gainst them sufficient to
convict them. But their acquittal was impossible in such a state of
national alarm and horror. Nothing ever made a more lasting and
profound impression on the English mind than this intended crime; and
it strengthened the prejudices against the Catholics even more than
the persecutions under Queen Mary. Had the crime been consummated, it
would only have proved a blunder. It would have shocked and irritated
the nation beyond all self-control; and it is probable that the whole
Catholic population would have been assassinated, or hunted out, as
victims for the scaffold, in every corner of England. It proved,
however, a great misfortune, and the severest blow Catholicism ever
received in England. Thus God overrules all human wickedness. There
was one person who suffered, in consequence of the excited suspicions
of the nation, whose fate we cannot but compassionate; and this person
was the Earl of Northumberland, who was sentenced to pay a fine of
thirty thousand pounds, to be deprived of all his offices, and to be
imprisoned in the Tower for life, and simply because he was the head
of the Catholic party, and a promoter of toleration. Indeed, penal
statutes against the Catholics were fearfully multiplied. No Catholic
was permitted to appear at court, or live in London, or within ten
miles of it, or remove, on any occasion, more than five miles from his
home, without especial license. No Catholic recusant was permitted to
practise surgery, physic, or law; to act as judge, clerk, or officer
of any court or corporation; or perform the office of administrator,
executor, or guardian. Every Catholic who refused to have his child
baptized by a Protestant, was obliged to pay, for each omission, one
hundred pounds. Every person keeping a Catholic servant, was compelled
to pay ten pounds a month to government. Moreover, every recusant was
outlawed; his house might be broken open; his books and furniture
destroyed; and his horses and arms taken from him. Such was the severe
treatment with which the Catholics, even those who were good citizens,
were treated by our fathers in England; and this persecution was
defended by some of the greatest jurists, divines, and statesmen which
England has produced. And yet some maintain that there has been no
progress in society, except in material civilization!

[Sidenote: Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset.]

One of the peculiarities of the reign of James was, the ascendency
wh