confession, but those absolutions only which were granted by special faculties.

The statutes, which we have mentioned, were abundantly severe but government was not active in putting them in force. It is observable, that father Persons, in his Philopater, in which queen Elizabeth is mentioned in the very bitterest language of contumely, mentions her disposition to be naturally kind and humane; that the Brief Historical Account of the Jesuits*, cites passages from father Persons and father Cresswell, acknowledging the lenity of queen Elizabeth at the beginning of her reign, and that both in the "supplication presented by the English catholic gentlemen, and the "supplication" presented by the English catholic clergy to king James, upon his accession to the throne of England, it is expressly said that "the queen always professed to punish none for "religion; and that the first twelve years of her

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reign, as they were free from blood and persecu❝tion so were they fraught with all kind of worldly prosperity." Yet the whole catholic body suffered much during that period; but the dreadful scenes, which followed, caused them to look back to those years, however sorrowful, with regret.

P. 21. A copy of this work is in the library of the British Museum.

CHAP. XXXI.

MISSIONARY PRIESTS AND JESUITS:-ACT OF THE TWENTY-THIRD YEAR OF THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

1580.

As the missionary establishments of the English catholics on the continent were always a prominent article in the justification of the penal code of Elizabeth, they require particular attention in these pages: we shall therefore lay before the reader, I. Some extracts from the writings of father Persons and cardinal Allen, which shew their nature;— we shall then notice the charge brought against them by Hume, and suggest an answer to it: II. We shall afterwards give some account of the first proceedings of the missionary priests and jesuits: III. And succinctly state the penal enactments of the statute of the 23d year of queen Elizabeth against them.

XXXI. 1.

Extracts from the writings of Father Persons and Cardinal Allen, which show the nature of the Missionary Institutions:- Hume's Charge against them, and an Answer to it.

THE foundation of the principal foreign seminaries has been already noticed the internal administration of them was certainly excellent.

"Whether you look," says father Persons, "to "the manners, or to the learning of their inmates,

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you will find that nothing can be devised more perfect or more worthy of a christian; never, in my opinion, did England, in the time of its greatest prosperity, behold any thing more excellent. "None are received into them without a consider"able degree of previous probation, none, whether they are come to us from heresy or catholicity, "are admitted without a previous general confession "of their sins, and making a firm resolution to avoid "evil and do good, during the whole remainder of "their lives. The dress is decent, the food mode"rate; and the dress and food of all are alike: all "live in seclusion from the world and its concerns; "the inmate of the seminary never passes its walls, "except to attend the public lectures, or sermons, "or for the innocent recreation of a walk in the "fields: but none quit the seminary without a "companion, or leaving his name with the porter. "Of the twenty-four hours, seven or at the utmost eight, are given to sleep; three, to meals and "relaxation; and thirteen, to meditation, prayer "and study. The day begins and ends with prayer; and all hear mass every day they frequently confess their sins to the priest, and generally, on every eighth day, receive the holy

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"communion."

Such was the internal economy of these seminaries in the time of Persons; such, it continued till the extinction of them at the French revolution.

[Cardinal Allen's account of these edifying seminaries,, will be found in vol. i. c. 19. s. 4. p. 240. of these Memoirs.]

XXXI. 2.

First Proceedings of the Missionary Priests
and Jesuits.

THE general condition of the English catholics now became worse every day: a multitude of spies were employed by government to watch their conduct and discourse, and discover their domestic and foreign relations. These sometimes pretended to be catholics, and conformed to the rites and obligations of the catholic religion: some crossed the seas and insinuated themselves into the confidence of individuals; they even found admittance into the catholic colleges; they caused drawings and paintings to be made of persons obnoxious to the queen and her ministers, or respecting whom they were particularly solicitous to procure information. When father Persons and father Campian were expected in England, the custom-house officers, in every port, at which it was thought likely they would land, were furnished with drawings of them, that they might discover and apprehend them immediately on their arrival.

The missionary priests lived in a constant state. of concealment and terror: there generally was in the catholic houses, where they resided, a place to which, in case of an hostile search for him, the priest might retire great precautions were used in the admission of persons to assist at the divine service; and generally, some confidential servant was upon the watch to observe who approached the house.

Sometimes the priests hid themselves in obscure caves or excavations in fields or woods: a tangled dell in the neighbourhood of Stonor Park near Henley on Thames is yet shewn, in which Campian wrote his "Decem Rationes;" and to which books and food were carried by stealth.

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Notwithstanding these severe restraints and precautions, missionary duty was actively discharged: time even was found for writing, and means devised for circulating books of devotion and controversy. "Doctor Whittaker," says Dodd*, " and other "learned men of our universities thought it justice "to own, that the English clergy, though but a handful, and labouring under infinite disadvantages, had distinguished themselves beyond any other part of the church of Rome:" this expression shews the general opinion, which was entertained of the literary labours of the English catholic divines, by their adversaries. Some catholics however frequented the court; a few were advanced to places of high honour and trust, several filled subordinate offices. The act of the first of the queen excluded catholics from the house of commons; but, till the 25th year of the reign of Charles II, they always sate and voted in the house of lords.

Such was the general state of the English catholics when, in 1580, the missionary jesuits first arrived in England. A letter of St. Ignatius to cardinal Pole, the cardinal's answer, and his letter of condolence to father Lainez, on the death of * Secret Policy, p. 3.

VOL. III.