he employed the short time that remained in this mortal life in private devotions, and spiritual conferences with such of the faithful as applied to him about the concerns of their souls. On Wednesday, the 12th of October, 1642, he was brought out of prison and laid on the sledge, and so drawn to Tyburn, shewing all the way a wonderful cheerfulness in his countenance. At the place of execution he spoke to the people upon the text, "Thou art a priest for ever according to the order of Melchisedech," Psalm cix. He offered to speak of the real presence of the body and blood of Christ in the blessed sacrament, but was interrupted by the ministers, and after a little time was ordered by the officer to make an end; he readily obeyed, giving them hearty thanks for bringing him thither to die for the defence of his faith. After a short time spent in prayer, the cart was drawn away, and before he was quite dead, the rope being cut, he was dismembered, bowelled, and quartered. 15. Matthew Atkinson, Priest, O. S. F. Confessor. Matthew Atkinson was a native of Yorkshire, and entered into the order of St. Francis in the English convent at Douay, the 27th of December, 1683; he was sent upon the English mission in 1687, where he was noted for his zeal of souls, and diligence in his pastoral functions, and brought many strayed sheep back to the fold of Christ, till being accused by a false convert of being a priest, he was condemned to perpetual imprisonment, and sent to Hurst castle, where he remained a constant and pious confessor of Christ for thirty years, till his dying day, which was the 15th of October, 1692. He departed this life aged 74, in the 56th year of his religious profession, and lies interred at St. James's, near Winchester. 17. Richard White, Layman. Richard White, born at Llangdlos, in Montgomeryshire, Wales, and brought up in Cambridge. He was after his return from the university, for some time a schoolmaster, first at Wrexham, and then at Orton in Flintshire, being all the while in his heart a Catholic, yet, by an error too common in those days, outwardly conforming so far as to frequent the Protestant churches, till the Douay missioners (of whom about sixty-four came over before there were any from other places) coming to those parts, made him sensible of his fault, and reconciled him to the church. His absenting himself from the Protestant service began to be taken notice of, and after some time he was apprehended, and committed, by justice Pilson, to Ruthin gaol, where he lay for three months, loaded with double chains, till the next assizes, when he was brought to the bar, and had a proffer of pardon for all that was past, if he would only once go to church, which he refusing, was again returned to prison. The following year, the assizes being held at Wrexham, in the month of May, judge Bromley being informed of all that was past, was resolved that Mr. White, who still refused to go to church, should be carried thither by force, which was done accordingly. Mr. White making all possible resistance, and loudly protesting all the way against the violence that was offered him; and in the church itself, making what noise he could, that neither he nor any others might hear the minister, so that the judge, not being able to silence him, ordered him to be carried out, and set in the stocks in the market-place. In the mean time an indictment was drawn up against him for having insolently and impiously, as they termed it, interrupted the minister and the people in the divine service, and a jury being impannelled, Mr. White was brought into the court to answer for himself; when the clerk of the assizes beginning to read the indictment, such a sudden dimness fell upon his eyes, that he could not distinguish one letter. The judge asked him what was the matter; he said, "I do not know what is the matter with my eyes, but I cannot see." The judge put it off with a sneer, saying, "take care lest the Papists make a miracle of this." Mr. White was returned to prison, where, a short time after, he had two others sent to bear him company for the same cause, viz. Mr. John Pugh and Mr. Robert Morris. After some time they were all three arraigned for high treason, and sent away from Wrexham gaol to the council of the Marches at Bewdley, where they were all cruelly tortured, to make them discover by whom they had been reconciled, &c. Mr. White and Mr. Pugh shewed great courage and constancy upon this occasion. Mr. Morris was not so stout, for which weakness he afterwards heartily repented. At length, on the 11th of October, 1584, they were all brought to their trial and indicted for high treason; the witnesses, who were infamous wretches suborned for the purpose, swearing that the prisoners had affirmed in their hearing, "that the queen was not the head of the church, but the pope," and that they would have persuaded them, or one of them, to the Catholic religion. The prisoners excepted against their testimony, as of men that had been notoriously perjured before, and publicly infamous, but these exceptions were not taken notice of, and the jury, instructed by judge Bromley, brought in Mr. White and Mr. Pugh guilty, but acquitted Mr. Morris, who wept bitterly at his hard lot, that he was not deemed worthy to suffer with his companions. Pugh was afterwards reprieved, but Mr. White suffered according to sentence, on the 17th of October, 1584, at Wrexham, in Denbighshire, Mr. being cut down alive, and butchered in the most cruel manner, pronouncing the sacred name of Jesus twice whilst the hangman was tearing out his bowels. 4 23. Thomas Thwing, Priest. Mr. Thwing, son of George Thwing, esq. of an ancient Yorkshire fa mily, was born at Heworth near York, in the year 1635. He performed his studies abroad in the English college of Douay, where he also received all his orders, and from thence was sent priest upon the English mission in 1665, where he laboured in the vineyard of his Lord for 15 years. He was apprehended in the time of Oates's plot, and was ac cused by two knights of the post, Bolron and Mowbray, or Maybury, of having been at several meetings or consults at Branborough-hall, the seat of his uncle, sir Thomas Gascoigne, and there conspiring with the said sir Thomas, sir Miles Stapylton, the lady Tempest, and others, to kill the king, and extirpate the Protestant religion. Bolron had for merly been in the service of sir Thomas, as steward of his coalpits, and having cheated him of great sums of money, was thereupon discharged, and being also sued by him, vowed revenge, left his religion, and accused his master, and all his relations, of the plot. Maybury had also been a servant to sir Thomas, and had been guilty of divers villanies. But now, as Mr. Salmon takes notice, in his Examination of Bishop Burnett's History, p. 880, the great encouragement and caresses Oates and Bedloe met with, occasioned others of the like stamp to spring up in all parts of the kingdom, pretending to make discoveries of plots, many of whom, says he, were so plainly detected, that they could obtain no credit, even in those believing times, which was indeed the case of these two wretches, for their story was altogether incredible, and sir Thomas Gascoigne, and the others by them accused, were acquitted. Only Mr. Thwing, being a priest, did not meet with the same justice. He was brought to his trial at York, July 29, 1680, and upon the testimony of the miscreants abovementioned, was found guilty by the jury, and on the 2d of August following received sentence of death, to which he calmly replied, “innocens ego sum-I am innocent." He was reprieved for a while, viz. till the 23d of October, and then, by an order of the council, was executed according to sentence. He was drawn, hanged, and quartered at York, having first protested his innocency of all that was sworn against him. 30. John Slade, Layman. Mr. Slade was born in Dorsetshire, and after receiving his education in grammar at home, was some time a student in the canon and civil law in the university of Douay. At his return home, having little or no opportunity of exercising his talents in the law, in the circumstances Catholics were then placed in England, he became a schoolmaster at Winchester. Being zealous in maintaining the old religion, he was apprehended on that account, and prosecuted on the article of supremacy. He was arraigned at the assizes for that city, with Mr. Body, also a schoolmaster, for the same imputed offence, and both were condemned. Mr. Slade was executed at Winchester, on the 30th of October, 1583; Mr. Body suffered at Andover the month following. 445 1531 11 Richard Bayfield, alias Somer-1585 sam, Martyr. 13 Dunstan Chittiden, Confessor. 1556 12 John Clark, Confessor. 14 William Foster, Confessor. 15 Alice Perkins, Confessor. 16 John Archer, Confessor. 1557 17 John Hooke, Martyr. 18 John Hallingdale, Martyr. 19 William Sparrow, Martyr. 20 Richard Gibson, Martyr. 1558 21 Alexander Gouch, Martyr. 22 Alice Driver, Martyr. 23 Philip Humphrey, Martyr. 25 John Cornforth, Martyr. 26 Christopher Brown, Martyr. 27 John Hurst, Martyr. 28 Alice Snoth, Martyr. 29 Catherine Knight, Martyr. 30 Andrew, Apostle. - 26 Richard Whiting, Abbot, Mart. John Thorn, Monk, Martyr. Roger James, Monk, Martyr. Hugh Farringdon, Abbot, Mart. William Onion, Priest, Martyr. John Rugg, Priest, Martyr. Hugh Taylor, Priest, Martyr. Marmaduke Bowes, Gent. Mart. James Thompson, Priest, Mart. Cuthbert Maine, Priest, Martyr. Edward Burden, Priest, Martyr. George Errington, Gent. Mart. William Knight, Yeoman, Mart. William Gibsou, Yeoman, Mart. Henry Abbot, Yeoman, Martyr. 1587 30 Alexander Crow, Priest, Mart. 1582 28 1588 John Fox has kindly left us two days of the ancient Calendar of this month, namely, the first, on which is celebrated the feast of All Saints, and the last, on which Catholics commemorate the martyrdom of the apostle, saint Andrew. To have retained the second day of the old calendar, on which the commemoration of all the souls departed is held by the Catholic church, would not have suited the taste of John Fox's patrons, who had sacrilegiously disregarded the testamentary bequests of many of their pious ancestors, and appropriated that property which had been left for charitable purposes, and to support priests to pray for the souls of the testators, to their own use and profit. Accordingly, on this day we find a saint canonized by John Fox of the name of 2. Richard Mekins, Martyr. He was a poor boy, burned in Smithfield, in the time of king Henry, the year after the passing of the act of the six articles, for speaking only, if Fox is to be credited, against the sacrament of the altar. When at the stake, he said that friar Barnes, who was burned two years before (see the 13th of October), taught him the opinion he held againt the real presence; but Fox denies that such could be the case, because Barnes was never of that opinion himself; yet both are made calendar martyrs of Fox's church. 3. Richard Spencer; 4. Andrew Hewitt, Martyrs. Spencer was an apostate priest of Salisbury, who, taking a woman for his partner, left his vocation of priesthood and became a player of interludes. He also fell to denying the real presence of the blessed sacrament, and so was condemned and burned at that city, upon the statute of six articles, together with Hewitt, who was fellow comedian with Spencer. Of these martyrs, Fox thus writes:-" "About the same time also, (A. D. 1541) a certain priest was burned at Salisbury, who, leaving his papistry, had married a wife, and became a player of interludes with Ramsey and Hewitt, which three were all condemned and burned; against whom, and especially Spencer, was laid matter concerning the sacrament of the altar, &c." Fox here mentions three as suffering, and yet he has only recorded two in his calendar, which looks rather singular. Why not make Ramsey a calendar saint as well as Hewitt? Both were stage players, and surely one was as worthy of the honour of Protestant martyrdom as the other. 5. John Porter, Martyr. Of this martyr Fox writes only thus:-"This Porter was a fresh young man and big of stature, who, by diligent reading of the scripture, and by hearing such sermons as then were diligently preached by them that were setters forth of God's truth, because very expert, and because he could read well, and had an audible voice, he read the bible to great multitudes of people that did resort to hear him in London." For thus disturbing the peace, Porter was sent to prison, were he died a natural death, yet Fox, with his usual veracity, has enrolled him among the martyrs of his church. 6. Thomas Bernard; 7. James Morton, Martyrs. Of these two Protestant saints Fox gives us only this short account: "About the same time John Longland, bishop of Lincoln, burned two upon one day; the one named Thomas Bernard, the other James Morton; the one for teaching the Lord's prayer in English; the other for keeping the epistle of St. James translated into English," &c. On this tale, given by Fox, father Parsons has the following remarks in his Examination of the calendar.- 66 -- Truly, if a man will believe Fox in his narration, he may: but to me it appeareth clearly a most absurd fiction, that men should be burned for this only; but that they might perhaps be apprehended and examined upon like suspicion, by having and using prohibited books, and after found to be heretics, and standing in the same, might come to be burned; but for bare having such books is incredible: and as for St. James's epistle, whom their master, Luther, (for that it overthroweth evidently the foundation of his new gospel of only faith) called strami |