Page:A history of the gunpowder plot-The conspiracy and its agents (1904).djvu/183

Rh On April 25, he was bold enough to swear 'on his priesthood' that he had not seen, or communicated with Greenway since November 6.

On April 28, he was told that his last statement was known to be false, and was asked how he could reconcile it with his conscience to tell such a lie? He answered that such perjury was permissible when 'just necessity so required' and actually blamed the Council for blaming him.

Garnet's colleague, Oldcorne, was also submitted to frequent examinations, and to torture. He was eventually sent down to Worcester, and there executed on April 7. The treatment received by him in the Tower was, I think, most unjust; for it is difficult to see why he should have been so harshly dealt with, when his fellow-prisoner, Garnet, was lodged in comparative comfort, and was not put to the torture. Moreover, Oldcorne did not stoop to such reckless perjury as his friend; and he, at least, deserves credit for having had the courage to offer Garnet an asylum at Hendlip. He probably lost his life entirely owing to this self-sacrificing and generous attempt to shelter his friend.