In other places I either have shown, or will show, that he deceived all
his fellow-conspirators, that he induced them to join in the plot on
false pretences, and that he told the lie direct to Sir Everard Digby
at Dunchurch. Undoubtedly he had a charming manner, he was an agreeable
and well-informed companion; there is much in his history that is
interesting, much that is romantic, much that excites pity, but let not
any modern Catholics imagine that by attempting to minimise his
misdoings they will do any credit to the cause of the Church; for the
man began as a libertine, and, after a period of spasmodic piety, ended
as a liar. Catesby was one of those people who are fond of asking for
priestly advice, obey it only if it coincides with their own wishes, and
have no scruple whatever in misquoting it to their friends. This race is
not extinct, nor is it limited to the male sex. Sometimes the
performance is varied: instead of misquoting the advice of the priest,
these candid penitents misstate the case on which they ask the priest to
form an opinion.
Such people are exceedingly dangerous, and do immense mischief to the
cause of the Catholic Church. When we consider the evil that may be
wrought by one inaccurate and not over-scrupulous woman of this sort,
who says to her friends:--"Oh, you may be quite easy in your mind. I
asked Father Dash, and he told me there was no harm whatever in it," of
some action which that Father would have condemned in the most
unqualified terms, what limit can be put to the disaster that a man like
Catesby might bring upon a credulous friend such as Sir Everard Digby?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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