going over seas, and the matter of the Powdertreason, he referred himself to his Arraignment and his Confessions: "for whatsoever is under my hand in any of my confessions," said he, "is true.'

'Then addressing himself to execution, he kneeled at the ladder-foot, and asked if he might have time to pray, and how long. It was answered, He should limit himself, none should interrupt him. It appeared he could not constantly or devoutly pray; fear of death, or hope of pardon, even then so distracted him: for oft in those prayers he would break off, turn and look about him, and answered to what he overheard, while he seemed to be praying. When he stood up, the Recorder finding in his behaviour as it were an expectation of a Pardon, wished him not to deceive himself, nor beguile his own soul; he was come to die, and must die; requiring him not to equivocate with his last breath; if he knew anything that might be danger to the King or State, he should now utter it.

"Garnet said, "It is no time now to equivocate; how it was lawful, and when, he had shewed his mind elsewhere;" but, saith he, "I do not now equivocate, and more than I have confessed I do not know." At his ascending up the ladder, he desired to have warning before he was turned off. But it was told him, he must look for no other turn than death. Being upon the gibbet, he used these words: "I commend me to all good Catholicks, and I pray God preserve his Majesty, the Queen, and all their posterity, and my lords of the Privy Council, to whom I remember my humble duty, and I am sorry that I did dissemble with them. But I did not think they had such

proof against me,' till it was shewed me; but when that was proved, I held it more honour for me at the time to confess, than before to have accused. And for my brother Greenway, I would the truth were known; for the false reports that are, making him more faulty than he is. I should not have charged him, but that I thought he had been safe. I pray God the Catholics may not fare the worse for my sake; and I exhort them all to take heed they enter not into any treasons, rebellions, or insurrections against the King." And with this ended speaking, and fell to praying; and crossing himself, said, "In nomine Patris et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti;' and prayed "Maria Mater Gratiæ, Maria Mater Misericordiæ, Tu me a malo protege, et hora mortis suscipe." Then "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum;" then, "Per crucis hoc signum (crossing himself) fugiat procul omne malignum. Infige crucem tuam in corde meo, Domine: Let me always remember the Cross:" and so he turned again to "Maria Mater Gratiæ," and then was turned off, and hung till he was dead.''

In closing this account of how Father Garnet met his fate, it is worth recording the official description of Garnet's personal appearance, as inserted in a Government proclamation, dated some five weeks only before he died :

1 Referring to the overheard conversations with Oldcorne in the Tower.

My statement above that he was allowed by the Government to die before being cut down is contradicted by a Roman Catholic account, which says that 'the people would not allow the executioner' to cut him down.

Henry Garnet, alias Walley, alias Darcey, alias Farmer:

'Of a middling stature, full-faced, fat of body, of complexion fair: his forehead high on each side, with a little thin hair coming down upon the midst of the fore part of his head: the hair of his head and beard grizzled; of age between fifty and three score: his beard on his cheeks cut close, on his chin but thin and somewhat short: his gait upright and comely for a fat man.'

H

CHAPTER XVI

WAS FATHER GARNET GUILTY?

ENRY GARNET, Superior of the Jesuits in England, was aged about fifty, or fiftyone, at the time of his death.

He was

the son of a schoolmaster at Nottingham; was brought up a Protestant, and educated at Winchester, where (according to Dr. Robert Abbott) he won a good name for himself as regards his scholarship, but a very bad one indeed as regards his moral conduct. His gross immorality was, it is asserted, so notorious that the authorities at Winchester intervened to prevent him going up to Oxford (New College). He proceeded, therefore, on leaving school, to London, where he became a corrector of the Press. After serving a printer for two years, he went abroad,' became a Romanist, and in 1575 entered the Society of Jesus. Studying at Rome, Garnet soon became famous for his learning, and it was great regret on the part of those who knew him best in the Eternal City that he was eventually withdrawn

2

1 First to Spain, and thence to Italy.

2 At Rome he won the esteem of such men as Bellarmine, Suarez, and Clavius.

from this studious life and sent as a missionary (in 1586) to England, travelling thither in company with his colleague, Father Southwell, the poet. In 1587, he was appointed Superior of the Jesuits in England. From the date of his appointment until the year 1605, he lived chiefly in the neighbourhood of London, but acted entirely under the directions of Father Parsons from abroad. Such is, roughly speaking, briefly the history of the life of the man whose share in the Gunpowder Plot has proved one of the vexed questions of historical controversy.

His position as Superior of the Jesuits proved no easy one. The Jesuits were not only detested by the Protestants, but were also greatly disliked by most of the Roman Catholics themselves. Father Parsons, the greatest Englishman who has ever entered the Society, had to leave England because he knew that his presence had exasperated his co-religionists to such an extent that they threatened to betray him to the Government if he did not return at once to Rome.1 Father Weston, Garnet's immediate predecessor, was a man of very peculiar character, superstitious, silly, and obstinate, and even hated by the Secular clergy, whom he endeavoured to place under the yoke of the Jesuits, with the result that open war was declared between the

1 Father Heywood, his successor, was so unpopular with the English Romanists that he was recalled. He was imprisoned for seventeen months before returning to Rome.