nd hunting. It is
significant that this little tract was reprinted in 1640, on the
eve of the Revolution.

I pass now to a book of great political and historical interest:
_The Conference about the Succession to the Crown of England_
(1594), attributed to Doleman, but really the handiwork of
Parsons, the Jesuit, Cardinal Allen, and others. In the first
part, a civil lawyer shows at length that lineal descent and
propinquity of blood are not of themselves sufficient title to
the Crown; whilst in the second part a temporal lawyer discusses
the titles of particular claimants to the succession of Queen
Elizabeth. Among these, that of the Earl of Essex, to whom the
book was dedicated, is discussed; the object of the book being to
baffle the title of King James to the succession, and to fix it
either on Essex or the Infanta of Spain. No wonder it gave great
offence to the Queen, for it advocated also the lawfulness of
deposing her; and it throws some light on those intrigues with
the Jesuits which at one time formed so marked an incident in the
eventful career of that unfortunate earl. Great efforts were made
to suppress it, and there is a tradition that the printer was
hanged, drawn, and quartered.

The book itself has played no small part in our history, for not
only was Milton's _Defensio_ mainly taken from it, but it formed
the chief part of Bradshaw's long speech at the condemnation of
Charles I. In 1681, when Parliament was debating the subject of
the exclusion of the Duke of York from the succession, it was
thought well to reprint it; but only two years later it was among
the books which had the honour of being condemned to the flames
by the University of Oxford, in its famous and loyal book-fire
of 1683 (see p. 194).

But if the history of the book was eventful, how much more so was
that of its chief author, the famous Robert Parsons, first of
Balliol College, and then of the Order of Jesus! Parsons was a
very prince of intrigue. To say that he actually tried to
persuade Philip II. to send a second Armada; that he tried to
persuade the Earl of Derby to raise a rebellion, and then is
suspected of having poisoned him for not consenting; that he
instigated an English Jesuit to try to assassinate the Queen;
and, among other plans, wished to get the Pope and the Kings of
France and Spain to appoint a Catholic successor to Elizabeth,
and to support their nominee by an armed confederacy, is to give
but the meagre outl