ty, but Mrs. Line was brought upon her trial, at the Old Bailey, before the lord chief justice Popham, a bitter enemy of the Catholics.-She was carried to her trial in a chair, being at that time so weak and ill, that she could not walk. The evidence against her was very slender, which was the testimony of one Marriot, who deposed, that he saw a man in her house, dressed in white, who, as he would have it, was certainly a priest. However, any proof it seems was strong enough with Mr. Popham against a Papist; and the jury, by him directed, brought in Mrs. Line guilty of the indictment, viz. of having harboured or entertained a seminary priest. According to which verdict, the judge pronounced sentence of death upon the prisoner, and sent her back to Newgate, to prepare herself for execution. Here she acknowledged, that the day before her condemnation, God had given her a foresight of this happiness, when reading her hours in her primer, she perceived a light and delightful brightness upon and round her book, which she interpreted to be a sign of her future triumph, though she would not speak of it till after she was condemned. When the keeper acquainted her with the

dead-warrant being signed, and when afterwards she was carried out to execution, she shewed not the least commotion or change in her countenance. At Tyburn, when she was just ready to die, she declared to the standers-by with a loud uoice; "I am sentenced to die for harbouring a Catholic priest; and so far I am from repenting for having so done, that I wish, with all my soul, that where I have entertained one, I could have entertained a thousand."

She suffered with two priests, Mr. Barkworth and Mr. Filcock, on the 27th of February, 1601, and was the first executed. Mr. Barkworth, whose combat came on the next, embraced her dead body whilst it was yet hanging, saying, "O blessed Mrs. Line, who hast now hap pily received thy reward. Thou art gone before us; but we shall quickly follow thee to bliss, if it please the Almighty."

Mark Barkworth alias Lambert, Priest, O. S. B.

Mark Barkworth was born in Lincolnshire. He was brought up in the Protestant. religion till he was twenty-two years of age; when, going abroad, he was converted to the Catholic faith, and grounded in solid spirituality at Douay, in Flanders, by lone father George, a Flemish Jesuit. From hence he went into Spain, where he finished his studies, and was made priest in the English college of Valladolid. After he was sent upon the English mission, he quickly fell into the hands of the persecutors; and, after many different examinations, and letting slip se veral opportunities of making his escape, he was brought upon his trial at the Old Bailey. The clerk bid him hold up his hand: for what crime? said he; for the crime of priesthood and treason, said the lord chief justice. Why, said Mr. Barkworth, can any one maintain that to be a priest is treason? Was not our Saviour a priest according to the order of Melchisedech? and will any one say that he was a traitor? Though I am of opinion, were he to be judged at this tribunal, he would meet with the like treatment as I look for. They went on, Barkworth hold up thy hand: by whom wilt thou be tried? By God, said he, and by the apostles and evangelists, and all the blessed martyrs and saints in heaven. Not so, said the judge, you must say, by God and my country. What, said he, you mean, my lord, these poor men, pointing to the jury; I will never let my blood lie at their door: for you will oblige them to bring in their verdict against me, right or wrong, or lay so heavy a fine upon them in the Star Chamber, that they will scarce be able to pay it in their whole lives. The judge then put the question to him, art thou a priest, yea or not? I will neither say, said he, that I am a priest, or that I am not. Well then, said the judge, I see thou art a priest. If you can prove that, said Mr. Barkworth, Lam a dead man; your laws stand against me, and I expect no favour at your hands; neither do I fear death, trusting in the grace of God. Nay, if I had ten lives, I would most willingly lay them all down for him who suffered so many torments, and so cruel a death; for my sins. Tell me then, said the judge, if thou wilt not confess thyself to be a priest, what art thou? A Catholic, said he, making the sign of the cross; and, were I worthy to be a priest, I should look upon myself placed in a dignity not inferior to that of angels for priests have a power given them of remitting and retaining sins, in God's name, which was never given to angels. With that all the company laughed, and the question was again put to him as before, by whom he would be tried? and the answered as before, by God and the holy apostles, &c. and not, said he, by these unlearned men: I was brought up to learn ing from a boy; and, after taking degrees among the learned, have spent in studies full seven years: let learned men judge my cause, and not such as are unlearned. Will you then be tried, they said, byla jury of ministers ?> My cause, said he, is not to be trusted to sthem! You would then, said the judge, be tried by priests? That is right, said Mr. Barkworth. Call in then, said the judge, a jury of them. Your lordship, said he, knows that a compléte jury of them may be found in Wisbeach castle. With this the lord chief justice withdrew; and the recorder, without any more ceremony, neither taking the deposition of witnesses, nor having the confession of the accused, nor waiting for the verdict of 3- ©VOL. III., Vinile, c'II edit refts gulligen vlinced stem to 8.) mot

the jury, pronounced sentence upon the prisoner, as in cases of high treason; which, as soon as Mr. Barkworth heard, he fell upon his knees, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, said, thanks be to God..

He received the sentence of death, says father Moor, with a joyful and smiling countenance, and making the sign of the cross, began a hymn of joy, and then gave thanks to the judge. After which, addressing himself to the standers by, he exhorted them, as they professed themselves Christians, to shew forth, by their works, what they professed in their words, not fearing what the world can do against them; since, in effect, to die for the cause of justice and truth is a Christian's greatest gain; and he cannot even wish for a greater happiness than to shed his blood for him who so liberally shed his blood for us all. He was sent back to Newgate, and walked through the streets, fettered as he was, with that air of magnanimity, that the crowd inquired, whether he was not one of the ringleaders of the earl of Essex's riot? No, said Mr. Barkworth, but I am a soldier of Christ, who am to die for his faith. Mr. Barkworth and Mr. Filcock were both drawn together upon the same hurdle from Newgate to Tyburn. Mr. Barkworth declared how ready he was to lay down even a thousand lives, if he had them, for his faith; and protested that he forgave, with all his heart, the queen, and all that were accessary to his death, and wished to have them with him in eternal glory. Then he recommended himself to the prayers of the Catholics, and the cart was drawn from him. Here some cruel wretch, fearing lest the weight of his body should put the martyr too soon out- of his pain, for he was tall and bulky, set his shoulders under him to bear up, at least, some part of that weight; so that he was cut down whilst he was yet alive, and even when the butcher was seeking for his heart, he pronounced these words, O God be merciful to me.

Roger Filcock was a native of Sandwich, in Kent. He performed his studies abroad, partly in the college of Douay or Rheims, and partly in that of Valladolid, in Spain; where, after having given great examples of virtue, to the edification of all that knew him, he was advanced to holy orders, and made priest. He had, for some time, a strong inelination to enter into the Society of Jesus: but his admission was deferred till some trial had been made of him upon the English mission; to which he was sent in 1598, where, after having been sufficiently recommended by two years' labours in the midst of dangers, father Garnet, the superior of the English Jesuits, consented to receive him into the society, and to send him over into Flanders, there to make his noviceship: but this was prevented by his being apprehended and committed to Newgate. From whence he was brought out to his trial on the 23d of February, 1600-1. And though he neither confessed nor denied his being a priest, and no evidence appeared against him, yet he was brought in guilty, and had sentence to die, as in cases of high treason. He and his fellow confessor, Mr. Barkworth, were both, as we have seen, drawn to Tyburn, February 27, where Mr. Barkworth was first butchered, before the eyes of father Filcock, who, so far from being discouraged or terrified with that scene of blood, took occasion from thence of more heartily aspiring after the like felicity; crying out

with the apostle, I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. His desire was not long deferred: when, after a short prayer, he cheerfully yielded himself up to the executioner; and the cart being drawn away, he was hanged, and then cut down, dismembered, bowelled and quartered.

of

Sigebert Buckley, Confessor.

Y

Father Sigebert Buckley was the last surviving monk of the abbey Westminster, and died in the 83d year of his age, some time in this month in the year 1615, after having endured forty years persecution for the Catholic faith, always shut up in some prison or another.

William Greenwood, Religious.

Wm. Greenwood was a Carthusian monk of the Charter-house, who, being imprisoned by the monster Henry the eighth, on account of the supremacy, died through want, some time in the year 1535,

John Davies, Priest.

John Davies, a priest, was condemned to die for denying the king' supremacy, and was executed on that account in the year last mentioned. John Harris, Priest.

}

John Harris was a parish priest, and suffered at Tyburn in the year 1539, for denying the spiritual supremacy of king Harry.

Thomas Ryck, Gentleman.

Mr. Ryck, whose name is spelled Rich by mistake in our calendar, was executed at Tyburn in the year 1543, for refusing to admit the supremacy of Henry in matters purely spiritual,

John Risby, Gentleman.

Mr. Risby was also executed some time in the last mentioned year, at Tyburn, on the same account as Mr. Ryck.

From the catalogue of Catholic sufferers in this month, it appears that religion only was the crime of the victims. The fact of being a priest, or of harbouring one of that sacred order, was sufficient, in those days, to send an individual to the gallows. The making the profession of the Catholic faith a treasonable offence against the state of England, when the people of this kingdom had professed this faith upwards of A THOUSAND YEARS, and were indebted to it for all the valuable institutions, whether civil or ecclesiastical, in existence, not mentioning those that had been destroyed, to the injury of the country and its liberties, was a mockery of legislation and justice. Look to the conduct of the judges who tried the unfortunate men, so basely and so barbarously ac

cused by Titus Oates, of murdering sir Edmundbury vi

4

It is

dent that justice, in those times, was nothing but a name, and perjury was held to be meritorious, when the victim to be sacrificed was a CATHOLIC!!!!

THE CALENDAR.

F the martyrs collected by John Fox for this month, two only are. rubricated saints, namely, Thomas Bilney and Thomas Cranmer, of whom we shall treat in their proper places; the others require but brief notice.

1. William Taylor, Martyr.

This Wm. Taylor was a priest holding Catholic opinions in all points, excepting only some notion about petitions to be made to saints, wherein he differed from Protestants, and therefore cannot be considered a Protestant saint, though Fox has canonized him. He was condemned in the second year of Henry the sixth.