t had triumphed in every
church, in every school and court. The new generation had been
moulded by it; the old order seemed to be utterly prostrate,
defeated and moribund. Nor was it only at home that
Protestantism talked of victory. In every neighbouring land she
had gained or was gaining the upper hand. She had crossed the
Border and subdued Scotland, she held Ireland in an iron grip,
she had set up a new throne in Holland, she had deeply divided
France, and had learned how to paralyze the power of Spain. What
could stay her progress?

Then a new figure appeared, a fugitive flying before the law. He
was hunted backwards and forwards across the country, every man's
hand seemed against him. It was impossible to hold out for long
against such immense odds, and he was in fact soon captured,
mocked, maligned, sentenced and executed with contumely. Yet
Campion and his handful of followers had meanwhile succeeded in
doing what the whole nation, when united, had failed to do. He
had evoked a spirit of faith and fervour, against which the
violence of Protestantism raged in vain. He had saved the beaten,
shattered fragments of the ancient host, and animated them with
invincible courage; and his work endured in spite of endless
assaults and centuries of persecution. The _Decem Rationes_ is
Campion's harangue to those whom he called upon to follow him in
the heroic struggle.

2. THE MAN AND THE MISSION.

Thus much for the inspiration and general significance of
Campion's work considered as a whole. It will also repay a much
more minute study, and to appreciate it we must enter into
further details.

As to the man himself, suffice it to say that he was a Londoner;
his father a publisher; his first school Christ's Hospital; that
he was afterwards a Fellow of St. John's, Oxford, and held at the
same time an exhibition from the Grocer's Company. At Oxford he
accepted to some extent the Elizabethan Settlement of religion,
but not sufficiently to satisfy the Company of Grocers, who
eventually withdrew their exhibition. This was a sign for further
inquisitorial proceedings, which made him leave the University,
and retire to Dublin; but he was driven also thence by the
zealots for Protestantism. Eventually he went over to the English
College at Douay, whence he migrated to Rome, entered the Society
of Jesus, and after eight years' training had returned, a priest,
to his native country, forty years old. His strong point was
undou