back, with his hands and eyes up to heaven, and so was drawn to the gallows. To terrify him the more, they led him by two great fires, the one made for burning his bowels, the other for boiling his quarters; and withal, four ministers attended him to strive to bring him over to their way of thinking; but he would not give ear to them, or stay with them, but went presently to the ladder, and there fell down upon his knees, and continued for some time in prayer: then making the sign of the cross, he went up the ladder: and having leave of the sheriff to speak, he said, I renounce all heresy; and spoke some other words which were not well heard by the people; with which the sheriff being offended, struck him with his rod, and told him, that if he had no more to say, he should go up further; for the rope should be put about his neck which being done, Mr. Swallowell desired, if there were any catholics there, they would say three paters, three aves, and the creed for him and so making the sign of the cross upon himself, he was turned off the ladder. After he had hung awhile, they cut the rope and let him fall; and the hangman, who was but a boy, drew him along by the rope yet alive, and there, dismembered and bowelled him, and cast his bowels into the fire. At the taking out of his heart, he lifted up his left hand to his head, which the hangman laid down again; and when the heart was cast into the fire, the same hand laid itself over the open body. Then the hangman cut off his head, and held it up, saying, behold the head of a traitor. His quarters, after they were boiled in the cauldron, were buried in the baker's dunghill.

He suffered at Darlington, vulgo Darnton, July 26, 1594.

EDWARD OSBALDESTON, PRIEST.*

THIS gentleman was of the family of the Osbaldestons of Osbaldeston, in the parish of Blackburn, in the county palatine of Lancaster. He had his education in Douay college, during its residence at Rheines. Here he was made priest, in 1585; and from hence was sent upon the English mission, April 27, 1589. After labouring here some years, he was apprehended by the means of one Clark, a fallen priest, at Towlerton in Yorkshire, on the 30th of September, 1594, and committed to York castle. His letter to his fellow prisoners gives an account of his apprehension, and the dispositions he was then in, and therefore deserves to be here inserted.

I was apprehended at Towlerton by Thomas Clark, the apostate priest, upon St. Hierome's day, at night: a thing much more to my comfort, than at any other time; for that I had such a special patron to

From the Douay manuscript, and the copy of a letter written by Mr. Osbaldeston, which I have in my hand.

commend myself to, and such a stout champion under Christ; and, besides, it pleased God, much to my comfort, to let this sign of his love fall unto me that day above all others; for that it was God's great goodness to call me to the honour of priesthood; and that, upon St. Hierome's day, I said my first mass, and consecrated the blessed body and blood of my Saviour Jesus Christ, and received him with great reverence and devotion, and ever since, have honoured St. Hierome. And the morning before I came forth, I made my prayer to blessed St. Hierome; and, in his merits, I offered myself a sacrifice to God, and recommended myself to him, to direct me to his will and pleasure, and that I might walk aright in my vocation, and follow St. Hierome, as long as God should see it expedient for his church, and most for his honour and glory and if it pleased him still to preserve me, as he had done before, I never would refuse to labour, or murmur at any pain or travail; and if it should please his majesty to suffer me to fall into the persecutors' hands, that then it would please his infinite goodness to protect me to the end; which I have no doubt but he will, after so many and so great goodnesses and gifts, as he hath bestowed on me over all my life, which are without number and inexplicable : wherefore my hope and trust is much helped, that now he will be most sure unto me, since this is the weightiest matter that I ever was about in my life and so considering this, and infinite others, such like, I find great comfort, and fully trust in God's goodness, and distrust only in myself; but in him that comforteth me, I can do all things. And this actual oblation of myself that morning, and this that ensueth, maketh me very comfortable, and bringeth me into many good and heavenly cogitations, feeling his strength so much as I have done in lesser matters, and further off from him than this is; therefore I nothing doubt, by his grace, but he will grant me to finish that which was for him, and by him, begun; which I pray God I may worthily do when his good will and pleasure is, and not before; and that I may not wish or desire any thing in this life but what may best please him and honour him, and our blessed lady his mother, and all the court of heaven, the most, and edify the people, and strengthen them in the way to Jesus, the king of bliss.

The manner of my apprehension' was thus: Abraham Sayre and I came to the inn a little before Mr. Clarke, and we all came before night; I knew him not fully, for I thought he had been in the south: but at supper I looked earnestly at him, and I thought it was he, and yet I still persuaded myself that he knew me not, and if he should know me, he would do me no harm, which fell out otherwise; God forgive him for it. For when we were going to bed, he went and called the curate and constable, and apprehended us, and watched us that night, and came with us to York, and stood by when I was examined before the council, but said nothing then that I feared; and he was present afterwards when I was called again, and since I have been nothing said unto; what will follow, God knoweth; but I will not be partial to myself, but prepare me for death, and what else may befal unto me. Now I pray you, for God's sake, what you hear or learn let me know; and what is the best course for me to take in all points, and

how my brethren have behaved themselves in this case, that have gone before me; and, for myself, I yield me wholly to obedience to you in that blessed society and number in the castle; and desire, in all points, to live in discipline and order, and as the common live, and what I have, or shall have, it shall be in common. And therefore I pray you direct me in all things, both for my apparel and diet, and every thing; and as my brethren have gone before me, so would I follow in the humblest sort.' So far the letter.

As to other particulars relating to Mr. Osbaldeston, I have found none; but only that being brought upon his trial he was condemned to die, as in cases of high treason, on account of his priestly character and func tions; and suffered at York the 16th of November, 1594.

ROBERT SOUTHWELL, PRIEST, S. J.—1595.*

ROBERT SOUTHWELL was of a family of good repute, born at St. Faith's, in Norfolk, and was sent over, young, to Douay, where he was, for some time, alumnus of the English college, or seminary in that university. From thence he went to Rome, and there was received into the society of Jesus, when he was but sixteen years of age. Having finished his noviceship, and gone through his course of philosophy and divinity with great satisfaction of his superiors, he was made prefect of the studies in the English college of Rome, and took that opportunity of applying himself to the study of his native language, in which he proved no small proficient, as the elegant pieces, both in prose and verse, which he has published in print, abundantly demonstrate.

In 1584 he was sent upon the English mission, and there laboured with great fruit in the conversion of many souls, and amongst them of several persons of distinction, till the year 1592, when he was betrayed and apprehended in a gentleman's house, at Uxenden, in Middlesex, within seven miles of London, and was then committed to a dungeon in the Tower, so noisome and filthy, that when he was brought out at the end of the month, to be examined, his clothes were quite covered with vermin. Upon this, his father presented a petition to the queen, humbly begging, that if his son had committed any thing, for which, by the laws he deserved death, he might suffer death; if not, as he was a gentleman, he hoped her Majesty would be pleased to order that he should be treated as a gentleman, and not be confined any longer to that filthy hole. The queen was pleased to have regard to this petition, and to order Mr. Southwell a better lodging; and to give leave to his father to supply him with clothes, and other necessaries, and, amongst the

*From Dr. Champney's manuscript, the bishop of Chalcedon's catalogue, and the bishop of Tarrasona's history of the persecution, I. 5, c. 6, who has transcribed the account of his martyrdom, from a letter of father Garnet's, written the 4th of March following, who declares that he had his information from eye-witnesses.

rest, with the books which he asked for, which were only the holy bible, and the works of St. Bernard.

He was kept in prison three years, and, at ten several times, was most cruelly racked, till, at length, a resolution was taken on a sudden in the council to have him executed. Some days before his execution, he was removed from the Tower to Newgate, and there put down into the hole called Limbo, from whence he was brought out to suffer on account of his priesthood, the 21st of February, 1594-5, having been condemned but the day before. Care was taken not to let the people know beforehand the day he was to die, to hinder their concourse on that occasion; and a famous highwayman was ordered to be executed at the same time, in another place, to divert the crowd from the sight of the last conflict of the servant of Christ: but these precautions availed nothing, great numbers, and amongst them, many persons of distinction, flocked to Tyburn, to be witnesses of his glorious martyrdom. Hither Mr. Southwell was drawn on a sled, through the streets, and when he was come to the place, getting up into the cart, he made the sign of the cross in the best manner that he could, his hands being pinioned, and began to speak to the people these words of the apostle, Rom. xiv. Whether we live, we live to the Lord, or whether we die, we die to the Lord therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Here the sheriff would have interrupted him, but he begged leave that he might go on, assuring him, that he would utter nothing that should give offence. Then he spoke as follows: I am come to this place to finish my course, and to pass out of this miserable life; and I beg of my Lord Jesus Christ, in whose most precious passion and blood I place my hope of salvation, that he would have mercy on my soul. I confess I am a catholic priest of the holy Roman church, and a religious man of the Society of Jesus; on which account, I owe eternal thanks and praises to my God and Saviour.' Here he was interrupted by a minister telling him, that if he understood what he had said in the sense of the council of Trent, it was damnable doctrine. But the minister was silenced by the standers by, and Mr. Southwell went on, saying, 'Sir, I beg of you not to be troublesome to me for this short time that I have to live: I am a catholic, and in whatever manner you may please to interpret my words, I hope for salvation by the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. And as to the queen, I never attempted, nor contrived, or imagined any evil against her; but have always prayed for her to our Lord; and for this short time of my life still pray, that, in his infinite mercy, he would be pleased to give her all such gifts and graces, which he sees, in his divine wisdom, to be most expedient for the welfare, both of her soul and body, in this life and in the next. I recommend, in like manner, to the same mercy of God, my poor country, and I implore the divine bounty to favour it with his light, and the knowledge of his truth, to the greater advancement of the salvation of souls, and the eternal glory of his divine Majesty. In fine, I beg of the Almighty and everlasting God, that this, my death, may be for my own and for my country's good, and the comfort of the catholics, my brethren.'

Having finished these words, and looking for the cart to be immediately drove away, he again blessed himself, and, with his eyes raised up to heaven, repeated, with great calmness of mind and countenance, those words of the psalmist, in manus tuas, &c. Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit, with other short ejaculations, till the cart was drawn off. The unskilful hangman had not applied the noose of the rope to the proper place, so that he several times made the sign of the cross whilst he was hanging, and was some time before he was strangled; which some perceiving, drew him by the legs to put an end to his pain: and when the executioner was for cutting the rope, before he was dead, the gentlemen and people that were present, cried out three several times, hold, hold: for the behaviour of the servant of God was so edifying in these his last moments, that even the protestants, who were present at the execution, were much affected with the sight. After he was dead, he was cut down, bowelled, and quartered.

Two Letters of Father Southwell, written before his apprehension, to a friend of his at Rome.-Translated from the Bishop of Tarrasona's History, p. 647.

THE FIRST LETTER.

1. As yet we are alive and well, being unworthy, it seems, of prisons. We have oftener sent, than received, letters from your parts, though they are not sent without difficulty; and some, we know, have been lost.

2. The condition of catholic recusants here, is the same as usual, deplorable, and full of fears and dangers, more especially since our adversaries have looked for wars. As many of ours as are in chains, rejoice, and are comforted in their prisons; and they that are at liberty set not their hearts upon it, nor expect it to be of long continuance. All, by the great goodness and mercy of God, arm themselves to suffer any thing that can come, how hard soever it may be, as it shall please our Lord; for whose greater glory, and the salvation of their souls, they are more concerned than for any temporal losses.

3. A little while ago, they apprehended two priests, who have suffered such cruel usages in the prison of Bridewell, as can scarce be believed. What was given them to eat, was so little in quantity, and withal, so filthy and nauseous, that the very sight of it was enough to turn their stomachs. The labours to which they obliged them were continual and immoderate; and no less in sickness than in health; for, with hard blows and stripes, they forced them to accomplish their task, how weak soever they were. Their beds were dirty straw, and their prison most filthy.

4. Some are there hung up, for whole days, by the hands, in such manner that they can but just touch the ground with the tips of their toes. In fine, they that are kept in that prison, truly live in lacu miseriæ and in luto fæcis, psalm xxxix. This purgatory we are looking for every hour, in which Topliffe and Young, the two executioners of the catholics, exercise all kinds of torments. But come what pleaseth God, we hope we shall be able to bear all in him that strengthens us. In the mean time, we pray, that they may be put to confusion who work