, he adds, this accusation which opened the eyes of cardinal
Borghese, when he was employed by the pope as vice-protector in ' compound
ing the stirs. ' Parsons declares he would grant the rest of the charges if
it could be proved that the Jesuits had received 200 pence from England for the
society and not for the English. Gentlemen, such as Charles Bassett and
George Gilbert, had left money, the latter 800 crowns, for the house of pro
bation of S. Andrea in Rome, but the general, Aquaviva, ' would never suffer
a penny to be admitted for ought but Englishmen in necessity and for the use
of the English cause. ' 'The coUege at Rome had 2000 crowns in gold of this
gentleman's money left to the arbitrament of the society, but the society not a
penny ' (Manifestation, f. 9). Gilbert died in 1583, and Bassett in the following
year. W. C. in his Reply (pp. 24-26) and Watson {Quodlibets, pp. 85-91)
relate some curious facts and rumours on this subject, and name several persons
who had been induced to part with their estates or large sums of money to the
society. Father John Gerard had the reputation of being a great practiser in
these ' conycatching and cozening tricks. '
In a memorial setting forth the grievances of the secular clergy, and
addressed to Paul v. by the archpriest Harrison and his assistants in 1619, the
petitioners write : ' This brings into our memory what the illustrious AUen so
much complained of, towards the latter end of his days, against the rectors of
the seminary in Rome, who had so raany ways of drawing students into their
society ; as also against Father Parsons, who put his brethren upon the sarae
raethod in the Spanish seminaries, where, though he pretended they were

116 Certain chief Points of Accusation.
That the lesuites haue driuen certaine excellent men to
desperation, inforcing them to leaue England, and to enter into
some reUgious order, or to take some other miserable course.
That the lesuites in England by certayne cunning sleights,
hauing gotten into their hands all authoritie, good estimation,
and all the stock or treasure of money, do what they list at
home and abroade. They thrust out, and let in, hire, and
buy, intercept letters, and maintayne factions as they please
thera selues.
That Fa. Holt in Belgia, and Parsons in Spayne, haue con
tinued these nine whole yeres, to the great griefe of the
Nobilitie and Clergie : and haue procured themselues to be
continued the Kings seruants.
That there are many things in the dealings of these Fathers
which offend good raen : viz. the contempt of Nobilitie : the
turning away of Students from the CoUedge at Doway : the
attempting to bring the most flourishing kingdome of England
into a Prouince : the polling and pilling of Catholicks in Eng
land, vnder the colour of holy vses by intoUerable fraude : a con-
tinuall enterdeale with hereticks, and men of suspected religion.
There must be care taken that the Priests in England may
haue either equali or greater faculties then the lesuites, seeing
their pride by reason of their large faculties is fenced (as it
were) with authoritie.
That the English Nobles which are in Belgia, wonder that
his Holynes suffreth lesuites in Emgland, who are the fire
brands of all contentions especially in any place of authoritie,
and that these ten yeers and more, notwithstanding the

founded to propagate the English clergy, and upon this view procured large
benefactions for their subsistence, yet the greatest part of those charities were
employed in fitting up young men for the society.' This important paper is
translated from the unpublished portion of the Douai Diaries by Tierney (vol. v.
p. ccxxii, seq. ). Corapare also the ' Inforraation ' drawn up by CoUeton, then
vice-archpriest, and his nine assistants concerning the regular clergy in general :
eleeraosynas quae catholicis captivis et sacerdotibus in vinea laborantibus sus-
tentandis inservire deberent, sibi solis approprient (Dodd, iii. 146), and a similar
statement of Mush in a letter to More, the agent of the clergy in Rorae (Tierney,
iv. clxxix).

Insatiable Ambition and Pride. 117
ituserable clamor and lamentations of our Nobles and Gentle
men, who be oppressed vnder the yoke of slauery and their
tyrannic.^ The lesuites do withstand any mans comming out of Eng
land into Belgia, vnlesse they know him prepared to write, to
speake, to do what they will : and that he sweare to be ruled
by them : and herein they exercise notorious tyrannie.
Other infinite matters of this nature are omitted, which
are conteyned in the letters that are kept vpon record : Taken
out of letters dated at Rome, 8. Nouember 1597.
Concerning the whole Societie, and the
lesuites at Rome.
THe lesuites are so ambitious, as not content with the
bounds which their Fathers placed, in their vnsatiable
desire they haue alreadie swallowed vp Kingdomes and
Monarchies.^ That being led by this ambition, they go about to change
' Araong the intercepted letters in the Record Office is one, dated Nov. 1 596,
from a Mr. ' Robert Dyaper to the Rev Father St.,' who writes : 'I came to
Douay, etc. — all courses are now to be employed in Ireland, where is assured
hope of conquest and nobody to hinder. . . . Owen and Father Holt rule all
courses for England. Every Englishman is carried before them, and they
dispose of them as they list : now they will trust none bat Irish, being good
Catholics' (Dom. Eliz., CCLX. 114).
^ This ' absurd contumeUous speech, ' according to Parsons, was taken from
a letter written by Dr. Gifford to Edward Tempest, a priest of the college at
Rome, 13th April 1596. W. C. refers to Parsons' 'proud pamphlet of
Reformation intermeddling with all estates ' as fortifying the suspicion intimated
in this article as regards England. ' Do not, ' he asks, ' their late attempts in
Ireland show as much for that kingdom ? I will not omit their stratagems in
France, in Scotland, and that which is reported of Japonia and other places in
the Indies, where they keep to themselves the whole dominion, and will admit no
other clergy, but play bishop, priest, and monk themselves ' (f.20). The ' proud
pamphlet ' at that time only existed in MS., and was entitled : ' A Memorial of
the Reformation of England, containing certain Notes and Advertisements which
seem raight be proposed in the first Parliament and National Council of our
country after God, of his mercy, shall restore it to the CathoUc Faith, for the
better Establishraent and preservation of the said Religion : Gathered and set
down by R. P., 1596.' It was first published by Edward Gee in 1690 frora a
copy presented to James 11.

118 Certain chief Points of A ccusation.

the forme of the Hierarchie, or supreme gouerment of the
auncient Church by disordered packing.
That this pride and ambition of the lesuites, is the cause
of seditions not only in England, in the very prisons there,
in the Low Cuntries, and in Italy, but all the world ouer.
That this their ambition hath taken footing not only in
Prouinces and Cities, but also in priuate famiUes : it separ-
ateth brethren one from an other, and the husband from
the wife, inflaming them with rancor and enuie one against
another. That men must giue way to the time (as in the controuersie
at Rome) least while they set a damme against the strearae of
this their pride, the raging course thereof do burst asunder all
the bands of honestie and raodestie, and carry away headlong
many with the force thereof.
That if this ambition do remayne vnpunished, the age that
is to come shall see that it will bring into bondage not only
Prelates, but the very Princes and Monarches themselues, whom
yet she flattereth in her infancie.'-
They beseech the Pope ^ that he would lay the axe to the
roote of the tree, and cut off this pride of the Societie, spread
ing it selfe farre and neere, least if once it arme it selfe with
the authoritie of his Holynes, it powre forth a full reuenge vpon
all others to their destruction, and make an infinite slaughter
and massacre of soules, which they haue already begun to
attempt in wretched England, to the great decay of the
coraraon cause.
That the Priests of F}ngland can finde in their banish
ment no harbour safe enough from this their ambition, vnlesse
they haue first receiued the marke of this beast in their fore
head. That the Pope can commaund nothing in all his Mandates
but the lesuites finde meanes to frustrate it by the secular
power, to the great scandall of many.

^ Gifford in a letter to Tempest.
- In the original ' rogat W. Gifford pontificem.

The Intercepting of Letters. 119

That the reuenge of these lesuites hath neuer an end but
with the death of their aduersaries, and their reproch after
their death.
That the lesuites (meaning them of Rome) do vse to
intercept all manner of letters of all men whosoeuer, not
forbearing the packets neither of the Cardinals nor of Princes.^
' ' That the Jesuits use to intercept all manner of letters (writes -W. C, f. 21)
is so general an acclaraation in foreign countries that it seemeth not to be clean
void of verity, though for my own part I cannot say that I have seen them
intercept any Card, or princes packets. But for experience of this matter, con
cerning meaner mens letters, raany a score will bear witness with me that it is
too usual among them not only in Rome but also in the Low Countries and
in England too, and some letters by this good Fa. in his Apologie approve
as much.' The practice seems to have been common on both sides. An ' intelligencer '
writes from abroad, apparently to Cecil (Oct. ? 1601), that the archpriest and
his assistants are bound to write to the pope and protector every six months,
¦' but there is scarce any week but they write to Parsons. Their letter passeth
by divers conveyances and with such caution, as for my life I could never
come to the intercepting of any of them, albeit I have used therein no small
vigilance. But there is one Laborne in England, a priest, that saith he durst
undertake to intercept them all ' (Foley, v. 736, from S. P. , Dom. Eliz. , Addenda,
XXXIV. 42). Father Anthony Rivers writes to Giacomo Creleto (probably
Parsons) March 9, 1603: 'My cousin [Gamet] and OrteUo have and do
acquaint you with a secret which I have imparted with them for the intercepting
of letters. Be alert, for we are eager set, and very barren of good inteUigence
from these parties ' (Foley, i. 56). What does F. Rivers mean by this secret
* for the intercepting of letters ' ? Mr. Foley remarks on the ' singular fact that
this very letter, in spite of Father Anthony's secret, was intercepted by the
Government spies,' as if to suggest that Rivers meant to say, in defiance
of his grammar, that he had discovered a plan for preventing his own letters
being intercepted.
The intelligencers who intercepted letters on behalf of the government would
perhaps for a consideration be accessible to both of the contending parties.
Garnet seems to have had some friend in the bishop of London's house who sup
plied him with copies of documents or kept him well informed on the doings of
his clerical enemies. An instructive illustration of the alleged habit of tampering
with the confidential correspondence of others, with which Parsons at least is
charged, will be found in the story of his first opening and then suppressing an
important letter intrusted to him by Lord Montague for presentation to the
pope (Tierney, v. l6). John Mush, when assistant to the archpriest Birkhead,
complained vehemently of the manner in which his letters to Rome were waylaid
and opened byhis opponents. In his letter to More (Aug. 19, 161 1), referred to
above, he wrote : ' We suffer great difficulty in sending to you and receiving
from you, and very often our watchful friends intercept both yours and ours, for

120 Certain chief Points of Accusation.

N. caUeth God and his Angels to witnes,^ that the greatest
part of the NobiUtie and Clergie in England both at home and
abroade do bewaile with sighes and teares their miserable
estate, in that they suffer more grieuous things vnder these
new Tyrants the lesuites, then in their dayly persecutions.
That the persecution of the lesuites is more grieuous to the
Catholicks then of the hereticks in Emgland, in this respect,
because they suffer vnder them for their vertue, but vnder these
in the name of treacherie and vnfaithfulnes.
The lesuites haue so persecuted some Priests that are now
Martyrs, as that their death hath bin imputed partly to the
hereticks, and partly to the lesuites.
That it is a knowne position among the lesuites (diuide and
gouerne) and therefore those Fathers at Rome do both stirre vp,
and maintayne dissensions.
That the lesuites Confessors are wont to abuse the con
sciences of their penitentiaries to their owne commoditie.
That of 300. Priests which haue entred into England,
scarce sixe or seauen haue fallen away. But of twentie lesuites
eight haue reuolted : which is a notable slaunder, seeing there
can not be found one of them to haue reuolted which were sent
in by the Societie.^
they are more vigilant in this evil office than the heretics. They have their hire
lings for this purpose in France, Flanders, Italy and Rome. ' Birkhead himself
had referred to the same grievance two years earlier, remarking to More that he
had much ado to quiet Mr. Mush on account of his letters being thus opened.
' Surely,' he wrote, ' if such dealing be not left, and if they [the Jesuits] will run
on still to endanger so stout a confessor, I shall one day be moved, even against
ray own inclination, to coraplain to our supreme pastor for redress of the sarae '
(o/«i/ Tierney, iv. clxxvii, n.).
^ ' Deura testatur W. G. et angelos ejus. ' — W. Gifford in a letter to Markhara.
^ There is some obscurity in the last sentence of this article, and the statistics
are not quite accurate. At the time in question, not ' 300 ' but probably 500
(F. Holt says 600) priests had entered England, and many raore than 'six or
seven ' had ' fallen away. ' Perhaps sixty or seventy would be nearer the raark.
The late canon Estcourt was at some pains to compile a list of these renegade
priests, but he found the number multiply so far beyond his expectations that, as
he admitted, he threw up the task in disgust. It is not, however, easy to ascer
tain the exact number. For an ' apostata ' would commonly adopt the lucrative
profession of a spy, and it would then be his interest to conceal his altered

Persecution of Priests and Martyrs. 121
That the lesuits in the Low-countries are so cruell, as that
they haue not only brought raany excellent men to a miserable
end, but haue reproched them after their death.

character frora his former companions, and to coramunicate when necessary with
the officers of the govemment under some assumed name. Some, no doubt, like
Thomas Bell, retumed to the church of England from conviction ; others
became dissolute in morals, and so grew weary of their missionary functions ;
many succumbed under the threat or the sight of the instrument of punishment.
But the government was never sure of a convert obtained by terror ; and priests
who had disowned the pope, or perhaps played the spy for a time, would frequently
return to their church or even die as martyrs. The lapses of many such men,
which were often unknown to their clerical brethren, have been only recently
revealed to us in the State Papers. Thus, while letters from England were
describing in gl&wing terras the constancy of John Hart and the holy joy with
which he received news of his sentence to death, he hiraself, in hope of pardon,
was writing from his prison to Sir Francis Walsingham (Dec. 1581), treacherously
offering, by raeans of his intimacy with Dr. Alien, to discover all his designs. He
escaped the gaUows, was banished, became a Jesuit, and shortly afterwards died
abroad (corapare Douay Diaries, p. 348, and Cal. S. P., Dom. Eliz., CL. 80).
Even Father Henry Walpole, some months before his execution, after severe
torture, had in misery and terror declared in writing that he would go to
church and there preach, and that he would employ henceforth all his powers in
her majesty's service (Dr. Jessopp's One Generation, pp. 260, 262).
There is, however, no reason to suppose, as the memorialists assert, that the
Jesuits fiirnished, in proportion to their number, raore deserters from the priestly
ranks than the secular clergy. On the contrary, the Jesuit missionary, being as a
rule far better protected from poverty, in or out of prison, than his secular brother,
was thereby the more secure from one of the severest temptations to abandon his
calling. Moreover, a weak member of the society could fly or be withdrawn
from danger to a safe refuge abroad. The secular, even if banished, must soon
return to get bread, though at greater risks than before. There had been about
thirty Jesuits in all employed in England before 1597. Parsons declares that not
one of his order sent upon the mission by his superiors had fallen away. He
raay have meant to exclude from his reckoning those who had become Jesuits after
they had entered the country, and those who had come for health or on business
not iramediately connected with the mission. W. C, however, after sorae sarcastic
observations on the distinction, insists that he could ' note above eight of the
order who had incurred that disgrace ' of apostacy (f. 22). When it was thrown in
the teeth of the appellants that one of their friends at Wisbeach had openly apos
tatised, Charnock retorted that the apostate had been raany years a Jesuit, and
had perhaps learned bad ways in the society (Petyt MSS., xlvii. f. 142). One
famous renegade among the trained merabers of the society was F. Langdale, of
whora F. Heywood wrote to Allen in 1583, 'Tho. Langdale, forraerly of our
society, and now, I believe, an apostate, gives us much trouble, and in the
county of York seduces crowds.' Another, who gave still more trouble, was

122 Certain chief Points of Accusation.
That nothing doth so vex the English Catholicks as the
contempt and hatred of the President that now is : ' and the
slaunderous reproch falsely imputed to the renowned Cardinals,
Tolet, giad. Alexandrinus.
That the lesuites do eagerly wayt for the death of the Pope,
and of the renowned CardinaU Tolet^ that they might bring
vpon all those that slaughter and bloudshed, which they long
since assayed against as many as haue dared to oppose them
selues against their tyranny.
The chiefe remedie wherein the state of all controuersies at
Rome dependeth is, that the affaires of all the CoUedges be
committed to an assemblie of honorable Cardinals that are
regular, both to looke into, and to determine of. For there is
nothing that these tyrants more feare, then that they should
be compelled before the Cardinals to render an accompt of
their dealings. Neither doth any thing giue them greater
libertie of their insolencie, then that they are free welnie from
being called before any iudgement seate.
See you see (quoth N) ray letters secretly and effectuaUy,
because the enemy, if he be not preuented, flattereth himselfe
in an assured hope of a Monarchic. While the iron is bote,
strike : worke out your busines while your Patrones hue. Your
enemies seeke but to gayne the time ; and if they once set free
themselues frora the streights wherein they are yet incombred,
they will (belieue me) domineere raost tyrannously.
F. Christopher Perkins, a man of learning and repute. He befriended young
William Cecil at Rome, returned with him to England, and afterwards, seceding
from the church of Rome, was presented by Lord Burleigh with the deanery of
Carlisle. A little later he assisted in drawing up, for the destmction of his
former friends, King James's oath of aUegiance (Wood's Fasti, i. i66).
^ Orig. 'prassentis pontificis.' This, with the foUovring article, is taken
from letters to Tempest, Sept. 1596.
2 Francis Toleto, the first Jesuit who was created a cardinal, died Sept. 1596.
He had acted as vice-protector of the college in the absence of cardinal Cajetan,
and gave offence to the Jesuit rector and other merabers of the society by the part
he took in favour of the aggrieved students. If the Jesuits did not ' eagerly wait
for ' his death they at least regarded it, as they did the death of Allen and the
bishop of Cassano, in the light of a special providence for the college and a
blessing for the society. See Agazzari's letter in the Douay Diaries, quoted
above, p. 18.

The Censure of Paris University. 123
The lesuites seeke also the gouerment of the CoUedge at
Doway, neither feare they any bridle wherewith they can be
curbed, but only, that the lesuite Rectors should be made sub
iect to the regular Congregations.
The lesuites by their Machiuilian practises go about to
procure the dissolution of the CoUedge at Doway.
The tjrranny and insolencie of the lesuites is horrible,
especially of those that Uuing in Belgia, do reproch, disgrade,
depriue whorae they list : and I feare (quoth he) do indirectly
betray some vnto the enemy.

The Censure o/" Paris before mentioned f err our iustiflcation, in
suspending our obedience to maister Blackwels authoritie,
vntill we knew his Holynes further pleasure.
IN the yeare of our Lord 1600. vpon the third day of May,
it was proposed to the faculty of the Diuines of the
Vniuersity of Paris, that by the letters of a most illus
trious CardinaU, an Ecclesiasticall Superior was constituted in a
certaine Kingdome with the title and dignity of an Arch-priest,
to haue authority and iurisdiction ouer all other Priests residing
in that Kingdome. This CardinaU did also declare in those
his letters, that he did it according to the wil and good liking of
the Pope. Notwithstanding, many of these Priests refused to
subscribe to the authority of the sayd Arch-priest, before he
had obteyned letters from the Sea Apostolick, conteyning the
tenor of his confirmation, as well because that kind of gouem
ment was altogether new in Gods Church, and hitherto neuer
heard of, that an Arch-priest should haue charge of a whole
Kingdorae, and such iurisdiction ouer euery Priest in that
Realme : then also, for that it seemed to them by certaine
words of the Cardinals letters, that the Arch-priest and his
authority was graunted by false information : then lastly,
because they noted great partiality in the choyse of the Arch-

124 Decree ofthe Archpriest.
priest and of his counsellors. Vpon which and some other
reasons, these Priests sent messengers to the Pope, for laying
open vnto him these their difficulties : and therewithal! to
signifie their greatest readynes, as in this matter, so euermore
in all other, to obey his Holynes.
The Arch-priest and those who are qfhis side accuse the other
Priests qf schisme, in that they deferred to obey the Car
dinals letters, which moreouer he sayd were written accord
ing to his Holynes minde and pleasure.
The Question then is, whether these Priests be schismaticks ? and
if not, whether they did commit at the least some grieuous
sinne ?
The head and chiefe men qf the faculty of Diuinity in
Paris chosen out of the whole company, assembled together in
the house ofthe Senior Bedle in ihe yeare and day aboue written,
after full and maturest consideration had of the matter, gaue
this censure.
First, that those Priests, who vpon the aboue-named causes
deferred to obey, were no schismaticks.
Secondly, that they committed no sinne at all in that fact
in it selfe considered.
By commaundement of our Deane and masters deputed
and selected hy the whole facultie qf Diuinity in Paris
De lacourt.
The rash and vnaduised aunswere of Mayster BlackweU
to the Censure of Paris.
Reuerendi Patres 8^ Fratres.
WHereas after the condemnation at Rome of the two
Embassadors together with all their compUces here ;
and also the Pope his Breue confirming the Cardinals
letters, as validas ab initio, and vtterly condemning and in-

Condemnation of the Censure of Paris. 125
ualidating all thing done to the contrary : Some vnquiet per
sons haue secretly sought to the Vniuersity of Paris, and thence
pretend to haue or haue receiued a resolution, that they neyther
incurred schisme, nor any sinne in their proceedings here against
mine authority. Whereas also it is manifest that after notice
had from their Ambassadors of the Pope his expresse will made
knowne vnto them partly by their imprisonment, partly by the
testification of the two Cardinals, Caietan, and Burghesius, to
whome their cause was committed: which also the aforesaid
two Ambassadors did certifie hither by their letters, exhorting
all heere to the quiet acceptance of their superior, as being
ordayned by his Holynes speciali knowledge and absolute order,
without dependence of their consent : that yet notwithstanding
this perfect knowledge they repugned and stood still obstinate
in their disobedience : so that the pretence of seeking to know
the Pope his will was altogether friuolous in those which re
mayned heere. And thereby it appeareth, that the information
giuen of the cause to the Parisians was altogether wrong, and
(as it may be thought) fraudulent. For so long as they re
fused not their superior appoynted by the knowne will of the
Pope, they neuer were condemned as schismaticks : and
since and whilest they acknowledged their superior they were
neuer censured, but only as seditious in opposing against the
Pope his order, and in disturbing the wished peace and tran
quillity of the Cleargie and Laity of the Catholicks, and yet
could neuer be freed from one of these two crimes. Propterea,
In Dei nomine Amen. Nos Georgius Blacliwellus Archipres
byter Anglice, S^ Protonotarius Apostolicus ex authoritate nobis
suffieienter <§• legitime commissa prascipimus stricte in virtute
obedienticE, 8f sub poena suspensionis a diuinis, 8f amissionis
omniunn facultatum ipso facto incwrrendarum, omnibus ecclesias
ticis personis : omnibus autem laicis Catholicis sub pcena inter
dicti similiter ipso facto incurrendi, that neither directly nor
indirectly they mayntayne or defend in word, or in writing the
censure of the Vniuersity of Paris (whether it be truly giuen or
forged : whether vpon true information or otherwise) as being
preiudicial! to the dignity of the See Apostolical!, and ex-

126 Letter of Dr. Dorel.
pressely contrary to his Holynes Breue : and to the sentence
iudicially giuen by the two Cardinals appoynted iudges in our
cause : and to our common peace so much wished for by his
Holynes. And this we inuiolably commaund to be obserued
vnder the paines afore specified, and greater also, according to
his Holynes pleasure. Yet hereby we intend in no wise to dis
grace the most famous Vniuersity of Paris. For we hope
verily, that eyther there is no such censure of theirs : or else,
that it was procured by wrong informations, and without mani
festing the sentence of the two Cardinals : and the expresse
confirmation of his Holynes of those first letters, by which our
authority was deriued vnto vs, which (God willing) we will
speedily procure they shall receiue from the Court of Rome.
And so nothing doubting of your duties towards your superiors,
I leaue further to instruct, or exhort you, beseeching God to
blesse vs all. 29. Maij. 1600.
Georgius Blackwellus Archipresbyter Anglice
£^ Protonotarius Apostolicus.

A reioynder cf Maister Darrel! Deane qfAgen^
in defence qfthe censure o/" Paris,
against M. Blackwell.
Reuerendi Patres (§• Fratres.
THere is come vnto my hands the sentence of M. George
Blackwell Arch-priest, in condemnation of the censure
and iudgement of the Catholique, auncient, and re
nowned Vniuersity of Paris. Wherein was also thrust a very
^ 'What appears to be the original of this letter in the Petyt Mss. (xlvii. foi.
233) is clearly signed y^/jw Dorel. But Dodd (ii. 64) gives an account of a Dr.
Darrel or Dorel, whose Christian name, according to the Diaries (pp. 4, 273) and
the register of the university of Douai, was Thomas ; and this Thomas must be
identified with the dean of Agen. Darrel was educated, says Dodd, at New
college, Oxford, and ejected in the first year of Elizabeth. For a time he settled
at Louvain, but in 1569 he joined Allen at Douai, and, having raeans of his own,
becarae a great benefactor of the English college. He took his degree of
bachelor of divinity at Douai in 1572. Subsequently ' in a journey to Rorae he

Defence ofthe Censure of Paris. 127
peremptory Prouiso, but most necessary to auoyd reprehension :
that no man should vndertake eyther by word or writing to
defend the sayd censure. I deemed it not impertinent in few
words to runne ouer the sayd sentence, to shew in part the in-
sufficiencie of it, as well for the honor of the sayd sacred faculty
of Paris (which for the worthy schoUers it hath brought forth,
is highly esteemed throughout all Christendome) as for the
aduertisement of the abouenamed Arch-priest, that he may
hereafter be somewhat better aduised ere he thunder out his
censures : and do not vainely perswade himselfe, that he can
either tye the toongs, or stay the pennes of men by any such
vnreasonable writ, vnlesse he take some more sober and con
siderate course of proceeding. And for breuities sake to omit
the friuolous preambles that are partly vntrue and wholy to
small purpose : the first of importance is, where he sayth, That
the information giue vnto the Parisians, was altogether wrong,
and (as it may be thought) fraudulent. His reason is : for
that they, who liked not his election at the first stood still
obstinate in their disobedience, after perfect notice of the
Popes breue in confirmation of it, sent them by their Ambas
sadors (who for honors sake (you must thinke pardye) he
alwayes so tearmeth) how sound and true this assertion is, all
England (as I think) knoweth right well. Sure I ara, the

became acquainted with a French bishop who persuaded him to go along with
him into Gascony, where he bestowed a considerable benefice upon him and
made him his chaplain and preacher. ' Agen, however, is on the north bank of
the Garonne and not, strictly speaking, in Gascony. So great was the charity of
Dr. Dorell, says the diary of the coUege, which elsewhere calls him Darell, that
' the venerable man ' educated at his own cost two youths (one of whom was
William Bagshaw of Derbyshire) sent to hira from Rheims in 1 590.
Cooper (Athen. Cantab., ii. 383), in a notice of the Rev. John Darrel, the
protestant exorcist, says, ' contemporary with this John Darrel was another of the
name, a secular roman catholic priest of considerable ability who was a prisoner
in York castle. Wood calls him dean of Agen. He corresponded on various
religious points with Edward Fairfax, the translator of Tasso, and published a
tract relative to the dispute between the seculars and Jesuits.' The tract was
doubtless the letter in the text. Wood had no inforraation except from the True
Relation. Dodd makes no mention of a John Dorel, but neither does he ascribe
to Thomas the authorship of this letter.

128 Letter of Dr. Dorel.
common fame spread in all countryes betwixt England and
Rome, (where the English are resident) approued also by
sundry letters out of England, and from other coasts, was, and
is cleane contrary : viz. that they, who before suspended their
iudgements attending his Holynes resolution, as soone as they
were by the Popes breue certified of his pleasure, submitted
themselues to the Arch-priest, and acknowledged his authority.
And that I stay not about needlesse proofes in so notorious a
matter, the very next words after in this his rescript, declare as
much. Mary I must needs confesse, that they are so darkly
and clearely set downe, that they may perhaps couer some
pretie equiuocation. These be his words. For so long as they
refused not their superior, appoynted by the knowne will of the
Pope, they were neuer condemned as schismaticks : and since,
whilest they acknowledged their superior, they were neuer
censured, but only as seditious, in opposing against the Popes
order, &c. The sense in common vnderstanding raust needs be :
that at first, so long as they had not certaine notice by the
Popes breue of his will, and therefore refused to accept the new
Magistrate, they were not condemned as schismaticks. After
ward they vnderstanding of the Breue, acknowledged their
superior : and therefore were not censured as schismaticks, but
only as seditious. By the latter part of which sentence, it is
most euident and cleare by his own expresse declaration : that
after certaine knowledge of the Popes commaundement, they
acknowledged their superior ; and therefore were not censured,
but only as seditious. What can be more contrary to that
which he sayd before ? There, he auoucheth boldly, that after
certaine notice giuen of the Popes will, they stood still obstin
ate in their former disobedience here, that after intelligence
had, they acknowledged their superior. I dare not aske you,
whether part of this flat contradiction you will beleeue, because
both cannot be true : for you must either hold (contrary to the
rules of reason) both parts to be true, or else discredit hira,
that within the corapasse of a few lines affirmed them both.
But no maruayle : for I am almost astonished, to see so many
foule ouersights in this one poore sentence. Let that contra-

Defence ofthe Censure of Paris. 129
diction passe : and marke an other in the same end of the
sentence. They are censured only as seditious, sayth he : in
opposing against the Popes order. What order was that, 1
pray you ? Was it any other, then that they should receiue
Maister Blackwell for Arch-priest, and obey him ? No surely :
how then did they oppose against that order, who in that very
time acknowledged their superior, as in the same period he hath
himselfe set downe ? What a wilfuU peruersenes is this, and
blinde desire of slaundering others, to censure those for sedi
tious, whom they know and do confesse to haue acknowledged
their superiors.
But not to stand vpon these contrary points (which giue
but small grace vnto a graue sentence) I may not omit that
strange proposition conteyned in the former part of the
sentence. It is : that they who liked not of his authority,
were not, before they receyued certaine notice thereof, by his
Holynes breue, condemned as schismaticks. This is so ap
parantly false, and so contrary vnto euery ones knowledge,
that I much muse what he meaneth, and where the starting
hole, and euasion lyeth. If he vnderstand only, that they were
neuer condemned by sentence of iudge, it may then passe : for
so indeed they could neuer haue bin iustly. But to say, that
he and his fellowes did not so call them, so report of them, and
so write of them, and in a rude rayling pamphlet in latine so
denounce them to the wide world, were (as I take it) to make
open profession, that he had made shipwrack of verity,
modesty, and honestie. Hauing thus briefely examined the
preamble, I come now to the sentence it selfe : wherein I will
yet be more briefe. Me thinks he seemeth not a little to abuse
that great authority committed to his charge : ad cediflcationem
non ad destructionem. For following his letters patents,
and the right order of correction, he is to punish enormous
faidts after they be committed, vsing also before brotherly
admonition : to try whether in the spirit of lenity, the party
may be amended. But he contrarywise goeth about by new
decrees to make faults (which passeth his Commission for
ought that I euer yet could see) and to punish faults without

130 Letter qf Dr. Dorel.

any warning most grieuously. But you will say : that it is for
some heynous cryme, or else he would neuer haue bin so terrible
and hasty to reuenge ? well : let vs heare what enormous fault
it is.? Mary sir, if any maintaine in word or in writing
directly or indirectly, the graue, Catholicke and learned iudge
ment of the famous Vniuersitie of Paris, although it be vpon
due information truly giuen (for so much his words seeme to
import) when he saith : whether it be truly giuen or forged,
whether vpon true information or otherwise) if he be of the
Cleargie, he is presently to be suspended, and to lose all his
faculties (the greatest penaltie that he could lay on hira) if of
the laitie : he is ipso facto, interdicted. I passe ouer, that for
a light offence, or rather none at all, he hath ordained a
grieuous punishraent, contrarie to that rule of Iustice : Pro
ratione delicti, sit plagarum modus. But this would I faine
know, for the instruction of many others : how he commeth by
the authoritie to interdict any of the Laitie. Sure 1 am, that
in his letters patents, and the Popes breue, he hath no author
itie giuen him, but ouer Priests only : whom neither can he
interdict, much lesse any of the Laitie, ouer whom he hath no
iurisdiction at all, for ought I haue yet heard : let him then
take heede, that casting out those censures which belong not to
him he doe not himselfe incurre the true censures of his
superiours : and for censuring others vniustly fall into the iust
indignation and displeasure of almightie God. But he taketh
it otherwise : and deemeth the Vniuersitie of Paris to haue
failed much. Let that be his opinion.
But whether is likelier to faile, trow you : either one
Bachelor in Diuinitie, or many Doctors : one £is yet raw, and
little practised in the discipline of the church : or many, of
long time daily conuersant in Ecclesiasticall affaires : one hasty
man (as it seemeth) and in the heate of faction : or diuers
graue aduised men, free from all passion and affection ? If he
thinke by the priuiledge of his titles, to be any whit holpen :
the Vniuersitie of Paris haue in their facultie present diuerse
Protonotaries Apostolicke and Archpriests, and many greater
officers of their bodie, as Archdeacons, Chancellors, or Vicar

Defence ofthe Censure of Paris. 131
generals : that I may omit Bishops, who are commonly resident
in their Diocesses. But perhaps sorae will say ; albeit our
Archpriest be surmounted in all other respects : yet in reasons
and proofes, he passeth them all. Let vs therefore come vnto
his reasons which are three in number, and barely auerred ; but
not one of them proued. The first is, that the censure of Paris
is preiudiciall to the dignitie of the Sea Apostolike. Proue
that good sir. For without proofe, that assertion will be taken
for fond : and I in a word, will proue it also to be false : for
they say, it was neither schisme nor sinne in that doubtfuU case
of the Archpriests election, to seeke vnto the Popes holines for
certaine resolution, where they are so farre off from derogating
any whit, from the dignitie of the Sea Apostolicke, that they
doe highly commend it ; acknowledging the right of appella
tion from all inferiour courts to appertaine ¦vnto the Court of
Rome, which is a speciaU prerogatiue, whereby we proue
against heretikes the supremacie of that Sea. This first
worthie argument then, is drawne perhaps a contrario sensu.
The second is, that their censure was contrarie to the
Popes breue. As iust as lermaines lippes. For their censure
onely was : whether it were schisme or any sinne, before there
was any breue, and wholy abstracting from the breue : How
could it then be opposite to that, with which it did nothing
at all raeddle, or any whit concerne .? The third and last reason
is : that their censures were contrary to the sentence of the two
Cardinals. No such matter good sir: For the Cardinals
sentence was onely against two by name, and for no other
matter, as the sentence expresseth, then for that they had
exercised controuersies with sorae other men of their owne
order (which also how true it is, let them iudge, that know
their conuersation), therefore they thought it expedient, that
they should not returne into the Countrie for a season without
leaue. Now let them consider who are of higher capacitie then
my selfe : how this sentence is opposite vnto the censure of
Paris : that in doubtfuU causes to appeale or sue vnto Rome,
is neither schisme nor sinne : for my wit is too simple to reach
vnto it. Well to draw towards an end. After that this good

132 Letter of Dr. Dorel.
man had in ouer great haste taxed the censure of the Vniuer
sitie of Paris, as preiudiciall vnto the dignitie of the Sea
Apostolicke, and contrarie to the Popes breue and Cardinals
sentence : he forsooth (and if you list to beleeue hira) telleth
you that he raeaneth not to disgrace that most famous Vni
uersitie. Surely, if he thought, that he could disgrace it, he
deceiued himselfe fowly. For the grace, credit, and renowne
of the vniuersitie of Paris little dependeth -vpon the verdit of
so base and meane a Magistrate, and contemneth the bald
¦vnlearned reprehensions of such siraple Clarkes. If they meane
in substantiall arguing, to coape with so honourable a com
panion : let them put downe plainely the case, as it was pro
posed vnto them, with their censure, and withall in Latine (as
they may vnderstand it) without passion disproue it like
Diuines : and then it may be, if they see any thing worth the
answering, that they will giue sufficient satisfaction to the
world of their censure. In the meane season it must needes
bee small honour vnto the Archpriest and others of his band,
to oppose themselues against the most learned, catholicke and
famous Vniuersitie of Paris, as he hiraselfe acknowledgeth it :
who doe still auouch, and will ¦vphold their censure for iust and
true in any place, wheresoeuer it shall be called in question :
which me thinkes should much moue all good Catholickes, not
so stifly to backe that side against other innocent men, who
after so long and fruitfuU trauels for our Countrey, are now for
nothing (as it were) mightilie wronged in their good names and
credits. I for my part, who alwaies haue most tenderly loued the
Catholicke cause, am most sory to see such pitifuU dissension
about trifles : and doe most earnestlie in visceribus Domini
nostri lesu Christi request and require the Archpriest, and
those that are ouer passionate on that part, to content them
selues with the submissio of others vnto the Popes Holines
Breue (which was a high poynt of perfect obedience, consider
ing what slender audience was giuen vnto those whora they
sent) and leaue off that fruitles iangUng, whether they sinned
before or no : or what kind of sinne it was. Who would not

The Author breaks off in fear. 133
haue thought, but that vpon the receite of the Popes Breue,
and obedient acceptance thereof, all would haue been quiet
and appeased : one forgiuing another, if ought before had
passed amisse: and all ioyning together in defence of each
others credit and good name, which was and is most necessarie
for the maintenance of the common cause and comfort of all
Catholicks. Well at the length yet, for Gods honour, and the
holy Churches good, and your owne quietnes, returne vnto that
Christianlike and brotherly peace and charitie, so much desired
of all entire and deuout Catholicks : which that our louing
Sauiour may giue you grace to doe, my humble prayers haue
alwaies been, and shall neuer, I hope, fayle. Thus in all dutie
and affection, recommending my selfe to your good prayers, I
desire to be partaker of your fruitfuU trauailes. At Agen
the 4. of August. Your humble brother and seruant
in our Lord : lohn Dorel.

We were here constrained to breake off, for feare of some
danger by an intended search : so as we haue omitted M.
Blackwels letter, mentioned pag. 49.^ with answere vnto it :
which together with some other matters you shall receiue ere
it bee long. In the meane while we commit our selues to your
faithfull prayers : and you by ours, vnto Almightie God.

Supra, p. 68.

APPENDIX A.
A Note of certain priests imprisoned at Wisbitche.-^
{State Papers, Dom. Elis., Vol. cxcix. No. 91.)
I. t George Potter ats Transham a Seminary prieste was sent
from Newgate to Wisbitche beinge a great seducer of her Matf
subjectf and a very daungerous man.
2. WillS Edmondes a Jesuite a very daungerous man & in
especiall accoumpte amongest the papistf was sent thether from the
Clinke & was suspected to bee a greate practiser of treasons.
3. Xpofer Drylande a Seminary prieste was a great practiser
^th Parry & Nevell in their treasons & was made prevy of their
pretence to kill the Queene & shoulde haue Ministred the Sacra
ment to them but hee told them it was not lawfull to kill her,
neStheles hee concealed it.
4. t Doctor Bagshawe a Seminary prieste was firste sente to
Cambridge to bee conferred withall & so to bee reformed, but hee
was very obstinate & doeth very muche harme & mischiefe as is
knowen by experience in Staffordshire, hee is a moste daungerous
man. 5. Leonard Hide a most daungerous & presumptuous seminary
prieste who beinge sent to the Tower willed the Comissioners to
shewe him fauoure that hee mighte shewe them fauoure another
daye, hee was remoued from Newgate to Wisbitche & is a great
practiser & writer of iFes abroad for traiterous causes.
6. t Frauncis Tailor a Seminary priest was sente from the Gate
house to Wisbitch, hee was Abingtons prieste that was executed,
and was suspected to bee prevye to his treasons.

^ This document is placed among the State Papers of 15B7, many years too early.
It contains the names of all the prisoners whom we know from other sources to have
been confined at Wisbeach in 1595-6. The priests belonging to the anti-jesuit party
are marked thus +. The Christian name of Taylor (No. 6) was not Francis, but
James. In an earher list of priests in the Harleian MSS. (A.D. 1588), James
Taylor (Worcester) and Jonas Meredith (Essex) are noted as ' Priests that will
take the Queen's part.' Taylor signed the Appeal of 1600.

136 Appendix A.

7. t Frauncis Tillettson an Amorous prieste makinge muche of
Catholikes wyves & a greate psuader of women.
8. t Wilis Wigges prieste a moste trayterous seducer of the
Queenes Matf subjects from the trueth, and from their due
obedience, hee is a desperate man^ & told the Comissioners that
hee had said masse & would say masse & that hee hoped to say
masse in poules. hee hath greater power & authoritie then the
ordinary sorte of priests haue for consecracion of Challices Aulter
stones & suche like.
9. t Ithell ats Vdall a condempned prieste for Babingtons con
spiracies a moste daungerous man who corrupted many younge
gentlemen in the Innes of Courte & did practise w*** young
Abington to say masse in the Tower.
10. Philip Strangwitch a Seminary prieste is a greate psuader
of the Queenes subjectf hauinge done much harme aboute the
Innes of Courte & is a greate practiser by Ires abroad duringe this
time of his imprisonmente.
11. John Greene a Seminary prieste a very obstinate puerse
man & a traiterous seducer of her Matf subjects and a greate
defendor of the Popes supremacie.
12. Xpofer Southworth sonne to S'' John Southworth a Seminary
prieste a man of especiall accoumpte amongest the papists who doe
much relie upon him & hath diuers tymes intelligence from
beyonde the Seas & dispseth it abroade.
13. t Xpofer Thules ats Ashton a Seminarie prieste taken at
M'" Abingtons house that was executed, and suspected for his
treasons. 14. Nutter ats Rowley a Seminary pieste a very perilous man
and desperate to attempte any mischiefe & therefore especially to
bee regarded, hee soughte under coloure of reformacion to obteyne
libertie. 15. t Jonas Merideth ats Farmer a Seminary prieste was first
taken in a Ship w'i» the Earle of Arondell attemptinge to fly the
realme & is a greate psuader to papistrie.
l6. Lewis Barloe a Seminary prieste was in company w'^ the
Abingtons when they were soughte for & was prevy of their con
spiracies & escaped from them the same day they were appre
hended & liued allmoste halfe a yeare amongest the Outlawes in
Monmouthshire & did after greate hurte aboute London untill hee
was taken and then was the Causer of M'^ Tirrell his revolte.
17. Willm Parry a Seminary prieste of greate obstinacie &
puersitie & a most traiterous seducer of her Matf subjects.
1 8. Bramstone a Seminary priest remoued from the Marshall-
seys to Wisbitch, a greate psuader of her Matf subjects to papistrie
and a busie man in causes of State.

Appendix B. 137

19- t Thomas Blewett \ ., , no. . .^ , ,
20. t Edmond Coverley f"^^^ ^^^ f Seminary priests but
„. T> |. J, \ because I haue not had to doe w*''
22 tClara-enett 1 ^'^^"^ ^ cannott sett downe their con-
no' tr u 1 \ versacions.
23. Haberley j
24. Giles Archer

these bee likewise Seminary priests
' but unknowen to mee for that I did
not examine them.

25. tWoodroffe
26. Chaddocke
27. Edmond braddocke
28. Bickley
29. Garrett
30. Powell
31. t Buckley sometime a Monke in Westm.
32. Thomas Pounde a layman, a very obstinate man and a great
mainteyner of priestf and other bad psons.
{Endorsed) A Note of the priests and others
that are in Wisbitch Castle.

APPENDIX B.
Letter of Blackwell to Cardinal Cajetan, 1597.
{From a translation printed hy Andreas Philalethes in ' An Answere
made by one of our Brethren, etc., 1602.')
Let your Amplitude pardon our just grief; we confess surely
that it is a royal thing to hear evil when thou doest well. We
know, notwithstanding (which is to be lamented) that very great
detriment may come to our progress in that business of religion,
by the feigned calumniations of evil willers towards us. Let it be
lawful therefore unto us to stir the horns of the false accusation
made against us. For if it be sufficient to accuse, who shall be
innocent .''
There are (as I hear) little equal, or altogether ignorant es
teemers of our matters, who have not gently whetted the edge of
their wit and style and the sharpness of their voice against us.
They say (but rashly) that we Priests in England are tossed with
divers dissensions amongst our selves and with the Fathers of the
Society of Jesus ; and, that more freely in lying they may wander,
they report the said Fathers to seek no other thing almost amongst
us, than how by the contempt of the rest of the Priests, greater
authority and dominion in the Clergy might daily grow unto them.
A heavy accusation, but most full of falsehood, and therefore (as I

138 Appendix B.

trust) it will be silent, being overcome by this my testimony,
although very slender. I, hedged with the divine mercy, have
now fulfilled more than twenty years in the cure of souls amongst
us Englishmen, and in preaching the Catholic Roman truth : and
hitherto I remember not any dissension amongst us, the breath
whereof did at any time a little more grievously move us. Then
surely we are compassed with many infirmities ; but (praise be to
God) in so great a course of most wicked time we have been so
covered with Divine grace, that nothing (that I know) hath hap
pened which at any time hath cast us from the state of mutual
peace and brotherly concord.
As touching the other part of the accusation, which is built up
more injuriously against the reverend Fathers of the Society of
Jesus, that surely will most easily shrink, being pressed with its
own weight of falsehood. So far absent are these godly Fathers
from all appearance of dominion that they have fashioned unto us
an example, in every place, of notorious humility, gentleness, piety,
and charity. Surely we should be very unthankful if we should
not prosecute them with honour, as our Fathers ; embrace them
with love, as our friends ; worship them with duty, as beneficial ;
imitate them by study, as masters ; acknowledge them with affection
of godliness, as the chief helpers and most fierce defenders of the
health of our country, and of the Church tossed with us by divers
tempests. They that discommend them know neither themselves
nor them. For who are they amongst us which help priests coming
from beyond the seas but the Fathers of the Society of Jesus .''
Being cast without the doors, by them they are received : being
in ragged apparel by them they are clothed commodiously and
trickly : wanting both meat and drink and money, by them they
are upheld : and not knowing where to remain (because they are
strangers) they have from them horses and other things necessary
for their journey, most readily prepared, and places also most
prudently appointed, where in recovering the lapsed, in confirm
ing of Catholics, in spreading abroad the worship of God, they may
labour laudably. Neither is their charity concluded within these
bounds : for we ourselves (who now for many years have borne the
weight of the day and heat) liberally profess that we have had
much ease and consolation out of their fountains in our necessity.
If your Amplitude knew how much money these Fathers have
spent of their own patrimonies (for most little things those are
which come unto them by alms) in such and other offices of godli
ness ; and how promptly they always run to refresh the Saints
that are kept in prison, and others inwrapped and oppressed with
divers difficulties of things and times, I doubt not but the same
would presently restrain the unbridled boldness of these men, who.

Appendix C. 139

being tossed with the pricks of envy, have diminished anything
from the estimation and charity of the Fathers.
Envy is the companion of virtue ; but, as smoke, so she
prevaileth indeed in the beginning, and by and by vanisheth, the
things being lightened whereby she was envied. Therefore I am
led into a great hope that it will come to pass that the beams of
your Amplitude will most willingly dissipate (by the truth of things
now opened) those clouds which malicious men have cast upon the
shining brightness of our country. In explicating of these our
injuries, these my silly letters have proceeded further than I had
determined, but not more sharply than I ought. I am made
unwise, but they that are accusers of their brethren have com
pelled me, for we should rather have been commended of them :
but we go not a birding for human praise — he shall be allowed
whom God shall commend. That which resteth is, we submit,
with the greatest humility of mind that we can, the defence of our
cause against all assaults of men that think not well of us, to your
protection : hoping that your Amplitude will foresee that the
license of slanderers may not so freely run up and down unpunished,
as hitherto it hath done, to our ignominy, the offence of good men,
and the loss of the Catholic faith, whose immovable strength (that
I may use S. Cyprian's words) hath hitherto remained by God's
grace amongst us, and her stable and unshaken virtue against all
the incursions of barking floods against it. God preserve your
Amplitude most long in safety and health.
At London, the tenth of January, 1596[-7].
The most humble servant of your
most illustrious Lordship,
George Blackwell.

APPENDIX C.
Letter of Henry Tichborne, S. J., written from Rorae, to
Thomas Darbyshire, S. J., at Pont-a-Mousson, 2 Feb.
1598.
{State Papers, Dom. Eliz., Vol. cclxii. No. 28.)
The Reasons that moveth us in these parts to have hopes more
than ordinary of the conversion of our country are very pregnant.
First, the high degree of credit our principal pillars and agents
have both in R[ome] and S[pain]. In R[ome] F. P[arsons] with
the pope himself so accepted that he will not suffer him to use
any other compliments of Kingling or other ways in his presence

140 Appendix C.

than is usual for cardinals. His nephew hath assigned him his
day of audience and sendeth his coach for him daily. He hath
composed these desperate controversies between the fathers and
scholars, and let out the corrupt blood with that dexterity as hath
got him the fame of an expert physician, and hath triumphed
so over the crew of malcontents that whereas before his coming
to R[ome] the young youths were so averted from the S[paniards]
that they could not abide their sight, and would not move their
hats to the ambassador, he brought them to digest the one and
respect the other. And to confirm me rather in this opinion I
find that, with great difficulty and the clamorous reluctations of
our whole order, he hath avoided the red cap. F. C[resswell] in
S[pain], and F. H[olt] in Flanders have, with the princes they
deal, no less credit than he here.
The second support of these our hopes is the continual conflu
ence of the rarest and best wits of our nation to the seminaries
and their constancy in following their missions and procuring to
be qualified for their return, which is, in the sight of man, mar
vellous to see that the rigour of the laws, conceived and contrived
in those cases, and the vigilant eyes and the severe execution
thereof, these ten or twelve years practised, hath been the foun
dation of all this our credit abroad and an invitement to men to
adventure, for God's sake and the saving of souls, their skin and
bones. It is then observed that where before these laws [were] published
we had but two seminaries, and these but indifferently furnished of
people or provisions, since that time for two we have eight. One
here [Rome], the number 70; one in Douai, the number 120;
one in St. Omers, the number 80 ; one in Valladolid, the number
6"3 ; one in Seville, the number 6"5 ; in St. Lucar and Lisbon, two
residences furnished proportionable and for our missions, where
before those Acts there returned not passed 7 or 8 yearly at the
most, now the number of them that return yearly is counted to be
some 40 or 50. The number of adventurers and labourers in
England is lifted to five hundred, besides them of our society
which are some 150 in England and abroad : ^ besides Capuchins
and other religious the number of 100.
These evident testimonies of missions and commissions, and of
the particular intelligencies of all preparations and pretensions of

1 The number of English Jesuits and religious is here much exaggerated. But
in the abstract of this letter in the Calendar of State Papers, by the omission of the
words 'and abroad' the statement becomes absurd. It may be mentioned also that
the Calendar, in the preceding sentence, affixes the numbers of the students through
out to the wrong college, thus : ' There are 70 scholars at Douay ... 65 in St.
Lucar ; and in Lisbon two residences,' etc.

Appendix C. 141

our Council at home sent continually to F. P[arsons] by express
messengers, that all such that seek to contradict or oppose
against him are either discarded or discredited, and all they can
say or project to the contrary held for inventions and entertain
ments. The only thing that is feared will be the interruption of
this our settled hopes or diminution of our credit is a report which
hath been here very hoole \sic'\ of liberty of conscience at home,
which is supposed to proceed from some deeper brain than our
ordinary wits are wont to yield ; and because I know it will be to
you grateftd and withal a caveat to take heed of such companions
that gape after that liberty I will set you down the discourse pro
and con, and reasons used on both parts in their Memorials for the
procuring of approbation and good liking for their designs.
And first it was on both parts for a maxim concluded that
partial or proportionable execution of the laws served for nothing
else but to make such as reaped benefit thereby reputed for spies
and men of too large a conscience, and in fine so hard to dis
tinguish therein by the rule of more moderate execution that
haply they that least deserved it were most hardly dealt with. It
rested, then, that of liberty, by some public altering and repealing
of laws or some solemn security under the prince's word. It
is objected on the one part, and much feared [on] ours, that this
is the only means to discover the defeat and nakedness of our
cause and to show that that, which we are fain to daub with
such glorious colours, is but a mere chimera and bare shadow ;
that there is no such numbers of men affected to our party as we
would enforce ; that a more mild and moderate course were more
fitting ; that it is observed in all histories that religion was never
planted or restored by arms ; that suffering and submission must
needs in time work pity and commiseration ; that liberty granted
will be a badge, and, as it were, a livery coat to distinguish be
tween stamps and plain wearing Catholics that are desirous to
give Caesar that which is Caesar's and God that which is God's;
that the way to take away, on all parts, jealousies, suspicions and
a labyrinth of perplexities is for the one part to give what testi
mony or pledge may humbly be devised of their innocency and
sincere submission, the other of their humanity, nobility and
clemency, that for the obtaining this liberty they offer no other
conditions than Cardinal Allen doth in his Apologie, Tertullian
and Justinus Martyr.
Reply was made by ours that this means was so dangerous that
what rigour of laws could not compass in so many years, this
liberty and lenity will effectuate in twenty days, to wit, the dis-
furnishing of the seminaries, the disanimating of men to come and
others to return, the expulsion of the society, a confusion as in

142 Appendix C.

Germany, extinction of zeal and fervour, a disanimation of
princes from the hot pursuit of the enterprise. Our rejection
will leave us hopeless and helpless and will fall out with us as
with the sheep that made peace with the wolves on condition
they should remove the dogs. So that the circumstances and
conditions necessarily implying the removal of the company
(which by their rule may admit no like conditions) and are our
dogs, we shall be left as a prey to the wolves that will besides drive
our greatest patron [the king of Spain] to stoop to a peace which
will be the utter ruin of our edifice, this many years in building.
It was further opposed that colour of matter of state was pre
tended, but the work was utterly to extirpate and cut out by the
roots all memory of the Catholic religion, that the danger of such
alterations in a settled course the discredit might light upon the
devisers and makers of such laws if such mutations should now
follow doth demonstrate that this discourse of liberty is but an
invention of busy heads and neither for to be allowed nor
accepted if it might be procured nor in itself possible to be
procured for the former raising \sic\.
Answer was made that wise men consider the end of the laws
and are not always tied to the same means, but, like skilful physi
cians, use cupping or cutting not but when otherwise the humours
cannot be removed by potions and purgations, so that when
Lycurgus' laws may accomplish their ends they put into the
scabbard the sword of Draco's laws till the exigencies of times
otherwise require. Seeing then, that by a benefit bestowed, by
repealing rigorous laws, by using bounty and beneficence, by
giving a limited and conditional liberty, the end of the law may
take place which is to convert the State from perils and pertur-
bances, to purge it of practitioners and intestine and domestical
enemies, to flank it and fortify it from all foreign invasions, it is
thought that no private love of estimation or affection to their own
plots with wise and grave men should hinder so clement a mutation.
To this, reply was made in a word, that the world did see
the end was not so much conservation of the State as hatred of
religion ; it being further demanded with what credit the part
persecuting could be induced to such alteration, or what security
might be required or given of the part so beneficially dealt with.
Answer was made that the intercession of princes, in religion
Catholic, yet friends to the State, might make that alteration
most honourable. Their words likewise given for the security
might be caution sufficient, other particularities concurrent, as
none to be admitted or permitted to the benefit, but such as be
men known, fast and faithful to the State, should be approved,
none but such as shall take oath to be free from matters of State,

Appendix D. 143

and bound to reveal what they know to be prejudicial thereto.
And here by the way I must advise you that Sir T. Trish[am], as
a friend of the State is holden among us for an atheist and all
others of his humour either so or worse. Thus you have what
was argued on both parts ; but the libertines with their reasons
with just disdain rejected so that I think hereafter they dare no
more open their mouths. R[ome], this 2 of February 1598. —
Yours ever assured, Henry Twetchburne,
of the Society of Jesus.
\Endorsed\ — All molto Rd" padre il pad
Thomaso derbeshire de la Comp" de Gi^su.
A Mosseponte.

APPENDIX D.
The Concluding Sections of Father Lister's Treatise
Adversus Factiosos.
{From the Relatio Compendiosa collated with the Petyt MS.)
§ 6. — Factiosorum subterfugia.
1. Principio, factiosi isti ostendunt noui superioris authoritatem
non satis promulgatam esse. Deus bone, quam peccant isti ! Tot
enim literae a sedis Apostolicae mandato profectae sunt, vt nemo
prudens hac de re possit dubitare. Moralem ergo habemus hac de
re certitudinem, quam in omni re morali satis esse omnes omnino
indicant. 2. At Bullam nullam aut Breue Pontifex confecit. Ineptis-
sime. Quis enim sacrorum canonum hoc vnquam praecipit ?
3. Verum non est receptum a subditis. Falsupn, quia maior,
melior, et doctior sacerdotum pars, iam subscripsit ; atque eorum
nomina ad summum Pontificem transmissa sunt. Praeterea accep-
tatio subditorum ad superioris Ecclesiastici ius stabiliendum non
est necessaria : vti Ecclesiae consuetudo satis docet. Quid .''
receptio nonne requiritur ad legem stabiliendam ? Ita sane. Sed
non est eadem legis, et superioris ratio : quia lex est index inani-
matus ; atque perpetuam, nisi tollatur, vim habet. Non ita est de
vivo atque mortali superiore. Quare eadem gravamina a lege et
superiore non inferuntur.
4. Adij ciunt subditorum consensum ad superiorem Ecclesiasticum
stabiliendum requiri. Non ita est. Primo, quia summus Pontifex
non semel, sed saepissime eiusmodi subditorum iura (si iura dicenda
sunt) varijs in locis sustulit. V. gr. : In vniuersa Gallia mos fuit.

144 Appendix D.

vt capitula episcopos eligerent. Sed hoc, tempore Francisci
primi, sublatum fuit, ac nominatio regibus Galliae commissa. Sed
quorsum hic haeremus .? Potest summus Pont, pro suas potestatis
amplitudine illud vbique locorum statuere quod maiori Ecclesiae
bono conuenerit. Ad haec, in Anglia omnia iura nominationum,
electionum, et praesentationum, quae in regibus, academijs, et
capitulis fuerunt, per haeresim destructa sunt. Postremo ; Superior
iste datus fuit, ex papalis potestatis plenitudine, quod hoc tempore
persecutionis minime expedire putauerit tot annos clerum qui in
Anglia est, sine obedientia, atque ordine alijs regnis recepto, vitam
hanc periculosissiraam viuere debere.
5. Sed dicant fortasse, pontificem hoc decreuisse non sano
aliorum consilio incitatum. O Mendacium ! Quid .'' Numquid fac-
tiosis istis licebit in re grauissima tam impune, tamque impudenter
mentiri .'' Proferant si uerum est suos testes, aut alia argumenta,
quae sapientem conuincant. De stultis enim non ita curandum est
quid sentiant quidue effutiant.
6. At non est omnino certum, schisma in aliquo particulari
ccetu admissum, excommunicationem annexam habere. Principio ;
nullum est schisma ita particulare, quin in totius Angliae contu-
meliam vergat ; vt supra apertissimis rationibus conuicimus. Ad
haec, verba Gregorii 4*' supra allata, ita manifesta sunt, ut nescio
an quisquam sanae mentis de his dubitare possit. Tandem Bulla
Ccenae excommunicauit omnes schismaticos, vtique proprie sic voca-
tos. At satis ostendimus hos factiosos ex eorum esse numero ;
ergo sunt omnino exclusi ab Ecclesia dei, per excommunicationem
maiorem. 7. Aliud obijcere possunt, se rebellare quidem sed aduersus
particulare praeceptum \MS. particularem presbyterum]. Deus
bone ! Numquid non Gregorius 4. agit ex professo contra huiusmodi ?
Ipsius verba testantur \MS. legantur] quae supra posuimus.
8. Reijciunt solum nouo subesse officio. Atque idcirco rebeUes
sunt in Pontificem, qui illud officium instituit : atque dum Domino
Blackwello subesse nolunt, neque sedi Apostolicae, quam nunc
Clemens 8"^ gubernat, subesse velint. Ergo vt supra ostendimus
schismatici sunt.
9. Spem suam abijcere possunt fore nimirum vt Pontifex senten
tiam mutet. Verum interea temporis cur nunc superiorem, virum
omni eruditione, prudentia, probitate conspicuum non recipiunt ?
Nimirum quia rebelles, et schismatici sunt. Atque in more positum
est vt mali subditi bonos superiores odio prosequantur. Verumne ?
Vtique longe verissimum.
10. Ad extremum, in suum sempiternum dedecus, legatos
factiosos ad Pontificem factiosi isti destinarunt : vt superiorem nihil
eiusmodi merentem deponat. Sed frustra. Non enim sine crimine

Appendix E. 145

deponi potest ; et quod crimen in homine integerrimo, ac notissimae
virtutis, et sapientiae reperturi tandem sunt } Nihil profecto crim-
inis, praeter illas infamiae notas, quas homini summee probitatis, suis
illi mendaciis aspersuri sunt.
§ 7. Factiosorum crimina.
Nunc vos appello factiosos, qui tam lyncei estis, vt ex nulli
omnino peccatis crimina confingere possitis, vt in vestra tandem
crimina oculos conijciatis.
1. Vos Rebelles estis.
2. Schismatici estis, atque excidistis ab Ecclesia et sponsa
Christi. .'J. Obedientiam Pontifici summo debitam proculcastis.
4. Contra omnem fidem ac authoritatem humanam deliquistis,
eo quod moralem rejicitis in re morali certitudinem.
5. In excommunicationem atque irregularitatem irruistis.
6. Perdidistis facultates, quibus animas lucrari debuissetis
Christo. 7. Tantum concitastis in animis piorum omnium scandalum, vt
tanquam iiifames per omnium omnino ora volitet.
Quid plura .'' In Christi summum vicarium atque in Christum
ipsium iudicem ac vindicera vestra inobedientia ita peccastis, vt cum
Samuele propheta, dicere in vos possimus : Quasi peccatum ariolandi
est repugnare et quasi scelus Idololatrice nolle acquiescere. Videte
obsecro vos, nihilo meliores ariolis, ac idololatris, et qui ecclesiam
per pontificem summum vos alloquentem non audistis, tanquam
ethnici estis et publicani. Atque hic finem dicendi facio, illud
obnixe deum praepotentem deprecatus, ut in animos vestros gratiae
suae vin tandem influat, ne ad sempiternum exitium cum ethnicis
et idololatris protrusi, huius tantae inobedientiae atque scandall
paeiias immortales luatis.
APPENDIX E.
Abstract of a letter frora Jo. Sicklemore to Dr. Bagshaw,
Aug. 3, 1598.
(From Mr. Macray's Report of the MSS. of ihe Inner Temple, Hist.
MSS. Commission, xi. pt. vii. p. 267.)
With reference to the proceedings at the college at Rome,
strongly urges Bagshaw to submit to the judgment of others,
especially ' of the right reverend ff. Per[sons] whose shooues I
wish myself worthie to kisse . . . whose learning, wisdome,

146 Appendix F.

labours, goodwill to our common cause, England hath tried, France
ex ore infantium et lactentium testifieth (to confound inimicum et
idtorem), Spaine with erected colledges largelie witnesseth, and
Italic in Rome in self {sic) with established peace most highly
commendeth ; finallie, credite, yea familiaritie with the holiest,
most potent, most glorious, most godlie, maketh most famous.'
' The greatest griefe in this matter is the publishing of defames : '
what was done herein in the College was by commandment of the
Protector ; what was done in England was through Bagshaw and
others who exhorted it against the will of the superiors. Only
some few priests at present know hereof, and no one is named ;
' it is an easie matter as yet to drowne all before it be imparted
eyther to catholyke or heretyke. For God's sake let us follow ff.
Gar[net] his counsaile in this, which is wholie to conceale the
enormous and beastlie offences: he is wholie bent to yt, that is the
mind of our assigned superior Mr. Blackwell, of his coadjutor, and
our dearest friends.' Otherwise the persons will be known and
publicly punished, and thereupon must ' fall a publike infame both
of our cause, churche and clergie.'

APPENDIX F.
Letter to Dr. Bagshaw, June 4 [1599].
{From the oiiginal in the Petyt MSS., xlvii. f. 155.)
This letter herinclosed I Red soiii 3 weeks sence the date long^
synce yt was written, the pty remayneth still at Mount Martyr
and would gladly haue some company to establyshe somethinge
there abouts. M^ Cunstable is yet in Scotland and meaneth to
retorne shortly to Parris. There is no thing establyshed at
Mjoiion CoUedge for lack of company. Therefore would to
God ther meight be som course taken for the good to com here
after, for yf yt be not speedyly furnyshed w' som that may
make a foundation, yt will "be vtterly ouerthrowne for euer.
M'^ Pud. touid me that at his reto[r]ne out of the contry he would
goe w* some other but whether his determynation will hould
God knowes for s3Tice his goeing out of Towne the brevie for M'^
Blak : cam, and what that may alter know not. they say M"" John
is an assistant and all men saue only you haue yelded. yt is sayd
here that yf you do not you vtterly ouerthrow you'^ selfe and I
know not what. But what you haue to do in those matters you
know best. I assure you I fynde great alteration in many synce
the coming of the brevie. It is here reported by a priest that
cam lately from Rome that Parsons hath intercepted certayne

Appendix G-. 147

letters of Do. Jeffords [Gifford] w'^'^ were to you, wherin he should
writ vnto you that Parsons had prepared certayne knyves to cutt
the King of Scotts his throte & that the Arche Duke was a man
of currishe nature & many such other babies, & that Parsons will
strayne all the Freends he hath but he will fetche him to Rome
to answere the matter personally. The pty that brought this
newes was taken 2 nyghts agon in the Marshallsey in M"^ Cham-
panyes chamber, his name I know not. I doe not thinke but M"^
Doc. Jeff, is wyser than to haue any of his letters intercepted
neyther do I thinke he would medle or make w* the Arch Duke.
But these plottings of Parsons will never be lefte tyll by som o''
other he be vnmaskt. God for his mercyes sake make him an
honest man o"" soone take him to his mercy.
Extraordynary newes her is none. I would as a poore Freend
and your well wilier be glad to here from you some tymes yf so
you please. You may direct my letters to M"^ Bensons in the
Whyt Fryers next to M^^ Blands the wood mongers. M"^ Dabscot
hath bine at Cambridg & spoke w*^ the pty who is contented at
his retorne to com to London w'^ him and to confer w* M'' Wright
& to take what course he will. Direct him. I most humbly &
hartely thanke you for all you'' most loueing and liberall kind
nesses all wayes showed to me and accknowledg my selfe for euer
bound vnto you & rest during lyfe yours in any service may lye
in me. And so craueing pdon for these my rud lynes & all other
necHgences I most humbly & hartely coiiiend me to your good
selfe, M'' Blawet & M'' Cauerly & all the rest of your good com
pany, to whose prayers I most hartely comend me this 4th of
June. [At foot in another hand] : Parsons must be layd owt in his
coolers. [Addressed] : To the Right Reuerend & his most worshippfuU
Freend M'^ Docto'^ Bagshaw these be dd.
The seal bears the letters T >|< P {}).

APPENDIX G.
Letter of John Mush to Dr. Bagshaw, May 1599.
(Petyt MSS. xlvii. f. 204.)
Ad™ R. D., — I am sorie we mett not at London, now I would
haue come but that I could not then haue reached home into the
Northe before Whitsonday. The next Tearme God wylling I
will se you, for either then wyll we make an ende of thes scando-

148 Appendix G.

lous troubles or I wyll seeke to saue one out of thes flames vnder
a frers hoode. Here I receive a messenger from London, for my
returne.i What wylbe the next newes, I knowe not but of neces
sitie backe I must. We offered to yeald vpon verie reasonable
conditions, w'=^ all were refused. And M"^ Collingto, myselfe, &
M'' Heberne suspended ab omni vsu facultatu. I send this inclosed
to M'^ Barlow to procure testimonie & handes for my good be-
hauiour and wyll him to deliuer them to you. Send them w*
those you can procure for my creditt to M' CoUington, that I may
haue them kept for me. Desire M"^ Cauerley to copye me out my
letter to M"^ Morus y* is sent back by Fa. Parsons & come into the
Bisshop of Londons hand. I thanke them. Jesu what vile
rumors & slanders ar cast alouer touching you ? Slander & detrac
tion are no faultes. But we beginne to be in the same predicament
w* you. For Gods sake be warye of yo^ toung, that no aduantages
be taken of you. And be sure of them you imparte yo'' mind
vnto. It is said you ar notably circumuented by on you trust, one
of o^^ owne coate who dealeth verie connyngly w"' you. me thinke
you should be wise & experienced ynough to knowe before you
belieue. Yo"" sonne Richard is saife yett troubled w* an ague
since his deliuerye. he wyll forsake the land. As I returne this
way you shall knowe, what o'^ businesses were of this posting backe
againe. Thes new officers ar so straitely that by no meanes we
can speake meete or se them. Coinend me to yo'^ good selfe &
all in haiste this Friday postridie Ascens. — Yo'^ most assured, Jo. Mu.
Since yo'' departure Wade haith had all the priestes in prisons
before him his cheefest questions & threates were about this
Arche & accepting of him. A plott as he saieth of Fa. Parsons,
to make all priests co-operate for bringing in the Infanta to be o'^
Queene. Yo"^ sonne and I wounder they make no proclamation
against y*. but I muse they ar so senseless, as not to thinke vpon
some tolleration w* conditions w"^ might free vs from this
jelosye. [Add7-essed] — To the Right Worship' & my very frend M"^ D.
Bagshawe thes. Wisbitche.
[Endorsed] — A Ire from Musshe how his, M' Collingtons, & M''
Heburns faculties are taken fro them.
The B. of Londo hath his Ife to y^ Cardinal.
Dr. Bagshaw is revyled & betrayed.

^ On returning to London in response to the message referred to. Mush learned
the contents ofthe brief, and made his submission accordingly. See p. Ixxxiii,
supra. The preceding letter (F. ) was written two or three weeks later.

Appendix H. 149

APPENDIX H.
Letter of John Blackfan, S. J., to John Floyd, S.J.
Sept. 7, 1599.
{From a copy in the Petyt MSS., xlvii. f. 203.)
Jhs.
Pax Chfi, etc., — My lovinge Father, it were good yow shold
sometimes remember yo' frends w*'' a word or two, that they
might reioyce w'^ yow at yo'^ good, or helpe to bemoane yo'' evil),
and comfort yow if any desolacon befall, but now shortly we
hope we shall enjoy yo'^ owne selfe : for the sickness yow feared
is all together asswaged here, blessed be God therefore ; and the
worst pte of other fugitives have returned.
I sende yow here a letter as I take it from Rome, and w"' it
certain paps thence, that were addressed to this College : w"'' are
in number fower : there goeth also a letter of Fa. Bells death :
the newes yow may doe well to impte to Fa. 8°''.
Besydes these there were written to me owt of England other
newes pticular : that the E : of Essex in Ireland had yet done
nothinge to count of: whereof the Quene & Councell are sorely
displeased : and that abowt midd July there were 4000 souldio''*
redye to be sent to him for supplye. Now is the tyme for the
Spaniards to strike, if ever they will do any thinge.
Fa. Garnett also wrytes that the obstinate priests in England
were very hott sett to be revenged on the Fa: and the Archp'^ till
the breve came from the Pope : and had framed a horrible letter
against them, in w"'' they threaten to gett them attacked of the
statute of p'^munire w*^ many other the like. The copye of w*
letter •w^'^ the hands of the chiefe of the priests sett thereto. Fa:
Garnett sayth, he gott owt of the Bp. of London's howse. There
were of that faction in Wisbich, gott owt of the castle under y^
p''tence of flyinge, but they are knowen to be at libertye, and in
favo"^ to, and so might other of that faction to, but that they will
not admitt it owtwardlye for their creditt. But after the publish-
inge of the Popes Breve diverse of them came in w*'' theyr due
submission : to witt. Mush : Heyburne : CoUington : Ed. Bennet
&c. : so y* they reckon that those w"'' stand yet finally owt, I
meane of those y* be abroade, are these followinge : Wm. Clarke :
Richard Butler : Jn" Boswell : Francis Montfort, and one Foster,
that came lately into England from Rome : And y* I wonder at
most Robert Drurye; although I thinke it impossible but that
before this time he be come in. Fa. Lister who (God be praised)

150 Appendix I.

is alive, beinge consulted by a certaine priest by letter, what he
thought of those that stood owt, wrote a large, learned and pithy
discourse : wherein he proved they were schismaticks : w"^ went to
their harts. W* opinion, now after the notification of the Popes
Breve, is much confirmed, especially conceming such as hold owt
after the notification of the same. They say all the Catholicks
doe allredy avoyd them as such : w<=^ will be cause, I hope, that
this question and controversye will be sone ended. The psecution,
they say, is, as it were, altogether ceased : there is neyther search
nor inquisition made after anye : but rather there have been diverse
pticular favo'^ shewed of late vnto Catholicks. I beseech God,
turne all to his glory and the good of o' con try e. Comend me to
allmighty God in yo"^ prayers : Fa. Berthistle hath pticular need of
yo'' prayers, who is sicke of tertians ; the rest are in good health.
At Valledolid this 7 of Septeb"^ : 1599- Jn° Blackfan.
Al P' Jn° Floydo de la Comp* de Jesus en Baluerde.

APPENDIX I.
Dr. Bagshaw to Mr. Thomas Bluet [1601].
{From the original holograph, with note of Bluet, in the Petyt MSS.,
xlvii. f. 227.)
Father Thomas, — If your letters had not come safe to vs by
Jhon Lowe, we had not written agayne by him as we haue. For
fear of afterclapps we haue sent our letter to M' Blackwell againe,
Tf/ok .yvhen yow haue subscribed deliver. M"^ Newton hath beene
here. He dd his money to L. Vertourmanus, & beinge not
fully informed was a little warye. We have discoursed w*'' him
to the full. He [pr]omiseth to have care & remembrance of yow.
He went away but a litle before the coininge of Thomas.
In my letters by John, I wrote y* Will'" Br. and Shee & we
stande in reasonable good termes. I pray yow concurre. Yow
knowe the vncertaynty of the man, & therefore euer keepe the
bridell in your hande.
I wrote vnto you likewise to remooue some of vs or some of
them. If you can procure the banishemet of vs together w'^ M"^ Barn-
bye it would be very gratefull but w''' conditions not to disavowe
our cowntry, or w*'' any other not covenient restriction.
For the reporte of recantinge bringe it to some heade. We
have worde of it frome one M'^ Kempe of Kent. A Catholique
who was heere told her he knew the cStrarye.

Appendix J. 151

I wrote likewise to be instructed fully for Parsons hande in
Essex's matter.
M' Calverley hath written abowte our howse matters. The
pride of Bickley, Greene & Bramston must be rebated, or else
our estate is not tolerable. M' Barnby hathe his share almost as
farre as the rest, he hathe 27^. the other 37. M' Aitoune hath
40^. owt of M"^ Bennetts monye. I pray yow thanck them who
have care of vs.
It is somethinge to sustayne the hope of this place, yett your
letters have well encowraged our people & I pray you from time
to time lett vs heare. Your twoe letters did well. If you observe
it hereafter, the one may be showed, the other imparted only to
some. W"' the 7^. for his horse we have given Thomas abowte
xx^ a marke for his horse meate & his owne chardges.
We remeber you & your designes in particular. Your missale
is not worthe the sendinge & there wanted a messanger. And
now yowse see a miracle, a letter from one who hathe broken his
necke downe a payre of stayres. April 27.
Yours while his necke is whole,
C. B.
Addressed : To his wor" and especiall friende M' Thomas Bluett.
On the back is the following note : M' Parsons abowt 3 yeares since
was tempering and hatching a plotte to set up Essex against her
Ma*'*'. Hereof he brake w*^ a priest, & acquayting hym w*'' y°
helpes y* he shuld haue out of Spayne and y'' Lowe Contries,
moved y" said priest to be his messinger of this matter vnto y"
Earle. But y^ priest refused to be a dealer in any such cause, &
yet gaue him good words, lest otherwise he might haue ^cured
hym to haue been sent to y* Galleys. The said priest told me
this much ; & I having written of it to Dr. Bagshawe, he desyred
here to be better instructed. Tho. Bluet.

APPENDIX J.
Letter of the Archpriest Blackwell to his Assistants,
June 23, 1601.
{From ihe Hope of Peace, p. 5.)
My very Reverend and very loving Assistants, — To my great
sorrow two Books have been set out by our dear Brethren, whom
all you love in the bowels of Christ and whom I have sought by
all Fatherly means to win and reduce to unity. Great reason it
has been that a thing propounded to the Pope his holiness should

152 Appendix J.

not with so great scandal of our cause and joy of our adversaries,
have first been divulged to all sorts of people, before it could pos
sibly come to his sight and censure, and perhaps never meant to
be presented to him, although means must be made by me that it
may come to his reading, and the view thereof will grieve him
much, because he loveth and everywhere desireth peace.
It cannot be liked of, that we should write one against another,
and therefore no other answer shall be sent now than this. And
my desire is, that all good Catholics, according to their duties, do
think well of their superiors, and, if they have any doubt, do sus
pend their judgments until they hear the full deciding of the
cause, for herein is touched the credit of all superiors in the
world. The principal points they touch are these : —
1. The division at Wisbeach.
2. The sedition ofthe College at Rome, and the government
of the other Seminaries.
3. The institution of our authority.
4. The censuring them of schism.
5. The usage ofthe two agents they sent to Rome.
6. The decrees I made and the execution of them.
1. The first point was a thing long since ended with great
edification, and by the means principally of these which are most
condemned. [It toucheth the greater part and the better part
of that company there.] It nothing concerneth our authority, it
being more ancient, and having orders taken at the atonement by
their own consent. It is well known at Rome by whose means
they were disannulled, neither was it more unfitting for those
which lived in one house to institute rules for such as voluntarily
demanded and accepted them, than to procure a sodality abroad.
2. The second point concerneth the superiors there, whose
authority is greatest and most dangerously contemned, who have
the hearing of the causes and by great reason ought to make
orders for the Seminaries, which they that complain never
budt. ^ ^
3. The third point is clear by his holiness' Breve, and no less
could be done than to accept the authority and to execute it when
it came at the first. For I have learned to obey, and I signified
then how unfit I was to have so great a charge, and am ever ready
to depose it for the love of God, and the profit of His Church,
upon the least knowledge of my Superiors will and command
ment : for my delight is not so much in it, as these authors do
affirm, neither was it published at any time with untruths by any
such unseemly means, which might give shew of any little
ostentation.

Appendix K. 153

4. The matter of Schism was according to my opinion which
now I retain yet with submission to holy Church, what I shewed
them was done in charity for their better instruction and speedy
reformation, which also was sent them by me in secret, and
therein no particular person was named. It was but an arbitrary
matter, discussed among the learned, which bringeth no loss of
credit to either part. I gave them all express liberty to think
what they would herein, for it is but a matter of opinion, and
therefore not worthy to make a matter of contention, which part
soever was true. I sought by learned discourses and censures not
so much the forwardness of my opinion as of their amendment.
What I sent them to view was in manner of a fatherly admonition,
and not as a matter to stir up or to feed a farther dissension. Our
endeavours were for peace. Happy shall we be and blessed for
this so goodly a labour. Blessed are the peacemakers for they
shall be called the sons of God ; to whose protection I commend
you all, humbly desiring you to pray for me, and so I take my
leave this 23 of June, 1601. G. B.J Archpriest Angl. Pronot. Apostolicus.

APPENDIX K.
Declaratio Thom.e Bluetti sacerdotis Angli. Exhibita 1\\^^^
et R'"'= Dais Burghesio, et Arrigonio S. R. E. Cardinalibus
die — Martij Anno Dni 1602.
{State Papers, Dom. Elis., Vol. ccLx.xxni. f. 70.)
De causis aduentus ipsius Londinum h carcere de Framingham et
itineris Romam versus.
Custos carceris Wisbicensis, auaritia et malitia ductus, k consili
ariis Reginae procurauit auctoritatem et potestatem transferendi
triginta sex incarceratos sacerdotes (quorum unus erat Franciscanus,
alter Capucinus) ad Castrum de Framinghem, quod distat ind6
itinere quatuor dierum. Hanc uer6 translationis causam pendebat,
quod eiusdem prouinciae nobiles (quibus cura eiusdem Castri com
missa erat) nimis fauere uidebantur duobus aut tribus sacerdotibus,
ita ut ipse custos non potuit frequenter perficere, quae iussa erant
a senatu Reginae, uiz., incarceratos omnes ita astricte obseruaret,
n6 quis eos ulla ratione alloqueretur ; Huius auctoritatis virtute
remouit inde incarceratos omnes. Quod, ut facilius et securius
praestaret (ut praetendebat ipse) sexdecim manicas ferreas fieri
curauit, quibus sacerdotes bini ac bini (latronum instar) copula-
rentur, et ita securius conducerentur, milites quoque triginta,
requirit.

154 Appendix K.

Huius rei indignitate commoti nobiles (licet Protestantes) re-
sponderunt barbarum hoc esse factum et spectaculum indignum
nee ferendum, ut tot sacerdotes vincti latronum instar per prouin-
cias pedibus tantum itineris conficerent, quare tantum illi conces
serunt triginta milites, modo custos ipse stipendia illis solueret, eo
quod incarceratorum translatio propter suum lucrum, ac commodum
ab ipso fuit procurata, quam conditionem ipse omnin6 repulit, quod
tantas impensas facere noluit, sed data et interposita fide duorum
sacerdotum (qui ex primariis incerceratorum erant), uiz., quod ad
diem praefixum omnes ad carcerem nouum se praesentarent, libere
dimisit : quod in Anglia, in carceribus slue extra, saep6 consuetum
est, ut in uerbo sacerdotis possit quis liberi ad tempus abesse, licet
agatur de uitae periculo ; quod ego multoties praestiti.
Tandem post quintum diem omnes per gratiam Dei uenimus ad
Castrum et sic fidem datam carceris custodi sancte persoluimus.
Castrum uer6 inuenimus ruinosum, inhabitabile (quod per annos
ierh octuaginta desertum manserat) quare hac de causa coactus
erat custos carceris omnes in diueris pagis ac villulis duobus fere
mensibus collocare : et quia Archipresbyter (ut afflictionem adderet
afflictis) prohibuerat eleemosinas afferri ad manus incarceratorum,
eo quod ad Suam Sanctitatcm appellassent, ut fame et inopia
coacti juri appellationis omnin6 cederent ; hac temporis occasione
data, ut remed[ium] his malis afferrem, a custode licentiam ad
decem dies obtinui, vt nonnullos Catholicos inuiserem, ac cum illis
agerem de his malis, et periculis, in quibus confratres mei ratione
istius mandati Archipresbyteri versabantur ; Londinum veni, et
quia per annos uiginti quatuor vrbem illam non videram, nee ubi
aliquis Catholicus habitaret, noueram, ad carcerem mihi olim cog-
nitum ueni (erant ibi septem sacerdotes, quasi in libera custodia)
ut ex illis intelligerem quomodo cum Archipresbytero, ac reliquis
Catholicis de his negotiis conferre possem, unus intereA ex illis
sacerdotibus statim me uidens, prae gaudio (ut uidebatur) accla-
mauit : 'Pater Bluettus est :' hoc nomine A custode illius carceris
audito (stabat enim post tergum) secret6 interrogat num iste est
Bluettus Wisbicensis, de quo tam multa audiui } Respondit pres
byter, ipse est. Hoc audito subduxit se custos carceris uolens
commissariis Reginae (qui Inquisitores in negotiis ecclesiasticis
uocantur) indicare Bluettum Wisbicensem in urbe existere.
Quo perspecto periculo, timens ego, ne excubiae per vrbem dis-
ponerentur, ut me tanquam fugitiuum comprehenderent, tutius et
consultius judicaui commissariis significare me in vrbe esse propter
causas necessarias et negotia incarceratorum, meque paratum esse
ad rationem reddendam illis aduentus mei in vrbem : quo audito
ille, quem Protestantes episcopum uocant, et qui primus est inter
commissarios, famulum suum misit, qui me ad ipsum perduceret :

Appendix K. 155

ad quem cum veneram, causam aduentus sciscitanti, respondi me
Londinum venisse de licentia custodis carceris ad ea peragenda,
quae incarceratis confratribus erant necessaria (eram enim quffistor
eleemosinarius per annos multos quod bene noverant Regina et
Senatus) meque reuersurum esse intra decem dies. Qua accepta
satisfactione, statim ad Reginam se contulit cui omnia ordine
narrat : quo audito iussit me Londini in libera custodia seruari,
quod fuit ab initio quadragesimae usque ad finem mensis Julii
eiusdem anni.
Archipresbiter uerb nullo modo me ad conspectum ipsius admit
tere uoluit, sed prohibuit, ne missas omnin6 celebrarem, confessiones
audirem, aut condones apud populum haberem, im6 strictis-
sim6 prohibuit, n6 quis Catholicorum eleemosinas mihi praeberet,
sacris, aut conscionibus adesset, ita quod ab initio quadragesimae
usque ad finem Julii nh unum quadrantem de eleemosinis populi
recepi, quamuis optima noueram duodecim millia librarum Angli-
canarum spatio trium annorum praeteritorum fuisse a nobilibus
Catholicis donata ad sustentationem incarceratorum : atque hoc
Archipresbiter non tantum mihi, sed caeteris presbyteris eo fecit,
ut hac ratione me, ac confratres meos appellantes cogeret appella
tioni renuntiare : omni enim ratione ac totis uiribus conatus est
Archipresbiter cum Jesuitis, ne negotia ista ad aures Sanctitatis
Suae peruenirent, ut notum est omnibus Catholicis.
Interea temporis Londinensis, in cuius potestate de mandato
Reginae eram, pluriraas, ac diuersas mihi litteras, ac Ubros patris
Personii, patris Holti, et aliorum Jesuitarum Anglorum ostendit, in
quibus perspicue apparebat, ipsos Regem Hispaniarum ad regnum
Anglicanum inuadendum (quasi sibi de jure debitum) inuitare, et
ahos plurimos priuatos homines sollicitare, ut Reginam, uel ueneno,
aut gladio de medio tollerent. Ista Londinensis mihi pluries com-
municauit, et quid ego de his sentirem inteiTogauit, et utrum sacer
dotes seculares essent eiusdem sententiae, et opinionis de Regina 6
medio tolleiida, et regno transferendo }
Addidit praeterei Reginam, et ordines, siue consiliarios maximas
et grauissimas habuisse rationes promulgandi leges istas durissimas
contra Jesuitas, presbjrteros Seminariorum et reliquos Catholicos,
eo quod reputabant omnes conscios et reos esse omnium huiusmodi
molitionum, cum essent discipuli Jesuitarum sub ipsis in Seminariis
educati. Cui respondi, seculares sacerdotes ex mea certa scientia nunquam
conscios fuisse huiusmodi molitionum, im6 neque primaries in
Anglia Catholicos, quod rationibus, apertissimis et demonstrationi-
bus manifestis probaui, et hac maxime appellatione nostra ad Sanc-
tissimum Papam, apud quem nostras iustissimas querelas exposituri
eramus, nosque innocentes sacerdotes per plurimos annos dilaniari.

156 Appendix K.

torqueri, suspendi non propter religionem, aut fidem Catholicam
aut justitiam, sed propter huiusmodi proditiones (vt vos Protes
tantes clamatis). Intulit Londinensis, nihil aliud conantur, idque
sub specie religionis, quam regnum transferre k gente Anglorum et
a legitimis haeredibus ad Hispanos, ut ex litteris et libris, inuasion-
ibus luce clarius constat. Haec etiam mea responsa ipsi Reginae
communicauit, et ita, post varias collationes et conferentias, Regina
judicibus mandauit, ut k sanguine sacerdotum abstinerent, nisi
aliquem inuenirent harum molitionum reum (solent enim Judices
prouinciarum antequam ad tribunalia in prouinciis ascendunt, in-
terrogare Reginam, quid fieri velit in negotiis Catholicorum).
Hinc factum est ut Reginae, ad mansuetudinem inclinatae,
petitio ex parte Catholicorum oblata fuit pro aliquali conscien-
tiarum libertate, cum hac protestatione, ut sacerdotes, et laici fideli-
tatem illi praestarent in omnibus, quae ad temporalia sua spectarent.
In qua petitione auditum insuper fuit, quod omnes huiusmodi moli-
tiones, libelli, siue contra Reginam, siue contra regni principes
et nobiles, viz. Liber Successionis, siue Titulorum, et alii quicumque
siue Latinfej uel Anglic^ scripti supprimerentur. Hac supplicatione
iterum, atque iterum lecta in haec uerba prorupit : — ' Isti homines
meam leuitatem et clementiam erga illos sentientes his contenti
non sunt, sed omnia simul, et semel habere volunt. Rex (inquit
ilia) Gallorum reuera potest sine omni periculo honoris, uitae, et
regni concedere Hugonottis libertatem religionis : at nobiscum
non ita est ; nam si Catholicis concessero hanc libertatem, eo ipso
facto, et meipsam, honorem, uitam et coronam illorum pedibus
subiicis : quoniam summus pastor eorum contra me sententiam
tulit, dum adhuc in utero matris essem (intellexit sententiam
dementis Septimi de matrimonio Henrici et matris). Insuper
inquit Pius V^. me excommunicauit, et subditos k sacramento fide-
litatis absoluit, Gregorius item XIII^- et Sextus V^. ad instantiam
Regis Hispaniarum (quo pomceria sua dilataret) eamdem renoua-
runt, et sic adhuc pendet cum nostro periculo. Quod uer6 pertinet
ad eum qui modo gubernacula tenet non est quod conquerar sed
ut nomine, ita et re Clemens est ; Inuenit Galliam tumultibus,
bellis ciuilibus, caedibus, et homicidiis refertam, quae omnia ipse,
quantum in eo erat, ad pacem reduxit, regem, et regnum amplexus
est, ita ut iam pace gaudent opulenta : in quo suo facto ostendit se
dignum loco suo, dignus, qui uocetur vicarius Christi, doctor, et
magister gentium.'
Et sic petitio ilia nullum alium sortita est effectum, quia non
erat quisque qui replicare ausus sit.
Hinc alia k me oblata fuit petitio, ut mihi, ac quatuor, uel quin
que aliis sacerdotibus, siue in carceribus, siue extr^, licentiam con-
cederet, Romam eundi ad huius nostrae Appellationis causam

Appendix K. 157

prosequendam, ac ut Sanctitati Suae exponeremus, quo in statu res
nostrae essent in Anglia. Quam petitionem ipsa Consiliariis suis
remisit, ut matm-ius deliberarent, an expediret. Illi de hac peti
tione consultantes in hanc disputationem veniunt, de differentia
antiquorum et recentiorum sacerdotum, hoc est, de his, qui sacris
fuerimt initiati uel temporibus Henrici, aut Reginae Mariae (quos
omnes Antiques Sacerdotes vocant), et de his, qui fuerunt sacris
initiati post mortem Reginae Mariae, quos uocant recentiores siue
Seminaristas. Antiquis enim sacerdotibus non est crimen laesae
Maiestatis, quod sint sacerdotes et quod sint in regno : neque illi
crimen laesae Maj'i^, ac periculum vitae incurrtmt, aut amissionem
bonorum, qui eos recipiunt uel alunt in domibus suis, tantum si
fuerint deprehensi sacrum celebrantes, tam celebrantes, quam
audientes mulctam soluunt uel in aere, uel in corpore.
Sed recentioribus sacerdotibus (quos Seminaristas uocant, uel
Jesuitas) est crimen laesae majestatis, quod sint sacerdotes et quod
sint in regno: Et similiter est crimen laesae majestatis cum amis-
sione onmium bonorum tkra mobilium, quam immobilium eis, qui
eos alunt uel hospitio excipiunt uel communicant cum illis siue
spiritualiter, siue temporaliter.
Huius differentiae causam hanc fuisse omnes dixerunt, propterea
quod antiqui sacerdotes pacifice et quiete semper vixerunt. Et
Regina Maria mortua antiqui episcopi ac sacerdotes hanc nostram
receperunt, et coUocauerunt in throno regni et eamden Reginam
unxerunt : Et quamuis ilia eos omnes e sedibus suis remouit
propter fidem antiquam, et in eorum sedibus alios subintroduxit ;
tamen ilh, siue in carceribus, siue extra pacifice semper se gesser-
unt, nee quicquam aduersus coronam, aut dignitatem tentarunt.
Sed isti recentiores siue Jesuitae, siue Seminaristae longe aliter :
Intrauerunt enim regnum sub specie religionis ac pietatis, secret6
tamen tractant de morte principis et ruina patriae suae, eamdem in
praedam exteris principibus offerentes, sicut euidenter apparet ex
libris, litteris, actionibus procuratis a Personio, Holto, et aliis
Anglis, tam intra quam extri regnum.
Haec est enim uera causa discriminis et differentiae inter illos, sic
enim inuenimus : Attamen (inquit unus eorum) uidemus saeculares
sacerdotes (quos Seminaristas vocant) abhorrere et detestari huius
modi molitiones et aetiones, et ide6 Jesuitas grauiter arguunt,
sicut in eorum appellatione et libro ad Papam dedicate palam est,
et cum eorum sacerdotium sit unum cum antiquis, fides una, et
professio eadem, et qualitates et cenditiones conueniunt, nullam
ego (inquit) uideo rationem, cur ipsi istis priuilegiis cum antiquis
sacerdotibus non gaudeant. Quare mihi expedire uidetur, ut per
mittantur isti sacerdotes pacific^ Romam proficisci ad appellationem
prosequendam et ad manifestandam huiuscemodi Summo Pontifici :

158 Appendix K.

qui si fecerit illis justitiam et judicium, qui tantos labores pro eius
dignitate tuenda sustinuerunt, sperare quidem possumus et nos
justitiam ab illo posse inuenire. Et sic finito Consilio concesse
runt mihi potestatem accersendi quatuor sacerdotes ex his, qui
erant in carceribus, siue extra: concesserunt quoque nobis liber
tatem per septem hebdomadas uisitandi parentes, cognates, et
amices Catholicos ac pecunias coUigendi necnon omnia alia, quse
erant ad iter necessaria.
His tamen nobis ita concessis, aliqui eorum persuaserunt Reginae
non esse securum tot sacerdotes regno liberos et quasi amicos
dimittere, n6 eius clementia abutentes sese in transmarinis locis
cum Jesuitis ceniungant et molestiam et periculum regno faces-
sant, Et ide6 expedit (inquit ille) ut sententia exilii in illos ad
eorum terrorem feratur, cui consilio Regina acquieuit.
Multos quoque alios sacerdotes ad instantiam et petitionem
meam, uel liberos ex uinculis uel ex strictioribus ad mitiera remisit.
Si in hoc benefacto et fraternae charitatis officio peccaui penes
jUmas Dominatienes Vestras, erit judicium, habetis cenfitentem
reum, animaduertite ut libet : E contr4, si ego uinctus, et eo
tempore captiuus, uermis et non homo, im6 opprobrium hominum,
et ab heri et nudiustertius omnium peripsema in oculis Reginae :
tantum impetraui apud principem ; quid Sanctitatis Suae aucto
ritas, adnitente Christianissimo Rege, ad consolationem Catholi
corum, et afflictissimae gentis ualere potest ? Quid bella et arma ?
quid classes et inuasiones ? quid libri acerbissime in principem et
proceres scripti ualuere per hos uiginti annos ? Vos ipsi audistis,
et nos nostro magno malo et uidimus et sustinuimus. Semper
tamen uestigiis Patrum ac Martyrum inhaerentes, uidelicet, Rof
fensis, Mori, et sanctorum episcoporum nostrorum qui tantum
pro fide Apostolica et Romana, ac huius Sanctae Sedis auctoritate
in uinculis, et carceribus animas suas nobis praesentibus Deo tradi
derunt. Pacem amplectimur, eorum enim haeredes sumus, non
Regnerum licitatores, sicut fidei nostrae commiserunt, sicut testa
mento cauerunt, sicut morientes adiurauerunt, ita tenemus.

INDEX.

Abbot, George, abp. Cant., xxvi «, xlvii,
xlviii «.
Abington, Edw., executed, 135, 136.
Acarisio, papal fiscal, Ixiii, Ixxiii, Ixxv.
Agazzari, Alfonso, S.J, , x, xxvii, xxviii, xxxi,
xlix, 1, 18 7/, 75 «, 76 71, 109 M, 122 tt.
Agen, 126, 127 K.
Aitoune, Mr., 151.
Albert, archduke, 114 «.
Aldobrandino, cardinal, Ixxv, cxx, 56 w, 112.
Alexandrine, cardinal, 9, 122.
Allcock, Mrs., recusant, 25 n.
Allegiance of catholic priests, cxxi, cxxii.
 oath of, cxxiii-cxxv, cxxx, cxlvii, 122 71,
 protestation of, cxxii, cxxiv, cxxxvi,
cxlvii.
Allen, Thomas, 78 «.
Allen, cardinal William, viii, cxlvi, cxlix,
16 and 71, sg, 53 71, 57 n, 72, 76 », 103 ri,
113, 122 M, 141.
 founds Douai seminary, vii, 112 72.
 on the Roman mutiny, ix 71, ix-xi.
 proposes Jesuit mission, xii.
 in the secrets of Philip, xiv, xv, xvii.
 Letters and memorials of, xv, 11 w,
 defence of Stanley, xviii, xix 7i.
 his admonition, xix.
 a priest's treachery against, 121 k.
 absences from the seminary, xxxviii.
 change of view in old age, xxiii.
 his opinion of the Jesuits, 17 and«, 48 7i,
52 M.
 defends Holt, 114 n.
 results of his death, xxvii, xxviii, 17, 113.
 Jesuits' opinion of him, 18 «.
Alms, collection of, xli, cxv, cxvi and n.
 refused to anti-jesuits, Ixxxiii, 38, 55,
154-
 misappropriated, xxxiv, 100, loi, 116 w.
Ambition, charges of, Ixxv, 72 «.
Angel guardians, xxx.
Angus, earl of, 31 «.
Antwerp, 112 «.
Apostasy, charges of, 67 «, 120, 121 «.
Appeal, right of, 131.
Appeal of thirty-three priests, Ixxxv, 92, 93.
 quoted, 85 «, 8g «, 92 w.
Appellants, Ixviii seg'., Ixxxiv se^.

Appellants submit to archpriest, Ixxxiii, 87,
149, ISO.
 their number, 74 and «, 81-82 n, 92 71.
 their condition, Ixxxvi-vii, 86 «.
 ten suspended, 93.
 charged with sedition, Ixxxix.
 ready to fight against the pope, xciii.
 their alleged immoralities, cix-cxi, cxx.
 their writings, Ixxxiv-xcvi, civ, ex, cxi,
cxii, cxix, cxxviii seg'. See also Books.
 propose conference with archpriest,
Ixxiv, 90 71.
 negotiations with the queen, xcvi-xcix,
155-158.
¦  banished, xcvi-xcix.
 at Paris, ci.
 four, at Rome, cii seg.
 have audience of Pope, cv.
 ihsir £-rava77iina, cxiii.
 discontented with report of inquisition,
cxv.
 refuse to shake hands with Parsons,
cxviii.
 obtain brief from Clement, cxix.
 some made assistants to archpriest, cxix,
cxx «.
 results of their conflict, cxxiv-cxxvii.
See also Deputies ; Priests (Secular).
Aquaviva, 'Claudius, general S. J., xi, 20 71,
115 31.
Archer, Giles, priest, xlvi, Ixxxii, cvi, cxiv, 137.
 his lewd assertions, 65, 66 «.
 biographical notice of, 65 «.
Archpriest, office of, lix, Ixiii, Ixvii, Ixxiv, 76,
78 «.
 political motive in appointment of, i, Ixi,
Lxiii.
 validity of the appointment questioned,
\x\w seq., i^^seg., 152.
 the pope thanked for, 81. See Black-
well
Armada, of 1588, ii, xv, xvii, xviii, xl, 16 «.
 preparations for a second, xxv n, xci.v.
Array, Dr. Martin, priest, ix, Ixx, Ixxiv r,
Ixxvi n, 76, 78, 82 «.
 notice of, 76 «.
Arrigoni, cardinal, xcvii, cvi, cix.
Arundel, Anne, countess of, 105-106 «.

160

Index.

Arundel, earl of, 136.
Ashton. See Thules, Christopher.
Assassination, schemes of, xvi, xix, xcvii-
xcviii, 114 n.
Assistants to archpriest, cxvii, cxix, cxx, 49,
Association of the secular clergy, Iviii, 69-70
rt, g7 w.
 of catholic laity, 30 71.
Attorney general, Ixxx, 44 «.
Audley, Thomas, priest, 18 », 48 71.
Aylmer, bp. of London, 17 «.
B (F), cxlix.
Babington conspiracy, xliv, 136.
Babylon, cxxxi.
Bagshaw, Dr. Christopher, xliii, xlvi, liii «,
lv, xci, ci 71, cxxix, cxxxv, cxiii, cxlix,
15, 21, 25 «, 28, 31, 31 «, 34, 39, 48, 53 M,
63, 64, 66, 67, 115 Tt, 135.
 his books, iii, iv, lv, Ixxxv, civ, cxiii,
cxxxii, cxliii.
 his character, iv, 1, ex, 14 «, 146.
 biographical notice of, xIvi-1.
 at Oxford with Parsons, xlviii.
 at the Roman college, xlix, 109 «.
 his doctor's degree, 1, 109 «.
— — his handwriting, Ixxv.
 accused of treachery, Ixxviii.
 at Wisbeach, Ivi, Ixxviii, 53-55, 57, 58,
61, 62 ?2, ^-^ 71, 6671.
 relations with the privy council, Ixxviii,
Ixxxi, Ixxxii, 133.
 prisoner in London, Ixxix, Ixxxi.
 consulted by W. Watson, Ixxx.
 submits to archpriest, Ixxxiii.
 signs appeal, 93 «.
 ¦ finishes his * True Relation,' Ixxxv, civ,
133-
 derides Blackwell, Ixxxvi.
 selected for banishment, xcvi.
 goes to France, c.
 remains at Paris, cii.
 disapproves ' Quodlibets,' cv.
 detests equivocation, 108 «.
 dislikes ' Italionated ' Englishmen, xlvii,
23-
 spreads ' defames,' 146.
 accuses Parsons of falsehood, 66«.
 his inconsistencies, 62 71.
 letters from Garnet, 57, 58, 6r.
 letter from Charnock, 83 «.
—  from Sicklemore, 146.
 ¦  from Mush, 147.
 to Sicklemore, 145.
 to Bluet, 150.
Bagshaw, John, xlviii.
 Nicholas, xliii.

Bagshaw, William, 127 n.
Baldwin, William, S.J., 78 «•
Ballard, priest, xliv.
Balliol college, xlvii.
Bancroft, bishop of London, xcvii, c, cvii,
cxi, cxiiw, cxx; cxxiii, cxliii, iig », 148,
i4g, 154-156.
Banishment of priests, xxxix, xcix, c, ci, cxxi,
lis '^j 148-
Banks, S.J., xxxw, 102 «.
Barcelona, 115 w.
Barlow or Barloe, Lewis, priest, xliii, 29 «,
136, 148.
Barlow, Robert, page, xliii.
Barneby, Francis, priest, xcvi, c-cii, cvii,
cxlix, 151.
Barnes, Dr. JoKn, O.S.B., 108 «.
Baronius, cardinal, ciii.
Barret, Dr. Richard, president of Rheims,
xxxi, xxxviii, xlix, li, cxxxi, 52 «, 84 », 98 «,
109 ft.
 his bad temper, xxiv.
 incompetency, 103 Tt.
Barwise, Robert, priest, Ixxxvii.
Bassett, Charles, 115 w.
Bavant (Bavin), Dr. John, lv, lxiii, 29, 39,
40, 45, 47. S3. ioi«-
 biographical note on, 29 «.
 arbitrator at Wisbeach, 36, 38.
 * turns his tippet,' 42.
 excuses the separation, 47.
 opposes the association, 70 k.
Beatification of English martyrs, vii ;.-.
Bedford, 25 n.
Beesley, George, martyr, iio«,
Belgium, lix, 75 «, 116, 117, 123.
Bell, Henry, S.J., xxv, 149.
Bell, Thomas, Anglican clergyman, some
time seminary priest, cl, 52 Tt, 121 «,
Bellarmine, cardinal, cvi, cvii, cxxiv.
Benedictines, English, attacked by Jesuits,
cxxv.
Bennet, Edward, xxxvi «, Ixxxiii, cv, cxx ti,
cxxx-cxxxii, cxliv, 93 », 110 ti, 149.
•  John, priest, Ixx «, Ixxv, Ixxvi, cxx «,
93 Tt, IDS?;.
 notice of, cxxxi.
¦  his books and letters, Ixxxvi, cxlviii.
Bennett, Mr., 151.
Benson, Robert, appellant priest, Ixxxiii,
93 M, 147.
Bensted, Thomas, priest, martyr, cxxxiv,
108 71.
Berington, rev. Joseph, cii.
Berthistle, father, S.J., 150.
Bethune, Philippe de, French ambassador,
ciii, cv, cvii, cxiii, cxvii, cxviii.
Bickley, priest at Wisbeach, 137, 151.

Index.

161

Bingley, John, priest, 93 «.
Birkhead, George, archpriest, Ixiii, loi w,
104 «, 119 »j 120 ».
Bishop, John, of Brailes, 82 «.
Bishop, Dr. William, xxxvi «, Ivi, lxiii tt,
Ixxxvi, xcv, cii, cxx «, cxxx, cxlvii, 87 «,
lOI «.
 biographical notice of, Ivii, 82 «.
 Parsons' opinion of, 84 ti.
 summoned for mission to Rome, Ixviii,
83 M.
 imprisonment and trial at Rome, Ixx-
Ixxvii, 82, 84 Tl, 86, 87 Tl.
 banished by the pope, Ixxvii-lxxviii.
 his doctor's degree, Ixxviii, 91 «.
 in Paris, cvii.
 his protestation of allegiance, cxxii,
cxxiv, cxliv.
 letter to Bagshaw quoted, 83 «.
 writes to bishop Bancroft, 120.
 his books, Ixxviii, Ixxxvi, cxxx, cxliii.
Bishoprics, priests charged with coveting,
Ixxv, 72 Tl.
Bishops, want of, v, Iviii-lx, cxxxi.
 right of election of, 143-144.
 appointed, cxxvii.
Blackfan, John, S.J., letter to John Floyd,
S.J., 149-
Blackwell, George, archpriest, Ix, Ixv «, Ixx,
Ixxvii, Ixxviii, cxxviii, cxxxiii, cxxxvii,
cxiii, 12, 65 », 91 n, 92 71, 146, 150.
.  character of, 1x1.
 protected by lord Arundel, 106 «.
 approves the association, 70 «.
 favours the Jesuits, 68, 71, 137.
 attacked by Philalethes, cxli.
 appointed archpriest, Ixii.
 his faculties, Ixiv, 100 «, 130.
 detected in forgery, Bo.
 grounds of opposition to, Ixvi.
 his authority confirmed, Ixxvii, 86.
¦  ¦ submission of malcontents to, Ixxxii seq,,
87.
 renews the quarrel, Ixxxiv.
 pretends instructions from Rome, Ixxxiv,
88, 89 n.
 approves Lister's book, 85, 86 «.
 denies right of appeal, 83 «.
 promises release of banished deputies, 87.
 rejects arbitration, 90.
 oppresses the clergy, 91-93.
 mulcts laity, 90.
 his distribution of alms, cxvi Tt.
 refuses alms to prisoners, 154, 155.
 threatens Colleton, 90 «.
 suspends ten appellants, 93.
 suspends Drury, 93 «.
 suspends Charnock, Ixxviii.

Blackwell, George, cofitznued: —
 condemns decision of Sorbonne, 124.
¦  his censures, Ixxxv, 3, 4, 6, 7, 90, 93 «.
 derided and insulted, Ixxxvi, xci, cxli,
I, 6, 79, 80, 94.
¦  • withholds the pope's brief, Ixxxvii-viii.
 approves the ' Apologie,' Ixxxix.
 gravamina of appellants against, cix.
 reprehended by pope and inquisition,
Ixxxviii, cxiv, cxv.'
 forbidden to consult Jesuits, cxix.
 number of his adherents, 81 n.
 takes prohibited oath, cxxiv, 79 «.
 deposed by the pope, cxxiv.
 letter to cardinal Cajetan, 137.
 letter to his assistants, 151.
See also Archpriest.
Blands, Mr, woodmonger, 147.
Blount, father, vice-provincial S.J., 12 «.
Bluet, Thomas, priest, liv, lv, Ixxii, ci «, ex,
cxii H, cxvi, cxxix, cxliv, cxlix, 11-13, 21-
23. 31. 39» 63, ^^ «. 93 w. 137. 147-
 biographical notice of, 13 «.
 accused of drunkenness, Ivi, 13 w ; strik
ing a priest, 14 « ; stealing pewter, 59.
 at Wisbeach, Ixxviii, Ixxxi, Ixxxii, 10,
13. 30. 34-37. 53-55-
 treats with the queen, xcvi-c, 153-156.
 at Rome, cii, cxiii.
 return to London, cxx.
 letter to, 150.
 his alleged writings, cxiii, cxlvii.
 his Declaratio, 153.
Blunt, Rich. , keeper of Wisbeach castle, Ixxxi.
 Richard, S.J., cxi, 102 *t.
Boast, priest and martyr, xciv.
Bodleian library, cxxxviii, cxlv.
Bolton, priest, 137.
Bonard, P., in «.
Books (in general), iii-v, Ixvi, Ixxxv-xcvi,
ciii-cvi, cxi, cxii, 4, 86, 95.
 prohibited or condemned, Ixxxviii, cv,
cxiv, cxix.
Books (in particular) : —
 Adversus factiosos (Lister), Ixxxiii,
Ixxxviii, cxxviii, 85 and n, go.
 Anatomie of popish tyranny, cl.
 Answer to a jesuited gentleman (Copley),
xlii, xc, cxxxviii.
 Answer to Blackwell's letter (Phila
lethes), xc, xci, cxli.
 Apologie (Parsons), liii, Ixxxvii, Ixxxix,
xcii, civ, cxi, cxxxiii, 87 n.
 Appendix to Apologie, Ixxxix, cxi,
cxxxiv.
 Apologia pro rege catholico, xxvii.
¦  Apologia pro hierarchia (Parsons),
cxxxiv.

162

Index.

Books (in particular), continued: —
 Brief Notes (Ely), v, xc, cxii, cxliii, 87 «,
108 ft.
 Conference on the succession, xxv, xcviii,
56 and », 156.
 Copie of letter to Mendoza, xviii.
¦  Copie of letter, by Allen, xix.
 Copies of certain discourses, Ixxxvi,
cxxix, 93 ft.
 Declaratio motuufti, Ixxxv, Ixxxix,
cxxviii, 63 «, 87 «, g5.
 Detection of Romish impostures (Hars
net), xliv, xlv.
 Dialogue betwixt a secular priest, etc.,
xc, cxiii, cxxxvii.
 Dissertatio contra eequivocationes, 108 «.
 Hope of peace, Ixxxvi, Ixxxix, cxxxi,
cxxxiv, g5 ft.
 Important considerations, xc, xci, cxiii,
cxxxv.
 Jesuits' catechism, cxlv.
 Just defence (Colleton), xc, cxii, cxiii.
 Manifestation (Parsons), xc, xciii, xcv,
cvii, cxi, cxxxix, 98 «, iii «.
 Memorial against the Jesuits, 111-121.
 Memorial of the reformation (Parsons),
xxvi, cxi.
 Philopatris, xxi «, xxiii 7t, cxi.
 Quodlibets, xc, cv, cxxxix.
 Relatio compendiosa, Ixxxv-vi, Ixxxix,
cxxxii, cxxxiv, 85 ft.
 Reply to ' Apologie ' (A. P.), xc, cxlvi, el.
 Reply to ' Manifestation ' (W. C), cxlviii.
cl, 41 fl, 98 ft.
 Sparing discoverie, xc, xcv, cxiii, cxxxv.
 Supplication (Southwell), cxvi.
 Treatise of equivocation, 107 ft.
 Treatise tending to mitigation, etc.,
108 Tt.
 True relation, Ixxxv, Ixxxvi, xc, civ,
cxxxiv.
Borghese, cardinal Camillo, Ixx, Ixxi, Ixxv,
Ixxvii, xcvii, ciii, cvi, cviii, cxiv, cxx, exxiv-
cxxxii, 78 and ft, 83 ft, 125.
Borne, Charles, Wisbeach prisoner, 24 «.
Borromeo, St. Charles, gg ft, 113 ti.
Boswell (or Bosevile), John, cxx «, 93 «, 149.
Bozio, Tommaso, ciii.
Braddocke, Edmund, priest, 137.
Brady, Mr. Maziere, Ixx «.
Bramston, priest, 43 and «, 45, 60, 136, 151.
Brief (papal), first, on archpriest, Ixxvii,
Ixxviii, Ixxxiii, cxliii, 86. 87, 90, 127, 131,
132, 146, 149, 150, 152.
 second, on appellants, Ixxxvii, Ixxxviii,
cxlviii.
 final, or third, on appellants, cxvii,
cxix.

Brief (papal) on succession to throne, cxviii,
cxxiii and w, cxxvi.
Bristowe, Dr., a, xix, xxxviii.
British Museum, cxxxiii, cxxxv, cxxxviii,
cxlv, cxlvi.
Brussels, xxxii, xxxiii «, 84 n, 98 «, no ft,
112 «, 114 ft.
Buckenham castle, xliii.
Buckley, father, 65, (id, lyj.
 John, 65 ft.
 Sigebert, 65 «.
 alias Jones, O.S.F., no n.
Bull of Pius v., ii, vi, xii, xix, 9 ft.
 of Gregory xiii., 9 «.
Buoncompagni, cardinal, xlviii, xlix.
Bury, xcix.
Butler, alias of Lister, 84 «.
 [or Button], Richard, 149.
Button, Richard, priest, cxx ft, 93 «. See
also Butler.
C. (W.), xcvi, cxlviii, 98 «.
Cadiz, xxxii.
Cadwallader, Roger, appellant, martyr, cxxiv,
93 «¦
Cajetan, cardinal Henry, xxix, xxxvii, Ix,
Ixii, Ixvi «, Ixx, Ixxi, Ixxv, Ixxvi, ciii, 29 «,
68, 78 and ft, 84 ft, 97 ft, 100 ti, 112, 122 ti,
I2S. 131-
 Blackwell's letter to, 137,
Calais, xxxii.
Calumny, use of, 109.
Calverley, Edmund, priest, ex, 29 «, 44 n,
93 «, 137, T47, 14S, 151.
Cambrai, 32 Tt.
Cambridge, 135, 147.
Campion, father Edmund, S.J., v, xii-xiv,
xix, xlv, xlvi, Ivii, cxliv, 9, 29 «, 30 «, 106 «.
Capuchins, 140.
Cardinalate of England, competitors for the,
xxvii, 113 ft.
 avoided by Parsons, 140.
Carthusians at Louvain, Ivii.
Cassano, bishop of. See Lewis.
Catesby, cxxiii and Tt,
Catholics in England, xvii, Ixxxv, 97.
Caverley. See Calverley.
Cecil, Dr. John, priest, cii, civ, ex, cxiii,
cxviii, cxxx, ^d ti, 109 «.
 sir Robert, afterwards lord Salisbury,
Ixxx, cxx, 24 n, 44 n, 119 n,
 William, lord Burieigh, xxxv, xli, xlv.
 22 ft, 122 «.
 younger, 122 «.
Chaddocke, prisoner at Wisbeach, 137.
Chalcedon, bishop of, li ft, Ivi.
Challoner, bishop, vii, 52 «, 83 Tt,
Chambers, rev. Robert, xxviii «, 104 «.

Index.

163

Champney, Dr. Anthony, xxxvi «, Ixiii, Ixv,
Ixxxiii, Ixxxvi, xcvi, c, cxxxviii, 66 ti, 93 ti,
113 «, 147.
 biographical notice of, cxxx.
 his character by Parsons, ex.
Chapel-le- Frith, xliii.
Charles, prince, afterwards Charles 11., cxxxi.
Charnock, Robert, Ixiii «, Ixiv, Ixxv, cii, ex,
cxxx, cxxxii, cxlvii, 82 n, 91 «, 121 «.
 biographical note on, 83 tt.
 his character, 84 «.
 deputy at Rome, Ixvi «, Ixviii, Ixx-Ixxiii,
82.
 banished, Ixxvii, Ixxviii.
 William, 82 «.
Christie, Mr. R. C, cxxxviii.
Church lands, xxvi.
Circignani, vii tt,
Clargenett, William, priest, cxlix, 137.
Clarionet. See Clargenett.
Clark, James, xlviii «.
 William (or Francis), priest, Ixxxvii,
cxxiii, cxxvi, cxlviii, cxlix, 93 «, 149.
Clayton, Nicholas, page, xliii.
Clement vnr., pope, Iviii, Ixiv, Ixvii ti, cv,
cxvi, cxxiv, cxxvi, cxxviii, cxxxiii, 17 «,
76, 78 «, 156.
 intends hat for Lewis, xxvii.
 on the Roman college, xxix.
 on the archpriest's appointment, Ixiii.
 his decree on academic degrees, 109 «.
 high opinion of Parsons, 139.
 at Ferrara, Ixix.
 French ambassador's audience of, Ixxii.
 Elizabeth's opinion of, xcix, 156.
 his reception of appellants at Rome, cvi,
cxiii, cxvii, cxviii, cxx. See also Brief.
Clenock, Dr. Maurice, viii, ix, 113 «.
Clergy. See Priests, secular.
Clinch, John, priest, 93 71.
Clink prison, Ixxxvii, 102 Tt, 135.
Clithero, Margaret, 52 «.
Colleton (or CoUington), John, priest, xxxvi «,
Ixii Tt, Ixiv, Ixvi, Ixviii, Ixxii ti, c, cix «,
cxvi «, cxx Tt, cxxxii, cxlvii, cl, 52 «, 65 «,
66 Tt, 69 Tt, 70 ft, 81 Tt, 86 Tt, loi «, 149.
 his life and character, Ivi, Ivii,
 signs appeal, 93 «.
 submits to archpriest, Ixxxiii.
 his faculties, 100 «.
 suspended, Ixxxiii, Ixxxv, 93 n, 148.
 his writings, xc, cxii, cxliii, go «.
Collinson, George, priest, 24 Tt.
Como, cardinal of, xv.
 approves assassination of Elizabeth,
II «.
Confession, violated seal of, 120.
Constable, father, S. J., 14 «.

Constable, sir Henry, 106 Tt.
See also Cunstable.
Cope, James, priest, g3 «.
Copley, Anthony, cxxiii, cxlix.
 his character, xcii, xciii.
 his books, xc, ci tt, cxxxviii, cxxxix.
 rev. John, cxi «.
Cornelius, priest, martyr, xliv.
Cottam, Thomas, priest, 9 «.
Coverley. See Calverley.
Cox, William, priest, 93 «.
Creighton, father, S.J., xiv-xvi, 112 «.
Creleto, Giacomo, iig «.
Creswell, father, S.J., xxv «, xxviii, xxxii,
cxxv, 17 ft, 140.
Crimes, abominable, xxxii, xxxiii, 104 tt, 146.
Cunstable, Mr., in Scotland, 146.
Currey, father, S.J., xxx n,
Dabscot, Mr., 147.
Darbyshire, father Thomas, S.J., Ixxvii,
88 w.
 letter of Tichborne to, i3g.
Darrel, rev. John, protestant exorcist, xliv,
127 ft.
 (or Dorel) Thomas, dean of Agen, de
fends censure of Paris, 126 seq.
 biogr. notice of, 126 «.
Delacourt, 124.
Deputies (the two), sent to Rome, Ixvii, Ixviii,
82, 83.
 threatened, Ixviii, 83 «.
 imprisoned, Ixxi, 87 w.
 tried, Ixxiii.
 sentenced to banishment, Ixxvii, 86.
Deputies (the four). See Appellants.
Detraction, an odious opinion on, 34 ti, 51.
Deventer, or 'Daventrie,' xviii, xix «.
Devil (the), cause of the dissensions, Ixii, Ixiii.
 wishes to enter Q. Elizabeth, xlv «.
Devils, exorcised, lxiii.
 do homage to Campion, xlv «.
 beat Weston, xlvi.
Dibdale, priest, martyr, xliv, xlv.
Digby, Simon, cii tt.
Dodipol (Mash), Dr., 52 w.
Doleman, R., pseudonym of Parsons, 56 «.
Dolman, Alban, priest, lv, 17 «, 90 «.
 biographical notice of, 26 «.
 mediates at Wisbeach, 26-29, 30, 32-34,
36-42, 45, 47, 48. 50, 64.
 his name adopted by Parsons, 64.
r  Thomas, fellow of All Souls', Oxford,
26 fi.
Dominicans, the, xlix.
Donatists, 8, 21, 35.
Dorel. See Darrel.
Douai, xliii, Ixi, cxliv, 117 Tt, 126 «.

164

Index.

Douai, benedictine college at, cxxv.
 English college at, vii, xix, xxxi, xxxvi,
Ivii, 84 Tt, 116, 140.
 decline of, xxxvii-viii, 103 ft.
 hostility of Jesuits to, cxxvi, 103, 123.
Douley, George, 88 «,
Dover, c, 82 ft.
Drake, xxv ft,
Driland or Dryland, Christopher, priest, xliv,
12 and tt, 135.
Drummond, Edward, evil.
Drury, Robert, appellant, martjo", Ixxxiii,
cxxiv, 149.
 suspended by Blackwell, 93 tt.
Dudley, Edmund, of Yanworth, Westmore
land, 52 «.
 Richard, priest, biographical notice of,
52 Tl.
 arbitrator at Wisbeach, lii, 4, 5, 52-55,
59, 60 Tt, 63.
Duras, father, S.J., 114 «.
Dyaper, Mr. Robert, 117 tt.
Edmonds or Edmunds, {alias of Weston),
loS, 135-
Elizabeth, queen, ii, v, Ix, Ixxx, xcvii, cxxiii,
cxxxvi, cxlv, cl, cii, 10 ft, 18 tt, 113 ft, 149.
 right to crown denied, vii «, xix, cvi,
156.
 plans for assassinating, xvi, xcvii, 11 n,
 conspiracies against, cxxii.
^-^ prophecy concerning, 44 fi.
 devil wishes to enter, xlv ft.
 succession to her throne, xxi, cxviii.
 priests driven to rely on her favour, 95,
96-
 negotiates with Bluet, xcviii, xcix, 155-
158.
 protestation of allegiance to, ii, cxxii.
 her opinion of pope Clement, xcix.
 on the seminarists, xxi tt.
 on toleration, Ixxx, xcviii, cxxi.
 bids judges spare lives of priests, xcix.
 thanks French ambassadors for helping
appellants, cxiii.
 her proclamation, cxx-cxxii.
Ellis, ' Tillotson's man,' 25 «.
Ely, bishop of, xxxviii, lv.
 justices ofthe isle of, xxxviii, 23 «.
Ely, Dr. Humphry, xxxii, xlix, Ixxviii, cxliii,
cxlvii, 72 «.
 his impartiality, v, cxliv.
 on Jesuit system of education, xxviii,
xxx.
 on the archpriest, Ixi, lxiii, Ixvi, 78 «.
 befriends Charnock, Ixxvii.
 on suppression of second brief, Ixxxviii Tt,
 on Parson's detractions, 84 ft.

Ely, Dr. Humphry, coTttinued: —
 on imprisonment ofthe deputies, 87 «.
 on Fisher, 98 tt.
 on the Jesuits' dislike of doctors, 108 «,
109 Tt,
 on Parsons and the hat, 113 ft,
 his book, xcii, cxliii.
 his letter to a privy councillor, cxlv.
England, Ixi, Ixxvi, 112, 118, 120.
Englefield, Sir Francis, xiv «, 112 «, 113 n,
' Englishman Italionate,' xlvii, 23.
Equivocation, theory and practice of, xlvii,
107 and ft.
Essex, earl of, Ixxx, 56 «, 149, 151.
Estcourt, canon, 120 tt,
Everard, Thomas, page at Wisbeach, xlii.
Excommunications defied, cxxii.
Exorcists, a band of, xliv.
F. (H.), cxliv.
Faculties of the clergy, Ixxxv, cxv, 91 w,
100 ft.
Fairfax, Edward, 127 «.
Farbeck, Dr., 31 and ft.
Farmer. See Meredith.
Farnese, cardinal protector, xxv, ciii, cxvii.
Farrar, Mr., cxxxi.
Fast days in England, xxii.
Fawkes, Guy, 75 tt.
Featley, Dr., li.
Feckenham, abbot, O.S.B., xxxix, 10.
Felton, John, ii, vii w.
Feria, duke of, 114 ft.
Ferrara, Ixix, Ixxi.
Finch, a priest, loi Tt.
Fioravanti, S.J., xxviii, xxxi.
Fisher, bishop (Roffensis), 158
 rev. Robert, Ixxix, 97-98 ft.
Fitzherbert, Nicholas, Ixxii ft, 113 tt.
 Thomas, cxiv.
Fixer, priest, log «, no ft,
Flanders, xxv, xxxvi, Iviii, Ixix, Ixxxix, 74,
82 «, 120 ft, 140.
 factions in, xxvii, 75 «, m n, 113 «,
114 Tl.
 nuncio in, cxviii, 97 «,
Fleet prison, 32 ft.
Flibbertigibbet, exorcized, xlv.
Floyd, father John, S.J., letter to, 149.
Foley, Mr., xxxiv, cviii, cii, 88 «, i.x^ n.
Foster, Francis, priest, 93 «, 149.
Foxley, shoemaker, 44 Tt.
Framlingham castle, xcvii, 93 tt, 153.
France, xvi, Ixviii, xcix, c, 117 ti, 120 tt, 144,
146, 156.
Francis, the first, of France, 144.
Franciscan friars in England, cxxvi.
Frankfort, cxxxi.

Index.

165

French ambassador, Ixxii.
See also Bethune.
Gabriel of St. Mary, 99 «.
Gaetani. See Cajetan.
Garnet, alias Walley, father Henry, S.J.,
xliii, lii-lv, Ixv, cxvii, cxxvi, 4-6, 19, 20
and ff, 26, 27, 29, 33, 36, 63, 64, 68, 77, 81 «,
lojTi, no ft, 119 ft, 146, 149.
 his parentage, xxx tt.
 his visit to Wisbeach, li.
 his report to Aquaviva, 20 tt.
 letters of Weston's partisans to, 20 and «,
21 ft.
 approves Weston's agency, 25, 29 «.
 on the charges of immorality, 34 tt,
 on the division of commons, 50.
— ^ negotiates with arbitrators, 54-57.
 his * proud answer,' 55, 56 w.
 letters to Bagshaw quoted, 61.
 his sincerity suspected, 62, 69, 72 tt.
 sends Standish to Rome, 72.
 procures testimonials for Jesuits, 74.
 procures thanks to pope, 81.
 approves Lister's book, 85, 86 tt.
 on Lister's character, 84 ft.
 Blackwell's letter to, go tt.
 his faculties, 100 tt.
 his expenditure, 102 «.
 on equivocation, 108 «.
 bums brief on succession, cxxiii.
 treasonable correspondence of, cxxiii.
Garnett, Peter, a joiner, 44 tt.
Garret. See Gerard.
Gascony, 127 tt.
Gatehouse prison, Westminster, Ixxix, cxxiv,
44 «, 66 K, 135.
Gee, Edward, 117 tt,
Gerard (or Garret), Alexander, priest, 43 and
'h 137-
 John, S.J., Ixxxii, cxxvi, 102 », 105 «,
no 71, 115 Tt.
 Thomas, priest, 43 «.
 William, of Ince, 43 fi.
Ghent, Jesuit house in, 106 ft.
Gifford, Dr. William, xxxiii «, cxxvi, cxlix,
56 w, 57 Tt, 73 ft, 97 «, no ?:, in «, 112 «,
114 «, 117 «, 120 Tt, 147.
 his character, gg Tt.
Gilbert, George, 30 w, 115 tt.
Gillow, Mr. Joseph, Ixix «, Ixx n, cxxx,
cxxxviii, cxlv, cxlvii, cxlviii.
Glasgow, archbishop of, xv, xvi, n k.
Gloucester, no «.
 hall, Oxford, xlvii.
Goldwell, bishop of St. Asaph, xi, Ixi.
Gondy, cardinal, Ixxv.
Gore, John, seminarist, ix.

Gray, Thomas, keeper of Wisbeach prison,
xli, xliii, 22, 23 «, 24 «, 25 tl.
 Ursula, xlii-
Greene, John, priest, 136, 151.
Greenway, father, S.J., cxxiii, cxxvi.
Gregory the thirteenth, ix, x, xii, xvii, xlix,
lix, Ix, xcviii, g tt, 10 Tt, n tt, 112 tt, 156.
 the fifteenth, 82 Tt.
Griffith, Dr. Hugh, provost of Cambrai, g7 >i.
 (or Griffin), Hugh, 113 «.
Guise, duke of, xv, xvi, n and «.
Guises, the, ii, xii.
Gunpowder plot, cxxiii, cxxvi, 107 71.
Haberly, priest at Wisbeach, 137.
Haddock. See Haydock.
Halkett and Laing's Dictionary, cxlix.
HaU, Edward, porter at Wisbeach, 25 «, 29 «,
31 «, 44, 44 «.
Hampshire, sheriff of, 88 Tt,
Harewood, father, S. J., xxxii, xxxiii, xxxvii.
Harrington, priest, martyr, no «.
Harrison, third archpriest, 82 Tt, 115 ft.
Harsnet, Dr. Samuel, xliv, xlv.
Hart, John, priest, lapse of, 121 tt,
Hathersage, Derby, xliii.
Haydock (or Haddock), Dr. Richard, ix and
n, X, Ixx, Ixxi, Ixxvi «, 18 71, 76, 78 tt.
 notice of, 76 tt,
¦  ¦ Vivian, 76 «.
Haywood. See Heywood.
Hawkins, xxv ti,
Heborne (Hebborne, or Heyburne), Anthony,
priest, Ixxxiii, cix «, cxxix, g3 «, 148, 149.
Henlip, 84 tt.
Henry iv. of France, xxiv, xcviii ti, c, ci.
 protects appellants, cii.
Henshaw, Dr., priest, Ixiii.
Herefordshire, sheriff of, 84 «.
Heresy, propositions savouring of, cxiii-cxv.
Heretical magistrates, treating with, cxix,
cxxvi.
Heywood, Jasper (or Gasper), S.J.,xxii«,
xliii, 12 and «, loi ti, 106 tt, 112 tt, 121 «.
Hide, Leonard, priest, 135.
Higgins, Isaac, priest, 24 tt.
Hill, J., esq., cxviii «.
 Thomas, priest, xxxvi.
Hobbididance, a devil exorcised, xlv.
Hobbyhorse at Wisbeach, liv, 18 and tt.
Holt, father WiUiam, S.J., rector of English
coUege at Rome, viii «, xi, xiv, xxiv, xxv
and w, xxviii, xcvii, 56 ft, 57 ^> ^5 «. 75 «.
82 «, iio«, 112 «, 114) 1^6) 117 «) 120 «,
140, 155, 157-
 accusations against, 113, 115.
 biographical notice of, 114-115 «.
Holtby, father, S.J., loi «.

166

Index.

Howard, Philip, xliv, io6 Tt.
Hughes, a Roman student, x.
Huguenots, xcviii, cxlv, 156.
Hunter, father, S.J., 72 ft.
Hussy, Dr., xlviii «.
Idiaquez, don Juan d', xxv Tt.
Indies, 117 Tt.
Infanta of Spain, xxv tt, Ixxxii, cxxxi, 148.
Inquisition, cxix, 78 ft.
 proposed for England, xxvi.
 cardinals of, Ixxxv, ciii, cxiv, cxxxii.
Invasion of England, xiv «, xv.
Ireland, Ixvi, Ixxvii, 70, 149.
 papal attempts in, xiii, xxv tt, cxxi, 9 Tt,
117 Tt.
Italy, 118, 120 Tt.
Ithell, Ralph (or Udall), priest, Ivi, Ixxx,
Ixxxii, 13 ft, 136.
 becomes chaplain to bishop of London,
67 tt.
Jackson, John, priest, xxxvi tt.
James vi. of Scotland, xxv, xlvi, cvii, cxviii,
cxxiii, cxxvi, cl, 19 «, 27 ti, 122, 147.
Japan, Jesuits in, 117 tt.
Jesuits, their English mission, xi-xiii, xxii,
xxxiv, 10.
 their numbers, 12 tt, Zzti, 112, 121 tt,
140.
 their policy, xxii.
 their privileges, gg «, 100, 116.
 charges brought against them by the
seculars, xxii, xxxiv, 4-7, 15 tt, 4g, 51, 78,
103-123.
 their relations with Allen, xxiii, 17 and tt,
122 ft.
 their relations with the archpriest, Ix,
Ixv, cxvi, cxvii, cxix.
 their statecraft, xil, xvii, Ixi, xci, xcviii,
cxxi, cxxvi, 56, 158.
 misgovern the college at Rome, xi,
xxviii-xxxviii, Ixxix, 68, 98 «, 115 «, 120.
 misappropriate funds, cxvi, 38 n, 116
and Tt.
 accumulate wealth, loi, 105, 113 tt.
 intercept letters, 119 and tt.
 degrade the clergy, 97-99, 103-105.
 delight in equivocation, 107.
 contemn university graduates, 108 and tt,
 habitually use calumny, 109, no and «.
 hostile to benedictines, cxxv.
 ' covert ' Jesuits, liv.
 apostates, 121, 122 «.
 accused of assassination, xcviii, xcix,
cxlix.
 testimonials in favour of, 74, 75 «.
 Blackwell's eulogium of, 68, 137-139.

Jesuits, cotttiftued: —
 their zeal and piety, xxxv, cxix, 48,
56 Tt.
 their benefactors, 106 tt,
 penalties incurred for calumniating, xcii,
xciii.
 providential death of their opponents,
xxxi, 18 ft, 122 ft.
 archpriest forbidden to consult, cxix.
 lose their ascendancy, cxxv.
John of Ghent, xxv.
John, Mr., 146, 150.
Jones, father, S. J., Ixxxiv, 89 «.
 (alias Buckley), O.S.F., no tt.
 William, printer, cxii ft.
Justin Martyr, 141.
Kempe, Mrs., of Kent, 150.
Kingston, earls of, 30 ft.
Knight (or Knighton), Nicholas, priest, 24 «.
Knox, father, xiv, xv, xcviii.
Knyvett, Sir Thomas, xlii.
Laborne, a priest in England, intercepts
letters, xig tt.
Laiton, Mr., 29 «.
Lancashire, 6^ ft.
Langdale, Thomas, S. J., his apostasy, 121 «.
Lawson, Mrs. Dorothy, 106 tt.
Leigh, Richard, priest, xviii «.
Lennox, xv.
Leo XIII., vii Tt, cxxiv.
Lesley, bishop of Ross, xi, 113 ti.
Letters, intercepting of, cvii, 119 n, 146-147.
Lewis, Dr. Owen, bishop of Cassano, viii ft,
ix. Tt, Ji, xxvii, xxix, xxxi, Ixix, cxlix, 16 tt,
17, 112, 113 Tt, 122 ft.
 notice of, 112 «.
Liberty of conscience. See Toleration.
Lii^ge, 98 «.
Limerick, bishop of, Ixxx.
Lingard, Dr., on the archpriest's appoint
ment, Ix, Ixi.
Lisbon seminary, xxiii, xxv«, 140.
Lister, Thomas, S.J., Ixvi, cxxviii, Cott, gott,
149.
 notice of, 84 tt.
 his treatise on schism, Ixxxiii, Ixxxv,
Ixxxviii, cvii, 84, 85 «, 86 «.
Liverdun, Ixxvii.
Lobery, Jasper, xxxii, Ixxvii, 93 «.
London, xl, lv, c, cxlv, 31, 54, 55, 6gtt, 154.
 bishop of, Ixxix, 67 Tt.
See also Bancroft.
Lorraine, Ixxvii, Ixxviii, cxxx.
Louvain, v, Ivii, 126 tt.
Low Countries, 118, 119 «, 121, 151.
 memorial sent from the, 97.

Index.

167

Lowe, John, 150.
Lowndes' manual corrected, cxxxiv, cxlix.
Madrid, ii, xxv «, xxvii.
Mahu, a devil, xlv.
Maidstone, xHii.
Manareus, Oliver, provincial S.J., 114 »,
115 tt.
Manning, cardinal, vii ft.
Markham, Robert, ii5«, 120 «.
Marlot, Dom GuiUaume, 99 «.
Marshalsea prison, 10, 87 ft, 136, 147.
Martin, Dr. Gregory, 29 «.
Martyrs, vii, xxii, xxiv, xxxix, xl, xcix, ciii.
 said to be persecuted by Jesuits, no »,
120.
 * designed,' 15 tt.
 their beatification, vii «.
Mary, the virgin, liv.
Mary, the keeper's maid at Wisbeach, Iv, 44,
4S-
Mary Tudor, queen, xxvi, 10 ft.
Mary, queen of Scots, vi, xiv, xvi, 26 ft, 114 ».
Mass (the), 99.
Matthews, Toby, bishop of Durham, cl.
Medeley, William, keeper of Wisbeach prison,
22 and ff, 23, 24 ff, 25 Tt, 44 and tt.
Memorial, the, against the Jesuits, cxxxvii,
cxlix, 73, g7 seq.
Mendham, rev. Joseph, cxxxvi.
Mendoza, Spanish ambassador, xviii.
Mercurian, general S. J., 16 «.
Meredith, alias Farmer, Jonas, priest, viii Tt,
44 «, 6s, 66, 135 ff, 136.
 biographical notice of, 65 tt.
Metham, Thomas, priest, intended arch
bishop of York, xlii, 10-13, 14 «. 16, 17 «,
31 ft.
 biographical notice of, 16 ft.
 sir Thomas, 16 «.
Milan, 113 ».
Milner, bishop, Ixvi n.
Modo, a devil, xlv.
Mondovi, cardinal, xxviii.
Monmouthshire, 84 a, 136.
Montague, lord, 119 Tt.
Montfort, Francis, priest, 93 «, 149.
Montmartre, 146.
More, Thomas, agent of the clergy, Ixix ft,
116 ff, 1 19 ft, 120 ff, 148.
Moro (or Morro), monsignor, xxxiii «, Ixix
and tt, cxxix, 148.
Moroni, cardinal, viii, ix.
Morris, father, S.J., xli, Hi.
Morro. See Moro.
Morton, Dr., bishop of Ely, xix, xxxviii.
 Thomas, 108 ft.
Mounteagle, lady, 106 «.

Mush, John, priest, viii ff, ix, xxi, Iii, liii, Ivi,
Ixxxvi, c, cvi, cxxviii, cxxxii, cxxxviii, 4, 5,
17 ff, sr, 60 ff, 66 «, 67, 101 ff, 116 ff, ng w.
 biographical notice of, 51 w, 52 «.
 arbitrates at Wisbeach, lv, 53-65.
 projects association, 69 «.
 signs appeal, g3 «.
 his faculties, 100 ff.
 suspended, Ixxxiii, Ixxxv, g3 tt.
 submits, i4g.
 at Rome, cii-exviii.
 his diary, ciii.
 repudiates Watson, cxiii.
 on the Jesuit missionaries, xxii.
 on decline of Roman college, xxxvii.
 letter to Moro, Ixix.
 letter to Bagshaw, 147.
 letter intercepted, 120 ».
 letter from Bluet to, xcvi.
 letter from Blackwell to, 89 tt.
 calumniated by Standish, 52 «.
 his character, by Parsons, ex, cxi.
 his opinion of Parsons, xxii.
 his book, Ixxxv, 52 Tt.
Mush, William, priest, 93 ff.
Mynion college, 146.
Naples, 74.
Needham, Oswald, priest, 93 «.
Neri, St. Philip, xxxvii.
Neville, sir Henry, xcixw, 135.
Newgate prison, xci, 135.
Newton, Mr., 150.
Norden, priest and doctor of medicine, 60 ff,
66 and «.
 biographical notice of, 65 «.
 his character, 14 ft, 6-j tt.
 his sudden death, 65 «, 67 «,
Norfolk, synod in, xxii «.
Norfolk coast, 25 ft.
Norris, Dr., priest, 93 «.
Nuncio at Paris, xv, xcviii ff, c, n «.
Nutter, alias Rowley, priest, 136.
Oath of Allegiance. See Allegiance.
Oldcorne, father, S.J., xxx ti, 84 ti, 102 «.
Oliver, Dr., his opinion of Holt, 114 71.
Oratory, the Roman, ciii.
 the London, cxHv.
Ortelio, ng ft.
Osbaldeston, Alexander, 43 «.
 Jane, 43 «.
Ossat, cardinal d', xxiii, xxiv n, Ixi, Ixxi,
ciii, cvi.
Oxenbridge, Dr. Andrew, 10 «.
Oxford, xxxi, xlvii, Ivii, Ixi, 84 ti, 88 n, log tt,
126 ft.

168

Index,

Owen, Thomas, S.J., Ixxvii, 12 tt.
 Hugh, 113 tt, 114 ff, 117 tt,
P. (A.), his book, xc, cxlvi.
Padua, university of, 1.
Paget, Charles, cxliv, 26 «, 97 ff, in tt.
 denounces the Jesuits, xxvii, 17 «, 114 «.
 his answer to Parsons, cxliii.
 his character, 114 ff.
Palmer, father, S. J., 106 «.
 a brewer, 25.
 the queen's chaplain, 44 Tt.
Panzani, memoir of, cii.
Paris, li, Ixxvii, Ixxviii, o, ci, cxx ti, cxiii,
146.
 bishop of, Ixxiv.
 university, decree of, Ixxxiv-v, 90, 123-
126.
Parker, Mr., proctor for Blackwell, cvi.
Parkinson, rev. Robert, cxliv.
Parliament of 1585, xxxix.
Parma, duke of, 114 ti.
Parry, William, prisoner at Wisbeach, 24 Tt,
25 «. 13s. 136-
Parsons, Robert, S.J., said to be a black
smith's son, xxx ff.
 career at Oxford, xlvii-xlix.
 missionary in England, xii-xv, g «.
 plans the invasion of England, xv-xvii.
¦  Mush on his conduct, xxii.
 founds Spanish seminaries, xxiii.
 on the royal succession, xxv, xxxii, Ixxx,
56, 64.
 proposes inquisition for England, xxvi.
 avoids the cardinalate,"xxvi, 113 tt.
 on the Roman tumults, xxviii, xxix, 73.
 quells disturbances, xxxvi, 140.
 opposes the association, 71.
 suggests appointment of archpriest, Ix,
78.
 illtreats the two deputies, Ixxi-lxxvii, 83,
86.
 justifies his treatment, 87 ft.
 receives vow of obedience from Worth
ington, xxxviii, 103 ft.
 sets cardinals by the ears, 112.
 opposes appeUants at Rome, cii, ev-cvii.
 writes the ' Manifestation,' cvii.
¦  ¦ his correspondence from Rome, cviii.
 his memorials to the pope, cix-cxi.
 on the appellants' book, cxiii.
 his partial success, cxiv.
 his discontent, cxvi.
 his ' Apologie ' examined, cxvi.
 wishes to embrace the four priests, cxviii.
 attacks benedictines, cxxv.
 on bishops, lix.
 on Wisbeach stirs, liv, 27 «, 34 «, 65 tt.

Parsons, Robert, S.J., cofttinued: —
 on Bagshaw, I, Ixxviii, Ixxix, ex, 17 «,
•  on Mush, 52 ft.
¦  on Bluet, 13 tt, 14 ft.
 on Dolman, 27 «.
 on Fisher, g8 ft.
 on Bishop and Charnock, Ivii «, 84 «.
 on Colleton, Ivii ft.
 on Copley, xciii.
 on Watson, xciii, xciv.
 on immorality of appellants, xcii, xcv,
cv, cix, ex, cxi «.
 on equivocation, 108 ft.
 on lapsed Jesuits, 121 ft.
 onslanders against the society,xcii, iii».
 his scandalous tale, cxi ft.
 his contempt for poverty, xxx n.
 political actions and writings, xiv, Ixxx,
xcvii, xcix, c, 147, 151, 155.
 expels a nonpolitical seminarist, c.
 prepares knives for king of Scots, 147.
 has hand in Essex's plot, 155.
 calumnies laid upon him, Ixxxix.
 Copley's account of him, xcii.
 regard of pope for him, i3g.
 his credit in Europe, 145.
 his comment on the dissensions, iii.
¦  his books, xxv, xxxii, Ixxx, Ixxxix, xc,
cvii, ex, cxii, cxxxiii, cxxxiv, cxi, 56and«,
64 ; and/Af«wz.
Pasquier, Etienne, cxlv.
Pasquin on Parsons, Ixi.
Paul v., cxxiv, 78 ft, loi «, 115 «.
Payn, John, 100 «.
Pegna, Spanish minister, xxiv «.
Percy, alias Fisher, S.J., xxx ft.
 Thomas, cxxiii.
Perkins, Christopher, ex-jesuit, cxxiii, 122 «.
Persecution, xci, 141, 155.
Peter, St., cxxxi, 87 «.
Petyt MSS., Ixvi, Ixx Tt, Ixxii, ciii, ciii, now.
Phelippes, Thomas, decipherer, cvii.
Philalethes (Andreas), xc, xci, xcii, cxli,
69?:.
Philip II., king of Spain, ii, vi, xiv «, xvi,
XX, xxiii, xxiv, xcix, 11 «, 114 tt.
Pibush, priest, martyr, no «.
Pierrepoint, Gervaise, lay Jesuit, 30 and w,
31. 50.
 Henry, 30 ft.
Pinelli, cardinal Domenico, cxiv.
Pitts, Arthur, priest, Ixxvii.
 Henry, xxxvi ft.
 John, cl, 83 ft.
 Robert, xxxvi tt.
Pius v., vi, Ix, xcviii, g, 10 «, 156.
Pius VII., Ixvi ft.
Plasden, priest, martyr, no ft.

Index.

169

Plowden, father, S.J., liii tt, cii, 8i «, 99 «,
113 ff.
Plumtree, rebel chaplain, vii tt.
Poisoning, Jesuits suspected of, cxlix.
Pont-k-Mousson, Ixxvii, cxliv, 84 «, 139.
Pope, the, averse to bishops in England, lix.
 alone can institute new dignity, lxiii.
 right of appeal to, 131.
 supremacy of, 87 tt.
•  his commands said to be frustrated by
the Jesuits, n8.
¦^^ deposing power of, civ, cxxii, cxxiv,
cxxv.
Portugal, Henry, king of, 9.
Potter, George (alias Stransham), priest, li,
ex, 24 Tt, 25 ff, 59, 93 ff, 135.
Pound, Thomas, lay brother, S.J., liv, Ixxxiv,
59 ft, 65 Tt, 137.
PoweU, priest, 137.
Priests, secular, xx, xxi, cxxxv, cxxxvii,
cxxxix, cxlv, cxlvi, 76-81.
 number of, in England, xvii, cxivw, 82 ff,
120 Tt, 140.
 many banished, xxxix, cxxi.
 their reverence for Allen, xix.
 outside Wisbeach, Ivi.
 queen Mary priests, xlv, 82 ti, 157.
 new party of, xxiii.
 their political attitude, xvii-xxiii, xxiv ft,
88 ff, 139-144.
 attempt to form an association, Ivii, 69-
71-
 said to be at variance with laity, 76,
 jealous of Jesuits, Ixxxix.
 degraded by Jesuits, 97-100.
 persecuted by Jesuits, 95 and n, no,
112, 118.
 need testimonials from Jesuits, 99 m.
 Cajetan on their dissensions, Ixxii.
 BlackweU on do., 137.
 Elizabeth on do., cxxi.
 thirty-three, subscribe appeal, 93 tt.
 pronounced innocent of treason, 155.
See also AppeUants.
Prison certificates, xl.
Prisoners, Ixxxvii.
 treatment of, xxxix-xliii, 153.
Privy Council, Ixxx-lxxxii, civ, cxlv.
 priests' dealings with, Ixix, Ixxviii,
Ixxxix, cxxvi-cxxvii.
Proclamations of Elizabeth, civ, cxx-cxxii.
Prophecy current among catholics, 44 «.
Pud., Mr., 146.
Puritans, the, Ixxviii, 18 Tt.
Quarantotti, monsignor, Ixvi «.
Rampton, near Cambridge, 25 «.

Rheims, x, xlviii, Ivii, xciv, cxliv, cxlix, 82 tt.
 English seminary at, xx, xlix, 1, 103 «.
 decline of, xxiv, xxxvii, xxxviii.
Richard  , 148.
Richardson, William, priest, martyr, xcix ti.
Ridolfi, vi.
Rishton, Edward, priest, xxxix, 10 «, 66 «.
Rivers, Anthony, S.J., xcix «, cxi, cxii tt, cii,
119 tt.
Roehampton, xlvi.
Rome, li, Ixiv, Ixvii, ci, cxxvi, cxxx, cxxxi,
cxiii, cxlvii, 4, 7, 17, 68, 84 «, 86, 88, 113?/,
149, 156, 157.
 students parade streets of, x.
 mission of two deputies to, Ixviii, 80, 82.
 their treatment at, Ixx-lxxvii, 86, 87 tt.
 four appellants at, cil-cxx.
 stews in, 65, 66.
 English Jesuits at, 8g ff.
 letters intercepted at, ng and ff.
 influence of Parsons at, 156, 157.
 English college at, xx, 115 tt.
 foundation of, viii, 112 tt,
 danger of bloodshed at, ix.
 disturbances at, ix, xxvii, xxviii,
xxxiii, xxxiv, 72-73 ff, 108 ti, 140, 152.
 Holt rector, ii4«.
 Parsons rector, xxxvi.
 complaints of students, xxvii, xxix,
xxxiv, 108 ff.
 seminarists of ' low born,' xxx ;
' wanton colts,' xxxvi «.
 Bagshaw at, xlix.
 system of spies at, xxx.
 studentsaccused of unnatural crime,
xxxii, xxxiii ff, no ti, 146.
 grove at, cut down, xxxii.
 Jesuit misrule at, xxxi, 68, 72 and ff.
 students opposed to Spanish faction,
xxxi.
 pontifical inquiry on, xxxv.
 names of mutineers at, xxxvi ff.
 students expelled from, xxxvi,
xxxvii.
 decline of, xxxvii.
 cardinals' court held in, Ixxvi.
 appellants decline to visit, cii.
Rouen, cxxviii, cxxix.
Rouse, Anthony, priest, Ixxxvii.
Rowley. See Nutter.
S. Andrea, church of, in Rome, 115 ?;.
San Lucar seminary, xxiii.
Scarlet, Thomas, xxv tt.
St. Omer's college for boys, xxiii, 104 ti, 140.
St. Peter's at Rome, penitentiary of, 88 ff.
Sander, Dr. Nicholas, vi, xiii, xiv, xix, xxix,
9 ff.

M

170

Index.

Schism, priests charged with, Ixxxiii, Ixxxiv,
85, 88, 89 ff, go, 94, 149-150.
¦  decision of Paris university on, 124.
 Blackwell on, 91, 153.
 Lister's treatise on, 143-145.
 name of, abolished by the Pope, Ixxxix.
¦  appellants freed from, at Rome, cv, cviii.
Scotland, Ixxvii, 82 «, 117 ff.
 Jesuits sent into, xiv, 114 ft.
 cardinal protector of, xxviii, 78 71,
 jurisdiction over, lxiii, cxxvii.
Scottish faction, x, 56 «, 75 ti.
Scots, king of, i.
Scrope, Nicholas, prisoner at Wisbeach, 24 tt.
Sega, cardinal, xxviii, xxxiii, xxxv, xxxvi ff,
Ixix, 56 fi, 73 Jl.
Seminaries, the foreign, vii, xiv Tt, 140, 152.
Seminarists, number of, vi, xx, Iviii, cxxxix,
140, 157.
 Parsons' eulogium of, xxi tt, xxiv ti.
Sergeant's account of the English chapter,
lix tt, cii.
Sevestre, Peter, cxliii.
Seville, xliii, xlvi.
 seminary of, xxiii, 88 ff, 140.
Sfondrati, cardinal, cxiv.
Shakespeare and the devils, xlv and tt,
Shaw, Henry, priest, lxiii.
Sherwin, Ralph, priest, martyr, ix ff.
Sicklemore, John, his letter to Bagshaw, 145.
Sixtus v., xvii, xxviii, Ix, xcviii, cxlix, 78 tt,
112 ff, 156.
Skrogg, Mr., 25 ff.
Smith, Richard, bishop of Chalcedon, vii ff,
liff.
 R., priest, loi ff.
 secretary of Parsons, cvii.
Sorbonne, the, Ixxvii, cxliv.
Southwark, synod of, xiii, xiv, xvi.
Southwell, Robert, S.J., xliii, 12 ff, 76 tt, 106
ft, I ro Tt.
 on equivocation, 107 «.
 his book, cxvi.
Southworth, Christopher, priest, liv, 20 and
Tt, 21, 22, 23, 26, 30, 39, 44, 136.
 sir John, 20 ?i, 136,
Spain, i, Iviii, Ixxx, 113 k, 116, 139, I4g, 151,
157. 158.
 adherents of, among the clergy, xxiv ti,
Ixxxii, cxxi.
 opposition to, xxxii.
 seminaries in, xUii, 115 «, 140, 146.
 inquisition of, xxvi.
 king of, xii, Ixxii, xcviii, cxx.
Spanish ambassador, xiv, Ixxii, cxvii.
 faction, xxxvi, cii, cxxv.
Speaker of house of commons, cxii.
Spies employed by Cecil, xxxv, ng «, 120 «.

Spy system in Jesuit colleges, xxx.
Squiers, plot of, Ixxiv, Ixxxi.
Squire, Dr., xlvii.
St. . . ., father, 117 ft.
Stafferton, seminarist, 109 «.
Staffordshire, 135.
Standish, James, priest, lxiii, 70, 75-77, 78 «,
80.
 Ralph, priest, viii ft, ex «, 52 «.
Stanhope, sir John, Ixxx.
Stanley, sir William, xviii, 75 tt, 112 ft.
Stapleton, Dr., xxvii, 113 tt.
Stephens, secretary to Parsons, cvii.
StUUngton, Dr., 109 tt.
Stonyhurst college, cviii, cii.
Story, Dr., vii «.
Strangwitch, Philip, priest, 136.
Stransham. See Potter.
Strickland, Roger, priest, cxx ft, 93 ti.
Stukeley, adventurer, 32 «.
Suffolk, county of, 32 tt.
Synods of clergy, xiii, xxii Tt.
Tailor, Francis, priest, 135.
 (or Taylor), James, priest, 93 ft, 135 ft.
Tassis, J. B. de, Philip's agent, xv «, 114 ft.
Tasso, 127 ft.
Tempest, Edward, priest, 117 ff, n8«, 122 ff.
Tertullian, 141.
Throgmorton, Thomas, 56 «, 112 «.
Thules, Christopher (alias Ashton), priest,
xliii, xliv, 93 ff, 136.
 John, priest, 93 ft.
 Robert, 93 ff.
Tiber, overflow of, Ixxi.
Tichborne, sir Benjamin, 88 tt,
 Henry, S.J., Ixxiii, Ixxvi, Ixxvii, 88,
8g tt.
 notice of, 88 tt.
 his letter to F. Darbyshire, 139.
Tierney, canon, Ixxi, cxxx, cxxxii, cxxxviii,
cxlvii, cxlix, cii, 82 tt.
TiUotson, Francis, priest, 23 tt, 25 Tt, 44 ff,
136.
Tirwit, Dr., priest, lxiii, 70 tt.
Toleration, priests petition Elizabeth for,
xcviii, 156.
¦  Jesuits opposed to, i, 88 tt, 141.
 the pope's opinion on, cvi.
 the queen's innocence of, cxxi.
Toleto, Francis, S.J., cardinal, xxxi, xxxiii,
Ixxix, 78 Tl, 122.
— — notice of, 122 ft.
Topcliffe, Ixxix, 107 ».
Tower of London, the, xlvi, I, li «, Ivii,
Ixxviii, 16, 31 ft, 63 ff, 66 ft, 135, 136.
¦^^ lieutenant of, Ixxix.
Tracy, Anthony, cxi.

Index.

171

Transham. See Potter, George.
Tresham, Francis, cxxiii, 107 «, 108 «.
 sir Thomas, 88 ti, 143.
Trollop, Cuthbert, priest, cxx tt, gs tt.
Turnbull, Mr. W. B. D.D., cU, 52 «.
Tyburn, ix tt, xviii «, 107 «.
Tyrrell, priest, xliv, xlv, 136.
University degrees, 1, 108 and «.
Udall. 6"^? Ithell.

Valladolid seminary, xxiii, xxv w, xlvi,
53 ff, 88 ft, 140, 150.
Venus described by Watson, xciv, cxxxvii.
Verstegan, Parsons' agent, 112 «.
Vertourmanus, L., 150,
Vestrio, monsignor, cxvii.
Villeroi, French minister, ci.
Vitelleschi, F. Mutio, general S. J., xxviii,
12 «, 106 71.
Waad or Wade, William, clerk of the coun
cil, Ixxix, Ixxx, Ixxxii, 148.
Wagg, butcher at Wisbeach, 44 «.
Walker, Ja., heirs of, cxxix.
Walley. See Garnet.
Walpole, secretary of Parsons, cvii.
 Henry, S.J., Ixxxi, cvii, 105 «.
 alleged conspiracy of, Ixxix.
 lapse of, 121 ff.
Walsingham, sir Francis, xxxv, xl, xli, 121 «.
Warford, WiUiam, S.J., 88, 89 ff, 109 k.
 notice of, 88 «.
Warwickshire, priests in, Ixviii, Ixxxiii.
Watson, Thomas, bishop of Lincoln, xxxix,
10, II, 37,
 William, priest, xci, xcii, cv, ex, cxxv,
cxxvi, cxxxiii, cxxxv, cxxxvi-vii, cxxxix,
cxli, cxlvi, cxlix, 43 ft, 93 ft.
 his overtures to the government,
Ixxix, Ixxx.
 submits to the archpriest, Ixxxiii.
 his books, xc.
 his character by Parsons, xciii-xcv.
 ' deserved to be whipped,' cxiii.
 his plot, cxxiii.
Webbe, Dr., xix.
Weedon's alehouse, 44 tt.
Welshmen in the coUege at Rome, viii, ix.
Wendon, Nicholas. See Windham.
 William, 32 «.
Westminster, archbishop of, his archives,
104 ft.
Weston, WiUiam, S.J., xl, xlvii, li, lii, liii,
Ixxxii, cxxxv, 3, 4, 5, 69, 71, 72 tt, 83 tt,
105, 106 ff. III, (alias Edmondes) 135.

Weston, WiUiam, S.J., cotttinued :—
•  his autobiography, xli.
— biographical notice of, xliii-xlvi.
¦  his book of miracles, xliv.
 his exorcisms, xlv.
 his life at Wisbeach, liv, lv, 6-67.
¦  charged with pride, hypocrisy, etc., 6,
7, 13, 15, 16, 30.
¦  praised for prudence and amiability,
63 «¦
¦  accusations against his brethren, 34, 64.
 assumes ' agency,' 25.
 his rules, 37, 38.
 separates from opponents, 43.
 rejects proposals of peace, 41, 42 tt, 53.
 yields to Garnet, 57, 58.
 his swoon, 6, 34, 58 and tt, 64.
 in the Tower, Ixxviii, Ixxix.
Whoredom, etc., charges of, xxxiii ff, liv, 21,
34-
Wigges, priest, M.A., Ivi, 13 «, 67, 136.
 beaten by Wisbeach prisoners, 67 ff.
William, a priest, too familiar with a tailor's
wife, cxi tt.
Williams, Friswood, a girl exorcised, xlv.
 the lord keeper, cxxvii.
¦  a servant, 44 tt.
Willingham, Cambridgeshire, 25 ft.
Willowes, Mr., 25 ff.
Wilson, John, S.J., vii tt, cvii.
Windham (Wendon, or Windam), Dr. Nicho
las, 10 ff, 32, 33, 36.
•  biographical notice of, 32 ft.
Windon, Ralph, fellow of St. John's, Oxford,
10 ft, 32 ft.
Wingfield, priest, no «.
Winter, Thomas, cxxiii «.
Winwood, Ralph, ci, cii.
Wisbeach castle, xxxviii.
 used as a prison, xxxix-xl.
¦  first prisoners at, 10 and «, 23.
 laxity of discipline in, xli.
 keepers of, xl, Ixxxi.
 pages at, xlii.
¦  place of pilgrimage, xlii.
 unity and brotherly love in, 10, n.
¦  riots at, 23-24 tt.
 new prisoners, list of, 135.
 character of prisoners, 24 «.
¦  arrival of Weston, 12.
 origin ofthe rupture, lii-liv.
¦  contests for superiority, 13.
 Jesuit plots, 14-16.
•  Christmas amusements, 18.
 separation threatened, 20.
¦  character of anti-jesuits, liii «.
¦  whoredom and drunkenness, 21 and «.
 appeal to the keeper, 22.

172

Index.

Wisbeach castle, coTtiittued: —
 the chapel, 24.
 escape of prisoners, 24, 67 «.
 ¦ Gamet approves the ' agency,' 25.
 Dolman's visit and mediation, 26, 27.
 Jesuitical tricks, 29 and tt.
 a priest goes mad, 31.
 Dr. Windham mediates, 32, 33.
 charges of immorality, 34, 41-42.
 ¦ Bluet's discourse, 35.
 Dr. Bavant attempts arbitration, 36.
 conferences, 37.
 the united threatened with starvation, 38.
 reconcUiation proposed, 39.
 ¦ seven articles of peace, 40.
 arbitration fails, 41.
 ¦ Dr. Bavant turns his tippet, 42,
 the chapel made a buttery, 43, 60 ft, 64.
 ¦ scandal ofthe priest and maid, 44, 45.
 Gerard's confession, 43.
 ¦ features of prison life, 44 tt.
 separation of commons effected, 43-46.
 ¦ new garboils, 47.
 scandal and distraction of catholics, lv,
30, 46, 48-50.
 arbitration of Mush and Dudley, 52.
 ¦ new articles rejected by Weston,* 53.
 approved in London, 54.
 Garnet yields, 57.
- — question of stolen pewter, 59.
 peace concluded, 60.

Wisbeach castle, cotitittued :—
 ¦ rejoicings, 60 ft.
 renewal of the feud, 64.
 final disruption, 67 and tt.
 pulpits ring with the scandal, 69 tt.
 a crisis in the quarrel, Ixxviii.
 the dissensions said to be a pretence,
Ixxxi.
 affairs in winter of 1598-9, Ixxxii.
 the keeper's report, Ixxxi, Ixxxii.
 malcontents submit to Blackwell, Ixxxiii.
 eight prisoners suspended, 93.
 appeal dated from, Ixxxv, 93 ft.
 comments on the contention, 103, 149,
152.
 book on the stirs, by Dr. Bishop, 83 it.
Witnesham, Suffolk, rector of, 32 «.
Wood, Dr. Richard, 10 ft.
Woodhouse, Thomas, martyr, vii ft,
Woodroffe, priest, 137.
Worcestershire, 84 ft.
Worthington, Dr., vice-president of Douai,
xxxvii, cxxv, cxliv, 75 tt, 84 tt, 103, 104 ft.
 vows obedience to Parsons, xxxviii, 103 n.
Wright, Mr., 147.
York Castle, 127 ti.
Yorkshire, 52 «, 121 ft.
Young, Dr., master of Pembroke College, 10.
Younger, Dr. James, of Douai, 75 ft.

CORRECTIONS.
Page 12, note, 1. 10, pr 1519 read 1619.
,, 52j note, I. 15, /(7?* Anne ?*^a(/ Margaret.
)) 75j ^' 3 fi'on^ footf /or catholicas ;'^«^ catholica.
,, 82, note, 1. 7iforf. 97 readf. 135.
„ 82, note, 1. 2S,/or Vicar Apostolic read bishop of Chalcedon,
)) 95 J note, 1. 7, for and read et.

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