:

The executioners being as busy in making Mr. Wilson ready, as they had Mr. Roberts, he in this interim surveying the people, and blessing them, to many of his acquaintance, and to every one that saluted him with hat or otherwise, he returned a resalutation with benedictions and then pronouncing those words, memorare novissima tua, let every man remember his end; he farther added, omnes nos manifestari oportet ante tribunal Christi; we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, there to give an account of our faith and works: they that have done well shall go to everlasting life; and they that have done evil into everlasting torments. Then blessing the people again, he prayed them to pardon him for not using more words, protesting inability of speech in regard of weakness. But for his last farewell, he entreated them to return to the unity of the catholic church; praying them to take certain notice, that extra ecclesiam non est salus ; the English whereof he enforced himself to deliver with a most strong voice; saying, unto this end, I will not cease to pray for you all during my life; and after my death, I shall have greater ability to perform the same and then he was again interrupted by that same rude officer, who so often before had interrupted him, saying, That it was not fit he should so persuade the people: to whom the principal officer replied, he speaks nothing against the king or state, and, therefore, I see no reason but that he may speak. To which the other replied, it must not be; he must not be suffered to allure the king's people in this sort. To which, Mr. Roberts answered, I say nothing against the king: he is a good king; I beseech God to bless him, his grave senate, the council, the honourable bench by whom I was condemned, together with all those that have been instruments of my death. Neither is it the king that causes us to die; he is a clement king: it is heresy, it is heresy that does this.

Being advised to put on his night-cap, he answered, Do you think I fear the headache? And seeing the fire prepared to burn his bowels, he said, I perceive you prepare a hot breakfast for us. Then having given his last benedictions, as well to the whole multitude, as to those that knew or did salute him, putting his hands close to his eyes, he prayed, secretly, until Mr. Wilson was full ready. Whose hands being fast tied, with a cheerful and pleasant countenance, he "Mr. Wilson' blessed all the people with these words, benedicat vos omnipotens & misericors Dominus, pater & filius & spiritus sanctus. And farther said, that he was condemned to die for being a priest; as also for refusing an oath, now tendered as an oath of allegiance; protesting himself ever to have been a true, loyal, and faithful subject; and that he refused not the oath, in respect of that allegiance which the prince may challenge of his subjects, but in regard that it is so mixed with matters of religion, that it is expressly forbidden by the pope's holiness, whom we are all bound to obey in matters of religion and, therefore, he persuaded them all to obey this same supreme pastor of God's church, affirming, as his blessed associate had done before, that out of the same church there is no salvation.

'And now they were informed by an officer, that they must instantly die; embracing therefore and blessing each other, and giving their last

benedictions with manacled hands, Mr. Roberts, plucking his handkerchief over his eyes, said, Omnes sancti, et sanctæ Dei intercedite pro me; and Mr. Wilson, In manus tuas Domine commendo spiritum meum. They were suffered to hang till they were thoroughly dead; then being cut down they were bowelled, beheaded, and quartered, their entrails being burnt, their quarters were buried in the same pit which was prepared for those poor wretches that then died, all which sixteen bodies were cast upon them.' So far the manuscript.

B. W. adds, that two nights after, one of Mr. Roberts' brethren, with some other catholics, dug out at midnight the quarters both of Mr. Roberts and Mr. Wilson from the pit into which they had been cast, and carried them off. But that as they were coming into the town at break of day, meeting with the watch, one of these pious thieves, that he might more certainly escape, let drop a leg and thigh of F. Roberts, which was taken up and carried to George Abbot, then bishop of London, afterwards archbishop of Canterbury, who was the man that had been father Roberts's chief adversary, and had stood with greatest vehemency against him at his trial, animating the judge against him; and that he ordered them to be buried in the church of St. Saviour, to hinder the catholics from recovering them. The rest were carried to Douay, to the monastery of the English benedictines there. But one of F. Roberts's arms was sent into Spain, to the abbey of St. Martin, at Compostella. Mr. Roberts suffered at Tyburn, December 10, 1610.

THOMAS SOMERS, ALIAS, WILSON, PRIEST.*

MR. SOMERS, who was known upon the mission by the name of Wilson, was born in Westmoreland, where for some years he taught a grammar school, to the great benefit of many, as well of his scholars, as of his other neighbours, whom he instructed in the christian catholic religion, and some also of the more advanced he persuaded to go over to Douay, to the English college or seminary there; in order to qualify themselves by learning and piety for holy orders, that so they might one day return again to their own country, to assist the souls of their neighbours in those evil days. The counsel which he gave to others, he not long after followed himself; and repairing to the aforesaid college, he passed through his divinity studies, was made priest, and sent upon the English mission, in 1606. His residence was in London, and his labours were chiefly dedicated to the poorer sort of catholics there, whom he served with such extraordinary diligence and zeal, as to be commonly known by the name of the pastor or parish priest of London. Parochus Londinensis. T W. p. 51.

After some time he fell into the hands of the priest-catchers, and was committed to prison, and from prison was, with twenty others of the same character, by virtue of an order from the council, shipped off, and sent into banishment. He landed at Bologne, and from thence went and paid a visit to his old mother college, where he met with a kind

* From Dr. Worthington and Raissius in their printed catalogues.

welcome, and was invited to take up his habitation there, the office of procurator of the house being offered him by Dr. Worthington, then president. But his heart was with his flock, from which he had been violently separated; and no apprehension of dangers, to which his return must needs expose him, (being so, well known as he was,) could make any impression on a soul that was all on fire with heavenly charity, and which looked upon death in such a cause as the greatest happiness.

To England therefore he returned, and there re-assumed his accustomed labours, in the same field as formerly, but was not long after again apprehended, and quickly brought to his trial, where he was convicted of having received holy orders in the church of Rome, and having exercised his priestly functions in England; and for this supposed treason, (no other being so much as objected to him,) he was condemned to die the death of traitors. When the bloody sentence was pronounced against him, it drew tears from the eyes of many, and caused pity and compassion in most of the standers by; but as for his own part, he heard it with such a remarkable calmness and composedness in his looks, as affected the whole court with wonder and astonishment.

A few days after, he was drawn to Tyburn, in the company of Mr. Roberts, where, as we have seen already, they both made a glorious confession of their faith, in the sight of an infinite number of people, and poured forth their blood in defence of it, December 10, 1610.

Molanus in his appendix to his Idea togata Constantiæ, published in 1629, sets down Mr. Somers's banishment in 1610, and gives him for companions, Messieurs Richard Newport, Philip Woodward, Thomas Leak, Cuthbert Johnson, Oswald Needham, N. Green, John Prat, John Lockwood, John Ainsworth, Robert Chamberlane, Edward Millington, Gilbert Hunt, N. Sadler, and N. Hutton, O. S. B., Thomas Priest and Mich. Walpole, S. J., &c. He adds, that Oswald Needham was afterwards crowned with martyrdom; but this particular is not confirmed by any other writer: and that John Lockwood and Gilbert Hunt were also afterwards condemned to die.

This year, 1610, Mr. Lewis Barlow, the first missioner from the seminaries, departed this life in a good old age. He came to Douay in 1570, was made priest and sent upon the mission in 1574: was divers times apprehended and imprisoned, and was sent into banishment in 1603, but returned again to his labours, and died this year in England. Douay Diary.

The year 1611, passed without the shedding of any catholic blood on religious accounts; not so the following year, in which I find three priests and one layman put to death upon the penal statutes.

WILLIAM SCOT, PRIEST, O. S. B.-1612.*

WILLIAM SCOT, who in religion was called F. Maurus, was a gen

* From B. W.'s manuscript concerning the English benedictine congregation; and from a relation of his trial, by an eye-witness.

tleman by birth; and bred up to the study of the civil law, in Trinity Hall, in the University of Cambridge. He was converted by reading catholic books, and went beyond the seas; where he was for some time alumnus of one of the Spanish seminaries, I believe, of that of Valladolid, and from thence entered into the order of St. Benedict; being one of the first of the English that entered himself amongst the Spanish monks of the congregation of Valladolid. He was professed in the famous abbey of St. Facundus in the town of Sahagun; and having received the holy order of priesthood, returned into England to labour there in the vineyard of his Lord.

For a welcome at his first arrival at London, he beheld the priest, by whom he had formerly been taken into the church, hurried away to death for his faith and character; and he himself within three days after, was apprehended and cast into prison for the like cause. He was kept in confinement for about a twelvemonth, and then transported into banishment: and this happened to him more than once; for a certain cotemporary author informs us, that he was several times imprisoned, and several times banished. "Post crebros carceres & exilia. Apostolatus Bened. 247." In his last banishment he went to Douay, and lived there for some time amongst his brethren, in their monastery, of that town. But he returned again to his Master's work, and quickly fell into the hands of the persecutors. His chief adversary, who caused him to be prosecuted and condemned, was George Abbot, who from being bishop of London, was advanced to the archbishopric of Canterbury. Mr. Scot, upon his apprehension, was brought before this protestant prelate to be examined; he refused the new oath of allegiance, but neither confessed or denied his priesthood: the chief proof that was brought for his being a priest was, that as he came by water from Gravesend to London, upon some danger of being discovered, he flung into the Thames, a little bag, where were his breviary and faculties, with some medals and crosses; which bag, a fisherman catching in his net, had carried to the said George Abbot.

The following account of his trial and death, was written by an eye-witness, whose manuscript relation is preserved by the English benedictines, in their monastery of Douay, who favoured me with a copy of it.

On Monday the 25th of May, Mr. Scot was removed from the Gatehouse to Newgate, in order to take his trial in the sessions which were to begin at the Old Baily, the following Thursday. Whilst he was here preparing himself for his last conflict, his conversation gave great edification to his fellow prisoners; but it was particularly taken notice of, that he seemed much mortified, when any one would be saying, that it was not likely the court would proceed at that time to the execution of any priest. On Thursday morning, when he understood by the jailor, that the bishop of London, "King" would be at the sessionshouse, to attend his trial, at three o'clock that afternoon; he began to take heart, and to prepare himself for that hour. At which time, he and his companion, Mr. Newport, were conducted to the Old Baily; where were sitting the lord Mayor, the bishop of London, the lord chief justice Cook, the lord chief justice of the common-pleas, the recorder of VOL. II.

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London, with many other justices. Here Mr. Scot's indictment was read; which, he said, contained falsehood, and, therefore, he pleaded not guilty. They urged him to say directly, whether he was a priest or no: but this he would neither confess nor deny; saying, that it was the business of his accusers to make it out that he was a priest. They would needs infer from hence, that he certainly was a priest; and lord chief justice Cook urged, that in cases of premunire, it was judged sufficient to find any man guilty, if he neither owned nor denied the fact. Mr. Scot replied, that however it might be in cases of premunire, it was certain that in cases of life and death, they were to proceed only according to what had been legally made out by witnesses.

It was then objected, that he had been sent into banishment as a priest, and that by his accepting of this banishment with the rest, he had sufficiently owned himself a priest. He answered, that he had never accepted of any banishment: that he had been released, indeed, with others, at the request of the ambassador of Savoy; but when he obtained this liberty, which he had never petitioned for, he neither owned himself a priest, nor ever promised himself, or any other for him, to his knowledge, that he would not return again into England. And, whereas, the bishop of London was very active in this cause, Mr. Scot told him, it did not become his lordship, or any one of his cloth, to meddle in causes of life and death. But this did not silence the protestant prelate who, amongst other things urged against the prisoner, that in the bag mentioned above, was found a paper giving leave to say mass above or below ground, &c. Giving leave! said Mr. Scot, but to whom? Was my name there expressed? If not, your lordship might have kept that argument to yourself, with the rest of the things in the bag.

The bishop still urged him to answer, if he was a priest, or no. My Lord, said he, are you a priest? No, said the prelate. No priest, no bishop, said Mr. Scot. I am a priest said the bishop, but not a massing priest. If you are a priest, said Mr. Scot, you are a sacrificing priest, for sacrificing is essential to priesthood; and if you are a sacrificing priest, you are a massing priest. "For what other sacrifice have the priests of the new law, as distinct from mere laicks, to offer to God, but that of the eucharist, which we call the mass?" If then, you are no massing priest, you are no sacrificing priest; if no sacrificing priest, no priest at all, and consequently no bishop.

But as Mr. Scot perceived the judges were resolved to proceed, upon bare presumption, to direct the jury to bring him in guilty; he told them, he was sorry to see his cause was to be committed to the verdict of those poor ignorant men, who knew not what a priest was, nor whether he was a man or a mouse. Then turning himself to the jury, he said, It grieved him much that his blood was to fall upon their heads; but withal, bid them consider, for the securing their own consciences, that nothing had been alledged against him but mere presumptions; and as he was not to be his own accuser, they were to proceed according to what had been legally proved, and not upon presumptions. The jury withdrew, but quickly returned again, and gave in their verdict, by the mouth of the foreman, guilty: which word Mr.