ld be difficult to estimate. On the 2nd of December, a
strict search was ordered for the Catholic ecclesiastics who had not yet
transported themselves. Dr. Plunkett had not left the country. At the
first notice of the storm he withdrew, according to the apostolic
example, to a retired situation, where he remained concealed, more in
hope of martyrdom than in fear of apprehension.

The prelate had never relaxed in his duties towards his flock, and he
continued to fulfil those duties now with equal vigilance. One of the
most important functions of a chief shepherd is to oversee the conduct
of those who govern the flock of Christ under him. There was a Judas in
the college of the Apostles, and many Judases have been found since
then. The Archbishop had been obliged to excommunicate two of his
priests and two friars, who had been denounced by their superiors for
their unworthy lives. The unhappy men resented the degradation, without
repenting of the crimes which had brought it upon them. They were ready
for perjury, for they had renounced truth; and the gratification of
their malice was probably a far stronger motive than the bribe for the
capture of a bishop. The holy prelate was seized on the 6th December,
1679. Even Ormonde wished to have spared him, so inoffensive and
peaceful had been his life. He was arraigned at the Dundalk assizes; but
although every man on the grand jury was a Protestant, from whom, at
least, less partiality might be expected towards him than from members
of his own Church, the perjured witnesses refused to come forward.
Indeed, the prelate himself had such confidence in his innocence, and in
the honorable dealing of his Protestant fellow-countrymen, when their
better judgment was not bewildered by fanaticism, that he declared in
London he would put himself on trial in Ireland before any Protestant
jury who knew him, and who knew the men who swore against him, without
the slightest doubt of the result.

Jones, the Protestant Bishop of Meath, was, unfortunately for himself,
influenced by fanaticism. He had served in Cromwell's army,[510] and had
all that rancorous hatred of the Catholic Church so characteristic of
the low class from whom the Puritan soldiery were drawn. He was
determined that the Archbishop should be condemned; and as men could not
be found to condemn him in Ireland, he induced Lord Shaftesbury to have
him taken to London. The Archbishop was removed to Newgate, about the
close of Oc