By the under-sheriff's permission his body was buried near the gallows. He suffered on July 16th, 1604. Dr Dod gives an account of him, vol. ii. p. 160.

In the year 1606 no less than forty-seven priests were sent, out of different prisons, into perpetual banishment, together with two who were not yet ordained. One of the former, THOMAS BRAMSTON, died at Douay College, aged 66; after having been for twenty years a prisoner in Wisbeach Castle on account of his faith, and twice banished.

We here pass over, as before in the course of this brief history, many names of faithful martyrs, till we come to the year 1616, when, amongst others, we meet with the name of the poor weaver ROGER WRENNO, of whom we will only relate that the rope breaking from the weight of his body, he fell to the ground. Upon this his life was again offered him, on condition of his taking the oath and recanting his former profession. On this, having come to himself, he rose from prayer, in which he had engaged while they were tempting him; he replied, "I am the same man I was, and in the same mind; use your pleasure with me." And with that he went up the ladder as fast as he could.

"How now?" said the sheriff; what does the man mean, that he is in such haste?"

“Oh, if you had seen that which I have just seen," said the good man, "you would be as much in haste to die as I now am."

A stronger rope was then put about his neck, and he was sent into "the joy of his Lord," a foretaste of which, like the holy Stephen, he had already been vouchsafed. March 18th,

1616.

THOMAS MAXFIELD, priest, was descended from an ancient family in Staffordshire. His life was published by Dr Kellison, from an account sent to Douay by an eye-witness of his last conflict.

His father, a man of great piety, had suffered much for his religion, and besides the confiscation of his estate, and a close imprisonment of many years, was actually under sentence of death when this son was born; his wife being at the same time a close prisoner for the same cause. This son of his studied and prepared himself for the priesthood at Douay; and three months after his exercising the duties of his vocation in England, he was seized, while on his knees before the altar after Mass, violently dragged away, examined before some of the Protestant bishops, and sent to the Gatehouse.

For eight months he laboured in the prison for the souls' good of his fellow-prisoners. His zeal, however, for a wider sphere of usefulness made him desire to effect his escape; which design he communicated to a fellow-priest, praying during several days for heavenly guidance in the matter, that he should act as should be most conducive to the divine honour and glory.

I

And thus, on the 24th of June 1616, he let himself down, in the dead of the night, from a high window, by a cord. But no sooner had he reached the ground than, to his surprise, he found himself held fast in the arms of an unknown person, who by loud cries alarmed the neighbourhood.

Turnkeys, watchmen, and others, soon came running to the spot, and after having beaten and dragged him, they thrust him under a table, putting a massive collar of iron about his neck, to which they fastened a ponderous chain of a hundredweight, and in this painful posture they left him for some hours, till the morning.

Now, in the Gate-house there was a subterraneous dungeon, a deep and dark hole, filthy in the extreme, not having been in use for some time. In this place there was a pair of wooden stocks, of a strange contrivance, made not so much to secure as to torture the prisoner. In this machine Maxfield's feet were fastened in such manner that he could neither stand upright, nor lie down, nor even turn or move his body so as to find ease. To this torment was added one still more intolerable to human nature, from the swarms of venomous insects, generated in the filth and moisture of the vault ; which, by their creeping over his body, fast bound by this infernal machine, sorely annoyed him, without his being able to make the least defence against them.

For above seventy hours the poor martyr was obliged to endure the torments of this den-the

darkness, stench, and horror, added to the cruel sufferings of this unnatural position in which he was confined—that is, from before daybreak on Friday morning till Monday night, without the least intermission; when a warrant was sent from the Council for his removal to Newgate, in order to take his trial.

There was something so very barbarous in the treatment he received, that the whole prison compassionated him, and sought to give him relief, insomuch that they raised a plank, opened a small passage over the dungeon, through which they spoke to him, and, pitying his extreme sufferings, they threw him an old blanket to cover him, he being before almost naked. A priest, also a prisoner, whom he had employed as a confessor, ventured to come to this hole to comfort him, and exhort him to patience and courage. But what surprised this good father was to find him so far 'from dejected amidst all his sufferings, that his soul appeared abounding in heavenly consolations.

When dragged out of this den of abominations on Monday night, living, but his face pale like that of a corpse, and being so exhausted with hunger and want of rest, that he fainted away continually, his hands and feet were so benumbed as to have lost all feeling and use, insomuch that it was some time before he could move.

They fettered his arms, helpless as they were, and forced him to walk from Westminster to New

gate. Here, amidst a gang of felons, he was loaded with irons, having only the bare floor to rest upon; and, feeble as he was, he exerted his influence among his ungodly companions to bring them to repentance. The keepers were soon acquainted with the fact; but, regarding him as a dead man, his trial being so near at hand, they winked at it, but removed him from amongst them, and placed him, to his great comfort, among his brother priests.

On Wednesday the 26th of June 1616, Mr Maxfield was tried on the indictment for having taken priest's orders, and exercising the same in England. Confessing freely that the charge was a true one, he was remanded to Newgate, locked up alone, loaded with irons, and strictly prevented from receiving visits. Next day he was again brought to the bar, when the judge offered him his life if he would take the oath of allegiance; so worded, as it was, to compromise his faith and religious principles. Upon which the confessor replied, that he acknowledged King James as his true and lawful sovereign, to whom he bore a faithful allegiance, and would do so on oath, provided it were without certain clauses contrary to the truth and the Catholic religion. But while he was speaking, he was interrupted, and bade by the court to attend to his sentence; which was, that he should be hanged, cut down alive, and all the rest of the usual barbarous mutilations and butchery should be performed upon him.

Strict orders were sent to Newgate, whither he