Thomas Graves Law

“ In 1580 Vaux, who had meanwhile been elected sub-prior, left Louvain on the command of the pope for Rheims, where he was to join or follow the jesuits, Parsons and Campion, and other priests in their missionary attack upon England. Vaux passed in safety through the searchers at Dover, but was betrayed and captured at Rochester, put through a severe examination by the bishop of London, and committed to the gatehouse, Westminster. ”

“ The 'Theory of Religion' went through many editions, being subsequently enlarged with 'Reflections on the Life and Character of Christ,' and an 'Appendix concerning the use of the words Soul and Spirit in the Holy Scripture.' The latest edition, with Paley's life of the author prefixed, was published by his son, George Henry Law [q. v.] , then bishop of Chester, in 1820. A German translation, made from the fifth enlarged edition, was printed at Leipzig in 1771. ”

“ The letters were filled up in Paris at the duke's dictation, and carried to Philip of Spain, to whom they were addressed, by Bruce, who was commended to the king as ‘a nobleman of proved trust and a good catholic.’ The catholic lords asked for their purpose from Philip six thousand troops and 150,000 crowns. Bruce's departure to Spain on this mission was hastened, so Mendoza reported, by orders for his arrest in France, on account of some strong declarations made by him in favour of the jesuits. ”

“ He made no secret of this mission to Sir Robert Cecil; for, writing to him, 30 (?) Dec. 1595 (Cal. Dom. Eliz.) , he says: 'When last in Spain I gave such satisfaction that I was employed by the contrary party to give information of the estate of Scotland, and to see if the King of Spain would be brought to do anything to succour the nobility there and in Ireland.' He tells that he had handed over to Drake letters of Parsons and Sir Francis Englefield, adding: 'I am again ready to serve you, always reserving my own conscience. ”

“ Elizabeth sent the packet to James, and the whole conspiracy was exposed, to the consternation of the country. The king was stirred up to some feeble measures against the lords, and thereupon Bruce incited Huntly to the open insurrection which ended in the fiasco of the Brig of Dee. Bruce, whose name had already appeared in a decree of banishment pronounced against certain Jesuits and others, now remained comparatively quiet for some years. ”

“ He was buried in the cathedral of Carlisle, where the inscription on his monument commemorates his zeal alike for Christian truth and Christian liberty, adding 'religionem simplicem et incorruptam nisi salva libertate stare non posse arbitratus.' His biographer, who knew him well, describes the bishop as 'a man of great softnesse of manners, and of the mildest and most tranquil disposition. ”

“ Ogilvy came into notice as a young man. In 1592 he was selected, apparently by James VI, to be the bearer to foreign countries of a secret despatch, in which the Scottish king discussed the advantages and disadvantages of a combined attack with Philip II upon England in the summer of that year. ”

“ Bruce, still in appearance acting on behalf of his old friends, arrived once more in Scotland with money from Flanders, and on 8 Dec, to the surprise of Bowes, James passed an act of council granting 'remission' to Robert Bruce 'for high treason, negotiation with foreign princes and Jesuits for the alteration of religion,' &c. It is evident that Bruce was in earnest in his new character. ”

“ VAUX, LAURENCE (1519–1585) , Roman catholic divine, was born at Blackrod in the parish of Bolton-le-Moors, Lancashire, in 1519. His family seems to have been connected with that of Lord Vaux of Harrowden. He passed, probably from the Manchester grammar school, to Queen's College, Oxford, and thence to Corpus Christi, and was ordained priest by the bishop of Chester on 24 Sept. 1542 in the collegiate church of Manchester. When the college was dissolved in the first year of Edward VI, Vaux was one of the fellows, and in receipt of a pension of 8l. ”

“ On this understanding he was sent, at his own request, into Scotland. For the next ten years this clever adventurer contrived, without serious difficulty, to combine the characters of a zealous missionary priest, a political agent of the Scottish catholic earls in rebellion against their king, and a spy in the employment of Burghley and Sir Robert Cecil. In Scotland he resided generally with Lord Seton, and acted as confessor or spiritual director of Barclay of Ladyland. When George Kerr was captured, on his starting for Spain with the 'Spanish Blanks,' 31 Dec. ”

“ In 1863 Laing edited for the Spalding Club 'Extracts from the Diary of Alexander Brodie of Brodie, 1663-80, and of his son James Brodie, 1680-5.' In the following year he received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the university of Edinburgh. In 1866 he contributed to the Abbotsford Club a volume of poems by Stephen Hawes, and in 1867 to the Bannatyne Club a volume of papers relating to the colonisation of New Scotland, 1621-38. In 1865 appeared also his edition of the poetical works of Robert Henryson. ”

“ For eighteen months (1587-8) he acted as Latin secretary to Cardinal Allen, and afterwards spent two years in Spain, and was with Father Parsons at his newly erected seminary at Valladolid. Early in 1591 Parsons sent Cecil, with another priest, Fixer, alias Wilson, into England, via Amsterdam; but the vessel in which they sailed was captured by her Majesty's ship Hope in the Channel, and the two priests were carried to London. Here they at once came to terms with Lord Burghley. Cecil had already in 1588 corresponded, under the name of Juan de Campo, with Sir Francis Walsingham. ”

“ In the hope of restoring ecclesiastical discipline and thereby of stemming the tide of protestantism, the archbishop held a succession of synods—at Linlithgow in 1548, in Edinburgh in 1549 and 1552, and lastly on the eve of the Reformation in 1559. The council of 1552 under his presidency promulgated a catechism which goes by the name of Hamilton's Catechism, intended to be read by parish priests on Sundays in place of a sermon ”

“ His heir brought the unpublished book to the French nuncio, and asked 460 ducats for it, adding that the Huguenots had offered a thousand ducats (Vatican MSS.; Nunziatura di Francia. vol. ccxc. f. 146) , The nuncio referred the matter to the pope, and the pope to the general of the society, who declined the offer with the remark that such writings were numerous, and that if he were to buy them all up he would be ruined. ”

“ His father at this time was the only bookseller in Edinburgh who dealt in foreign literature, and David occasionally travelled abroad in search of rare or curious books. On one such journey through Holland he made at Rotterdam the acquaintance of John Gibson Lockhart [q.v.] ”

“ Laing died unmarried, in his eighty-sixth year, at Portobello 18 Oct. 1878. His unrivalled knowledge of books, and all that concerned books, in every department literature and art, with his well-known readiness to assist all inquirers, brought round him a large circle of friends. 'Sitting in that fine Signet Library, of which he holds the keys,' said Professor Cosmo Innes 'he is consulted by everybody in every emergency. No wise man will undertake a literary work on Scotland without taking counsel with Mr. ”

“ John's College, Cambridge. He graduated B.A. in 1723, and was soon afterwards elected fellow of Christ's College, where he proceeded M.A. in 1727. He was always an earnest student. At Cambridge his chief friends were Dr. ”

“ Johane Arch bishop of Sainctandrous. . . . With the auyse of the Prouinciale Counsale . . . to al Vicaris, Curatis, &c. ... to be red and schawin be thame to the Christiane peple quhen ony ar to resaue the said Blyssit Sacrament, pp. ”