Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/43

 15'jj.]- THE ENGLISH A 7 JTA VRE. 23 had more decided instructions to give, lie said he would gladly receive them. There was another class of cases also which there was a difficulty in dealing with. Many of the English who had fallen into heresy had repented and desired to be absolved. But the priests, who could receive them back, were scanty and scattered ; and there was extreme danger in resorting to them. In some in- stances they had been arrested, and under threat of tor- ture had revealed their penitents' names. The Bishop said he had explained to the Catholics generally that allowance was made for violence, but they wished for a general indulgence in place of detailed and special ab- solution ; and although he said that he did not himself consider that this would meet the difficulty, he thought it right to mention their request. 1 The question of attendance on the English service was referred to the Inquisition, where the dry truth was expressed more formally and hardly than de Quadra's leniency would have preferred. ' Given a commonwealth in which Catholics were forbidden under pain of death to exercise their religion ; where the law required the subject to attend conventi- cles ; where the Psalms were sung and the lessons taken from the Bible were read in the vulgar tongue, and where sermons were preached in defence of heretical opinions, might Catholics comply with that law without peril of damnation to their souls ? ' Jesuitism was as yet but half developed. The In- 1 DC Quadra to Vargas, August 7 MS. Siift>icas.