It will be found, at least, that the present work contains an impartial account both of the virtue and heroism that are found in the chronicles of the Jesuits, and the scandals and misdeeds that may justly be attributed to them. It is no less based on the original Jesuit documents, as far as they have been published, and the work of Crétineau-Joly, than on the antagonistic literature, as the reader will perceive. Whether or no it seems to some an indictment, it is a patient endeavour to give all the facts, within the compass of the volume, and enable the reader to form a balanced judgment on the Society. It is an attempt to _understand_ the Jesuits: to understand the enthusiasm and fiery attachment of one half of the Catholic world no less than the disdain or detestation of the other, to employ the white and the black, not blended into a monotonous grey but in their respective places and shades, so as to afford a truthful picture of the dramatic fortunes of the Society during nearly four centuries, and some insight into the character of the men who won for it such ardent devotion and such intense hostility. J.M. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. The Origin of the Society 1 II. The First Jesuits 27 III. Early Storms 55 IV. General Francis Borgia 80 V. Progress and Decay under Acquaviva 106 VI. The Early Jesuits in England 142 VII. The First Century of Jesuitism 167 VIII. Under the Stuarts 195 IX. The Struggle with the Jansenists 220 X. The Expulsion from Portugal and Spain 253 XI. The Foreign Missions 279 XII. In the Germanic Lands 311 XIII. The Suppression of the Society 334 XIV. The Restoration 364 XV. The New Jesuits 390 XVI. The Last Phase 424 Index 445 A CANDID HISTORY OF THE JESUITS CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN OF THE SOCIETY