ir allegiance, and, by a
relaxation of the Bull, had permitted them to pretend to loyalty _ad
illud tempus_, till a Catholic army of deliverance should arrive. A Pope
had sent a legate to Ireland, and was at that moment stirring up a
bloody insurrection there.

But what these seminary priests were, and what their object was, will
best appear from an account of the condition of England, drawn up for
the use of the Pope and Philip, by Father Parsons, who was himself at
the head of the mission. The date of it is 1585, almost simultaneous
with the scene in Parliament which I have just been describing. The
English refugees, from Cardinal Pole downwards, were the most active and
passionate preachers of a Catholic crusade against England. They failed,
but they have revenged themselves in history. Pole, Sanders, Allen, and
Parsons have coloured all that we suppose ourselves to know of Henry
VIII. and Elizabeth. What I am about to read to you does not differ
essentially from what we have already heard from these persons; but it
is new, and, being intended for practical guidance, is complete in its
way. It comes from the Spanish archives, and is not therefore open to
suspicion. Parsons, as you know, was a Fellow of Balliol before his
conversion; Allen was a Fellow of Oriel, and Sanders of New College. An
Oxford Church of England education is an excellent thing, and beautiful
characters have been formed in the Catholic universities abroad; but as
the elements of dynamite are innocent in themselves, yet when fused
together produce effects no one would have dreamt of, so Oxford and
Rome, when they have run together, have always generated a somewhat
furious compound.

Parsons describes his statement as a 'brief note on the present
condition of England,' from which may be inferred the ease and
opportuneness of the holy enterprise. 'England,' he says, 'contains
fifty-two counties, of which forty are well inclined to the Catholic
faith. Heretics in these are few, and are hated by all ranks. The
remaining twelve are infected more or less, but even in these the
Catholics are in the majority. Divide England into three parts;
two-thirds at least are Catholic at heart, though many conceal their
convictions in fear of the Queen. English Catholics are of two
sorts--one which makes an open profession regardless of consequences,
the other believing at the bottom, but unwilling to risk life or
fortune, and so submitting outwardly to the heretic