they were called. He was fortunate enough to be the last, and
to follow into the presence of his God the six hundred souls, who had
carried to Heaven the tidings of his heroic zeal and unshaken
fortitude[64]."--Nolhac was a Jesuit!

* * * * *

{173}

CHAPTER III.

_Of the Order of the Jesuits, with the prominent features of the
Institute._

How many men are there, who never knew more of Jesuits than their name,
that have, from the hideous caricatures, which have been drawn of them,
imbibed such prejudices, and admitted such horrible impressions against the
society, as to render it a wonder, and with some a scandal, that any person
should dare to make the slightest attempt towards their vindication. On the
perusal of this volume, I trust, that the wonder and the scandal will
appear to be, that men should have so suffered their reason to be imposed
upon, and their feelings betrayed, as to be tamely led into the views of
the destroyers, {174} not only of this religious order, but of religion
itself, and of social order. I will endeavour here to give a faithful
miniature of the noble original, which, under distorted features, we have
been invited to ridicule and to detest. I do not, however, pretend to offer
to the reader a deep-reasoned discussion, but only a slight sketch of the
much traduced institute of the Jesuits, and of the pursuits and past
successes of the men, who devoted themselves to it.

Jesuits were never much known in this kingdom. They were never more than a
small detachment of missionary priests, privately officiating to the
scattered catholics, like other priests, sent from the English seminaries
of Rome, Douay, Valladolid, and Lisbon. They were distinguished only by
more pointed severity of the ancient penal statutes, which the wisdom and
liberality of the legislature has considerably relaxed. This greater
severity arose, not from their conduct, but from the general prejudice
against their order; and, in England, this {175} prejudice kept pace with
the esteem in which they were held in all catholic countries. Formerly,
every enemy of catholic religion was their foe declared. Their perseverance
and their successes still provoked new hostilities. It is the remark of
Spondanus, that no set of men were ever so violently opposed, or ever so
successfully triumphed over opposition. Their assiduity, in their
multifarious relations to the public, in all countries, wh