SIR,

LETTER VI.

OF all the Pagan perfecutions which

the primitive Chriftians endured, from the reign of Nero down to that of Julian, they were moft fenfible to the one which was raised against them by the laft mentioned emperor, as being maliciously contrived to mifreprefent the caufe of their fufferings, and as depriving them of their reputation together with their lives. For this artful apoftate, who affected nothing fo much as the character of humanity and benevolence, at the very time that he was inundating the whole empire with the blood of innocent Chriftians, profeffed to be exempt from every degree of religious intolerance, and to be guided by no other fentiments than thofe of humanity and zeal for the welfare of his people.(1) The English Catholics, Sir, have reafon to make the fame diftinction between the perfecution which they fuffered from Henry VIII, and that which they endured from his daughter Elizabeth. Thofe who loft their lives by the former, particularly the two most learned

and

(1) Furebat adverfus nos nefandus imperator, ac ne eos honores qui martyribus haberi folent confequeremur (hos enim Chriftianis invidebat) primum illius artificium hoc fuit ut qui Chrifti caufa patiebantur, tanquam fontes et facinerofi cruciatu afficirentur....Hoc molitur Apoftata, ut vim afferat, et afferre non videatur; ut nos fupplicia perferamus, et eo interim honore, qui pro Chrifti nomine patientibus haberi folet, careamus." S. Greg. Naz, orat, i. in Julian.ex vers. lat.

and virtuous men of the whole kingdom, Sir Thomas More and bifhop Fisher, are univerfally regretted, as the victims of undifguifed and tyrannical intolerance, whilft the miffionary priefts, and other Catholics who fuffered by the latter, though their cause was in all refpects the fame, yet by the mifrepresentation of their enemies, both at that period and fince, have paffed for criminals who merited their fate. The truth is, no portion of our history has been more poisoned and perverted than that of the English Catholics, from the Reformation down to the Revolution. The immediate actors in the tragical scenes here alluded to were influenced by political and felfifh motives, which would not admit of being exposed to the world; hence they were under a neceffity of inventing the most odious calumnies against the fubjects of their oppreffion in order to justify their own conduct in oppreffing them. The confcioufnefs of their injuftice against the Catholics, according to the general perversity of human nature, (1) fharpened their cruelty, and produced in their breasts a confirmed hatred of them. Being otherwise persons on whom Providence was pleased to bestow fplendid talents, and great fuccess in their temporal pursuits, hence their calumnies defcend to us with redoubled weight, and their whole condu&t is viewed through the moft flattering medium. Thus every circumflance concurs to overwhelm the reputation of Catholics with odium; and I am by no means furprised that you, Sir, fhould have adopted the general prejudices against them, though certainly

(1) "Proprium eft humani generis odiffe quem læferis.” Tacit.

tainly you had no occafion to give fcope to fuch prejudices in your anfwer to my Hiftory; unless you had difproved fome one or more facts, which I had advanced in oppofition to them; a task that I do not fee you have even attempted to perform.

Notwithstanding all the difadvantages which I have flated, I trust that I fhall be able to vindicate the conduct of the Catholic body during the whole period in queftion, and to wipe off the numerous afperfions which you, after other writers, have caft upon it. The great luminary of the world is not extinguished by the dark clouds that frequently interrupt its rays. It is fure to fhine forth again, fooner or later, with fresh luftre, which is often augmented by reflection from thofe very obftacles. It is a great benefit to me, that part of the road which I fhall have to tread, has of late been enlightened before me, by certain Proteftant writers, worthy of eternal memory for their impartiality as well as their talents; (1) and it is now proved, beyond the poffibility of a reply, that through the calumnies and misrepresentations which I have been fpeaking of, the world has been moft egregiously deceived in the characters and conduct of thofe rival queens of the 16th century, Mary of Scotland and Elizabeth of England, for two whole centuries. Before howe

ver

(1) Goodall, Stuart, Tytler, Whitaker. [Thefe modern writers, with all their learning and ingenuity, will be found barely to have arrived at that knowledge on the feveral points they have treated of, which Caufin, in his Holy Court, Rishton, in his Maria Innocens, and other obfcure Catholic writers, prove themselves to have been poffeffed of ever fince the events in queftion took place.]

ver I enter upon my fubject, I must remind you, Sir, that the English Catholics were not answerable for the politics or conduct of foreign courts, which happened to be of the fame religious profeffion with them; no not even for those of the Pope himself, unless it fhould appear that they were governed by them, and acknowledged them as rules for their own conduct. I must also premife, that I am defending the conduct of the great body of the Catholics, not of each individual that belonged to it. In every great fociety there will be found certain men of a different spirit from the generality; and more particularly in every church there will be difcovered many perfons who adhere to it from motives of policy, rather than of religion. You have seen, Sir, in my History, that I have not alleged, either the feditious doctrines or behaviour of Proteftants abroad, or the particular inftances of fedition or infurrection that occurred amongst those at home, during the reign of Mary, by way of justifying the perfecution which fhe inflicted upon the whole church of England, because I do not conceive that this church is anfwerable for the doctrine or conduct of French or Scotch Calvinifts, and because I am fatisfied that the feditions and infurrections above-mentioned neither infected the great body of her people, nor grew out of her avowed doctrine, but rather food in oppofition to it.

Elizabeth in her private fentiments, was far from entertaining any averfion to the religion of Catholics. It was chiefly owing to her partiality for the hierarchy, for the decency and regularity of public wor

ship, and for many other points of the ancient faith and discipline, (1) that the church of England is what it is, and that it has departed lefs from the ancient church than any other fect of Proteftants whatsoever. Certain it is, that the inclination of most of her Proteftant subjects led them strongly to Puritanism; those of higher rank being influenced by motives of avarice, (2) thofe of the lower order by fanaticifm. Nor is this all; for the queen was known in private converfation to ridicule her own fpiritual fupremacy, and to acknowledge that of the Pope;(3) fhe even intimated a wifh, if circumstançes would permit it, to follow the original faith.(4) But as ambition was amongst all her ftrong paffions the most violent; and as the counsellors, to whom she referred

(1) Heylin, p. 165.-Dr. Harding, in his Epistle, to the Queen, printed in the year 1565, commends her for many orthodox opinions which the held, and particularly for having on the preceding Good Friday applauded a preacher who had defended the real prefence of Chrift in the facrament. In confequence of this her belief, the declaration which ftood against it in article 29 of Edward VI, is left out in the correfponding article of Elizabeth. See article 28 among the 39.

(2) It is certain that her three most active minifters, whose characters I fhall fhortly fketch, Leicefter, Cecil, and Walfingham, were all ftrongly inclined to puritanifm. See Collier, Strype, Fuller, &c.

(3) The author of An Answer to Sir Edward Coke's Reports, fays, that Lanfac, who had been fent Envoy to Elizabeth on a certain bufinefs, declared to many perfons, on his return to France, that he had owned to him her conviction that the fpiritual fupremacy did not belong to her, but to St. Peter's fucceffors; but fhe faid that her parliament and people obliged her to affume it. P. 365.

(4) The fame author refers to lord Montague and the earl of Southampton for the truth of the queen's declarations to the aforefaid effect. Ibid. [The duke of Feria, after converfing with Elizabeth upon her acceffion, wrote to his master Philip to the faid effect.]