Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/80

64 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 63. arrived. His reputation for eloquence caused such an eagerness to hear him preach, that Lord Paget hired a hall near Smithfield, and on the 29th of June, a Jesuit missionary, under the ban of the council, and liable, if arrested, to be tried for treason, preached publicly in the middle of the city to a vast audience. A warrant was, of course, issued for Campian's apprehension, but ' great persons at Court ' sent him warning. The con- stables were Catholic, and conveniently blind. The fathers agreed that, if taken, they should swear all of them that their errand was purely a spiritual one : they then dispersed to visit every English county, to hear confessions, administer the sacraments, reconcile the lapsed, encourage all Catholics to persevere in the faith, and wait for the good time that was in store for them. Gilbert and his friends provided money. Each father had two horses, a servant, a variety of disguises, and sixty pounds in cash. They dressed as occasion required, sometimes as officers, sometimes as gentlemen, sometimes as Protestant clergy, sometimes as bailiffs or apparitors. Campian himself, in a letter to the general of the order, sketches his adventures and his success. ' I came to London,' he wrote, ' and my November. . . . , good angel guided me unwittingly to the same house that had harboured Father Robert 1 before, whither young gentlemen came to me on every hand. They embrace me, reapparel me, furnish me, weapon me, and convey me out of the city. I ride about some piece 1 Parsons.