committed him to prison, giving his keeper strict orders to look narrowly to him; thundering out threats against him, in case he should

escape.

The charge was not more strictly given by the bishop, than put in execution by the keeper, who loaded him with irons, both night and day. At first he made him wear a great bolt, besides the heaviest shackles the prison could afford: and when after a while, by reason of his sickness, (as it may seem,) it was thought fit to ease him of his bolt; yet they would never take away his shackles, but added now and then, another pair. Insomuch that when he was to be removed from Hereford jail to Leominster, though he was forced to go all the way on foot, feeble and weak as he was with bad usage and sickness together, yet could he not obtain to be free from shackles in his journey; but it was thought a sufficient favour that a boy was permitted to go by his side, to bear up by a string the weight of some iron-links which were wired to the shackles.

Besides this, when he was condemned to die, which was some months before his martyrdom, he was chained every night to the bed-post with an iron-chain. Yea, one day the keeper led him into an obscure and loathsome place, and left him there chained to a post, where he had no place to sit or ease himself, and no more liberty to walk than the length of the chain allowed him, which was but two yards at most: where he continued till the keeper's wife, moved with compassion, came in her husband's absence to let him loose.

In his sickness, the keeper and his wife had no care to afford him any comfort; but rather were vigilant to bar him of all solace that catholics did offer: insomuch that when his brother's wife came to bring him some small thing-she could not have access, but was reviled by the keeper's wife with many opprobrious words, as his concubine, among other bad terms, protesting she would fling what was provided out into the streets, rather than the sick priest should have it. Yea, instead of human comfort, they daily heaped upon him grievances; sometimes giving out that he had yielded, and promised to recant if he might have a benefice. All which, the good man did patiently endure, though he never gave the least occasion to such malicious slanders.

In the extremity of his sickness, he was summoned on a sudden to a second dispute before the bishop; and made to rise out of his bed all in a sweat, so that he swooned before he could get out of doors; and yet in that distress he was brought to dispute with the bishop and his doctors, who were prepared for him with a cart-load of books, observing, as may be thought, on purpose this time of advantage over him. He answered little; but being pressed about the marriage of priests, could not forbear saying; Their ministers might marry as well as other laymen; and if the catholic church did debar her clergy from marriage, why should that grieve them, whom the prohibition did no ways concern? And though the bishop made some appearance of being displeased at his man, for bringing him before him in that

plight; yet when the good man pleaded his indisposition he was not regarded.'

Mr. Cadwallador was condemned barely on account of his priestly character, no other treason being laid to his charge. He wrote several letters in prison, one to Mr. Birket the archpriest. Another to Mr. John Stevens, a neighbouring missioner, recommending to them the care of his flock. Other letters also of much edification, he wrote to other friends, in the midst of manifold sufferings. In one of which, written, as it seems, when he was now near his crown, he delivers himself thus:

Comfort yourselves, my friends, in this, that I die in an assurance of salvation; which if you truly love me, as you ought to do, should please you better, than to have me alive a little while among you, for your content, and then to die with great uncertainty, either to be saved or damned. If the manner of my death be shameful, yet not more than my Saviour's was: if it be painful, yet not more than my Saviour's was. Only have you care to persevere in God's true faith and charity; and then we shall meet again to our greater comfort, that shall never end. Fare ye well.'

The particulars of his death are thus related in the same manuscript, which we have quoted above. The long-desired day wherein he was to suffer, being come at last, he and his bed-fellow Mr. Powel, a laycatholic prisoner, left their beds by three o'clock in the morning, and were on their knees in prayer till eight; at which time, and all the day after, the resort of people that came to see him, was very great; whose streaming tears, being only strangers to him, gave evident signs of their compassion; many of them protesting, that they would undertake to go barefoot many a hundred miles to do him any good: for which their good-will, he courteously and kindly thanked them: acquainting them how glorious a thing he looked upon it to die for Christ and the cathofaith.

Having spent most of the morning in spiritual preparation, (for his end,) about ten o'clock he took some corporal food, viz: a little comfortable broth; and calling for a pint of claret-wine and sugar, on occasion of a friend that was come to visit him, he made use of the words of bishop Fisher, in the like case, as he said, when he was taking a cordial, before the like combat of death; fortitudinem meam ad te domine custodiam, Saying in English, he took it to make himself strong to suffer for God. Then, as if he had been to go to a feast, he put on his wedding garment, (viz: a new suit of clothes,) which a friend had provided for him, from top to toe, whom he requited with a good and godly exhortation, counselling him to persevere till death in the catholic faith, and giving him directions to bestow twelve pence of his money on the porter, for he kept two shillings in his own pocket to bestow on him that was to lead and drive the horse, when he went to execution.

'Some half an hour before the time of his suffering, the keeper, for a farewell, used all his art and cunning to make him distempered with passion, but found him so well fenced with patience, that it was all in vain. So he remained in readiness, expecting the coming of the sheriff

to conduct him to the place of execution, which happened to be about four o'clock in the afternoon. At which time the under-sheriff came, accompanied, among others, with the executioners, who were a couple of masons, clad in long garments, all in black, and their faces covered with the same, which made them seem ugly and dreadful. The champion of Christ, nothing daunted at the sight, at his first coming out of the doors, cheerfully viewed all the company, demanding what was to be done? The under-sheriff made answer, Nothing, sir, if you please, for if you will but take the oath of allegiance here, you may save us labour, and yourself much pain; which he constantly refusing to perform, the under-sheriff replied, 'That then he was to die, and directed him to lie down upon the hurdle. But he seemed loth to concur any way himself to his own death, insinuating, that others rather should execute that office: which those two black hell-hounds quickly did, stretching him on the hurdle, and with cords, fastened him thereto.

'Being thus bound to the hurdle, he made the sign of the cross as well as he could, and quietly betook himself to some heavenly contemplation, continuing in it all the way to the place of execution, and for about a quarter of an hour after his coming thither. Then the under

sheriff thinking he did but delay, and seek to prolong the time, interrupted his devotion, making proffer of life again, if he would take the oath, which he refusing, the under-sheriff said, Then, Lord have mercy on you. Being taken off the hurdle, and brought within sight of the gallows, and the block whereon he was to be quartered, they showed him these and other instruments of death, leading him between two great fires, the one prepared to burn his heart and bowels, the other to boil his head and quarters; and thinking the sight of these did somewhat terrify him, they promised him once more that none of them should touch him if he would take the oath; but his christian courage made him persist in his resolution of dying in that quarrel. And yet, after he had prayed awhile at the foot of the ladder, being wished to make haste, for that night approached, to give satisfaction to some gentlemen present, that often inculcated to him the taking of the oath, he openly protested, that he acknowledged and held his majesty that now is, to be the true and lawful king of this realm, and other his dominions, and that he was very willing to swear to him all true allegiance that is, to be true unto him as far as the law of God and conscience did oblige any subject to his sovereign. Whereupou some gentlemen present applauded this his protestation, wishing him to proceed forward to the rest of the oath, &c. No, said the martyr, there is secret poison in the sequel. The gentlemen laboured by many words to persuade him the contrary; and that in the contents of the oath there was no denial meant of the pope's spiritual authority, but only a mere acknowledg ment of allegiance to the sovereign prince. Then one Richardson, a minister, importuning him to give his opinion about the oath, he answered, it was a matter of no great importance what his private opinion was; and that they should rather regard what was the sentiment of the church, and that his swearing would neither diminish the pope's real authority, nor increase the king's.

Being helped up the ladder, he began to signify to the people, that VOL. II.

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he was brought there to die for the catholic faith, and for that he was a priest; and for coming over to his country to minister the sacraments to God's children, and to reduce the seduced, that were gone astray, from their errors to the right paths of salvation. And then comforting himself with these words of St. Peter, (1 Peter, iv.) Let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as a coveter of others' things; but if as a christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name. He was interrupted by Richardson, the minister, saying, he misapplied the place of scripture, being to suffer for treason in the highest degree. To whom the martyr mildly replied, You mistake, sir, I was condeinned only for being a priest, and it is apparent by the public proffers which have been made me, if I would condescend to take the new oath, that I am not guilty of treason in the highest degree. Then he went forward, desiring the people to bear him witness that he died as a priest for the catholic cause, and begging, that if any catholics were present, they would say a Pater-noster with him privately, if publicly they durst not, for fear of discovering themselves.

The Pater noster and Ave Maria being ended, and the minister asking, Whether he would say a Pater with him? he smilingly answered, You shall first yield to say one with me. When the unskilful executioner went to put the halter about his neck, he seemed to receive it very patiently, as the yoke of his master, saying, he freely forgave his executioner, and all others that were accessory to his death; but Robert Bennet, by name, meaning the bishop, whose finger being deepest in his blood, yet he said he wished him a higher place in heaven than himself. He desired also of God that he might be the last that should be forced to die in England for defence of the catholic faith, and that his blood might serve, by the grace and merits of Christ, to blot and wipe out of memory whatever stain or blemish was come to his country in this cause, by the loose and scandalous lives of any that went in the name of catholic priests.

Then he betook himself to his private prayers till the executioner came to turn the ladder; at which time he said aloud, five or six times, In manus tuas Domine commendo spiritum meum. Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit. And lastly, Domine accipe spiritum meum. Lord receive my spirit. He hung very long, and in extraordinary pain, by reason that the knot, through the unskilfulness of the hanginan, came to be directly under his chin, serving only to pain, and not to despatch him. Insomuch, that when the people were persuaded that he was thoroughly dead, he put up his hand to the halter, as if he had either meant to show how his case stood, or else to ease himself; but bethinking himself better, and perhaps a scruple coming into his head to concur to hasten his own death; he had scarce touched the halter, but that he presently pulled away his hand. And within the space of a Pater-noster after, he lifted up his hand again to make the sign of the cross; which made all the standers by, much amazed; and some of the vulgar, desirous to rid him of his pain, lifted him upwards by the legs twice or thrice, letting him fall again, with a swag. Then after a little rest, when they thought him quite dead, he was cut down; but when he was brought to the block to be quartered,

before the bloody butcher could pull off his doublet, he revived and began to breathe; which the multitude perceiving, began to murmur; which made the under-sheriff cry out to the executioner to hasten: but before they had stripped him naked, he was come to a very perfect breathing. It was long after they had opened him before they could find his heart, which, notwithstanding, panted in their hands when it was pulled out. As soon as the head was cut off, one of the sheriff's men lifted it up on the point of his halbert, expecting the applause of the people, who made no sign that the fact was pleasing to them. Nay, they that were present were struck at the sight, and said, This priest's behaviour and death would give great confirmation to all the papists of Herefordshire which saying fell out to be true: for it ministered to them great courage and comfort.' So far my old manuscript.

Here is added in another hand, 'He used travel much a-foot, and living commonly amongst the poorer sort, both endured much, and did exceeding great good, converting very many. He was a very zealous reformer of evil manners, and sought this, by all means whatsoever, in all. One noble saying, I heard reported of him was, that a notable person coming unto him in his sickness, and he lying on his bed with his shackles on his legs, shaking them, he said to him,-That the high priest of the old law had little bells about the rim of his vestment; and I stirring my legs say, Audi domine; hæc sunt tintinabula mea: Hear O Lord, these are my little bells. Signifying, belike, that these were as acceptable to God as that sound of the little bells.-Mr. Cadwallador suffered at Leominster, or Lemster, in Herefordshire, August 27, anno 1610. Etatis suæ 43.

GEORGE NAPPIER, PRIEST.*

GEORGE NAPPIER was born in Oxford, and there performed his grammar studies. From thence he passed over to Douay, or Rhemes, and became a student in the English college. Whilst he was here, among many other rare examples of virtue which he gave, his charity for his neighbours was particularly taken notice of; when in the time of a plague, two of his fellow-students being seized with the infection, he voluntarily took upon him to attend them, and to take care of them, not without evident danger of his own life; for he was also, himself, quickly seized by the contagion. But this sickness was not unto death, for all three, by the mercy of God, soon after recovered. Having finished his studies, and received his orders in 1596, he resided for some time at Antwerp; and from thence, in 1503, being the first year of king James the First, he passed over into England. Dr. Worthing

* From T. W. and Raissius in their printed catalogues. But chiefly from a manuscript relation by a fellow prisoner, which I have met with in Mr. Knaresborough's collections.