Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/103

 THE JESUIT INVASION. July. his hat to the ugly thing whenever he went by. The ' Ten Reasons ' came out, throwing Oxford, among other places, into an ecstasy of enthusiasm ; and Campian and Parsons, who had been in London also, then went into the country to the house of Lady Stonor, near Henley. The publication of the book had increased the deter- mination of the Government to disarm and punish its author ; but the persecution had created much general pity for the hunted Jesuits. Notwithstanding the threatened penalties, some Protestants were found, of the milder sort, who concealed them from their pursuers ; l and the care of their friends and the wilful blindness of the country gentlemen had hitherto served to screen them. But the search was now growing hot, and greater precaution had become necessary. At Lyford, near Abingdon, twenty miles from Hen- ley, there was an ancient 'moated grange,' the abode of a Mr Yates, a, Catholic who was in confinement in Lon- don. His wife was at home, and with her were eight Brigittine nuns, who had gone to Belgium on the death of Queen Mary, but had returned on finding that they had no persecution to fear, and were now lingering out their lives and their devotions in this Berkshire manor 1 ' Con tbdo esto permite Dios que se vea lo quese vio en la primitiva Iglesia, habiendo gente de todas suertes que con ser hereges son tan fieles a muchos de los clerigos que andan aqui escondidos, que por solo acariciarles postponen hijos, muger y haciendas, diciendo que son buena gente sin haberse hallado jamas hombre destos que les acuse hasta agora con conocerles por Catolicos, ayudandoles con lo que tienen.' Mendoza al Rey, 4 de Julio, 1581 : MSS. Simancaa.