their being acquainted with it, was adduced by him; neither did he so much as refer to the slightest evidence of either. On the contrary, a letter to him, from cardinal Como,--the single document which he brought forward,-mentions only in general terms, "the good "the good disposition and resolution "which he had towards the service, and benefit of "the public:"-an expression which the pope or cardinal would naturally use to any person, who appeared to commiserate the sufferings of the catholics, and professed a general intention to exert himself for their relief. It is also remarkable *, that, when Parry was charged with cardinal Como's letter by Mr. Topcliffe t, (a person employed in

* Strype's Memorials, Vol. iii. p. 250.

We beg leave to present the reader with a letter written by this illustrious person.

In her royal progress through the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, in 1578, queen Elizabeth was entertained by Edward Rookwood, Esq. a catholic gentleman, at his seat at Euston Hall, in Suffolk. He was a descendant of the antient family of the Rookwoods, of Coldham, in the same county, so respectably represented at this period by Mr. Robert Gage Rookwood. Mr. Edward Rookwood was remarkable for his loyalty. With other catholic gentlemen of his county, he signed a protestation of loyalty, and a declaration against the pope's deposing power. Her majesty was received by him with great hospitality: We shall state the result, in Mr. Topcliffe's own language, in the letter we have mentioned. It was written by him to George, earl of Shrewsbury, and is preserved among the Talbot papers in the college of arins; and inserted by Mr. Lodge in his Illustration of British History. "The next good news, (but, in account, the highest) her majesty hath served God with great zeal and comfortable

those days in discovering and prosecuting catholics), and Topcliffe asserted, that, "therein he had promised to destroy her majesty, and was, from

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"example; for by her counsayle two notorious papists, young "Rookwoode, (the master of Euston Hall, where her majesty "did lye upon Sunday now a fortnight), and one Downes, a gentleman, were both commytted; the one, to the towne "preson at Norwyche, the other, to the countree preson there, "for obstynet papysterie: and vII more gent: of worship, were commytted to several houses in Norwich, as presenors: "Two of the Lovells, another Downes, one Bedingfeld, one Pary, and two others, not worth memory, for badness of "belyffe. This Rookwoode is a papist of kynde newly crept "out of his late wardship. Her majesty, by some means, I "know not, was lodged at his house, Euston, farre unmeet for "her hyghness, but better for the blacke-garde. (Neverthe"less the gentleman brought into her ma: presence by lyke "device.) Her excellent ma: gave to Rookwoode ordinary "thanks for his badd house, and her fayre hand to kysse, "after which it was braved at. But my lord chamberlayn, nobely and gravely, understandinge that Rookwoode was "excommunicated for papestrie, cawled him before him, de"manded of him, how he durst presume to enter her real pre"sence? He, unfit to accompany any chrystien person,"forthwith, sayd, he was fitter for a payre of stocks; com"manded him out of the coorte, and yet to attend her coun"sell's pleasure; and at Norwych he was commytted: and to "dissyfer the gent: to the full, a piece of plate being missed "in the coort, and searched for in his hay house; in the hay "ricke, such an immayge of our lady was there found, as "for greatness, for gayness, and workmanship, I did never see a match. And, after a sort of countree dance, ended "in her majesty's sight, the idol was set behind the people, "who avoyded. She rather seemed a beast raised upon a "sudden from hell, by conjewring, than the picture for "whom it had been so often, and long abused. Her majesty commanded it to the fyer; which, in her sight, by the

animated thereto,'

"the cardinal, as from the pope, he exclaimed," Mr. Topcliffe, you clean mistake "the matter! I deny any such matters to be in the "letter; and I wish it might be truly examined "and considered of."

After reading the confession, the commissioners proceeded to pass sentence. Parry then pleaded, that his confession was extorted from him by "dread of the torture." He cried out in a furious manner, that "he never meant to kill the queen, and that "he would lay his blood upon her and his judges before God and the world." Even after sentence was passed on him, he summoned the queen to answer for his blood before God.

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What then is the evidence of the plot ? Parry, on whose single testimony it rests, had been found guilty of an attempt to murder; he was a spy; and false to the party that employed him. He must

"countree folks, was quickly done, to the content and un

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speakable joy of every one; but some one or two, who had "sucked of the idol's poysened milk: shortly after, a great "sort of good preachers, who hadde been long commanded "to silence, for a little niceness, were lycenced, and again "commanded to preach. A greater and more universal joy "to the countree, and the most of the court, than the disgrace of the papists. And the gentlemen of those parts being great and noble, protests, (almost before by pollycye, dicredyted and disgraced), were greatly countenanced." This Edward Rookwood, being a popish recusant convict, compounded for his estates in a considerable sum of money; and it is believed, died in the gaol of Bury St. Edmunds; the following entry of burial appearing in the register of St. James's parish there, "Mr. Rookwood from the jayle, bur: June 14th 1598."

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have acted villainously, either when he made, or when he retracted, his confession. In support of it, no one collateral circumstance of proof was adduced.

Surely, at the tribunal of history, such evidence, particularly when it is brought to charge individuals of rank and character, and a numerous and honourable portion of a respectable community, should not be received.

His confession is composed with great art. The reader may compare it with the language which the celebrated Blood, when he was seized for an assault on the duke of Ormond, held at his interview with Charles the second; and which saved his life. The same, perhaps, was the real aim of Parry's confession.

When there are a confession, and a subsequent retractation, each necessarily neutralizes the other, unless ulterior evidence is produced, which preserves to one its activity. In the present case, some argument in favour of the retractation may be thought to arise from the fear of the rack, under which the confession was given; and from Parry's having often repeated his retractation, and finally adhered to it, while he stood on the brink of eternity.

XX. 4.

Somerville's Plot.

WITH respect to the plot of which Somerville was accused, both Camden and Echard, as they are cited by the reverend Mr. Potts, the able and

judicious author of "the Enquiry into the moral "and political tendency of the Catholic Religion," insinuate, that it was the invention of lord Leicester, and that this was commonly believed. The French ambassador at the court of Elizabeth mentions, in one of his dispatches, the imprisonment of Somerville for a conspiracy against the queen, and the circumstance of his having procured a dispensation from the pope to murder Elizabeth. He treats it as a fiction, devised for the purpose of inflaming the prejudices of the people against the pope and the English papists. His letter is among the Pieces Justificatives in mademoiselle Keralio's fifth volume of her Histoire d'Elizabeth Reine d'Angleterre.

XX. 5.

Babington's Plot.

THAT Babington, and about thirteen other catholic gentlemen conspired to rescue queen Mary, and to assassinate queen Elizabeth, as a measure necessary for the accomplishment of their design, every catholic admits. Every catholic also acknowledges that it was a crime of the blackest die. But, while the catholics acknowledge the crime of the guilty, and the justice of their punishment, they also insist, that the imputation of guilt should be confined to those, who were involved in it, and that nothing can be more unjust than to charge it on the community. They took no part in Babington's attempt; and their clergy were so far from