On the following Sunday morning, the ninth after Pentecost, Campion preached at the Grange on the gospel of the day, the peculiarly touching12 gospel of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, the changed and faithless city which stoned the prophets, and knew[131] not, in her day, the things that were to her peace. No one present ever forgot that heart-shaking sermon, laden13 as it was with pathos14 and presentiment15. There was an audience of sixty, including the Oxonians. Unfortunately it included also George Eliot, a man of the most evil personal repute, an apostate17 and a Government spy, armed with plenary powers. He was then under a charge of murder, and was anxious to whitewash18 himself in the eyes of the Council by some conspicuous19 public service. He had once been a servant of the Ropers at Canterbury; and Mrs. Yate’s honest cook, who had known Eliot there in his decent days, let him in without question, whispering what a treat was in store for him in the preaching of none other than Father Campion! Though the warrant for the apprehension20 of the Jesuit was in Eliot’s pocket, he little thought to capture him so easily and so soon. A pursuivant had accompanied him to the gate; Eliot went back to this person, nominally21 to dismiss him, as a heretic, really to speed him to a magistrate22 at Abingdon for a force of an hundred men[132] to arrest Campion in the Queen’s name. Then he went piously23 up-stairs to Mass, Edmund Campion’s last Mass, so far as we know. That, and the sermon, passed by in peace, and Eliot himself left. Immediately after dinner an alarm was given by a watchman posted in a turret24, who saw the enemy far off. Campion sprang up, and started to leave at once, and alone, saying that his chances of escape might be fair, and that his remaining would only involve the household in discomfort25 and danger. But they all clung to him, assuring him that Lyford was full of cunning secret passages and hiding-holes; and into one of these, in the wall above the gateway26, he was forthwith hurried by Forde and Collington, who laid themselves down by his side, and crossed their hands over their breasts.
Back came Eliot with the magistrate, a civil squire27, and the neighbourly Berkshire yeomen who loathed28 the work. He made them turn the whole house topsy-turvy, nor desist till evenfall; then, finding nothing, they withdrew. However, they returned almost in the same breath, egged on by[133] Eliot, who now would have the walls sounded. The Abingdon magistrate apologized to Mrs. Yate, not for the Queen’s warrant, but for his associate, “the mad-man,” as he called him, who was carrying it out. The lady was an invalid29; thinking not altogether of herself, she railed and wept. The magistrate kindly30 soothed31 her fears, and allowed her to sleep where she pleased, undisturbed by his men and their din16. She chose to have a bed made up close to the hiding-place. She was conducted thither32 with the honours of war, and a sentinel was posted at the room door. The tapping and smashing went merrily on elsewhere until late at night, when, by her orders, the sheriff’s baffled underlings made a fine supper, and being worn out, fell asleep over their cups, even as they were expected to do. Poor Mrs. Yate was either by nature the silliest of women, or else her nerves were upset by illness and trying circumstance, for she sent for Fr. Campion, as well as for all her other guests who were in that part of the house, and requested him, as he stood by her bedside—of all possible things—to[134] preach to them just once more! One could not in courtesy refuse a hostess, however unreasonable33, who was risking so much for him; nor would it have been like him to refuse. Allen tells us that it was his invariable habit to preach “once a day at the least, often twice, and sometimes thrice, whereby through God’s goodness he converted sundry34 in most shires of this realm of most wisdom and worship, besides young gentlemen students, and others of all sorts.”
Fr. Campion discharged his task. As the little congregation broke up, some one stumbled in the dark, and several fell; the snoring sentinel awoke; searchers, with lanterns and axes, swarmed35 up from below. There was nothing to be seen: Lyford was not honeycombed in vain with hidden passages. The men-at-arms had been fooled too often, and were angry with Eliot. Yet that functionary36 knew that something was still really afoot, that the alarm was not a false one. On going down the stairs again he struck his hand upon the wall over it. “We have not broken through here!” he said. A loyal servant of the Yates, who was at his side,[135] and who knew it was just there the refugees lay, muttered that enough wall had been ruined already, and then went deadly pale while Eliot’s eye was still on him. The latter called, in triumph, for a smith’s hammer, and banged it into the thin timber partition, and into the narrow cell. And thus was Father Edmund Campion taken at Lyford Grange, at dawn of Monday, July 17th, in the year 1581.
He was quite calm, quite cheerful. With him were apprehended37 the two priests, seven gentlemen, and two yeomen. Forster, the Sheriff of Berkshire, hitherto absent, arrived. As he was an Oxonian, and almost a Catholic, and kindly disposed towards Campion, he waited to hear from the Council what was to be done. On the fourth day orders came to send the chief prisoners up to London, under a strong guard. Leaving the old moated house and its many occupants, now distracted with grief, Campion took horse at the door, and rode slowly off, Eliot prancing38 in triumph at the head of the company, though the common people saluted39 him as “Judas,” all along the way.[136] The first halt was at Abingdon; sympathetic Oxford scholars had come down to see the last of the great light of the University under such black eclipse. Eliot accosted40 his victim at table: “Mr. Campion, I know well you are wroth with me for this work!” He drew out a beautiful answer, sincere, composed, half-playful: a saint’s answer. “Nay, I forgive thee; and in token thereof, I drink to thee. Yea, and if thou wilt41 repent42, and come to Confession43, I will absolve44 thee: but large penance45 thou must have!” At Henley, Campion saw in the crowd Fr. Parsons’ servant, and greeted him as he could, without betraying him: Fr. Parsons was near at hand, but was wisely kept indoors. A young priest, “Mr. Filby the younger,” as he was called, a native of Oxford, is said to have here attempted to speak to Campion; he was at once seized upon as a traitorous46 “comforter of Jesuits,” and added to the cavalcade47. At Colebrook, less than a dozen miles from London, came fresh instructions from the Council. Sheriff Forster had treated his prisoners most honourably48: they were now to be made[137] a public show. Their elbows were tied from behind, their wrists roped together in front, and their feet fastened under the horses; their leader was decorated with a paper pinned to his hat—Fr. Parsons’ hat of late—on which in large lettering was inscribed49: “Campion, the Seditious Jesuit.” And in this guise50 he was paraded through the chief streets of the great city on market-day. The mob roared with delight; “but the wiser sort,” says Holinshed, “lamented to see the land fallen to such barbarism as to abuse in this manner a gentleman famous throughout Europe for his scholarship and his innocency51 of life, and this before any trial, or any proof against him, his case being prejudged, and he punished as if already condemned52.” Stephen Brinkley somehow obtained, as a souvenir of a fellow-prisoner, that thick dark felt hat, which had been so ignominiously53 labelled in the cause of Christ. Years afterwards, when in Belgium, he put it into a reliquary, “out of love and veneration54 towards that most holy martyr6 of God, his father and patron.” A piece of it is at Roehampton, in the Jesuit Noviciate.
[138]
On reaching the Tower the Lyford captives were given up to the Governor, Sir Owen Hopton. Taking his cue, he had Campion thrust at once into Little Ease, the famous Tower hole not high enough for a man to stand upright in, nor long enough for him to lie down in. After four days of this misery55 he was suddenly taken out, put in a boat at the Traitors’ Gate steps, and rowed to the town house of the Earl of Leicester. This nobleman and Edmund Campion, who had seen so much of each other for several years, had been placed by events in silent conflict. There stood the Earl of Bedford, with two Secretaries of State; there stood Campion’s host, who, for one reason or another, had never hounded Catholics with the fixed56 fury of Walsingham and Burghley, and thereby57 did not displease58 his irresolute59 royal mistress; there (a theatrical60 circumstance!) was that royal mistress herself, a gleaming stately vision in a great chair, head and front of a not unfriendly little inquisition. To the questions heaped upon him Campion gave frank answers. On the matter of “allegiance” he seemed to satisfy[139] the company, who told him there was no fault in him save that he was a Papist. “That,” he modestly interrupted, “is my greatest glory.” The Queen smiled upon him, and offered him liberty and honours, but under conditions which his conscience forbade him to accept.
When he was courteously61 dismissed, Leicester, probably with a kind motive62, sent a message to Hopton to keep up the flatteries of the new policy. Hopton put on an almost affectionate consideration for his important prisoner; and so fast as he was prompted, by artful degrees, he suggested to him a pension, a high place at Court, and even the promise eventually of the mitre and revenues of the primatial63 See of Canterbury! Well did the Council know, all along, the value of these stubborn and unpurchasable confessors of Christ. To cap the matter, in Campion’s case, it was publicly announced, both by Hopton and by Walsingham (who knew the untruth of their announcement), that the Jesuit was at the point of recantation and Protestant orthodoxy, and in full sight of the future Archbishopric, “to the[140] great content of the Queen.” It flew all over London that he would presently preach at Paul’s Cross, and there burn the Decem Rationes with his own hand. Eventually Hopton returned to first principles indoors, and inquired point-blank of Campion whether he would give up his religion, and conform. The reply is easily imagined. A continued course of wheedling64 was wasteful65 business. So thought the Council; and three days after his strange and sudden sight of the Queen’s Grace at Leicester House, Edmund Campion, first kneeling down at the door and invoking66 the Holy Name for steadying of his manhood, was stripped and fastened to the rollers of the Tower rack. Blandishments had failed to move him; they would try mortal pain, and see what that could do. Torture, nevertheless, was as much against the laws of England then (though not against the laws of some less humane67 countries), as it is now.
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1
pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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lamenting
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| adj.悲伤的，悲哀的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的现在分词 ) | |
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waylaid
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| v.拦截，拦路( waylay的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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nuns
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| n.（通常指基督教的）修女， （佛教的）尼姑( nun的名词复数 ) | |
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8
distressed
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| 痛苦的 | |
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entreaties
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| n.恳求，乞求( entreaty的名词复数 ) | |
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insistent
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| adj.迫切的，坚持的 | |
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everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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12
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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pathos
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| n.哀婉，悲怆 | |
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presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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din
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| n.喧闹声，嘈杂声 | |
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apostate
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| n.背叛者，变节者 | |
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18
whitewash
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| v.粉刷，掩饰；n.石灰水，粉刷，掩饰 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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piously
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| adv.虔诚地 | |
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turret
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| n.塔楼，角塔 | |
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discomfort
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| n.不舒服，不安，难过，困难，不方便 | |
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gateway
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| n.大门口，出入口，途径，方法 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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28
loathed
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| v.憎恨，厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 )；极不喜欢 | |
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invalid
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| n.病人，伤残人；adj.有病的，伤残的；无效的 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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soothed
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| v.安慰( soothe的过去式和过去分词 )；抚慰；使舒服；减轻痛苦 | |
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32
thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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unreasonable
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| adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的 | |
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sundry
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| adj.各式各样的，种种的 | |
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swarmed
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| 密集( swarm的过去式和过去分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去 | |
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36
functionary
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| n.官员；公职人员 | |
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apprehended
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| 逮捕，拘押( apprehend的过去式和过去分词 )； 理解 | |
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38
prancing
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| v.（马）腾跃( prance的现在分词 ) | |
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39
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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40
accosted
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| v.走过去跟…讲话( accost的过去式和过去分词 )；跟…搭讪；（乞丐等）上前向…乞讨；（妓女等）勾搭 | |
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41
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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42
repent
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| v.悔悟，悔改，忏悔，后悔 | |
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43
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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44
absolve
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| v.赦免，解除（责任等） | |
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45
penance
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| n.（赎罪的）惩罪 | |
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46
traitorous
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| adj. 叛国的, 不忠的, 背信弃义的 | |
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47
cavalcade
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| n.车队等的行列 | |
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48
honourably
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| adv.可尊敬地，光荣地，体面地 | |
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49
inscribed
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| v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接 | |
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50
guise
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| n.外表，伪装的姿态 | |
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51
innocency
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| 无罪，洁白 | |
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52
condemned
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| adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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53
ignominiously
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| adv.耻辱地，屈辱地，丢脸地 | |
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54
veneration
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| n.尊敬，崇拜 | |
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55
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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56
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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57
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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58
displease
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| vt.使不高兴，惹怒；n.不悦，不满，生气 | |
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59
irresolute
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| adj.无决断的，优柔寡断的，踌躇不定的 | |
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60
theatrical
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| adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的 | |
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61
courteously
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| adv.有礼貌地，亲切地 | |
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62
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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63
primatial
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| 大主教的 | |
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64
wheedling
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| v.骗取（某物），哄骗（某人干某事）( wheedle的现在分词 ) | |
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65
wasteful
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| adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的 | |
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66
invoking
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| v.援引( invoke的现在分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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67
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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