affectionatefriend to command,
"A. A. AND S."
Some time afterward, one Mr. Dixon, a gentleman I had met once ortwice in London, tarried a night at our house, and brought me the newsthat God had given the Countess of Arundel a son, which she hadearnestly desired her husband should be informed of, but he heard ithad been refused. Howsoever, when he was urgent with his keepers tolet him know if she had been safely delivered, they gave him tounderstand that she had another daughter; his enemies not beingwilling he should have so much contentment as the birth of a sonshould have yielded him.
"Doth the queen," I asked of this gentleman, "then not mitigate heranger against these noble persons?"
"So far from it," he answered, "that when, at the beginning of thistrouble, Lady Arundel went to Sir Francis Knowles for to seek by hismeans to obtain an audience from her majesty, in order to sue for herhusband, he told her she would sooner release him at once--which,howsoever, she had no mind to do--than only once allow her to enterher presence. He then, her ladyship told me, rated her exceedingly,asking if she and her husband were not ashamed to make themselves papists, only out of spleen and peevish humor to cross and vexthe queen? She answered him in the same manner as her lord did one ofhis keepers, who told him very many in the kingdom were of opinionthat he made show to be Catholic only out of policy; to whom he said,with great mildness, that God doth know the secrets of all hearts, butthat he thought there was small policy for a man to lose his liberty,hazard his estate and life, and live in that manner in a prison as hethen did."
A brief letter from Lady Tregony informed me soon after this that,after a third examination, the court had fined Lord Arundel in L10,000unto the queen and adjudged him to imprisonment during her pleasure.What that pleasure proved, ten years of unmitigated suffering and slowtorture evinced; one of the most grievous of which was that his ladycould never obtain for to see him, albeit other prisoners' wives hadeasy access to them. This touching letter I had from her three yearsafter he was imprisoned:
"MINE OWN GOOD FRIEND--Life doth wear on, and relief of one sortleastways comes not; but God forbid I should repine. For suchinstances I see in the letters of my dear lord--which when some ofhis servants do leave the Tower, which, worn out as they soon becomeby sickness, they must needs do to preserve their lives--he findethmeans to write to me or to Father Southwell, that I am ashamed togrieve overmuch at anything which doth befal us--when his willingnessand contentment to suffer are so great. As when he saith to that goodfather, 'For all crosses touching worldly matters, I thank God theytrouble me not much, and much the less for your singular good counsel,which I beseech our Lord I may often remember; and to me this dearhusband writes thus: 'I beseech you, for the love of God, to comfortyourself whatsoever shall happen, and to be best pleased with thatwhich shall please God best, and be his will to send. I find thatthere is some intent to do me no good, but indeed to do me the mostgood of all; but I am--and, thank God, doubt not but I shall be by hisgrace--ready to endure the worst which flesh and blood can do untome.' O Constance, flesh and blood doth sometimes rebel against thekeen edge of suffering; but I pray you, my friend, how can I complainwhen I hear of this much, long dearly cherished husband, ascending bysteps the ladder of perfection, advancing from virtue to virtue as thepsalm saith, never uttering one unsubmissive word toward God, or oneresentful one toward his worst enemies; making, in the most sublimemanner, of necessity virtue, and turning his loathsome prison into areligious cell, wherein every exercise of devotion is duly practised,and his soul trained for heaven?
"The small pittance the queen alloweth for his maintenance he sosparingly useth, that most of it doth pass into the hands of the pooror other more destitute prisoners than himself. But sickness anddisease prey on his frame. And the picture of him my memory draweth isgradually more effaced in the living man, albeit vivid in mine ownportraying of it.
There is now a priest imprisoned in the Tower, not very far from thechamber wherein my lord is confined; one of the name of Bennet. Mylord desired much to meet him, and speak with him for the comfort ofhis soul, and I have found means to bring it to effect by mediation ofthe lieutenant's daughter, to whom I have given thirty pounds for herendeavors in procuring it. And moreover she hath assisted in conveyinginto his chamber church-stuff and all things requisite for the sayingof mass, whereunto she tells me, to my indescribable comfort, hehimself doth serve with great humility, and therein receives theblessed sacrament frequently. Sir Thomas Gerard, she saith, and Mr.Shelly, which are likewise prisoners at this time, she introducessecretly into his lodgings for to hear mass and have speech withhim. Alas! what should be a comfort to him, and so the greatest ofjoys to me, the exceeding peril of these times causeth me to look uponwith apprehension; for these gentlemen, albeit well disposed, are notfamed for so much wisdom and prudence as himself, in not saying ordoing anything which might be an occasion of danger to him; and theleast lack of wariness, when there is so much discourse about thegreat Spanish fleet which is now in preparation, should prove like tobe fatal. God send no worse hap befal us soon.
"In addition to these other troubles and fears, I am much molested bya melancholy vapor, which ascends to my head, and greatly troubles mesince I was told upon a sudden of the unexpected death of MargaretSackville, whom, for her many great virtues and constant affectiontoward myself, I did so highly esteem and affection."
From that time for a long while I had no direct news of Lady Arundel;but report brought us woful tidings concerning her lord, who, aftermany private examinations, had been brought from the Tower to theKing's Bench Court, in the hall of Westminster, and there publiclyarraigned on the charge of high treason, the grounds of whichaccusation being that he had prayed and procured others to makesimultaneous prayer for twenty-four hours, and procured Mr. Bennet tosay a mass of the Holy Ghost, for the success of the Spanish fleet.Whereas the whole truth of this matter consisted in this, that when areport became current among the Catholics about London that a suddenmassacre of them all was intended upon the first landing of theSpaniards, this coming to the earl's ear, he judged it necessary thatall Catholics should betake themselves to prayer, either for theavoiding of the danger or for the better preparing themselvesthereunto, and so persuaded those in the Tower to make prayer togetherfor that end, and also sent to some others for the same purpose,whereof one of greater prudence and experience than the rest signifiedunto him that perhaps it might be otherwise interpreted by theirenemies than he intended, wishing him to desist, as presentlythereupon he did; but it was then too late. Some which he had trusted,either out of fear or fair promises, testified falsely against him--ofwhich Mr. Bennet was one, who afterward retracted with bitter anguishhis testimony, in a letter to his lordship, which contained thesewords: "With a fearful, guilty, unjust, and most tormented conscience,only for saving of my life and liberty, I said you moved me to say amass for the good success of the Spanish fleet. For which unjustconfession, or rather accusation, I do again and again, and to mylife's end, most instantly crave God's pardon and yours; and for mybetter satisfaction of this, my unjust admission, I will, if needrequire, offer up both life and limbs in averring my accusation to be,as it is indeed, and as I shall answer before God, angels, and men,most unjust, and only done out of fear of the Tower, torments, anddeath." Notwithstanding the earl's very stout and constant denial ofthe charge, and pleading the above letter of Mr. Bennet, retractinghis false statement, he was condemned of high treason, and hadsentence pronounced against him. But the execution was deferred, andfinally the queen resolved to spare his life, but yet by no means torelease him. His estates, and likewise his lady's, were forfeited tothe crown, and he at that time dealt with most unkindly, as thefollowing letter will show:
"DEAR CONSTANCE--At last I have found the means of sending a packet bya safe hand, which in these days, when men do so easily turntraitors--notable instances of which, to our exceeding pain andtrouble, have lately occurred--is no easy matter. I doubt not but thyfond affectionate heart hath followed with a s
ympathetic grief theanguish of mine during the time past, wherein my husband's lifehath been in daily peril; and albeit he is now respited, yet, alas! ashe saith himself, and useth the knowledge to the best purpose, he isbut a doomed man; reprieved, not pardoned; spared, not released. Mineown troubles beside have been greater than can be thought of; byvirtue of the forfeiture of my lord's estates and mine, my home hathbeen searched by justices, and no room, no corner, no trunk or coffer,left unopened and unransacked. I have often been brought before thecouncil and most severely examined. The queen's officers and others inauthority--to whom I am sometimes forced to sue for favor, or somemitigation of mine own or my lord's sufferings--do use me often veryharshly, and reject my petitions with scorn and opprobrious language.All our goods are seized for the queen. They have left me nothing buttwo
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