xxii 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



ever. About one o'clock in the morning, Monsieur 

 Raquedel, the family chaplain, thought that he heard 

 an unusual noise in the apartment next to his bed- 

 room. He arose, and on opening the door of the 

 chamber whence the noise had proceeded, he saw me 

 in the act of lifting up the sash ; and he was just in 

 time to save me from going out at a window three 

 stories high. I was fast asleep ; and, as soon as he 

 caught hold of me, I gave a loud shriek. I thought 

 I was on my way to a neighbouring wood, in which 

 I knew of a crow's nest. 



I was now shortly to be conducted to a place where 

 at intervals I could attend to birds, without much 

 risk of neglecting books. 



The armies of the French republic having revo- 

 lutionised some of the finest parts of Europe, and 

 scourged the inhabitants ; it was no longer safe for 

 the Fathers of the Society of Jesus to remain in the 

 town of Liege, where they had a celebrated college. 



As the American war had caused a relaxation of 

 the penal laws w^hich had been put in execution 

 against us with the most unrelenting severity, these 

 good fathers ventured to revisit their native land, 

 from which they had retired in early youth. The 

 generous Mr. Weld of Lulworth Castle in Dorset- 

 shire, immediately afforded them a resting place. He 

 well knew their worth, and he gladly stepped forward 

 to offer them his hand, in their utmost need. Having 

 succeeded by inheritance to the stately mansion of 

 Stonyhurst, near Clitheroe, in Lancashire, to it he 

 directed their wandering steps, and bade them settle 

 there. My father, who had been educated at the 



