's words that 'I am not attempting
a revival of the Monastic Orders, in anything approaching to the
Romanist sense of the term,' or 'taking on myself to originate any
measure of importance without authority from the Heads of the
Church.' I am attempting nothing ecclesiastical, but something
personal and private, and which can only be made public, not private,
by newspapers and letter-writers, in which sense the most sacred and
conscientious resolves and acts may certainly be made the objects of
an unmannerly and unfeeling curiosity."

One calumny there was which the bishop did not believe, and of which
of course he had no idea of speaking. It was that I was actually in
the service of the enemy. I had been already received into the
Catholic Church, and was rearing at Littlemore a nest of Papists,
who, like me, were to take the Anglican oaths which they did not
believe, and for which they got dispensation from Rome, and thus in
due time were to bring over to that unprincipled Church great numbers
of the Anglican clergy and laity. Bishops gave their countenance to
this imputation against me. The case was simply this:--as I made
Littlemore a place of retirement for myself, so did I offer it to
others. There were young men in Oxford, whose testimonials for Orders
had been refused by their Colleges; there were young clergymen, who
had found themselves unable from conscience to go on with their
duties, and had thrown up their parochial engagements. Such men were
already going straight to Rome, and I interposed; I interposed for
the reasons I have given in the beginning of this portion of my
narrative. I interposed from fidelity to my clerical engagements, and
from duty to my Bishop; and from the interest which I was bound to
take in them, and from belief that they were premature or excited.
Their friends besought me to quiet them, if I could. Some of them
came to live with me at Littlemore. They were laymen, or in the place
of laymen. I kept some of them back for several years from being
received into the Catholic Church. Even when I had given up my
living, I was still bound by my duty to their parents or friends, and
I did not forget still to do what I could for them. The immediate
occasion of my resigning St. Mary's, was the unexpected conversion of
one of them. After that, I felt it was impossible to keep my post
there, for I had been unable to keep my word with my Bishop.

The following letters refer, more or less, to th