ath. Yet he had
confessed himself guilty. When asked by some of the lords on his
examination, if he approved that the church of Rome should one day
declare him a martyr, he cried, _Martyrem me, O qualem Martyrem_. The
church of Rome could not declare him a martyr however, unless they could
allege that a miracle had been wrought at his death, or subsequent to
it. A miracle therefore was feigned, in order to pave the way into the
martyrology. This circumstance I will now relate.

While the body was quartered by the executioner, some drops of blood
fell upon the straw with which the scaffold was strewed. A man of the
name of Wilkinson, who was present, was anxious to preserve some relic
of the deceased, and therefore carried home with him some of the straws
sprinkled with Garnet's blood. These relics were committed to the care
of a woman, who preserved them under a glass case. Wilkinson had come
over from St. Omer's on purpose to be present at the execution. It was
reported, that the straws which had been carried away by Wilkinson
leaped up from the scaffold, or from the basket in which the dissevered
head was deposited, upon his person. Some weeks after, on examining the
straws, the parties pretended, that they discovered a likeness of Garnet
on one of the husks which contained the grain. Wilkinson and several
other persons asserted that they perceived a likeness. The matter was
soon noised abroad, and the Romanists proclaimed that a miracle had been
wrought. It was thought necessary to institute an examination into the
matter; and accordingly several witnesses gave their evidence before the
archbishop of Canterbury. Some persons had reported, that the head on
the ear of corn was surrounded with _glory_, or with streaming rays; but
Griffith, the husband of the woman who had preserved the straw,
declared, before the archbishop, that he discovered nothing of the sort,
and that the face was no more like Garnet's than that of any other man
who had a beard. Another witness deposed, that he believed that a good
artisan could have drawn a better likeness.

The matter, however, was not permitted to be forgotten; and at Rome a
print of the straw was published and publicly exhibited. Some months
afterwards Garnet was declared to be a martyr by the pope; in which
light he is still regarded by Romanists. The miracle was undoubtedly
intended to afford the pope an excuse for his _beatification_, which is
the lowest degree of celestial