able sin, let him go
to that Church for absolution, for comfort he can find none in ours."

Now, "the Reverend Mr. Garrard" can scarcely have known what Sir
Robert would, or would not, "leave thinking of," and, as to his living
"in that detestable sin," he and his fellow-sinner had not been even
in the same country for nearly two years at the time when Garrard was
writing; and, as we have already shown, the unlikelihood of their
having committed the sin in question for another couple of years
before that may be more than plausibly argued. And it should be
remembered that these two people could have no object in becoming
Catholics, unless they received the benefits of the Sacraments of the
Catholic Church; and as Catholics, they would believe that their
confessions would be sacrileges, their absolutions invalid, and their
communions the "eating and drinking their own damnation," unless they
confessed their immoralities among their other sins, with a firm
purpose never to commit them again.

It is clear, therefore, that when they became Catholics Sir Robert
Howard and Lady Purbeck must have determined never to resume their
illicit intercourse; and, so far as is known, they never did so. In a
letter to Secretary Windebanke written from Paris, in July, 1636, Lord
Scudamore, after saying something about Lady Purbeck, adds: "She
expects every day Sir Robert Howard here:" but this must have been
mere gossip, for Scudamore cannot have been in the confidence of that
fugitive from England, Lady Purbeck, as he was English Ambassador at
Paris; moreover, he was a particular ally of Archbishop Laud,[93]
therefore, not likely to have relations with an escaped prisoner of
Laud's; although, as we shall presently find, another, although very
different, friend of Laud took her part. Nor is there anything to show
that Sir Robert Howard went to Paris.

Respecting the matter of Sir Robert's submission to the Catholic
Church, the Reverend Mr. Garrard was perfectly right in saying: "Let
him go to that Church for absolution, for comfort he can find none in
ours." Whether the Catholic religion is the worst of religions or the
best of religions, it is the religion to which those in grievous
trouble, whether through misfortune or their own fault, most
frequently have recourse; a religion which offers salvation and solace
even to the adulterer, the thief, the murderer, or the perpetrator of
any other crimes, on condition of contrition and firm p