ART. VI.-1. Edmund Campion: a Biography. By RICHARD SIMPSON. London: 1867.

2. One Generation of a Norfolk House: a Contribution to Elizabethan History. By AUGUSTUS JESSOPP, D.D., Head Master of King Edward VI.'s School, Norwich, &c. Norwich: 1878.

3. Letters of Father Henry Walpole, S.J. From the original MSS. at Stonyhurst College. Edited, with Notes, by AUGUSTUS JESSOPP, D.D. Norwich: 1873. (Fifty copies printed for private circulation.)

4. Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus. By HENRY FOLEY, S.J. London: 1877-78.

IT T is but of late years that the history of the Jesuit mission which began its operations in this country with the landing of Campion and Parsons at Dover in 1580, and the lives and characters of its principal leaders, have received anything like impartial examination. The histories and biographies from the Roman side, which closely followed the so-called 'martyr'doms' in England-the bombast of Bombinus and the historia particular' of Yepes-are no more impartial and no more to be trusted than the Book of Martyrs' of the often picturesque but certainly unscrupulous John Foxe. The research of a Maitland was hardly needed to point out the extravagant one-sidedness of the old Jesuit hagiologies. To any reader who is not utterly prejudiced they convey their own antidote. But the task, not of criticising but of reconstructing, of tracing the history of the religious struggle (so it may safely be called) in England through the later decades of the sixteenth century, and of placing in a full and fair light the actions of those who, carrying their lives in their hands, attempted to bring back the country to what in their eyes was the one true faith, was one which demanded not only considerable labour, but most of all an impartiality and a severe love of truth not often to be met with among those to whom such subjects are chiefly attractive. It is not easy for the writer who undertakes such a work, be he Romanist or Anglican, to hold the balance quite evenly; and if he succeed in doing so he is pretty sure of receiving some of the unpleasant'st words' from those on either side who hold it to be so much the worse for truth when it does not fall in with their party feeling. We suspect that this may have been the case with the late Mr. Simpson, whose excellent life of Edmund Campion we have placed at the head of the present article. Mr. Simpson writes

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like a devoted son of the Church to which he belonged, but by no means with bigotry. He can distinguish political action from religious; and he can afford to smile at those enthusiasts of our own day (we hope there are not many of them) who, so that mass might be sung in St. Paul's, would not object to the accompaniment of a guard of French bayonets. His book is that of an impartial seeker for historical truth; and he has collected all that is known, and all, we believe, that is likely to be known, about the first and the most interesting of the Jesuit martyrs.' Mr. Simpson has been followed by Dr. Jessopp, who, in his One Generation of a Norfolk House,' gives us the story of Henry Walpole, who was present at Campion's execution, and who was so greatly affected by the sight that he forthwith devoted himself to the Jesuit cause, and suffered at York on a charge of treason, with all the horrible accompaniments of such a conviction, in 1595. Dr. Jessopp, head master of the venerable grammar school at Norwich, is of course an Anglican, with small sympathy for Jesuit teaching. But, no less than Mr. Simpson, he has an earnest sympathy for self-devotion and for old English courage, with whatever faith or whatever schools these may be found allied. It was natural that, closely connected with the county, and bound in ties of intimacy with members of the house of Walpole, he should have been attracted by a life of which the particulars were little known, although to set it forth fully and effectively demanded an amount of laborious research hardly to be estimated by even the very numerous references to manuscript and printed authorities which occur in the notes appended to his chapters. The work has been done, however, once for all. No one is likely to go over the same ground; nor will it be necessary, since in Dr. Jessopp's pages Henry Walpole becomes as much a reality as those of his family with whose doings and likings, throughout the last century, we are all so well acquainted. Dr. Jessopp's book has been published by subscription, and none but subscribers' copies have been printed. It is almost, therefore, in the condition of a private volume, and we propose to make it the principal subject of our article, but we shall be surprised if a work of such extreme interest is not soon given to the public.

In order to understand the career of Walpole it is necessary to give some attention to that of his predecessor Campion, and to the circumstances under which the Jesuit mission was first despatched to England. These subjects are treated at some length by Dr. Jessopp; but we shall here depend for the most part on Mr. Simpson's elaborate life of Campion. We may say

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at once that this is the true spelling of the name. Campian, the more usual form, has been adopted from the Latinised Campianus.' From the accession of Elizabeth in 1559 to the promulgation (Feb. 25, 1570) of the bull of Pope Pius V. excommunicating the queen, and depriving her of all dominion, dignity, and privilege whatsoever,' it had been possible for those who held by the 'old religion' (to use a term which was then common) to keep up some sort of conformity with the regulations of the State. A very large proportion of the English gentry were indeed recusants, as those were called who refused to swear allegiance to the queen in a form of oath which declared her to be supreme as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes as temporal.' A clause in the first Act of Parliament passed in the reign of Elizabeth directed the taking of this oath; and whosoever refused to take it forfeited at once any office or preferment he might hold, and debarred himself from all places of emolument and from all public position. Otherwise he was not disturbed; and although it was also enacted that any person not resorting to his parish church on Sundays and holy days was to forfeit twelvepence for every offence, these fines were rarely enforced, and where they were they could be paid without any great inconvenience. This condition of things was entirely changed by the appearance of the bull of excommunication, which, on the morning of May 15, 1570, was found nailed to the door of the Bishop of London's palace. It was a distinct declaration of war on the part of Rome. Henceforth the Pope and Philip of Spain appear as the two great enemies of England; and it became almost impossible, in legislating for the protection of this country, to distinguish between the papal religion and the papal politics. Accordingly, within a few weeks after the excommunication, an Act of Parliament was passed against the bringing in and putting in execution bulls, writings or instruments, and other superstitious things from the see of Rome.' Persons who should use or put in use in any place within the realm' any such bulls or instruments, were to suffer pains of death,' and to forfeit all lands and goods, as in cases of high treason. Another clause provided that the same penalties should be incurred by such Catholic priests as, admitted to their orders on the other side of the Channel, ventured to exercise their functions in England; and also by those, whoever they might be, who dared to receive absolution at their hands. The fine for not attending at church remained as before.

This Act was the reply to the bull of excommunication. At first the queen's ministers proceeded with some moderation

VOL. CXLVIII. NO. CCCIV.

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against the recusants; and it is probable that for the next four or five years the position of the Romanising gentry was not greatly changed. But events, all rendering plain the position taken by the Pope, and all inducing Burghley and Walsingham to keep a stricter watch on the recusants, came crowding on each other. The Duke of Norfolk was beheaded in June 1571. In 1572 occurred the massacre of St. Bartholomew; after which Elizabeth, when at last she consented to receive the French ambassador, did so attired, with all the ladies of her court, in the deepest mourning. The struggle was still in progress in the Low Countries, and at last (1573) came the horrible sack of Antwerp. As yet no seminary priests had appeared in England, or perhaps it would be safer to say that none had been discovered. The English College had been founded at Douay by Dr. (afterwards Cardinal) Allen in 1568; and to it had flocked numbers of the most promising students from both the English Universities. These formed a part, and but a small part, of the great body of Englishmen, including many of the higher clergy, bishops, deans, canons, besides fifteen heads of colleges, who took refuge in banishment rather than accept the oath of allegiance tendered on the accession of Elizabeth. In many cases the sons of the discontented gentry accompanied them as their pupils. It was intended that priests strongly impregnated with the Ultramontane sentiment should proceed from Douay to labour in the English vineyard.' The first of these apprehended was Cuthbert Mayne, who had been a Fellow of St. John's, Oxford, and who was taken in the summer of 1577 in the house of a Cornish gentleman, Francis Tregian. Mayne suffered all the horrible penalties of high treason at Launceston, and Tregian's estate was forfeited. In the following spring two more seminarists were executed at Tyburn. The English government was, in fact, thoroughly alarmed. It was known that an armed attack on this country was in contemplation; and in the summer of 1578, during a royal progress through the eastern counties, more than one recusant was summarily dealt with and committed to gaol. The most remarkable of these was Edward Rookwood, who had himself lodged the queen at his house of Euston. When she left it, Elizabeth thanked him for his hospitality, and gave him her fayre hand to kisse.' But my Lo. Chamberlain' (the account is from a letter written by the notorious informer, Topcliffe) noblye and gravely understandinge that Rooke'woode was excommunicated for Papistrie, cawled. him before him; demanded of him how he durst presume to attempt her 'reall (royal) presence, he, unfytt to accompany any Chrystyan

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person; forthwith sayd he was fytter for a payre of stocks; commanded hym out of the Coort, and yet to attende her Counsell's pleasure; and at Norwyche he was comytted.' Grave and ominous incidents like this occurred in the midst of royal festivities, shows, and devices, including messages from the gods at the hands of Mercury, delivered to the queen in the green yard of Norwich Cathedral; and welcomings from Gurgunt, King of England, which built the Castle of Norwich called Blaunche flower.'

The seminary priests were active, but the Jesuits were as yet unknown in England. It was evident, however, that although the excommunication of Elizabeth had produced among the townsfolk and the great mass of the people an effect directly contrary to that which had been intended, there was much perplexity in the Universities and among the more highly educated of the English youth. It was determined to take all advantage of this perplexity, and to open fresh parallels against the state of England, religious and political. The Pope had for some time been preparing an attack on Ireland; and the famous expedition to which Dr. Sanders was attached reached the Irish coast about the same time as the first Jesuits landed in England. There was undoubtedly a certain connexion between the two events; and the English Government can hardly be blamed if it insisted in seeing an almost equal danger in both. The Society of Jesus had been confirmed in 1540. St. Ignatius died in 1556. The only Englishman admitted to the society during his lifetime was a certain Thomas Lith, a Londoner, of whom nothing is known but the name. But after the accession of Elizabeth many Englishmen were received; and in 1579 the society was everywhere attracting to itself the most powerful intellects on the side of Rome. In that year Dr. Allen, head of the college at Douay, was sent for to Rome on account of serious quarrels prevailing in the English College there. His mediation was effectual. He was fully acquainted with the plans for the invasion of Ireland; and he arrived at the conviction that it would be well to make simultaneously an effort on a large scale for recovering the English people from their lapse into heresy and schism.' The new Irish crusade, as it was called, was blessed by Pope Gregory XIII., who gave plenary indulgence to all who should join or assist it. It was now determined that the Society of Jesus should take its part in a mission to England; and this expedition started from Rome on April 18, 1580. The Irish crusade, and the part which the Roman government took in it, were no secrets to the diplomatic body of