ook
himself to the Countess, his mother, and gave her so good an account
of the said Father, and of the consolation he had received of him,
that she greatly desired to speak to him, and sending him to call the
Father, she heard him discourse fully of the Catholic faith, &c."

In _Laud's Diary_ there is an entry: "1622, April 23. Being the
Tuesday in Easter week, the King sent for me & set me into a course
about the countess of Buckingham, who about that time was wavering in
point of religion." And again: "May 24. The conference[49] between Mr.
Fisher [Percy] a Jesuit, & myself, before the lord Marquis of
Buckingham, & the countess, his mother."

There are people who are of opinion that for a Protestant to become a
Catholic is an almost certain proof of madness; and such will rejoice
to hear that, some time after Lord Purbeck had been received into the
Catholic Church, he either showed, or is reputed to have shown, signs
of lunacy.

Some authorities doubt whether Purbeck was ever out of his mind; but
on the whole the weight of evidence is against them. Yet there are
some rather unaccountable incidents in their favour. Again, when
anybody is reputed to be mad, exaggerated stories of his doings are
very likely to be spread about. Even in these days of advanced medical
science, it is sometimes difficult to decide whether a patient is
insane or not, and it is quite possible to suffer from very severe
fits of depression without being the subject of maniacal melancholia,
or from very violent fits of passion without being a madman.

There is just a possibility, too, that Buckingham may have wished to
keep his brother quiet, or to get him out of the way, because that
brother "would speake plaine English to him" about his licentious
conduct and other matters, as we have already read. When a friend or a
relative tells a man that he is behaving scandalously, the recipient
of the information is apt to say that his informer is "cracked."

The earliest hint of Lord Purbeck's insanity was given in 1620. "The
Lord Viscount Purbeck went abroad in the latter end of May 1620, under
colour of drinking the waters of Spaw, but in fact, as Camden tells
us, to hide his being run mad with pride."[50] The strongest evidence
of anything like actual madness is in a letter[51] from Chamberlain to
Carleton, written on 8th June, 1622. It may, however, be mere gossip.
"The Lord of Purbecke is out of order likewise, for this day
feurtnight getting