gave

mark the things that happened in the way, between the prison and the trees, and I went myself to provide a place at the trees before the sheriff came, where I might both hear and see whatever did happen. Now when the martyr was brought unto the trees, he raised up his body, for he had all this time laid upon his back, took off his night-cap, and them thanks for the pains they had taken in bringing him to that place. A minister standing by, and seeing him to take all things in good part, and to behave himself so patiently, accused him (as if he had been guilty) of ill-behaviour. A gentleman (whom I take to be Edward Mus grave, of Allston-moor,) hearing, said to the minister, my friend, say not so, for Mr. Boast has behaved himself very well; he has behaved himself marvellously well. Then they bid him come forth of the cart, which he did, and having stood a little while on his feet, they bid him step up the ladder: he paused a little (at the first step) and made the sign of the cross, and said, Angelus Domini, &c. with an Ave Maria. At the next step he paused again, and said, ecce ancilla Domini, &c. with another Ave; and at the third step he said, et verbum caro factum est, &c. with a third Ave Maria. Then being come almost to the top of the ladder, he turned himself towards the people, made the sign of the cross, and offered to make a speech to the people; but he had no sooner begun to speak, but the sheriff staid him, and commanded the hangman to do his office, and to put the rope about his neck: which being done, the hangman would have immediately turned the ladder, but the sheriff staid him, and told the martyr, that now he should speak; but the martyr offering again to make the speech (which he had designed) because the people did expect somewhat of him, was staid again, and bidden to make him fit for God, and say his prayers. Then the blessed martyr said, I hope in God that if you will not suffer me to speak unto you in this world, this my death will speak in your hearts, that which I would have spoken.'

'At last said he, seeing you will not suffer me to speak to you, suffer me to speak to my soul in the psalms of the prophet David. You may, said the sheriff. Then said the martyr, holding up his hands towards the heavens, fixing his heart upon God, and lifting up his eyes:-Convertere anima mea in requiem tuam, quia Dominus beneficit tibi. Return, O my soul, into thy rest, because God hath done well unto thee. And why hath God done well unto thee? It followeth; quia eripuit animam meam a morte, oculos meos a lacrymis, pedes meos a lapsu. Because he hath delivered my soul from death. From death, what is that? From the sting of heresy, wherewith our country, alas! is infected, plagued and pestered. So, said the sheriff, keep your peace, speak no more. Alas! said he, this is but the psalm of the prophet, and therefore cannot be hurtful. Yea, said the sheriff, but you make a commentary upon it; say it in Latin as oft as you will. Then the martyr seeing it was not allowed to speak English, repeated the words of the prophet in Latin until he came to the end of the psalm. Then said one, let him be sorry for his offences towards his prince: I, said the martyr, I never offended her; and when they urged he had offended her, he said, I take it upon my death, I never went about to hurt her: yea, I wish to God that my blood may be in satisfaction for her sins. Despatch,

despatch, said the sheriff to the hangman. Then the hangman turned the ladder, and the martyr went down, saying in manus tuas Domine commendo spiritum meum. The hangman having a knife in readiness to cut the rope, offered presently to cut it as soon as the ladder was turned, but the sheriff staid him till he had hung the space of a Pater Noster, and then commanded the rope to be cut. Then one taking him by the feet, two or three keeping his body as it did fall, ran with it till they came at the fire, which was made a good space from the trees. But by the time they had carried him to the fire, he was well near revived, came unto himself and spoke; and prayed that God would forgive his bloody butcher when he was ripping up his belly.-To be short, (for I see that I blot the paper with tears) they cut off his members and hurled them into the fire, even in his own sight, as judgment was given; they pulled out his bowels in a most butcherly manner, cut off his head, and mangled his sacred body, in quartering, most pitifully. This is that cruel tragedy which I both heard and saw.' So far Mr. Robinson, who afterwards glorified God by the like death, for the same cause of his religion and priesthood, at Carlisle, August 19, 1596. P. S. Mr. Ingram suffered at Gateside head, by Newcastle, and Mr. Swallowel at Darlington.

Mr. Boast was taken at the Water-houses, within three or four miles of Durham, at the house of one Mr. Claxton, whose wife received sentence of death for harbouring him, (her husband being at that time abroad :) however, she was reprieved by the means of friends, and afterwards pardoned.

Mr. John Yaxley, a reverend priest, in a letter dated July 17, 1707, which I have now before me, relates, that when the hangman, pulling out Mr. Boast's heart, showed it to the crowd, with a behold the heart of a traitor, a voice was heard to this effect: no, the heart of a servant of God; at which Mr. Roger Widdrington of Carlington, (father to that very virtuous gentleman Sir Edward Widdrington,) who heard the voice, was so struck, that he was thereupon reconciled to the church. Which account says he, I received from Widdrington castle, and from a brother in the county of Durham.

He adds, in the same letter, that when Mr. Hill, Mr. Hogge, Mr. Holliday, and Mr. Duke, were put to death at Durham, "1590,"‘a brook near the common gallows, "other relations call it a well," at the time of their execution ceased to flow, and has remained dry ever since, and is thence called Dryburn to this day. Above twenty years ago, says he, I have been shown the hole from whence it issued, and the marks of its former channel. This is a constant tradition here. I have also received the following relation of a conversion wrought then. Mr. Robert Maire, of Hardwick, great grandfather to the present Mr. Thomas Maire, of Larkington, married Mrs. Grace Smith, only child to an eminent lawyer of that name, at Durham. Both husband and wife, who were then protestants, were present at the execution of the priests above named, and being much moved at their courage and constancy, were thereupon converted. The gentlewoman's father who was very rich, and a puritan, was so exasperated at this, that he made his last testament, (which is yet kept in the archives of Durham,) and gave his

remaining substance to the public uses and pretended charities of that city, unless his graceless daughter Grace, as he calls her in his will, should conform; and if so, for every Sunday she went to church, he ordered 100%. for her, till the whole was paid. The sum which he thus gave away, and which she, rather than perform that condition chose to forego, was about 25007.' So far Mr. Yaxley, who also adds, that the Trollops, of Thornley, an ancient catholic family now extinct, were, during the persecuting reigns, a great support to priests; and that it is the tradition of that country, that two priests, whose names he could not learn, having made their escape out of Durham jail, in queen Elizabeth's persecution, and aiming in the night, as it is thought, to get to Thornley, were both of them drowned in attempting to cross a brook that runs betwixt two great hills, the stream of which is sometimes very violent and deep. The place, which is near the common ford, is called Priest's-pool to this day.

Some additions and Amendments to Mr. Knaresborough's account of Mr. Edward Reading, alias Bamber, from a letter of Mr. John Martin, Priest, sent out of Lancashire to the said Mr. Knaresborough, July 1, 1707, quoting for his author the Rev. Mr. Barlow, and the tradition of the country.

He was an alumnus of the English college of Douay. Upon his landing at Dover, falling upon his knees, he gave God thanks for his passage over the seas, and safe arrival in his native country; which being observed by the governor of Dover castle, he suspected him to be a priest, and caused him to be apprehended. He did not deny his character, but pleaded he had not been upon English land, the space of time mentioned in the statute; and upon this plea was put on ship board, and sent into banishment.

Some time after his second return, he was again apprehended in the neighbourhood of Standish, in Lancashire, and was to have been committed prisoner to Lancaster castle; but in his way thither, being lodged at a place beyond Preston, he found means in the dead of the night (his keepers being in drink) to make his escape out of a window in his shirt, which adventure, Mr. Knaresborough attributes to Mr. Whitaker. Mr. Martin adds, that upon this occasion, he was met by the master of Broughton Tower, admonished that night in a dream, that he should find him in such a field. He got up fully possessed with the truth of the vision, and met him in that very field, and conducted him to his house, where he took proper care of him.

However, he fell a third time into the hands of the persecutors, and was committed to the county jail, at Lancaster. It is true, he found an opportunity here also to make his escape, but to little purpose; for having travelled all the night, to his great surprise, he found himself in the morning very near the town; so that he concluded it was the will of God he should suffer there, and so surrendered himself to those that sought after him: for as soon as he was missing, hue and cry was immediately raised, in order to take him. He suffered, as we have seen, with admirable constancy, August 6, 1646.