ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



forming husbands contrived to hold their own and bring up their sons also 

 in what they believed to be the only way of salvation. 169 



The agitation caused by Babington's conspiracy is shown by an entry in 

 the records of the borough of the arrest of a serving-man who had dared to 

 say Babington was an honest gentleman. 180 A certain John Palmer of Keg- 

 worth was arrested also on suspicion of being concerned in the plot, and 

 bound over to remain for some months in London and report himself occa- 

 sionally to the Privy Council. 161 His name appears henceforth on every list 

 of recusants for Leicestershire. 



In 1588 the alarm of the Armada called for fresh lists ; and at this time 

 ' an old priest ' was put in the county gaol, and John Palmer was again under 

 custody. 163 The same families were in trouble once more in I59i. 163 The 

 last list of the reign, made out in 1595, is of much interest ; it will be found 

 quoted in full in an appended note. 164 It gives an impression more vivid 

 than any description of the vigilance of the government, and the discomfort 

 and anxiety under which the recusants of this reign must have lived. 

 Country justices might be willing to shut their eyes to many of the doings 

 of their friends and neighbours ; the government did not always act at once 



159 Notably the wives of Francis and George Smith of Ashby Folville ; the grandson of the latter was the 

 first Lord Carrington, head of a family of recusants. See also the lineage of the Turvilles of Aston Flamville. 

 Camden, Visit, of Lcic. 55, 131. In connexion with this subject much interest will be found in the study of 

 the pedigrees of this period ; they show very clearly how this cause was kept alive by continual intermarriage 

 between the principal recusant families of England. So in the Brooksby pedigree we meet the names of Vaux, 

 Beaumont, Wiseman, Englefield ; in the Beaumont line we find Vaux, Pierpoint, Faunt, Fortescue. 



160 Hist. MSS. Com. Rep. viii, 431. 



161 S.P. Dom. Eliz. cxciii, 50 ; Acts of P.Q. xiv, 232, 280. It was noticed in the same year that divers 

 Jesuits and seminary priests were received and harboured in the houses of sundry gentlemen of this county 

 and others of good account. Acts ofP.C. xiv, 140. 



168 S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccviii, 66 ; ccxxxviii, 82. I63 Ibid, ccxxxviii, 126 ; P.R.O. Recusant Roll, 34 Eliz. 



I64 S.P. Dom. Eliz. ccli, 13. 



' Launcelot Blackborne, a seminary priest, was at Mr. Palmer's house at Kegworth, co. Leicester, the 

 29 January ; and that house is never without a priest, whether he be at home or abroad. 



Near Sawley, two miles from Mr. Palmer's, dwells Mr. Williamson, who was wont to keep a priest 

 called Mr. Tanfield, until a time that he being at mass, Mrs. Williamson having a little dog which barked and 

 made a great noise, the said Tanfield spurned him down the stairs with his foot and killed him ; for which 

 cause she fell out with that priest, but is seldom without one. 



At Mr. Merry's, at Barton Park, dwelleth Nicholas Icke alias Wood, a seminary priest, and he is often 

 at Mr. Palmer's of Kegworth ; the said Mrs. Merry is sister to Mr. Palmer. 



At one Bakewell's house at Awkemorton, a mile from Mr. Merry's, there is a great resort of priests. 



At Mr. Whithall's house near Asborne, four miles from Awkemorton, lieth Robert Shewell, a seminary 

 priest ; at the buttery door they go up a pair of stairs straight to the chamber where mass is said, and Tanfield 

 useth thither often. 



At one Rawlins' house at Rawson's, three miles from there, let them go into the parlour, and directly 

 before the door there is a spinet where you shall find either priest or church stuff; many recusants in that 

 town resort thither to mass. 



At Mr. Foljambe's house at Throwley there is store of church stuff which was carried thither by A.B. 



John Bedford alias Tanfield, a handsome man with no hair on his face. 



Mr. Ruxby alias Pickering, a tall man with grey hair cut near and round. 



Robert Shewell hath a bald head and one leg bigger than another. 



William Morecock a very little man with a clubbed foot. 



Mr. Blackman, a big lean sad man yellow-haired. 



Launcelot Blackborne, a black man cut near with some white hair and snaffleth in his speech. 



Nicholas Icke alias Wade, yellow-haired.' 



Lancelot Blackburn was ordained 1575, sent to England 1576, imprisoned a short time, but released in 

 the same year ; so he had been nearly twenty years on the mission. Douay Diary, i, 5, 25, 113, 1 16. 



Robert Shewell was ordained 1570, already of mature age, and sent to England in the same year. 

 Ibid. 164. 



William Morcott, who may be here referred to, was sent to England 1581. Ibid. 28. 



The other names cannot be identified certainly. Father Gerard of the Gunpowder Plot was sometimes 

 known as Tanfield, but it seems improbable that this is he. 



375 



