I wish to acknowledge most valuable assistance received from the Right Rev. Edmund Knight, formerly Bishop of Shrewsbury, as well as from the Rev. John Hungerford Pollen, S.J., who was untiring in his replies to my questions on some very difficult points; but it is only fair to both of them to say that the inferences they draw from the facts, which I have brought forward, occasionally vary from my own. My thanks are also due to that most able, most courteous, and most patient of editors, Mr Kegan Paul, to say nothing of his services in the very different capacity of a publisher, to Mr Wynne of Peniarth, for permission to photograph his portrait of Sir Everard Digby, and to Mr Walter Carlile for information concerning Gayhurst. The names of the authorities of which I have made most use are given in my footnotes; but I am perhaps most indebted to one whose name does not appear the oftenest. The back-bone of every work dealing with the times of the Stuarts must necessarily be the magnificent history of Mr Samuel Rawson Gardiner. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE The portrait of Sir Everard Digby--Genealogy--His father a literary man--His father's book--Was Sir Everard brought up a Protestant?--At the Court of Queen Elizabeth--Persecution of Catholics--Character of Sir Everard--Gothurst--Mary Mulsho--Marriage--Knighthood 1-14 CHAPTER II. Hospitality at Gothurst--Roger Lee--Sir Everard "Catholickly inclined"--Country visiting 300 years ago--An absent host--A good hostess--Wish to see a priest--Priest or sportsman?--Father Gerard--Reception of Lady Digby--Question of Underhandedness--Illness of Sir Everard--Conversion--Second Illness--Impulsiveness of Sir Everard 15-32 CHAPTER III. The wrench of conversion--Position of converts at different periods--The Digbys as converts--Their chapel--Father Strange--Father Percy--Chapels in the days of persecution--Luisa de Carvajal--Oliver Manners--Pious dodges--Stolen waters--Persecution under Elizabeth 33-48 CHAPTER IV. The succession to the Crown--Accession of James--The Bye Plot--Guy Fawkes--Father Watson's revenge on the Jesuits--Question as to the faithlessness of James--Martyrdoms and persecutions--A Protestant Bishop upon them 49-69 CHAPTER V. Catholics and the Court--Queen Anne of Denmark--Fears of the Catholics--Catesby--Chivalry--Tyringham--The Spanish Ambassador--Attitude of foreign Catholic powers--Indictments of Catholics--Pound's case--Bancroft--Catesby and Garnet--Thomas Winter--William Ellis--Lord Vaux--Elizabeth, Anne, and Eleanor Vaux--Calumnies 70-96 CHAPTER VI.