so much about and of which he glories so much up and down his Writings These Seminaries were the Nurseries of the Conspiracies and Treasons which were from time to time set on foot and carried on against the Queen and Realm of England and Father Parson 's whole Life from his leaving the Mission in England appears to me to have been one continued Act of Treason against his Natural Queen and Native Country To mention some of his Treasons that are come to light he was very grateful to the Duke of Guise whom he had perswaded to set up a Seminary in France for the English that should come thither for with him he conspires against his own Queen how to depose her and set up in her room Popery and the Queen of Scots He endeavoured for this purpose as we are told to make a List of Catholicks which under the conduct of the Duke of Guise should have changed the State of the Kingdom using for it the pretence of the Title of Queen Mary of Scotland But that her Council at Paris which understood business better were so sensible of his boldness that they took from him the Queen's Cypher which he had purloyned and commanded him never more to meddle in her affairs But notwithstanding these People would not let our Father Parsons have any thing further to do in those treasons which were really carried on at that time for the Queen of Scots yet he pretended to mighty merit upon her and her Son's Account in his Letter to Father Chreyton the Jesuit telling him how many long and tedious journeys he had taken for their sakes and how much Mony he had procured for them at one time twenty four thousand Crowns from the King of Spain at another time the same summ and from Pope Gregory XIII four thousand Crowns he confesses indeed that things had not succeeded for them as he had wished but wonders that any body should make him to be an Enemy to the King of Scots who had been so very serviceable to him and his Mother I suppose Father Parsons was disgusted at this sleighting of his faithful services to the Queen of Scots by her Ministers and to be revenged of her and them betakes himself wholly into the Spanish Interest which he espoused so far as not only to sollicite and encourage their open attempts by Invasion against England but after the ill success of that to set up their sham Title to the Kingdom of England He and Cardinal Allen whom Parsons had by his Interest with the King of Spain procured to be made a Cardinal two Brethren in iniquity were mighty forward for the famous Spanish Invasion in 1588. and to make it more successful wrote in defence of it a Tract which Allen was perswaded to own though Parsons had as great if not a greater hand in it than himself In this Admonition to the Nobility and People of England the Queen's Government is called impious and unjust her self an Usurper obstinate and impentinent and it is affirmed that for this reason Pope Sixtus Quintus moved by his own and his Predecessors zeal and the vehement desire of some principal Englishmen had used great diligence with divers Princes especially with the Spanish King to use all his force that she might be turned out of her Dominions and her Adherents punished for a great many Reasons there laid together after which it proceeds thus Wherefore seeing these Offences some of them rendring her uncapable of the Kingdom others unworthy to live his Holiness by the power of God and the Apostles reneweth the Censures of Pius V. and Gregory XIII against her excommunicates and deprives her of all Royal Dignity Titles Rights and Pretences to England and Ireland declares her Illegitimate and an Usurper of the Kingdoms and absolves all her Subjects from their Obedience and Oaths of Allegiance due to her And expressly commands All under pain and penalty of God's Wrath to yield her no obedience aid or favour whatsoever but to employ all their power against her and to joyn themselves with the Spanish Forces who will not hurt the Nation nor alter their Laws or Priviledges only punish the wicked Hereticks And by the same Presents it was declared not only lawful but commendable to lay hands on the said Usurper and other her Adherents for doing of which they should be well rewarded And lastly to all these Roman Assistants is liberally granted a plenary Indulgence and Remission of all their Sins But this unerring Thunderbolt as well as the Spanish Invincible Armado did very shamefully miscarry to the no small disappointment of our good Father Parsons who was not discouraged at that defeat though a worse Man than himself if any such could be would have seen the Finger of God plainly in it but labours with the King of Spain a while after for a second Invasion and after that for a third plotting and devising all ways to bring the King of Spain to it and the Papists of England both those at home and the fugitives abroad to joyn and assist the King of Spain in it but all his pains was lost about these Invasions from abroad and therefore he next sets himself to raise a Rebellion in England it self and deals with Ferdinand Earl of Derby to appear in and â—ead it which because he declined to do he was poysoned by Father Hesketh's procurement who had been sent to him by Father Parsons But failing here also of the desired success the poor Father was now at a loss what to do with this Kingdom of England and since he saw all miscarried that he had plotted against Queen Elizabeth who descended to her Grave full of years and honour his next business was to keep out King James who was a Protestant also from succeding her For this purpose he wrote his Doleman or Conference about the next Succession to the Crown of England the chief design of which was to exclude the Scotch Title as well the Lady Arabella's as King James's and to set up the Spanish Infanta I know Mr. Camden will have Cardinal Allen and Sir Francis Inglefield to have their shares in this Book but Cardinal d'Ossat who had far better opportunities of finding out the Author makes it to be Parson's own and in one of his Letters to the King of France gives that King an account of it wherein he gives our Jesuit the true Character he deserved of being a fellow that regarded neither truth nor reason One thing I cannot but remark here that though this Jesuit had the Impudence to meddle in these matters and to set up forged Titles against the Royal Line of Scotland yet when King James contrary to their Popish designs as well as Expectations did quietly succeed to the Crown of England he had the greater Impudence to deny his ever intending to exclude that King this is in the Preface to his Three Conversions of England added upon the news of the Queens Death and
good birth are driven oftentimes to great extremities and to undecent shifts for their maintenance to no small inconvenience to the whole Commonwealth Wherefore it may be thought upon whether some moderation in this point were not convenient to be put whereby younger Children might have some occasion to a reasonable Portion at least of their Parents Substance whereby to maintain themselves somewhat conformable to their Birth State and Condition In foreign Catholick Countries the younger Children of Nobility and Gentry are greatly helped and advanced by the Church wherein they are preferred before others in authority and dignity if their merits of learning and vertue be equal whereby it cometh to pass that these younger Brethren giving themselves to study upon hope of these preferments do come in time to be excellent Men and of more authority and living than their Elder Brothers which is a great stay for the Nobility and no less for the defence of Catholick Religion by the union of these Noblemen of the Clergy with others of their Lineage Kindred Acquaintance and Friendship of the Temporalty and consequently the custom is to be brought into England if Noblemen's Sons would make themselves fit Wherein there will be much less difficulty than in times past when that sweet and clear manner of teaching the Latin Tongue and other Sciences shall be brought into England which is used in other places and that other hard dark and base custom of so much beating of youth be removed and taken away About Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Daughters it is also to be considered that as many of them by all likelihood when Catholick Religion shall be restored will betake themselves to Religious and Monastical Life as in other Countries we see so shall their Parents be much eased thereby and the better able to provide for the Marriage of their other Daughters remaining in the World in which point notwithstanding seeing that the excesses of our times in giving great Dowries is grown to be at such a height that it impoverisheth oftentimes the Parents it seemeth a point worthy the consideration whether it were not expedient that the Parliament should limit the quantity of Dowries according to the State and Condition of every Man which no doubt would greatly ease the Nobility and Gentry of England and be profitable for many respects And touching the assurance of these Dowries as also for the Jointures of Lands the Laws of other Countries and ours are far different and good it were for us to take the best of them both And first for Dowries in other Countries they are more assured unto the Wife than in ours for that there the said Dowry never entreth into the Husband's Possession in propriety but only is put out to Rent and assurance given for it of which Rent only the Husband may dispose during his Wive's Life but no ways spend or diminish or impawn the Principle which seemeth a better order and more sure for the Wife than to leave all free to the Husband's Disposition as in our Country where oftentimes an unthrift matches with a rich Woman spendeth all she hath without remedy or redress The Wife also in other Countries if she has no Children may dispose of all her Dowry to good works or to any other uses that she will by her Testament in secret and sealed and not to be opened before she be dead And this may she do without obligation to leave any part to her Husband except she list which is some motive also for her Husband to use her well while she liveth upon hopes to be her Heir or Executor and if she hath Children then may she dispose only of the fifth part to good works whereof nothing is allowed by our Laws of England and it seemeth a great defect and may be considered whether it be not to be amended But on the other side touching Jointures the Condition of Women is better in England than in other places for that whether they bring Dowries or not by our Laws of England they may claim a Third of their Husband's Lands which in other Countries is not so where if they bring no Dowry they can claim no Jointure at all neither any part of their Husband's Goods except he please of his free-will to leave them any thing and if they bring Dowry then shall they have their whole Dowry again at their Husband's Death and more than this the half of all such Goods and Moveables as were gained since their Marriage by reason of the said Dowry or otherwise which is less prejudicial to the Son and Heir than the other of England but yet which of them be absolutely better may be a matter perhaps disputable And thus much for Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Children It shall not be amiss to pass to their Servants whom also they ought to have in place of Children and to comfort defend and cherish the desiring to see them wealthy and well able to live according to the ancient Love and Charity of English Land-Lords towards Vassals Subjects and Tenants which Love and tender care having been greatly broken and diminished in these later years by the impiety avarice riotousness and other disorders brought in by Heresie is to be restored again by Catholick Religion and Land-lords are to be taught to make such account of their Tenants as of them by whom they live and also by the Sweat of their Brows do suck and draw out of the Earth Commodities whereby Noblemen and Gentlemen are maintained at ease And for that many Landlords of these times have begun to raise their Rents and to impeach that old and most laudable tenure of England of old Rent of Assize it is to be understood that no one thing among the Customs of England seemeth to divers Men that have seen also other Countries of more importance to be kept observed and to be brought back again to the old use than this manner of letting and setting Lands for term of Life after the rates of the old Rents and that no one thing in times past hath been a greater ground of abundance and felicity in our Commonwealth both to Nobility and Commonalty than this honourable custom of Leasing their Lands for that it is generally profitable both to the Landlord and Tenant and Commonwealth in particular to the Landlord for that he setting down his Houshold and framing his Expences according to the rate of his old Rent which is certain may easily still be before hand and hold himself in abundance with the extraordinary incomes that shall enter by Leases Fines and other such casualties and in like manner the charges of Subsidies Tenths Loanes and other publick Impositions laid upon him by Parliament or other means they are ever according to his Rents in the Queen's Book which are far less and more easie than if he were charged according to the Portion of rack Rents To the Tenant also this way of taking Leases after the rate of old Rent is very
Succession of the King of Scotland to the Crown of England And as for the person says he to the English Catholicks now advanced I know most certainly that there was never any doubt or difference among you but that ever you desired his advancement above all others as the only Heir of that renowned Mother for whom your fervent zeal is known to the World and how much you have suffered by her adversaries for the same Yet do I confess that touching the disposition of the person for the place and manner of his advancement all zealous Catholicks have both wished and prayed that he might first be a Catholick and then our King this being our bounded duty to wish and his greatest good to be obtained for him And to this end and no other I assure my self hath been directed whatsoever may have been said written or done by any Catholick which with some others might breed disgust Thus the Jesuit thought to pacifie King James's Court by a piece of Impudence to be met with only in a Jesuit whoever will be at the pains to compare Parson's Doleman with this Preface cannot but declare him to be the greatest Villain that ever set Pen to Paper and to have lost all sense of Modesty Truth and Justice Amidst these his Projects for the Spanish Interest he had hopes upon the death of Cardinal Allen to be made by the Spanish Interest a Cardinal for England and there was set about in Flanders by Holt the Jesuit and Worthington a Petition to the King of Spain for that purpose subscribed by the Common Soldiers Labourers Artizans and Pensioners nay Scullions and Laundresses as well as by those of better rank and quality Upon this Father Parsons makes haste out of Spain to Rome to hinder it as the Jesuits say for him when he came thither upon a day set him he waited on the Pope and acquainted him how the City was full of the discourse of his being shortly to be made a Cardinal and that Spain and Flanders rung with it too and therefore begged of him that he would not think of making him a Cardinal who might be more serviceable in the condition he was now in to the affairs of England The Pope told him That the King of Spain had not written a syllable to him about any such thing and that he must not mind foolish Reports and bid him go and mind his studies I cannot but think that this neglect in the King of Spain lost him Father Parsons who soon after though he could not leave of plotting went on other designs four of which he seems to have had on foot together for the Exclusion of King James from the Crown of England The most improbable one was that of the Peoples rising and setting up a popular Government he had furnished them with Principles in several of his Books for this purpose In the Second and Third he dealt with the Pope either about making if his Purse and Interest were large enough his Kinsman the Duke of Parma King or in joyning with the Lady Arabella's Interest and marrying her to the Duke's Brother the Cardinal Farnese whom he had made upon the death of Cardinal Cajetan Protector of England thereby to ingratiate him with the Clergy and Laity of this Kingdom Cardinal d'Ossat gives a very large account of both these Projects in the Letter whcih I have already quoted to the King of France And in another of his Letters he gives an account of the fourth Project wherein he himself had been dealt with by Parsons then Rector of the College of Jesuits at Rome which was that the Pope the King of France and King of Spain should agree among themselves of a Successor for England that should be a Catholick and that they should joyn their Forces to settle him in the Throne of England Thus we see how Plotting and Treason was the whole business of this Jesuit's Life in which he was so notorious that Pasquin set him forth thus at Rome If there be any Man that will buy the Kingdom of England let him repair to a Merchant in a black square Cap in the City and he shall have a very good penniworth thereof While he thus filled his head with designs and hopes of a Popish Prince to be set up in England by some of these foreign Princes it was that he drew up the following Memorial for that his Prince his Directions to whom are like his other Counsels and Actions I will trouble the Reader with no more of his History As I take the Jesuits to be the very worst of Men so I think the preceeding accounts have proved Father Parsons to be the very worst of Jesuits A MEMORIAL OF THE REFORMATION of ENGLAND CONTAINING Certain Notes and Advertisements which seem might be proposed in the First Parliament and National Council of our Country after God of his mercy shall restore it to the Catholick Faith for the better Establishment and Preservation of the said Religion Gathered and set-down by R.P. 1596. THE PREFACE OF THE AUTHOR SHEWING How and why these Notes were gathered and the principal Parts to be treated THE Notes and Observations of this Memorative following were gathered and laid together in time of Persecution when there was no place to execute or put them in ure and it is no more than seventeen or eighteen Years past that the Gatherer began first to put some of them in writing and having had the experience of the Years which have ensued since and his part also in the Catholic affairs of his Country and the Practice of divers other Catholic Nations abroad he was desirous in case that himself should not live to see the desired day of the Reduction of England yet some of his Cogitations and Intentions for the publick good thereof might work some effect after his Death and that thereby other Men might be the sooner moved to enter into more mature Considerations of these and such like Points yea and also to descend unto many more particulars than here are set down For that the Gatherer's meaning was only to open the way and to insinuate certain general and principal Heads that might serve for an awaking and remembrance at that happy day of the Conversion of our Country unto such Persons as shall be then able and desirous to further the common good and to advance Almighty God's Glory with a Holy Zeal of perfect Reformation who perhaps may be so entangled with multitudes of other business and Cogitations at that time as they will not so easily enter into these except they be put in mind thereof by some such Memorials and Advertisements as here are touched And what is said in this Treatise for the Kingdom of England is meant also for Ireland so far as it may do good seeing the Author desireth as much benefit for God's Service and the good of that Nation to the one Country as to the other And for that the principal