Middleton was flung off the ladder; and was cut down and bowelled whilst he was yet alive. They suffered on the 6th of May, 1590.

9. Thomas Pickering, Lay-brother.

Mr. Pickering was born of loyal parents, his father having lost his life in the king's quarrels during the civil wars.-He was a lay-brother of the order of St. Bennett, and professed in the English monastery of Douay. Upon the first breaking out of Oates's infamous plot, an account of which we have given in this volume, page 26, he was appre hended, and cast into prison. On the 17th of December, 1678, he was brought to trial, together with fathers Ireland, Whitbread, and Fenwicke, jesuits, and John Grove, a layman. An account of the trial, and the violent conduct of the court which tried them, we have given page 30. The jury were discharged of fathers Whitbread and Fenwicke, who were reserved for another trial, but the other prisoners were found guilty, and received sentence of death. Father Ireland and Mr. Grove suffered on the 24th January, 1679, but Mr. Pickering was reprieved till the 9th of May in the same year, when he was ordered for execution at the instance of parliament. On the day aforesaid he was drawn to Tyburn, and there executed. He expressed a very great joy that he was so happy as to yield up his life to God, in a case where his conscience assured him his religion was his only guilt: and he took it upon his salvation, that he was innocent in thought, word, and deed, of all that was laid to his charge. Being taxed for a priest, he replied with a smile," No, I am but a lay-brother." He prayed for his accusers and enemies; and when he was just upon the point of being turned off, being called upon by some to confess his guilt, pulling up his cap, and looking towards them with an innocent smiling countenance, "Is this," said he, "the countenance of a man that dies under so gross a guilt?" : Mr. Salmon, in his Abridgement of the State Trials, thus speaks of the trial of these holy men. "The people were so alarmed at this pretended discovery of a Popish plot, being made to believe, that a general massacre was intended, of all such Protestants as refused to be reconciled to Rome, that almost any evidence was sufficient, at that time of day, to convict a Papist; and nothing was thought a hardship on those who were accused of the plot: the denying them all opportunities of making their defence, or of summoning their witnesses, was now held extremely equitable by our Whig patriots; and the people were almost worked up into an opinion, that it was lawful to knock any one on the head, that was called a Papist: the infamous characters of the principal witnesses, Oates and Bedloe, were not suffered to be touched upon : and though Oates himself declared he had turned jesuit, and taken oaths and sacraments without number, only to betray his brethren, yet was his testimony looked upon as unquestionable; nay, the proving one of the prisoners to be in another place, when Oates and Bedloe swore he was in London, was very little regarded and so artfully did lord Shaftesbury, and his Whig brethren, manage this pretended discovery, that even a majority of the parliament and the Tories believed it, till they found it so loaded with so many improbable circumstances, that the forgery became too gross to be swallowed any longer: even the chief justice and the recorder Jeffries, who tried them, seemed

at that time to be fully satisfied, and to applaud the verdict given against the three jesuits; though they lived to alter their minds, and shew their detestation of the numerous perjuries that those unhappy men were condemned upon."

11. James Warnet, Carthusian Monk.

He was a Carthusian monk of the Charter-house, London, and suffered at Tyburn, on the 11th of May, 1535, for denying the king's supremacy. John Rochester, Carthusian Monk.

Mr. Rochester was also a Carthusian monk, who, refusing to acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of the cruel Henry, was condemned to die, and suffered on the same day as Mr. Warnet.

19. Peter Wright, Priest, S. J.

Peter Wright was born of poor but virtuous parents, at Slipton in Northamptonshire. His father dying when he was very young, the circumstances of his mother, left with a great family of children, obliged him to seek his bread in service. He had for his master a country lawyer, with whom he lived several years; and being young, and amongst Protestants, quickly forgot the pious admonitions of his dying parent, and lost his religion. However, he was by degrees reclaimed, after he came to man's estate; and going abroad, was fully reconciled by the English fathers of the society of Jesus in their college in Liege, to which Providence had brought him, whilst he was designing a pilgrimage to Rome. Having completed his studies, and being ordained priest, his provincial destined him to an employment, not less laborious indeed, but much more agreeable to his zeal, viz. to a mission amongst the English soldiers; where he behaved in such manner, as to gain the esteem and affection of all, and to reclaim great numbers of them from their errors and vices. He was particularly dear to sir Henry Gage their colonel, who after their first acquaintance, would not part with him, but had him for an inseparable companion for seven years, partly in Flanders, and partly in England; till sir Henry (who was governor of Oxford for the king) being killed in the civil wars, in 1644, the marquis of Winchester and his lady desired to have father Wright in their family, with whom he lived till his apprehension, which was on Candlemas day, 1650-1.

As the privileges of the peers were not regarded in those times of confusion, the priest-catchers watched their opportunity of rushing into the marquis's house, on Candlemas day in the morning, at the very time that father Wright was going to mass, and had not the marquis stopped them for a while upon the stairs, they would have seized the good man in the chapel, if not at the altar itself. But this delay gave him an opportunity of getting out of the window upon the leads; where, nevertheless, he could not be long concealed; for the pursuivants finding, upon their coming into the oratory, the altar dressed, and all things ready laid out for mass, concluded the priest could not be far off; and perceiving the window open, imagined he had gone out that way, and found it to be so, by sending a boy the same way, who discovered the

fatherupon the leads. Thus he fell into their hands, and was carried before the lord chief justice Roles, and by him committed to Newgate

as a suspected priest, where he had for companions, besides two priests that lay under sentence of death, five others lately apprehended upon the same suspicion. Previous to his trial the lord chief justice sent into the country for the apostate Thomas Gage, to come up and appear as witness against father Wright and father Dade, superior of the English dominicans, at that time also prisoner in Newgate. To divert this blow, the reverend Mr. George Gage, an eminent clergyman, used his best endeavours to prevail on the apostate, who was his brother, not to involve himself in any further guilt, by having a hand in the blood of the innocent. He promised he would not, and, as to father Dade, was as good as his word; for though he appeared in court against him, and testified that he knew him to be superior of the dominicans, yet he qualified this testimony, by adding, that though he was their superior, possibly he might not be priest; upon which father Dade was acquitted by the jury. But as to father Wright, the wretch notoriously broke his promise, and swore, that he knew him to be a priest and a jesuit, and had often seen him say mass; alleging, for the reason of his appearing against him, an old grudge that he had against the father, for having done him an ill office, as he pretended, with his elder brother sir Henry Gage.

The good man being asked by the lord chief justice, what he had to reply to this testimony, and those of the other witnesses, Mayo, Wadsworth, &c.? would make no other answer than this:-" My lord, I give Almighty God thanks, from the bottom of my heart, that he has been pleased I should be here arraigned, (to use the words of St. Peter) not as a murderer, nor as a thief, nor as a reviler, nor as guilty of any other crime, but my religion; even the Catholic religion, which was, is, and ever will be illustrious over all the earth; and I have

nothing more to say." The judge told him, it was not for religion he was arraigned, but for returning into England after having received the order of priesthood, and seducing the people. Father Wright replied, that the persecutors of old might, with as good a grace, have objected to the apostles and the primitive priests coming into heathen countries, and preaching the faith, contrary to the laws of those countries, and have called it treason and seducing the people. But they preached the gospel, said the judge, you preach errors contrary to the gospel. That is the very point in question, said father Wright, adding at the same time, that all manner of errors and heresies were tolerated in England, and none persecuted but the Catholic religion, which was a sign of its being God's truth. The jury going out to consult about their verdict, after some deliberation, returned him guilty; upon which the confessor made a low reverence, with a serene and cheerful countenance, and said aloud, "God Almighty's holy name be blessed now, and for evermore." The next day, being Whitsun-eve, he received the sentence of death to his own great comfort, but to the great affliction of his friends and penitents, who saw themselves now like to be deprived of so zealous and virtuous a pastor. No endeavours were neglected to save his life, or at least to obtain a reprieve for him, by the means of the Spanish ambassador and others; but nothing could be obtained; the less, because it being the Whitsun-holidays, neither council nor parliament met.

Whitsun-Monday in the morning, he celebrated mass, with the assistance of Mr. Cheney, with great devotion. And when the time was drawing near when he was to go down in order for execution, hearing the knocking at the iron gate, he took it1as a summons from heaven, and cried out, "I come, sweet Jesus, I come." When he was called out to the hurdle, he went with so much alacrity and speed, that the officers could scarce keep pace with him. Being placed on the hurdle, he made a short act of contrition; and was absolved by Mr. Cheney, and then drawn away to Tyburn, through the streets crowded with an innumerable multitude of people. When the hurdle came over against the house where the marquis of Winchester, with his lady, children, and other Catholics of distinction, were waiting to see him from a balcony, be lifted himself up as much as his pinions would permit, and making the sign of the cross, gave them his last blessing, which they all received with their heads bowed down.

The number of people that met at Tyburn, to be spectators of the triumph of this confessor of Christ, was computed to have been no less than 20,000, and amongst them near 200 coaches, and 500 horsemen. Thirteen malefactors were appointed to die with him, to whom the father endeavoured to give seasonable advice for the welfare of their souls, but was continually interrupted by the minister, and therefore desisted, betaking himself to silent prayer, in which he employed about an hour, standing with his eyes shut, his hands joined before his breast, his countenance sweet and amiable, and his whole body without motion, as one in deep contemplation. The minister took occasion to tell him, it was not yet too late, if he would renounce the errors of Popery but father Wright generously answered him, "If he had a thousand lives, he would most willingly give them all up in defence of the Catholic religion."

The hangman having fitted the rope to his neck, the confessor made a short speech to the spectators in these or the like words :-" Gentlemen, this is a short passage to eternity; my time is now short, and I have not much to speak. I was brought hither, charged with no other crime, but being a priest. I willingly confess I am a priest, I confess I am a Catholic, I confess I am a religious man of the society of Jesus, or, as you call it, a jesuit. This is the cause for which die : for this alone was I condemned; and for propagating the Catholic faith, which is spread through the whole world, taught through all ages from Christ's time, and will be taught for all ages to come. For this cause I most willingly sacrifice my life, and would die a thousand times for the same, if it were necessary; and I look upon it my greatest happiness, that my most good God has chosen me most unworthy to this blessed lot, the lot of the saints. This is a grace which so unworthy a sinner could scarce have wished, much less hoped for. And now I beg of the goodness of my God, with all the fervour I am able, and most humbly entreat him, that he would drive from you that are Protestants the darkness of error, and enlighten your minds with the rays of truth. And as for you, Catholics, my fellow-soldiers and comrades, as many of you as are here, I earnestly beseech you to join in prayer for me and with me, till my last moment; and when I shall come to heaven, I will do as much for you. God bless you all: I forgive all men. From my heart I bid you all farewell, till we meet in a happy eternity." Having spoken to this effect, he again recollected himself awhile in prayer, and then the cart was drawn away, and he was suffered to hang till he quietly expired. His dead body was cut, headed, bowelled, and quartered. His friends were permitted to carry off his head and quarters, which were translated to Liege, and there honourably deposited in the college of the English jesuits. He suffered the 19th of May, 1651, aged 48.

22. John Forrest, O. S. F. Priest.

John Forrest, writes Mr. Dodd, in his Church History of England, was educated from his youth in learning and strict piety. When he was about seventeen years of age he put on the habit of a Franciscan friar, at Greenwich, in Kent, and afterwards, being sent to Oxford, studied philosophy and divinity among those of his order. He made a good figure in the university, and being created D. D. became afterwards confessor to queen Catharine, wife of king Henry VIII. Upon the decease of Stephen Baron, provincial of the English Franciscans, father Forrest was chosen his successor. When the grand affair concerning the divorce came to be debated, he argued strenuously in favour of his mistress; but his behaviour afterwards is variously reported. Bishop Burnet gives us his character in the following words :— “Forrest, an observant friar at Greenwich, confessor to queen Catharine, as Sanders says, but it seems he departed from her interest, for he insinuated himself so into the king, that he recovered his good opinion; being an ignorant and lewd man, he was accounted by the better sort of that house a reproach to their order." Burnet is not alone in giving a very indifferent character of him; for other historians tell us, that he condescended so far as to take the oath of supremacy; that he was accused of teaching heretical doctrine; that at the same time he was such a trimmer as to advise his spiritual children not to take the oath of su