year. At the end of which time, one of his brothers procured his liberty. But his suffering on this occasion, so far from diminishing his courage, served only as a fresh spur to excite in him a new and more ardent desire of being sent over into England, for the conversion of souls; a happiness after which he had long aspired, hoping here to meet with the crown of martyrdom. But his superiors would not as yet consent to this proposition; but sent him into Spain, where two English seminaries had been lately established, the one, at Seville, the other, at Valladolid. He was for some time in both these houses, but longer in the latter, where he had the charge of minister, or vice-rector. From hence, he was sent back again into Flanders, with a commission of the king of Spain to the council there, in favour of anothe seminary, for training up English youths in piety and learning, late erected at St. Omers.

At length, having happily discharged his commission, he had leave from his superiors, to go upon the English mission. He landed at Flamborough Head, in Yorkshire, being set ashore in the night, the 4th of December, 1593; but had not been above twenty-four hours at land, before he was apprehended, with his two companions, in a place called Killam, and three days after was carried prisoner to York. He was examined by the earl of Huntington, then lord president of the north, and by the council; and freely owned himself to be what he was: upon which, he was committed close prisoner to York jail, till the 25th of February following, when he was, by orders from the privy council, sent for up to London, and there committed to the Tower, where he remained for the space of a year; where, besides other hardships, he suffered the torture, according to the custom of that arbitrary reign, no less than fourteen times, as he himself declared a little before his death.

The various examinations that he underwent, and his answers, the conferences that he had with the protestant ministers, the letters he wrote, the particulars of his trial, the endeavours that were used to bring him to a conformity to the religion, by law, established, and the constancy with which he refused to be rescued out of prison, by some friends that would have attempted it, are set down at large by the bishop of Tarrasona, in twenty leaves in quarto, but are too long to be inserted in these memoirs. The conclusion was, that having been sent back to York, to take his trial, he was there sentenced to die, as in cases of high treason, on account of his priesthood. He was brought in guilty, by his jury, on Thursday, the third of April, and received sentence on the Saturday following, and was ordered to prepare himself to die on the Monday, the 7th of the same month. He received the sentence with alacrity and thanksgiving, and was visited by many during the time which was allowed him to prepare for death, who were astonished to see the joy and comfort with which he looked for that happy hour. On the Monday morning he was drawn, as we have seen, to the place of execution, with Mr. Alexander Rawlins, who was appointed to suffer first; and when Mr. Rawlins was in quartering, they showed him to father Walpole, bidding him to be more wise than to follow his example; and offering him his life, if he would conform; which offer he

generously rejecting, went up the ladder; and there, being asked what he thought of the queen's spiritual supremacy? freely declared against it. They told him this was treason; yet they hoped he would die in peace, and join in prayer with them; he answered, that, by the grace of God, he was in peace with all the world, and prayed God for all, particularly for those that were the cause of his death; but as they were not of his religion, he ought not to join in prayer with them; yet he heartily prayed for them, that God would enlighten them with his truth, bring them back to his church, and dispose them for his mercy. Then begging the prayers of all catholics, he lifted up his hands and eyes to heaven, and recited aloud the Lord's prayer, and after it began the angelical salutation; which the persecutors had not the patience to hear, and therefore turned him off the ladder, and quickly cut the rope: and so dismembered, bowelled, and quartered him a spectacle which drew tears from the eyes of a great part of the beholders, and served not a little to advance the glory of God, and the propagation of his church, in those northern parts of the kingdom.

Father Walpole was executed at York, the 7th of April, 1595. The earl of Huntington, the great persecutor of the northern catholics, did not survive the year. Bishop Yepez relates, in his history of the persecution, 1. 2. c. 9. numb. 4, that he died in great anguish of mind, calling often for his brother, the honourable Walter Hastings, who was a catholic, and expressing a most anxious desire of seeing him: but whatever his motive might be for desiring to see his brother, he died without seeing him, in all appearance, in the same state in which he lived.

A copy of a letter of Father Walpole, after his apprehension, to Father Richard, a missioner of the society in Yorkshire, from a manuscript at St. Omers.

Although your reverence has subscribed no name to your letter, I plainly understand it is from a friend, and from a fellow-soldier; which gives me a very great comfort. I should be overjoyed if I could confer with your reverence by word of mouth, about certain concerns of mine. In the mean time, most dear father, I recommend myself to your holy prayers, and those of the rest of our brethren and friends in Christ Jesus our Lord. I know not as yet what will become of me; but whatever shall happen, by the grace of God, it shall be welcome; for in every place, north or south, east or west, he is at hand, and the wings of his protection and government are stretched forth to every place where they are who truly serve and worship him, and study to promote the glory and honour of his most holy and most precious name. I trust that he will be glorified in me, whether in life or death; qui cæpit perficiet mihi vivere Christus est et mori lucrum. Some come to dispute with me, but with clamours and empty words, more than with solid arguments. I cannot go on, custos adest. I recommend your reverence to our guardian angel, and to the whole court of heaven, and (above all) to our Lord Jesus Christ. Memento mei.'

Another Letter of father Walpole to the same, after his examination by Topliffe.

'Your reverence's letters give me great comfort, but if I could but see you, though it were but for one hour, it would be of greater service to me, than I can possibly express. I hope that what is wanting, my sweet Lord Jesus will supply by other means, whose heavenly comfort and assistance has always hitherto stood by me in my greatest necessities, and, I am persuaded, will continue so to do, since his love for us is everlasting.

'If I would write down all things that have here passed with our adversaries, it would be endless, and the work of a long time. In my examination I gave in, in writing, a long account of my life beyond the seas, of the places where I lived, and of my actions and designs; which, 1 assured them had no other butt than the only glory of God, and the increase of the holy catholic faith. With which view I told them I returned into England, with a great desire of the conversion, not only of the people, but most of all, of the queen herself, and of the whole English nobility; which I plainly assured them I should ever use my best endeavours to bring about, with the grace of God.

To their queries concerning others, I refused to answer. And when Topliffe threatened that he would make me answer when he had me in Bridewell, or in the Tower, I told him, that our Lord God, I hoped would not permit me, for fear of any torments whatsoever, to do any thing against his divine Majesty, or against my own conscience, or to the prejudice of justice, and the innocence of others.

I have had various conferences and disputations with many of the heretics. And whereas I believed I should have been tried at the last assizes in this city, "York," I sent in writing to the lord president, all those conferences and disputations, who had ordered me pen, ink, and paper for that purpose. To which I joined a large discourse, or treatise; in which I exhorted all to beware of the false prophets, and to give ear to the voice of the holy church, the spouse of the king, the house, the vineyard, and the city of Christ. One of the ministers complained of me much to the president, for being so bold as to put down such things in writing; but he could not refute what was written, and, indeed, they seem to me to be much confounded. Blessed be Jesus, qui dat os insipienti, cui non possunt resistere sapientes. I want very much to have a book or two for a few hours, and if I cannot have them, Jesus, our God and Lord is at hand, and he is the eternal wisdom. Your reverence will be pleased to pray to him that he may always stand by me, and that all things may turn out to his glory.

I am much astonished that so vile a creature as I am should be so near, as they tell me, to the crown of martyrdom: but this I know for certain, that the blood of my most blessed Saviour and Redeemer, and his most sweet love, is able to make me worthy of it, omnia possum in eo qui me comfortat. Your reverence, most loving father, is engaged in the midst of the battle. I sit here an idle spectator of the field; yet king David has appointed an equal portion for us both, and love, charity, and union, which unites us together in Jesus Christ our Lord, makes us mutually partakers of one another's merits; and what can be more

closely united than we two, who, as your reverence sees, simul segregati sumus in hoc ministerium.

The president inquired of me who was the superior of our society in this kingdom? whether it was this, or the other, or who it was? Topliffe answered, he knew who it was, and named him. I beg your reverence would communicate this letter to all our friends; I desire to give myself to every one of them, and more particularly to all our most dear fathers and brothers of the society of Christ, my Jesus, in whose prayers, labours and sacrifices, as I have a share, so have I a great confidence. About Midlent I hope my lot will be decided, either for life or death, for then the assizes will be held here again. In the mean while, I have leisure to prepare myself, and expect, with good courage, whatever his divine Majesty shall be pleased to appoint for me. I beg your reverence to join your holy prayers with my poor ones, that I may walk worthy of that high and holy name and profession to which I am called, which I trust in the mercy of our Lord he will grant me, not regarding so much my many imperfections, as the fervent labours, prayers, and holy sacrifices of so many fathers, and my brothers, his servants, who are employed over all the world in his service; and I hope, through the merits of my most sweet Saviour and Lord, that I shall be always ready, whether living or dying, to glorify him, which will be for my eternal happiness. And if my unworthiness and demerits shall keep me at present at a distance from the crown, I will strive to deserve it by a greater solicitude and diligence for the future. And, if in his mercy, our Lord shall grant me now to wash my garments in the blood of the Lamb, I hope to follow him for ever, clothed in white.

'I can never end when I get any time to write to your reverence, which I have been seldom able to do; and whether, as long as I live, I shall ever have another opportunity, I know not. I confessed in my examinations, that I had laboured for the increase of the two seminaries in Spain, and for that of St. Omers; and, that I had returned hearty thanks to his catholic majesty, for his great favours to the seminary of St. Omers: I also confessed, that all my actions had always in view the good of others, and no one's harm; the procuring peace among all, and the propagating our holy catholic faith, and the kingdom of Christ, to the utmost of my power. This was the sum of my general confession, which I gave in writing, signed by my own hand, to the president and to Topliffe. They asked me, what I would do, if the pope should wage war against England? I answered, that the circumstances of that time would give me more light; and that I should then have recourse to our Lord God for counsel, and would think seriously on it before I would any ways intermeddle with things of War. Hæc & hujusmodi, de quibus postea. May Jesus be always with your reverence. mus pro invicem.

Ore

An extract of a letter of father Henry Garnet's, superior of the English jesuits, concerning father Walpole's treatment in the Tower, and his return to York; written October 23, 1595, translated from the bishop of Tarrasona's history, p. 695, 696.

Blessed father Walpole met in the Tower of London with the greatest misery and poverty, so that the lieutenant himself, though otherwise a hard-hearted and barbarous man, was moved to enquire after some of the father's relations, and told them, that he was in great and extraordinary want, without bed, without clothes, without any thing to cover him, and that at a season, when the cold was most sharp and piercing; so that himself, though an enemy, out of pure compassion, had given him a little straw to sleep on. Besides this, the father himself, in public court, upon occasion of answering some question that was put to him, declared, That he had been tortured fourteen times and it is very well known, how cruel any one of those tortures is, which are now in use. For it is a common thing to hang them up in the air, six or seven hours by the hands; and, by the means of certain irons, which hold their hands fast, and cut them, they shed much blood in the torture. The force of this torment, may be gathered from what happened last Lent, to a laic, called James Atkinson, whom, they most cruelly tortured in this manner, to oblige him to accuse his own master, and other catholics, and priests, and kept him so long in the torture, that he was, at length, taken away for dead, after many hours suffering; and, in effect, died within two hours. Some time after, they carried the father back to York, to be there tried at the Midlent assizes. In all that journey, he never went into bed, or even laid down upon a bed, to rest himself, after the fatigue of the day; but his 'sleep, was upon the bare ground. When he came to York, he was put into prison, where he waited many days for the judges coming. In the prison, he had nothing but one poor matt, three feet long on which, he made his prayer upon his knees, for a great part of the night; and when he slept, it was upon the ground, leaning upon the same matt. And besides this long prayer in the night, which lasted for the greater part of the night, he spent not a little time in making English verses, in which he had a particular talent and grace; for, before he left the kingdom, he had made a poem upon the martyrdom of father Campian, which was so much taken notice of by the public, that the author not being known, the gentleman who published it, was condemned by the council to lose his ears, and to pass the remainder of his days in prison, in which, after some years, he made a pious end.' So far father Garnet.

Father Walpole's defence at his trial, from Yepez, p. 702.

'I find, my lord, I am accused of two or three things.

1st. That I am a priest, ordained by the authority of the see of Rome.

2dly. That I am a Jesuit, or one of the society of Jesus.

3dly. That I returned to my native country to exercise the ordinary acts of these two callings; which are no other, than to gain souls to God.