Elizabeth, the pretended queen." He adds, that this was by sentence of the popes; and that by this one woman's condign correction, God's mighty arm may be feared and glorified. Elizabeth was invariably regarded by every papist as illegitimate, and therefore, if possible, to be dethroned as an usurper: but Allen went further; he avowed, that as the popish bishops, "the lords of the clergy," had been deposed, no lawful parliament could be held, nor were any statutes made under Elizabeth "of force to authorize prince, or bind subjects.' These were the doctrines taught by the scholars of Allen and their associates: will any one, not a Romanist, say that men were persecuted for religion, who suffered for disseminating such treasons, and for engaging in actual plots against the queen and the Protestant government by law established? The foundations of civil and religious obedience were struck at. And, as Turner remarks, the danger was further aggravated by such a body of teachers, educated in such principles, being placed under the instruction and guidance of the Jesuits. That society is well known to have arisen just at the commencement of the Reformation, against which its efforts were, and still are, especially directed, with the most uncompromising exertion. We need only remind the reader, that with the blind obedience vowed to the pope, and to the superior of his order, the Jesuit unites craft and suppleness of conduct. He is regularly trained to assume any form that may forward his object, and to consider every means lawful which may forward the end he has in view. Just at the time when the gross tyranny of the popedom had shaken its power to the base, this new order of men, trained to avail themselves of the changes in society, was raised up, and engaged even more strongly than the monastic orders, to give implicit obedience to the pontiff, adopting as a principle what their writers have asserted, "that the pope is neither God nor man, but both." Many able sketches of the rise and progress of this order have been given, showing how the secret and stealthy nature

of its proceedings were most formidable at that time. The popes could no longer find kings or nobles who would display a blood-stained cross, and march forward at the head of thousands to slaughter their fellow-men, without any special object of advantage to themselves: but they still could avail themselves of the proceedings of monarchs, who, like Philip, grasped at the dominions of others; while they had a most devoted band of secret partisans, by whose agency assassins were found to strike at the life of kings: thus two monarchs of France and a prince of Orange perished in this period, while many of less note were practised upon. By these men the life of Elizabeth was sought; but there was One mightier than those who protected her, and overruled even her errors for the safety of his church.

For several years it had been known to Elizabeth's government, that the Jesuits aimed at her life; but it was not till 1580 that the trained scholars of the Jesuits were ready for operations in England. In that year, Parsons and Campian came over, and travelled in different disguises. They spoke so plainly about deposing the queen, that some of the moderate English papists, who preferred the government as then established to the iron despotism of the Spanish king, were inclined to give information against them, and some account of their practices reached the government. To the machinations of these men Elizabeth was now exposed, and their practices were such as in a few years required severe proceedings. Be it remembered, that at this period, by the testimony even of Romish authors, there were scores, and even hundreds of these crafty, villanous characters, traversing England in disguises, sometimes assuming the garb and character of ministers and clergymen; in the latter disguise, especially, they exerted themselves to aggravate matters between the Established Church and the Puritans. This, as already noticed, had been practised for some years, and there are undoubted proofs that the same measure has been pursued in later times; probably it is so even at the

present day. But whatever the Jesuits may now profess, their own writers plainly state what was then their profession and practice; and they may be called upon to point out when, and by what competent authority, any change has been effected.

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In the session of parliament, which began in January, 1581, sir Walter Mildmay, the chancellor of the exchequer, referred to the practices of the pope and his secret ministers, and to the lately begun mission of the Jesuits, to stir up sedition. He urged the necessity for enacting stricter laws against the seditious runagates, who had lately begun to disturb that happy peace which the nation had enjoyed for so many years. law was passed, enacting that all who pretended to possess, or to exercise, the power of absolving others from Protestantism, and of reconciling them to popery, should be accounted guilty of high treason, that being an admission of the power of the pope to depose the queen, and of the validity of the Scottish queen's right to the throne. Hearing or saying mass was declared to be punishable with fines and imprisonment.

These increased efforts against Elizabeth seem to have induced her councillors and herself to allow the treaty for her marriage with the duke of Anjou to be renewed. Ambassadors from France were received with great pomp and show.

At that time the French prince was assisting the Hollanders against their Spanish governor: this placed him upon favourable terms with Elizabeth, and her female vanity was not indifferent to his attentions. The duke of Anjou, by these attentions, forwarded his design to secure the sovereignty of the Netherlands, if he did not succeed in obtaining the British crown. The necessity for acting against Philip was the more strongly felt, from that prince having seized Portugal; but Burghley urged that the weight of this latter affair belonged to France, not to England. In November, the duke of Anjou arrived in London: at one time he prevailed upon Elizabeth to decide in his favour, but she

listened to the earnest remonstrances of those most attached to her, and the following day he found his suit again doubtful. They convinced her that any political advantages from the union were uncertain, while the consequences of a personal nature might be serious, and that the marriage must in the end prove disastrous. Though at times Elizabeth manifested even more than feminine weakness, yet these seasons were rare and brief. Reason again prevailed, and although her affections seemed to be placed upon the French prince to a ridiculous extent, she allowed him to leave England in February, 1582. He departed with numerous attendants and great honours. His endeavours to secure the supreme power in Flanders failed, and he returned to France, where he died in 1584. His own sister has left on record, that this prince was a compound of fraud and deceit. England had great cause to rejoice that he failed in his designs upon Elizabeth; but the affair was not absolutely closed till his decease. Mary Stuart was anxious to impede the union, which would have deprived her of the interference of France in her favour. She did not hesitate to write to Elizabeth in terms so offensive, that there is cause to wonder that the latter did not at once proceed against her with the utmost severity.

A proclamation was issued against the Jesuits in January, 1581. Campian was traced with much difficulty, and seized in the house of a gentleman in Berkshire, in September, 1581, after a long tour through the northern and midland counties. He had challenged the Protestant divines to dispute with him relative to the points in debate between the Romanists and the Protestants, and four conferences, or disputations, were held with him while he was in the Tower. Strype gives an account of these disputations, at which many of both religions were allowed to be present. Campian was tried with others for treason. The Jesuits were proved to have come over to England, in pursuance of a determination against the life of Elizabeth, and for the de

struction of the government, both in church and state, by the aid of a his object was the extirpation of heresy; what that foreign power. Campian avowed that meant was well known. He suffered as a traitor in December, with two associates. Nine others who were found guilty were allowed to remain in prison, and questioned as to their opinions respecting the deposing power of the pope, and the part they would take if any attempt were made against the queen, in pursuance of the orders in the papal bulls. Three gave satisfactory answers; the other six all declared, as Campian had done, that they would not venture to express an opinion against the authority of the pope, thus admitting that they considered the pontiff had power to depose the queen; and as their connexion with the treasonable designs on foot was clear, they suffered about six months afterwards. Yet, notwithstanding the strongest proofs that these men and their associates designed to depose Elizabeth, and the open avowal of it by popish writers in that day, a modern Romish historian does not hesitate to say, that these men came to England with the sole view of exercising the spiritual functions of their priesthood! But Townsend shows, that "Campian came into England to render service to (his) religion. Rebellion against the queen was a part of that religion. He had the dispensation of the pope for temporary loyalty." Even if they had no design for murdering the queen, and overthrowing the Protestant government, the attempt to restore popery, connected as it was with Mary's claim to the throne, and the deposing authority arrogated by the pope, went far beyond the discharge of spiritual functions; it involved the guilt of treason. All the efforts of Romish apologists fail, when they describe the popish sufferers in this reign as persecuted for religion. They were martyrs for the pope; none suffered as traitors, unless some treasonable design were proved against them. Meanwhile, in Spain and Italy there was no hesitation shown as to torturing and putting to death Englishmen found