Page:History of the Fylde of Lancashire (IA historyoffyldeof00portiala).pdf/164

 England. The widow and her daughters fled to Rheims to escape further persecution, where they were hospitably received by their near relative, Cardinal William Allen, who interested the princely family of Guise in their behalf and so obtained for them the means of subsistence.

William Allen, the second son of John Allen, of Rossall Hall, was born in 1532, and at the early age of fifteen entered Oriel College, Oxford, under the tutorship of Morgan Philips, perhaps the most eminent logician of his day. Three years later he was elected to a fellowship. Upon the accession of Mary he entered the church, and in 1556 was made principal of St. Mary's Hall, acting as Proctor for the two succeeding years. In 1558 he was created canon of York, but on the accession of Elizabeth, he refused the Protestant oaths, was deprived of his fellowship, and, in 1560, retired to Louvaine, where he wrote his first work, entitled "A Defence of the Doctrine of Catholics, concerning Purgatory and Prayers for the Dead," in answer to an attack on those dogmas by Bishop Jewell. In 1565, the year in which this publication appeared and fermented great excitement both here and abroad, William Allen determined, in spite of the extreme dangers of such an act, to visit his native country, more especially the home of his fathers at Rossall. Religious zeal prevented his active spirit from being long at rest; after residing in England about three years and visiting different parts of Lancashire, seeking converts to his creed, he was obliged to secrete himself from the eye of the law amongst his friends, Layton Hall and Mains Hall being two of his hiding places, until a suitable opportunity occurred for escaping over to the continent. Flanders was his destination, and from there he went to Mechlin, afterwards taking up his abode at Douai, where he obtained a doctor's degree, and established an English seminary. This college, we learn from the "Mem: Miss: Priests: Ed. 1741," was founded in 1568 "to train up English scholars in virtue and learning, and to qualify them to labour in the vineyard of the Lord, on their return to their native country; it was the first college in the Christian world, instituted according to the model given by the council of Trent."

Whilst engaged at the above scholastic institution, William Allen was appointed canon of Cambray; subsequently when the