day of their mortal life, and the whole ensuing night they devoted to prayer, fasting, watching, (so as not so much as once to close their eyes,) and spiritual conferences with those who came to visit them, as many did, both English and foreigners; and amongst the latter most of the ministers of catholic princes and states then residing in London, as also the dutchess of Guise, who passed the whole night in watching and prayer with them; and having made her confession to F. Corby, received the blessed sacrament at his hands, and purchased the chalice in which he said his last mass, which she afterwards kept as a precious relic. The French envoy also made his confession to the father, and received from him a pair of beads and a blessed medal, to be sent to the queen-mother of France, and professed after his departure, how much he had been edified by the sight and conversation of both these champions of Christ, and that he had never seen their equals for christian fortitude. Many others also there were that confessed to them, and received at their hands their last masses, to the great comfort of their souls.

It was observed that F. Corby, who from the time of his condemnation till then, had been full of joy at the approach of his happy dissolution, whilst he was saying his last mass, like his Saviour in the garden, appeared to be as it were in an agony of sadness and fear, which discovered itself in his gestures, and in his voice, to the surprise of the standers by, who afterwards inquiring of him the meaning of it, learnt from his own mouth that certain melancholy thoughts at that time pressed in upon him, which overclouded his soul, till by earnest prayer to God they were dispelled, and tranquillity and joy succeeded in their place; and so from that time till his happy death, he continued cheerful and joyful; and told his friends, who wept at their last parting with him, when he was going out in order for execution, that they had no reason to weep, but rather if they loved him, ought to rejoice and congratulate with him, who was going to meet so great a happiness.

And now, the 7th of September was come, when these two soldiers of Christ were to fight their last battle; when about ten o'clock in the morning they were called down to the hurdle, they went forth with their crowns shaved, the one in the religious habit of the society of Jesus, and the other in his clergyman's cassock; and being pinioned down according to custom, they were drawn from Newgate to Tyburn. Many catholics asked and received their blessing in the way; and even the protestants who saw them could not help admiring their courage and constancy. When they were arrived at the place of execution, they kissed the gallows, and giving God thanks, got into the cart, where there stood five malefactors, who were to he executed with them. Mr. Duckett for his part made no speech, but stood silent, with his eyes lifted up towards heaven. F. Corby contented himself with a short discourse, in which he gave an account of the cause for which he and his companion were to die, viz: merely for being catholic priests; nothing else being alledged against either of them. The sheriff told him, they had seduced many, and were to die because having been made priests beyond the seas, they had returned into England,

and seduced the king's subjects, in contempt of the laws of God and the kingdom. Pardon me, Mr. Sheriff, said F. Corby, there is no contempt of the laws of God in the case; and if our desiring the salvation of our neighbours, if our receiving for this purpose the holy crder of priesthood, instituted by Christ, if our bringing back to Christ's fell the sheep that were gone astray, be against the laws of the kingdom. and punishable by death; I would have the whole world understand. that in such a cause we are not afraid of death, but earnestly desire i and embrace it with open arms. Yes, Mr. Sheriff, we most willingly render this day to our Saviour, who most willingly died for us all, this life of ours, due a thousand times over to his merits and death: and we shall joyfully die for the love of him, and for the cause of our religion. This was the sum of his words, says my author, diligently noted by a catholic that stood near; nor was there opportunity for his speaking much more to the people: but the confessor was not wanting in erhorting and animating one of the five, who were to suffer with him. Hauard by name, condemned, though, as 'tis thought, wrongfully, for coining, who had been lately reconciled in prison, and made a public profession of his faith at the gallows, regretting very much that he had known it so late: and declaring aloud, that there was no other way to eternal salvation.

And now the two confessors most lovingly embraced each other, and took their leave for a moment to meet for ever in a happy eternity. The sheriff would not permit them to be cut down, till he was assured they were quite dead. But then on the other hand, he showed his zeal against popery by ordering all things to be burnt, even to the very apron and sleeves of the hangman, that had been sprinkled with any of their blood, that the papist dogs, as he said, might have nothing to keep for relics. Yet some there were, who, notwithstanding all this diligence of the sheriff, found means to procure some pieces of Mr. Duckett's cassock, one of his hands, and the whole cassock of F. Corby. He suffered September 7, 1644, ætatis anno 46, societatis

20.

1645.-Five months did not fully pass from the execution of Mr. Duckett and Mr. Corby, when another gentleman of the same character suffered at the same place, for the same cause, viz:

HENRY MORSE, PRIEST, S. J.*

HENRY MORSE, sometime known upon the mission by the name of Cuthbert Claxton, was born in Suffolk, of a gentleman's family, anno 1595. His parents were protestants, who brought him up in their own religion, in which he continued till the 23d year of his age; when being a student of the laws, in one of the inns of court in London, he began to examine more seriously, the grounds of the catholic faith, and

From his life, published at Antwerp, the same year that he suffered. From the Douay diary, &c.

after some time, retired into Flanders, and was there received into the church, at Douay. This happened about the beginning of the year 1618, (for this was the twenty-third year of Mr. Morse's age,) and I find in the Douay diary,* that he was admitted convictor in the English college, in the month of August of that same year, having already suffered imprisonment for his religion, upon his return into England, after his reconciliation. At Douay, he remained till September 15, 1620, when he left the college, being then in logic, in order to go into England; but not long after he travelled to Rome, where he was received in the English seminary of that city, and having finished his studies, was promoted to holy orders, and sent upon the English mission.

He landed at Newcastle, and was no sooner got to shore, but immediately was carried before a magistrate, upon suspicion of his being a priest, and committed to prison, where he was detained three years in great sufferings, under a very bad state of health, besides the other incommodities of the place; all which he endured with a most edifying patience. This prison was, it seems, to serve for his noviceship; for he had obtained of the general of the jesuits, at his departure from Rome, that after his arrival in England, he should be admitted into their society; and conveniently for that purpose, another priest of the society was, about the same time, cast into the same prison, who might assist him in quality of master novice. After three years close confinement here, amongst felons and malefactors, several of whom he had the comfort to reconcile to God and his church, he was transported into perpetual banishment; and upon that occasion went to Watten, where he recruited his health, which was much impaired in prison, and spent some time amongst the novices, in such manner, as to give them great edification. From thence he was sent to make a mission amongst the English soldiers, at that time in the service of the king of Spain, who were quartered in the neighbouring cities, of which charitable employ he acquitted himself with great zeal and success, till he contracted a malignant fever, which had like to have bereaved him of his life; but God preserved him for greater things. After his recovery, he spent some time at Watten and Liege, in quality of minister of those communities; and then his zeal of souls prompted him to desire to be sent back upon the English mission.

To England, therefore, he was sent, and quickly found an opportunity of labouring with great fruit, during the plague, which raged in London in 1636 and 1637. It is scarce credible, what pains he took on this occasion, in visiting, assisting, comforting, and relieving such as were infected, as well protestants as catholics; having to this end provided himself with a list of about four hundred families, where the infection had taken, which he allotted to his own particular charge, and punctually visited in their turns; and great was the blessing God was pleased to give to his labours, not only in respect to the souls of the poor

Anno 1618, mense augusto, e carcere ad nos reversus cst Henricus Morse, et ad communem mensam est admissus. Anno 1620, 15 Sept. Henricus Morse logicus in angliam sese e collegio recepit. Douay diary.

catholics, whom he assisted with the sacraments, but also in the conversion of many protestants. During the course of this plague, father Morse was, himself, thrice seized with the infection; and when at the third time he looked for nothing but death, he recovered again upon the receiving a letter from the superior, commanding him to desist for the future from attending the infected.

Not long after this, he was apprehended by a special warrant from the lords of the council, and committed to Newgate; and at the next sessions brought upon his trial, accused of being a priest, and of having seduced his majesty's subjects from the religion, by law established. Mr. Prynne, in his Popish Royal Favourite, page 29, informs us, that there was exhibited, and read in open court, a certificate, showing that he had perverted, as they termed it, five hundred and sixty protestants in and about the parish of St. Giles in the Fields. But this part of the accusation, it seems, could not be legally proved; of the other point, viz., of his being a priest, he was found guilty by his jury; yet upon the mediation of the queen, he did not receive sentence of death; but, after some time, was bailed out, and at length sent into banishment, by the king's proclamation, in the beginning of 1641.

In the time of this banishment he was not idle, but made another mission amongst the English soldiers of colonel Gage's regiment, with such diligence and zeal, that he deservedly gained the esteem of that great officer, insomuch that he usually called him the holy father. But his ardour for the greater glory of God prompted him continually to desire to return into England, where he might have a larger field to work in, not without a prospect of receiving the crown of martyrdom for the reward of his labours; nor did he desist importuning his superiors, till they gave their consent to his return. He was at Ghent when he received this welcome news in 1643, which he immediately imparted with great joy to his brethren there, going from room to room to them; and, as he made no doubt but that he was going to die for his faith, promising that he would hereafter be mindful of them. He sailed for the northern parts of England, and landed safely there, and for about a year and a half diligently laboured amongst the catholics of those provinces in those turbulent times; till going to a house on the borders of Cumberland to assist a sick person, he was apprehended upon suspicion, by some soldiers that were making search there after another person, and was sent under a guard towards Durham. In the way thither he was to lodge one night at a constable's house, whose wife was a catholic, who managed matters so as to give him an opportunity of making his escape for that time. But about six weeks after, it plainly appeared, that it was God's will he should glorify his divine name by suffering for him; when he, travelling in that county with a guide perfectly well acquainted with all the ways thereabouts, and being within a mile or two of the house to which he was going, his guide all on a sudden was puzzled, and knew not which way to turn, as if his memory had been quite gone from him; upon this they went up to the next cottage, to inquire their way, and behold, at the very door they meet a man, who looking father Morse in the face, asked, if he was not the person who lately escaped from the soldiers who were car

rying him to Durham? This unexpected rencounter surprised the fa ther, who not being able to deny the truth, was apprehended, and hurried away to Durham jail, where he was close confined in a filthy lodging for several weeks, and then carried to Newcastle, to be shipped off for London.

At sea he suffered much from the barbarous usage of the rascally ship-crew, and withal, had like to have been cast away in a violent storm, in which another ship was lost before his eyes; but God reserved him for a more glorious death. Being arrived at London, he was committed to Newgate, January the 24th, and notwithstanding his brother, who was an eminent lawyer, and a protestant, left no stone unturned to save his life, he was brought to the bar on the 30th of the same month, and being found to be the man who had been brought in guilty of priesthood some years before, he was, without further trial, sentenced to die as in cases of high treason, and sent back to Newgate, where, for the short remainder of his mortal life, great numbers of all sorts of people flocked to him, and were much edified by his saintly comportment and conversation.

On the first of February, the day of his execution, he celebrated early in the morning, a votive mass of the blessed trinity, in thanksgiving for the great favour God was pleased to do him, in calling him to the crown of martyrdom, having first, according to custom, recited the litanies of our blessed lady, and of all the saints, for the conversion of England. After which he made an exhortation to the catholics that were present, and having reposed himself for about an hour, and performed the canonical hours of the divine office, he went to the rooms of all his fellowprisoners, and took his leave of them with that cheerfulness in his looks as astonished them all. The little time that remained he employed in private, with another religious man of his order, in most fervent acts of faith, hope, divine love, contrition, &c., till being admonished that his time was come, he cast himself upon his knees, and with hands and eyes lifted up to heaven, gave hearty thanks to the Almighty, extolled his infinite mercy towards him, and offered himself without any reserve, as a sacrifice to his divine Majesty. Come, my sweet Jesu, said he, that I may now be inseparably united to thee in time and in eternity! welcome ropes, hurdles, gibbets, knives, and butchery! welcome for the love of Jesus my Saviour.

At nine in the morning the sheriff came to the prison, and calling for father Morse, handed him down very courteously to the sledge, on which he was drawn by four horses to Tyburn. The French ambassador met him in the way in his coach, and in the sight of the whole multitude saluted him, and craved his benediction; and afterwards attended him at the place of execution, with all his retinue, begging his prayers for the common peace of christendom, and for the king and kingdom of France. The count D'Egmont was also present in his coach, to take his last leave of the confessor, who, getting up into the cart under the gallows, and being permitted by the sheriff to speak to the people, addressed himself to them in these, or the like words, which he delivered with a loud voice.

I am come hither to die for my religion, for that religion which is