could be, and continued still his office of Bursar." So, his brother Richard.

Parsons' sojourn at Oxford was the beginning of his stormy life; and here begin also the conflicting statements of friends and enemies. But it will be necessary just to glance for a moment at the religious state of Oxford about that time. In a greater degree than Cambridge, Oxford for a long time held fast to her Catholic traditions.

Bishop Quadra, writing to the Duchess of Parma (15th November 1561), says:

"Two days ago, six young Oxford students were thrown into the Tower of London. They were brought before the Council on a charge of having resisted the Mayor, who had gone to take away the crucifix from their College chapel; and they not only confessed that they had done so, but said they were Catholics, and took the Sacrament as such; and they even offered to dispute publicly or privately with the heretics concerning the Sacrament. The Council was quite scandalised to hear such freedom of talk; but the Mayor assured them the whole place was of the same opinion, and there were not three houses in it that were not filled with Papists; whereat the Council were far from pleased, and told the Mayor not to say such a thing elsewhere." 1

Great trouble was given to the authorities when they attempted to enforce conformity to the Queen's religion. The Puritan party, who had succeeded in establishing themselves at the sister University, were now engaged in vigorously

1 Calendar of Spanish State Papers (Simancas), vol. i. No. 143. Writing some eighteen months earlier (23rd May 1560) to Feria, he says: "Oxford students and the law students in London have been taken in great numbers. They have also arrested those who came to my house on Easter Day to hear Mass, and have declared my house suspect" (ibid. i. No. 106).

2

* Perne, Dean of Ely, and sometime master of Peter House, Cambridge, writing at a later date, refers to the dissatisfied at the Universities: "If we look into our own Universities we shall find Papists there. The diarist that I sometimes transcribe from (MSS. John ep. Elien), who seems to have been a diligent noter of matters of mark concerning religion in his time, notes that in Exeter College, Oxon., of eighty were found but four obedient subjects, all the rest secret or open Roman affectionaries; and particularly one Savage of that house, a most earnest defender of the Pope's Bull and Excommunication (of the Queen). These were chiefly such as came out of the western parts where Popery greatly prevailed, and the gentry bred up in that religion" (Strypes' Annals of the Reformation, vol. ii. pp. 196, 197).

storming the stronghold of the old faith. They were making efforts to uproot Catholicity throughout the country in reprisal for the treatment inflicted on their brethren in Flanders by Alva, whose cruelties have given his name an everlasting infamy.1 There was also the interest of self-preservation at work among the leaders of the party; for reports were constantly coming over from France and Germany that Spain intended an invasion for the purpose of reducing England once more to the Pope of Rome. Joined to this, Pius V., urged on by a handful of English exiles2 upon whose misguided information he relied, had, without the Spanish king's consent, published his Bull of Excommunication against Elizabeth. Not only did he cut her off from the Communion of the Church of which he was the visible head, but, going further, he declared her deposed, and called upon her subjects to desert her cause. The effect of this measure was not only to cause Catholics to rally round their lawful Queen, but gave the Puritans an occasion of pushing their policy forward to the utmost.

It is to be remarked that the Pope did not base his claim to depose the Queen on the over-lordship given him by John Lackland, nor on any other temporal ground. There might, at anyrate, have been something to be said, for such a claim based on the Feudal System. But he took an altogether

1 Mr. Symonds describes in strong but not unwarrantable language the Spaniards: They "abandoned themselves to a dark fiend of religious fanaticism; . . . they were merciless in their conquests and unintelligent in their administration of subjected provinces. . . they glutted their lusts of avarice and hatred on industrious folk of other creeds within their borders. . . they cultivated barren pride and selfconceit in social life, (and) at the great Epoch of Europe's reawakening they chose the wrong side and adhered to it with fatal obstinacy. This obstinacy was disastrous to their neighbours and ruinous to themselves" (op. cit. p. 64).

2 Harding, Stapleton, Morton, and Webbe among others.

"His Holiness has taken this step without communicating with me in any way, which certainly has greatly surprised me, because my knowledge of English affairs is such that I believe I do give a better opinion of them, and the course that ought to have been adopted, than anyone else. Since, however, his Holiness allowed himself to be carried away by his zeal, he no doubt thought that what he did was the only thing requisite for all to turn out as he wished, and if such were the case, I, of all the faithful sons of the Holy See, would rejoice the most. But I fear that not only will this not be the case, but that this sudden and unexpected step will exacerbate feeling there and drive the Queen and her friends to move to oppress and persecute the few good Catholics still remaining in England" (Philip to De Spes [30th June 1570), S. S. P. (Simancas), No. 193).

1

PREFACE

IN this book I deal with the subject of the Jesuits only so far as they belong to English History. With their purely domestic affairs I have but little to do; and only touch upon them in so far as they may be necessary for understanding the formation and ideals of men who set out to accomplish a definite work. It therefore enters into the scope of this work to attempt to discover the end they aimed at, and the means they employed to advance it. The subject of the English Jesuits demands study. It is necessary for a full understanding of certain episodes in English History; and the bearing on the general subject of what may at first seem to be despicable ecclesiastical squabbles, that is to say the struggles between the Jesuits and the Clergy, is seen to be profoundly important when the principle beneath the dispute is laid bare. Besides the question of the mutual relations of the principles of Authority and Personality which must affect the well-being of any State, the Clergy were sufferers for Patriotism. The Jesuits, as a body, stood for the Catholic Reaction, from first to last, a political expedient. The Clergy, on the other hand, contented themselves with the cause of Religion.

It is strange that hitherto the subject of the English Jesuits has been practically left untouched. More's Latin History has never been translated; but perhaps his indiscreet admissions may account for the neglect. Foley's eight volumes of Records cannot be taken as a history of the body to which he belonged. They are only a collection or, rather, selection

229917

and Bartoli. With strict impartiality I have weighed what they had to say, but often found that they have not taken into consideration the forcible logic of facts. Domestic affection and a certain timidity in judging their superiors are, perhaps, in themselves admirable qualities in the Society; but they are not such in historians. Indeed, one of these writers naïvely remarks that, "a too keen feeling of that natural partiality which attaches individuals to their own Society. always compensates by a thousand advantages the transitory diminution of good which it sometimes occasions." In view of such writers one is reminded of the saying that while few bodies of men have met with such opposition and hatred as the Jesuits, few have suffered more from the adulation of friends.

It has been my endeavour to steer clear of these extremes. We profess to want Truth; and Truth is not served by party spirit. Hence I neither suppress anything nor explain anything away; but, as far as possible, I have thought it well to allow the actors to tell their story in their own words. In order to be unhampered with obligations, I have preferred to work, almost entirely, from authorities, manuscript or printed, which are within easy reach of the public. In these days when archives are opened to all, an abundance of light is poured in on historical matters, and an author can proceed with a firm and sure hand in unravelling the Records of the Past.

E. L. T.

LONDON, October 17, 1900.