THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
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 LOS ANGELES
 
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 XXXV H II 
 
 
 
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 JIi:eU- G-y^.^A^ BISHOP MILNER'S GRAVE. 
 
 ■)f,^. f TO THK EDITOR OF THE TABLET. 
 
 Sir,' — I think the following account may interest many of your 
 dreaders. 
 
 On the iSih inst. search was made for Dr. Milner's grave, there 
 
 being no certainty as to the exact spot where he was buried. The old 
 
 inhabitants of VVolverhampton deposed that he was interred in an 
 
 ordinary grave (not bricked) in his garden near the chapel. In 1826 
 
 the chapel was enlarged, and the foundations, of the new part of the 
 
 building were put in over the grave of the liishop, there being no stone 
 
 or sign to mark the place of his burial. Vaults were built under the 
 
 chapel, and in one of these Mrs. Jane Wheble was buried, September, 
 
 1839. This vault was bricked up. On the i8th inst. this brick-work 
 
 was removed, and a large and thick slab covering the body of Mrs. Jane 
 
 Wheble was found. On this stone was cut a cross, and underneath — 
 
 Mrs. Jane Wheble. 
 
 Died, Sept. Sth, 1839. 
 
 Aged 87 years. 
 
 R.I. P. 
 
 Bishop Milner's grave was supposed to be near, and on the side of 
 
 Mrs. Wneble's ; but this supposition was not correct, for, after removing 
 
 the brick floor and the soil, the workmen came to a rock. After much 
 
 time and unsuccessful labour the hope of finding the grave was almost 
 
 abandoned. .On .the following day, however, the work was resumed, 
 
 and after great toll the workmen came upon the Bishop's coffin, buried 
 
 six or seveo feet below the surface. The outer cofhn had been covered 
 
 with a good strong black cloth, which had become unsound, and the 
 
 -coffin itself was decayed. The- coffin plate was broken in several 
 
 pieces. On it was engraved a cross, and -under it the words : — 
 
 R. R. D. Joannes Milner, D.D., 
 
 Vic. Ap. Med. Dist. Ang. 
 
 Obiit. die 19 Aprilis 
 
 1826. 
 
 Etat 74. Episcopat 23. 
 
 R.I. P. 
 
 The lead coffin was well made and strong, but had decayed a little in 
 
 one or two places. With some difficulty the coffin was raised from its 
 
 deep resting-place, which had been cut out of the rock, and deposited 
 
 at the entrance to the vault. 
 
 On the following day, August 20th, in my presence, and that of Tho- 
 mas and Edwin Gough, Hugh Riley, and Myles Joyce, the lead was 
 •cut and the top part removed. Next the lid of the oak shell, which 
 was nailed down, was taken off, and to our great surprise the body, 
 which had been buried forty-eight years, was seen whole and entire.. 
 It was Covered with a neat and elegant plaited shroud made of flannel, 
 and trimmed with amber silk. The hands were placed by the sides of 
 the body ; there was no ring on the finger, nor, indeed, any sign what- 
 ever, to show that it was the corpse of a priest or Bisiiop. The face 
 was its natural colour, save a small part covered with a kind of white 
 mould. The hands were discoloured, though perfect, and like the 
 hands represented in the portrait of the Bishop. A scapular was sus- 
 pended round the neck. 
 
 During the course of this and the following day, priests, nuns, and 
 hundreds of people came to see the body. The reverence that was shown 
 to it was truly wonderful — like that shown to the body of a saint. Some 
 kissed the face, others the scapular, the shroud, or the coffin ; numbers 
 brought.rosary beads, crucif'xes, medals, and scapulars, to touch the body 
 W'ith. Many of the old inhabitants who came, having known the Bishop 
 in life, recognized him distinctly in death. 
 
 Tlie coffin having been opened from ten o'clock on Tliursday morning 
 until four o'clock in the afternoon of Friday, the body had assumed a, 
 dark brown hue, yet it 'etained its former size and shape, the flesh re- 
 maining lirm. Before the coffin was closed, a crucifix, a medal of Our 
 Lady, and one of at. Joseph, were placed round the Bishop's neck, 
 rosary beads put in his hand, a picture of the Sacred Heart laid on his 
 breast, and flowers arranged round the body, which was sprinkled with 
 holy water. 
 
 ^
 
 The ceremony of re-interring the body took place on Monday, the 
 24th instant, and was performed by the clergy of the town. 
 
 In the Bishop's last illness, when those about him as usual addressed 
 him as " My Lord," he humbly said, " Don't call me so any more. I 
 am nothing now but plain John Milner, a poor sinner."* 
 
 Dr. Walsh, his successor, said of him : " During the course of my 
 ministry I have attended several persons on their death-beds, but never 
 did virtue appear more amiable, never did religion seem to afford more 
 solid consolation, than in the last moments of the deservedly lamented, 
 and the truly just Dr. Milner." 
 
 " The nineteenth of April," said an ardent and elegant writer, " was 
 the day of his departure from this vale of tears-; a day which will echo 
 a mournful r-eturn to the breasts of millions ; a day which will l)e mem- 
 orable as long as the name of Milner exists. Already is he canonized 
 in the recollection of the majority, we might also say of the known 
 world. His unequalleled genius, his extensive erudition, his unassuming 
 deportment, his uncompromising adherence to truth, but, above all, 
 his paternal and unparalleled charity, have entitled him to the highest 
 encomiums, and deserved for him tlie most lasting endearment." 
 
 The great O'Conneli, when in Wolverhampton, on his way to the 
 House of Parliament to plead the cause of the Dublin Catholic Asso- 
 ciation, said to his colleagues. Sir Thomas Esmond and Mr. Shiel, 
 '• Recollect that you are within sacred precincts. The. conqueror of 
 Sturges, and the terror of the Veloists has made Wolverhampton holy." 
 — I remain, yours sincerely in Christ, -GEdRGE DuCK£TT. 
 
 St. Peter and Paul's, Wolverhampton, August 24, 1S74. 
 
 THE LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. 
 
 *He wrote his epitaph, which was simply— " Here lies John Milner, 
 with a space left for the dale of death, with a request that the I'aithtui 
 would pray for his soul. Pie expressly forbade all unnecessary expense 
 at his funeral ; he would have no silks, no.plumes, no worldly pomp, but 
 wished the poor to have the money, which would be saved by avoiding 
 all empty parade. Every one had free access to his bedside to receive 
 his blessing. 
 
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 THE LIFE 
 
 iglt |lelj. |0|it P^iliier, -g.J., 
 
 BISHOP OF CASTABALA, 
 
 nCAR APOSTOLIC OF THE MIDLAND DISTRICT OF ENGLAND, 
 F.S.A. LONDON, AND CATH. ACAD. ROILE. 
 
 F. C. HUSENBETH, D.D., V.G., 
 
 ^robost flf Itori^amjrton. 
 
 A0ANA2IO2 VIMU ews itapriv, 6 2TTA02 rris EK/cArjtn'ay. 
 Athanasius, while he was with us, was the pillar of the Church. 
 
 S. Greg. Naz., Orut. de S. Athan. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 JAMES DUFFY, WELLINGTON-QUAY; 
 
 LONDON: 22, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 1862.
 
 DUBLIN : 
 
 IJriiitcb bn IHoorc anb gTurpl^n, 
 
 2, CRAMPTON-QUAY. 
 
 r c^T
 
 3 mO''^ 
 
 -X. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The author of this biography did not engage in it 
 till after many solicitations. He strongly felt the 
 difficulty and delicacy of the undertaking ; and as 
 strongly, his own inability for its accomphshment. But 
 at length he considered that he ought no longer to 
 resist the importunities of those, to whom he owed 
 respect and deference, and from whom he was sure to 
 receive aid and encouragement. De. Milner's con- 
 temporaries had nearly all passed away : the author 
 alone seemed left to write his history : and it was 
 strongly urged upon him as most important, that the 
 features of his character should be caught from one of 
 the few remaining who had known him intimately, 
 before it should be too late. 
 
 Some, however, may think that it is even now too 
 early to write his life impartially, and estimate dis- 
 passionately the peculiar transactions in which he was 
 involved. But Dr. Milner has himself answered this 
 objection by anticipation. Writing in the year 1818, 
 he did indeed dei)recate a too early publication of any 
 detailed memoirs of Catholic affairs which had occupied 
 the previous thirty years ; but at the same time, he ob- 
 
 1490439
 
 VI PKEFACE. 
 
 served that after the lapse of thirty years more, it might 
 be done safely ; for by that time, " the passions of all 
 persons immediately concerned in them would have 
 cooled in the grave."* Now, more than forty years 
 have elapsed since that time ; and Milner himself 
 would not now deem it too early to write his history, 
 and record the transactions inseparable from it. It 
 has been the writer's study, however, in this biography 
 to confine himself to fact, and refrain from sentiment ; 
 and while recording transactions, to leave the reader to 
 draw his own conclusions. 
 
 It is a proverb that " old men and travellers lie by 
 authority ;" but the writer has never claimed his pri- 
 vilege on either ground. He has penned nothing in 
 these pages but what either he himself could vouch 
 for, or what rested on indisputable authority. Wher- 
 ever it was practicable, he has enlivened the history 
 with pleasant narratives ; and has preserved in the 
 last three chapters many anecdotes, adventures, say- 
 ings and doings of Dr. Milner, which could not 
 appropriately have found place in the body of the 
 work. 
 
 The writer has always considered that justice has 
 never yet been done to the character of the great Mil- 
 ner. But to render that justice, it was only necessary 
 to exhibit him in his native simplicity and worthiness. 
 If in this the author has succeeded even in some small 
 degree, he may well thank God for sparing him to 
 
 * « Orthodox Journal," 1818, p. 220.
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 become the humble instrument of setting forth the 
 merits of one, to whom every CathoHc in this kingdom 
 owes a deep debt of gratitude ; and of thus repaying 
 some Httle of his own obhgations to the memory of the 
 revered Prelate, the honoured father and the beloved 
 friend of his early years. 
 
 He gladly embraces this occasion to record his deep 
 sense of the kindness of the Rt. Rev. Dr. Ullathorne, 
 Bishop of Birmingham, and of the Rev. Henry 
 Campbell of Grafton, who both generously placed in 
 his hands various publications and papers, without 
 which this biography could not have been compiled.
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 ^gis|o|j Piher. 
 
 CHAPTER FIRST, 
 
 BISHOP MILNER, A GREAT MAN RAISED UP FOR GREAT PURPOSES. 
 
 HIS BIRTH — EDUCATION AT EDGBASTON AND SEDGLEY PARK 
 
 SCHOOLS AND DOUAY COLLEGE. — HIS ORDINATION AND RETURN 
 TO ENGLAND. — REMOVES FROM LONDON TO WINCHESTER. — 
 FIRST CATHOLIC RELIEF BILL. — LORD GEORGE GORDON'S RIOTS. 
 — FUNERAL DISCOURSE ON BISHOP CHALLONER. 
 
 If biography is more valuable than history, its com- 
 position is confessedly more difficult. The historian 
 has chiefly to deal with facts and events ; and these, 
 from having generally occurred long before, can seldom 
 be given in detail, and have often lost much of their 
 interest. But the biographer has the arduous task of 
 delineating character, and discriminating motives: he 
 has to relate events circumstantially which are usually 
 of more recent occurrence ; and to hold the steady 
 balance of impartiality on questions of deep interest ; 
 perhaps even during the lifetime of some who were 
 concerned in them. The task of the historian makes 
 but little demand upon the powers of imagination ; 
 while the biographer must exercise every mental 
 faculty in his multifarious labours. His undertaking 
 
 B
 
 2 LIFE OF BISHOP MILXER. 
 
 will be more difficult, in proportion as the subject of 
 his biography was more distinguished, and the affairs 
 in which he was concerned were more important. 
 Formidable, then, would be the work now attempted, 
 even to a skilful and practised biographer : how much 
 more must it be so to the feeble hand that now under- 
 takes it. 
 
 The Life of Milner is the biography of a man of no 
 ordinary character. He was a man of great abilities, 
 of powerful mind and energetic action ; he was a 
 prelate of great zeal, extensive learning, undaunted 
 courage, and noble independence : his was a genius of 
 bold conception and spirited execution, wliich no dif- 
 ficulties could dishearten, no opposition could intimi- 
 date, and no labour could subdue : he was a great 
 scholar, a profound divine, a powerful controvcrtist, a 
 learned antiquarian, a distinguished historian ; but, 
 above all, a fervent Christian, a most devout Catholic, 
 and a holy and exemplary Bishop of God's Church. 
 Such a man appears only at long intervals in the 
 world, and is usually raised up for some special 
 exigency. No one who considers the times in which 
 Milner lived, with reference to the Catholic religion 
 in England, can doubt that he was given for the 
 peculiar necessities of those times. Cathohcs had 
 suffered for ages from proscription and persecution, 
 and the time for their emancipation was drawing near ; 
 but they needed a safe and steady guide to secure to 
 them political and religious freedom, without the 
 sacrifice of religious principle. Milner was their 
 Moses in their days of bondage, and in their weari- 
 some passage through the desert. He defended them 
 from open foes, and defeated and checked the mur- 
 murings and weaknesses of timid and false brethren
 
 CHAPTER FIRST. 3 
 
 within their camp. He was never discouraged, but 
 kept on his faithful career under all opposition ; vigi- 
 lant, zealous, firm, and unflinching, steadily keeping in 
 view the one grand object, and pursuing it with indo- 
 mitable perseverance. It was not indeed permitted 
 to this Moses to see the promised land ; yet he died in 
 sight of it: for Catholic Emancipation followed only 
 three years after he had ceased at once to labour and 
 to live. 
 
 But this was not the only purpose for which we 
 needed the immortal Milner. Our holy religion 
 required for its defence a bolder champion and a 
 wider field than it had before possessed. Our old 
 controvertists had bravely combated, and done all 
 that could be accomplished in their straitened position. 
 Sarjeant, ]\lumford, Gother, Manning and Challoner 
 had ably and successfully defended the Catholic Faith ; 
 but their works were of necessity published secretly, 
 and circulated stealthily. The time had hardly 
 arrived, even during the lifetime of Bishop Challoner, 
 for Catholic works to come forth in full freedom. 
 That venerable Bishop too, had gone to his reward, 
 some years before Milner wrote a line of controversy ; 
 his first publication having been his funeral discourse 
 on that lamented prelate. It was the critical time 
 when a skilful and fearless controvertist was called for 
 among us ; there was an ample field, and a giant stepped 
 forth into it to challenge the enemies of our Faith : 
 there was a great door and evident opened unto him^ 
 and many adversaries ;* and he boldly passed 
 through it, and bid them all defiance. 
 
 A trial yet more severe fell upon the Church but a 
 
 * 1 Cor. xvi. 9.
 
 4 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [>752. 
 
 few years after Milner began to labour in this portion 
 of it. The horrors of the French Revolution had 
 broken up our foreign establishments for the education 
 of clergy ; and it needed all the prudence and energy 
 of our disconsolate prelates to provide means for an 
 adequate supply of pastors for our poor and scattered 
 Hocks. Here again was the goodness of Divine Pro- 
 vidence conspicuous in raising up for us in our need a 
 man like Milner. Under his paternal care, and by 
 his wise, active and persevering exertions, a body of 
 exemplary clergy were trained up, and the great work 
 went on without intermission ; nay more, the zealous 
 labours of those exemplary men soon caused a rapid 
 increase in the numbers added to the one fold of the 
 One Shepherd. 
 
 Thus, it is evident, that God was pleased to visit his 
 people in a remarkable manner, and in a time of extra- 
 ordinary need, by raising up a faithful priest who 
 should do according to his heart and soul* for his 
 little Church in this kingdom, the distinguished pre- 
 late, whose life and labours will be developed in the 
 following pages. It is now more than a century since 
 the birth of John Milner. He was born on the 14th 
 of October, 1752, in London, and baptized on the 
 same day by the Rev. William Errington, who after- 
 wards became the first president of Sedgley Park 
 School. Bishop Challoner was at that time the Vicar 
 Apostolic of the London District, and resident in 
 London, and Mr. Errington lived with him as his 
 chaplain; of whom Bishop Milner informs us, in his 
 Life of Bishop Challoner, that he was the friend and 
 constant companion of that venerable bishop. The 
 
 * 1 Kings, ii. 35.
 
 AGE I. J CHAPTER FIKST. 5 
 
 following is a copy of his Baptismal Register : " Anno 
 Domini, 1752, die 14 Octob., haptizatus fait Johan- 
 nes Miller^Jilius Josephi et Helence Miller, conjugum. 
 Patrini fuerunt Jacobus Brown et Anna Marsland. 
 A me Gul. Errington, Miss. Apostolico.''^ 
 
 His family were originally from Lancashire. His 
 father was a respectable tradesman, a tailor, but 
 became deranged, and so continued till his death. 
 It is evident from the Baptismal Register that his 
 proper name was Miller. When he exchanged it for 
 MiLNER does not appear. It has been supposed that 
 he took that name when he first went to school ; he 
 was certainly entered by it in the books at Sedgley 
 Park School ; and, perhaps, the unfortunate malady 
 under which his father had died, led him to adopt a 
 change of name, which, after all, was very slight. He 
 was always remarkable, however, for his peculiar taste 
 about names. He prevailed on Mr. Strongitharm, 
 whose name was Solomon, to drop that name, " for," 
 said he, " I cannot bear that any of my clergy should 
 bear the name of a man whose salvation is so doubtful 
 as that of King Solomon." In compliance with this 
 wish, Mr. Strongitharm always signed with his Con- 
 firmation name Laurence. Soon after Bishop Milnfr 
 objected to his surname, alleging that it ought to be 
 Armstrong, and wished him to exchange it accord- 
 ingly. But when Mr. Strongitharm objected to alter- 
 ing his surname out of respect for his family, the 
 Bishop did not press him, but goodnaturedly said, 
 that " as he had already obliged him by giving up his 
 first name, he could not expect him to do more. In 
 the same way he insisted that Dr. Weedall's name 
 ought to be Udall, which he said was a well known
 
 6 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNKR. [I7r>5. 
 
 English name, meaning a yew tree ; and he used fre- 
 quently to call him Mr. Udall. 
 
 Young MiLNER was first sent to school at Edgbaston, 
 near Birmingham. This school had been begun at 
 Osmotherly, in Yorkshire, about the year 1672, a:nd 
 seems to have been removed to Edgbaston soon after 
 the year 1723. The Rev. James Hawley was a boy 
 with MiLNER at this school, which was the principal 
 nursery of the English Franciscans. Mr. Hawley 
 became a Franciscan, and was the assistant of the Rev. 
 J. Nutt, who was the pastor of the congregation and 
 head of the school at Edgbaston in 1786. Mr. Nutt 
 soon after built St. Peter's chapel in Birmingham, to 
 which he removed with his congregation, and died 
 there September 27, 1799- Mr. Hawley became the 
 pastor in 1803. The school continued at Edgbaston 
 till the year 1792, when it was transferred to Baddes- 
 ley Green. 
 
 From Edgbaston Milner removed, in his thirteenth 
 year, to the school at Sedgley Park, which had been 
 opened in 1763. He arrived there April 22, 1765, 
 and brought with him a Douay Catechism, two Prayer 
 Books, a Dictionary, and the Douay " Introduction to 
 the Latin Language," which, for some unaccountable 
 reason, was always called the " Figures." This was 
 the whole library of a youth who was to become so 
 distinguished for learning in after years. He used to 
 relate of himself that when a child he was very timid. 
 When he first went to school he did not get on well, 
 but appeared dull and stupid, and said his lessons 
 very indifferently. One day, however, when he hap- 
 pened to do well, his master was so pleased with him 
 that he gave him a coloured print as a reward and
 
 AGE 18.] CHAPTER FIRST. 7 
 
 encouragement. This, he used to say, was the turn- 
 ing point of his school career ; he felt fresh ani- 
 mation and confidence, and ever after studied with 
 success, and improved to the satisfaction of his 
 masters. 
 
 It is not improbable that Bishop Challoner was 
 mainly instrumental in his going to Sedgley Park. It 
 was through his exhortation and encouragement that 
 the school was begun by the Rev. WiUiam Errington ; 
 and the good bishop afforded the infant establishment 
 all the assistance in his power. In fact he has ever 
 been considered its real founder. Several children 
 were paid for entirely by Dr. Challoner, and others, 
 whose parents could not pay the whole pension, were 
 assisted by him. Dr. Milner gratefully acknow- 
 ledged that he had experienced protection and assist- 
 ance from Dr. Challoner in the early part of his life, 
 and that he was indebted to him for the invaluable 
 benefit of receiving early impressions of piety.* This 
 points evidently to his having received his education 
 chiefly by the assistance of the saintly bishop, of whom 
 he always used to speak with reverence and gratitude. 
 In his Life of Bishop Challoner he also mentions his 
 having " been brought up, in his early years, almost 
 under the eye of the deceased, attending his public 
 sermons, and frequenting his house for private instruc- 
 tions ; having also, at a later period, exercised the 
 sacred ministry under his directions, and assisted at 
 his conferences."! 
 
 He remained only one year at Sedgley Park, leaving 
 it on the 27th of -April, 1766. Being intended for the 
 
 * See his " Funeral Discourse on Bishop Challoner, p. (; 
 I Life of Dr. Challoner, p. 2.
 
 8 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1777. 
 
 ecclesiastical state, it was time for him to enter a 
 regular seminary, and he was accordingly sent to the 
 English College at Douay, in August, 1766, at the 
 recommendation of Bishop Challoner. The president 
 at that time was Dr. William Green, who was suc- 
 ceeded in 1770 by the Eev. Henry Tichborne Blount. 
 He studied there with several who became afterwards 
 distinguished ornaments of the priesthood on the 
 English mission, as well as with some noted laymen, 
 among whom was Charles, Duke of Norfolk, and John 
 Kemble. He used to say, when speaking of Kemble, 
 that he was not remarkable at Douay for rhetorical 
 powers, and he added : " I was thought quite as good 
 a speaker as he was." Little has been handed down 
 of his career at Douay, though he remained there 
 eleven years ; yet, those who were cotemporary with 
 him, always testified to his great application and 
 industry ; and the superior learning and science which 
 he displayed on his return to England, are proofs that 
 he must have pursued his studies at college with 
 extraordinary ardour and perseverance. His fellow- 
 students gave him the name of Jupiter, a tribute not 
 only to his powerful frame and bodily strength, but to 
 his superior genius and commanding abilities. He 
 seems to have had two familiar names ; for though his 
 contemporaries always said that he was called Jupiter, 
 he himself told a reverend gentleman, still living, that 
 at Douay he was called Apollo. Yet it has been 
 observed that he had no opportunities at Douay for 
 any brilliant display of talents : he never taught in 
 the schools, nor made any public defensions during his 
 course of philosophy or divinity. But he was all the 
 while assiduously cultivating his talents, and quietly 
 laying up that valuable store of erudition, from which
 
 AGE 25.] CHAPTER FIRST. 9 
 
 in his subsequent career he drew so copiously, and so 
 beneficially to himself and the public. 
 
 MiLNER was promoted to the holy order of priest- 
 hood in the year 1777, and returned in May to labour 
 in his native land. He resided at first in London, in 
 Gray's Inn ; he had no regular mission, but served 
 diiferent places occasionally, being, as he once ex- 
 pressed it himself to the writer, what was called fami- 
 liarly among the clergy, "a jobber." From the time 
 of his coming over till the death of his venerated 
 bishop and patron. Dr. Challoner, he often saw and 
 conversed with that great and holy man, which he 
 ever esteemed as a singular favour granted him by the 
 Almighty. He also received from him a copy of his 
 last edition of the Old and New Testaments. It 
 speaks highly for his literary attainments, that, young 
 as he was, he was entrusted with the care of the 
 library, which belonged to the venerable old English 
 Chapter, conjointly with the secular clergy of the 
 London District. The duties of a Catholic priest in 
 those days were hazardous as well as laborious ; but 
 MiLNER had wisdom and discretion as well as zeal, and 
 his ministry drew upon him neither obloquy nor per- 
 secution. 
 
 This ardent and zealous missioner had not laboured 
 in London two years, when he was called to Win- 
 chester, upon an occasion well worthy of his heroic 
 charity. There were many French prisoners confined 
 in the Ring's House in that city ; and a malignant 
 fever had broken out among them, which, in its 
 ravages, carried off many hundreds of them, with most 
 of the medical attendants, keepers, and others, in- 
 cluding the Rev. Mr. Nolan, the missioner at Win- 
 chester. AA'itli the approbation of his bishop, Mr.
 
 10 LIFE OF BISnOr MILNER. [»779. 
 
 MiLNER hastened to afford the aids and consolations of 
 his ministry to the unhappy sufferers. The King's 
 House had been converted into a prison of war in the 
 reign of George II. The ardent zeal and charity 
 which he displayed were, doubtless, strong recom- 
 mendations of him as a fit pastor for the congrega- 
 tion at Winchester ; and he was duly appointed to 
 that charge in October of the same year, 1779- The 
 congregation were at first dissatisfied, complaining that 
 the bishop had sent them a boy ; but they very soon 
 changed their sentiments. The next year was re- 
 markable for the dreadful disturbances in London and 
 other places, known as Lord George Gordon's riots, 
 from the name of their fanatical leader. The first act 
 for the relief of his Majesty's CathoHc subjects was 
 passed in 1778. " What rendered it more remark- 
 able," says Bishop Milner, '' it took place without 
 opposition in Parliament, or dissension among the 
 Catholics themselves. The latter circumstance was 
 chiefly owing to the proper conduct of the Catholic 
 leaders, in timely submitting the religious part of the 
 bill to the judgment of their prelates, and to the 
 religious, honourable, and straightforward conduct of 
 William Sheldon, Esq., a gentleman of ancient family, 
 who acted as secretary on the occasion."* But this 
 wise and just measure of relief excited the envy of the 
 Dissenters, who formed what was termed a Protestant 
 Association, inviting every one to join them for the 
 protection of the Protestant religion against the Popish 
 tendencies of the King and Parliament, wliich threat- 
 ened to overthrow their religion in these kingdoms. 
 Milner considered AYesley as the chief author of 
 
 * " Supplementary Memoirs of English Catholics," p. 42.
 
 AGE L>7.] CHAPTER FIRST, 11 
 
 the riots that followed.* They represented the 
 Catholics as enemies to all Protestant governments, 
 and that they were not to be relied upon, although 
 they had taken the new oath of allegiance, because 
 they could get a dispensation from the Pope, even 
 after having sworn that he had no power to absolve 
 them. They presented a monster petition to Parlia- 
 ment, signed by nearly 120,000 persons, for the repeal 
 of the new relief act, which was carried on a man's 
 head ; and immediately after its presentation on 
 Friday, June 2nd, 1780, the mob paraded in different 
 divisions, and committed great excesses and depreda- 
 tions in the Catholic chapels of the Sardinian and 
 Bavarian embassies, and also in and about Moorfields. 
 At first, the chapels and houses of Catholics only w^ere 
 attacked and demolished ; but soon the prisons to 
 which rioters had been committed, and the houses 
 of the magistrates who had committed them, under- 
 went the same fate. Then the rioters were proceed- 
 ing to destroy all other prisons, to attack the Bank, 
 pubhc offices, and dwellings of the higher classes. 
 Horror and consternation pe vailed everywhere, and 
 these excesses only went on increasing, till on the 9th 
 of June, the King issued a proclamation, authorizing 
 the military at once to repress the rioters. This was 
 effectual ; government resumed its proper power, and 
 peace and order were at length restored. But the 
 insurrection had extended all over England, and one 
 Catholic chapel had been burnt at Bath, and another 
 at Hull, and Catholics were everywhere threatened 
 with destruction. 
 
 The aged and venerable Bishop Challoner survived 
 
 * See bis " Letters from Ireland," Letter IL, note.
 
 12 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1781. 
 
 this storm ; but the anxiety which he had suffered 
 during the riots, and the affliction which he felt to see 
 the chapels demolished, and so many Catholics 
 deprived of the means of public worship and spiritual 
 instruction, and even the place where he himself used 
 to preach burned to the ground, preyed upon the 
 spirits of one now so far advanced in years, and 
 greatly contributed to accelerate his death, which took 
 place on the 12th of January in the following 
 year, 1781, in the 90th year of his age. Melner 
 on the following Sunday, which was the 14th of 
 January, pronounced in - his chapel at Winchester 
 a funeral discourse on the venerable deceased prelate, 
 from a few notes which he hastily penned over-night. 
 It is a glowing panegyric on the saintly bishop, not, 
 however, intended so much to excite admiration as 
 imitation. It dwells, therefore, upon the principal 
 virtues of the deceased, his charity, zeal, fidelity in all 
 pastoral duties, patience in suffering, assiduity in 
 prayer, love of holy poverty, humility, and meekness. 
 " I know," says the preacher, " that it is very usual to 
 magnify the merits of the deceased, as usual as it is to 
 detract from them when living, and I very much fear 
 that, after death, we often canonize those in our 
 discourse, on whom God has decided in a very dif- 
 ferent manner ; but when I say that Bishop Challoner 
 was a model of Christian virtue, every breast glows 
 with a conviction of this truth ; whatever I can allege 
 in his commendation will barely answer the idea you 
 have already formed of him ; and when on every 
 occasion I represent Bishop Challoner as a saint, I say 
 no more of him now after his death, than all who knew 
 him have said of him during his life." 
 
 In one part of this excellent discourse there is
 
 AGE 29.] CHAPTER FIRST. 13 
 
 an allusion to the strange places to which Catholics 
 were compelled to resort in those times of persecution, 
 to hear their holy bishop. " I must not omit his 
 assiduity in preaching the word of God, a duty he 
 never omitted in the worst of times, while an obscure 
 retreat was to be found to shelter his poor audience ; — 
 and indeed to such obscure retreats has he, at certain 
 times, been driven to comply with this essential 
 obligation, that the catacombs where the ancient 
 Christians held their assemblies in times of persecution, 
 were elegant and commodious compared with them. 
 But to conceive the force and emotion with which he 
 announced this sacred word, or to form an idea of the 
 fire, which, through all the frost of age, then darted 
 from his countenance, and animated his weak and 
 emaciated frame, you must, my brethren, have seen 
 him and heard him on those occasions." Milner, in 
 fact, had often seen and heard him on those occasions, 
 and used to relate that these sermons were delivered 
 in a cockpit, hired for the purpose. He used also 
 to tell us that Bishop Challoner occasionally held 
 meetings of his clergy, from necessity, at some obscure 
 inn or public-house, where each one present had his 
 pipe, and sat with a pot of beer before him, to obviate 
 all suspicion of the real character of the guests, and 
 the purpose of their assembly. Thus, the celebrated 
 preacher. Dr. Archer, began his preaching at a public- 
 house, near Lincoln's Inn Fields, at which the Catholics 
 assembled on Sunday evenings to hear the word of 
 God, in a large club-room in Turn Style ; and the 
 Rev. Henry Peach, uncle of the worthy missioner of 
 St. Chad's, Birmingham, preached in a room in Cock- 
 pit-alley, Drury-lane. To these meetings Milner evi-
 
 14 LIFE OF BISHOP MH.NER. [1781. 
 
 dently alludes in the above extract : he had often been 
 present at them. 
 
 This discourse was the first composition which 
 MiLNER published. It is full of unction and practical 
 instruction, — forcible rather than eloquent, — but the 
 language is easy, natural, and correct. As a composi- 
 tion it is superior to the usual productions of the 
 clergy of that time. Their foreign education had a 
 bad effect upon their English, and often subjected 
 them to unpleasant criticism. Dr. Milner used to 
 relate, that soon after his coming on the English mis- 
 sion, he was on a visit to a Catholic gentleman in the 
 country, and when evening came, was requested to say 
 prayers for the family. A young lady brought him a 
 prayer book, and Bishop Chahoner's Meditations, and 
 supposing him to be no better a proficient in his own 
 language than some other Douay priests whom she 
 had known, said very flippantly, as she pointed out the 
 meditation : " There, Sir, when you have finished the 
 prayers, read that, if you canr He used to say that 
 he felt very indignant at this, and exerted himself to 
 read the lesson well ; and he so far succeeded that the 
 young lady made an apology for her rudeness, and 
 praised his reading. This, however, determined him 
 to perfect himself in elocution : for which purpose he 
 took lessons of the celebrated rhetorician, Mr. John 
 Walker, who was a convert to the Catholic Faith. 
 Dr. Milker always held him in high estimation, and 
 used to speak of him as his friend, — " Mr. Walker, 
 whom I have the happiness to call my friend."* In 
 his " Letters from Ireland]"" he praises him in high 
 
 * Life of Bishop Challoner, p. 4 1 ,
 
 AGE 29.J CHAPTER SECOND. 15 
 
 terms, as follows : " My lamented friend, the late 
 worthy, upright, and pious John Walker, author of the 
 Pronouncing Dictionary, Elements of Elocution, the 
 Rhetorical Grammar, Deism Disarmed, &c. This 
 ingenious author may in truth be called the Guide 
 d'Arezzo of elocution, having discovered the scale of 
 speaking sounds, by which reading and delivery are 
 now reduced to a system/'* He always inculcated to 
 his clergy the importance of becoming good readers ; 
 and sometimes related the above anecdote of himself, 
 to enforce his exhortations the more effectually. 
 
 CHAPTEE SECOND. 
 
 MILNER ON THE MISSION AT WINCHESTER. — THE AFFAIR OF 
 SAINSBURY. — milker's AFFABILITY AND LOVE OF CHILDREN. — 
 HIS EARLY PUBLICATIONS. — SERMON ON THE KING'S RECO- 
 VERY. — SKETCH OF CATHOLIC AFFAIRS. — FIRST CATHOLIC 
 COMMITTEE. — SECOND COMMITTEE. — MEMORIAL TO MR. PITT. — 
 THE PROTESTATION. — THE NEW OATH. — ITS CONDEMNATION. — 
 THE BLUE BOOKS. — " MEDITATIONS OF ST. TERESA." — DEATH 
 OF TWO BISHOPS. — THREE LETTERS OF A LAY3IAN. — MILNER's 
 ANSWER APPOINTMENT OF TWO NEW BISHOPS. — FRESH CON- 
 DEMNATION OF THE OATH. — THE SCHISMATICAL PROTEST. — 
 RELIEF BU.L. — MILNEr's "STATEMENT OF FACTS." — IRISH OATH 
 ADOPTED. — BILL PASSED. 
 
 Perhaps no priest ever entered upon his sacred mi- 
 nistry with a deeper sense of its responsibilities, than 
 the subject of this biography. No one was more alive 
 to the obligation of striving to be perfect, so well 
 
 * Letter II., Noie at the end.
 
 16 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1788- 
 
 expressed in these words of St. Ambrose : " Vita 
 sacerdotis prepondenire debet, slcut preponderat 
 gratia."* Milner was, indeed, the model of a mis- 
 sioner ; and his zeal, charity, and self-devotedness were 
 unbounded. 
 
 When he came to Winchester, in 1779, he found 
 
 among the members of his flock, a youth of great 
 
 promise, John Lingard, then in his ninth year, having 
 
 been born at Winchester, February 5, 1771. This 
 
 interesting boy had been already recommended by 
 
 Milner's predecessor, the Rev. J. Nolan, to Bishop 
 
 Challoner, to be educated for the ecclesiastical state. 
 
 Milner approved of the choice, and, to use his own 
 
 words, he was by him " singled out from a crowd of his 
 
 companions, and provided, by his zeal and laborious 
 
 efforts, with those means of cultivating his superior 
 
 talents, which now do such ample justice to the bishop's 
 
 l'^-'^'^\ discernment "i This does not allude to pecuniary 
 
 )^/y ** '^ means, for of this young Lingard did not stand in 
 
 r /A -'''^eed; but to the efforts of Milner to forward his 
 
 tljiJc.^'L education, and procure his being sent to Douay College 
 
 rJ^^%^ ^y Bishop James Talbot, for which college he left 
 
 ^,^^?^^^Winchester in 1782, accompanied to the coach by Mrs. 
 
 c^ , ^ Cave, then his play-fellow, and of about his own age. 
 
 He entered Douay College, September 30, 1782 : his 
 
 subsequent career needs no panegyric in these pages. 
 
 A remarkable instance of the zeal and charity of 
 Mr. Melner deserves a special record. In March, 1788, 
 a man named Sainsbury, a ratcatcher, was condemned 
 to death and executed at Winchester, on a charge of 
 
 * The life of a priest should outweigh the lives of others, even 
 as grace preponderates in him. — St. Ainb., L. iii. Ep. 23. 
 f " Orthodox Journal," vol. vii. p. 304.
 
 AGE 36.] CHAPTER SECOND. 17 
 
 having robbed the house of a Mr. Amyatt, at Free- 
 mantle, in the New Forest, on the 15th of the previous 
 January. AIilner was sent for to attend this poor 
 man, at his own request, though he was not a Cathohc, 
 and MiLNER had known nothing of the man before. 
 He declared that he went " with a sinking heart, and 
 with unwilling steps," to pay his first visit to this 
 man after his condemnation ; for he then considered 
 him, not as any common criminal, but an execrable 
 wretch ; and he said that if he could not bring him to 
 an open acknowledgment of his crime, he could do 
 him no good, and should abandon him to his fate. 
 After making every exertion for this end, but all to no 
 purpose, he began to think that there might be some 
 mistake in the affair. He therefore made many 
 inquiries to ascertain the exact truth, and finally 
 became convinced of the man's innocence, but not 
 till it was too late. The man was executed, and 
 MiLNER attended him to the gallows. He afterwards 
 wrote three Letters in the local papers, the Hampshire 
 Chronicle of April 7th and 14th, and the Salisbury 
 and Winchester Journal of May 19th, 1788, to prove 
 the innocence of Sainsbury, which indeed was after- 
 wards fully admitted. He procured, as he says in 
 one of these Letters, " a body of positive evidence, with 
 the names and places of abode of the several vouchers, 
 which, when referred to, must at once have overturned 
 those proofs in the minds of the most prejudiced." 
 The following fine passage in his second Letter is 
 worthy of the immortal Milner: — 
 
 " It is said with confidence that he died hardened 
 and impenitent. Great God ! I exclaimed, at that 
 awful moment of his execution, how contemptible 
 is the judgment of mankind, since it is often so 
 
 C
 
 18 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. ['789. 
 
 diametrically opposite to thine ! Is it 
 
 then by the equivocal mark of sighs and tears, or by 
 dispositions of the heart, that these persons judge of 
 true conversion ? In fact the poor creature prayed, 
 and prayed unremittingly, from the day of his condem- 
 nation. He gave his life cheerfully to atone for his 
 real crimes, as he publicly declared. He begged of 
 the Almighty that his vengeance might neither in this 
 world, nor the next, fall upon the heads of the wretches 
 who had sworn his life away. Now such dispositions 
 as these form the very heroism of Christianity. 
 Methinks I see the scornful dimple sit on the full fed 
 cheek of some modern Pharisee, at this panegyric on a 
 poacher and poultry stealer. But, too rigid moralist, 
 look to thyself, and trace that story of thy own 
 misdeeds, written with the finger of the All-seeing 
 Judge, ere thou venturest to cast a stone at the poor 
 sinner before thee." 
 
 Mk. Milner was not only respected and beloved for 
 his zealous and faithful discharge of his pastoral duties 
 at Winchester, but for his great affability and kindness 
 to every one. He was remarkable for his condescension, 
 and simplicity of manners, by which he made himself 
 all to all. He was always a favourite with children, 
 whom he delighted to amuse by a variety of ingenious 
 tricks and performances, such as making a card fly out 
 of the pack, cutting out paper figures of animals and 
 dolls, and making them move about the table. On one 
 occasion, to please a little boy, he purchased a lamb, 
 and brought it home on his horse before him, to the 
 great amusement of passers by in the streets. 
 
 In 1785, appeared his second publication : " A 
 Letter to the Author of a Book called^ ' A Candid 
 and impartial Sketch of the Life and Government
 
 AGE 37.] CHAPTER SECOND. IQ 
 
 of Pope Clement XIV. London'' In 1789, a Day 
 of General Thanksgiving was observed, and very 
 appropriately on the feast of St. George, the patron 
 of England, and the saint of the King's name, for the 
 recovery of George III. from the first visitation of that 
 malady, which so painfully clouded the latter years of 
 his life. On that occasion, the King went publicly to 
 return thanks at St. Paul's Cathedral. A Sermon was 
 dehvered by Mr. Milner at Winchester, which he 
 published in a quarto pamphlet of 34 pages, with notes 
 historical and explanatory. A direct and severe attack 
 had been publicly and pointedly levelled at him a short 
 time before by a Protestant clergyman at Winchester ; 
 and one object which he had in this Discourse, was to 
 vindicate his religion, and " lay down his political 
 creed, and the touchstone of his past and future 
 conduct."* He gives a vivid description of the effects 
 of the late affliction of the monarch. 
 
 " Can we forget the favour Heaven has conferred on 
 us also, in restoring health to our Sovereign ? Call to 
 mind the grief and consternation that seized on all 
 orders and all denominations of people, when it was 
 pronounced in the highest assembly of the nation, that 
 we were no longer under the personal government of 
 George III. Represent to yourselves the perplexity 
 and confusion of the wisest statesmen in that new 
 situation, unenhghtened by law or precedent, in which 
 they found themselves standing ; however melancholy 
 the scene was of public affairs, the prospect was still 
 more gloomy. Call to mind, I say, this public cala- 
 mity in which we were but so lately involved, in order 
 to judge how much we are indebted, on our own 
 
 * Preface, p. i.
 
 20 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1790. 
 
 account, to the Divine Providence, for giving back to 
 our ardent prayers, and that sooner even than we 
 dared to hope, a Prince, whose amiable qualities we 
 had so long experienced, but the extent of whose 
 worth we never knew till we were on the point of 
 being deprived of it."* 
 
 The Discourse has three divisions. In the first, the 
 preacher treats of charity as the essential virtue of 
 Christianity, and complains of the uncharitableness of 
 the recent accusations against Catholics, of systemati- 
 cally cherishing a hatred of other Christians. He 
 proceeds to answer distinctly the three principal 
 charges of uncharitableness, sedition, and perjury, 
 brought against our holy religion. In the second 
 division, " emerging," as he says, " from the turbid sea 
 of controversy," he enters upon the more pleasing sub- 
 ject of loyalty, and the particular motives for attach- 
 ment to the reigning sovereign from his benevolent 
 character, and mild and just government. In the third 
 division, he points out the duties resulting from loyalty 
 to our sovereign, and particularly those of attachment 
 to his person and family, support of his government, 
 the avoidance of party spirit, the due observance of 
 the laws, and constant prayers for the safety of his 
 Majesty's person, family, and government, and par- 
 ticularly on that day of thanksgiving. 
 
 " During the late indisposition of his Majesty you 
 know with what fervour and importunity we called 
 upon the Lord to remember David and all his cle- 
 mency. Now, then, that the Almighty has graciously 
 heard our prayers, and those of the nation, on this day 
 appointed for returning thanks for the same, on this 
 
 * Page 2.
 
 AGE 38.] CHAPTER SECOND. 21 
 
 day of his Majesty's Patron Saint, and that of the 
 kingdom ; on this day, which I can consider in no 
 other hght than as a second coronation day of a king 
 according to the people's heart, and according to God's 
 own heart; judge with what redoubled fervour we 
 ought to sing with the same Royal Prophet : Lord in 
 thy strength shall the King rejoice^ and in the safety 
 thou hast wrought for him shall he exult greatly^ ^c." 
 The whole Discourse is in Milner's accustomed 
 style, — nervous, learned, and argumentative, solid 
 but not brilliant, and without any display of oratory. 
 
 In the year 1790, Mr. Milner first came forth in 
 print on those questions which had begun to cause 
 serious dissensions among the Catholics, by publishing 
 " The Clergyman^s Answer to the Layman's Letter 
 on the Appointment of Bishops.'^ To explain the 
 occasion and purport of this publication, it will be 
 necessary to go back to the commencement of these 
 dissensions. In 1783, a few years after the act for the 
 relief of Catholics, which had passed in 1778, a Com- 
 mittee was appointed at a meeting of certain Catholics, 
 which was to consist of five persons, and to continue 
 for five years. These were to attend to, and promote 
 the affairs of the Roman Catholics in England : " and 
 here," observes Dr. Milner, "properly begins that 
 system of lay-interference and domination in the 
 ecclesiastical affairs of the English Catholics, which 
 .... has perpetuated disorder, divisions, and irre- 
 ligion among too many of them for near the last forty 
 years."* The chief measure contemplated by this 
 Committee was a plan for procuring the appointment 
 of Bishops in ordinary, instead of Vicars Apostolic. 
 
 * '' Supplementary Memoirs of English Catholics," 1820, p. 47.
 
 22 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. ['790. 
 
 They drew up a paper, dated May 24, 1783, which 
 contained some assertions injurious to the spiritual 
 government of the Vicars Apostolic ; but when the 
 five years of their appointment had expired, they had 
 proceeded no farther with their proposed plan. They, 
 however, addressed a Letter to the Catholics of Eng- 
 land, dated April 10, 1787, which, as Dr. Milner 
 observed, " might pass for a speech of Mirabeau in the 
 French National Assembly, particularly where it in- 
 sinuates that the people have an equal authority with 
 their pastors in regulating every part of Church 
 discipline^ and that they are competent to make what- 
 ever changes they please, in conformity with the laws 
 of the state, without either Pope or Council."* 
 
 A nobleman, one of these five members of the 
 Committee, acted so conspicuous a part in the Catholic 
 body, and had been till then so remarkable for his 
 religious sentiments and conduct, that the Prince of 
 Wales, afterwards George IV., used to say seriously : 
 " My father is the head of the Protestant Church, and 
 Lord '^^ is the head of the Catholic Church." This 
 Committee was succeeded by another, formed in 1 787, 
 consisting often lay members, to whom were added in 
 the year following three ecclesiastics. Dr. James 
 Talbot, the Vicar- Apostolic of the London District, Dr. 
 Charles Berington, coadjutor of Dr. Thomas Talbot, 
 A^.A. of the Midland District, and the Rev. Joseph 
 Wilks, a Benedictine monk, on the mission at Bath. 
 The secretary of this, as well as of the first Committee, 
 was Mr. Charles Butler of Lincoln's Inn. The first 
 act of the new Committee was the presentation of a 
 memorial to Mr. Pitt, setting forth the grievances 
 
 * " Supp. Memoirs," p. 49.
 
 AGE 38.] CHAPTER SECOND. 23 
 
 under which the Catholics laboured, and expressing a 
 hope for his support in their intended application for 
 redress. This was favourably received ; but the 
 minister desired to be furnished with the opinions of 
 the Catholic clergy and universities on the existence, 
 or extent, of the Pope's dispensing power ; while he 
 assured the Committee that Government seriously 
 wished to grant that relief to the Catholics which 
 in prudence could be adopted. The six Catholic 
 Universities of Louvain, Douay, Paris, Alcala, Valla- 
 dolid, and Salamanca all returned satisfactory answers 
 to Mr. Pitt's three questions, and unanimously replied 
 that neither Pope, Cardinals, nor any body of men, or 
 any individual of the Church of Eome, has, or have, 
 any civil authority, power, jurisdiction, or pre-eminence 
 within the realm of England, nor can absolve or dis- 
 pense with his Majesty's subjects from their oath of 
 allegiance ; and that there is no principle of Catholic 
 faith, by which Cathohcs are justified in not keeping 
 faith with heretics in any transactions. 
 
 The Committee next resolved, on the 19th of April, 
 1788, that their secretary, Mr. C. Butler, should pre- 
 pare a bill for the repeal of the laws against the 
 English Catholics. This was accompanied by a 
 declaration of Catholic principles, known as the 
 Protestafio?!, which Dr. Milner describes as " drawn 
 up in ungrammatical language, with inconclusive 
 reasoning and erroneous theology," and expressly 
 contrived to deceive both Protestants and Catholics.* 
 This Protestation was transmitted to the Vicars 
 Apostolic, all of whom at first made some difficulties 
 about signing it.f They did indeed afterwards sign 
 
 * " Supp. Memoirs," p. 54. 
 
 t Mr. C. Butler, in his " Red Book," fol. 14.
 
 24 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1790. 
 
 it ; but Bishop Walmesley, Y.A. of the Western 
 District, complained that he was surprised into his 
 signature, and withdrew it. Bishop Matthew Gibson, 
 V.A., of the Northern District, directed that if his 
 name was absolutely necessary, it should be affixed 
 by Bishop James Talbot, in sensu Catholico. The 
 clergy generally felt the same repugnance as their 
 superiors : " but," says De. Milner, " what with the 
 explanations, assurances, and promises of the different 
 agents of the Committee,"* they and their flocks were 
 mostly induced to subscribe it ; many from the posi- 
 tive assurance given that the Protestation would not 
 be followed by any new oath. The total number of 
 signatures was 1523. 
 
 The Committee, however, notwithstanding the as- 
 surance given, soon framed a new Oath, containing a 
 new Profession of Faith, in which they adopted the 
 extraordinary name of Protesting Catholic Dissenters. 
 This Oath was formally condemned, and declared 
 unlawful to be taken, by the unanimous decision of 
 the four Vicars Apostolic, Bishops "Walmesley, James 
 and Thomas Talbot, and Matthew Gibson, at a 
 meeting which they held at Hammersmith, October 
 19, 1789. At this meeting were also present Dr. 
 Wm. Sharrock, coadjutor of Bishop Walmesley, Dr. 
 Charles Berington, coadjutor of Bishop Thomas 
 Talbot, with the Rev. Robert Bannister, and the 
 subject of this biography, the Rev. John Milner. 
 " Thus," writes the last mentioned, " through the 
 mercy of God, and the vigilance and firmness of these 
 truly Apostolic Prelates, were schism and heresy 
 detected and repressed among English Catholics at 
 
 * '• Supp. Mtmoir:<," p. 55.
 
 AGE 38.] CHAPTER SECOND. 25 
 
 their first appearance."* The Vicars Apostolic pub- 
 Hshed their condemnation of the Oath in an ^'•Encyclical 
 Letter'' to all the faithful, in which they also declare 
 that no oath ought to be taken, or any new instrument 
 affecting religion subscribed, without the previous 
 approbation of the Bishops ; and they conclude in 
 these words : " To these determinations, therefore, we 
 require your submission." 
 
 In face of this solemn condemnation by the four 
 Bishops in England, the Secretary, Mr. Charles Butler, 
 wrote a long Appeal of eight closely printed quarto 
 pages, addressed to the Cathohcs of England, dated 
 November 25, 1789, in defence of the Protestation and 
 Oath ; which Appeal was signed by two clerical and five 
 lay members of the Committee. To this were appended 
 the heads of the proposed Bill, with the condemned 
 Oath. Next came a long Letter to the four Vicars 
 Apostolic, remonstrating against their censure, and in 
 which, says Dr. Milner, both " they and the Holy See 
 are grossly insulted and calumniated." This was 
 signed by the same persons as the Appeal ; and these 
 papers form the contents of the First of the three 
 famous Blue Books., so called from being stitched up in 
 blue, or rather purple covers. The author has seen 
 several copies of them, and Dr. Milner's copies, with 
 notes in his own hand, are now lying before him. 
 
 In the midst of these affairs, Mr. Milner found 
 nourishment for his piety in translating the " Medita- 
 tions of St. Teresa after Communion." He published 
 his translation with the following title : " The Ex- 
 clamations of tJie Soul to God: or the Meditations 
 of St. Teresa after Communion. Newly translated ; 
 
 * " Supp. Memoirs," p. %^.
 
 26 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1790. 
 
 togetlier with an Introductory Dedication to a Reve- 
 rend Prioress. By the Rev.JohnMUner^F.S.A., 
 1790." He was attracted to this work of St. Teresa, by 
 the high encomium passed upon it by the Eev. Alban 
 Butler, in his Life of the Saint. The translation, 
 however, was made from a French version, and not 
 from the Spanish original ; and the translator aimed at 
 little beyond preserving the sense of the original. 
 The Introductory Dedication was to the Reverend 
 Mother Mary Augustina More, Prioress of the English 
 Canonesses of the Order of St. Augustine, at Bruges, 
 who was a lineal descendant from the illustrious Sir 
 Thomas More. It was a general defence of rehgious 
 vows ; and the author particularly asserted the utility 
 and even necessity of Religious Houses for the proper 
 education of female youth ; in the course of which he 
 exposed the inconsistent and paradoxical language of 
 the Rev. Joseph Berington, who, in his " State and 
 Behaviour of the English Catholics^' had first acknow- 
 ledged that the Catholic ladies who had been educated 
 in convents, stood unrivalled as wives, mothers, citizens 
 and Christians ; and then proclaimed that nuns were 
 ill adapted to the business of educating them. The 
 writer, says Milner, " perhaps sometimes deals in 
 paradox, in order to exercise the powers of his eloquence 
 in rendering it plausible, and certainly possesses a 
 brilliancy of talents sufficient to enliven the gravest 
 subjects, without those sallies of levity, and sometimes 
 irreligion, with which he disgraces them." Mr. Be- 
 rington retorted in very unbecoming language in the 
 ^ Preface to his " Memoirs of Panzani" in which he 
 ' ''^^^f^^even ridiculedJhe^jportraU of St. Teresa, prefixed to 
 7/^^eeJ''¥-^- Milner's translation ; and descended to scurrility 
 ' I and sarcasm against another work of Milner's on St. 
 
 George. 
 
 ;; i\^A££^.
 
 AGE 38.] CHAPTER SECOND. 27 
 
 Two of the Vicars Apostolic died soon after the 
 condemnation of the Oath^ Dr. James Talbot, on the 
 26th of January, 1790, and Dr. Matthew Gibson on 
 the 19th of May following. These deaths led to 
 active intrigues on the part of the Committee to pro- 
 cure the appointment of two successors, who might 
 favour their views ; and they were particularly anxious 
 to have Dr. Charles Berington appointed to the 
 London District ; who was a member of the Com- 
 mittee, and had all along acted with it. Various 
 publications appeared, the object of which was to 
 persuade the clergy and laity that they had a right to 
 choose their own bishops, and tio procure their con- 
 secration by any bishop, without reference to the 
 Pope. One of the Committee, John Throckmorton, 
 Esq., afterwards Baronet, published three pamphlets 
 with this object, the first of which called forth Mr. 
 Milner's Reply, alluded to above, which was entitled : 
 " The Clergyman's Reply to the Layman's Letter 
 on the Appointment of Bishops." This appeared in 
 1790, and was followed by a Second Letter from 
 Mr. Throckmorton, which Milner answered by his 
 " Divine Right of Episcopacy^ addressed to the 
 Catholic Laity of England^ in answer to the Lay- 
 man's Second Letter to the Catholic Clergy of 
 England., with Remarks on the Oaths of Supremacy 
 and Allegiance r A third })amphlet appeared from the 
 Layman, now Sir John Throckmorton, being a second 
 edition of his Letter, with " Further Considerations 
 on the same Subject., S^c." Three other priests had 
 written in refutation of the Layman's Letter, the Rev. 
 Charles Plowden, Rev. Dr. Strickland, and Rev. 
 William Pilling ; and the appearance of four answers 
 witliin a few weeks after the Layman's first Letter
 
 28 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1790. 
 
 shows the alarm caused by what Milner denounced 
 as " the open attempt that was made to separate the 
 clergy from the faith and communion of the Church." 
 Milner alone, however, followed up his exposure and 
 refutation of this dangerous writer ; and after the Lay- 
 man had published his second edition, with " Further 
 Considerations^'' he gave the finishing stroke to the 
 controversy by his " Ecclesiastical Democracy de- 
 tected ; being a Review of the Controversy between 
 the Layman and the Clergyman concerning the 
 Appointment of Bishops, S^-c.'^ 1793. 
 
 It was, indeed, of the utmost importance to refute 
 at once the false principles, and expose the pernicious 
 tendency of these publications. It is probable that 
 the Layman was not aware at first of the real charac- 
 ter and tendency of his system ; and he little expected 
 the burst of indignation with which it would be 
 received ; but, in truth, as Milner observed, the 
 matter in question involved the very life and existence 
 of our religion. It tended to break that chain of 
 authority which unites each pastor with the Apostles, 
 with Jesus Christ, and with his heavenly Father ; it 
 tended to degrade our religion from a divine to a mere 
 human system of spiritual government, to deprive 
 the pastors of their only authority in teaching and 
 governing, and the faithful of their only comfort in 
 hearing and obeying.* The Lajnnan's grand object 
 was to procure the appointment of Dr. Charles Be- 
 rington to the vacant Vicariate of the London District ; 
 and this he hoped to efiPect by calling upon the clergy 
 to assemble, and in conjunction with the laity, to 
 appoint their bishops without any reference to the 
 
 * " Ecclesiastical Democracy Detected," Preface.
 
 AGE 38.] CHAPTER SECOND. 29 
 
 Holy See. His writings, however, produced no effect; 
 they were ably refuted, and his schemes entirely 
 frustrated. 
 
 In the latter part of the year 1790, Dr. William 
 Gibson was regularly appointed to the Northern Dis- 
 trict, and Dr. John Douglass to the London. It must 
 be recorded to the credit of Dr. Charles Berington, 
 that he wrote and circulated a Letter, dated Oscott, 
 November 4, 1790, to all the clergy of the London 
 District, to the members of the Committee, and to 
 such of the laity, as had most advocated his own 
 appointment, which Letter, after declaring his great 
 satisfaction at the appointment of Dr. Douglass, and 
 speaking of him in high terms, he thus concluded : 
 " I must, therefore, beg leave to entreat you by all 
 that is dear to you, by your well known zeal for reU- 
 gion, by your desire of promoting peace and concord, 
 &c., &c., &c., to grant him that same hearty concur- 
 rence and generous support, which you so liberally 
 promised to, Gentlemen, 
 
 " Your most obedient, humble serv^ant, 
 
 " Charles Berington." 
 
 Strong efforts, however, were still made by some 
 in favour of Dr. Berington, particularly by Mr. Llenry 
 Clifford, the barrister, in a pamphlet entitled: '^Re- 
 flections 071 the Appointment of a Catholic Bishop to 
 the London District^ But the two Bishops elect were 
 consecrated at Lulworth ; Dr. W. Gibson on the 5th, 
 and Dr. Douglass on the 19th of December. The 
 consecration semion for Dr. Gibson was preached by 
 Mr. Milner, and published with the following title : 
 " A Discourse delivered at the Consecration of the 
 Right Rev. William Gibson^ Bishop of Acanthos, 
 V. A. N., in the Chapel of Lulworth Castle., on
 
 30 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1790. 
 
 Sunday^ the 5th of December, 1790 ; together with 
 an Introductory Account of the Consecration, S^c. 
 By the Rev. John Milner, F.S.A" 
 
 The Introduction, after briefly defending the cano- 
 nical appointment of the two new prelates, in confor- 
 mity with the rules established on the first formation 
 of the four Districts in England, gives a brief outline 
 of the character and qualifications of Dr. Wm. Gibson, 
 and some interesting particulars of the consecration 
 in Mr. Weld's beautiful chapel at Lulworth Castle. 
 " Its rich sacerdotal habits received an addition from 
 the princely sacristy of Wardour Castle, and the har- 
 monious organ and choir were tuned to inspire suitable 
 sentiments of reverence and devotion. Besides the 
 two prelates, the consecrator and the elect, there were 
 five other officiating clergymen in rich vestments, and 
 seven inferior ministers in clerical ornaments, amongst 
 whom were the four eldest sons of the religious patron. 
 He himself, like another David, before the ark, led the 
 band of sacred singers, choosing, in the sentiment of 
 that holy king, for himself and for his children rather 
 to be the least in God^s house, than to dwell in the 
 tabernacles of sinners. — Ps. Ixxxiii. The other per- 
 sons of note, besides the family of the castle, and the 
 stated congregation, were the Right Honorable Lord 
 Arundell, the Honorable Mr. Chfi^ord and lady, Mr. 
 Raymund Arundell, Major O'Brien and lady, the 
 Right Rev. John Douglass, Bishop elect, who arrived 
 too late to acquire the necessary liability for bearing 
 part in the august ceremony." 
 
 The text chosen was Thou art Peter, Sec. ; and 
 the truths deduced from it, which formed the sub- 
 stance of a very learned and powerful discourse, were, 
 first, that we are taught to venerate the Church, and
 
 AGE 38.] CHAPTER SECOND. 31 
 
 trust to the Almighty's protection of her ; and second^ 
 that we learn to venerate the sacred hierarchy, to the 
 perpetuity of which the august ceremonial of that day 
 was subordinate. The whole Discourse was one of 
 superior excellence, and would well repay perusal even 
 at this distance of time. One passage, however, con- 
 veying a well-merited eulogy on Lulworth, may be 
 here transcribed : " I speak within walls equally known 
 to, equally respected, and that have been equally 
 honoured by Pius VI. and by George III. On this 
 spot I can proclaim the spiritual prerogatives of the 
 successor of St. Peter, without exciting the jealousy of 
 the British sovereign ; and I can equally inculcate the 
 allegiance due to the monarch of Britain, without any 
 apprehension of censure, nay, with an absolute confi- 
 dence of approbation from the Head of the Church. 
 As his Holiness knows that this is not the seat of 
 irreligion or heterodoxy, so his Majesty is convinced 
 that it is not a harbour for sedition or disloyalty." 
 
 In conjunction with the Vicar Apostolic of the 
 Western District, Dr. Walmesley, the two new Bishops 
 at once proceeded to pubhsh a fresh condemnation of 
 the proposed Oath, in an " Encyclical Letter," agreed 
 upon at Lulworth. The V. A. of the Midland District, 
 Dr. Thomas Talbot, was then too much embarrassed 
 with bad health and other difficulties, to meet his 
 brethren in council. In this Letter, the Bishops 
 referred to the previous condemnation of the Oath 
 by the four Vicars Apostolic, which had been also 
 confirmed by the Holy See : they declared that the 
 altered Oath had not received their approbation, and 
 therefore could not be taken by the faithful ; and that 
 they totally disapproved of the appellation of Protesting 
 Catholic Dissenters. They concluded with declaring
 
 32 LIFE OF BISPIOP MILNER. [1791. 
 
 that some recent publications were schismatical, 
 scandalous, and insulting to the supreme Head of the 
 Church, the Vicar of Jesus Christ. This " Encyclical 
 Letter" is dated London, Jan. 19, 1791- 
 
 The temper and spirit of the Committee may be 
 estimated by the cool and contemptuous acknowledg- 
 ment of their Secretary that this fresh condemnation 
 of the Oath by episcopal authority, " did not withhold 
 the Coimnittee from continuing their exertions to obtain 
 the passing of the Bill, or induce them to take any 
 step for obtaining an alteration of the Oath."* No, 
 they only became furious, and within a fortnight 
 published a Protest against the " Encyclical Letter" 
 of their lawful superiors, which was unequalled for 
 its scandalous complication of profaneness, rebellion, 
 schism, and blasphemy. Would it be believed that 
 those very persons, who had addressed their Bishops in 
 these words : " Thus, your Lordships see the extreme 
 deference and attention, which, throughout the whole 
 coiu-se of this business, we have paid to the Apostolic 
 Vicars,"f could have gone soon after to the scandalous 
 length of issuing the following schismatical Protest? 
 
 " Therefore, my Lord Bishop of Eama, Y. A. of the 
 Western District ; my Lord Bishop of Acanthos, V.A. 
 of the Northern District ; my Lord Bishop of Centurise, 
 V.A. of the Southern District ; — your Lordships 
 having brought matters to this point : — convinced that 
 we have not been misled by our clergy ; convinced 
 that we have not departed from the principles of our 
 ancestors ; — convinced that we have not violated any 
 article of Cathohc faith or communion : — AVe, the 
 
 * "Hist. Memoirs of English Catholics," by C.Butler, Esq., 
 vol. U. p. 34, 3rd Edit., 1822. 
 t Second '' Blue Book," p. 3.
 
 AGE 39.] CHAPTER SECOND. 33 
 
 Catholic Committee, whose names are here under- 
 written, for ourselves, and for those in whose trust we 
 have acted, do hereby before God, solemnly protest, 
 and call upon God to witness our protest against your 
 Lordships' Encyclical Letters of the 19th day of 
 October, 1789, and the 21st day of October last, and 
 every clause, article, determination, matter, and thing 
 therein respectively contained, as imprudent, arbitrary, 
 and unjust ; as a total misrepresentation of the nature 
 of the Bills to which they respectively refer, and the 
 Oaths therein respectively contained ; and our conduct 
 relating thereto respectively ; as encroaching on our 
 natural, civil, and religious rights ; inculcating prin- 
 ciples hostile to society and government, and the con- 
 stitution and laws of the British empire ; as derogatory 
 from the allegiance we owe to the state and the settle- 
 ment of the crown ; and as tending to continue, 
 increase, and confirm the prejudices against the faith 
 and moral character of the Catholics, and the scandal 
 and oppression under which they labour in this 
 kingdom. In the same manner we do here solemnly 
 protest, and call upon God to witness this our solemn 
 Protest against all proceedings had, or hereafter to be 
 had, in consequence of, or grounded upon your Lord- 
 ships' Encyclical Letters, or either of them, or any 
 representation of the Bills or Oath therein respectively 
 referred to, given or to be given by your Lord- 
 ships, or any of you. And from your Lordships' 
 said Encyclical Letters, and all proceedings had, or 
 hereafter to be had, in consequence of, or grounded 
 upon the same, or either of them ; or in consequence 
 of, or grounded upon any representation of the said 
 Bills or Oaths or either of them, given or to be given, 
 by your Lordships, or any of you ; we do hereby appeal
 
 34 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1791. 
 
 and call on God to witness our appeal, for the purity 
 and integrity of oiu- religious principles, to all the 
 Catholic Churches in the Luiiverse, and especially to the 
 first of Catholic Chiu-ches, the Apostolic See, rightly 
 informed. 
 
 Charles Berington. Stourton. 
 Jos. WiLKS. Petre. 
 
 Henry Chas. Englefield. 
 
 John Lawson. 
 
 John Throckmorton. 
 
 William Termor. 
 
 John Towneley. 
 
 Thomas Hornyold." 
 It was well observed by Mr. Francis Plowden that 
 " the imwillingness of the Committee to abandon any 
 one of their own fond conceits, their obstinacy in 
 maintaining the admissibility of the Oath, against the 
 express condemnation of it by their lawful superiors, 
 their actual opposition to the attempts and efforts of 
 their Bishops, and the greatest number of their 
 brethren, to procure the same advantages they were 
 aiming at, and to prevent the evils of a schism in the 
 body — prove to conviction, that their views, wishes, 
 and efforts, were now directed to other ends than the 
 real welfare and interest of the body."* 
 
 The above scandalous Protest occurs at the end of 
 a Letter of eighteen quarto pages, addressed to Bishops 
 Walmesley, Gibson, and Douglass, and written by the 
 Rev. Joseph Wilks ; though the Protest itself was 
 evidently drawn up by Mr. C. Butler. This Letter, 
 and one preceding it of eleven quarto pages, addressed 
 by the Committee to Bishop Douglass, dated Feb. 2, 
 1791, complaining of the "Encyclical Letter" of the 
 
 * " The Case Stated," by Francis Plowden, Esq., Conveyancer 
 of the Middle Temple. 1791.
 
 AGE 39.] CHArTER SECOND. 35 
 
 Vicars Apostolic, and written by Mr. C Butler, make 
 up the second Blue Book. 
 
 The Committee pushed on the Bill which they 
 had prepared, containing the condemned Oath ; 
 and entrusted it to Mr. Mitford, afterwards Lord 
 Redesdale ; to be presented to the House of Commons. 
 Mr. Milner had been commissioned by the two new 
 Bishops to act as their agent. He was introduced by 
 Burke to Fox and Windham. He also saw Dundas 
 and Pitt, and was made acquainted with three Pro- 
 testant Bishops, as also with Wilberforce, Wm. Smith, 
 and other Members of Parliament, all of whom listened 
 to him most kindly, and were satisfied with his 
 objections to the Oath. When the Bill was brought 
 into the House of Commons, Mr. Milner was present 
 as he himself described it, " amidst a crowd of 
 exulting adversaries, while his friends were on their 
 knees at home, praying to God to protect his own 
 cause."* The gallery was so crowded, that he was 
 obliged to sit all the time upon the floor. 
 
 He had previously drawn up a paper, which he 
 entitled : ^^ Facts relating to the Contest among the 
 Roman Catholics of this Kingdom., concerning the 
 Bill to be introduced into Parliament for their Belief r 
 In this, he exposed the impropriety of the newly 
 assumed name of Protesting Catholic Dissenters ; — 
 objected to qualifying the deposing doctrine as hereti- 
 cal ; — denounced the meaning assigned by the Com- 
 mittee to certain passages in the OaM, relating to the 
 jurisdiction of the pastors of the Church with refer- 
 ence to indirect interference in temporal affairs ; — and 
 objected to the clause that no ecclesiastical power can 
 
 * " Supp. Memoirs," p. 78.
 
 36 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1791. 
 
 dispense with any oath whatever. He proposed that 
 the Oath already taken by the Irish Cathohcs should 
 be substituted for the condemned Oath ; and in con- 
 clusion pledged his readiness to answer for all his 
 assertions, by whomsoever called upon, and to prove 
 that he spoke the sense of the Catholic clergy in 
 general, and of many thousands of his Majesty's loyal 
 subjects. 
 
 This Statement of Facts ^ Mr. Milner caused to be 
 distributed among the members of Parliament ; and 
 when, in the course of the debate, attention was drawn 
 to it by Sir Archibald Macdonald, the Attorney- Gene- 
 ral, Mr. Pitt among others was induced to consider the 
 matter in a new light, and soon after expressed him- 
 self thus : " We have been deceived in the great out- 
 lines of the business ; and either the Papists shall be 
 relieved, or the Protestant Catholic Dissenters shall 
 not gain their ends." In proof of Mr. Pitt's slender 
 acquaintance with the real belief of Catholics, he was 
 seen one day, about this time, to go into the shop of 
 Coghlan, the Catholic bookseller, and purchase a little 
 catechism, which he read attentively as he walked 
 away down the street. This incident, however, proves 
 at the same time an honest desire on his part to learn 
 our real principles, which was greatly to the credit of 
 that able statesman. If, indeed, the Bill had passed, 
 in the form urged by the Committee, it would have 
 relieved those only who sided with them, and were 
 content to be called Protesting Catholic Dissenters ; 
 and the great body of Catholics would have been left 
 precisely as they were before. It attempted, as Dr. 
 Milner has so well observed, " a twofold deception ; 
 that of cheating Catholics out of a portion of their 
 religion, and that of swindling the legislature out of
 
 AGE 39.] CIIArTER SECOND. 37 
 
 concessions which it had not an idea of granting ; 
 namely, by our ' slipping,' as the Secretary terms it, 
 ' from under the operation of the laws, unlieeded and 
 unobserved.' "* 
 
 The Secretary, finding it impossible to refute Mr. 
 Milner's arguments in the above Statement of Facts^ 
 procured a paper to be presented to him, dated March 
 9th, 1791, and signed by twenty-six persons, requiring 
 proof of his authority to act in the concerns of Catho- 
 lics. He answered by proving that the great body of 
 Catholics looked to their Bishops to procure for them 
 an unobjectionable Oath, that two-thirds of the clergy 
 in London, and fifty-three in Lancashire had called 
 upon them to that effect, testifying also that very few 
 of the laity would take the Oatli of the Committee. 
 He also produced the formal testimony, in writing, of 
 Bishops Gibson, Walmesley, and Douglass, that he was 
 commissioned by them to act as their agent. The 
 original paper is now before the writer. 
 
 The Secretary next put forth " A Letter addressed 
 to the Catholics of England^ by the Catholic Com- 
 mittee^'^ purporting to be a short view of the past and 
 present state of Catholics in this kingdom, dated Lin- 
 coln's Inn, April 21, 1792. This, with some Appen- 
 dixes, consisting of the Memorial to Mr. Pitt, — the 
 Address to the King in 1778, — C. Butlers Draft of a 
 Relief Bill in 1788,— the Protestation of 1789, with 
 1644 signatures, — the Petition to the Commons, pre- 
 sented May 7th, 1789,— the Case of the "Enghsh 
 Catholic Dissenters," — the State of the Laws respect- 
 ing Presentations by R. Catholics to Ecclesiastical 
 Benefices, — State of Facts by the Committee of " Eng- 
 
 * " Supp. Memoirs," p. 80. These words occur in the second 
 " Blue Book," p. 4.
 
 38 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1791. 
 
 lish Catholics," — Letter from Bp. Walmesley to the 
 Committee, Oct. 23, 1789, — and a Memoir of a Meet- 
 ing of some of the Clergy, held Feb. 2, 1790, on the 
 Protestation, are the contents of the Tliird Blue Book, 
 pubhshed in 1792. 
 
 Soon after the first of March, 1791, when the BiU 
 was introduced, the ministry obliged the Committee to 
 drop their new appellation, and they resmned their 
 proper name of Roman Catholics. Mr. Milner, be- 
 sides his " Statement of Facts ^' printed another docu- 
 ment entitled : " Certain Considerations on Behalf 
 of the Roman Catholics who have conscientious 
 objections to changing their Name^ and to the Form 
 of Words in which certain Passages appear in the 
 Oath contained in Mr. Mitford's Bill, modestly sub- 
 mitted to the Hon. Committee oftlie House of Com- 
 mons, March 7, 1791. By the Rev. J. Milner:' 
 The condemned Oath was discarded by Parliament, 
 and the Irish Oath of 1778 was substituted for it, as 
 the Bishops had petitioned. The Bill passed on the 
 7th of June, 1791 : and thus, mainly by the unceasing 
 vigilance of the intrepid Milner, the Catholic body 
 were saved from all the dreaded consequences which 
 must have followed, if the insidious and schismatical 
 proceedings of the Committee had been successful. 
 Yet his honest and meritorious exertions drew upon 
 him much obloquy. " I was in so much disgrace," he 
 said, " with a great part of those of my communion in 
 London, that they nicknamed me Lord George Gordon, 
 and would not speak to me in the streets for that very 
 conduct for which they are now obliged to me, namely, 
 for being instrumental in preserving for them their 
 family name, and their unchangeable creed. In a 
 word. Sir, I have not the smallest doubt that the very
 
 AGE 39.] CHAPTER THIRD. 39 
 
 individuals who have lately disavowed my writings 
 and conduct, not only will hereafter, but that they 
 actually do now in their hearts^ approve of them. 
 In fact, some of those who have been the most active 
 in censuring me, have already confessed this to me."* 
 Many years after these transactions, he characterised 
 the proposal to give us the objectionable new name, 
 very felicitously in the following epigram : — 
 
 " No longer prate on huge Briareus, 
 
 Or monstrous triple bodied Geryon ; 
 For I have seen a real trifarious 
 
 Protesting — Catholic — Presbyterian !" 
 
 CHAPTER THIRD. 
 
 MEETING AT THE CROWN AND ANCHOR — CASE OF REV. JOSEPH 
 
 WILKS, AND THE " STAFFORDSHIRE CLERGY." MILNER's " AUDI 
 
 ALTERAM PARTEM." HE IS MADE F.S.A. HIS WORK ON ST. 
 
 GEORGE. — BUILDS HIS CHAPEL AT WINCHESTER. — CONVERSION 
 OF MR. HUBBARD. THE ATTEMPTED MEDIATION. TRANS- 
 LATION OF THE PASTORALS OF THE BISHOP OF LEON. 
 
 MILNER's SERMON ON LOUIS XVI. HIS DESCRIPTION OF THE 
 
 GLASTONBURY CUP. ACCOUNTS OF OUR RELIGIOUS COMMUNI- 
 TIES ABROAD. THE NUNS AT WINCHESTER. HIS REPLY TO 
 
 THE CISALPINE CLUB.— CONDUCT AND DEATH OF BISHOP 
 BERINGTON. 
 
 Two days after the Bill had passed, a meeting was 
 held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, when a vote 
 of thanks to the Committee having been proposed, an 
 amendment was moved by the Rev. James Barnard, 
 
 * Letter IV. to the Editor of the "Statesman,''* June \6, 1810.
 
 40 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1791, 
 
 the Vicar-General of Bishop Douglass, and seconded 
 by the Rev. John Milner, the purport of it being that 
 the Committee should be thanked for procuring the 
 civic benefits of the Act, but that the Bishops should 
 also be thanked for their vigilant zeal in obtaining for 
 us an orthodox form of Oath. Contrary to rule, the 
 amendment was not proposed first, nor even put to the 
 votes at all. Its proposers were silenced by unre- 
 strained clamour, and the meeting became a disorderly 
 cabal, not entitled to any respect. 
 
 It has been already mentioned that the Bev. Joseph 
 Wilks was a member of the Committee. Having con- 
 curred with them in all their proceedings, having 
 written, conjointly with Mr. C. Butler, the Letter to 
 three of the Vicars Apostolic in the Second Blue 
 Book^ which ends with the schismatical Protest^ which 
 he also signed, against all past and future proceedings 
 of the Bishops, one of whom was his own episcopal 
 superior, Dr. Walmesley ; he was suspended by his 
 Lordship, who sent him the following Letter, dated 
 Bath, Saturday, Feb. 19, 179L 
 
 " As you have evidently refused submission to the 
 ordinances of the Apostolic Vicars ; if, before, or on 
 Sunday next, the 2()th instant, you do not make to me 
 satisfactory submission, I declare you suspended from 
 the exercise of all missionary faculties, and all eccle- 
 siastical functions in my District. 
 
 " Let this one admonition suffice for all. 
 
 " •J* Carolus Bamaten., Vicar Apostolic." 
 
 The case of Mr. Wilks was brought forward at the 
 Meeting at the Crown and Anchor ; and the agent of 
 Bishop Walmesley being called upon to declare for 
 what canonical fault he had been suspended, read the 
 following from a letter of the Bishop, dated Jime
 
 AGE 39.] CHAPTER THIRD. 41 
 
 1st, 1791 : " Because Mr. Wilks has rebelled and 
 protested against the divine established government of 
 the Church by Bishops and their authority ; a crime 
 not less than schism." It was then moved that a letter 
 be read from fourteen of the clergy of Staffordshire, in 
 which, after lamenting the suspension of Mr. Wilks, 
 they " pledge themselves to make his cause their own, 
 and doubt not but they shall receive such cooperation 
 from all the clergy of England, as shall insure success 
 to their endeavours, in restoring to their delegate the 
 good will of his Bishop, and the exercise of his eccle- 
 siastical functions." 
 
 This letter was most probably composed by the 
 Eev. Joseph Berington, and in consequence of an appli- 
 cation made to him ; and it appeared with the signa- 
 tures of thirteen of the clergy of Staifordshire, besides 
 his own.* The names of these priests were sub- 
 sequently signed to other reprehensible documents, 
 and one more joined them, making the whole number 
 fifteen : and they were known as the " Staffordshire 
 Clergy." But Dr. Milner observes that the sig- 
 natures of some were made without any knowledge, 
 and by the rest with only an imperfect knowledge of 
 the cause ; and were a source of uneasiness to them 
 for several years, till, by the grace of God, they all, 
 either in health, or on their death-beds, retracted 
 them.f As for Mr. Wilks, having acknowledged his 
 fault, and complied with the conditions required by 
 Bishop Walmesley, he was released from suspension, 
 and restored to his functions. But a few weeks after, 
 he wrote a very objectionable letter to Thomas Clif- 
 
 * " See Letter to a Roman Catholic Clergyman," by Rev. Ro- 
 bert Plowden, 1795, p. 141. 
 t " Supp. Memoirs," p. 93.
 
 42 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1792. 
 
 ford, Esq., dated Sept. 28th, which caused the Bishop 
 to withdraw his faculties in the Western District. 
 The first sentence pronounced upon him in February, 
 1791, was one of censure and suspension ; the second 
 in September following, was simply a withdrawal of 
 the faculties granted him in the Western District. It 
 had been asserted that the Bishop had acted uncanoni- 
 cally ; w^hich led Mr. Milner to print, in 1792, on a 
 fly-leaf a very clear and satisfactory defence of Dr. 
 Walmesley, which he entitled: '■'■Audi alteram partem^ 
 He proves in that paper that the Bishop was fully 
 justified in both sentences, adducing the authority of 
 well-known canonists, such as Cabassutius and Van 
 Espen ; and showing that the second sentence con- 
 veyed no canonical censure, but simply recalled those 
 faculties, which all priests, whose power is delegated, 
 and not annexed to their office, hold at the discretion of 
 the delegating superior. He adds that Mr. Wilks was 
 admonished, at the desire of the Bishop, by his religious 
 superior, in the most forcible manner, previously to the 
 sentence of September ; and was deprived of the faculties 
 which he had held, on account of his degrading his 
 Bishop in the eyes of the public, and explaining away 
 the submission which he had made to him. This paper 
 is dated May 1st, 1792 ; and in that month Mr. Wilks 
 quitted England, and never returned. He died May 
 19th, 1829; at St. Edmund's College, Douay, and at 
 his death gave great edification. 
 
 Milner had already become conspicuous, not only 
 as a theologian, but as an ardent lover and pursuer of 
 antiquarian studies. On the recommendation of the 
 celebrated topographer, Mr. R. Gough, he was intro- 
 duced to the Society of Antiquaries, and admitted a 
 Fellow of that Society on the Sth of March, 1790. In
 
 AGE 40.] CHAPTEli THIKD. 43 
 
 1792, he addressed to the Earl of Leicester, its 
 President, his " Historical and Critical Inquiry into 
 the Existence and Character of St. George, Patron of 
 England, of the Order of the Garter, and of the 
 Antiquarian Society ; in which the assertions of 
 Edward Gibbon, Esq., ch. 23, Hist, of Decline and 
 Fall, ^'c, and of certain other Modern Writers 
 concerning this Saint, are discussed; in a Letter to 
 the Right Hon. George Earl of Leicester, President 
 of the Antiquarian Society, by the Rev. J. Milner, 
 F.S.A. — 1792." In his sermon on the recovery of 
 George IIL, which he dehveredin 1789, he had spoken 
 of St. George as an illustrious saint. This induced 
 Dr. Percy, the Protestant Bishop of Dromore, to call 
 upon him for proofs that St. George ever had any 
 actual existence; which caused Mk. Milner to publish 
 this work, in which he demonstrated from the most 
 ancient and authentic monuments, that there was such 
 a saint, and that he was not the infamous George of 
 Cappadocia, as Gibbon pretended. In some curious 
 and interesting notes in this work, Milner explains the 
 origin of certain emblems attributed to some of the 
 saints ; such as the divine Infant carried on the 
 shoulders of St. Christopher, the pig and bell of St. 
 Anthony, and the organ pipes of St. Cecily. The last 
 is the most extraordinary application, as it supposes the 
 saint to have been skilled in music, whereas the only 
 passage in her acts, which speaks of music, merely says 
 that while music was playing in preparation for her 
 nuptials, the saint being averse to her proposed 
 marriage, was praying to be saved from it : '' Can- 
 tantibus organis, Caecilia in corde suo decantabat : 
 fiat Domine cor meum immaculatum ante te." 
 
 In the year 1792, Mk. Milner resolved upon
 
 44 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1792. 
 
 erecting a new chapel at Winchester. There had been 
 a chapel there, either in the priest's house, called " St. 
 Peter's House," or in the garden behind it, from the 
 latter part of the I7th century ; but the edifice had 
 become so inconvenient and insecure, that it was quite 
 necessary to rebuild it. " This measure being resolved 
 upon," says Dr. Milner, " instead of following the 
 modern style of building churches and chapels, which 
 are in general square chambers, with small sash 
 windows and fashionable decorations, hardly to be 
 distinguished, when the altars and benches are removed, 
 from common assembly rooms ; it was concluded upon 
 to imitate the models in this kind, which have been left 
 us by our religious ancestors, who applied themselves 
 with such ardor and unrivalled success to the cultivation 
 and perfection of ecclesiastical architecture."* He 
 himself gave the general idea of the intended edifice ; 
 but it was reduced to more correct order by the 
 eminent architect, Mr, John Carter. His drawings, 
 however, were not entirely followed ; sometimes 
 through the inattention of the workmen, but more 
 frequently from considerations of economy. 
 
 To take Dr. Milner's own description of his chapel, 
 it is "a light Gothic building, coated with stucco, 
 resembling freestone ; with mullioned windows, 
 shelving buttresses, a parapet with open quatrefoils, 
 and crocketed pinnacles, terminating in gilt crosses." 
 The total length is 75 feet outside; the height to the 
 top of the cornice, 24 feet, and to the top of the 
 pinnacles, 35 feet. He has given a minute description 
 of every part of his chapel, inside and outside, with all 
 its fittings and decorations. It was dedicated to St. 
 
 * " History of Winchester," P. JI. ch. xii.
 
 AGE 40.] CHAPTER THIRD. 45 
 
 Birinus, and consecrated by Bishop Douglass, Vicar 
 Apostolic of the London District, on the 6th December, 
 1792. MiLNER was justly proud of it, as being the 
 first chapel in the Gothic style erected in England, 
 since that deplorable event, which robbed us of the 
 glorious cathedrals and other churches erected by our 
 Catholic forefathers. 
 
 While at Winchester, Mr. Milner began a mission 
 at Southampton, with nine pounds a year ; and also, 
 during his residence there, he was the happy instru- 
 ment of the conversion of Mr. Eichard Hubbard, who 
 afterwards became an edifying priest under him in the 
 Midland District. Mr. Hubbard used to relate that 
 when he presented himself to make his profession of 
 faith, Mr. Milner was busy writing. While he waited 
 for a few minutes, his courage began to fail, and he 
 proposed several times to call another day. But the 
 experienced missioner understood what prompted this 
 polite offer, and at once proceeded to receive Mr. 
 Hubbard's profession of Catholic faith, in which that 
 good man steadily persevered, notwithstanding that a 
 considerable worldly sacrifice was inseparable from his 
 conversion. Milner had the satisfaction to ordain 
 him priest, in November, 1811, and after an ex- 
 emplary missionary life, he died May 23rd, 1836. 
 
 Meantime, Milner was busy with his pen, and never 
 relaxed his exertions in the sacred cause of religion, 
 which he always had so much at heart. It has been 
 already mentioned that he printed in this year, 1792, 
 his argument in the case of Mr. Wilks, entitled: Audi 
 alteram Partem. In April, three Catholic gentle- 
 men, John Webbe Weston, Esq., Francis Eyre, Esq., 
 and William Sheldon, Esq., undertook the charitable 
 office of mediating between the Committee and the
 
 46 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1792. 
 
 Bishops, in the hope of peace heiiig restored among 
 the CathoHc body in general. The grievances of 
 which the Committee complained were not such, how- 
 ever, as the Bishops could redress so as to satisfy the 
 unreasonable expectations of the Committee. They 
 required First, that faculties should be restored to Mr. 
 Wilks ; but to this Dr. Walmesley replied that the 
 withdrawal of those faculties was a spiritual affair 
 between Mr. Wilks and himself, not belonging to any 
 other persons ; and that while Mr. Wilks persisted 
 in his principles and disobedience, he must refuse all 
 interference with him. They required Secondly, that 
 the " Answer to the Second Blue Book, hj the Rev. 
 Charles Plowden^^ should be disavowed by the Vicars 
 Apostolic. To this their lordships replied that they had 
 indeed requested Mr. Plowden to write that Answer; 
 but had left the method and manner to him, and, 
 therefore, were not answerable for its language. They, 
 in the third place, expressed a hope that the Vicars 
 Apostolic would procure such a change in the ecclesi- 
 astical government of the Bishops, as that the clergy 
 should possess the rights of parochial clergy: to which 
 their lordships answered that they would give the 
 subject their serious attention ; though they feared 
 that such a measure was not practicable in present 
 circumstances. Thus the mediators found that their 
 good offices were ineffectual. They published a report 
 of their endeavours in a quarto pamphlet, which, from 
 the colour of its wrapper, was called " The Buff 
 Bookr It was entitled: "^ Letter from J. Wehbe 
 Weston, Francis Eyre, and William Sheldon^ 
 Esqrs., to the Gentlemen at whose desire they 
 accepted the Office of Mediators between the Vicars 
 Apostolic and the Gentlemen of the late Catholic
 
 AGE 40.] CHAPTER THIRD. 47 
 
 Committee. London^ 1792." It extended to 26 pages, 
 and contained all the letters and papers of any conse- 
 quence, which came into the hands of the mediators 
 during the negociation. It is worthy of note that the 
 Committee, in their correspondence with the mediators, 
 declared their continued adherence to the schismatical 
 " Protest," and denied to the Vicars Apostolic the 
 right to condemn an Oath^ or any other measure, 
 which they the VV.AA. might declare to be of a 
 spiritual nature, without showing the grounds of their 
 censure ; and they repeated their determination " to re- 
 sist any ecclesiastical interference which might militate 
 against the freedom of English Catholics."* With 
 such sentiments still obstinately adhered to by the 
 Committee, it will cause no surprise that the good 
 offices of the mediators produced no effect. 
 
 The Committee having run out its term of five years, 
 had now formed itself into a new society, called " The 
 Cisalpine Club,'' the professed objects of which were 
 adherence to the "Protestation," and schismatical 
 " Protest," and opposition to the alleged usurpation of 
 the Pope, and tyranny of the Vicars Apostolic. Be- 
 sides the members of the old Committee, this club con- 
 tained many others ; though several were unacquainted 
 with its real history and objects, and little thought that 
 they pledged themselves to the continued approval of 
 the condemned Oath, the three Blue Books, and the 
 schismatical Protest. The writer saw the circular 
 announcing its dissolution, which was sent to a noble- 
 man, who had very unsuspectingly been a member of 
 the club, though he had taken no part in its pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 At the end of the year 1792, a distinguished prelate 
 * " Buff Book/' pp. 22, 23.
 
 48 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1793. 
 
 among the French emigrant clergy, the Bishop of 
 Leon, published an admirable letter in French, ad- 
 dressed to the French clerical refugees ; and Mr. 
 MiLNER translated it into English, and printed his 
 translation early in 1793, but without his own name. 
 The letter is full of fervent gratitude for the generous 
 hospitality and liberal succours afforded to the French 
 clergy in England. Some passages well merit ex- 
 tracting. 
 
 " May the God of mercies shower down his chosen 
 blessings on a people who seem chosen by Heaven to 
 vindicate the violated laws of nature and humanity! 
 In the days of French power and glory, England often 
 disputed the field of battle, and her efforts were often 
 crowned with success in asserting her right to the 
 dominion of both seas. But she offers to us a more 
 glorious spectacle, a trimnph of a higher nature. She 
 has opened her ports to you, she considers you not as 
 strangers ; she sees you are unhappy, and she em- 
 braces you as brethren and friends. The English are 
 not startled at your numbers ; they think the best use 
 they can make of their great opulence is to afford 
 succour to a greater number of persons in distress." 
 
 (Pp. 6-7.) 
 
 " If our memory could recall the many proofs of 
 benevolence of which we were the objects, what an 
 affecting picture would it present ! In the sea-ports, 
 in cities, in villages, in the isles and the capital, what 
 an eagerness to prevent (anticipate) or to relieve our 
 wants ! Citizens of every rank pressing forward to 
 welcome a colony of unfortunate exiles with a brotherly 
 affection, more happy in the offer of their services, than 
 you could feel obliged by receiving them. Anxious 
 to conceal the hand that administered, to your wants
 
 AGE 41.] CHAPTER THIRD. 49 
 
 and hurt only by the reserve which hid them. These 
 attentions, this hberahty, were not confined to any 
 particular description of men, but common to the whole 
 nation, and to every class that composes it, to the cor- 
 porations, to its houses in town, to its chapters, its 
 universities and its colleges, to the palaces of the rich 
 and the humble cottages of the poor." (P. 9-) 
 
 " If from the difierent parts of the British empire, 
 we turn our eyes towards the throne, we there find a 
 prince as distinguished by his munificence towards us 
 as he has ever been by the love of his people. Under 
 his government the ports are open to us, we are ad- 
 mitted into his dominions, and we enjoy the protection 
 of the laws. This beneficent King has granted one of 
 his royal palaces for the reception of our brethren. 
 His benevolent heart has suggested to him that the 
 palaces of kings acquire an additional value by afford- 
 ing shelter to the wTctched and unhappy." (P. 12.) 
 
 Mr. Mn.NER published his translation, under the fol- 
 lowing title : " Letter of the Right Rev. John 
 Francis de la Marche, Bishop of Leon^ addressed 
 to the French Clergymen Refugees in England. 
 Translated into English from the original French. 
 London: J. P. Coghlan, <^c." 1793. 
 
 In the beginning of 1793, the unfortunate King of 
 France, Louis XVI., perished on the scaff'old; and the 
 French clergy, who were generously lodged in the 
 King's House at Winchester, to the number of 1000, 
 were desirous of performing a more decent and solemn 
 service for their late beloved sovereign, than could be 
 celebrated in their own little chapel there. They 
 accordingly requested and obtained the use of Mr. 
 Mllner's new chapel ; and begged him to deliver a 
 funeral oration on the occasion in English. He re- 
 
 E
 
 50 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [^793. 
 
 sisted their repeated solicitations for some time, in 
 hopes that some one of their nmnber might be induced 
 to express their feelings in their native tongue. He 
 yielded, however, at length, and delivered a Discourse 
 which he afterwards pubhshed with this title: " The 
 
 Funeral Oration of his late most Christian Majesty, 
 
 Louis XVI., pronounced at the funeral Service per- 
 
 formed hy the French Clergy of the King's House, 
 
 Winchester, at St. Peters Chapel, in the said city, 
 April 12, 1793. By the Rev. John Milner, F. S. A. 
 London : J. P. Coghlan!'' The Discourse is very 
 long, and much in the style of French funeral 
 orations. The text is from 1 Tim. iv. 8. Godli- 
 ness is prof table to all things, having promise of the 
 life that now is, and of that which is to come. It 
 does not seem well chosen, being neither striking nor 
 apposite ; but the preacher's object was to exhibit the 
 virtues of Louis, to show that his cause, and that of 
 religion, were identical, and in accounting for the 
 King's heroic conduct under his severe trials, to 
 demonstrate the efficacy of religion, and prove that 
 godliness is profitable to all things. The Sermon is 
 in two parts. The first is argumentative, rather than 
 eloquent. It is a sketch of the life of the murdered 
 monarch, exhibiting him as the father of his people, 
 and showing that the Eevolution was not owing to 
 tyranny on his part, but to the licentiousness and irre- 
 ligion of his subj ects. " Frenchmen ! " said the preacher, 
 addressing the laymen among them, " if Divine Pro- 
 vidence, satisfied, as I hope it is, with the severe chas- 
 tisement you have undergone, should permit you soon 
 to return to your native homes, carry back witb you a 
 sense of the necessity of religion, in order to prevent a 
 return of the same calamities : show your respect for
 
 AGE 41.] CHAPTER THIRD. 51 
 
 its doctrine and its exercises, and take care that the 
 irrehgion of your country be no longer proverbial. 
 Englishmen! let the fatal example of your neighbours 
 guard you against the spreading evil, whether it comes 
 to you under the mantle of philosophic infidelity, or 
 under the mask of deistical Socinianism. Yes, the 
 belief in Jesus Christ, the consubstantial Son of the 
 most high God, is the corner-stone of the morality, as 
 well as of the faith of the Gospel : remove that stone 
 from its requisite position, and the whole fabric falls 
 to the ground." 
 
 The Second Part of the Discourse is a very inte- 
 resting enumeration of the virtues and estimable quali- 
 ties of the unfortunate monarch, and more particularly 
 displays his devotedness to religion, and the support 
 which he derived from it in his last terrible trial. " It 
 is acknowledged that the chief defect in the King's 
 character was a certain irresolution and timidity, which 
 had more than once occasioned him to compromise his 
 authority, and thereby had given signal advantage to 
 his own and the nation's enemies. Hence, his faithful 
 adherents trembled for the consequences of the fiery 
 ordeal he underwent in his close confinement in the 
 Temple, deprived as he was of all comfort and advice; 
 they, in particular, dreaded the arrival of that day, 
 when he was to be brought before those impious and 
 artful rebels, who panted for nothing so much as that 
 he might publicly disgrace himself, either by his natu- 
 ral timidity, or the confusion incident to so new a 
 situation. But how much were they astonished to 
 observe that calm dignity, that unaffected firmness, 
 that Christian heroism, which, though taken unawares, 
 marked his countenance, his language, and his whole 
 behaviour! Had he sunk under his misfortunes, had
 
 52 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1793. 
 
 he bewailed the loss of his dignity and personal liberty, 
 had he crouched to the tyranny of his enemies, or 
 seemed afraid of dying, they would have had cause 
 to triumph, and Louis would have been wretched 
 indeed. But he had digested in the school of wisdom, 
 that is of affliction, the excellent lessons of the Gospel, 
 he had learned that blessed are they who mourn^ who 
 are persecuted and reviled^ he was now thoroughly 
 convinced that it was a misfortune to wear a crown.* 
 Hence, neither regretting what he had lost, nor fearing 
 what he had cause to look for, he conducted himself 
 with that happy firmness and composure which made 
 him superior to the malice of his assassins, and ena- 
 bled him to meet death in its most disgraceful and 
 odious shape, that of a public execution, not only with 
 constancy, but even with joy." 
 
 On this mournful occasion, a cenotaph was raised in 
 the chapel, before the altar, adorned with escutcheons, 
 with crowns and fleurs de lys, surrounded with wax 
 candles, and surmounted with the crown, sword and 
 sceptre. Six mutes were seated about the cenotaph. 
 Chandeliers and escutcheons were fixed to the pillars of 
 the chapel, wdiich was crowded with the French clergy 
 and many respectable English families. A select 
 number of the French clergy officiated at the Office and 
 Mass of Requiem^ with great devotion and solemnity, 
 and eight others, within the sanctuary, contributed to 
 the impressive character of the mournful service. 
 The sermon was translated into French by one of the 
 French priests, and published soon after, accompanied 
 by a " Note essentielle sur Marie Antoinette.^' 
 
 In February of the same year, 1793, Mr. Milner 
 
 * Testament of Louis XVI.
 
 AGE 41.] CHAPTER THIRD. 53 
 
 wrote a very interesting account of the famous Glas- 
 tonbury Cup, or Peg Tankard, for the " Archaeological 
 Journal^' where it appeared, with an engraving, in 
 vol. xi., p. 411. The cup is supposed to be as old as 
 the time of King Edgar, who reigned from 959 to 
 975: but the carving on the Hd, and the characters 
 employed in the inscriptions, point to a much more 
 recent date. This cup has been for centuries in the 
 possession of the Lords Arundell of Wardour Castle, 
 where the present writer has often seen it. It is made 
 of heart of oak, and holds four quarts, wine measure. 
 It is stated erroneously, in Mr. Milner's description, 
 to hold only two quarts : he has also given the number 
 of pegs incorrectly, making them eight; but there were 
 originally only six, four of which remain perfect, the 
 other two being broken off. There is carved on the 
 outside of the cover, the Crucifixion, with the Blessed 
 Virgin and St. John. The Apostles are carved round 
 the cup; but as St. Paul and Judas are introduced, 
 St. Mathias is omitted. Only three bear emblems ; 
 St. Peter has a large key, St. John a cup, and Judas 
 a money bag. Each of the others holds an open book. 
 A bunch of grapes projects above the handle. The 
 name of each Apostle appears beneath his figure, and 
 the names are mostly given in Latin; but St. Peter is 
 called Peder. Round the foot are curious representa 
 tions of birds and quadrupeds: a goose, eagle, horse, 
 stag, swan and pelican. Below these are serpents or 
 dolphins, in pairs, facing each other. The cup rests 
 upon three lions. " These peg tankards," says Mr. 
 MiLNER, " were introduced in the reign of Edgar, the 
 Saxon king, who, to restrain the prevailing habit of 
 drunkenness, made a law that each person shoidd
 
 54 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1794. 
 
 empty the space between peg and peg ; but that he 
 who drank below the proper mark should be punished." 
 The French Revolution had by this time made most 
 dreadful havoc among our collegiate and conventual 
 establishments in France and the Low Countries; and 
 Mr. MiLNER drew up some valuable accounts full of 
 painful interest, of the " Communities of British sub- 
 jects^ who^ in consequence of the decrees of the 
 French National Convention against all such sub- 
 jects^ have suffered the confiscation of their houses 
 and property^ and the severest rigours of imprison- 
 ment and ivant, with a total seclusion of all commu- 
 nication by letter with their friends^ under pain of 
 deathr These accounts appeared in the Directories 
 for 1795 and 1796. In that for 1797, he added such 
 particulars as he had been able to collect, either from 
 orityinal resisters, or other authentic documents, con- 
 cernins the three other communities of the Fosse S. 
 Victor, and the Blue Nuns of the Conception at Paris, 
 as also of the Poor Clares of Aire, who still continued 
 in France, amidst alarms and sufferings. Papers on 
 the same subjects in the Directories for 1798, 1799 
 and 1800, were also probably written by him. These 
 are precious documents, and wih be perused, even 
 at this distance of time, with admiration and gratitude 
 for the pious and learned compiler. 
 
 Among the Communities thus ejected was that of 
 the Benedictine nuns of Brussels, who, on the advance 
 of the French army, were obliged to fly from their 
 convent, where the community had been settled since 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth. They quitted it June 
 22, 1794; and were kindly received in London, where 
 they remained three days. Thence they proceeded to
 
 AGE 42.] CHAPTER THIRD. 55 
 
 Winchester, to a house offered them by Dr. Douglass, 
 the Vicar Apostohc of the London District. At Win- 
 chester they were received by Mr. Milner with the 
 greatest kindness and attention. He spared no exer- 
 tion, and shrunk from no sacrifice for their assistance 
 and comfort; and made them dine at his own house 
 for some days. He supphed them with blankets, and 
 even sent his own bed for the use of some of the aged 
 nuns, as they were all in a house quite unfurnished. 
 His housekeeper, the excellent Mrs. Bloodworth, who 
 continued with him afterwards at Long Birch and 
 Wolverhampton, remonstrated and complained that he 
 did too much ; but all in vain. He interested all his 
 friends, Catholic and Protestant, in their favour. He 
 procured the aid of a very charitable lady in London, 
 Mrs. Dorothy Silburn, the great benefactress of the 
 clergy and religious, towards fitting up their house; 
 and also the kind assistance of the Marchioness of 
 Buckingham, who was secretly a Catholic, as also of 
 Lady Stourton, Lady Clifford and others, to forward 
 the arrangement of their chapel and schools. He 
 superintended the decoration of their chapel, and 
 had the patron saint of each nun painted over her stall 
 in the choir. He used every exertion to procure 
 scholars for them, and succeeded in securing a large 
 number. 
 
 When the bill for the suppression of nunneries was 
 thrown out, Mr. Milner came to the convent and 
 made the nuns go at once to the chapel, and sing a Te 
 Deum. He often paid them a visit at the hours of 
 recreation, and delighted them with his cheerful con- 
 versation. Sometimes, however, fits of abstraction 
 would come over him, and he would sit silent and 
 thoughtful, and then suddenly start up, saying, " I must
 
 56 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1795. 
 
 be off," and he would go home and write for hours. 
 He continued to be their extraordinary confessor after 
 he became Bishop, and used to visit them every year 
 till the last two of his life. They removed to East 
 Bergholt, June 23, 1857, where the present com- 
 munity hold his memory in benediction, and keep 
 his anniversary as that of a great friend and bene- 
 factor. 
 
 The Cisalpine Cluh continued its proceedings. The 
 meeting at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, in 1791, 
 had voted that the Protestation^ though defeated, 
 should be deposited in the British Museum ; but this 
 was not done till the 30th of December following ; and 
 then it was not the original of 1789, but a new copy 
 of it that was deposited. Mr. Milner having cast 
 some imputations on the authenticity of this copy so 
 deposited, was called to account by certain members of 
 the Cluh in a first Report sent to him February 28, 
 1795, and in a Further Report of May 12 following. 
 He answered by a publication entitled: "^ Replij to 
 the Report published hy the Cisalpine Club^ o?i the 
 Authenticity of the Protestation at the Museum, in 
 which the spuriousness of that Deed is detected. — 
 London., 1795." 
 
 The Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District, the 
 Hon. and Right Rev. Thomas Talbot, Bishop of 
 Aeon in partibus, died at Bristol, on the 24th of Fe- 
 bruary m this year, 1795. His coadjutor was Dr. 
 Charles Berington, Bishop of Hiero-C^sarea in parti- 
 bus. He was elected a member of the Committee, by 
 the laymen who composed it, May 15, 1788 ; he had 
 concurred with them in all their proceedings, and by 
 signing the Protest " had first commenced the opposi- 
 tion made to the mandates of the three Apostolical
 
 AGE 42.] CHAPTER THIRD. 57 
 
 Vicars, and his example kept up the contest."* He 
 now succeeded as Vicar ApostoUc of the Midland 
 District ; but before he could obtain the extraordinary 
 faculties necessary for a Vicar Apostolic, it was 
 required of him by the Holy See, that he shoidd 
 renounce the condemned Oath and the Blue Books^ 
 and retract his subscription to them. But neither the 
 exliortations of the Holy See, nor the entreaties of his 
 episcopal brethren, could prevail upon him to make the 
 required submission, for nearly three years ; so power- 
 fully was he influenced by those laymen with whom he 
 had so long acted. He had indeed sent letters to Rome 
 from time to time, explanatory of his conduct ; but 
 they were not quite satisfactory. At one time, the 
 submission which he offered appeared only conditional ; 
 and at another, he revoked only what might he con- 
 tained (" contineantu?'") of an objectionable character, 
 but not what is contained (" continentur") ; and it 
 was signified to him that the Oath and the Blue Books 
 having been condemned at Rome, nothing short of an 
 absolute revocation on his part could be accepted. 
 " What makes to the point," said Cardinal Gerdil, " and 
 what in an aifair of so great importance is to be carefully 
 secured, is particularly that there should remain no 
 ambiguity, which might again give occasion or cause of 
 scandal to the wise or even the unwise, to whom we are 
 debtors. There has arisen scandal even by the 
 acknowledgment of the Right Rev. Prelate himself, 
 from his subscription, as in itself indicative of appro- 
 bation of the doctrine contained in these hateful (Blue) 
 Books. What then is more just, than that the scandal, 
 which was occasioned by the approbation testified by 
 
 * "Letter of Rev. Robert PI owd en," p. 154, note.
 
 58 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [J797. 
 
 the subscription, should be removed by a contrary con- 
 demnation equally testified by revoking the subscrip- 
 tion?"* 
 
 When chosen coadjutor to Bp. T. Talbot, in 1786, 
 Dr. Berington was appointed in the usual form, with 
 right of succession ; and received with his Brief of 
 appointment the ordinary faculties, granted, as usual, 
 for the term of six years. When these expired in 
 1792, they were renewed for another term of six years. 
 On his becoming Vicar Apostolic, the Prefect of 
 Propaganda, Cardinal Gerdil, not being aware that Dr. 
 Berington s ordinary faculties had been renewed, em- 
 powered Bishop Douglass to allow him ordinary facul- 
 ties, but signified that the extraordinary powers of a 
 Vicar Apostolic, which must come directly from the 
 Pope, would be withheld until the formulary sent for 
 Bp. Berington's signature should have been returned 
 to Rome duly signed, and should have been approved 
 by the Congregation of Propaganda. Bishop Berington 
 administered Confirmation at Sedgley Park, in the au- 
 tumn of 1795 ; and two of his Pastorals are now 
 lying before the writer, for the Lents of 1797 and 
 1798. They are long and able compositions ; the 
 latter, if not both, is understood to have been written 
 
 * " Quod ad rem facit, quodque in re tanti momenti sedulo provi- 
 dendum est unum id est raaxime, ne quid ambiguitatis resideat, quod 
 vel sapientibus, vol etiani iusipientibus, quibus debitores sumus 
 ofiensionis occasionem aut causam pi-a'bere iterum valeat. Nata 
 est, et quidem fatente ipsomet Reverendissimo Praesule, offensio ex 
 subscriptione utpote qua3 indicium prae se fert approbationis doc- 
 trinse in illis invisis libellis contentae. Quse ergo per approbationem 
 subscriptione testatam inductaest offensio, quid a^quius quam ut per 
 contrariam improbationem subscriptionis revocatione ex ajquo 
 testatum tollatur ?" — Letter from Rev. Robert Smelt to Bishop Bering- 
 ton, March 11, 1797.
 
 AGE 45.J CHAPTER THIRD. 59 
 
 by Mr. Wilks. It is remarkable tliat in both, flesh 
 meat is allowed on Mondays, as well as Sundays, 
 Tuesdays, and Thursdays, which was quite an unlieard 
 of permission in those days. 
 
 In 1797, Cardinal Gerdil signified to the Senior Vi- 
 car Apostolic, Dr. Walmesley, that if it met the appro- 
 bation of the Vicars Apostolic, he would recommend 
 Mr. Milner to be coadjutor to Dr. Berington, that he 
 might exercise those faculties, which were withhekl 
 from that Bishop, owing to his still refusing the required 
 retractation. One of the Vicars Apostolic objected to 
 this proposal, because he still hoped that Dr. Berington 
 would yield. At length he was induced by his Vicar 
 General, Dr. Bew, to sign the form of retractation sent 
 him from Rome, which he did at Wolverhampton, 
 October 11th, 1797. His signature, hoAvever, was 
 preceded by a preamble, intimating that he signed 
 " Salva Jidelitate Regice majestati." Nor did he 
 even after this, act up entirely to the spirit of his retrac- 
 tation. For Bishops AValmesley and Gibson required 
 of the party known as the Staffordshire Clergj/^ that 
 they should disavow various errors and heretical doc- 
 trine contained in their " Appeal to the Catholics of 
 England'''' above referred to, before they could be 
 allowed to exercise any ecclesiastical functions in the 
 Western or Northern Districts ; and when Bishop 
 Berington learned that Dr. Sbarrock, who had suc- 
 ceeded Bishop Walmesley on his decease, November 
 25th, 1797, intended to enforce the same, he wrote to 
 each of these Vicars Apostolic, only a month before 
 his own death, in which he defended the Staffordshire 
 Clergy. In his letter to Dr. Gibson, he thus expressed 
 himself: — " I declare myself completely satisfied with 
 the faith and moral conduct of the gentlemen in
 
 60 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. ['798. 
 
 question.* How his Lordship could make such a 
 declaration, when Dr. Walmesley, in conjunction with 
 Mr. Milner, and Mr. Eobert Plowden, had plainly- 
 shown that the Appeal contained even heresy ; and 
 when but a short time before, he had himself signed a 
 renunciation of the condemned Oath and the Blue 
 Books^ appears inconceivable. For these Staffordshire 
 Clergy had made, and continued to make common 
 cause with Mr. Wilks, who remained without spiritual 
 faculties, on account of his participation in those affairs : 
 and thus, by declaring himself satisfied with their faith 
 and moral conduct, he directly sanctioned heretical 
 doctrine, as well as rebellious opposition to the lawful 
 authority of the Vicars Apostolic, and of the Holy See 
 itself. 
 
 As, however, his signing the form of retractation 
 had removed the difficulty, the agent at Rome, the 
 Rev- Robert Smelt, wrote to him in March, 1798, that 
 his affair was finished ; and as soon as the sanction of 
 the three Commissioners, to whom the Pope had 
 entrusted his powers, was given, papers were sent to 
 England, containing the ordinary and extraordinary 
 faculties for Dr. Berington. His ordinary powers had 
 expired on the 23rd May. These papers were to be 
 delivered either to Dr. Berington, or if that should be 
 inconvenient, to Dr. Douglass, the V. A. of the Lon- 
 don District, who was to forward them to Dr. Berington 
 immediately. Dr. Douglass received the papers on the 
 5th of June, 1798 ; but on the 8th, Dr. Berington 
 died suddenly, without having received them. 
 
 He had dined on that day at Sedgley Park, and was 
 returning in the afternoon, on horseback, with his secre- 
 
 *" Short and plain Statement of Facts." Wolverhampton, 1798.
 
 AGE 46.] CHAPTElt THIED, 61 
 
 tary, the Rev. John Kirk, to his residence at Long 
 Birch, seven miles distant from the Park, when, after 
 passing through Wolverhampton, as they were riding 
 down the first hill on the Stafford road, Mr. Kirk 
 perceived that the Bishop had stopped his horse, and 
 was some way behind. He at once rode back, and 
 found him dismounted, and leaning against his horse. 
 He led him to the bank on the road-side, but had only 
 time to give him Absolution, before he expired. Dr. 
 Morrison, a physician of Wolverhampton, accidentally 
 came up at the moment, and attempted to bleed him, 
 but life was extinct. " Endowed," says Bishop 
 MiLNER, " with superior talents and the sweetest 
 temper, he wanted the firmness requisite for the 
 episcopal character in these times, to stem the tide of 
 irreligious novelty and lay influence, and so lent his 
 name and authority to the Oath and the Blue Books^ 
 and every other measure which his fellow Committee 
 men deemed these might serve."* 
 
 * " Supp. Mem." p. 94.
 
 62 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNEll. [1796. 
 
 CHAPTEE FOURTH. 
 
 MILNER CONVERTS FOUR JAVESE CRIMINALS. — HIS " SERIOUS 
 EXPOSTULATION WITH REV. JOS. BERINGTON." — HIS " HISTORY 
 OF WINCHESTER." — " LIFE OF BP. CHALLONER." — " LETTERS 
 TO A PREBENDARY." — STRICTURES ON HOADLYISM. — WORKS 
 ON GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE. — HIS " CASE OF CONSCIENCE 
 SOLVED." — CONCORDAT OF PIUS VII. FOR THE CHURCH IN 
 FRANCE. — THE BLANCHARDIST SCHISM. 
 
 Mr. Milner, while at Winchester, among other 
 proofs of his zeal and character, gave that remarkable 
 one, of which he himself has left an account in the 
 Supplement to his " Letters to a Prebendary T Four 
 Lascars from Java were condemned to death at Win- 
 chester for the murder of one of their companions. 
 Mr. Milner, finding that no attempt was made to 
 convert these poor creatures, obtained leave to visit 
 them, and received the thanks of the under sheriff for 
 his offer and services. For three days that re- 
 mained before the execution of these men, he was 
 much with them ; and by signs and a few words of 
 Enghsh, he succeeded in conveying to their minds just 
 notions of the essential mysteries of Religion ; and 
 they received Baptism at his hands with visible devo- 
 tion and consolation. They became so fond of him, 
 that they clung to his knees, and kissed his feet. 
 When they came to the place of execution, they 
 pointed to heaven, and died with evident faith and 
 great resignation. He gave each of them a small print 
 of our Saviour on the cross. He rode on horseback 
 behind the cart which conveyed them ; but was so
 
 AGE 44.] 
 
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 63 
 
 much affected by the execution, that he rode out of 
 the city immediately after it, away from all his friends. 
 He made the following entry of their Baptism : — 
 
 "Hsec die 7 Martii an. 1796. Ego infrascriptus 
 baptizavi in carcere hujus civitatis quatuor Indos 
 Orientales ex Insula Java oriundos, cujus (sic) patrinus 
 €rat Michael Le Scelleur. Horum nomina erant Sarak, 
 set. circa 40, Raboo, set. circa '24, Rabone, set. circa 20, 
 ct Chumoo, set. circa 18, quibus nomina sunt imposita 
 Matthsei, Marci, Lucae et Joannis. 
 
 " Joannes Milner, Miss. Ap., Past. Win. 
 
 " N.B. Eodem die suspendio ad patibulum sunt 
 necati." 
 
 In the same year, 1796, and in the year following, a 
 series of miraculous events occurred at Rome. The 
 Rev. Joseph Berington wrote in his usual style against 
 these well attested facts — " An Examination of 
 Events termed miraculous^ as reported in Letters 
 from Italy ^ 1796." He was answered by Milner, 
 who entitled his work : " A serious Expostulation 
 with the Rev. Joseph Berington^ upon his Theologi- 
 cal Errors., concerning Miracles and other subjects. 
 London, 1797." Thus was this pastor ever indefiiti- 
 gable, ever vigilant in detecting erroneous doctrines 
 and dangerous innovations, ever ready to combat error 
 and defend truth, ever active and exemplary in the 
 duties of his sacred calling and sublime ministry. To 
 his watchfulness and active exertions, the Catholics of 
 England were mainly indebted for the preservation of 
 their old Oath of allegiance and their venerable name 
 of Catholics, and for their escape from the impending 
 horrors of Schism. 
 
 While discharging faithfully the duties of a zealous 
 pastor at Winchester, Mr. Milner found in that city a 
 wide field for the pursuit of those Antiquarian studies,
 
 64 LIFE OF BISHOP mLNER. [1798. 
 
 for which he had great talents, as well as inclination. 
 He was already known as an antiquary, and the city 
 and cathedral of Winchester brought out his learning, 
 taste, and abilities more and more conspicuously. 
 After continuing his studies and researches assiduously 
 for ten years in that city, he published in 1798 the 
 great work which at once established his fame as 
 an ecclesiologist, historian, architect and antiquary: — 
 " The History^ Civil and Ecclesiastical^ and Survey 
 of the Antiquities of Winchester^ by the Rev. Johyi 
 Milner^ F.S.A^ This work, however, was not 
 actually commenced, or even projected by its learned 
 author, much more than a twelvemonth before it was 
 given to the public. He was applied to by a respect- 
 able bookseller in Winchester, to furnish him with 
 some account of that city. This led him to examine 
 the previous histories and descriptions of Winchester ; 
 and he found these so incorrect and defective, that he 
 considered it due to the ancient city, as well as to the 
 public, to draw up a genuine account of Winchester 
 and its antiquities. This we learn from his Preface, 
 in which he observes that Winchester is entitled to a 
 separate history and description, from its having been 
 until within a few centuries, the capital of the West, 
 and sometime of the whole kingdom, and from its still 
 containing monuments of most important events in 
 Saxon and Norman times.* 
 
 This valuable work is comprised in two volumes : 
 the first being devoted to the ecclesiastical and civil 
 History of Winchester, — and the second to the Survey 
 of its Antiquities. In the first part, beginning from 
 the first foundation of the city by the Britons, he traces 
 
 * Preface to First Edition.
 
 AGE 46 ] CHAPTER FOURTH. 65 
 
 it on, through the dominion of the Romans ana Saxons 
 to the Norman Conquest, and the reign of each suc- 
 cessive monarch down to the very year of the pubhca- 
 tion of his work. In the course of this historical 
 investigation, he found favourable opportunities of 
 correcting the many mistakes and misrepresentations 
 of Protestant historians, on subjects connected with 
 the Catholic religion. Thus he establishes the facts 
 of the conversion of King Lucius, and of his procuring 
 Bishops from Kome ; he gives the true account of 
 St, Birinus, and of his converting the West Saxons, 
 and especially the King and the inhabitants of Win- 
 chester ; he exposes and corrects the shameful 
 misrepresentations of the historians Carte, Hume, 
 Guthrie, Rapin, &c., with respect to the history of St. 
 Dunstan, and the licentious young King Edwy ; he 
 introduces a succinct and correct statement of the 
 dispute between King Henry II, and St. Thomas 
 of Canterbury ; he gives a most interesting and 
 edifying account of the celebrated Bishop of Win- 
 chester, William of AVykeham, and corrects the mis- 
 representations of historians concerning that period. 
 When he comes to speak of Cardinal Wolsey as Bishop 
 of Winchester, he gives a masterly account, brief but 
 pointed, of the Reformation and its consequences, 
 particularly the suppression of monasteries in Win- 
 chester, He gives an impartial account of Bishop 
 Gardiner ; and without attempting to justify the per- 
 secutions under Queen Mary, he dwells at some length 
 upon them, for the purpose of establishing four very 
 important positions, which should always be kept in 
 view, in connexion with those sanguinary measures 
 These are. First, that Mary did not persecute from any 
 tenet of her religion ; Secondly, that she did not 
 
 F
 
 66 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNEK. [1798. 
 
 persecute till she had received many provocations ; 
 Thirdly, that the most eminent Protestant divines 
 taught and practised persecution, in those days, 
 equally with Catholics ; and Lastly, that Fox's Acts 
 and Monuments, from which all succeeding writers 
 have borrowed their accounts, have been proved to be 
 a tissue of falsehood, misrepresentation, and absurdity. 
 When he comes to the reign of James II., he shows 
 impartially what James really did, and his motives for 
 it; comparing his conduct, not with that of succeeding, 
 but preceding monarchs, and judging of it, not by 
 later laws and customs, but by the principles and 
 practice of his predecessors. " The event proved," 
 he says, " that in prosecuting his favourite scheme of 
 uniting an established church with universal religious 
 liberty, he built too much on his civil prerogative ; too 
 much on his ecclesiastical supremacy, as the legal head 
 of the Church of England ; and too much on the 
 avowed doctrine of that Church, concerning passive 
 obedience and non-resistance. But, in all these points 
 he was deceived by the judges, the divines and the 
 ministers whom he employed. In short, he en- 
 deavoured to enforce his famous declaration of liberty 
 of conscience, and he lost his crown, for himself and 
 for the house of Stuart, by the attempt. To fall in 
 such a cause was worthy of a king."* 
 
 Though the author of this comprehensive history 
 confines himself principally to the record of the events 
 which concerned the city of Winchester and its neigh- 
 bourhood, his narrative becomes in great measure a 
 history of England, as there are few occurrences of 
 national and general interest which he does not intro- 
 
 * " Hist, of Winchester," P. I., ch. xiii.
 
 AGE 46.] CHAPTER FOURTH, 67 
 
 diice in the course of his review of the civil history of 
 the city. This observation apphes almost equally to 
 the second Part of the work, which is devoted to a 
 Survey of the Antiquities of Winchester. It begins 
 of course with the cathedral, of which the author says 
 that " this sacred edifice is, perhaps, the most vene- 
 rable and interesting model of antiquity within the 
 compass of the Island, now that Glastonbury is de- 
 stroyed : whether we consider the antiquity of its 
 foundation, the importance of the scenes which have 
 been transacted in it, or the character of the personages 
 with whose mortal remains it is enriched and hal- 
 lowed."* He frequently visited the cathedral, and on 
 the feasts of St. Swithin and St. Birinus it was 
 his custom to recite the Rosary, walking up and 
 down that venerable edifice, in honour of those 
 saints whose relics repose in the cathedral. 
 
 Winchester Cathedral, though defective in uni- 
 formity, from having been upwards of four centuries 
 in building, has this advantage from that very circum- 
 stance, that it affords the opportunity of studying the 
 various styles of architecture which succeeded each 
 other from the Norman Conquest to the unhappy 
 change of religion in the sixteenth century. The 
 spectator " will discover in this single pile, the rise, 
 progress and perfection of the pointed or Gothic archi- 
 tecture : there not being a single stage of that remark- 
 able and interesting species of building, and hardly an 
 ornament made use of in it, which may not be traced 
 in some part or other of Winchester Cathedral. "t 
 Every part of the venerable edifice comes successively 
 under examination. The learned author takes occa- 
 
 * " Hist, of Winchester," P. II., ch. i. | Ibid.
 
 68 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. I^^'^^^- 
 
 sion to proclaim the far greater solemnity and majestic 
 appearance of the choir and sanctuary than are pre- 
 sented by most other cathedrals, arising from Win- 
 chester Cathedral having been less altered than most 
 others by the presumption of modern builders, " who 
 have attempted to improve what they did not even 
 understand." After describing the choir, stalls, pulpit, 
 and monuments, he gives an account of the stone 
 screen and painted glass, with the chapels and 
 chantries ; he examines and refutes the supposition 
 that the remains found in what is called St. Swithin's 
 grave were the relics of the saint. Perhaps the most 
 interesting part of this portion of the work is his expla- 
 nation of the ancient cathedral front, that Crux 
 Antiquariorum^ which no one before had been able to 
 make out. It had been supposed by the Society of 
 Antiquaries to represent the history of St. Birinus. 
 But MiLNER, better versed in the lives of the Saints, 
 cleared up the mystery, by showing that the sculptures 
 on the south and west sides of the front represent the 
 history and miracles of St. Nicholas of Myra. 
 
 A chapter was introduced in the second edition, 
 by the author, devoted to the examination of the 
 modern monuments of the cathedral ; which fully 
 bears out the concluding observation, that " the general 
 fault of all these mural monuments is, that however 
 beautiful in themselves, being universally of Grecian 
 architecture, they cannot possibly assimilate with the 
 general style of the venerable fabric in which they are 
 placed ; and on the contrary, that they necessarily 
 cover some of its appropriate and essential ornaments."* 
 The autlior proceeds to examine the environs of the 
 
 * " Hist, of Win." P. II. ch. iii.
 
 AGE 46. J 
 
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 69 
 
 cathedral, and the priory and chapter-house ; and the 
 description of the conventual buildings led him to an 
 admirable and most interesting account of the institu- 
 tion, object and daily exercises of a monastic life. In 
 the chapter which treats of the ancient Grammar 
 School, and of the College of William of Wykeham, 
 and its chapel, the author introduces the well-known 
 song of Dulce Domum^ which is sung by the scholars 
 before the Midsummer vacation, and which Dr. Milker 
 always enjoyed hearing on the like occasion, at his own 
 College of St. Mary's at Oscott, in after years. 
 
 After describing Wolvesey Castle and St. Elizabeth's 
 College, he dwells upon the venerable Hospital of St. 
 Cross, the decayed state of which institution he thus 
 describes : — " The present establishment of St. Cross 
 is but the wreck of two ancient institutions ; having 
 been severely fleeced, though not quite destroyed, like 
 so many other hospitals, at the Reformation. Instead 
 of 70 residents, as well clergy as laity, who were here 
 entirely supported, besides 100 out-members, who 
 daily received their meat and drink ; the charity 
 consists at present but of ten residing brethren, and 
 three out-pensioners, exclusive of one chaplain and the 
 master. It is true, however, that certain doles of bread 
 continue to be distributed to the poor of the neighbour- 
 hood ; and, what is perhaps the only vestige left in 
 the kingdom of the simplicity and hospitality of an- 
 cient times, the porter is daily furnished with a certain 
 quantity of good bread and beer, of which every 
 traveller or other person whatsovcr, that knocks at the 
 lodge and calls for relief, is entitled to partake gratis.* 
 The rest of this learned and valuable work is devoted 
 
 * " Hist, of Win." P. II. ch. vii.
 
 70 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1798. 
 
 to a survey of the Castle and the several churches, 
 convents, hospitals and other remarkable buildings of 
 Winchester, ending with the account of the Catholic 
 chapel already mentioned. 
 
 In this year, 1798, Mr. Milner, at a very brief 
 notice, wrote a short Life of the venerable Bishop 
 Challoner, to be prefixed to a new edition of that 
 prelate's favourite work of controversy, " Tlie Grounds 
 of the Old Religion^ He compiled it partly from 
 the account given him by a person residing in Winches- 
 ter, who had passed several of her early years with 
 Bishop Challoner's mother, partly from the Bishop's 
 own works, and those of some others, partly from 
 some manuscript notes which had been put into his 
 hands, and from anecdotes related to him by some who 
 had long been intimate with the Bishop, and partly also 
 from his own recollections of him. This is a per- 
 formance so admirable and of so great interest, that it 
 is to be regretted that it is so short — occupying only 
 about fifty duodecimo pages — and that it has not been 
 reprinted. It would be read at the present day with 
 the greatest attraction and attention. It is delightfully 
 written, full of unction and piety, and comprises a 
 great deal of valuable information within its small 
 compass. The limits of the present biography will not 
 allow of many extracts from the work, but a few 
 cannot fail to be acceptable. Speaking of Dr. Chal- 
 loner's great pains to inspire his clergy with the true 
 Spirit of their vocation, he says : — 
 
 " Though a man of first-rate talents and learning 
 himself, yet he made little account of these in the choice 
 of his missionaries, compared with the edification of 
 their lives and their zeal for saving souls. He had 
 the same sentiments with respect to the discharge of
 
 AGE 46.J CHAPTER FOURTH. 71 
 
 that part of the sacred ministry which seems most of 
 all to depend upon talents ; he preferred the preacher 
 of ordinary talents, with a great share of piety, to 
 another of the most commanding eloquence, who was 
 less inflamed with devotion and the love of God ; and, 
 in particular, he severely censured all studied orna- 
 ments, either of language or of delivery, on this sacred 
 occasion, as a sacrilegious usurpation on the part of 
 God's minister, and an attempt to gain glory for 
 himself, rather than for his heavenly Master." (P. 26.) 
 
 The following particulars of Courayer will be new 
 to many readers. 
 
 " One of the most noted amongst the clerical apos- 
 tates was Father Courayer, a canon regular of the order 
 of St. Genevieve at Paris, who having first signalised 
 himself as a disciple of F. Paschasius Quesnel, in op- 
 position to the Bull Unigenitus^ and thereby drawn 
 upon himself the censures of the Church in his own 
 country, and being desirous of securing friends to 
 himself in this, into which he had resolved to with- 
 draw himself, wrote a treatise in defence of the validity 
 of the English ordinations. This, though refuted by 
 many able pens, and by that of our prelate amongst 
 others in the following treatise of The Grounds of the 
 old Religion^ yet fully answered the author's expecta- 
 tions, as he was protected and almost idolized here by 
 the clergy, who placed his picture in the Bodleian 
 Library, and by some of the nobility, who supported 
 him in the most affluent and honourable manner. 
 This notorious Jansenist and fugitive religious still 
 maintained that he was in the bosom of the Catholic 
 Church, and that he had been guilty of no crime what- 
 ever ; and, therefore, was accustomed to present him- 
 self in the Catholic chapels, which he frequented, at
 
 72 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. L1798. 
 
 the altar, in order to receive the Holy Communion ; 
 but our zealous prelate was inflexible in requiring a 
 retractation of his errors, as public as his profession of 
 them had been, and likewise his return to religious 
 obedience, before he would admit him to the partici- 
 pation of the sacraments ; and by his orders Father 
 Courayer was always publicly passed over by the offi- 
 ciating priest when he presented himself, amongst 
 others, at the altar rail. He died as he had lived, in 
 1774." (P. 28.) 
 
 The author introduces in a note, at page 31, an 
 amusing pleasantry of the merry monarch. "King 
 Charles II., when he heard his prelates congratulating 
 each other on the acquisition of a brother, namely, 
 any fallen priest who had conformed, was accustomed 
 significantly to answer, If you have a new brother, 
 you will not he long without having a new sister T 
 
 But no portion of this Life of Dr. Challoner is 
 more interesting and touching, than the description of 
 his preaching in the most obscure places for the sake 
 of security. 
 
 " In general, he left the more splendid audiences to 
 other preachers, and chose for his own part to preach 
 to the poor and to persons in the middle rank of life, 
 where there was less temptation to vanity for himself, 
 and a more ample harvest to be reaped of his neigh- 
 bours' souls. As far back as the writer's recollection 
 can trace the ministry of this holy prelate, about the 
 years 1756 and 1757, the times being troublesome, 
 and privacy necessary, he was accustomed to hold his 
 pious assembly and preach, every Sunday evening, at 
 a miserable and ruinous apartment hired for this pur- 
 pose, near Clare Market. Hence they removed to 
 another, almost as wretched, amongst the stables in
 
 AGE 46.] 
 
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 73 
 
 Whetstone's Park, Gate-street, Lincoln's-Inn Fields ; 
 and lastly, after the Bishop had preached for a few 
 weeks in the Sardinian Chapel, until he was silenced 
 by the ambassador, at the instance of ministry, the 
 said society removed to a place rather more commo- 
 dious in Turnstyle, Holborn. This society consisted 
 of certain reputable tradesmen, whose first object was 
 to defray the hire and other expenses of the large 
 apartment in which they assembled to hear their pas- 
 tor's sermons, and which was regularly filled by a great 
 multitude of the poorest sort of Catholics, together 
 with themselves. In the second place, by means of 
 stated and regular contributions, they formed a fund 
 for relieving the sick, who were in indigent circum- 
 stances, as likewise poor widows, neglected orphans, or 
 reduced families, which came within their own know- 
 ledge, or were recommended to them." (P. 36.) 
 
 The title of this excellent little biography is as 
 follows : — " A brief Account of the Life of the late 
 R. Rev. Richard CJialloner^ D.D., Bishop of Debra, 
 and Apostolical Vicar of the Southern District. By 
 the Rev. John 3Iilner, F.S.A. London: J. P. 
 Coghlan. 1798." It has prefixed to it a medallion 
 portrait of the venerable Bishop, finely engraved by J. 
 Nagle. 
 
 It will be readily imagined that a work like Mh^ner's 
 History of Winchester made a great sensation imme- 
 diately on its appearance. Nothing equal to it, or at 
 all like it, had before been published ; and that such a 
 production should come from a Catholic, excited great 
 admiration in some, and violent opposition on the part 
 of others. " The work was admitted," says the vene- 
 rable author, " even by its professed enemies to have 
 answered its intended design, and to have brought to
 
 74 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1800. 
 
 light a fund of hidden information relative to former 
 times ; but these persons complained that it presented 
 details too favourable to the religion of our ancestors, 
 and that it exhibited the alterations which took place 
 in respect of it, between two and three centuries ago, 
 in odious colours."* It was, therefore, not likely to 
 escape some criticisms and animadversions in print. 
 One passage in particular, in which the author observed 
 of Bishop Hoadly, that, " both living and dying, he 
 undermined the Church of which he was a prelate,"^ 
 brought out, in a few months, a professed answer to 
 the work, from Dr. Sturges, Prebendary and Chan- 
 cellor of Winchester, who owed his preferments to 
 Hoadly, entitled " Reflections on Popery T This was 
 the work of an able writer and respectable man ; but 
 while it professed to be an answer to Milner's book, 
 it mentioned scarcely a dozen articles in it, and those 
 of comparatively small importance. It was a vague 
 and general misrepresentation of Catholic doctrine 
 and practice. It was not to be supposed, however, 
 that MiLNER would be silent under its charges ; and 
 in ISOO he published his immortal work. Letters to a 
 Prehendari/^ which attempts indeed were made to 
 suppress, but never to answer. It astonished all par- 
 ties. Its display of history, its extensive erudition, 
 its theological acumen, its controversial power and 
 penetration, and its fearless defence of that religion, 
 which till then had rarely found an open vindication, 
 created a sensation which Catholics had never before 
 witnessed. The work was the subject of discussion, 
 even in Parliament. It was assailed by the Chancellor, 
 
 * " Letters to a Prebendary." Preface to Second Edition, 
 •j- " History of Winchester," P. I, ch. ii.
 
 AGE 48.] CHAPTER FOURTH. 75 
 
 Lord Loughborough, but generously defended and 
 highly extolled by Dr. Horsley, then Bishop of Roches- 
 ter.* The work had evidently caused serious alarm 
 in high quarters, and certain powerful personages 
 expressed an earnest wish for the termination of the 
 controversy. With this view it was proposed to 
 silence Milner by a pension ; and a Catholic gentle- 
 man of name was commissioned to sound him upon 
 the proposal. Little, however, did they who enter- 
 tained such an idea know of the conscientious firm- 
 ness and noble independence of that great man. His 
 friend. Dr. Horsley, judged more wisely : he was con- 
 fident that he would never accept even the ample 
 pension proposed to bribe him to silence ; and he took 
 a more effectual method, by requesting Milner, as a 
 return for his advocacy and defence of him in Parlia- 
 ment, to discontinue his controversy with Dr. Sturges. 
 This appeal had the desired success, and induced the 
 indefatigable Milner to withhold a triumphant work, 
 which he had written in the latter part of 1801, and 
 the beginning of 1802, that famous " End of Conti'O- 
 vers^^'' which was not published till sixteen years 
 afterwards. Dr. Sturges, instead of attempting to 
 answer the " Letters to a Pr^ebendary^^ merely gave 
 a second edition of his own bock, with a dishonourable 
 repetition of the charges which Milner had proved to 
 be calumnious, prefixing an Advertisement^ with a few 
 trifling and unimportant discussions. 
 
 It was to be expected that as Milner's censure of 
 Bishop Hoadly had chiefly given offence, and pro- 
 voked Dr. Sturges to write his " Reflections on 
 
 * He was successively Bishop of St. David's, Rochester, and St. 
 Asaph, and died in 1 806.
 
 76 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNE R. [1800. 
 
 Popery!' our able author would not pass by that sub- 
 ject in his " Letters to a Prebendary ^ He devoted 
 about a hundred pages to it in the last Letter of the 
 book, under the title of " Hoadlj/ism.'' As the work 
 of Dr. Sturges led him, Milner followed in the first 
 seven Letters of his immortal work, pursuino- his 
 adversary step by step, and discussing his facts and 
 his reasoning on the several subjects of Supremacy, — 
 Religious Observances, — Persecution, — The Eefor- 
 mation, — Vindication of the English CathoHcs under 
 Elizabeth, — and their Subsequent History to the time 
 of writing his book. These seven Letters form a 
 mass of most valuable information, and a repertory 
 of Catholic doctrine and Catholic history more valu- 
 able than could be found in any other production. 
 As a work of controversy, it has always ranked very 
 high, and equally so as a work of history. It was the 
 first attempt to clear us from the odious and hackneyed 
 accusations heaped upon us for centuries ; and the 
 attempt was decidedly and permanently successful. 
 
 The Letter VHL, on Hoadlj/ism, is by no means 
 the least important, or least interesting. The author 
 had said of Bishop Hoadly, in his History of Win- 
 chester^ that " both living and dying he undermined 
 the Church of which he was a prelate." He proceeds 
 to substantiate the charge, by contrasting the plain 
 doctrines of the Establishment with those of Hoadly's 
 system, on the following points : — The Nature and 
 Form of the Church, the Sacraments, the Christian 
 Mysteries, and the assent and subscription required to 
 the Thirty-nine Articles and the Book of Common 
 Prayer. Together with Bishop Hoadly, Milner brings 
 forward his late disciple, Dr. Thomas Balguy, and 
 shows that he even goes beyond his master in latitu-
 
 AGE 48.J 
 
 CHAPTER FOURTH. 77 
 
 dinarianism and erastian principles. Under each head 
 he quotes from the pubhshed writings of these two 
 dignitaries of the Establishment, and proves how 
 widely they differ from the doctrines of the Church 
 whose emoluments they enjoyed, and whose tenets 
 they were bound to uphold. On the nature and 
 foundation of Church government, he introduces an 
 anecdote, which will exhibit at once the extent of Dr. 
 Balguy's latitudinarianism. Milner says : — " Having 
 once had occasion to discuss this subject with him, in 
 the presence of Lord Hervey, Bishop of Derry, and 
 others, I asked him, whether, if he had accepted of 
 the bishopric,* and the King had sent to him a known., 
 professing and unhaptized Jew., to be consecrated a 
 bishop of the Church of England, he would consecrate 
 him, or not ? His answer was — Yes^ I wouldr 
 
 Milner shows that the sentiments of Dr. Sturges 
 are conformable throughout to those of Hoadly and 
 Balguy. He proves that these men alike deprive the 
 two admitted sacraments of the Church of England of 
 all efficacy, reducing them to mere positive rites, 
 containing no mystery, or efficacious grace. In fact, 
 he proves that their opinions were no better than bare 
 Socinianism ; and that Dr. Balguy lays down a frene- 
 ral maxim on mysteries, which at once cuts them all 
 up by the root, and destroys not only the mysteries 
 of the Trinity and Incarnation, but also those of the 
 Sacraments and Original Sin, as likewise the atonement 
 of Christ, the necessity of Divine Grace, and all other 
 truths of religion which we do not clearly understand. 
 The system indeed was thatRationalism,whichwas then 
 beginning to pullulate, and h;is since been so fearfully 
 
 * Dr. Balguy had refused a bishopric.
 
 78 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1800. 
 
 developed, especially in the schools of Germany ; and 
 whoever will attentively read this Letter VIII. of the 
 Letters to a Prebendary^ will find there a very clear 
 exposition of its nature and its danger. " I think, Sir," 
 says MiLNER, at the end of his masterly exposure, 
 "that I have now demonstratively vindicated that 
 expression, which has proved so oifensive to you and 
 to several of your friends, and has probably given 
 occasion to the present controversy, namely, that 
 Bishop Hoadly has, by his doctrines, undermined the 
 Church of which he ivas a prelate. . . . Never- 
 theless, it has not been so much for the sake of 
 vindicating the expression, as of refuting the system 
 itself, and of stopping the course of the prevailing 
 incredulity and irreligion, which I am convinced are 
 the natural growth of it, that I have entered into 
 the present discussion." The penetration of Milner 
 foresaw the consequences, which our generation has 
 lived to witness and lament ; and who is not convinced 
 that Hoadly, Balguy and Sturges, were they now 
 living, would be foremost to contribute their aid to 
 " Essays and Reviews," and add three more to the 
 Seven Champions of anti-Christendom ? It was, 
 however, a bold and hazardous venture in those days 
 to stand forth, as Milner did, so fearlessly in defence 
 of religion ; but he knew no fear in the cause of his 
 divine Master. " If," said he, " in tracing, at an 
 humble distance, the steps of the great Athanasius, 
 it should be my lot to drink still deeper of his cup of 
 persecution on this account than I have done, I 
 am content, provided I may share with him the 
 approbation of the Judge to come whose cause I 
 defend."* 
 
 * P.S. to Letter VIII.
 
 AGE 48.] CHAPTER FOURTH. 79 
 
 Dr. Sturges died in 1807 ; Dr. Milner heard of 
 his death while his Letters from Ireland were print- 
 ing, and immediately added in a note to Letter I. of 
 the Appendix, the following generous tribute to the 
 memory of his old opponent : — " Whilst this work is 
 in the press, I hear with infinite regret of the death of 
 that respected and learned gentleman. 
 
 *' ' Spargite flores, etc. 
 
 His saltern accumulem donis et fungar inani 
 Munere.' " 
 
 Indeed he had always kept on easy and friendly terms 
 with the Dean and Canons. Soon after his consecra- 
 tion, meeting with the Dean, he said : " Here we are 
 then, you still a rich Dean, and I now a poor Bishop." 
 In the Second Part of his History of Winchester, 
 Milner had laid down his own system on the rise and 
 progress of Gothic architecture ; and his learned and 
 acute observations excited great attention. In the 
 same year, 179S, Milner published the " Dissertation 
 on the Modern Stijie of altering Ancient Cathedrals^ 
 exemplified in that of Salisbury ;" and two years 
 after a further elucidation of his system, entitled : 
 " Observations on the means necessary for the further 
 illustrating the Ecclesiastical Architecture of the 
 Middle Ages^ in a Letter from the Rev. John 
 Milner, M.A., F.S.A., to Mr. Taylor.— Winchester, 
 1800." The style of architecture commonly known 
 as the Gothic or Pointed, has been thoroughly investi- 
 gated since ; but was only imperfectly understood, 
 and beginning to be appreciated at that time. Mr. 
 John Carter was considered the architect best 
 acquainted with it in the kingdom. " I know one man, 
 indeed," says Milner, " who is eminently qualified to 
 direct any work of this nature, and who, without either
 
 80 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1801. 
 
 an original or a copy to look at, could sit down and 
 make pure and perfect drawings for any kind of 
 buildings in the pointed style, from a monument to a 
 cathedral, according to any one of its different periods : 
 but this architect ... is so inflexibly strict in adhering 
 to ancient rules and practice, that he would not build 
 for a prince who should require the slightest deviation 
 from them. . . . With the most enthusiastic 
 passion for the pointed architecture, his whole life has 
 been devoted to the study of it, from its great prin- 
 ciples down to its minutest ornaments."* 
 
 Dr. Milner became acquainted with Mr. Carter by- 
 mere accident. He found him one day in Winches- 
 ter Cathedral, copying some mural paintings recently 
 brought to light upon its walls. Dr. Milner asked 
 if he could explain them, and he rephed : " If you, 
 Sir, will explain them for me, you will render me the 
 greatest favour in the world." The explanation was 
 given him in writing, and an acquaintance was at once 
 formed between the parties, which continued till Mr. 
 Carter's death. He, on every occasion, declared his 
 belief in the Catholic religion, and was at length 
 received into its communion by Dr. Milner, while 
 resident in Winchester. But it was reserved for 
 Milner himself to define more clearly the several 
 styles and periods of Gothic architecture ; and he 
 also assisted Mr. Carter in completing his work on the 
 ancient architecture of England. 
 
 In the year 1801, appeared from his pen " The 
 Case of Conscience solved ; or the Catholic Claims 
 proved to he compatible ivith the Coronatwn Oath, in 
 
 * " An Inquiry into certain Vulgar Opinions, &c.," Appendix, 
 Letter II.
 
 AGE 49.] CHAPTER FOURTH. 81 
 
 a Letter from a Divine in the Country/ to his Friend 
 in Town. With a Supplement^ in Answer to Con- 
 siderations on the Coronation Oatli^ by J. Reeves., 
 Esqr. By the Rev. J. Miiner, F.S.A., ^c." This 
 was written in consequence of the scruples of 
 George III., and his unwilHngness to grant Eman- 
 cipation, on account of the oath which he had taken 
 at his coronation. Dr. Milner was in possession 
 of a letter from Mr. Pitt, stating that the King had 
 read his treatise, and that it had entirely satisfied his 
 mind, and removed his difficulty. The work was 
 dedicated to Mr. Windham : it was extolled by 
 eminent men in Parliament, and spoken of in high 
 terms of commendation by the Monthly and Critical 
 Reviews. 
 
 But Milner was ready to respond to every call 
 for his able and zealous advocacy of truth and justice. 
 Watchful as he was over the interests of the Catholic 
 Church in his own country, he was no indifferent spec- 
 tator of the terrible events which had been passing for 
 some years in France. The clergy of that nation, 
 after suffering a series of frightful persecutions, beheld 
 at length the restoration of peace on the return of 
 Buonaparte from Egypt, when he was declared First 
 Consul of the French Republic, in November, 1799- 
 The persecution of the clergy ceased, those who had 
 been imprisoned were set at liberty, those who had lain 
 hid came forth, and those in exile were permitted to 
 return. Buonaparte, considering that to restore peace 
 to the Church would be most important for the public 
 tranquillity, sought to enter into a concordat with the 
 new Pope, Pius VII., who had been by a special 
 intervention of Providence elected at Venice, on the 
 14th March, 1800, and had made his solemn entry into 
 
 G
 
 82 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. ['802. 
 
 Rome on the 3rd of July following. The Pope 
 cordially entered into a proposal so desirable for the 
 re-establishment of peace and order in the Church in 
 France ; and a Concordat was agreed to at Paris, July 
 15, 1801, and confirmed by the Pope, August 15th 
 following, by his Bull, Ecclesia Christi. For the 
 execution of its provisions, his Holiness addressed a 
 Circular on the same day to all the French Bishops, 
 requesting them all, for the sake of peace, to resign 
 their bishoprics into his hands, preparatory to a new 
 circumscription of dioceses, and the new erection of 
 episcopal sees throughout France. There were only 
 eighty-one Bishops then left, of whom forty-five 
 immediately sent in the resignation of their sees, while 
 the remaining thirty-six for various reasons respectfully 
 declined. Pius VIL, however, in the exercise of that 
 supreme power which the extreme necessity of the 
 Church in France justified him in employing, proceeded 
 to suppress all the bishoprics in France, and to create 
 sixty new sees, ten of which were archbishoprics. The 
 bishops who had refused to resign their sees, had done 
 so nevertheless with the utmost reverence for the Pope ; 
 those who returned to France held communion with 
 the newly appointed clergy, and finally all, except one, 
 gave in their resignation in the year 1817, and were 
 appointed to some of the new bishoprics. Even that 
 unhappy one, formerly Bishop of Blois, retracted be- 
 fore his death. 
 
 Several priests, however, opposed the Concordat, and 
 strove to alienate the faithful from their new pastors ; 
 maintaining that Pius VIL had not observed the forms 
 prescribed by the Canons, and had exceeded his 
 powers. By far the greater part of the French emi- 
 grant clergy had returned to their own country ; but
 
 AGE 50.J CHAPTER FOUHTH. 83 
 
 several of those who remained in England joined in this 
 opposition, and were encouraged by some of the emi- 
 grant Bishops in England. Monsignor Erskine, after- 
 wards Cardinal, who had been several years in England, 
 was commissioned to induce the French emigrant 
 Bishops to comply with the wish of his Holiness, by 
 resigning their sees, which four of them did, and he 
 engaged Mr. Milner to employ his powerful pen in 
 the cause. Perceiving the dangerous errors of the 
 party, he accordingly published " An Elucidation of 
 the Conduct of his Holiness P. Pius VII. ^ with 
 respect to the Bishops and Ecclesiastical Affairs of 
 France.^ in a Letter to a Country Gentleman.^ with a 
 new translation of the late Briefs ; the one addressed 
 to the Catholic Prelates., the other to the Arch- 
 bishop of Corinth., relative to the Schismatical Pre- 
 lates of that Country. By the Rev. J. Milner^ M.A., 
 F.S.A. 1802." This schismatical party were styled 
 in France Ea petite Eglise ; but they were occa- 
 sionally called Clementins, from the Abbe Clement, 
 an able defender of their cause. In England they 
 have been generally known by the name of Blanchar- 
 dists, from the Abbe Blanchard, who made himself 
 conspicuous in their defence in this country. It will 
 be necessary, however, to revert to the state of 
 Catholic affairs from the death of Bishop Berington, 
 in ] 798, before continuing the account of the schis- 
 matical Blanchardists.
 
 84 LIFK OP BISHOP MILNER. [1802. 
 
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 
 
 DR. BEW'S CLAIM TO JURISDICTION SET ASIDE. — DR. STAPLETON 
 MADE BISHOP AND VICAR APOSTOLIC OF THE MIDLAND DISTRICT. 
 — HIS DEATH. — MILNER APPOINTED HIS SUCCESSOR. — HIS 
 RELUCTANCE TO ACCEPT THE CHARGE : FINAL ACQUIESCENCE. 
 
 CONSECRATION OF BISHOP MILNER. — MEETING OF THE FOUR 
 
 VICARS APOSTOLIC. — DR. MILNER TAKES POSSESSION OF HIS 
 DISTRICT. — ITS EXTENT, NUMBER OF ITS CHAPELS AND CLERGY. 
 — TERMINATION OF THE OPPOSITION OF THE STAFFORDSHIRE 
 CLERGY. — DETAILS OF CHAPELS OF THE MIDLAND DISTRICT. 
 
 The death of Bishop Berington, which occurred sud- 
 denly, as already related, on the 8th of June, 1798, 
 did not put an end to the Blue Book contests, nor to 
 the hostility of the party known as the Staffordshire 
 Clergy. The Rev. Dr. Bew, who had been the late 
 Bishop's Vicar-General, claimed the exercise of spiri- 
 tual jurisdiction, till a new Vicar Apostolic should be 
 appointed. This, however, rightfully belonged to the 
 Senior Vicar Apostohc, Bishop William Gibson, who 
 of course claimed to exercise it, and his claim was 
 approved and admitted by the new Pope, in a letter 
 from Venice, dated April 23, 1800. But the great 
 question now was who should succeed as Vicar Apos- 
 tolic in the Midland District. The Cisalpine Club 
 were very anxious to procure the appointment of one, 
 whose sentiments were congenial with their own ; but 
 on the 7th of November, 1800, the Rev. Gregory 
 Stapleton was appointed Bishop of Hierocaesarea in 
 partibus^ and Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District. 
 "Dr. Stapleton," says Dr. Milker, "was a gentleman
 
 AGE 50.] CHAPTER FIFTH. 85 
 
 of ancient family, and unimpeachable orthodoxy and 
 morality." He was president of St. Edmund's College, 
 Old Hall Green, when he was made Bishop ; and had 
 been previously president of St. Omer's College, when 
 its inmates were imprisoned at Arras and Dourlens. 
 When they were restored to liberty, he returned with 
 them to England, and settled with them at Old Hall 
 Green. In the Letter from Cardinal Borgia, the Pro- 
 Prefect of Propaganda, dated November 4th, 1800, 
 which announced to him his appointment to the epis- 
 copal see of Hierocsesarea in partihus^ and to the 
 Apostolic Vicariate of the Midland District, he was 
 exhorted to accept the burthen imposed upon him, for 
 the present at least, out of reverence for the Holy See, 
 with the assurance that if after settling the affairs of 
 the District, he should prefer becoming coadjutor to 
 Bishop Douglass, who had petitioned for him, he 
 would be allowed to make the exchange, as soon as 
 a fit person should be found to take his place. Dr. 
 Stapleton was consecrated on the 8th of March, 1801, 
 by Bishop Douglass ; and when he took possession of 
 the episcopal residence at Long Birch, he brought 
 with him his friend Rev. Thomas Walsh, then in 
 deacon's orders, to reside with him as his secretary. 
 He ordained him priest there, and gave him the charge 
 of the congregation. At his decease, he bequeathed 
 to him his valuable library, his watch, and some other 
 articles. 
 
 Dr. Stapleton's exertions to restore peace in his 
 District were crowned with success ; but it did not 
 long continue. He governed the District only a year 
 and a-half, and died while on a visit at his old resi- 
 dence, St. Omer's, May 23, 1802. His death was the 
 signal for fresh dissensions and intrigues among the
 
 86 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [18Q3. 
 
 members of the Cisalpine Club. The latter again en- 
 deavoured to procure a Bishop of their own choice : 
 others were busy in recommending various persons. 
 Thus the two Grand Vicars of the Midland 13istrict, 
 Messrs. Beeston and Beaumont, recommended Dr. 
 Bew, adding also the names of Messrs. Bigby and 
 Come. But the Senior Vicar Apostolic, Dr. William 
 Gibson, claimed his undoubted right of presenting to 
 the Holy See a fit person for the vacant District. It 
 was mentioned in the last chapter that six years before, 
 when Bishop Berington could not obtain the extraor- 
 dinary faculties of a Vicar Apostolic, there was a pro- 
 posal made by the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda 
 to appoint Mr. Milner coadjutor to that Bishop ; but 
 that the appointment did not take place, because hopes 
 were still cherished by one of the Vicars Apostolic 
 that the Bishop would comply with what the Holy See 
 required. On his death, Milner had been regularly 
 presented to the Ploly See as a fit person to succeed 
 as Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District ; but he 
 humbly tells us that " the superior merit of Dr. Sta- 
 pleton caused him to be preferred."* 
 
 Now, however, the Midland District was again 
 vacant, and the eyes of all who were zealous for order 
 and peace, and the real interests of religion, were 
 anxiously turned upon Milner to fill the vacancy. 
 No man certainly was better qualified for it than the 
 subject of this biography. For six and twenty years 
 he had had experience on the mission, and had dis- 
 charged with remarkable zeal, fidelity and success the 
 functions and laborious duties of the priesthood. He 
 had shown unwearied energy in defending the sacred 
 
 * " Supp. Mem.," p. 109.— Note.
 
 AGE 51.] CHAPTER FIFTH. 87 
 
 cause of faith against the enemies without, and the 
 cause of ecclesiastical order and discipline against 
 insidious foes in the very household. His talents 
 were of the first order, and had already made him 
 very conspicuous ; and with the peculiar difficulties 
 of the time, and especially of the District then vacant, 
 he was evidently the man best qualified to contend. 
 He was therefore again presented to the Holy See, and 
 strongly supported by His Eminence, Cardinal Erskine. 
 By the joint influence of that Cardinal, and of the 
 Senior Vicar Apostolic, Dr. William Gibson, with 
 whom the other two Bishops, Douglass and Sharrock 
 concurred, the Rev. John Milner was appointed 
 Bishop of Castabala in partihus^^ and Vicar Apostolic 
 of the Midland District, by a Brief of Pope Pius VH., 
 dated March 1, 1803. 
 
 Milner, however, was very reluctant to accept the 
 dignity and weighty charge proposed for him. So far 
 from considering it his duty to acquiesce, the humble 
 missioner of Winchester " conceived it his duty," as he 
 himself has informed us, " to decline such a promotion 
 altogether. "f He was influenced principally by a sense 
 of his own unworthiness, for a man of real humility 
 can never recognise his own merits ; but together 
 with this, another important reason weighed upon 
 his mind, and made him for a long time withhold con- 
 sent to his appointment. The Midland District, to 
 which he was nominated, had been involved in the 
 disedifying contest connected with the Catholic Com- 
 
 * An Apostolic See, mentioned by St. Ignatius of Antioch, the 
 Bishop of which sat in the first Council of Nice. Dr. Milner 
 used to mention that it was famous for a bx'eed of mastitTs, the 
 Scriptural emblems of faithful pasters. 
 
 t " Supp. Mem.," p. lOQ.
 
 88 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1803. 
 
 mittee, Mr. Wilks and the Blue Books, and had long 
 continued in opposition to the other Districts. We 
 have his own assurance that "he had the strongest 
 antipathy to a residence in that country, where he saw 
 he must reside, in case he accepted " the appointment.* 
 He consulted his friends, but could not bring himself 
 to a decision, till the representations of a sincere and 
 enlightened friend convinced him of the line of duty 
 which he ought to follow. This friend was the Eev. 
 James Sharrock, younger brother of Bishop Sharrock, 
 who had succeeded Bishop Walmesley as V. A. of 
 the Western District. James was Prior of the Bene- 
 dictine establishment at Acton Burnell ; and he 
 fortunately succeeded in convincing Milner that he 
 ought to accept the charge proposed for him, because if 
 he refused, some other might be chosen for the office, 
 who would perpetuate those dissensions and innova- 
 tions, to which the District had been so long subject. 
 His reluctance was thus happily overcome, and he 
 consented to undertake the important charge to which 
 he was called. 
 
 To prepare for the solemn ceremonial of his con- 
 secration, he repaired to the monastery at Lulworth 
 where the monks of La Trappe had found an asylum 
 when driven from France. They were located in some 
 farm buildings near the Castle, by Thomas Weld, Esq., 
 father of His late Eminence Cardinal Weld. Here the 
 Bishop elect made a devout preparation for the grace 
 of the Holy Order of Episcopacy, by a fervent spiritual 
 retreat in the silence and solitude of this humble Cis- 
 tercian monastery. He went through all the rehgious 
 exercises of the community, and from long standing, 
 
 * <' Supp, Memoirs," p. 1 1 0.
 
 AGE 51. J CHAPTER FIFTH. 89 
 
 the blood gushed from his legs. But he came forth 
 from this rigorous preparation, strengthened in spirit, 
 rejoicing as a giant to run the wai/* and ready to 
 take up his formidable burthen, trusting that He who 
 imposed it would strengthen him to support it. It was 
 natural that he should choose his own beautiful chapel 
 at Winchester for the place of his consecration : it was 
 his own erection, he had long ministered in it, he was 
 beloved by the flock attached to it, and he was about 
 to endure a painful and final separation from it. He 
 would therefore take his leave by the solemn and 
 imposing farewell of his episcopal consecration. This 
 important event took place on Sunday within the 
 Octave of the Ascension, the 22nd of May, 1803. 
 The consecrating Bishop was Dr. Douglass, Vicar 
 Apostohc of the London District, who was assisted by 
 the other two Vicars Apostolic, Drs. Gibson and 
 Sharrock. A coadjutor had been granted to Dr. 
 Douglass, in the person of Dr. William Poynter, who 
 had been appointed Bishop of Halia, in partibus, and 
 who was also present on this memorable occasion. 
 There were also assembled the Eev. Thomas White, 
 who succeeded some time after to the mission of Win- 
 chester, and who preached the Consecration Sermon 
 from the text, " Thou art Peter, ^-c.;" the Eev. John 
 Perry, the new Bishop's Vicar-General ; Rev. Richard 
 South worth, S.T.P. ; the Rev. Messrs. Hodgson, Grif- 
 fiths, Lingard, Walmesley, and Grafton ; the Rev. F. 
 John Baptist, Prior of La Trappe, and the Ven. Abbe 
 Carron. After the ceremony the Bishops and clergy 
 dined in the refectory of the convent. The pectoral 
 cross and ring for his consecration were presented to 
 
 * Ps. xviii. 6.
 
 90 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNIIR. [1803. 
 
 him by the nuns at Winchester ; and at his death were 
 returned to them by his express directions. On the 
 Sunday following, being Whitsunday, the 29th of 
 May, Dr. Poynter was consecrated in the Chapel of 
 St. Edmund's College, Old Hall Green ; and on 
 that occasion Bishop Mtlner delivered an excellent 
 discourse, wliich unfortunately has not been pre- 
 served. 
 
 The four Vicars Apostolic and the coadjutor of 
 Dr. Douglass being thus assembled together, embraced 
 the opportunity of holding a meeting, in which they 
 considered the chief grievances under which the 
 Catholics then laboured in England, the want of free 
 liberty for those in the army and navy to practise their 
 religion; — the invalidity of our marriages in law; — and 
 the insecurity of the property of our chapels and 
 schools. Many other matters regarding religion were 
 settled by their Lordships at this meeting with perfect 
 unanimity : and the " Monlta^' or instructions to the 
 clergy, were agreed upon, which were afterwards printed 
 for their use. 
 
 And now the new Bishop went forth to take charge 
 of the Midland District. He continued, however, for 
 many years to be the extraordinary chrector of the 
 nuns at Winchester, and, in consequence, spent some 
 time there every year. He had been a priest twenty- 
 six years, and his career in the holy ministry was 
 almost equally divided betw^een the priesthood and the 
 episcopacy, for he was Bishop three and tw enty years. 
 St. Gregory the Great says, that humihty is not of 
 itself sufficient qualification for a Bishop, without light 
 and knowledge; but that those are qualified who know 
 how to do themselves what God commands, and 
 wisely to command others: "Qui et facere jussa
 
 AGE 51.] CHAPTER FIFTH. Ql 
 
 sciant, et quae facienda sunt sapienter jubeant."* Dr. 
 MiLNER possessed these qualifications in an eminent 
 degree, as the whole of his episcopal course fully 
 attested and exemplified. The District over which 
 he was to preside required, indeed, a Bishop who 
 would know how to govern wisely. The utmost pru- 
 dence and forbearance were needed ; but they w^ere 
 found in the character of Dr. Milner ; and the bene- 
 ficial results expected from his episcopacy were 
 abundantly realised. The Midland District comprised 
 fifteen counties : Shropshire, Worcestershire, Warwick- 
 shire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, 
 Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Hunt- 
 ingdonshire, Rutlandshire, Lincolnshire, Cambridge- 
 shire, Norfolk and Suffolk. It is not easy, in the 
 absence of all records, which in those days were either 
 not kept at all, or made very imperfectly, to estimate 
 the number of Catholics in the District. It certainly 
 extended very widely; and when it was once ob- 
 served to Dr. Milner that his District was very 
 extensive, he replied, " Yes, Sir, it's a long way from 
 Ipswich to Oswestry." But in some of its counties 
 there was not a single known Catholic ; and in some 
 others there were very few. The greatest numbers 
 were in Staffordshire and Warv/ickshire. The total 
 number of Catholics in England and Wales appears 
 by the returns made to the House of Lords in 1780, 
 to have been 69,376. In twenty-three years, up to 
 the year 1803, they may have increased to more than 
 70,000. Nearly half of this number were included in 
 the Northern District alone, as the Catholics in Lanca- 
 shire far outnumbered those in every other county. 
 
 * S. Greg. Magn. in 1 Reg. xvi. 8.
 
 92 
 
 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. 
 
 [1803. 
 
 The London District ranked next in numbers, and 
 the remainder were distributed through the Mid- 
 land and Western Districts in unequal proportions, as 
 the Midland contained far more than the Western. 
 
 A tolerable idea may be formed, however, of the 
 Catholic population of the Midland District, by the 
 number of chapels which it then contained. The 
 Catholic reader will be interested in the following 
 account of chapels and clergy in the Midland Dis- 
 trict in 1803, which the present writer gives chiefly 
 from his own recollections, with some little aid from 
 scattered and scanty records. He does not vouch for 
 its perfect accuracy or completeness, but he believes 
 it to be as correct as it could now be made : — 
 
 
 Staffoedshire. 
 
 Black Ladies, 
 
 . . . Rev. John Roe. 
 
 Bloxwich, . . . 
 
 ... Rev. James Norman. 
 
 Cresswell, . . . 
 
 ... Rev. James Tasker. 
 
 Lichfield, 
 
 ... Rev. John Kirk. 
 
 Long Birch, 
 
 ... Rev- Thomas Walsh. 
 
 Moseley, 
 
 ... Rev. Joseph Birch. 
 
 Oscott, 
 
 ... Rev. John Bew, D.D., and 
 
 
 Rev. Thomas Potts. 
 
 Sedgley, 
 
 ... Rev. John Perry. 
 
 Swinnerton, . . . 
 
 ... Rev. Tindal. 
 
 Sedgley Park, 
 
 ... Rev. James Simkiss and Rev. 
 
 
 Thomas Southworth. 
 
 Stafford, 
 
 ... Rev. John Come. 
 
 Aston, 
 
 ... 
 
 Tixall, 
 
 . . . Rev. Thomas Price. 
 
 Cobridge, ... 
 
 . . . 
 
 Wolverhampton, 
 
 . . . Vacant. 
 
 Yoxall, 
 
 . . . Rev. Gaspar Bricknall. 
 
 Ashley, 
 
 . . . Rev. — De Laistre.
 
 AGE 51.] 
 
 CHAPTER FIFTH. 
 
 93 
 
 Baddesley Green, 
 
 Birmingham, 
 
 Foxcote, 
 
 Brailes, 
 
 Wapenbury,. 
 
 Coughton, 
 
 Coventry, 
 
 Wooton Waven 
 
 Acton Bumel, 
 
 Linley, 
 
 Madeley, 
 
 Mawley, 
 
 Newport, 
 
 Shrewsbury, 
 
 Blackmore Park, 
 Grafton, 
 Harvington, . . . 
 Spetchley ... 
 Worcester, . . . 
 
 Warwickshire. 
 
 Eev. Chas. M'Donnell, O.S.F. 
 Rev. James Hawley, O.S.F. 
 
 Rev. — Planquette. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Barr, O.S.B. 
 
 Shropshire. 
 
 . Rev. Jas. Sharrock, O.S.B. 
 
 Rev. George Johnson, O.S.B. 
 . Rev. John Reeves. 
 . Rev. Jas. Appleton. 
 . Rev. George Howe. 
 
 Worcestershire. 
 
 Rev. Clement Weetman. 
 Rev. Richard Cornthwaitc. 
 
 Rev. Andrew Robinson. 
 
 Derby, 
 Glossop, 
 Hassop, 
 Hathersage, •- 
 Wingerworth, 
 
 Derbyshire. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Bloodworth. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Martin. 
 Rev. Edward Eyre. 
 Rev. Joseph Johnson.
 
 94 
 
 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. 
 
 [1803. 
 
 Leicesteeshire. 
 
 Eastwell, Eev. Robert Beeston. 
 
 Holt, 
 
 Husband's Boswortb, Rev. Edward Peach. 
 
 Stonor Park, 
 Hardwicke, ... 
 Britwell, 
 Enstone, 
 Kiddington, . . 
 Oxford, 
 Maple Durham, 
 
 Nottingham, 
 
 Worksop, 
 
 Brigg, 
 
 Irnham, 
 
 Lincoln, 
 
 Louth, 
 
 Osgodby, 
 
 Sixhills, 
 
 King's Cliffe, 
 Sawston Hall, 
 
 Oxfordshire. 
 
 ... Rev. Samuel Corbishley. 
 
 ... Rev. Francis Bishop, 
 
 ... Rev. Samuel Rock. 
 
 ... Rev. Chas. Leslie. 
 
 ... Rev. — Le Febre. 
 
 Nottinghamshire . 
 
 ... Rev. P. Demasures. 
 ... Rev. Richard Fishwick. 
 
 Lincolnshire. 
 
 ... Rev. — Fromentin. 
 
 ... Rev. John Howard. 
 
 ... Rev. — Beaumont. 
 
 ... Rev. L. Bertrand. 
 
 ... Rev. William Harris. 
 
 ... Rev. James Hawley. 
 
 Northamptonshire. 
 ... Rev. Dr. O'Brien. 
 
 Cambridgeshire.
 
 AGE 51.] 
 
 chapter fifth. 95 
 
 Norfolk. 
 
 Buckenham, ... Eev. John Paterson. 
 
 Cossey, ... ••• Rev. William Hayes. 
 
 Lynn, Rev. — Le Goff. 
 
 Norwich— St. John's, Eev. Edward Beaumont. 
 
 St. Swithin's, Rev. James Lane. 
 
 Oxborough, Rev. John Sanderson. 
 
 Suffolk. 
 
 Bury St. Edmund's,... Rev. Thomas Angier. 
 
 Coldham, Rev. — Dennett. 
 
 Flixton, Rev. Jos. Scott, O.S.B. 
 
 Haughley Park, ... Rev. J. B. Fountain. 
 
 Gifford's Hall, . . . Rev. Blase Morey. 
 
 Ipswich, Rev. L. Simon. 
 
 Dr. Mn.NER found that the Midland District, in 
 common with the other three Districts of England, 
 * had begun to feel the sad effects of the breaking up of 
 our colleges on the Continent, in consequence of the 
 French Eevolution. Several priests, too, had died very 
 recently ; so that some missions were without pastors ; 
 while others were imperfectly supplied by French eini- 
 grant priests, full of zeal and piety indeed, but very 
 imperfectly acquainted with our language, which was 
 a formidable drawback, for some time, to their general 
 usefulness on the English Mission. Yet here we can- 
 not but admire and bless the mysterious dispensation 
 of Divine Providence in our favour. For just at that 
 critical time when our seminaries had failed, and no 
 prospect appeared of om^ being able for a long time to 
 come to complete the education of our clergy, with our 
 very limited means at home, a large number of those
 
 96 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1803. 
 
 French priests who had been driven as exiles upon our 
 shores, had remained in England, and preferred to 
 labour as best they could, in our poor missions, rather 
 than return to their own country. Gladly did our 
 Bishops welcome these worthy men, and employ them 
 in the work of the holy ministry. They were zealous 
 and exemplary ; and incalculable was the good which 
 they effected in this country. Many converts were 
 made by their prudent and enlightened teaching ; 
 many chapels were built, and missions established in 
 every part of the kingdom ; and many a congregation 
 now large and respectable, owes its beginning to the 
 humble, but persevering labours of some poor French 
 priest, generously giving his time, his toil, and his 
 hard-earned savings to the great work of the salvation 
 of souls in a strange land. That band of noble la- 
 bourers in our vineyard must never be forgotten by 
 English Catholics ; nor must we ever cease to thank 
 God for thus marvellously providing for the spiritual 
 wants of our poor scattered flocks, and the conversion 
 of countless souls to his holy faith. The conduct of 
 the French priests in England was so edifying, and the 
 circumstances of their coming among us excited so 
 much sympathy, that the prejudices of our countrymen 
 against our religion and our priesthood were very 
 remarkably softened and dissipated, and the way was 
 prepared far that rapid progress of the Catholic faith, 
 which we have so happily witnessed in succeeding 
 years. 
 
 It has been already observed that Dr. Milner long 
 hesitated to accept the charge of the Midland District, 
 principally from the apprehension of the peculiar dif- 
 ficulties attending it. It had been the stronghold of 
 the Blue Book party, and the Staffordshire Clergy
 
 AGE 3].] CHxVPTER FIFTn. 97 
 
 had brought upon themselves a disedifying notoriety. 
 The leaven had continued to work till the time of 
 Bishop Stapleton ; but when Dr. Milner came to 
 reside in Staffordshire, it had entirely subsided. Of 
 the fifteen priests who were known as the Stafford- 
 shire Clergy^ eight were already dead ; their leader, 
 Eev. Jos. Berington, had left the District, and given 
 satisfaction to Bishop Douglass, and another, Rev. 
 John Perry, had so completely secured the confidence 
 of Dr. Milner, that he appointed him his Vicar- 
 General, and he continued so to the end of his life. 
 So that only five of the number remained, and these 
 gave the new Bishop no trouble, having already made 
 full retractation two years before. Indeed, so happy 
 an effect was produced in the District by the appear- 
 ance of Bishop Milner, and the charity and prudence 
 with which he commenced his episcopal administra- 
 tion, that it might truly have been said to him then, 
 with respect to his District, as it was a few years later, 
 with reference to his College at Oscott : 
 
 " Instar veris enim vultus ubi tuus 
 Affulsit, populo gratior it dies, 
 Et soles melius nitent."* 
 
 From the above tabular view of the Midland District 
 in 1803, it will be seen that there were only about 
 fifty chapels in the fifteen counties which it com- 
 prised. Of these, some were without pastors ; and as 
 several were served by Benedictines, Ex-Jesuits and 
 French priests, the number of English secular clergy 
 
 * For where thy countenance, like spring, gives light, 
 The (lay's more joyous, and the sun more bright. 
 
 Hou., Carm. iv., Ode iv., ad Augustum. 
 
 See Preface to new edition of the Douay Latin Grammar, by 
 Rev. Thomas Potts. 1810. 
 
 H
 
 98 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1803. 
 
 in the District was not much above thirty. The cha- 
 pels were for the most part very humble and inconve- 
 nient. The best was decidedly the one at Wolver- 
 hampton, which had been built about the year 1743, 
 and decorated by Bishop Homy old in 1765, with very 
 elegant Italian plaster work. St. Peter's chapel, the 
 only one then in Birmingham, was very respectable, 
 and the chapel at Oscott, built by Rev. Pierce Parry 
 soon after 1778, was also in very good taste, and of 
 good dimensions for the time. A few other neat and 
 convenient chapels existed, such as those at Staiford, 
 Tixall, Bury St. Edmund's, built by Rev- John Gage, 
 S.J., St. John's at Norwich, and the Jesuits' chapel 
 in the same city. The Rev. John Kirk completed 
 his chapel at Lichfield in November, 1803. Several 
 were only private chapels in the mansions of the nobi- 
 lity and gentry ; and others were mere rooms or garrets 
 in obscure buildings. The chapel at Black Ladies, 
 however, deserves a particular record. It was the very 
 same venerable chapel which had belonged to a small 
 community of Benedictine nuns in Catholic times, and 
 hence the name of Black Ladies. It was a low 
 building, half timber, with a ceiling of oak, and some 
 remains of an old tesselated pavement, and had a 
 gallery at the West end, and another on one side. It 
 was served at that time, and for many years after, by 
 the Rev. John Roe, till his death, June 28, 1838, at the 
 age of eighty-one ; and was closed in 1844, when the 
 new Catholic church was built at Brewood. 
 
 The reader will be curious to know what sort of 
 chapel the Bishop himself had. His residence at first 
 was at Long Birch, near Wolverhampton, where he 
 arrived on the 22nd of June, 1803. The Bishops had 
 lived there since Dr. Homy old, who was the pastor of
 
 AGE 51 ] CHAPTEK FIFTH. 99 
 
 the congregation there, and when made Bishop in 1752, 
 continued to reside at Long Birch. The chapel was 
 merely a room in the house, about twenty feet long, 
 and the Bishop's sitting-room adjoined it. This was 
 indeed a poor exchange for Dr. Milner's handsome 
 chapel at Winchester, his own creation, to which he 
 was naturally so much attached ; but he did not remain 
 many months in a place so little suited to his tastes, 
 habits, and talents. In the year following he removed 
 to Wolverhampton. 
 
 As the chapels in the District were mostly poor 
 buildings, so were they in general very scantily provided 
 with means of support for the clergy, and requisites for 
 the ceremonial of divine worship. This indeed was 
 not peculiar to that District: it was common to all parts 
 of England. There were few chapels, out of London, 
 in which High Mass was ever celebrated : in the Mid- 
 land District there was not one. It was only in pri- 
 vate chapels that rich vestments were found ; though 
 a few others possessed one or two venerable old vest- 
 ments preserved from Catholic times. It has been 
 supposed that not a single cope was to be found 
 in the District ; but Dr. Milner certainly had one, 
 which the writer well remembers : but he hardly 
 ever wore it. Having so lately emerged from their 
 depressed condition under the penal laws, when 
 they dared not even be seen making their way 
 to their poor places of worship, the Catholics natu- 
 rally retained much timidity in all things relating 
 to the practice of their religion. Hence they never 
 spoke of hearing Mass, but used the word Prayers 
 instead. This habit was retained by most of the 
 old priests down to a very late period; and it 
 may be seen constantly exemplified in the old
 
 100 LITE OF BISHOP MELNER. [1803. 
 
 Directories, where at such or such a chapel it is 
 mentioned that " Prayers are said at 10 'o'clock," 
 meaning in reality Mass. The clergy had but recently 
 ventured to dress in black, having been obliged to wear 
 coloured clothes for concealment, which were generally 
 brown. The Rev. Joseph Berington was the first 
 priest who appeared in black ; and he was blamed by 
 some of the regular clergy for exposing priests to perse- 
 cution. Mr. Gother alludes to the former necessity in 
 his lesson on St. Eusebius, June 2 1 , in these words : — 
 " By this holy prelate's disguise for the service of his 
 flock, thou must learn to put a favorable construction 
 on those who are under the same necessity." 
 
 CHAPTER SIXTH. 
 
 LONG BIRCH, THE EPISCOPAL RESIDENCE. — DR. MILNER's EARLY 
 VISITS TO SEDGLEY PARK. — PASTORAL ADDRESS TO HIS 
 
 CLERGY. HIS " EXERCISE FOR SUNDAYS AND HOLIDAYS." 
 
 CHANCERY SUIT AGAINST DR. MILNER BROUGHT BY TAYLOR. 
 
 HIS LETTER TO THE ABBESS OF WINCHESTER ON THE 
 
 THEATRE. — HIS CHURCH STUDENTS. REMOVES FROM LONG 
 
 BIRCH TO WOLVERHAMPTON. CONFIRMATIONS AT SEDGLEY 
 
 PARK, AND IN THE EASTERN COUNTIES. — MIRACULOUS CURE 
 OF WINEFRID WHITE. — DR. MILNER's PAMPHLET UPON IT. — 
 ORDINATION OF REV. F. MARTYN. 
 
 Dr. Milner, as already mentioned, had taken up his 
 abode at first at Long Birch, which had been the resi- 
 dence of his predecessors, Bishops Homyold, Talbot, 
 Berington, and Stapleton. Bishop Stonor, who pre- 
 ceded Bishop Homyold, lived in Oxfordshire, fib:st at 
 Watlington Park, and afterwards at Old Heythrop. Dr.
 
 AGE 51.] CHAPTER SIXTH. 101 
 
 Homyold had been the missioner at Grantham ; but 
 Mr. Giffard of Chillington, having married a Miss 
 Thimbleby of Irnham, and died in 17 IS, his widow 
 retired to her jointure house at Long Birch. Mr. 
 Horny old became her chaplain there in 1739. In 
 1752, he was appointed Bishop of Philomelia in 
 partibus, and coadjutor to Dr. Stonor ; on whose death, 
 in 1756, he succeeded as Vicar Apostolic of the 
 Midland District. He continued to reside at Long 
 Birch to the end of his life. It was about seven miles 
 from Sedgley Park, where Dr. Milner had been at 
 school before he went to Douay College, and to which 
 he was ever strongly attached. He has written of it 
 as " that most useful school," and used to call it " that 
 nursery of the English priesthood." He naturally 
 paid it a very early visit ; and the writer well recollects 
 his first appearance there. He came mounted on his 
 favourite black horse " Farmer," which he had brought 
 with him from Winchester.* He was fond of this 
 animal, though it was in reality a very vicious brute. 
 It nearly threw him more than once ; and at the 
 earnest persuasion of the Eev. John Perry and others, 
 he parted with it soon after, out of regard for his 
 own safety, though he himself hardly knew what fear 
 was. As he came up to Sedgley Park, he rode at a 
 brisk pace along the road leading to the stables, and we 
 crowded down at the rails of the Park " Bounds" to 
 pay our respects, but quite as much to gratify our 
 curiosity to see the new Bishop, whose fame had 
 preceded him. He was now fifty years of age, in full 
 health and undiminished strength, with a florid counte- 
 
 * The writer, in his *' Hist, of Sedgley Park," stated by mistake 
 that Dr. Milner rode on his " grey charger," but he did not procure 
 that horse till after parting with " Farmer."
 
 102 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1803. 
 
 nance and of robust make. He was above the middle 
 stature, and his black hair was only just beginning to 
 turn grey. The first time that he administered the 
 Sacrament of Confirmation was in the chapel at 
 Sedgley Park, on the 24th of June, a month after his 
 consecration. We were much struck with his com- 
 manding voice and energetic delivery in the addresses 
 which he made to those who were to be confirmed, 
 both before and after administering that Sacrament. 
 In September he visited the greater part of Suffolk 
 and Norfolk, and afterwards Lincolnshire and Derby- 
 shire. In October he purchased for his own use, and 
 with his own money, a cottage in Park Lane, near 
 Chillington and Long Birch, with six acres of copy- 
 hold land, for the sum of £340, with a fine of £30 
 to the lord of the manor, of a Mr. Fr. Southwick. 
 
 Following the excellent example of his predecessors, 
 Dr. Milner was anxious to issue a pastoral address 
 to his clergy as early as possible. But he did not 
 publish this till December 27th, because he waited for 
 it to accompany a new and improved edition of those 
 Eules for the English Clergy, which came forth in the 
 joint names of the four Vicars Apostolic, and are well 
 known by the name of the Observanda. These were 
 stitched up with the Pastoral, and were generally pre- 
 ceded by the form of missionary faculties, which used 
 to be granted at that time, and down to the restoration 
 of our hierarchy. The Pastoral is an admirable docu- 
 ment, quite the model of an address from a Bishop to 
 his clergy. Dr. Mllner begins by announcing officially 
 the fact, and congratulating his clergy upon it, that error 
 and insubordination have ceased, and the clergy of his 
 extensive District become now again happily an united 
 body, in consequence of all those still living, whose
 
 AGE 51.] CHAPTER SIXTH. 103 
 
 publications had given offence to their ecclesiastical 
 superiors, having given ample satisfaction by sig-ning 
 a form of retractation, in which they said: " Renounc- 
 ing every expression in the said publications disres- 
 pectful to, or derogatory from, the superior rights of 
 the episcopal order, to which we profess the most 
 sincere and respectful submission. And we condemn 
 or retract the bad, noxious, or dangerous doctrines 
 contained in the writings or publications signed or 
 approved by us." This retractation was dated August 
 20, 1801. " How honorable," continues the holy 
 pastor, " is this Christian victory of piety and humility 
 to the parties concerned, who thereby emulate the 
 pahns of a Fenelon and a St. Augustine! How edify- 
 ing must it prove to the Church at large! how consol- 
 ing to the supreme Head upon earth ! how acceptable 
 to its Invisible Head in heaven!" 
 
 The Bishop then invites his clergy to " gather 
 wisdom from past misfortimes," and inculcates the 
 duty of respect and submission to the authority which 
 God has placed over us. He warns them against 
 " the latitudinarian spirit of teaching, or even tolerating 
 certain errors or deviations from the Church's doc- 
 trine, under pretence that they are slight and unim- 
 portant," and reminds them that the Church will 
 never permit any change in her ecclesiastical discipline 
 to be attempted by private individuals, or allow them 
 to censure her ordinances or practices : and he reasons 
 the same with respect to many exercises of devotion 
 and self-denial, which, without being enjoined by the 
 Church, are countenanced by her, and have been 
 practised by the most eminent saints. He proceeds 
 to give admirable practical instructions to his clergy on 
 their several duties. When exhorting them to keep up
 
 104 LITE OF BISHOP MH^NER. [1803 
 
 their theological science, he recommends them to 
 study approved divines, such as Antoine and Collet, 
 and names also their " Theological Dictates," meaning 
 that sound Epitome of Theology, usually called the 
 " Douay Dictates," a most valuable body of divinity, 
 which was never printed, and has now unfortunately 
 become very scarce, and almost forgotten. It is, how- 
 ever, a precious work, and the writer preserves a copy 
 transcribed by his own hand, with due appreciation. 
 When speaking of the important duty of preaching, 
 the Bishop adverts to those peculiar circumstances of 
 the English mission, which rendered it sometimes 
 necessary or expedient to substitute a lecture for a 
 sermon, and mentions a number of books which he 
 recommends for the use of his District, as containing 
 throughout pure and unexceptionable doctrine. He 
 gives the titles of all these, which include the works 
 of Bishop Challoner, Manning, Gother, Gobinet, 
 Bishops Hay and Horny old, Boudrand, Bourdaloue, 
 Alban Butler, Baker, Appleton, Reeve, &c., works of 
 sterling value, but for the most part too little regarded 
 in our days. Among other important portions of this 
 Address, must be noticed the zealous prelate's earnest 
 appeal in behalf of the education of clergy, which may 
 be profitably placed before the reader from its appH- 
 cability to our own times. 
 
 " As almost all those seminaries and other places of 
 education, from which the ministry has been hereto- 
 fore recruited, have now sunk under the calamities of 
 the times, we cannot fail of exerting every means in 
 our power, and all the influence we possess over 
 others, to supply this terrible deficiency. O let not 
 that sacred cause fail in our hands, through irreligious 
 indifference, which our Catholic ancestors and pre-
 
 AGE 51 CHAPTER SIXTH. 105 
 
 decessors supported for so long a time at the expense 
 of their blood. Few pastors, indeed, can assist it 
 immediately with their purses, but it is conceived that 
 several of them may contribute to it as effectually by 
 laying the foundation in one or more youths whom 
 God calls to that state, — thus abridging the time of 
 their regular studies, — as if they subscribed consider- 
 able sums for that purpose. I shall add no more on 
 this subject, than that the Vicars Apostolic have 
 unanimously decided, that to support a succession of 
 the sacred ministry, by contributing to the education 
 of ecclesiastical students, is, among all the different 
 works of piety and charity, the most excellent and 
 meritorious at the present day." 
 
 The enlightened prelate concludes with pointing 
 out how the true spirit of an ecclesiastic is to be 
 acquired. This he does solidly and practically by 
 recommending his clergy to labour earnestly in their 
 own sanctification, using every precaution against sin, 
 and renouncing all incentives to vice, assiduity in 
 prayer, special devotion to our Blessed Lady, the 
 daily practice of meditation, spiritual retreats, spiritual 
 reading, for which he specially recommends among 
 modern books the " Pensees Ecclesiastiques" of the 
 saintly Abbe Carron, the " Modele or Miroir du 
 Clerge," and the " Memoriale Vitse Sacerdotalis ;" and 
 above all, assiduity in offering up the Great Sacrifice 
 of the Mass. This first Pastoral Address of Dr. 
 MiLNER to his clergy is worthy of ancient times, and 
 quite in the spirit of the holy Fathers. It has no 
 ornament, no studied nicety of language, but is 
 expressed in plain words and apostolic simplicity. 
 Still there is about it, as we find in all Dr. Milner's 
 compositions, an admirable power, and an impressiveness 
 not easily attained.
 
 106 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1804. 
 
 In 1803, Francis Plowden, Esq., published his 
 " Historical View of the State of Ireland ;' and 
 received highly congratulatory letters upon it from 
 Earl Fitzwilliam and Mr. Grattan ; the one from the 
 latter is alluded to in the following letter addressed to 
 Mr. Plowden by Dr. Milner. 
 
 " Longbirch^ \st March, 1804. 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 " I was honoured with your letter of 26th 
 ult., but three or four hours after I had received your 
 Postliminious Preface, I had, however, by that time 
 completely devoured it : for both the matter and 
 manner were of so high a relish to my appetite, that I 
 could not leave off, till I had made an end of it. I 
 make no doubt but it will produce a great impression 
 upon the public mind, if it be sufficiently known, 
 and hasten the downfall of the weakest, as well as the 
 most mischievous Administration this country was ever 
 afflicted with. You have reason to be delighted 
 with the commendations of such a man as Grattan ; 
 and I have reason to thank you for bringing me 
 acquainted with the most sublime and touching pieces 
 of eloquence that modern, or even ancient times afford. 
 For such, I am fully persuaded, are the speeches of 
 Henry Grattan. His approbation, however, was the 
 natural consequence of having perused your work. 
 He has a mind formed to rehsh Truth, and a spirit to 
 avow his feelino;s. 
 
 " Messrs. Keating may have informed you, that I 
 have, with great difficulty, restrained my pen from 
 dipping into Irish affairs. Twice I resolved on 
 writing a Pamphlet, and even prepared memorandums 
 for the purpose ; and as often was called off to other 
 business more immediately belonging to my profession. 
 You have anticipated the subject, and some of the
 
 AGE 52.] CHAPTER SIXTH. 10? 
 
 matter of my intended publication, in what you have 
 said concerning the correspondence between the Lords 
 Redesdale and Fingall. You have, moreover, only 
 skimmed the subject, and I am clearly of opinion, that 
 if you would write a Review of the said correspon- 
 dence, including that of Mr. Coppinger with the Chan- 
 cellor and O'Neill's Remonstrance, in the manner in 
 which you reviewed the famous Protest in the second 
 Blue Book, you might, with very. little trouble to your- 
 self, make a very interesting and saleable Is. 6d. or 
 2s. 6d. Pamphlet. The ignorance as well as the 
 arrogance of the Irish Chancellor, his illogical, as well 
 as inconsistent (I mean with respect to his former 
 character) mode of arguments, his impolicy in telling 
 the Catholics that they cannot be good subjects, and 
 their clergy, that it is in vain for them to publish any 
 more exhortations to loyalty, — his impolicy, I say, as 
 well as his bitterness ; but most of all his paltry, 
 sneaking excuses, when confronted by the modest and 
 patient O'Neill, and the firm, as well as the decent 
 Coppinger, would furnish an ample theme for your 
 poignant and searching pen, and secure you at the same 
 time an easy trimnph over our common enemies. You 
 need not, in a work of that size, be under apprehen- 
 sions of ministers suppressing the effusions of your 
 genius. 
 
 " I sometimes hear from Drs. Troy and Moylan, 
 who of late have talked in a desponding style, as if 
 they dreaded actual persecution. In return I have 
 hinted to them, that the;i/ crouch too much to ministry, 
 which takes occasion from their servility to insult and 
 afflict them the more. I have often considered whe- 
 ther Mr. Mitford (that was) spoke his genuine senti- 
 ments in 1791 at the passing of our Act; or whether
 
 108 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1804. 
 
 he acted professionally (though in Parliament), and 
 was paid for his trouble. The knowledge of this cir- 
 cumstance might help us in forming an opinion of his 
 past and present conduct. This much I know, that 
 for these last two or three years (long before he crossed 
 the channel), he has been decidedly hostile to us. 
 When Mr. Weld bought Pilewell, he set a certain 
 friend of his to frighten him, and almost force him to 
 relinquish his bargain. You would be astonished to 
 hear the idle and malicious stories that this great man 
 furnished his agent with for this purpose. I cannot con- 
 clude without complimenting you upon that ingenious, 
 sagacious and almost prophetic Paper, which it seems 
 you put into the hands of Mr. Pitt so early as 1792. I 
 recollect perfectly well hearing you remark, about that 
 period, that if measures were not changed in Ireland, 
 the consequences would he fatal. But I little thought 
 that you were so well infonned on that subject, as it 
 appears you were. 
 
 " I remain, with high esteem, 
 " Dear Sir, 
 " Your most faithful and obedient Serv'ant, 
 
 '' * J. MiLNER." 
 
 A few years after his appointment to the mission at 
 Winchester, Dr. Milxer had drawn up an " Exercise 
 for sanctifying Sundays and Holidays^ ajid for 
 preparing to assist at Mass profitably^ This was 
 repeatedly revised by due authority, and was constantly 
 recited by him in his chapel, though never published. 
 He judged it a fit time now, in the year 1804, to pub- 
 lish this " Exercise" for the Midland District, without, 
 however, enjoining its use, or prohibiting any other ap- 
 proved formulary of English Prayers. '' The practice 
 of reciting certain English prayers before Mass on
 
 AGE 52.] CHAPTER SIXTH. lOQ 
 
 Sundays and days of obligation," he says in the 
 Preface, " has been declared by ecclesiastical authority 
 to be, in our circumstances, generally expedient." The 
 Prayers used almost everywhere in the District were 
 those printed in old editions of the " Garden of the 
 Soul," but they at first contained only one Litany for 
 Sundays, which was that for the Autumn Quarter, 
 chiefly composed from the " Universal Prayer." In 
 the year 1800, a book was published at Wolverhamp- 
 ton, compiled from the works of Gother, and contain- 
 ing his Prayers for Sundays and Festivals, varied and 
 rendered more attractive by answers throughout to be 
 made by the congregation. It was compiled by the 
 Pev. Joseph Berington, at the request of Bishop Bering- 
 ton ; and now published by the Rev. John Kirk. It 
 was for Sunday afternoons, and chiefly for the use 
 of such as could not attend chapel. An appendix, 
 however, was added, containing the usual Prayers 
 before Mass, diversified with three new Litanies, two 
 of them taken from Gother, and the other from that 
 venerable old Catholic Prayer Book, the Manual. This 
 book from its shape went by the familiar name of the 
 Flat Book. Dr. Milner did not disapprove of the 
 Sunday Prayers so long in use ; and he regarded 
 Gother's Prayers as " deservedly esteemed for the 
 correctness of their morality, style and reasoning." 
 But he considered that their peculiar style made them 
 unsuited for general use. " Certain it is," he says, "that 
 the length and intricacy of the sentences is frequently 
 such as to exhaust the voice of the most impressive 
 readers, and that too much scope is given to the 
 reasoning part of these devotions, at the expense 
 of the aff'ective part. Hence they partake more of
 
 110 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. ['804. 
 
 the nature of pious soliloquy or instruction, than of 
 prayer."* 
 
 His own description of the proper style for public 
 prayers is admirably drawn, and well deserves atten- 
 tion. " There is, perhaps," he says, " no species of 
 composition so difficult as that of public prayer. The 
 style of it ought to be simple, without being familiar; 
 connected, without being argumentative ; elevated, 
 without being inflated ; finally, devout, without 
 being extravagant." With notions so correct of 
 the requisites for such composition, the Bishop was 
 well qualified to draw up a formulary for public 
 prayers; and he succeeded perfectly. His '■^Exercise'' 
 is judiciously compiled, and happily worded, full of 
 unction and very devotional. One other remark in 
 his Preface deserves attention. In the beginning of a 
 Litany " the supplications, Lord have mercy on us^ 
 Christ have mercy on us, Lord have mercy on us^ 
 ought to be separately repeated, both by the priest and 
 the people, and not made answers to one another." 
 Much confusion would be avoided if this were pro- 
 perly observed. It must be owned, however, that 
 Dr. Milner's " Exercise,'' however excellent, is much 
 too long for most chapels, especially where the Mass is 
 sung, or accompanied by singing; and probably on 
 this account it has not been generally adopted. It 
 was so little relished at first by the congregation at 
 Wolverhampton, that several of the old women used 
 to bring the Elat Book slyly under their cloaks, and 
 read the old prayers to gratify their own taste and 
 devotion. Dr. Milner did not approve of singing in 
 
 * Preface to " Exercise, &c."
 
 AGE 32.] CHAPTEE SIXTH. Ill 
 
 English in the pubhc service. In a note in his 
 ^^ Exercise^l' he says: "This Psalm (the 11 6th), by 
 way of relief to the priest and people, may be sung — 
 hut in the Latin language — where singing is in use." 
 
 " When men hear sacred song," says St. Thomas, 
 although they may not understand the words which 
 are sung, yet they understand for what purpose they 
 are sung, namely, to praise God, and this is sufficient 
 to excite devotion."* 
 
 At the end of November of this year, 1804, Dr. 
 MiLNER went to London, and stayed there about three 
 weeks, to answer a Chancery Bill filed against him by 
 Mr. James Taylor, a builder of Islington. This gentle- 
 man had proposed marriage to a young lady, named 
 Gabb, a niece of the Rev. Thomas Gabb, of Work- 
 sop, well known for his Finis Pyramidis^ and other 
 learned treatises. Miss Gabb was an orphan, one of 
 two sisters, who had been long under the joint guar- 
 dianship of Dr. Milner and the Rev. Mr. Wlieeler. 
 They encouraged the addresses of Mr. Taylor, who was 
 a Catholic, and a man of good character and competent 
 fortune. But on the very evening before the in- 
 tended marriage. Dr. Milner discovered some under- 
 hand dealing on the part of the suitor, which led to 
 some inquiries, and these resulted in very positive 
 evidence of his being at the same time engaged to 
 another lady in London, a Miss Pike. The suitor 
 was informed of the charge, but the answers received 
 from him chiefly consisted in threats of prosecution. 
 Bills in Chancery were filed against Miss Gabb, the 
 Bishop and Mr. Wheeler ; and they were also indicted 
 for a conspiracy in making those inquiries, which 
 
 * Scrm. 2, 2, 9, 91, art. 2.
 
 112 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1804. 
 
 honour and duty required them to make for the pro- 
 tection of their ward. This latter cause was tried two 
 years after, as will be detailed later on in its proper 
 place. 
 
 In this year, 1804, Dr. Milner was consulted by 
 the Abbess of the Convent at Winchester, on the 
 lawfulness of theatrical amusements, for her own 
 guidance with regard to the young ladies under her 
 care, at the school conducted by her community. He 
 answered in an admirable Letter, which was published 
 many years afterwards in the Orthodox Journal for 
 1816. It well deserves an attentive perusal through- 
 out; but its leading points only can be given here. 
 The zealous and pious Bishop observes, that " if there 
 were no sin whatever^ but barely the danger of sin, or 
 merely a hindrance to sanctification and perfection 
 in frequenting plays," still it would be a crime in the 
 clergy, and a betraying of their sacred ministry to 
 expose souls to the danger of sin by any way counte- 
 nancing theatrical amusements, which are acknow- 
 ledged by all divines to be " exceedingly dissipating 
 and full of sinful danger." He goes on to say that 
 "every one knows that actors and actresses, by the 
 laws of the Church, and the particular constitutions of 
 our mission, are considered as habitual sinners, and in 
 a state of damnation, to whom, therefore, the Sacra- 
 ments are to be denied. Setting aside, then, all other 
 considerations, can any Christian think it lawful, by 
 his or her presence and money, to assist in keeping 
 
 these wretches in such a state? What are the 
 
 opinions, the taste, the conduct, and, in a word, the 
 lessons which are inculcated by the theatre ? I say, 
 then, that the very best of modern tragedies exhibit 
 and recommend that pride, ambition, vainglory, im-
 
 AGE 52.] CHAPTER SIXTH. 113 
 
 patience, anger, and revenge, which are the very 
 reverse of our Divine Master s morahty, inculcated in 
 the eight beatitudes. They most of them terminate 
 in murder or suicide. And with respect to all the 
 comedies, together with almost all the tragedies, they 
 are made up of the sentiments, the intrigues, and the 
 gratification of the concupiscence of the flesh, under 
 the specious and all-meaning name of Love. Alas ! if 
 the battles of a Christian, with this particular enemy, 
 are so dangerous, and the victories so rare ; if our only 
 safety be in flight, as the holy Doctors uniformly assure 
 us, what can be expected from him, or her, who volun- 
 tarily seeks this foul enemy, when armed with all those 
 powerful weapons, which have been described above?" 
 The prelate answers the objection that the love 
 exhibited on the stage is virtuous and connubial love, 
 by showing that a Christian is bound to banish all 
 such ideas from his imagination, for, when once ex- 
 cited, they will seek gratification in whatever way 
 they can; and he continues in clear and convincing 
 lanouage to enforce the truth, that " a bad lesson, or a 
 dangerous passion, that is insensibly instilled into the 
 breast, and fixed there by all the powerful engines of 
 the theatre, is calculated to undermine and lay in ruins 
 the whole fabric of morality." 
 
 In his Pastoral for the following Lent of 1 805, the 
 watchful prelate took occasion to warn his flock in 
 these strong terms against theatrical amusements. 
 " How dissipating, dangerous, expensive, and ruinous 
 to fortunes as well as to souls, are many of the amuse- 
 ments of the present day ! How universal is the pas- 
 sion for theatrical entertainments ! and how fatal are 
 the effects of them upon the general morals of the 
 community, no less than upon the consciences of very 
 
 I
 
 114 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1804. 
 
 many innocent and virtuous individuals ! Again, how 
 pertinaciously are these defended, as free from all 
 moral danger, in spite of reason and experience to the 
 contrary; and in opposition to the concurring testi- 
 mony of the holy Fathers, and of the Doctors of the 
 Church in modern, as well as in ancient times, who 
 term them the ruin of virtue and morality^ and the 
 very pest of souls P' 
 
 The good Bishop was most anxious for means to 
 keep up a supply of clergy for his extensive District, 
 which had begun to feel the sad effects of the loss 
 of Douay college and other establishments on the Con- 
 tinent. The only ecclesiastical students whom he had 
 at college in England were Francis Martyn and 
 Kobert Eichmond, who had been transferred from 
 Sedgley Park to the college at Oscott, on the Assump- 
 tion, in 1796. That college was not yet under the 
 immediate care and control of Dr. Milner. Anxious, 
 however, to forward the education of other youths in 
 succession for the priesthood, he sent to Oscott in 
 this year, from Sedgley Park, Henry Weedall and 
 Mark John M'Neal, who entered that college on the 
 nth of June. M'Neal soon gave up, and left Oscott; 
 but it is well known what Henry Weedall became, and 
 how justly he was ever prized by the discernment of 
 Bishop Milner. At this time then, he had only three 
 church students at Oscott College, though some other 
 youths of great promise, but younger, and less ad- 
 vanced, were studying at Sedgley Park for the eccle- 
 siastical state. He paid a visit to the college, July 16, 
 1804, and made some salutary regulations. He 
 directed that the sanctuary of the chapel should not be 
 occupied by any one but the priest and the acolyth who 
 served: that a Litany and the Examination of con-
 
 AGE 52.] CHAPTER SIXTH. 115 
 
 science, with a meditation, or similar lecture, should be 
 used at night prayers: that a Litany should be said 
 before Mass : that the boys should go to confes- 
 sion once a month: that the ceremonies of Blessed 
 Ashes and Palms and of Holy Week should be per- 
 formed ; and, finally, that the ecclesiastical students 
 should practise meditation for an hour daily, and not 
 be drilled, or wear military uniform. 
 
 Dr. Milner had been long accustomed to reside in 
 a town, and his active mind and habits could not be 
 reconciled to the quiet retirement and obscurity of the 
 old mansion at Long Birch. There were other rea- 
 sons which more directly influenced him in removing, 
 which he himself has thus mentioned in his Journal. 
 " Long Birch became an episcopal residence about 
 fifty years ago (written in 1804), in consequence of 
 Mr. riornyokVs being chosen Bishop, who had before 
 resided there as chaplain to old Mrs. Giffard, of the 
 Thimbleby family. He was succeeded by Bishop 
 Thomas Talbot, who understood farming, and had a 
 fortune to pursue it. Each of these Bishops made 
 purchases of copyhold, or freehold land, for the bene- 
 fit of their successors, to the extent in all of 35 acres. 
 Bishop Berington and Bishop Stapleton found out that 
 it did not answer to keep a farm in their own hands, 
 and seem to have resolved on quitting Long Birch. 
 Indeed the expense of keeping a gentleman's farm — 
 as is unavoidable in the situation of a Bishop — and 
 entertaining all visitors, with their horses, must make 
 it a losing concern to any Bishop, who has not a plen- 
 tiful fortune of his own; not to speak of the remote- 
 ness of the situation, and the difficulty of ])rocuring 
 letters, victuals, &c. Hence I came to a resolution of 
 quitting Long Birch, which I effected about Michael-
 
 116 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [180J. 
 
 mas, giving up Mr. GifFard's land to Mr. Southworth 
 for the benefit of the Park School, and agreeing with 
 him on a rent for the Bishop's land." He accordingly 
 took possession of Giifard House, at Wolverhampton, 
 about Michaelmas, 1804. The Rev. Thomas Walsh, 
 afterwards his coadjutor and successor, had remained 
 with him at Long Birch, in the double capacity of 
 chaplain and missioner, as he had previously been with 
 Bishop Stapleton. Dr. Milner justly considered Mr. 
 Walsh as particularly qualified for the charge of spiri- 
 tual director at Sedgley Park. He accordingly ap- 
 pointed the Bev. James Simkiss, who had been for the 
 last two years at that establishment, to the mission 
 of Sixhills in Lincolnshire, and placed Mr. Walsh in 
 his situation at Sedgley Park at the beginning of Octo- 
 ber. The mansion to which Dr. Milner removed, 
 and which he continued to inhabit till his death, was 
 called Giffard House^ and also the Great House. 
 It was erected about the year 1743, and called Giffard 
 House^ partly from having been built in the name, and 
 under the protection of Peter Giffard, Esq., of Chil- 
 lington, and partly because it was built on land pur- 
 chased from Mr. Edward Giffard, an apothecary at 
 Worcester. It was a large, respectable house, fronting 
 the street, but some way back from it, with grass plats 
 and shrubs in front. It was originally intended as a 
 residence for the priest, and a boarding-house for 
 respectable Cathohcs. It had been occupied by seve- 
 ral such persons in succession, who wished for a retired 
 life, with the convenience of the chapel, which formed 
 the back part of the house ; but it did not fully 
 answer in this respect, and had been some time unoc- 
 cupied when Dr. Mllner went to reside there. The 
 missioner at Wolverhampton at that time was the
 
 AGE 52.J CHAPTER SIXTH. 117 
 
 Rev. Morgan D'Arcy, who had succeeded the Rev. 
 John Carter in November, 1803, after an interval of 
 eight months, Mr. Carter having died in March. But 
 Mr. D'Arcy was recalled from the English mission by 
 the Irish prelates, to become president of the lay 
 college at Maynooth; and was succeeded at Wolver- 
 hampton, about Christmas, 1804, by the Rev. Walter 
 Blount. As GifFard House had ample accommoda- 
 tion, a very pious and respectable widow came to 
 board there, soon after the Bishop made it his own 
 residence. This was Mrs. Jane Wheble, relict of 
 James Wheble, Esq., who had died at Kensington, 
 June 9, 1801, at the age of seventy-four. This good 
 lady remained till after Dr. Milner's death, and con- 
 tinued to reside there with his successor. Dr. Walsh, 
 till her decease. She was very charitable, and often 
 assisted both Dr. Milner and Dr. Walsh with sums 
 for religious purposes. 
 
 In the course of the year 1804, Dr. Milner con- 
 firmed at Black Ladies and Long Birch, and visited 
 Stafford, Cresswell, Cobridge, and Aston. He con- 
 firmed also at Wooton, Coughton, and AYorcester. 
 In the next year, 1805, he gave Confirmation again 
 at Sedgley Park ; on which occasion he invited Mr. 
 Jones and two of his sons, Clement and James, to 
 come up to the chapel, to add to the solemnity by 
 singing the Litany of Loretto and one or two other 
 appropriate pieces, which was quite a novelty in the 
 humble ceremonial of the Park chapel. As he was so 
 much attached to the school, and lived so near, he 
 frequently paid a visit to Sedgley Park, and sometimes 
 preached to the boys on a Sunday. Thus he gave a 
 striking sermon there on one occasion, upon the Gospel 
 for the eighth Sunday after Pentecost, which treats of
 
 118 LIFE OF BISHOP AULNER. [1803. 
 
 the unmerciful creditor, and inculcates the forgiveness 
 of injuries. This sermon and the emphatic manner 
 of its delivery the writer well remembers. 
 
 After Low Sunday the Bishop went to London, at 
 the request of the Lish prelates, to forward the 
 Catholic petition, and remained there six weeks. 
 While there, he attended a Meeting of the four Vicars 
 Apostolic. On his return home, he visited Shrews- 
 bury, Acton Burnel, and Linley. On the 25th of 
 June, he set out on a Visitation to Lichfield, Derby, 
 Nottingham, Newark, and Lincoln. At the last place 
 he gave Confirmation, also at Sixhills, Louth, Irnham, 
 Eastwell, and Leicester, and returned home July 9- 
 But the indefatigable Bishop would complete the Visita- 
 tion of his extensive district, and accordingly set out 
 again July 14, and confirmed at Husband's Bosworth, 
 Holt, King's CliiFe, Lynn, Oxburgh, Bodney, Cossey, 
 Norwich, Ipswich, Gifford's Hall, Bury St. Edmunds, 
 Haughley Park, Stonor, Britwell, and Maple Durham ; 
 and visited Oxford, Kiddington and Heythrop. While 
 he was in Sufi'olk, he heard from Wolverhampton that 
 an evident miracle had been wrought on a young 
 woman named Winefred White, a resident in Wol- 
 verhampton, by bathing in St. Winefred's Well at 
 Holywell in FHntshire. He considered it his duty, in 
 conformity with the decrees of the Council of Trent, 
 to investigate this matter, and pubhsh the result.* 
 Accordingly on his return to Wolverhampton, he 
 proceeded to examine into it thoroughly. Winefred 
 
 * " Statuit Sancta Synodus — nulla admittenda esse nova mi- 
 racula, nisi recognoscente et approbante Episcopo, qui, simul atque 
 de iis aliquid compertum habuerit, adhibitis in consilium Theologis 
 et aliis viris piis, ea facial quae veritati et pietati consentanea 
 judicaverit." Concil. Trid. Sess. xxv. De Invoc. SS,
 
 AGE 53] CHAPTER SIXTH. 119 
 
 White, twenty-six years of age, had suffered for more 
 than three years from a severe affection of the left 
 hip and the back bone, apparently a paralysis from a 
 "■curvature of the spine, which had reduced her to a 
 state so helpless, that she was only able to walk at all 
 by the help of a crutch under her right arm, and used 
 to drasf on her whole left side as if it had been dead. 
 The writer of these lines well recollects seeing her 
 in this distressing state ; for she used to crawl up to 
 the chapel at Sedgley Park on a Sunday morning with 
 great pain, and receive the Holy Communion at the 
 early Mass. She went to the famous Well, called St. 
 Winefrid's, and on bathing in it, received an instanta- 
 neous and perfect cure. She was able to walk, run, or 
 work as well as ever. Dr. Milner interrogated this 
 young woman, and took down her deposition ; he also 
 obtained the testimony of Mr. Stubbs the surgeon, and 
 Dr. Underbill the physician, who had attended her. 
 The surgeon declared himself unable to account for a 
 change so extraordinary, and performed in so short a 
 time, upon any principle of medicine with which he 
 was acquainted ; and the physician, after detailing the 
 young woman's case, declared that all his medicines 
 had been ineffectual, and that he had deemed her case 
 totally incurable. Dr. Milner went to Holywell, and 
 received the depositions of three persons who were 
 with her at the time of her cure, of the landlady of 
 the Inn where she lodged, and of several other wit- 
 nesses, including the priest at Holywell, Rev. Edward 
 Wright. All these, on his return home. Dr. Milner 
 published in a very interesting pamphlet, in which he 
 expatiates on the proofs of an evident miracle having 
 been wrought, and carefully answers all objections 
 made, or likely to be made to this particular miracle.
 
 120 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [iS05. 
 
 and to the arguments of Dr. Middleton and others 
 against miracles in general. The pamphlet he enti- 
 tled — " Authentic Documents relative to the miracu- 
 lous Cure of Winefrid White, of the Town of 
 Wolverhampton, at Holywell, in Flintshire, on the 
 2Sth of June, 1805: with Observations thereon, by 
 
 J 31 , D.D., V. A., ^c. London, 1805." 
 
 It was dated October 29th, four months after the cure, 
 and he states that during all that time, she had " con- 
 tinued well, active and strong. She has walked six 
 miles at a time, and carried half-a-hundred weight on 
 her left side." Dr. Milner introduced this miraculous 
 cure among the examples of divine attestations of 
 sanctity in the Catholic Church, in his subsequent 
 publication, the ''End of Religious Controversy^' 
 testifying that Winefrid White had then continued in 
 the same state of good health for twelve years. The 
 present writer remembers her coming up on a Sunday 
 morning to Sedgley Park soon after her cure ; and 
 with what astonishment she was seen walking briskly 
 along, so that one could scarcely believe it was the 
 same person whom we used to see crawling up with so 
 great pain and difficulty. He can also testify that she 
 continued the same till her death, which took place at 
 Wolverhampton January 13, 1823, at the age of forty- 
 four. The holy Bishop thus finely concludes his 
 pamphlet. "Every known miracle is the voice of God 
 proclaiming to men his infinite power, goodness and 
 providence in their regard. It therefore calls for a 
 renewal of our profound homage, of our ardent love, 
 and of our entire confidence in him, under all accidents 
 and sufferings that we do, or may experience. Every 
 miracle is moreover a divine sanction of the religious 
 worship, or devout ]:)ractices, for the sake of which, or
 
 AGE 53.] CHAPTER SIXTH. 121 
 
 by means of which, such supernatural communication 
 with man has taken place. Hence the present miracu- 
 lous cure, obtained of Almighty God by the prayers 
 of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of St. Winefrid, who 
 had been invoked for this purpose, at a place conse- 
 crated to the memory of the latter more than a thousand 
 years ago, ought to confirm us in our faith, and 
 particularly in that article of it which declares, that 
 ' the Saints reigning with Christ offer up their prayers 
 for mankind.' " 
 
 Let it not, however, be supposed that Bishop Milner 
 was over-credulous, hasty, or enthusiastic on the sub- 
 ject of miracles. On the contrary, he was extremely 
 cautious and prudent. When the present writer, 
 several years after, consulted him upon a cure which 
 had taken place at St. Walstan's Well, at Babur, in 
 Norfolk, he acknowledged that it bore evident marks 
 of being miraculous, but declined to investigate it 
 juridically, saying — " I wish to confine myself to a very 
 few cases of miracles." 
 
 In September, 1805, Dr. Milner went to Stony- 
 hurst College ; where by permission of the Northern 
 Vicar Apostolic, Bishop Gibson, he ordained on the 
 21st the Rev. Clement Weetman, priest, and the Rev. 
 J. Morris sub-deacon, and on the following day ordained 
 the latter, and also the Rev. Thomas Tilbury, deacons, 
 and confirmed nearly 1 00 persons, partly of the college, 
 and partly of the congregation of Stonj^hurst. AVhile he 
 was at Stonyhurst, the late lamented Dr. Oliver, then a 
 divine at the college, being even at that early period 
 fond of antiquarian pursuits, like Dr. Milner himself, 
 had the honor of being his companion, and riding with 
 him to explore together the Abbey of Whalley ; and 
 when later the Bishop prepared for the Archaeological
 
 122 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1805. 
 
 Society his Dissertation on St. John's Gospel, which 
 once belonged to St. Cuthbert, Mr. Oliver had to 
 collate it word for word with the Vulgate, and furnish 
 Dr. Milner with his observations. 
 
 On the 21st of December, 1805, Dr. Milner had 
 the consolation to ordain his first priest. This was the 
 Rev. Francis Martyn, who had been educated at 
 Sedgley Park and Oscott College, and was the first 
 priest sent out from that College. He was ordained at 
 WolverhamptoD, and said his first Mass in the chapel 
 at Sedgley Park. 
 
 CHAPTER SEVENTH. 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF THE "VETO" QUESTION. — DR. MILNER 
 CONSULTS THE HOLY SEE UPON IT. — VISITS OSCOTT COLLEGE. 
 — APOSTATE PRIESTS. — TRIAL AT WESTMINSTER HALL. — 
 
 ORDAINS REV. ROBT. RICHMOND VISITS TO SEDGLEY PARK 
 
 AT THE EXAMINATIONS. — HIS LOVE OF CHILDREN. — PROPOSED 
 EXCHANGE FOR DR. MILNER TO THE LONDON DISTRICT. — HIS 
 LETTER TO REV. JOHN JONES. — NEW BUILDING AT SEDGLEY 
 
 PARK. BREAKS UP THE BOYS' REGIMENT OF SOLDIERS 
 
 SECOND EDITION OF HIS CASE OF CONSCIENCE SOLVED. — 
 LETTERS ON ARTICLES IN THE ANTI- JACOBIN REVIEW. — HIS 
 TOUR IN IRELAND. 
 
 " Brethren," said St. Bernard to the clergy and monks, 
 " let us reverence Bishops, but let us fear their labours : 
 if we weigh well their labours, we shall not desire their 
 
 honors : nor let us watch them, but honor them. 
 
 For it would be cruel to find fault with the works of 
 
 those, from whose burthens you fly If he who 
 
 is safe in his monastery, should sometimes detect him
 
 AGE 53.] CHAPTER SEVENTH. 123 
 
 who is occupied in public acting somewhat incorrectly, or 
 less circumspectly, let him not at once venture to judge 
 him."* This achnonition appears remarkably applicable 
 to the labours of the exemplary prelate Dr. Milner, in 
 the arduous contests in which he was so much engaged 
 during his episcopal career, and which will now claim 
 the reader's attention more frequently. For now began 
 those long disputes on the question of allowing a royal 
 Veto of some kind upon the nomination of Catholic 
 Bishops, which after years of agitation and dissension, 
 in which the independence of the Catholic episcopacy- 
 was seriously threatened, happily ended, like so many- 
 other imminent evils, in being abandoned and ignored 
 altogether by the government, when Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion was at length nobly conceded in 18'29- 
 
 The project of a royal Veto^ as Lord Grenville him- 
 self declared, formed part of the plans of Mr. Pitt, 
 intended to be brought forward at the period of the 
 Union with Ireland. Ten of the Irish Catholic Bi- 
 shops, who had assembled in Dublin in 1799, on the 
 affairs of Maynooth College, of which they were trus- 
 tees, were consulted by the Irish Secretary, Lord Cas- 
 tlereagh, on the project of a state provision for the 
 Catholic clergy, and of a government interference in 
 the appointment of Cathohc Bishops. These prelates 
 answered approvingly of the interference of govern- 
 ment in the election of Bishops so far as ivas neces- 
 
 * ''Fratres, revereamus Episcopos, sed vereamur labores eorum. 
 
 Si labores pensamus, non a/lectamus honores nee observemus 
 
 eos, sed honoremus. Inhumane nempe eonim redarguis opera, 
 
 quorum onera refugis Si is qui de claustro est, eum qui 
 
 versatur in populo, interdum minus districte minusve circunispecte 
 
 sese agere deprehenderit ; non adjudicandum confestim 
 
 prosiliat." S. Bernard. Super Cantica Serin, xii.
 
 124 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1305. 
 
 sary for ascertaining the loyalty of the candidates, 
 but no farther ; and they stipulated at the same time 
 for their own just influence and for the conse?it of 
 the Pope. "Agreeably," they said, "to the discipline of 
 the Eoman Catholic Church, these regulations can 
 have no effect without the sanction of the Holy See." 
 But these answers were never referred to in Parlia- 
 ment in the subsequent debate on the Veto question, 
 in 1808. Dr. Moylan, Bishop of Cork, was one of 
 these ten prelates ; but he afterwards frequently and 
 solemnly declared that those Bishops never contem- 
 plated the possibility of the advantage which was 
 afterwards taken of that document, or the construction 
 since put upon their resolutions. He felt very indig- 
 nant at the attempts afterwards made to bring forward 
 these answers in support of what he was accustomed to 
 call the odious, abominable, and destructive measure 
 of securities. 
 
 Dr. Milner published in 1 805, his " Short View of 
 the Arguments against the Catholic Petition now be- 
 fore Parliament, and of Answers to them, iii a Letter 
 to a Member of the House of Commons ^ In this he 
 answered various objections to Catholic Emancipation ; 
 and it was quoted by Mr. Fox in the House of 
 Commons. Being often consulted by influential 
 Protestants favourably disposed towards Catholic 
 Emancipation, on the best means which they could 
 employ to promote it, and finding them of opinion 
 that some alteration would be required in the mode of 
 appointing Catholic Bishops, Dr. Milner communi- 
 cated the various plans which they proposed to his 
 episcopal brethren, and also consulted the Holy See 
 on the subject. He received an answer from Rome, 
 dated September 7, 1805, which strongly deprecated
 
 AGE 53] CHAPTER SEVENTH. 125 
 
 state pensions to our Bishops, — declared that no 
 power could be conceded to any Protestant sovereign 
 to nominate CathoHc Bishops, — admitted that a mere 
 negative power of objecting to candidates for the 
 episcopacy had fewer difficulties, but still strongly 
 asserted that if this was ever conceded, eifectual pre- 
 cautions must be taken to prevent the negative from 
 growing into a positive power. It became the more 
 necessary for Dr. Milner to be on the watch, and to 
 fortify himself with this decision from Rome, as a 
 pamphlet had been put forth by a leading CathoHc 
 Baronet, entitled " Considerations on the Catholic 
 Debate o/"1805," in which he took upon himself to 
 make this extraordinary declaration : " If Government 
 wishes to have the appointment of our Bishops, it has 
 but to signify its intention, in order to its being 
 complied with." Some other lay Catholics had most 
 unwarrantably made the same offer to the government. 
 The mischief which these presumptuous men effected 
 by such proposals was so great, that several Protes- 
 tant writers and speakers did not hesitate to say that 
 the English Catholics were quite ready to vest in the 
 sovereign the appointment of their Bishops.* How- 
 ever, nothing farther was done, nor did any active 
 agitation of the subject occur, till the question of 
 Emancipation came on in Parliament three years after- 
 wards. 
 
 Dr. Milner meantime was ever active and zealous 
 in every duty of his sublime and arduous ministry. 
 In May, 1806, he published a third edition of his 
 " Authentic Documents relative to the miraculous 
 Cure of Winefrid fVhitei' in the Advertisement to 
 
 * "Suppl. Mem.," p. II9.
 
 126 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1806. 
 
 which he says : " The former edition of this work 
 being exhausted, as well as a second, given at Dubhn, 
 and a new edition of it being called for, the author has 
 the satisfaction of here declaring, that he has not met 
 with, nor heard of a reader of any description, who has 
 controverted either the facts or the reasoning con- 
 tained in it ; and that the mode he has pursued in 
 making his inquiries, and the present publication, has 
 met with the approbation of his R. R. Brethren." He 
 observes also that the facts and reasonings in this little 
 work " decide that weighty question which was so long 
 and so warmly contested amongst the learned half a 
 century ago, and clearly point out that body of 
 Christians, amongst the rival communions, which the 
 Divine Founder of Christianity sanctions." 
 
 He visited the College at Oscott, and sent for the 
 ecclesiastical students whom he had there. Among 
 other imporant admonitions which he gave them, he ex- 
 horted them especially to persevere in the holy exercise 
 of meditation. Among those whom he summoned was 
 one, who at that time had thoughts of studying for the 
 Church, but afterwards adopted the medical profes- 
 sion. The Bishop, however, told him, that whatever 
 might be his future destination, he would find the 
 benefit of meditation the longest day that he lived. 
 The Bishop gave Confirmation at Linley, in Shrop- 
 shire, in April, and thence proceeded to visit Wor- 
 cester, Spetchley, and Churchill, where the Poor 
 Clares, from Dunkirk, had found an asylum, by the 
 bounty of Mr. Berkeley of Spetchley. He also visited 
 Salford, Foxcote, and Brailes. There was at Wor- 
 cester a French priest, Kev. James Quesnel, living in a 
 very scandalous way, which had obliged Dr. Milner 
 to suspend him, Feb. 2, 1804. On his visit to Wor-
 
 AGE 54.] CHAPTER SEVENTH. 127 
 
 cester this time, he charitably endeavoured to reclaim 
 him, but in vain. In 1811, this unhappy man dropped 
 down dead in the street at Worcester. Dr. Milner 
 in his private Journal, and in his printed works, men- 
 tions several scandalous and apostate priests, who had 
 met with untimely deaths. One named Smith dropped 
 down dead in Canterbury Cathedral, about the year 
 1780. About the same time, another in Staffordshire, 
 of the name of Taylor, died as he was about to step 
 into a stage coach. Dr. Geddes, who became an 
 infidel, used to send for the helps of the Church when 
 he was ill, and deride them when he recovered. But 
 God is not mocked^ and the priest who went to recon- 
 cile him at last found that he had unexpectedly ex- 
 pired. A Benedictine monk, named Lewis, was found 
 dead in his bed, at Bridgenorth, by the miserable 
 woman who lived with him. Holmes of Essex, and 
 Rogier, or Rogers, of Birmingham, who were well over 
 night, were both found dead in the morning. Rev. 
 James Nolan dropped down dead in the street in 
 London. Another named Doran blew out his brains 
 near Newbury. The Rev. J. Plawkins, O. S. R, an 
 apostate priest, died impenitent. There was also an 
 unhappy Ex-Jesuit, named Billinge, who had been 
 chaplain to Mr. Whitgreave, at Moseley, whose passion 
 for the violin led him much into company, and es- 
 tranged him from his duty. He abandoned his reli- 
 gion, and preached his recantation Sermon in Lichfield 
 Cathedral. He took a wife of course, but never 
 obtained any preferment in the Protestant Church, and 
 could only earn a scanty subsistence for himself and 
 his numerous family by teaching French in Wolver- 
 hampton, and doing duty occasionally in the neiCTh-
 
 128 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1806. 
 
 bouring church at Wombourn. The present writer 
 has often seen him passing by the play-ground at 
 Sedgley Park, where the boys used to salute him in a 
 manner not very complimentary : 
 
 " Old Parson Billings (Billinge) 
 Sold his religion for five shillings !" 
 
 The miserable state of his mind may be judged of by 
 the fact of his having purchased one of the sealed pass- 
 ports to heaven, which used to be sold for half a guinea 
 by the notorious impostor, Joanna Southcote. Dr. 
 IMiLXER obtained this of his wife after his death ; it is 
 signed with three seals, one w ith the morning star for 
 our Saviour, and another the evening star for Joanna 
 herself, and signed by her ow^n hand. This he pre- 
 sented to Oscott College, where it is preserved. This 
 miserable Billinge died at Wolverhampton, about 
 Christmas, 1805, a very horrible death. He sunk 
 into despair, agitated and tormented by the most 
 friorhtful forebodincrs of his future fate, starting con- 
 tinually and exclaiming : " I am a lost man 1 1 dream of 
 nothing but of hell fire !" It was said that he got out of 
 bed, threw up the window, and called out for a priest ; 
 but that he was forced back to his bed, as one raving 
 and delirious. This the writer remembers hearing at 
 the time, but cannot vouch for its accuracy. The 
 previous account of his despair and horrid dreams, 
 however, was related by his miserable wife. These 
 are, indeed, terrible examples of the Divine vengeance 
 in those deplorable cases where the salt of the earth 
 loses its savour. 
 
 Mention was made in the last chapter of an indict- 
 ment on the part of Mr. James Taylor of Ishngton
 
 AGE 54.] CHAPTER SEVENTH. 129 
 
 against the Rev. Mr. Wheeler and Dr. Milner, for an 
 alleged conspiracy against him, in order to break off 
 his proposed marriage with Miss Ga|)b, of whom they 
 were joint guardians. The case came on before Lord 
 Chief Justice Ellenborough on the 4th of July, 1806, 
 at Westminster Hall. The other young lady. Miss 
 Pike, to whom Taylor was engaged, was in attendance, 
 with her father and his numerous family. On the 
 plaintiff Taylor's being examined — the first and only 
 witness — he became so agitated, that he begged to 
 have an orange, which was granted, for he needed 
 support under the searching examination of Sir Vicary 
 Gibbs. When asked why he had broken his promise 
 to Miss Pike, he answered that he thought she had a 
 propensity to drinking. " What do you mean," said 
 Lord Ellenborough, " by a propensity to drink ? We 
 all have propensities : what proof have you that she 
 indulged in such propensity?" The witness, in telling 
 his own story, so completely destroyed his own accusa- 
 tion, that upon a remark to this effect from the Chief 
 Justice, the trial was at once put an end to. Sir 
 Vicary Gibbs with much feeling put both his hands on 
 the shoulders of the Rev. Mr. Wheeler, and said to 
 the Chief Justice: " My Lord, the only thing I regret 
 is that I have not had the opportunity of doing justice 
 to this worthy man." Dr. Milner's counsel was 
 Henry Clifford, Esq., who also represented the hardship 
 of the defendants not having had the opportunity 
 of bringing forward their defence : on which Lord 
 Ellenborough observed, that whatever charge had been 
 brought must be considered as unfounded, and that the 
 characters of the defendants stood clearly vindicated. 
 On the 8th of July, Dr. Milner circulated an Address 
 
 K
 
 130 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1806. 
 
 to the Faithful of his District, to correct the false 
 reports in the newspapers, and prevent any scandal 
 being taken, where none indeed had been given. 
 
 A meeting was held every three years of the secular 
 clergy of the four counties of Stafford, Worcester, 
 Derby, and Salop, who were subscribers to a common 
 fund for the relief of aged and disabled members ; and 
 it was held this year on the 29th of July. There 
 were twenty-five priests present ; and it was agreed 
 that the clergy of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire should 
 be admitted to become subscribers to the fund. In the 
 beginning of August, the Bishop visited Harvington, 
 Grafton, and Worcester, and confirmed at Blackmore 
 Park. He then ^dsited Wooler's Hall, Farm-Coomb, 
 Foxcote and Brailes ; at the last place he administered 
 Confirmation. In August and September he visited 
 Ashbourne and Spinkhill, confirming at the latter place. 
 He also visited Holbech, Worksop, and Winger worth. 
 On the 7th of September he confirmed at Hassop, and 
 afterwards visited Keddlestone Hall. In the same 
 month he confirmed at Lichfield. At the end of 
 October he set out for Coventry and AVark worth, and 
 confirmed at Tusmore. On All Saints he confirmed 
 at Kiddington, and the next day at Heythrop. 
 
 It was mentioned in the last chapter that a student 
 named Robert Richmond had been transferred to the 
 college at Oscott, with Francis Martyn, in the year 
 1796. Mr. Richmond's studies had been interrupted, 
 and his promotion to Holy Orders delayed, by a great 
 weakness in his eyes. This, however, had happily- 
 amended so considerably, that Dr. Milner, anxious 
 to avail himself of the services on the mission of 
 one so worthy and edifying, ordained him priest in
 
 AGE 54.] CHAPTER SEVENTH. 131 
 
 his chapel at Wolverhampton on the 14th of Mareh, 
 1807. 
 
 Dr. Milner was accustomed to come up to the 
 school at Sedgley Park at the half-yearly examinations 
 of the students, but particularly at those held imme- 
 diately before Christmas. He was always remarkable 
 for his love of children, with the true spirit of the 
 Apostle, becoming a little one in the midst of them^ as 
 if a nurse should cherish her children.* He examined 
 them familiarly, and with great kindness, in the different 
 branches of their education, and on those occasions, 
 besides questioning them in catechism in the chapel, he 
 would often explain to them portions of English history 
 connected with our holy religion, pointing out the mis- 
 representations of Protestant historians, and giving 
 clear and correct accounts of such remarkable events 
 as the martyrdom of St. Thomas of Canterbury, the 
 reign of Queen Mary, and the Gunpowder Plot. At 
 the conclusion of the examinations there was an exhibi- 
 tion, consisting of single speeches and dialogues 
 delivered by some of the boys, at which the Bishop 
 presided. The examination of each " Study" con- 
 cluded with a distribution of premiums at Midsummer, 
 and medals at Christmas, which the most deserving 
 often had the honor to receive from the hand of his 
 Lordship. But the good Bishop loved to amuse, as well 
 as instruct the children; and he occasionally showed 
 them interesting experiments in electricity, and was 
 delighted to witness how they enjoyed the electrical 
 shocks, making them join hands all round the large 
 garden at the back of the house at Sedgley Park, and 
 sending the shock round the circle. The pleasure 
 
 * 1 Thess., ii. 7.
 
 132 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1807. 
 
 that he showed, and his honest hearty laugh were 
 proofs of the kindness and genuine simpHcity which 
 distinguished him amid all his greatness of mind, 
 extensive learning and superior abilities. 
 
 The Bishop's Pastoral for Lent, 1807, was dated 
 from Oxford, January 28. On May 24, he confirmed 
 at Black Ladies, and on Corpus Christi, being May 
 28th, at Sedgley Park, when the writer had the happi- 
 ness to be confirmed by him. On June 22, he con- 
 firmed at Oscott, and August 13th at Grafton. Li 
 the course of the year he gave Confirmation also at 
 Sedgley, Mawley, Yoxal, and Coventry, at the last of 
 which he blessed the newly built chapel on the 8th of 
 December. He also confirmed at Baddesley Green, 
 December 10th. 
 
 De. Milner enjoyed the full confidence of the 
 entire hierarchy of Ireland ; and had been requested 
 by them to act as their agent in England. Some of 
 the leading Bishops among them, considering the 
 great advantage of their agent being near the seat of 
 government, proposed to him to fix his residence in 
 London ; and undertook for this purpose to bring 
 about an exchange between him and Dr. Poynter, 
 the coadjutor of the London Vicar Apostohc, Dr. 
 Douglass. The Prefect, and Secretary of Propaganda 
 at first approved the proposal. Dr. Sharrock, the 
 V.A. of the Western District, was extremely desirous 
 that Dr. Milxer should be settled in, or near London. 
 Dr. Douglass himself, upon being informed of it, on 
 the first opportunity, by Dr. Milner, appeared very 
 far from being displeased with it ; indeed he had 
 talked to Dr. Milner of becoming his coadjutor be- 
 fore Dr. M. was made a Vicar Apostolic. He now 
 asked his consent to consult Dr. Poynter and
 
 AGE 55.] 
 
 CHAPTEK SEVENTH. 133 
 
 Mr. Hodgson, his Vicar General, upon this proposal. 
 It is believed that the latter only was consulted, but 
 soon after Dr. Douglass declared strongly against 
 it, which was a great relief to Dr. Milner's mind. 
 The Pope, nevertheless, granted to him, under 
 his own hand, a dispensation from the obligation of 
 residence in his own District, and permission to fix 
 his abode in London, if he should deem it advis- 
 able. 
 
 This affair was made a regular charge against 
 Dr. Milner by Dr. Poynter in one of his Letters to 
 Dr. Troy, Archbishop of Dublin, dated November 7, 
 1811. But Dr. Milner ably defended himself in his 
 " Explanation with Dr. Poynter^' page 81, declar- 
 ing that, " considering their respective situations, he 
 conceived himself to be making a very great sacrifice 
 to religion, and doing Dr. P. a great honour and 
 service." Certainly it would have elevated Dr. 
 Poynter, and proved a step down for Dr. Milner. 
 But for the flat negative put by Dr. Douglass on the 
 business. Dr. Milner says to Dr. Poynter : " I heartily 
 thank God, from a thorough conviction that I am des- 
 titute of the qualifications necessary for the situation 
 in question, and which it is my daily prayer that you 
 may possess." 
 
 This proposal, however, being variously represented, 
 as it usually happens, caused much dissatisfaction and 
 many threats of opposition among the London clergy. 
 As Dr. Milner heard vague rumours of a strong 
 party being adverse to him, he consulted a friend, 
 the Rev. John Jones, afterwards so well known at 
 Warwick street Chapel, on the matter, in the following 
 letter :
 
 134 i^ife of bishop milnee. [1807. 
 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 " It being your profession and calling to render 
 assistance to all mankind who stand in need of it, in 
 imitatipn of Him, qui pertransiit henefaciendo^ I make 
 no apology for requesting you to do that for a friend, 
 which, I am sure, you would not hesitate to do for a 
 stranger. 
 
 " It seems to be the will of Providence that I should 
 always have some horrid calumny either to combat 
 with, or endure. I have hardly got rid of the per- 
 secution of Taylor, when another attacks me in a more 
 sensible part, as tending to set the Cathohc body, and 
 particularly, the clergy (who in the fonner instance 
 kindly took up my cause as their own), in the present 
 instance against me. To make short of the business, 
 I must inform you that two days ago I received a 
 letter from a most respectable friend in the west, of 
 which the following passage forms a part: — 'A storm 
 is gathering around you. Petitions against your Lord- 
 ship will probably be presented to Bishop Douglass and 
 to Eome, signed by clergy and laity. One secular 
 gentleman told me that you had solicited honours and 
 a jurisdiction paramount to all the prelacy of the 
 United Kingdom.' That there are persons disposed 
 to set on foot memorials against me, and others who 
 may be persuaded or imposed upon to sign them, was 
 proved in 1791, when the object of my enemies was to 
 induce Parhament to believe that I was the only indi- 
 vidual who objected to the heterodox oath, or to 
 the schismatical denomination of Protesting Catholic 
 Dissenters. That original memorial is now before 
 me, and the consequences of it are seen in Appendix 
 No. VIII. to the Third Blue Book. I make little 
 doubt that the present memorial may be traced up to
 
 AGE .55.] CHAPTER SEVENTH. 135 
 
 the same source. Be that as it may, I assure you, Sir, 
 that there is not an atom of truth in the above men- 
 tioned charge. I have no more thought of any such 
 situation as that described, than of becoming the 
 Great Lama of Tibet, or the Mufti of Constantinople ; 
 nor have I any reason to think that any other person 
 has thought of it for me. It is true, as probably you 
 have heard, that the Irish Bishops, thinking it would 
 be greatly for the advantage of religion to have an 
 agent of the episcopal character, and who had a good 
 reputation with ministers, at or near the seat of 
 government, wished me to undertake the office, and 
 repeatedly solicited that I might be placed in it. And, 
 I own, that in my opinion, what is now going forward, 
 both in Parliament and in Ireland, fully justifies their 
 general sentiment, as well as many other occurrences 
 which I can point out. But, Sir, be pleased to take 
 notice, that, according to two different schemes which 
 were proposed for this purpose, I was to have lost dig- 
 nity and jurisdiction^ instead of gaining any. 
 
 " The above quoted passage contains all the infor- 
 mation I have received of this strange and mysterious 
 business ; but it comes from such authority that I 
 cannot imagine there is the least falsehood or uncer- 
 tainty in it. The service, then, dear Sir, that I have 
 to request at your hands is to communicate the con- 
 tents of this letter, not only to Bishop Douglass, but 
 also to those of the clergy and laity (and to those 
 only), whom you find to have heard any thing of it, in 
 order that they may not rashly sign their names to a 
 paper of a calumnious nature, and wish in vain to with- 
 draw them, when it is too late, as was the case with 
 some of those who signed the former memorial against 
 me. I hope to be in town soon after Easter, when I
 
 136 LIFE OF BISHOP MILKER. [1807. 
 
 shall be willing to give an account of myself, and 
 answer all objections against me, to every clergyman 
 at least calling upon me for this purpose ; except one, 
 who, as you have witnessed, on every occasion tries to 
 bear me down with clamour and persiflage.* 
 " I remain, with great esteem and regard, 
 " Dear Sir, 
 " Your most faithful and obedient Servant, 
 
 "J. MiLNER. 
 
 " Wolmrhampton, March 19, 180?. 
 " I beg you will let me know all you can hear of 
 this business." 
 
 " Rev. Mr. Jones {of St Patrick's), 
 " To the care of Mrs. Silburn.^ 
 
 " No. 10, Queer. Street., Bloomsburt/^ 
 " London.'" , 
 To this, Mr. Jones replied as follows : 
 
 ''April 9 J 1807. 
 
 " My Lord, 
 
 "I should have replied to the contents of your 
 esteemed favour at a more early period, had I been 
 able to communicate anything satisfactory to your 
 Lordship, on the business. As your communication to 
 me was on a subject with which I was totally un- 
 acquainted, and of which I had heard no mention made 
 in London, it appeared to me that the best method I 
 could adopt for obtaining information on the subject 
 would be to state your Lordship's application at the 
 monthly meeting of our Brethren, which was held 
 yesterday. I accordingly did so, and discovered that 
 most of them were unacquainted with the transaction, 
 which had taken place between your Lordship and the 
 Irish Bishops: but that there was no question of a 
 * He alludes moot probably to the Rev. James Archer.
 
 AGE 55] 
 
 CHAPTER SEVENTH. 137 
 
 storm gathering round your Lordship from this quarter, 
 nor of anything in the shape of an instrument open 
 for signatures to proceed against your Lordship's 
 measures. Li the event, however, of your Lordship's 
 residing in London, as episcopal agent of the Irish 
 Church, you may well conceive that curiosity was 
 raised with respect to what capacity you were at the 
 same time to reside in with relation to Bishop Douglass 
 and the missionaries of his District. Your Lordship 
 mentioned in your esteemed favor to me, that there 
 were two plans, or cases, proposed for the furtherance 
 of the intentions of the Irish Bishops, in either of which, 
 had these intentions been realised, you would rather 
 have lost, than have gained dignity and jurisdiction. 
 As your Lordship did not specify what these plans, or 
 cases were, it is impossible for me to speak to them. 
 But I, and many others may have conjectured that one 
 of these cases, in which your Lordship would rather 
 have lost than gained jurisdiction, might have been 
 the removal of Dr. Poynter to the Midland District, 
 and your Lordship's acceptance of the coadjutorship to 
 Bishop Douglass. Now your Lordship will permit me 
 to say candidly, that such a measure, whether it were 
 first put in motion by your Lordship, or with your 
 knowledge and acquiescence by the Irish Bishops, would 
 never meet the approbation of the London clergy, and 
 I do really believe, from their temper on this business, 
 that they would, to a man, make no difficidty in sub- 
 scribing an instrument to defeat the measure. Your 
 Lordship knows best whether such a measure was ever 
 thought on, and I am convinced that were you to make 
 it evident that no such thing was ever moved, or per^- 
 mitted to be moved by your Lordship, you would have 
 nothing to apprehend from this quarter. At all events,
 
 138 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1807. 
 
 in case this measure had been tried, it seems not to 
 have succeeded, and of course your Lordship can have 
 no reason to expect resistance where the ground for it 
 has been totally removed. I am apprehensive your 
 Lordship has taken unnecessary alarm, and in a moment 
 of anxiety has rather imputed intentions to the London 
 clergy with which themselves are quite unacquainted. 
 From all I have been able to gather, they seem to have 
 observed a scrupulous silence on the whole of the 
 business, and therefore am led to beheve that the 
 raising of a storm round your Lordship is a circum- 
 stance as very distant from their mind as from 
 
 that of 
 
 " My Lord, 
 " Your Lordship's faithful and obedient Servant, 
 
 " J. Jones. 
 " The Rt. Rev. Dr. Milner, 
 " Wolverhampton!^ 
 
 The reader will perceive that the tone of the above 
 letter is not that of one very friendly to Dr. Milner. 
 In fact Mr. Jones was opposed to him then, but much 
 more so afterwards. It must be recorded, however, to 
 his credit, that he finally became the Bishop's admirer ; 
 and on one occasion he thus expressed himself to a 
 prelate and a dignitary of the Church, both still living, 
 in these words : — " I ain now convinced that had it 
 not been for Bishop Milner, we should have had 
 now no Catholic Church in England." 
 
 During his frequent visits to Sedgley Park, it had 
 occurred to Dr. Milner that he might erect a plain, 
 useful building there, which would afford greater ac- 
 commodation for educating students for the Church. 
 Accordingly in the Summer of this year, 1807, such 
 a building was commenced, and fonned a wing to the
 
 AGE 55.] CHAPTER SEVENTH. 139 
 
 house, extending into the garden at the west end. 
 Two stories of it were built entirely at his own ex- 
 pense, and contained on the ground floor a large room, 
 afterwards used for examhiations, music, library, and 
 other purposes, and also a laundry. On the second 
 floor was a good room for a master or superior, and six 
 small rooms for students, with a little chapel at the 
 end, which he had neatly decorated with plaster 
 work, and with stained glass in its window. These 
 were all the rooms which he contemplated, but the 
 venerable president of the school, the Eev. Thomas 
 Southworth, was glad to avail himself of the favourable 
 opportunity of obtaining an additional dormitory, as 
 the number of boys had much increased, and at his 
 expense a large airy room for that purpose was built 
 over the rest, with a small bedroom for a master. 
 The building was finished and opened in the year 
 following. 
 
 A little incident occurred at this time, which may be 
 mentioned here as indicating the extreme aversion 
 which Dr. Milner felt for everything that breathed 
 of war and military tactics. The horrors of the French 
 Revolution were too fresh in his mind to allow of his 
 beholding anything which recalled the miseries of war 
 with any complacency. So when he was one day 
 dining at Sedgley Park, the boys who played at 
 soldiers marched up with their guns and caps in 
 military order, and their little band playing ; and drawn 
 up in two ranks before the parlour door formally 
 petitioned for a " field day," expecting that the Bishop 
 would be pleased with their mimic discipline and 
 would readily grant the desired favour. But they 
 were doomed to sad disappointment, and their military 
 ardour was quenched at once by a serious rebuke from
 
 140 LIFE OF BISHOP lULNER. [18J7. 
 
 Dr. Mtlner, who expressed his horror of war in strong 
 terms, and was so determined to afford no encourage- 
 ment to the boys in cultivating a taste for soldiering, 
 that he insisted upon their disbanding at once ; and 
 the little regiment, which had marched up with flying 
 colours, returned in disorder and disappointment. 
 
 A Bill was brought into the House of Commons in 
 1807, by Lord Howick, afterwards Earl Grey, which 
 proposed to allow Catholics to enter and receive 
 promotion in the army and navy, and to secure to 
 them the free exercise of their religion. It caused so 
 great an alarm in the anti-Catholic party, that the 
 ministers withdrew it, and were compelled to resign. 
 Dr. Milner considered this a fit occasion to pubhsh a 
 second edition of his " Case of Conscience solved^' 
 to which he added " Observations on a Publication 
 by the Rev. T. L. Le Mesurier^ entitled ' a Sequel 
 to the Serious Examination into the Catholic Claims^ 
 containing a more particular Inquiry into the 
 Doctrines of Popery, Sfc." London, 1807." In this 
 year also he wrote " An Examination of the Articles 
 in the anti- Jacobin Reviews for November, January, 
 February and March last, upon the substance of Sir 
 J. C. Hippesleys additional Observations, Sfc, on the 
 Catholic Question, in Four Letters to a Gentleman 
 of Dublin, by the Rev. J. Milner, D.D., F.S.A. f 
 but these were never published. 
 
 In the course of the Debates in Parliament, so much 
 had been said against Ireland, that Dr. Milner was 
 seriously thinking of crossing over the channel, to see 
 and judge for himself, when he received a letter from 
 a friend near Dublin, entreating him to pay a visit to 
 him and certain other friends in Ireland; and this 
 made him determine to set out on the proposed tour,
 
 AGE 55.J CHAPTER SEVENTH. 141 
 
 which he did in the latter part of June, 1807. He 
 landed at Dublin on the 27th, and the next day pro- 
 ceeded to the Royal College at Maynooth. He after- 
 wards published an account of his tour in Ireland, and 
 his impressions of that country, in a series of Letters, 
 as if written during his travels, to a Protestant gentle- 
 man in England. This of course was a convenient 
 medium for conveying his vindication of the Catholic 
 religion in various important points of Catholic doc 
 trine and practice: and it will be the most satisfactory 
 method of describing his tour, to follow his own obser- 
 vations as they occur in his published work. In three 
 Letters, dated from Maynooth, he vindicates the Irish 
 Catholic clergy, gives a valuable account of the princi- 
 pal Irish Catholic writers, and of the education at 
 Maynooth, and other seminaries in Ireland. Letter 
 IV. contains some excellent arguments against mixed 
 education, which might be very usefully consulted at 
 the present time with reference to the " Godless 
 Colleges." In subsequent Letters, Dr. Milner 
 defends the Irish from certain prejudiced views of 
 their character ; but on the score of hulls^ he certainly 
 takes up very unsatisfactory ground for their vindica- 
 tion, when he speaks of them as " mistakes which the 
 illiterate Irish are apt to make, as other nations make, 
 when they express themselves in a language not their 
 own."* A man may speak a foreign tongue incorrectly, 
 but it does not follow that he will make those blun- 
 ders which are termed hulls^ and which result from a 
 confusion of ideas, and not of words. A Scotchman 
 or a Welchman lies under the same disadvantage as 
 
 * Letter VI.
 
 142 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1807. 
 
 an Irishman in speaking a language not his own, but 
 neither is open to the charge of making bulls. 
 
 His encomium on Burke deserves extraction : — 
 " You, Sir, never had the advantage, which was for 
 some time mine, of frequently hearing, in public debate, 
 as well as in private conversation, the enchanting and 
 commanding Irish Tully, the great Edmund Burke. 
 But what is it that this country does not owe to his 
 eloquence ! To form a right judgment on this head, 
 look back to that part of its history which corresponds 
 with the early part of the French Revolution. You 
 will observe that many of the most illustrious charac- 
 ters of this nation were then so besotted with the 
 congenial sounds of revolution and Uberty, that in 
 hailing the overthrow of a foreign government, they 
 nearly brought about the destruction of their own. 
 They stood, blind and unconscious of danger, on the 
 brink of a precipice, and did not see the torrents of 
 blood which already began to flow beneath it, and 
 which, at the command of Robespierre, soon after 
 swelled to a deluge ; when the immortal Burke, by 
 vast and repeated exertions of those talents with which 
 God had blessed him, and at the expense of whatever 
 was most dear to him in this world — as I well know — 
 succeeded in tearing the veil from the eyes of an 
 adverse ministry and a beguiled legislature, and thereby 
 enabled them to consult their own and the nation's 
 safety. Here was a triumph of eloquence, which no 
 orator ever enjoyed before or since.*" 
 
 To prove himself no blind panegyrist of the Irish, 
 Dr. Milner exposes their faults, and condemns them, 
 more especially the frequent broils among the lower 
 
 * " Inquiry, &c." Letter VI. 
 
 \
 
 AGE 55.] CHAPTER SEVENTH. 143 
 
 orders, and the numerous duels among those of higher 
 rank. He devotes one Letter to a very able expo- 
 sition of the sinfulness, as well as the absurdity and 
 real cowardice of duelling, which deserves an attentive 
 perusal, and will amply repay it. From Dublin he 
 proceeded, July 9th, through Naas to TuUow, and in 
 his Letter from that town he has the following admir- 
 able passage on the alleged superstition of Catholics. 
 " But what is superstition? You Church Protestants 
 reproach us with superstition, because we often sign 
 ourselves with the sign of the cross, though not half so 
 often as the first Christians did, and because we bless 
 holy water. The Dissenters reproach you with super- 
 stition, because you sign your children with this sign 
 in Baptism, and because you bless earth, buildings, 
 and military ensigns. The Quakers reproach the Dis- 
 senters with superstition, in pretending to bless one 
 particular class for the exercise of the ministry. The 
 fashionable religionists of the day, the Deists, reproach 
 all descriptions of Christians with superstition, in pre- 
 tending to any revealed mode of blessing at all. I 
 say this, Sir, to prevent your assuming as a fact, the 
 question, upon which you are not yet qualified to form 
 an adequate idea." From Tullow he proceeded to 
 Carlow and Kilkenny ; and, to use his own descrip- 
 tion, "from the variegated beauties of Kilkenny, I 
 arrived, after a tedious journey westward, at the dull, 
 uniform plains and dreary bogs, in the midst of which 
 this populous town (Thurles) is situated."* He found 
 the people of that place rebuilding their noble and 
 spacious chapel in the name of St. Patrick, and took 
 occasion from this to enter upon a learned and argu- 
 
 * Letter XL
 
 144 LITE OF BISHOP MILN1:R. [I'^OT. 
 
 mentative defence of the patron Saint of Ireland, 
 which he pursues through three Letters with great 
 abihty. He has a dissertation on the vexed question 
 of the famous round towers of Ireland, giving his 
 decided opinion that they were built for anchorets. 
 
 In his two Letters dated from Cashel, July 23rd 
 and 25th, Dk. Milner defeats the attempts of two 
 Protestant writers. Archbishop Usher and the Rev. Dr. 
 Ledwich, to rob the Irish of their ancient faith, who 
 maintained that the original Christianity of Ireland 
 was not Catholic. From Cashel he proceeded to Cork, 
 through Cahir, Balliporeen, and Fermoy. While he 
 does justice to the scenery of Ireland, he also says : 
 " With respect, however, to the face of the country 
 in general, speaking of it as far as I have yet seen it, 
 I cannot agree with a late writer (Parnell), that Ire- 
 land is ' the fairest island in the world ;' especially 
 while her elder sister stands by her side. This I am 
 sure of, that I have not yet seen in Ireland such a 
 garden as the Vale of Evesham, such hills and dales 
 as those of Derbyshire and South Wales, nor such 
 forest scenery as that of Windsor or the New Forest."* 
 As he approached, however, to the City of Cork, he 
 was quite enchanted with the beauties of the scenery, 
 particularly the grand expanse of water, skirted with 
 verdant meadows, and enclosed by lofty hills ; and his 
 delight increased when he viewed the majestic harbour, 
 the hills and rocks and the magnificent city of Cork ; 
 and he concluded that neither the Severn at Chepstow, 
 nor the sea at Southampton were to be compared 
 with it. Speaking of the Presentation and Ursuline 
 Convents in Cork, and particularly of the Ursuline nuns 
 
 * Letter XVII.
 
 AGE 56.] CHAPTER SEVENTH. 1 45 
 
 celebrated all over the Continent for their method 
 ( and success in giving a moral, religious and genteel 
 education to young females of the higher class, he 
 says : " In two points they are, with just reason, 
 inexorably rigid ; they never permit a novel to enter 
 within their walls, and they never suffer a scholar to 
 go out of them, in order to be present at a theatrical 
 representation. In fact, of what use would their 
 lessons of filial duty, domestic retiredness, the dread 
 of sin, and the love of God be to the mind of a pupil, 
 who should behold all such virtues held up to con- 
 tempt in those ensnaring publications of the circulating 
 libraries, and those still more fascinating amusements 
 of the stage ? ... In vain, Sir, do you remind me that 
 the stage has of late years been chastened, and that 
 the indecencies, which sullied the drama fifty or sixty 
 years ago, are now banished from it. Supposing this 
 were true to the extent you wish me to understand ; 
 supposing there were nothing in the plot, nothing in 
 the words, nothing in the dresses, nothing in the 
 dances, nothing in the company, either within the 
 doors, or without the doors of the theatres, to excite 
 one particular passion, the most difficult of all others 
 to curb and repress, — but alas ! how far are these 
 suppositions from the truth in each of the instances! — 
 Yet remember. Sir, there are other passions congenial 
 to the human breast, which it is equally our duty 
 to fight against, as against the one alluded to. In a 
 word, Sir, the morality of the theatre is directly the 
 reverse of the morality of the Gospel, and in many 
 respects even of the natural law ; and I hereby warn 
 you, Sir, never to complain to me of your children, 
 should they turn out undutiful, or otherwise immoral, if 
 
 L
 
 146 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1808. 
 
 you permit them to frequent the playhouse, or even 
 the circulating library."* 
 
 While at Corli, he enjoyed a delightful sail on its 
 broad estuary, which he describes in very animated lan- 
 guage. He has some excellent observations on the 
 careful instruction of their flocks by the Catholic 
 clergy, and on the population of Cork, and the wealth 
 and influence of its inhabitants. His last Letter from 
 Ireland is dated from Waterford, August 5th ; but 
 two more Letters are inserted in his work, as an 
 Appendix, one dated at sea, and the other at Milford 
 Haven, and addressed to a Cathohc merchant at 
 "Waterford. The first contains a series of reflections 
 on the calamities of Ireland, on the prejudices against 
 the religion of the Irish, and the author's advice to 
 them : the second is a dissertation on chapel build- 
 ing, giving minute directions for erecting Cathohc 
 chapels, whether in the Gothic or Grecian style. 
 This work of Dr. Milner has been quoted in these 
 pages, as it often is elsewhere, by the title of Letters 
 from Ireland, for the sake of brevity, because the 
 actual title of the book is clumsy and sadly over- 
 loaded : " An Inquiry into certain vulgar Opinions 
 concerning the Catholic Inhahitants and the 
 Antiquities of Ireland : in a Series of Letters from 
 thence, addressed to a Protestant Gentleman in 
 England. London, 1808." Perhaps it may be 
 thought that too much space has been given to an 
 account of its contents ; but it is justly considered 
 the most lively and attractive of Dr. Milner's publica- 
 tions. Though, as he declares in his work, " he did 
 
 * Letter XVII.
 
 AGE 56.] CHAPTER EIGHTH. 1 47 
 
 not come into this island to survey its beauties, 
 natural or artificial, but to form an acquaintance with 
 its inhabitants," he has given many fine descriptions 
 of beautiful objects of nature and art which he 
 saw, and of various interesting localities which he 
 visited ; and has ingeniously contrived to interweave 
 with these a number of masterly dissertations on 
 subjects of deep interest, both in politics and religion. 
 
 CHAPTER EIGHTH. 
 
 DR. milker's pastorals AGAINST BLANCHARDISM HIS POR- 
 TRAIT PAINTED AT BRISTOL. — CATHOLIC BOARD FORMED. — 
 MR. PONSONBy's FALSE ASSERTION RESPECTING DR. MILNER. 
 — DR. MILNER's protest AGAINST IT. — HIS TEMPORARY 
 ADVOCACY OF A GUARDED VETO, IN HIS LETTER TO A 
 PARISH PRIEST SCHEME TOTALLY ABANDONED.— CONDEM- 
 NATION OF THE VETO BY THE IRISH BISHOPS. — DR. MILNER 
 OBTAINS OSCOTT COLLEGE, AND REOPENS IT AS ST. MARY'S. 
 — HIS SECOND TOUR IN IRELAND. — CONFIRMATIONS. — TRIEN- 
 NIAL MEETING OF THE CLERGY.— CONSECRATION OF THE 
 CHAPEL AT COSSEY HALL. — FUNERAL DISCOURSE ON SIR 
 WILLIAM JERNINGHAM. — VISITATION AND CONFIRMATIONS. 
 
 In his Pastoral Instructions for the Lent of 1808, 
 Dr. Milner inveighed with holy zeal against the 
 indecent fashion of dress then unhappily prevalent 
 among the female sex. " For the first time," he says, 
 " in a civilized age and country, have the pastors of 
 the Church been obliged to reproach the sex with 
 its voluntary adopting a species of undress, which 
 no Christian man, who is desirous of saving his soul, 
 and no modest man, can view without disgust and con-
 
 148 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1808. 
 
 fusion. It is this latter motive, in particular, namely, 
 the many heinous interior sins which the indecency in 
 question gives occasion to, that obliges us to raise 
 up our voice against it : sins which the great and 
 awful Judge warns us against, where he exclaims : 
 if any one shall look upon a woman, so as to lust 
 after her, he hath already committed adultery in his 
 heart. How dreadful will it be, when so many pious, 
 moral and charitable young females, — as we are 
 disposed to consider them, — shall find hundreds and 
 thousands of the other sex rising up in judgment 
 against them at the last great assize, and ascribing 
 their condemnation or their accumulated torments to 
 the indecent fashion in question !" 
 
 At the end of Chapter Fourth an account was given 
 of the origin and nature of the Blanchardist schism, 
 to which the reader's attention must be here recalled. 
 For in the year 1808, Dr. Milner published a Pas- 
 toral Letter to his clergy, dated June 1st, ordering 
 prayers for his Holiness Pope Pius YIL, who was then 
 held in captivity by Napoleon, and taking occasion in 
 the same to denounce the scandalous calumnies of the 
 Blanchardist party against the Pope. This Pastoral 
 was also published in French. Blanchard wrote 
 against it a pamphlet entitled: '■''Defense du €!lerge 
 Frangais contre Vinculpation de Monsgr. Milner, 
 etcT This led Dr. Milner to address a second Pasto- 
 ral to his clergy, dated August 10th, censuring several 
 positions of Blanchard's pamphlet as respectively false, 
 scandalous, injurious to the successor of St. Peter, 
 insinuating and tending to schism, and actually schis- 
 matical. He cautioned his clergy not to permit to 
 Abbes Blanchard or Gaschet, or any of their abettors, 
 or followers, to administer or receive any sacrament.
 
 AGE 56.] CHAPTER EIGHTH. 149 
 
 " They say," said he, " that Pius VII. has sanctioned 
 the civil constitution of the French clergy^ which 
 was condemned by his predecessor, Pius VL, and 
 that he has knowingly and willingly admitted the 
 former constitution and schismatical Bishops, still pro- 
 fessing their schism, and without any retractation, into 
 his communion, and that of the other prelates, priests, 
 and faithful who communicate with him. Thou great 
 Judge of the living and the dead! if Pius VII, 
 instead of being thy Vicar on earth, and the spiritual 
 father of these men, were some obscure individual, 
 how much would they not have to answer for at thy 
 awful tribunal for their malicious and gross calumnies 
 against him!"* Dr. Milner afterwards published, in 
 1809, a " SequeV to his Pastoral, ^^ censuring certain 
 late publications in the French language ; and also 
 a " Supplement to it, which contained the Decla- 
 ration of the Irish Bishops on certain points in these 
 publications. The controversy was continued on both 
 sides for two or three years, till the four Vicars Apos- 
 tolic met in 1810, and agreed upon a test against 
 Blanchardism, which shall be more particularly noticed 
 in its proper place. 
 
 In the month of January, in the year 1808, Dr. 
 Milner gave Confirmation at Cobridge, Tixall, and 
 Bellamore. St. Chad's chapel, in Bath-street, Bir- 
 mingham, was begun in the Spring of this year, to 
 supersede the hired building in Water-street, which 
 had been opened in September, 1806 ; and Dr. 
 Mn.NER contributed or raised above £300 towards the 
 new chapel, while its zealous pastor, Kev. Edward 
 
 » "Pastortil Letter of John, Bisliop of Castabala, V. A., ad- 
 dressed to all the Catholic Clergy of the Midland District," page 7.
 
 150 LIFE OF BISHOP IVULNER. [1808. 
 
 Peach, procured contributions to an almost equal 
 amount. The other Confirmations of this indefatigable 
 Bishop, in the course of this year, were at Acton 
 Burnel, Shrewsbury, and Oundle ; but he also made 
 pastoral visits to Coventry, Bosworth, Holt, Weldon, 
 and Warmington. 
 
 In a Pastoral, dated June 1, 1808, on the captivity 
 and sufferings of the Pope Pius VIL, he thus ex- 
 presses his admiration of that venerable Pontiff: " He 
 displays a meek fortitude worthy of St. Peter's suc- 
 cessor, and of the Vicar of Jesus Christ. On one 
 hand, he does not resist ; on the other, he does not 
 reproach or complain. He speaks of the benefits he 
 has received, and he is silent as to the injuries he 
 suffers. He refuses to adopt any exterior means of 
 resistance, but placing his cause entirely in the hands 
 of God, he declares himself ready to suffer whatever 
 his Divine Majesty is pleased to ordain." At the end, 
 the Bishop directs the Psalm Miserere to be said or 
 sung with the first four prayers after the Litany of the 
 Saints, and the fifth prayer, which is for the Pope, on 
 Trinity Sunday, before Mass; and that the Mass be 
 offered on that day " for the special grace and protec- 
 tion of God in favour of his Holiness ; also, that in 
 every Mass, till the Feast of the Assumption, shall be 
 added the usual Prayer, Secret and Postcommunion 
 for the Pope." 
 
 In the Summer of 1808, the writer of these pages 
 being in Bristol, and in the Catholic chapel there, on 
 Sunday morning at the principal Mass, was surprised 
 to see Dr. Milner enter by the sacristy door, in his 
 ordinary dress, and kneel at the side of the sanctuary 
 appropriated to the clergy and their friends. Being 
 quite familiar with his lordship's features and appear-
 
 AGE 56.-\ CHAPTEK EIGHTH. 151 
 
 ance, he could not be mistaken ; and when the service 
 was finished, he went into the priest's house, contigu- 
 ous to the chapel, to pay his respects to the venerable 
 Bishop, and to introduce his father, and an eminent 
 artist, to his Lordship. The Bishop received the party 
 very kindly, and the artist seized the fortunate occa- 
 sion to request the honour of a sitting the next day, 
 for a miniature likeness of his Lordship. The Bishop 
 very good-naturedly consented to give him a sitting of 
 one hour, but could spare no more time, as he was 
 obliged to leave Bristol on that day, Monday. The 
 artist was George Anthony Keman, a miniature 
 painter of great eminence, who had taken miniatures 
 in Paris of the most distinguished characters, before 
 the Eevolution. Dr. Milner mentioned that Sir 
 John Cox Hippisley had brought him to Bristol in his 
 carriage ; but that important business required him to 
 leave on Monday. Mr. Keman, however, attended 
 punctually at the time agreed upon, obtained one 
 hour's sitting, and from what he was enabled in that 
 short time to catch, produced a fine miniature, now in 
 possession of the writer. It is a very correct and 
 spirited likeness, decidedly the best ever taken of the 
 Bishop. Lideed he himself always so considered it, 
 and has borrowed it of the writer to show^ to his 
 friends. 
 
 It is time now to resume the history of the Veto 
 question, but more particularly with reference to the 
 part which Dr. Milner took in it. In the month of 
 May, 1808, a new association of English Catholics 
 was begun, under the name of the Catholic Board. 
 On the 20th of the same month, Dr. Milner arrived 
 in London, as the agent of the Irish Prelates, to attend 
 the debate in the House of Commons upon Mr,
 
 152 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1808. 
 
 Grattan s motion that the House should go into a 
 Committee upon the petition of the Irish CathoHcs for 
 the repeal of the penal laws. This motion was made 
 on the 25th of May. In the course of the debate 
 Mr. Ponsonby stated that he had held a conversation 
 with Dr. MiLNER, who acted as the agent of the Irish 
 Catholic Bishops, and that Dr. Milner beheved 
 that they would not have any objection to make 
 the King virtually the head of their Church ; and 
 to agree that no man should become a Catholic Bishop 
 in Ireland who had not received the approbation of 
 his Majesty ; and that although even appointed by the 
 Pope, if disapproved of by his Majesty, he should 
 not be allowed to act, or take upon himself his 
 spiritual functions. Well might Dr. Milner declare 
 of this extraordinary assertion of Mr. Ponsonby : — 
 "Most assuredly Dr. M. was never before or since 
 accused of uttering so much inconsistency, heterodoxy, 
 and schism."* 
 
 What actually did occur. Dr. Milner often pub- 
 hshed, and has carefully recorded in substance thus. 
 At an interview with Mr. Ponsonby, May 21, he was 
 asked by that gentleman, what power the Irish Bishops 
 were disposed to attribute to his Majesty in the choice 
 of Catholic Bishops, tie answered : — "I know very 
 well that they cannot, conformably with their religion, 
 attribute to his Majesty a positive power in this 
 business : but I believe, on good grounds, that they 
 are disposed to attribute a nep^ative power to him. 
 However, as I have no instructions from them on the 
 subject, I cannot positively answer for them.''* When 
 
 * " Sup. Mem.," p. 123.— Note, 
 t " Sup. Mem.," p. 124. 
 
 I 
 
 4
 
 AGE 56.] CHAPTER EIGHTH. lo3 
 
 Dr. Milner heard in the House Mr. Ponsonby's 
 unwarranted assertions, his heart was pierced with 
 grief and confusion ; and early the next morning he 
 printed a disavowal of the heterodox sentiments im- 
 puted him, in a Protest^ dated May 26. It was his 
 intention to give this Protest general circulation, and 
 send it to the newspapers ; when late at night, the 
 Hon. Robert Clifford and a noble Lord (no doubt, 
 Lord Clifford) called upon him and pressed him most 
 earnestly to suppress the paper. He engaged not to 
 circulate it publicly, or give it to the newspapers, and 
 promised that on all copies which he should send to 
 the Catholic Bishops, there should be written Private. 
 The Hon. R. Clifford afterwards, in some letters to the 
 Press and Globe papers, professed never to have heard 
 of the matter before ; but Dr. Milner declared that 
 he had " never made a harder sacrifice. The Hon. 
 gentleman may now make light of the sacrifice which 
 he extorted from me ; but I felt at the time that I was 
 making a very great one indeed, and experience has 
 proved that I did not over-rate it."* He handed a 
 copy of this Protest himself to Mr. Ponsonby, who said 
 to him : " I am not surprised at your alarm : I do not 
 pretend that you authorised me to say all that I did 
 say : but I was at liberty to argue as best suited my 
 cause. For the rest, this paper is a fair paper, and you 
 have my consent to circulate it"f 
 
 Though Dr. Milner had not authorised Mr. Pon- 
 sonby to make the assertions alluded to, he began 
 to consider whether the measure of a royal Veto 
 
 * Letter to the Hon. Robt. Clifford " Orthodox Journal,'" 1814, 
 
 p. 54. 
 
 t " Sup. Mem.," p. 127.
 
 154 LITE OF BISHOP mLNER. [1808. 
 
 might not be in some way safely conceded, consistently 
 with Catholic discipline. One of the Irish Bishops, 
 who was his friend, had written to him very sharply 
 and indignantly on his advocacy of a Veto. He 
 replied by " A Letter to a Parish Priest^"" of which 
 he printed only fifty copies, as he never intended it for 
 general circulation, but for the use, and sole use, of the 
 Irish Prelates at their approaching Synod, to consider 
 how far the plan was practicable. It was dated 
 August 1st, 1808, and in his eagerness to defend 
 himself, he certainly went a great way in favour of a 
 certain negative power being attributed to the govern- 
 ment in the appointment of Catholic Bishops : " I chal- 
 lenge any writer to show," says he, " that the allow- 
 ance to government of an exclusive power in presenting 
 to Catholic prelacies, if confined to three times., 
 and accompanied each time with the avowal of a 
 well grounded suspicion of the candidate's loyalty, 
 contains anything either unlawful in itself or dan- 
 gerous to the Church."* But as this advocacy of 
 the Veto by Dr. Milner has been much dwelt upon 
 by his adversaries, it is but just to his character to 
 give his own explanation, and his reasons for retracting 
 what he had so unguardedly written. He thought that 
 the Veto might be safely allowed, with the following 
 checks upon its exercise. First., if it were limited to 
 three times : secondlj/., if the name of one candi- 
 date only were proposed at a time : and thirdlj/, if 
 the civil power were confined to a care of loyalty 
 and the public peace. " Such," he says, " were the 
 writer's fond speculations : but in the end, he found 
 them to be impracticable and vain, and he then heartily 
 
 * " Letter to a Parisli Priest."
 
 AGE 5G.'] CHAPTER EIGHTH. 155 
 
 condemned his own folly, in having given his condi- 
 tional consent to a change of situation, for the purpose 
 of residing in the capital, with a view of bringing them 
 to effect.''* A copy of his " Letter to a Parish 
 Priest" fell into the hands of his adversaries, who 
 published it, to his indescribable'mortification. " You 
 must know," said he, " in another place, that it was 
 fraudulently published, to my great displeasure, and 
 that, after all, it does not advocate the Veto^ as it is 
 generally understood, but a certain iron-bound nega- 
 tive, confined by four restrictions, to the mere purposes 
 of civil allegiance. Finding, however, that it was 
 misinterpreted to the purposes of irreligious policy, I 
 saw it was better for that cause of religious freedom 
 which always sat the nearest to my heart, to retract 
 the letter, than to explain it. Accordingly I did re- 
 tract it in the most public manner, and, at the same 
 time, I resolved to have no further dealings with poli- 
 tical religionists."t It is well known that Dr. Milner 
 was ever after the steady opponent of the Veto in 
 every shape ; and therefore it would be unjust and 
 dishonourable to reproach him with the above opinion, 
 which was crudely formed, and thoroughly retracted.J 
 How few men in the course of long contests, and 
 placed in trying" positions, have been found without 
 some vacillations, under pecuUar circumstances ! Surely 
 our prelate's honest and noble retractation of his mis- 
 taken opinion, and his subsequent uniform opposition 
 to every form of Vetoistical arrangement, should gain 
 for him everlasting honour in the estimation of every 
 impartial mind. 
 
 * " Sup. Mem." p. 132. 
 
 t Reply to Candidus in " Orth, Journ." for 1819, p. 303. 
 
 i See his " Elucidation of the Veto," p. 9.
 
 156 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1808. 
 
 Though the Irish Bishops prudently abstained from 
 any pubhc expression of their sentiments on the un- 
 authorised proposal of Mr. Ponsonby, till they could 
 meet together, and agree to some general expression of 
 their disapprobation, they imiversally condemned it 
 both in private conversation and correspondence. It 
 was not long, however, before they did meet in Dublin, 
 to the number of twenty-nine; and, on the 14th of 
 September, in the same year, 1808, they unanimously 
 agreed that Dr. Milner's account of his conduct as 
 their agent was satisfactory, and then passed two 
 important Eesolutions, in the first of which they declare 
 it their decided opinion, that "it is inexpedient to 
 introduce any alteration in the canonical mode, 
 hitherto observed, in the nomination of Roman Catho- 
 lic Bishops," and in the second, they pledge them- 
 selves to adhere to the rule by which they have been 
 hitherto guided, " to recommend to his Holiness only 
 such persons, as candidates for vacant Bishoprics, as 
 are of unimpeachable loyalty and peaceable conduct." 
 In a private letter, written by Dr. Milner to a friend 
 about this time, he observed that there was a strong 
 democratic party opposed to him in Ireland, but that 
 the Irish Bishops had approved of his conduct, and 
 requested him to continue to act as their agent in 
 England. 
 
 In the midst of these trials and struggles, however, 
 the good Bishop had this year a source of great con- 
 solation. It has been mentioned that he had erected 
 a building at Sedgley Park, with a view to place there 
 a few ecclesiastical students under a priest, who would 
 have the immediate care of their education. This 
 building was opened in the summer of 1808 ; but it was 
 hardly occupied when a very advantageous offer was
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER EIGHTH. 157 
 
 made to Dr. Milner to make over to him the College 
 at Oscott, which had been opened twelve years before. 
 It had been hitherto under the general government of 
 some of the Catholic nobility and gentry, among whom 
 were Lord Petre and Lord Stourton, Sir John Throck- 
 morton, Mr. Hornyold, and Mr. Bernard Howard, 
 afterwards Duke of Norfolk. It had not, however, 
 been conducted satisfactorily, and it was encumbered 
 with debts amounting to about £600. The oifer made 
 to Dr. Milner was, to make over the establishment 
 entirely to him, on condition of his taking upon himself 
 its encumbrances. He saw the great advantage of 
 having a college under his own control and direction, 
 which was already established, and every way con- 
 venient ; but the undertaking appeared so formidable, 
 and the debts so disheartening, that he at first hesi- 
 tated to accept the offer. He, however, consulted his 
 Vicar General, Mr. Perry, in whose judgment he 
 always reposed great confidence, and by his advice 
 determined to accept it. 
 
 He at once resolved to remodel the College, and 
 place it under the patronage of our Blessed Lady. 
 The president. Dr. Bew, retired from Oscott, and his 
 assistant, Kev. Thomas Potts, was appointed president 
 of the new St. Mary's College. At the same time 
 Dr. Milner most judiciously selected for it an excel- 
 lent Vice-President and spiritual director, in the person 
 of the Eev. Thomas Walsh, whom he removed from 
 Sedgley Park, and appointed in his place the Eev. Jo- 
 seph Bowdon, from Long Birch. The new College was 
 appropriately opened and dedicated under the patron- 
 age of the ever Blessed Virgin Mary, on the feast of 
 her glorious Assumption, the 15th of August, 1808. 
 No grand ceremonial could be accomplished in those
 
 158 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1808. 
 
 days, and the service consisted of a low Mass and an 
 excellent sermon by the Bishop, with a little singing, 
 chiefly the Litany of Loretto, performed by the Jones 
 family from Wolverhampton, accompanied by one of 
 them on a pianoforte. The Litany was spun out, and 
 made the most of on the occasion, as little else was 
 produced in the musical department. 
 
 The College at Oscott, now called St. Mary's, was 
 conducted, as it had been before, on the plan of a 
 seminary for ecclesiastics, and a college for lay students 
 both together. The whole number of students at this 
 time was about forty-five, of whom but a few were 
 intended for the ecclesiastical state. These were 
 Henry Weedall, William Wareing, Thomas M'Don- 
 nell, and three brothers, Samuel, John, and Charles 
 Jones, who arrived at St. Mary's, August 12th, three 
 days before the opening. John Francis Quick was 
 transferred thither at the same time from Long Birch, 
 where he had been pursuing his studies under Rev. 
 Joseph Bowden, to assist in the management of the 
 temporalities. James Wareing came September 27th 
 following ; and these formed the whole number of 
 church students at the beginning of the new estabhsh- 
 ment of St. Mary's College, familiarly known as the 
 '^New Government." But it was already a great 
 achievement ; and it cheered the heart of the good and 
 zealous Bishop to see so promising a prospect before 
 him of carrying on the sacred ministry ; a prospect, 
 moreover, which happily fulfilled its promise j for 
 every one of the above-named students eventually 
 became priests, and two of them, Henry Weedall and 
 William Wareing, were subsequently nominated to 
 episcopal sees, though the latter only received con- 
 secration.
 
 AGE 56.] 
 
 CHAPTER EIGHTH. 159 
 
 Immediately after the solemn opening of the 
 College at Oscott, Dr. Milner proceeded on a second 
 tour to Ireland, having for his companion Thomas 
 Weld, Esq., of Lulworth Castle. They arrived at 
 Cork, in time to witness 'the solemn opening of an 
 elegant chapel there on the 22nd of August. Thence 
 they proceeded to Killarney, and. the following extract 
 will show the author's ability in the description of 
 scenery. " The awful sublimity and bold contour of 
 the neighbouring mountains, and the smiling face of 
 the valley we were entering upon, announced our 
 approach to the lakes we were in search of. Do not, 
 however, Sir, expect, at my time of day, that I should 
 transport you to the top of lofty Mangerton, swelled as 
 it is with an unfathomable abyss of water in the 
 hollow of its utmost summit, or of the diversified chine 
 of Tork, the centre of the lovely scene, or of 
 the forked, cloud-capped Reeks, overlooking the 
 Atlantic Ocean, where the vast eagle skims the air, and 
 rears her hardy brood. Nor shall I attempt to waft 
 you, through swelhng waves, along the broad expanse 
 of the great lake, and exhibit to you the bays, the 
 headlands, the mountains, the woods, the waterfalls 
 and the villas which enrich it ; or to pilot you from 
 this lake, through intricate and variegated channels, 
 to the inviting stillness of Tork lake, and thence, 
 through other still more intricate meanders, to the 
 enchanting elysium of the upper lake, enriched with 
 all the beauties of the former, and studded with 
 numberless isles of various forms and sizes, all of 
 which are crowned with the arbutus and other trees 
 and shrubs of the most luxuriant growth and loveliest 
 shapes and hues. Nor is nature here alone ; for she 
 is accompanied by a favourite nymph, whose existence,
 
 160 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1808. 
 
 if it be elsewhere disputed, will not be disputed by 
 those who deign to hold converse with her under 
 the eagle's nest on the channel leading to the upper 
 lake of Killarney : so faithful and so distinct is Echo 
 in repeating there and reduplicating again and 
 again, even to satiety, every sound conveyed to 
 her, whether of tlie well-toned voice, or of the 
 melodious pipe, or of the thundering petard. How 
 many a httle island and sequestered bay which 
 met my eye upon these lakes and channels, excit- 
 ed a wish in me to spend my life there in the 
 occupation of the most ancient inhabitants of the 
 round towers. But most of all, the circling groves 
 and classical ground of Innisfallin island attracted my 
 thoughts and my heart. Whilst I traced out, among 
 the ruins there before me, the various offices of the 
 venerable abbey, founded by the immediate disciples 
 of St. Patrick, oh! could I but have called to life 
 some of those wise and good men, who heretofore 
 inhabited it 1300 years ago, to be my companions and 
 my masters in studying the science of the saints, most 
 certainly it would have been impossible to tear me 
 from Innisfallin." 
 
 The Echo at Killarney made a vi\id impression upon 
 Dr. Milner. Meeting some time after the celebrated 
 Madame Catalani in private society, and having heard 
 her exquisite singing, he told her he had never heard 
 but one voice finer than hers, and that was the voice 
 of Madame Echo on the lakes of Killarney. 
 
 Dr. Milner and his companion passed through 
 Limerick to Dublin, where he was charmed with the 
 numerous establishments of Catholic charity and piety; 
 but at the same time disedified with the violent dis- 
 sensions then raging, with reference to the question of
 
 AGE 56] CHAPTER EIGHTH. 
 
 ]6l 
 
 vetoistical arrangements, upon which he has an im- 
 portant note at the end of Letter III., inserted in a 
 new edition of his " Inquiry^ Sfc." published after his 
 return from this second tour. This Letter is followed 
 by a Supplement containing three Letters ; and to 
 these is appended a final Postscript. The First Letter 
 of the Supplement is in answer to a pubhcation by- 
 Sir Kichard Musgrave, entitled, " Remarks occasioned 
 by some Passages in Dr. Milner's Tour in Ireland'' 
 Sir Kichard had attributed Dr. Milner's former tour 
 to very false motives, and he is here contradicted upon 
 a long string of erroneous assertions. Dr. M. dwells 
 upon the cruelty and immorality of the system of the 
 Charter Schools in Ireland, and defends his former 
 account of St. Patrick, and the ancient religion of the 
 country. Letter II. is addressed to the Eev. Dr. 
 Kyan, the author of " The Analysis of Ward's 
 Errata^' and is chiefly a defence of that well-known 
 work. The following admirable passage must be pre- 
 served in these pages, as a masterly epitome of Dr. 
 Milner's line of argument on the Bible and Rule of 
 Faith. 
 
 " Those persons who have looked into my theolo- 
 gical writings, know that I have been accustomed to 
 adopt a shorter and more satisfactory way of settling 
 religious controversies, than that of sending each well- 
 meaning religious inquirer to hunt through his Bible, 
 from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revela- 
 tions, for each text, that regards, or that may be 
 thought to regard, the subject of his inquiry; then 
 telling him to compare each text with the Latin Vul- 
 gate, the Greek Septuagint, and the primitive Hebrew, 
 in the numberless editions and manuscript copies of 
 each of them ; and lastly, advising him to consult all 
 
 M
 
 162 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1808. 
 
 the huge commentators and controvertists, ancient and 
 modern, upon their discordant interpretations of the 
 several texts in question. This, Sir, you know, is 
 your method, if you are consistent with yourself, and 
 speak out. What I have said, in my Letters to Dr. 
 Sturges, as also in the foregoing Letters, and on every 
 other occasion, is to the following effect: 
 
 " The Bible is indeed the word of God, and deserv- 
 ing of all the worship we can possibly pay it : but God 
 never intended that all mankind should learn the 
 whole of his law from a book, much less from so large 
 a book, and so mysterious a book as the Bible is, 
 otherwise he would have told us so, and would have 
 provided, in his wisdom and power, that all mankind 
 should be able to procure Bibles, and should have 
 leisure and learning sufficient to read and study them... 
 What, then, do I advise the religious inquirer to do ? 
 My advice is. Hear the Church; that Church which 
 you profess in your Creed to be always Holj/ and 
 Catholic, that living, speaking tribunal, which has 
 decided all religious controversies that have arisen 
 since her foundation eighteen centuries ago, and which 
 Christ, in his wisdom, has appointed to decide them, 
 not by any new revelation that he makes to her, but 
 by her adhering to his divine word once revealed and 
 delivered to her, which she faithfully preserves through 
 all ages, as well in written tradition as in manuscript 
 and printed Bibles. Think, for a moment, how you 
 know that your Bible, and each of the several books of 
 it, — the Canticles for example, or the Revelations, — 
 was written by prophets or apostles. How do you 
 know, that when they wrote those particular books, 
 they were under the influence of divine inspiration? 
 How do you know that these books have not been 
 corrupted or altered, during the long succession of
 
 AGE .36.] CHAPTER EIGHTH. 1(33 
 
 ages, and of copies and translations through which 
 they have passed? You have no security, you have 
 no rational grounds whatever to decide iu favour of 
 your Bible, upon any one of these points, except the 
 authority of the Catholic Church, which you profess to 
 
 believe in when you repeat your Creed Now, 
 
 my good religious inquirer, will you be so inconsistent 
 as to admit the authority of the Catholic Church when 
 she hands down to you the Bible, and to reject it 
 when she tells you that such and such is the meaning 
 of certain controverted passages in it ? Will you call 
 her a faithful witness on one occasion, and a fraudulent 
 impostor on the other ?"* 
 
 Letter III. is addressed to the Rev. Dr. Elrington, 
 late Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, who was 
 afterwards Protestant Bishop of Leighlin and Ferns, 
 and whose " Charge" was so well answered by the 
 Catholic Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Dr. Doyle. 
 Dr. Elrington published a work, entitled, " The 
 Clergy of the Church of England truly ordained^ 
 and not obliged to subscribe to damnable contradic- 
 tions^ in answer to Ward's Controversy of Ordina- 
 tion." To this Dr. Milner had prepared a detailed 
 answer ; but he finally preferred giving the substance 
 of it in this Letter to a more extensive publication. It 
 contains a valuable summary of the chief arguments 
 against the validity of the Anglican Orders, — the 
 powerful reasons for believing that Barlow himself had 
 never received episcopal consecration, and the defec- 
 tive form by which he consecrated Parker, — if such 
 consecration ever took place at allj which there are 
 very strong reasons for denying altogether.! Dr. 
 
 * " Inquiry," &:c., 3rd Edit., p. 371. 
 
 t See " Letter on Anglican Order.s, &c.," by Canon Williams, 
 Letter XVII.
 
 164 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1808. 
 
 MiLNER mentions the author of the famous treatise on 
 the invaUdity of Anghcan Orders, entitled Erastus 
 Senior^ the Rev. John Lewgar, S. T. B., as having 
 been converted to the Cathohc faith with ChilHng- 
 worth, who endeavoured in vain to induce him to 
 desert it when he himself left it. Lewgar studied the 
 ordination controversy thoroughly, and it was in con- 
 sequence of his argmnents against the form then in 
 use that it was altered, but too late to obviate the 
 Catholic objections. 
 
 Dr. Milner's Postscript contains remarks on three 
 fresh pamphlets against him ; one attributed to Dr. 
 Ledwich, whom he had before confuted on the history 
 of St. Patrick ; the second from the pen of his antago- 
 nist Dr. Elrington, being " Reflections on the appoirit- 
 ment of Dr. Milner as the political agent of the 
 R. Catholic Clergy of Ireland ;" and the third from 
 his other opponent Dr. Eyan, " Strictures on Dr. 
 Milner s Tour^ 4'^-" There are some valuable addi- 
 tional notes, one of which, on the irreligious and immo- 
 ral tendency of Freemasonry, will well repay the 
 attentive reader. 
 
 In the course of this second tour, Dr. Milner had 
 seen the mitre and crozier of an ancient Bishop of 
 Limerick, Cornelius O'Deagh, who held that See in 
 the early part of the fifteenth century. Of these he 
 sent this year a Description to the Secretary of the 
 Archaeological Society, which was published in the 
 XVIL Vol. of their Archceologia. His account is 
 very valuable, not only for its minute and interesting 
 description of these Pontificalia., which are exceedingly 
 rich and beautiful, but for the history which he gives 
 of mitres and croziers from their first coming into use 
 in the Western Church. There are, however, a few
 
 AGE 56.] CHAPTER EIGHTH. 165 
 
 inaccuracies towards the end ; where the Bishop states 
 that the pastoral staff of an archbishop " is not a 
 hooked crozier, but a processional cross:" and that " a 
 patriarch or primate has two transverse bars upon it, 
 and the Pope three." An arclibishop carries a crozier, 
 hke any other bishop ; the cross being only borne 
 before him. The two bars given to a primate, and the 
 three to the Pope, are mere conventional insignia ot 
 artists and heralds : the Pope uses no pastoral staff at 
 any time. Dr. Milner was also misinformed as to 
 the mitre being worn by Protestant Bishops at corona- 
 tions: certainly at those of George III., George lY., 
 WilKam lY., and Yictoria, their only insignia were 
 black caps and purple copes. 
 
 In the Spring of the next year, 1809, Dr. Milner 
 gave Confirmation at Moseley and Bloxwich ; at the 
 latter the chapel and house were greatly enlarged and 
 nearly rebuilt, lie also confirmed at Wolverhampton. 
 On the 11th of July the Triennial Meeting was held 
 at Wolverhampton, at which the clergy of the five 
 counties of Stafford, Derby, Salop, Worcester, War- 
 wick and Oxford, were now admitted. It was attended 
 by twenty-three priests, and by the Rev. John Quick, 
 from Oscott, though he was then only a deacon. The 
 following interesting minute of the proceedings is 
 transcribed from Dr. Milner's own Journal. 
 
 " The Veni Creator being sung in the chapel, tlie 
 Yic. Ap. admonished the Brethren of their duties 
 towards God and their neighbours.— Of Mass to be 
 said frequently — for the intentions annexed to their 
 places, and also for benefactors of the Common Fund. 
 — Of keeping the B. Sacrament and Holy Oils locked 
 up — of keeping altar, &c., clean.
 
 166 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1809. 
 
 " Of vigilance — zeal — and labour to save souls ; vos 
 estis sal terrce^ etc. — to keep lists of their flocks, to 
 look out and see who may be reclaimed, reconciled, 
 converted, — to be particularly anxious that all shoidd 
 make their Easter duty, — if any objection exists with 
 respect to their persons, to facihtate access to other 
 confessors — to give notice to the Bishop when Con- 
 firmation is wanted in their congregations. 
 
 " To preach against nudities — theatrical shows — 
 going to Protestant churches — and teaching Protestant 
 Catechism. To lead souls on to perfection by mor- 
 tifying pride, — recollection — union with God — mental 
 prayer. To aspire to perfection ourselves, — Medita- 
 tion — Eetreat — Abbe Carron's Pensees ecclesiastiques 
 offered to each, with engagement to read them. 
 
 " To provide a succession of priests, and an increase 
 of them, — Messis multa^ operarii autem pauci. In- 
 stitution of Oscott — Printed papers distributed. Plan 
 of ecclesiastical life there. Existing French schism — 
 Blanchard's boast of adlierents amongst priests of the 
 Midland District. All sign a declaration of com- 
 munion with Pope Pius VII.,— and of adhesion to the 
 condemnation of Blanchard's doctrine. 
 
 " Question put : Has any one any proposal to make 
 for the good of Keligion ? 
 
 " The Litany of the Blessed Virgin said in the 
 
 chapel." 
 
 The clergy afterwards proceeded to a room in the 
 Bishop s house for temporal affairs, after which all 
 dined together with his Lordship in his large dining- 
 room. 
 
 The above will give a good idea of the mode of 
 conducting the meetings of the clergy, and of the 
 subjects on which the zealous Bishop was accustomed
 
 AGE .57.] CHAPTER EIGHTH. 167 
 
 to address them. But his exhortations were dehvered 
 with animation and energy not to be described. His 
 voice was powerful, his looks expressive, and his 
 manner every way that of a fervent pastor deeply 
 impressed himself with what he sought to impress upon 
 his hearers. When the spiritual and temporal con- 
 cerns of the Meeting had been duly transacted, the 
 good Bishop gave his clergy a hearty welcome to his 
 table, and nothing could exceed his kindness, attention, 
 and urbanity. He was very cheerful, perfectly easy 
 and familiar, and the youngest of his clergy felt himself 
 quite at home with him as with a father. 
 
 It will have been noticed that in Dk. Milnee's 
 account of the Clergy Meeting above, it is mentioned 
 that in his address he spoke of the institution of the 
 Seminary at Oscott, and distributed printed papers. 
 These were copies of a statement which he had drawn 
 up of the necessity of supporting the new institution 
 at Oscott, of which he spoke in high terms of praise 
 and confidence. 
 
 In the course of this Smiimer and Autimin, Dr. 
 MiLNER was out again, travelling over his wide District, 
 which he so assiduously visited ; and he began by 
 giving Confirmation on the 20th of August to seventeen 
 persons at the Convent at Bodney, in Norfolk. Thence 
 he proceeded to Cossey Hall, the seat of Sir William 
 Jerningham, Bart., where a beautiful Gothic chapel had 
 just been completed, which had been planned and 
 erected under the immediate superintendence of his 
 brother, Mr. Edward Jerningham. The venerable 
 baronet, however, had no sooner completed this noble 
 monmnent of his faith and piety, than he was called 
 out of life, and became the first tenant of the family 
 vault beneath it. Sir William died on the 14th of
 
 168 LIFE OF BISHOP IVULNER. [1809. 
 
 August, 1809, and the new chapel erected by his piety 
 and munificence was solemnly consecrated by Dr. 
 MiLNER on the 21st. On Tuesday the 22nd, the 
 funeral of Sir William took place, when the Bishop 
 delivered a very admirable discom'se, the substance of 
 which was afterwards published. In that discourse, 
 he did not expatiate upon the ancient and illustrious 
 descent of the deceased Baronet, nor even on his 
 accomplishments, and civil and social virtues ; but 
 preferred to dwell on his respect and affection for 
 religion, as the means of serving and enjoying God. 
 He therefore extolled Sir William's constancy in the 
 Catholic faith, and his exact observance of its ordi- 
 nances " in the face of a profane and licentious genera- 
 tion." 
 
 " What motive," said the eloquent preacher, " but a 
 pure zeal for the honour of God, and the salvation of 
 souls, could have induced him to raise and decorate 
 this sacred fane, built according to the useful, as well 
 as sublime and beautiful manner of our wise and 
 religious ancestors. He, like other persons of his rank 
 in life, could have found purposes, more gratifying to 
 pride and sensuality, for the employment of his fortune, 
 had he been disposed to do so ; but he preferred giving 
 it to the Lord, who has promised a hundred fold re- 
 ward in this life, besides an infinite and eternal one in 
 the next, for all that is thus sacrificed to him. He just 
 lived to finish this noble and lasting monument of his 
 holy religion, and he died to accelerate that sacred and 
 solemn consecration of it, which took place yesterday, 
 having been one of the most splendid and consoling 
 religious ceremonies performed in this island for almost 
 three centuries." 
 
 The Prelate spoke in glowing terms of the cordial
 
 AGE 37.1 
 
 CHAPTER EIGHTH. l69 
 
 devotion of Sir William to the holy Mother of God, 
 of his humility, meekness, and sincere charity, of 
 which last virtue he said: "It would be superfluous 
 to cite to you particular instances, when such innu- 
 merable proofs of it are known to you all ; when 
 children, and friends, and servants, and tenants, and 
 neighbours ; when priests, and religious, and laity ; 
 when natives and foreigners contend with each other, 
 who shall express their gratitude to him most warmly ; 
 who shall extol him most." 
 
 The sermon, after extolling Sir William's conspicu- 
 ous charity in aiding and supporting the sacred 
 ministry of the Church, and thus procuring for many 
 souls the means of salvation, and recording his 
 long and earnest preparation for his last hour, and the 
 happy death which followed it, concludes with the 
 recommendation of his soul to God, in language of 
 affecting sublimity: "Remember, Lord, this thy 
 servant, whose mortal remains are now before us, and 
 whose soul is in thy hands. Remember, that he was, 
 after thine own heart, meek and humble, forgiving 
 injuries, relieving the poor, and benignant to all 
 
 mankind Remember his zeal for thy honour 
 
 and service : how he preferred the erecting of this 
 beautiful and costly temple, to every object of vanity 
 and sensuality ; and how he rested not till he had 
 
 completed it to the glory of thy holy name 
 
 Behold, he found thee and the holy ark consecrated to 
 thy immediate presence, in the remote and obscure 
 situation in which the intolerance of former times had 
 forced his ancestors to conceal their devotion ; he had 
 adored thee therein, and he has since invited thee, and 
 thy holy ark, to take possession of a place more 
 worthy of thy majesty, and better adapted for thy holy
 
 ]70 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [18(J9. 
 
 worship give rest, O give eternal rest to the soul 
 
 of thy departed servant, William ! " 
 
 This discourse was no studied composition, but the 
 ready effusion of a fervent spirit and a feeling heart. 
 The Bishop had so little time, that he sat up almost all 
 night to write it, and used to say that he felt the 
 effects of having done so long afterwards. The priest 
 who was chaplain at Cossey Hall, and had charge of 
 the congregation when this new chapel was opened, 
 was the Rev. Thomas Price. 
 
 CHAPTER NINTH. 
 
 VISITATIONS AND CONFIRMATIONS BY DR. MILNER. VISIT TO 
 
 SEDGLEY PARK WITH DR. MOYLAN. THE FIFTH RESOLUTION 
 
 AFFAIR. DR. MILNER AT THE DINNER IN DOVER-STREET. 
 
 THE MEETING AT ST. ALBAN's TAVERN. DR. MILNER's 
 
 CIRCULAR AFTER IT. — CONDEMNATION OF THE FIFTH RESO- 
 LUTION BY THE WHOLE OF THE IRISH HIERARCHY. DR. 
 
 MILNER's ARGUMENTS AGAINST IT. ENLARGEMENT AND RE- 
 OPENING OF THE CHAPEL OF OSCOTT COLLEGE.— DR. MILNER's 
 ENDEAVOURS TO HEAL DISSENSION, AND RESTORE PEACE AND 
 UNANIMITY. HIS LETTERS IN THE STATESMAN NEWSPAPER. 
 
 In September, 1809, the indefatigable Dr. Milner 
 began his visitation of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, 
 and Lincolnshire. He confirmed at Derby, Notting- 
 ham, Wingerworth, Worksop, Brigg, Osgodby, Louth, 
 Lincoln and Irnham. He then visited Leicester, and 
 confirmed at Harvington and Grafton, and after visit- 
 ing W^orcester, returned home at the end of November. 
 The Confirmation at Grafton took place on Sunday 
 the 12th November. He blessed and opened a new 
 chapel there on that occasion. He gave directions
 
 AGE 57] CHAPTER NINTH. 171 
 
 for some painted glass for the East window, and the 
 Rev. Clement Weetman, the priest there at the time, 
 observed that he had never seen a person so ready in 
 suggesting improvements. He stayed till Monday 
 morning, when Mr. Weetman rode with him to Wor- 
 cester, where they both remained till Wednesday, on 
 which day they returned to Grafton. Mr. Weetman 
 highly enjoyed his company ; and found him infinitely 
 more affable and communicative than he had expected. 
 Such observations were generally made by persons, 
 when they came to know Dr. Milner, and appreciate 
 his true character, which was really full of benevolence 
 and unaffected goodness of heart. 
 
 The venerable Bishop of Cork, Dr. Moylan, was 
 always the great friend of Dr. Milner. It was about 
 this year, on one of those visits which his Lordship 
 frequently paid to England, that Dr. Milner enter- 
 taining him at his house in Wolverhampton, brought 
 him up in his gig to see the school at Sedgley Park. 
 It was on a Saturday afternoon, and when the two 
 Prelates were leaving, the boys drew up at the rails 
 with their hats off", and petitioned Dr. Milner for a 
 playday, in honour of the distinguished visitor who sat 
 beside him. Dr. Milner stopped his horse, stood up 
 in the gig, and made the following gratifying proclama- 
 tion to the boys : " Dr. Moylan, Bishop of Cork, 
 gives you a playday on Monday." He did not calcu- 
 late the immediate consequences, or he would have 
 desired the boys not to shout. He drove a splendid 
 white horse, who had been a charger, and when the 
 boys set up a tremendous shout, the horse set off at 
 full gallop. The Bishop could not stop him, and with 
 great difficulty managed to turn first the top corner 
 of the " bounds," or boys' playground, and then to
 
 172 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [18G9. 
 
 turn again safely at the bottom of the " bounds," 
 and clear the posts of the lane gate. He effected both, 
 however, with great dexterity ; and then the boys 
 watched the horse galloping up the lane at full speed, 
 not without apprehensions for the safety of the two 
 venerable Prelates. 
 
 It has been stated in Chapter Eighth that the Irish 
 Bishops, twenty-nine in number, unanimously agreed 
 in Dubhn, on the l4th of September, 1808, that "it is 
 inexpedient to introduce any alteration in the canonical 
 mode, hitherto observed, in the nomination of Roman 
 Catholic Bishops." The English Cathohcs, on their 
 side, had pledged themselves to adopt no measure 
 affecting the general interests of the two bodies of 
 Catholics, without the concurrence of their Irish bre- 
 thren. On the 31st of January, in this year 1810, a 
 few Catholic noblemen and gentlemen met Earl Grey, 
 Lord Grenville, and Mr. Windham, and without con- 
 sulting their Bishops, or recei\'ing any authority from 
 them, agreed upon a Resolution to be brought forward 
 the next day at a Meeting of Catholics to he held at 
 St. Albans Tavern ; this Resolution being one, as Dr. 
 Poynter said of it the next day, which might give rise 
 to " questions affecting the spiritual concerns of all the 
 four Districts." 
 
 Dr. Mllner, ever alive to the interests of religion, 
 and anxious to discharge his double duty as an 
 English Vicar Apostolic, and as Agent of the Irish 
 Bishops, arrived in London on the 30th of January ; 
 and on the follow^ing day he dined by invitation with a 
 Catholic Baronet and some of his friends at Doran's 
 Hotel in Dover-street. He had previously waited on 
 Dr. Douglass, the Vicar ApostoUc of the London 
 District, where he had also met the coadjutor Bishop,
 
 AGE 57.] CHAPTER NINTH. 173 
 
 Dr. Poynter ; when all the three Prelates agreed that 
 while they owed to government satisfaction as to 
 loyalty, they should take care not to yield anything to 
 it in spiritual concerns. Dr. Milner said on leaving, 
 " At all events let us Prelates act in concert on this 
 occasion," He proceeded to the Hotel in Dover-street, 
 and dined there with about thirteen of the Catholic 
 nobility and gentry ; but had no idea that it was any- 
 thing more than a convivial party of friends. Great, 
 therefore, was his surprise, when after dinner the 
 Secretary of the Catholic Board read up certain Reso- 
 lutions to be proposed at the meeting appointed for the 
 following day, the Fifth of which was as follow^s : 
 
 " That the English Roman Catholics, — are firmly 
 persuaded, that adequate provision for the mainte- 
 nance of the civil and religious establishments of this 
 kingdom may be made, consistently with the strictest 
 adherence, on their part, to the tenets and discipline of 
 the Roman Catholic religion ; and that any arrange- 
 ment founded on this basis of mutual satisfaction and 
 security, and extending to them the full enjoyment of 
 the civil constitution of their country, will meet with 
 their grateful concurrence." 
 
 It must be observed that this Resolution is expressed 
 almost in the very w^ords of Lord Grenville's celebrated 
 Letter to the Earl of Fingall^ of Jan. 25, which 
 embodied the sentiments of the ministry, and disclosed 
 their designs. Having premised in that Letter that 
 all due provision must be made for the inviolable 
 maintenance of our {the Protestant) religious and 
 civil establishments, and thsct he had pointed out the 
 proposal of vesting in the crown an effectual nega- 
 tive on the appointment of Catholic Bishops, in other 
 words, the Veto in its worst sense, the noble Lord goes
 
 174 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1809. 
 
 on to say — " That adequate arrangements may be made 
 for all these purposes" ( Veto of course included)^ 
 " consistently with the strictest adherence, on your 
 part, to your religious tenets, is the persuasion you 
 have long been labouring to establish. Were it other- 
 wise, I should indeed despair. But that these objects 
 may be reconciled, in so Jar as respects the appoint- 
 ment of Bishops^ is known with undeniable certainty." 
 Here is the key to the real meaning of the famous 
 Fifth Resolution ; and no wonder that Dr. Milner 
 at once perceived this, and that when it was proposed 
 at the dinner party, he " clearly saw" in it " the Veto 
 in its most hideous form," and was convinced that he 
 had been invited to the dinner " for the express purpose 
 of ensnaring him into an approbation of the Resolu- 
 tion"* then brought forward ; and that when asked if 
 he would sign the Resolutions just read, he at once 
 answered that he could not sign the above Fifth 
 Resolution^ and made use of the most effectual argu- 
 ments he could to induce those present to reject it. 
 He was, to use his own w^ords, " baited and tortured 
 on every side by the company present for an hour and 
 more to make him consent to it, till he found relief in 
 a flood of tears."f He was asked what he would say, 
 as a Vicar Apostolic only, independently of his being 
 the Agent of the Irish Bishops, to which he answered — 
 " I beg to be excused answering that question, because 
 I hope to give you an answer in common with my 
 brethren, the other Vicars Apostolic." This he said, 
 trusting to the engagements which had that morning 
 been entered into by the three Bishops at the house of 
 
 * Dr. Milker's "Encyclical Letter" of Nov. 22, 1813, p. 7. 
 t " Letter to the Editor of an Apologetical Epistle, &c.," p. .337.
 
 AGE 37] CHAPTER NINTH. 175 
 
 Dr. Douglass. He was next asked to promise not to 
 use any arguments to influence liis brethren : but he 
 indignantly rejected any such proposal, declaring that he 
 would use such arguments with them as his conscience 
 should dictate. A noble Lord then called out to him — 
 "May I sign the resolution?" Dr. Milner answered — 
 " You may sign it if you will." Now, as great advantage 
 has been taken of this answer, and of a similar one to 
 two other inquiries to the same effect, — both by Dr. 
 Poynterinhis '"'' Apologetic Epistle to Cardinal Litta^^ 
 and by Mr. Charles Butler in his unpublished " Memo- 
 rial to Cardinal Fontana^^ § iii. 3, — as if Dr. Milner 
 had actually declared it lawful and safe to sign the Reso- 
 lution, attention ought in justice to be paid to his own 
 explanation of the sense in which he gave these answers. 
 He did not mean by them, as he has declared, to solve a 
 case of conscience, but merely to get rid of an importu- 
 nate question, adverting only to the fact that the signa- 
 tures of the parties could have no effect, so long as the 
 Bishops firmly opposed the Resolution, and supported 
 the disciphne of the Church, as he confidently expected 
 that they would. " I understood," he says, " from the 
 first hearing of the Resolution that its object was to 
 alter our Church discipline, by giving up the rights 
 of Bishops, and I remember well telling several of 
 my friends, that I did not regard some scores or 
 even some hundreds of lay signatures, provided the 
 Bishops were true to themselves.* It is to be re- 
 gretted that he gave answers so liable to miscon- 
 struction ; but he could never have meant to approve 
 
 * " Instructions addressed to the Catholics of the Midland 
 Counties of England, &c., by the Rev. Dr. Mihier, B.C., V.A. 
 1811. Appendix I."
 
 176 LIFE OF BISHOP SCLNER. [1809. 
 
 of others signing a Resolution, which he himself 
 had just before so positively refused to sign. It is 
 due to him also to take into consideration, that amidst 
 the confusion and altercation of an after dinner scene, 
 where the good Bishop had already been plied and 
 harassed by several captious and insidious questions, 
 he mieht be somewhat excused if he answered as he 
 did to the last put to him, without any serious intention 
 to decide upon the morality of the question. 
 
 The defenders of the Fifth Resolution maintain 
 that it was a mere general expression of good humour, 
 — of a wish that the business of Catholic eman- 
 cipation should, — and of a belief that it might be 
 settled, to the satisfaction of both parties ; — that it 
 neither proposed, nor even hinted at any particular 
 measure, but left all open to future discussion and 
 arrangement ; that whatever might be proposed by 
 government, inconsistent with the tenets or discipline 
 of the Eoman Catholic religion, those who subscribed 
 the Resolution might justly refuse it. Such is the 
 view taken by Mr. Charles Butler, of what he con- 
 siders truly deserving of the epithet of a conciliatory 
 Resolution.* 
 
 Another defender of it, whose opinion merits more 
 respectful attention, was Dr. Poynter, the coadjutor at 
 the time of Dr. Douglass, and afterwards the Vicar 
 Apostolic of the London District. His Lordship says 
 that some leading Catholics waited on Earl Grey in 
 the morning of the 31st January, and that in their 
 explanation with him it was understood on each side 
 that there was no question of the Veto, or any other 
 specific pledge ; and that no more than a general 
 
 * " Hist. Mem. of Enfrlish Catholics" 3rd Edit., p. 168. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 57.] CHAPTER NINTH. 177 
 
 declaration should be made that the Catholics were 
 ready to do those things, which, while they were con- 
 formable to their religion, might give mutual satisfac- 
 tion and security to government and the Catholics. 
 Earl Grey gave this explanation in writing and signed 
 it. Accordingly Dr. Poynter defends his own signing 
 the Resolution with Dr. Collingridge, the Vicar Apos- 
 tolic of the Western District, on the ground that they 
 both considered it harmless and free from danger.* 
 
 Dr. Milner, however, viewed the Fifth Resolution 
 in a very different light ; and so did the Prelates 
 of Ireland, who fully concurred with him. The 
 meeting of Catholics took place the next day, Fe- 
 bruary 1, at St. Albans Tavern, and was attended 
 by about a hundred persons, including Bishops 
 Milner, Collingridge and Poynter ; the Vicar Apos- 
 tolic of the London District, Dr. Douglass, being 
 unable to attend from illness. Drs. Collingridge and 
 Poynter both assured Dr. Milner that they would 
 not sign the Fifth Resolution^ and agreed to hold 
 a meeting with him the next day to consider it 
 together with Dr. Douglass. Dr. Poynter, moreover, 
 thought it his duty to address the meeting before 
 the Resolution was put from the chair, and observed 
 in his speech, " that this Resolution would pro- 
 bably involve in its consequences questions which 
 would affect the spiritual interests of the four Dis- 
 tricts, and which consequently mmst be referred to 
 the four Vicars Apostolic."f The three Bishops had 
 
 * " Apologetical Epistle," by Bishop Poynter, Nos. 6 and 20. — 
 '' Letter to the Rt. Rev. J. Mihier, V.A.," p. 2. 
 
 I Dr. Milner's " Encyclical Letter." — Dr. Foynter's " Letter to 
 Dr. Milner" of Feb. 13, and bis " Apologetical Epistle," No. 14. 
 
 N
 
 178 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1809. 
 
 previously sat down together, and during an hour and 
 more, spoke and acted in concert. De. Milner 
 declares that his heart exulted "from a conviction that 
 our religion was safe, as long as its Prelates were 
 united and firm in its defence."* His exultation, 
 however, was very short ; for soon after, while he was 
 in another part of the room, the other two Prelates 
 were persuaded to sign the Kesolution, and did sign 
 it. Dr. Milner, when their signatures were shown to 
 him, could not for a long time believe them to be 
 genuine. He was convinced at any rate that his two 
 episcopal brethren had been over-reached and over- 
 persuaded ; and was confirmed in this opinion two 
 days after, when a gentleman who had been most 
 active about the Resolution, and in getting the Bishops 
 to sign it, said to him : " Do not be angry with your 
 brethren, they resisted as long as they could, hut we 
 jockeyed themr And the same gentleman said to 
 him four days after this : " You acted right, and I 
 would have acted the same part in your situation :"f 
 indeed that gentleman himself, singularly enough, never 
 did sign the Fifth Resolution. 
 
 The Meeting had been held on the 1st of February ; 
 and on the 5th, Dr. Milner printed " A Letter to a 
 Catholic Peer,'' which he did not publish, but cir- 
 culated extensively in England and Ireland. Drs. 
 Milner and Poynter had been present at a dinner 
 at the Clarendon Hotel, given in the evening of the 
 same day of the meeting at the St. Alban's Tavern, 
 the 1st of February. In recording in this Letter the 
 transactions of that evening. Dr. Milner complained 
 
 * '' Encyclical Letter," p. 7- 
 
 I " Encyclical Letter" of Dr. Milner, p. 8. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 57.] CHAPTER NINTH. 179 
 
 of some observations made by a distinguished Catholic 
 preacher who sat near him, upon some parts of the 
 Observanda^ or Regulations for the English Mission ; 
 and also of the silence of Dr. Poynter on the occa- 
 sion. He went on to justify his refusal to sign the 
 Fifth Resolution that morning : " How, for example, 
 can I, a guardian of the Catholic religion, pledge my 
 consent to the ' making of adequate provisions for the 
 maintenance of the (Protestant) religious Establish- 
 ment of this kingdom,' when a Protestant legislature, 
 or rather, when in fact, Mr. Perceval himself is to 
 dictate to me what shall be deemed necessary for this 
 
 adequate maintenance? how can I pledge myself 
 
 to become a party to ' adequate provisions for the main- 
 tenance of the religious Establishment of this kingdom,' 
 although these should be consistent with the tenets and 
 discipline of the Roman Catholic religion, if, as will 
 certainly be the case, they should be found inconsistent 
 
 with its safety ? I am bound to declare to you my 
 
 conviction, that I should (by signing) pledge myself to 
 give up the vital interests of my religion on a future 
 occasion, if the same were required of me."* 
 
 Two Letters appeared in answer to the above Letter 
 of Dr. Milner. One from the Rev. gentleman, who 
 admitted that he had used the harsh words " absurd 
 and ridiculous," when speaking of the reasons assigned 
 for one of the regulations in the Ohserimnda^ express- 
 ing his sorrow for having used them, and retracting 
 them. But he denied having inveighed against the 
 Ohservanda themselves, declaring that such a proceed- 
 ing would have been "opposite to his principles, convic- 
 tions, and conduct."! The other Letter was from Dr. 
 
 * " Letter, &c.," pp. 4 and 5. 
 
 t " Letter to the II. R. J. Douglass," p. \.
 
 180 LIFE OP BISHOP MILNER. [1809. 
 
 Poynter, and was addressed to Dr. Milner. His 
 Lordship explained his silence at the Clarendon Hotel, 
 of which Dr. Milner had complained, by declaring 
 that from his distance at the other end of the table, he 
 was unable to distinguish what was said, and surprised 
 by Dr. Milker's calhng upon him to speak : he was 
 ignorant of the subjects of dispute, and therefore could 
 say nothing. Dr. Poynter next defended his conduct 
 at St. Alban's Tavern, on the following grounds : — 
 First, that he found nothing objectionable in the Fifth 
 Resolution^ but that he thought it proper not to sign it, 
 until the four Vicars Apostolic had met and agreed to 
 it by common consent : and that he had thought it his 
 duty to observe, before the Resolution was put to the 
 votes, " that this Resolution would probably involve, 
 in its consequences, questions which would affect the 
 spiritual interests of all the four Districts, and which, 
 consequently, must be referred to the judgment of the 
 four Vicars Apostohc" He then proposed to wait till 
 Dr. Gibson, the V. A. of the Northern District, should 
 come to town, as the concurrence of the four Vicars 
 Apostolic would add force to the Resolution. Se- 
 condli)^ because the noble Lord in the chair had de- 
 clared that, if any specific terms should be proposed 
 affecting the interests of religion, they should be 
 submitted to the judgment of the Vicars Apostolic. 
 Thirdly^ because another noble Lord had told him in 
 the room that Dr. Milner had declared that he would 
 not act in this matter as V. A., but only as the agent 
 of the Irish Bishops ; and that this declaration defeated 
 tlie design of waiting for the concurrence of all the 
 four Vicars Apostolic. Li this change of circum- 
 stances, after he had entered the room, Dr. Poynter 
 considered himself justified in signing the Fifth 
 
 I 
 
 I
 
 AGE 57.] CHAPTER NINTH. 181 
 
 Resolution. To this Letter was appended a few lines 
 from Dr.Collingridge, fully concurring in the statement 
 and views of Dr. Poynter. 
 
 In addition to what has been already given of De. 
 Milner's sentiments, he argued that if the Resolution 
 might affect spiritual interests it might also injure 
 them : that if it might affect those of England, it 
 might also those of Ireland ; and therefore he had 
 moved an adjournment, till the decision of the Irish 
 Bishops should be known ; but his motion was over- 
 ruled. He also argued, that if the Resolution ought 
 to be referred to the four Vicars Apostolic, none of 
 these ought to sign it till they had consulted together, 
 much less ought any lay Catholics to sign it previously 
 to the decision of the Bishops. Moreover he solemnly 
 protested that the tale that he would not act in the 
 affair as Vicar Apostolic, but only as agent of the Irish 
 Bishops, was " not only false, but also destitute of a 
 pretence to justify its falsity ;" and he declared that if 
 Dr. Poynter had only asked him, which he might so 
 easily have done in the room, if it were true that he 
 would not act in the business as a Vicar Apostolic, " he 
 would most assuredly have held an open language, that 
 would have shamed the whispers into perfect silence.'"* 
 In another place Dr. Milner says — "The maintenance 
 of the Protestant religion, observe, is the very subject 
 of the proposition, both in sense and grammar. Now 
 I again maintain that a Catholic cannot in conscience 
 concur to this object. True it is, the subscriber adds 
 a condition, that he will concur consistently with an 
 adherence to the Catholic religion ; but this condition 
 does not cure the radical unlawfulness of the object 
 
 * «' Sup. Mem.," p. 153.
 
 182 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1809. 
 
 itself ; because we must not do a lawful thing for a 
 sinful purpose."* 
 
 An account of the proceedings on the 1st was the same 
 day sent to Ireland by deputies from that country, 
 who had been present ; and the Fifth Resolution was 
 no sooner known there, than nothing but execrations 
 were heard, and complaints that the Irish Catholics 
 had been deceived and betrayed by their brethren in 
 England. The Dublin Catholic Committee had been 
 officially assured by the English Board that they 
 " would adopt no measures but such as might be 
 considered as auxiliary to the more powerful exertions 
 of the Irish Catholics, and that they would regulate 
 their conduct by that of their Irish brethren. "f 
 Fifteen of the Irish Bishops were assembled at 
 Dublin, with the proxies of the remaining twelve ; 
 and among other resolutions they passed the following, 
 which plainly expresses their condemnation of the 
 Fifth Resolution^ while it testifies their approval of 
 their faithful agent, and their confidence in him : — 
 " Resolved, that the thanks of this Meeting be, and 
 are hereby given to the Right Rev. Dr. Milner, 
 Bishop of Castabala, for the faithfid discharge of his 
 duty, as agent to the Roman Catholic Bishops of this 
 part of the United Kingdom, and more particularly 
 for his apostolical firmness in dissenting from and 
 opposing a general, vague, and indefinite declaration or 
 Resolution, pledging the R. Catholics to an eventual 
 acquiescence in arrangements, possibly prejudicial to 
 the integrity and safety of our Church discipline."J 
 
 * "Encycl. Letter," Nov. 22, 1813, p. 5. 
 
 t " Letter from the Catholics of Great Britain," dated January 
 26, 1808. 
 
 X Dr. Pointer's " Apologetical Epistle," No. 29.
 
 AGE 57.] CHAPTER NINTH. 183 
 
 Here was the solemn decision of a whole national 
 Church against this Fifth Resolution ; and surely 
 these venerable Prelates were fully competent to un- 
 derstand its drift and danger. Dr. Poynter objected 
 to this censure of the Irish Bishops, on the ground that 
 if conditions should be proposed by the goverimient 
 which were adverse to the faith, discipline, and in- 
 tegrity of the Catholic religion, the Catholics would 
 not be bound to accept them : the Resolution, he 
 argued, was represented as an offer to treat with the 
 legislature on terms of mutual security ; but he should 
 have remembered the declaration of Lord Erskine, 
 that " the legislature never treats with subjects."* In 
 fact Earl Grey understood the matter very differently, 
 for he declared in Parliament that he was '■'•authorised'^ 
 to say that the Catholics would accept relief, accom- 
 panied with such provisions as the legislature should 
 think necessary for the security of their established 
 Churchy not contrary to their feelings^ adding that he 
 subscribed to every letter^ principle^ and word of Lord 
 Grenville's Letter to the Earl of Fingall, which Letter, 
 be it remembered, among other arrangements pointed 
 out the " proposal of vesting in the crown an effectual 
 negative on the appointment of your (Catholic) 
 Bishops."f It is plain, therefore, how the Fifth Reso- 
 lution was understood by Earl Grey, who indeed had 
 been its chief framer. After all, as Dr. Milner justly 
 asks, " in what is that Synodical decision of the Irish 
 prelates on the Fifth Resolution more severe than his 
 own (Dr. Poynter's) upon it, when he pronounced that 
 it would probably involve consequences affecting the 
 
 * Speech in 1810. 
 
 t " Sup. Mem.," p. 142,
 
 184 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1809. 
 
 spiritual interests of the four Districts."* He therefore 
 considered that Resolution as " a pledge to concur in 
 any measures which Protestant politicians should 
 judge necessary for the security of their religion, and 
 which they should say was not inconsistent with ours."f 
 He argued that by the very words of it, the Catholic 
 who adopts it says that he will concur in arrangements 
 for maintaining the Protestant religious establish- 
 ments of this kingdom ; and although he engages to 
 concur only on condition that these arrangements shall 
 be consistent with his religion, still the concurrence 
 remains unlawful, because we may not do a lawful 
 thing for a sinful purpose. Dr. Milner, therefore, ever 
 lamented the Fifth Resolution, as one " which separa- 
 ted the Irish from the English Catholics, divided the 
 last-mentioned among themselves, carried discord into 
 the bosom of the sanctuary, distressed the See Apos- 
 tolic beyond description, and at length brought forth 
 the persecuting and schismatical Bill of 1813." He 
 even considered that it had " caused more dissension 
 and mischief among the Catholics of England, than 
 any other measure since the divorce of Henry VIII. 
 from his Queen Catherine. "J 
 
 It was a relief to the zealous Prelate to turn his 
 attention from these agitations to his new College at 
 Oscott. The chapel of the College, which had been 
 built by the Eev. Pierce Parry, soon after the year 
 1778, was now lengthened by the addition of a new 
 sanctuary, and the dormitory over it at the same time 
 equally lengthened. The chapel was also very taste- 
 fully decorated with plaster work, and a good painting 
 
 * « Letter on Cath. Affairs," Jan. 19, 1814. 
 t Letter in Orthodox Journal for 1818, p. 109. 
 X " Sup. Mem.," p. 139.
 
 AGE 57.] CHAPTER NINTH. 185 
 
 on glass of the Blessed Virgin and Holy Infant intro- 
 duced as the altar-piece, executed by Egginton of 
 Birmingham. The Blessed Virgin was trampling on 
 the serpent's head, but with the too common mistake 
 of representing her standing on the crescent turned 
 upwards, instead of downwards, which will be seen to 
 be an impossible position, when it is considered that 
 the crescent is but the illuminated portion of the orb 
 of the moon. Stained and ground glass was also 
 introduced into two windows, one on each side of the 
 altar-piece, and into three circular ones above. The 
 front of the altar had a painting in chiaro oscuro of 
 our Saviour taken down from the Cross, and two 
 tablets over the credence-tables represented subjects 
 emblematical of the Holy Eucharist, all three being 
 similarly painted by the Bishop's friend, Mr. Cave, of 
 Winchester. The chapel was reopened in the Spring 
 of 1810, the Bishop preached again, and had a 
 numerous audience. 
 
 The Bishops of Ireland and their agent in England, 
 Dr. Milner, did all in their power to heal dissension 
 and restore peace. They entreated their English 
 brethren at least to give a public explanation of the 
 Resolution, such as might prevent mischievous arrange- 
 ments. Dr. Milner was satisfied that the other 
 Vicars Apostolic were in reality as averse as himself 
 to vetoistical arrangements, but were deterred from 
 openly declaring their sentiments, by an ill-judged 
 respect for a party. Not content with arguments and 
 entreaties, he three several times went down upon his 
 knees, and endeavoured to heal their wounded feelings, 
 and induce them to act with perfect unanimity, and 
 a combination of strength, in the cause of our Great
 
 186 LITE OF BISHOP MILNEB. [1809, 
 
 Master."* But all his efforts for peace and unanimity 
 unhappily did not prevail. 
 
 In consequence of a paragraph in the popular news- 
 paper called the Statesman^ Dr. Milner felt called 
 upon once again, and in a more public manner, to clear 
 up the mistakes which had arisen, and caused so much 
 ill-will against him, in consequence of Mr. Ponsonby's 
 statements in Parliament in 1808, which have been 
 detailed in the preceding chapter. He wrote five 
 Letters to the Editor of the Statesman^ in May and 
 June, 1810 ; which, after being copied into almost 
 all the Irish, and several EngUsh papers, were collected 
 and published in a pamphlet. He proved in them that 
 his whole conduct in the affair of the Veto was 
 honourable, and satisfactory to the Irish Prelates 
 for whom he acted. An Appendix was added, con- 
 sisting of a translation of the protest of the Irish 
 Bishops against the cruel and treacherous conduct 
 of Napoleon towards Pope Pius VII. 
 
 ♦ " Sup. Mem.," p. 174. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 57] CHAPTER TENTH. 18? 
 
 CHAPTER TENTH. 
 
 DR. MILNER's sermon AT THE OPENING OF ST. CHAD's, BIRMING- 
 HAM. HIS ARTICLE ON GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE IN REES' 
 
 CYCLOPEDIA. — HE PRESENTS NEW VESTMENTS TO OSCOTT COL- 
 LEGE PUBLISHES HIS ELUCIDATION OF THE VETO. — MEETING 
 
 OF THE VICARS APOSTOLIC. — TEST AGAINST BLANCHABDISM 
 
 AGREED UPON OPPOSITION TO DR. MILNER PUBLISHES HIS 
 
 PASTORAL OF THE STATE AND DANGERS OF RELIGION. — ANA- 
 LYSIS OF IT HIS ADVENTURE AT STOWE- 
 
 On Sunday, the 17tli December, 1809, the new 
 chapel of St. Chad, in Birmingham, was solemnly 
 opened, and Dr. Milner preached on that occasion a 
 very powerful and argumentative Sermon, which was 
 afterwards published. It was delivered extempore, 
 and what was printed was entitled : " The Substance 
 of a Sermon ^reached at the Blessing of the Catholic 
 Chapel of St. Chad, ^c." It is very long, filling 49 
 octavo pages. In this fine discourse, the preacher 
 establishes in the first place three points, — the 
 obligation of divine worship, — the duty of paying 
 this at stated times and places, — and of paying it 
 according to the ordinances which God has prescribed. 
 Secondly, he points out the plain and easy rule by which 
 the truth may be discovered, and the marks of the 
 true Church ; and Thirdly, he reminds Catholics of the 
 conditions required to secure their future happiness. 
 The first part is addressed to those without any reli- 
 gion : the second, to the discordant sects of Protest- 
 ants : the third, to Catholics. Of the many eloquent 
 and stirring passages with which this Sermon abounds.
 
 188 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [18(J9. 
 
 a short specimen only can be given in these pages. 
 Speaking of the endless variety of discordant sects, 
 the Bishop observes that " the cause of these unhappy 
 divisions among Christians, is that they either take up 
 with a religious system, without any rule or reason at 
 all ; or else they adopt an erroneous rule, which leads 
 them still farther from the truth than if they had no 
 rule at all. Many choose their religion, as they do 
 their clothes, from mere fancy. Still more adhere to 
 the religion of their family, because it is that of their 
 family ; which motive, if it were a reasonable one, 
 ought to have determined our Pagan ancestors to 
 persevere in the horrid rites of Thor and Woden still. 
 It is an evident fact, however, that far the greater part 
 of professing Christians follow that system, which best 
 agrees with their worldly interest and reputation, being 
 comparatively indifferent about their eternal interest." 
 
 After a lucid exposition of the true rule of faith, and 
 of the four marks of the true Church, he thus pro- 
 ceeds: "What now can be opposed to these clear, 
 convincing arguments in favour of the Catholic rule of 
 faith and of the Catholic Church herself? Nothing, 
 my brethren, but misrepresentation and calumny ; mis- 
 representation a thousand times cleared up, calumny a 
 thousand times confuted. What we Catholics chiefly 
 complain of is, that whereas we permit all other religious 
 societies to explain their own systems, and we argue 
 with them on their own acknowledged grounds, we, 
 in our turn, are not permitted to state and explain our 
 religion ; but our sworn adversaries fabricate a system 
 of faith and morals for us, and by dint of sophis- 
 try and clamour endeavour to persuade the world, 
 and if they could to persuade us ourselves that 
 we actually believe in it. To convince yourselves 
 
 I
 
 AGE 57] CHAPTER TENTH. 189 
 
 what tenets and maxims we really hold, consult 
 our creeds and professions of faith, or our cate- 
 chisms, or the celebrated Exposition of Catholic 
 Doctrine by the great Bossuet. Or, what perhaps 
 may afford you more satisfaction than any of these 
 methods ; take some artless child between the ages of 
 twelve and fifteen, any one whom you understand to 
 have been well instructed in the Catholic doctrine 
 and morality : ask him, for example, whether the 
 crucifix which you see here exalted upon this altar 
 is placed there to be prayed to, or adored V" He 
 ingeniously gives the answers of a well-instructed 
 Catholic youth to some of the leading misrepresenta- 
 tions of our holy religion. In conclusion he reminds 
 Catholics of the obhgation of leading holy and edifying 
 lives, without which the advantages of the true faith 
 will never avail them. 
 
 Dr. Milner had been, to use his own expressions, 
 " called upon and irresistibly pressed by that profound 
 scholar and worthy man. Dr. Rees, to furnish the 
 article ' Gothic Architecture,' " for his Cyclopaedia. 
 He accordingly prepared an article, which appeared in 
 that great work in the following year, 1810. It is an 
 able and attractive abridgment of a more elaborate 
 Treatise on pointed Architecture, which he had 
 written for Mr. J. Taylor's Architectural Library. 
 The article was well received, and has always main- 
 tained a high reputation. But the nature of the Cyclo- 
 psedia did not allow Dr. Milnek to avail himself of the 
 numerous historical authorities, which he had collected, 
 which led to the subsequent pubhcation of the results 
 of his labours in a separate work, published in the 
 following year, under the title of " A Treatise on the 
 Ecclesiastical Architecture of England during the
 
 190 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1810. 
 
 middle ages.'' In this work, of which three editions 
 have appeared, the learned author details and works 
 out the leading features of his system ; first^ that the 
 whole style of pointed, or Gothic architecture grew, 
 by degrees, out of the simple pointed arch ; secondly^ 
 that the pointed arch itself was discovered by the 
 intersection of a series of round arches ; and thirdly^ 
 that we owe both discoveries chiefly to the Anglo- 
 Normans and English. But in this Treatise Dr. 
 MiLNER has further attempted to refute the objection 
 that pointed architecture is destitute of orders, rules, 
 and proportions ; and maintains that there are three 
 distinct orders of this style, the difference among them 
 consisting in the nature of the angle formed by the 
 pointed arch. He proves and illustrates his positions 
 by most valuable references, historical and antiquarian, 
 and by several highly interesting and well executed 
 plates. But this work is so well known and appre- 
 ciated, that any more detailed account of it cannot be 
 needed in this biography. 
 
 It has been mentioned above that the new chapel of 
 St. Mary's College, Oscott, was enlarged, adorned, and 
 reopened, in the Spring of 1 809- In January follow- 
 ing some very beautiful and valuable vestments were 
 bequeathed to Dr. Milner by the Rev. Charles 
 Blount, who died at Warwick. These were at once 
 presented by the Bishop to his new College, and 
 formed a most important addition to the slender stock 
 of church vestments previously possessed by the 
 College, which were mostly very old and of little 
 value. There were among the new vestments two 
 sets of white, and a dalmatic and tunic of white satin, 
 and one set of each of the other church colours, except 
 purple, but not completed by dalmatics and tunics. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 58.] CHAPTER TENTH. 191 
 
 They were all very rich and in good taste, indeed the 
 best white vestment was inferior to very few in Eng- 
 land in richness and elegance. This valuable present 
 enabled the clergy of the College to perform the offices 
 of the Church with greater splendour and solemnity, 
 and the new sanctuary of the chapel displayed the 
 ceremonies of the Church with far more grandeur than 
 had before been practicable. 
 
 Though ])r. Milner had exerted himself with so 
 much zeal and energy in opposing the Fifth Resolution, 
 under which he saw the Veto in embryo, he would 
 leave nothing undone for the protection of the dis- 
 cipline of the Church ; and therefore in May, 1810, 
 he published a pamphlet of upwards of sixty pages, 
 entitled: ^^ An Elucidation of the Veto." It was 
 addressed to the Public, — to the Catholics, — and to 
 the advocates of Catholics in Parliament ; and is 
 accordingly divided into three sections. In the first, 
 he corrects the mistaken notions of the public at large 
 concerning the Veto, and contradicts the false report 
 that he himself had authorised Mr. Ponsonby to propose 
 a Veto in Parliament, in 1808. He exposes the false 
 and dangerous writings of the Rev. Dr. O'Conor, better 
 known under his assumed name of Columbanus : he 
 shows how the Irish Prelates were imposed upon and 
 deceived, in 1799, by Lord Castlereagh ; and how 
 strenuously opposed are both the Irish clergy and 
 laity " to any dominion or control whatsoever, over 
 the appointment of their Prelates, on the part of the 
 Crown, or the servants of the Crown." 
 
 In the second section, he warns Catholics against 
 the delusive assurances held out to them that the 
 arrangements contemplated do not threaten the least 
 injury to the faith, discipline, or safety of the Catholic
 
 192 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1810. 
 
 Church ; and against placing a foohsh and dangerous 
 confidence in their poHtical friends, who are by no 
 means friends to their rehgion. He exposes the real 
 nature and tendency of vetoistical arrangements of 
 any kind. He denounces again the Fifth Resolution 
 of Lords Grenville and Grey, one of whom wrote it 
 in pencil, which the other covered with ink, and cites 
 Lord Grenville's declaration in his speech in the 
 House of Lords, on the 8th of March, that he should 
 steadily persevere in his former views, meaning what 
 he had stated in favour of the Veto in his Letter to 
 the Earl of Fingall. He shows, — what is most import- 
 ant, — how false is the idea industriously propagated, 
 that the Irish Bishops had approved of the Fifth Reso- 
 lution. Here he cites the Letter of the Cathohc 
 Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Troy, in answer to a Letter 
 addressed to him by the English Catholic Board, in 
 w^iich that Prelate distinctly says of the Fifth Reso- 
 lution^ that it appeared to the Irish Bishops, and to 
 the Irish Catholics in general, " to imply a pledge to 
 sanction future arrangements for the maintenance of 
 the Protestant religion, which might eventually prove 
 inconsistent with the integrity and safety of the 
 Catholic faith and discipline."* 
 
 The third Section is addressed to the Protestant 
 friends of Catholics in Parliament, and in it the Rt. 
 Rev. writer discusses and condemns two separate 
 plans proposed ; one by Lord Grenville, for giving to 
 the Crown a direct interference in the nomination of 
 Catholic Bishops ; and the other by Mr. Grattan, for 
 depriving the Pope of his right of nomination. In a 
 Postscript, Dr. Milner gives a very important extract 
 
 * " Elucidation of the Veto," p. 34. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 58.] CHAPTER TENTH. 193 
 
 from a Letter of an Irish Catholic Bishop in answer to 
 an official Letter from a Catholic in England, in which 
 that Bishop declares that the Irish Prelates at their late 
 Synod " were unanimous in the opinion that the Fifth 
 Resolution^ penned by Lords Grenville and Grey in 
 such vague and general terms, suitable to present 
 circumstances, would in any future arrangement be 
 construed by them favorable to their elective Veto^ 
 which they deem necessary for the security of the 
 existing estabhshments, and the sine qua iion of 
 Catholic Emancipation." 
 
 It was mentioned in Chapter Eighth, on the subject 
 of the Blanchardist schism, that a test against it was 
 agreed upon by the Vicars Apostolic, in 1810. They 
 assembled at the house of Dr. Douglass, V. A. of the 
 London District, February 20, 1810, with the two 
 coadjutors. Dr. Poynter of the London District, and 
 Dr. Smith (elect) of the Northern, with two consulting 
 divines for each of the Vicars Apostolic. Dr. Milner 
 used to say, however, that he had not " fair play" on 
 the occasion, having been deprived of both his theolo- 
 gians. The Abbe Carron was one, and was objected 
 to on the ground of his being a Frenchman ; and the 
 other was Rev. J. Griffiths, of St. George's Fields 
 Chapel, who was chosen secretary to the meeting. 
 The Bishops continued their deliberations during nine 
 days ; and on the fifth day, February 24th, they una- 
 nimously agreed upon the following test: that "no 
 French priest be allowed to hold spiritual faculties, or to 
 say Mass in any of the four Districts, who, being called 
 upon, refuses to acknowledge that his Holiness Pope 
 Pius VII. is not a heretic , nor a schismatic^ nor the 
 author or abetter of heresy or schism." This test 
 was at once acted upon in Dr. Milner's District, and 
 
 o
 
 194 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1810. 
 
 signed by the Bishop of Moulins, afterwards Arch- 
 bishop of Bourges, and by every French priest, except 
 one who left the District in order to avoid signing it. 
 
 " Happy would it have been," says Dr. IVIilner, 
 " for all the parties concerned, but more especially for 
 the hundreds who have died in schism^ without any 
 other chance than such as invincible ignorance affords, 
 had that test, so unanimously agreed upon, been 
 steadily adhered to in other Districts."* " Happy, 
 thrice happy measures for this mission, had they not 
 been abandoned in the London District, the birth-place 
 and centre point of the fatal evil. Though in the 
 frequent habit of public writing, yet, from deference to 
 my ancient and loved friend, the Vicar Apostolic of 
 that District (Dr. Douglass), I concurred with my 
 other brethren in leaving the composition of our Syno- 
 dical Letter, which was to have included the test 
 against Blanchardism, as its most essential matter, to 
 
 him and his R. Rev. Coadjutor (Dr. Poynter) 
 
 I lamented that it was neither published nor adliered 
 to in the head quarters of the schism, the London 
 District. In short, I found that it was there smothered 
 and suppressed : nor would the R. Rev. Coadjutor 
 Prelate (at whose motion it had been adopted) con- 
 descend so far as to assign any cause for thus violating 
 a common ordinance of the VV. AA."t Dr. Milner 
 further complained that the Abbe Trevaux, who had 
 been interdicted in the London District for pubhcly 
 approving of Blanchardism, was restored to his facul- 
 ties without any retractation, but merely on his apolo- 
 
 • Letter of Dr. Milner in the " Orth. Journal^ for 1818, p. 224, 
 under the signature of " A Lover of Consistency." 
 
 t "Pastoral Charge to his Clergy," by Dr. Milner, Part III. 
 (Private), April 12, 1813, page 9.
 
 AGE 58.] CHAPTER TENTH. 1 95 
 
 gising privately to Dr. Douglass, and declaring that 
 when he approved of Blanchard's book he did not 
 know that it had been censured by his Prelate ; while 
 Dr. Milner and the Irish Bishops called for a retrac- 
 tation as public as his approbation of the schism. 
 
 Mr. Charles Butler, in the Appendix to his " His- 
 torical Memoirs of Catholics i' having undertaken to 
 defend Drs. Douglass and Poynter in this transaction, 
 it is proper to expose the falsity of his allegations. 
 He says Jirst^ that Dr. Douglass observed that the 
 Abbe Trevaux could not retract what he declared he 
 had never maintained: but the answer to this is obvi- 
 ous. By his signature to Blanchard's book he had 
 given public scandal ; and he was bound to repair that 
 scandal by a public retractation of his signature. He 
 says secondly^ that the Vicars Apostolic did not come 
 to any final resolution upon the test against Blanchard- 
 ism ; but we have the authority of Dr. Milner assur- 
 ing us that the test was unanimously agreed upon, and 
 confirmed by the Kt. Kev. Vicars Apostolic* And 
 we have just seen that a joint Synochcal Letter was to 
 have been issued containing the test against Blan- 
 chardism, as a common ordinance of the Bishops. 
 While Dr. Milner at once proceeded to enforce the 
 test, and thereby preserved his District from Blan- 
 chardism, the other three Vicars Apostolic did not 
 pubhsh it till eight years afterwards ; the consequences 
 of which were, that a difference, not only of doctrine 
 but of practice, prevailed in the Midland District and 
 in Ireland on the one hand, where the test was fully 
 approved and enforced, — and in the other Districts of 
 England on the other, and especially in the London, 
 which became the very hotbed of Blanchardism. 
 
 * ^^ Orthodox Journal" 1818, p. 225 (cited above).
 
 196 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1810. 
 
 It will surprise no one conversant with Church his- 
 tory, that a Prelate so vigilant, zealous, and intrepid, 
 as Dr. Milner, should find himself opposed and sur- 
 rounded by enemies. Our English Athanasius^ as he 
 was called at Rome with reference to his opposition to 
 the Veto^ had given grievous offence by his defeat of 
 the proposed measures of 1808, by his condemnation 
 of the Fifth Resolution^ by his powerful " Elucidation 
 of the Veto^' and by his cordial cooperation with the 
 venerable hierarchy of Ireland. The members of the 
 Cisalpine Club used to assemble at the house of 
 Charles, Earl of Shrewsbury, in Stanhope-street, 
 London, and were unsparing in their opposition to 
 him. He seemed indeed to have incurred the almost 
 universal displeasure of the Catholic nobility and 
 gentry ; and used to say that he was excommunicated 
 by them all. A priest connected with a religious 
 order, and resident in the Midland District, spent a 
 few days in the metropolis, and afterwards wrote to a 
 friend that he could not have conceived that the anti- 
 pathy even of the clergy to Dr. Milner was carried 
 to such an extremity, as he found to be the case. 
 " But," he added, " in his own District, thank God, it 
 can be said that he is universally respected, and, I 
 think, generally beloved." But the worthy champion 
 was never distressed or disheartened. He felt, as the 
 undaunted patriarch of Alexandria had felt under 
 similar opposition and desertion : " If our brethren 
 desert us, and friends and neighbours stand afar off, 
 and if there be none left to grieve with us, or console 
 us, still above all these it is enough for us to make 
 God our refuge."* 
 
 * KSj' dSeX^oi KaraXefif'wcrt, k&v <pi\ot Kol yycipifx.oi fxaKpav aTroaraxn, Kal fx.r]Seis 
 ivpfOfj, avWvirov/j.ei'os Kal irapaKaXtaW aW' vTrep iravTU /laWov j] irpos Qihy 
 
 e^apKe: Karacpvyri. — >S'. Athan. ad SoUt. VUam agentes Epist
 
 AGB 58] CHAPTER TENTH. 19T 
 
 Indeed he was ever most anxious to heal dissen- 
 sions and restore peace, while he continued to defend 
 the rights of rehgion with inflexible firmness. " God 
 knows," said he, " there never was an instant of my 
 life, since I came to the use of reason, in which I 
 would not have lost my life, rather than be concerned 
 in giving either power or influence over any part of the 
 Catholic Church to any un-Catholic person or persons 
 whomsoever."* A priest called upon him in Decem- 
 ber, 1810, and learned from him that he had then a 
 work at press which he trusted would prove a com- 
 plete elucidation of the whole business, in which he 
 had been so much engaged during that eventful year. 
 But his great object in writing this work was to do his 
 best to bring about reconciHation and peace, which is 
 evident from the concluding portion of it. It was 
 pubhshed early in the ensuing year, 1811, under the 
 following!; title : " Instructions addressed to the Catho- 
 lies of the Midland Counties of England^ on the 
 State and Dangers of their Religion. By the Rev. 
 Dr. Milner, B.C., V.A. Woherhampton, 1811." 
 It is a clear and temperate exposition of his conduct 
 and principles, and very ably written. He first takes 
 a view of the general calamities which then afflicted 
 the Church and its supreme head, the holy Pope 
 Pius YII., declares that he can find no period, in which 
 the Church had suffered so much complicated distress, 
 and thinks the symptoms indicative of the near 
 approach of the last day, and enough to induce 
 preparations for fresh calamities, and a dreadful perse- 
 cution. The last was an apprehension which hung 
 
 * "Instructions to the Catholics of the Midland Counties of 
 England," &c., p. 42.
 
 198 LIFE OF BISHOP MTLNER. [1811. 
 
 about him perpetually : he often used to speak of it. 
 On one occasion when in company with Sir John Cox 
 Hippisley, he observed, as he often did, that whatever 
 might come, the human frame could only endure a 
 certain degree of torture ; and Sir John exclaimed : 
 " There's Milner, thinking of his mart}Tdom." 
 
 He proceeds, in Part II., to direct attention to the 
 fatal, though covert mischief, which threatened the 
 Catholics of these islands especially ; and undertakes 
 to prove, 1st, That a plan to introduce changes into 
 our Church disciphne, incompatible with its safety and 
 integrity, is promoted by the Legislature and by 
 many Cathohcs. 2ndly, That the Fifth Resolution 
 is calculated to express a disposition in those who 
 signed it, to acquiesce in these changes. 3rdly, That 
 nevertheless, neither the Catholics at large, nor the 
 majority of those who signed it, nor the three Vicars 
 Apostolic and the two coadjutors are pledged, notwith- 
 standing their signatures, to acquiesce in the plan. 
 It is amusing at this distance of time to observe the 
 various schemes of the statesmen of the day for 
 arranging our Emancipation upon their own terms, 
 of which Dr. Milner brings forward a great number, 
 dwelling especially upon the plan of Sir John 
 Cox Hippisley, who insisted upon a Royal Veto unre- 
 stricted. Dr. Milner states very forcibly his objec- 
 tions to the Fifth Resolution ; showing that it is to be 
 interpreted by the Letter of Lord Grenville to the 
 Earl of Fingall ; that it alludes to an acquiescence in 
 the proposed negative on the appointment of Bishops ; 
 that this was even expressly mentioned in the first 
 draft of it, and was left out only at the urgent repre- 
 sentation that it could not be expressly mentioned, 
 consistently with the pledge given to the Irish Catho-
 
 AGE 59.] 
 
 CHAPTER TENTH. 199 
 
 lies. That the Irish Bishops condemned the Fifth 
 Resolution from a deep persuasion that it did imply an 
 acquiescence in vetoistical arrangements, if required 
 by the Legislature, and that this is the highest autho- 
 rity which Catholics can look up to on the question. 
 
 But the venerable Prelate states other objections. 
 He objects to the competency of lay Catholics pro- 
 nouncing on what is, or may be consistent with the 
 tenets and discipline of the Catholic religion ; and 
 declares that he cannot reconcile it to his " conscience 
 to express the most distant approbation of provi- 
 sions to be made by legislators of another religion, for 
 the security of that religion, without being able to form 
 an exact judgment as to what these provisions will be. 
 Another capital objection to the Resolution is, that no 
 good and instructed Cathohc can concur to the main- 
 tenance of what he is bound to consider an act of 
 schism ;"* meaning of course the Protestant Estabhsh- 
 ment. 
 
 It has been often urged that these difficulties are 
 removed by those words : " consistently with the 
 strictest adherence on our part to the tenets and 
 discipline of the Roman Catholic religion ;" but 
 De. Milner considers that they do not remove the 
 objection, because the same legislators will decide 
 what is consistent with Catholic discipline. Dr. 
 Poynter, in his Letter to Dr. Douglass, and in his 
 Apologetical Epistle, accused Dr. Milner of over- 
 looking or suppressing the words " on the basis of 
 mutual security ;" here, however, Dr. Milner men- 
 tions those words, but objects equally to the Resolu- 
 tion, because Parliament alone will authoritatively 
 
 * Page 30.
 
 200 LIFE OF BISHOP MTLNER. [ISU- 
 
 decide what is a sufficient security on both sides ; and 
 those members of it, on whose exertions there was the 
 most reason to rely for justice being done to us, have 
 declared openly for the unlimited Veto ; they have 
 even testified in my hearing that they should con- 
 sider our religion as sufficiently safe^ if the whole 
 unrestricted Veto were immediately put into the hands 
 of Mr. Perceval himself"* 
 
 Proceeding to the third part of his subject, Dr. 
 MiLNER proves that the Catholics at large are not 
 pledged to the Fifth Resolution ; since very few were 
 informed of the intended Meeting where it was passed, 
 and the so called Catholic Board newer was considered 
 to represent the Catholics of England ; that those who 
 did sign it, did so under strong assurances that they 
 would not thereby enter into any pledge whatever, and 
 that the Resolution meant nothing, but was a mere 
 compliment. He asserts upon similar, but much 
 stronger grounds, that the three Vicars Apostolic and 
 two coadjutors, notwithstanding that they signed it, 
 and that its Parliamentary sense is so objectionable, 
 are not, in fact, pledged to admit of a civil control over 
 the appointment of our Bishops, nor of any other 
 State arrangement affecting our Church discipline. 
 For their Lordships were deceived by the positive 
 assurance of false facts, by persons of great credit ; 
 and the mischief would have been prevented if they 
 had met together, and deliberated without any lay in- 
 tervention. One reason alleged for the signatures of 
 Drs. Collingridge and Poynter was, that they were 
 told by a noble Lord in the room that Dr. Milner had 
 declared that he would not act in this business as a 
 
 * Page 31.
 
 AGE 59.] CHAPTER TENTH. 201 
 
 Vicar Apostolic, but only as the agent of the Irish 
 Bishops. To this he here solemnly protests that 
 he never made any such declaration^ and maintains 
 that his whole conduct proved that he was acting as 
 an English Vicar Apostolic, no less than as agent for 
 his Irish brethren. " Thus," he adds, " it is demon- 
 strated that one Vicar Apostolic and one Coadjutor 
 Bishop were deceived or * * * (jockeyed) into 
 the subscription." The other English Prelates were 
 deceived by " downright specific falsehoods, and it is a 
 fact, which falls within my own knowledge, that more 
 persons than one have boasted of this their irreligious 
 overreaching."* 
 
 But the admirable Prelate, much more desirous of 
 conciliation than of recrimination, quotes several Letters 
 of the five English Bishops written to their Irish 
 brethren, explanatory of their conduct in signing the 
 Fifth Resolution^ in which they express in strono- 
 terms their abhorrence of the Veto^ and declare that any 
 vetoistical arrangements would, if proposed to them, 
 be at once absolutely rejected. " This is enough " 
 Dr. Milner adds, " and more than enough, for the 
 important purposes which I have in view. Whatever 
 the noble Lords (Grenville and Grey) may say to these 
 extracts, they give me entire satisfaction, and I have 
 reason to believe they will equally satisfy the Catholic 
 Prelates and clergy of Ireland. "f 
 
 It was about this time that an adventure happened 
 which Dr. Milner used always to relate with great 
 glee, and evident self-congratulation. He was honour- 
 ed with the friendship of the Marquis of Buckingham, 
 whose Lady, daughter of Earl Nugent, had become a 
 
 * Page 42. f Page 44.
 
 202 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1811. 
 
 Catholic, but could only practise her religion very 
 , n secretly. So much so, indeed, that it was understood 
 .fr^'that she had been obliged, for concealment, to make 
 her confession to Dr. Milner as she walked with him 
 ■'^^f/y\^ and down the great gallery at Stowe, and in the 
 •'^ '^■^'"sight of company. This was probably the case on 
 that occasion ; but the following admits of no doubt, as 
 it was related by Dr. Milner himself in the year 
 1819 at Alton. He said that a short time before, he 
 had called upon the Marchioness of Buckingham in 
 London, who told him that she had much to say 
 to him, which she could not say at that moment ; 
 but that she should be better able to talk with him, if 
 he would come to her party on the following evening. 
 He went accordingly, and while the company were en- 
 gaged in dancing, the Marchioness took his arm, say- 
 ing that she wished to have some private conversation 
 with him, and then and there made her confession to 
 him. 
 
 On one occasion when he was invited to Stowe, he 
 perceived on his arrival there, by the party assembled 
 and the conversation which took place, that he had 
 been invited for the purpose of being plied by all arts, 
 to induce him to relax from his steady opposition to 
 certain measures which some leading Catholics, as 
 well as Protestant statesmen, were anxious to promote. 
 He stood the assault upon him firmly ; but after being 
 long worried, he began to be uneasy and embarrassed. 
 When he retired at night, he revolved the adventures 
 of the day, and considered that although he had 
 hitherto remained firm, he might later on, through 
 human weakness, give way, and so determined, while 
 he was yet safe, to effect his escape from further dan- 
 ger. Accordingly he rose early the next morning,
 
 AGE 59.] CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 203 
 
 came down stairs, and endeavoured in vain for some 
 time to find an outlet. At last he managed to open a 
 low window on the ground floor, through which he 
 stepped out upon the lawn, with his portmanteau in 
 his hand. He made his way to the stables, where 
 he found a man to put his horse into his gig, and drove 
 off, singing the Psalm : hi exitu Israel de u^gyj)to^ 
 with great joy and fervent thanksgiving for his delive- 
 rance. It was very charming to hear him relate this 
 adventure with his well known chuckle of delight, and 
 hearty enjoyment. 
 
 CHAPTEE ELEVENTH. 
 
 DR. MILNEE's second EDITION OF HIS DISSERTATION ON ALTER- 
 ING CATHEDRALS. — JOURNEYS AND LABOURS IN HIS DISTRICT 
 
 HIS LETTERS TO A ROMAN CATHOLIC PRELATE OF IRELAND. 
 
 VISIT TO LUCIEN BONAPARTE LENTEN PASTORAL FOR 1812. 
 
 ORDINATIONS TRIENNIAL MEETING OF THE CLERGY. — DEATH 
 
 OF DR. DOUGLASS.— DR. MILNER's EXPLANATION WITH DR. 
 
 POYNTER. — DR. MOYLAN's PACIFICATORY VISIT TO ENGLAND 
 
 MEETING OF BISHOPS AT DURHAM. 
 
 It has been said, that in St. Charles Borromeo : " On 
 voyait un prelat qui ne prenait de I'episcopat que les 
 sueurs et les travaux:'* and this with truth may be 
 proclaimed of the illustrious Dr. Milner. He allowed 
 himself no indulgence, no rest ; but was ever labour- 
 ing indefatigably in the great cause of God's glory and 
 the salvation of souls. He had taken indeed for his 
 motto, and used very often to repeat : " Salus anima- 
 
 * Chevassii, — Medit. Eccles.
 
 204 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1811. 
 
 rum lex suprema." It is wonderful, and almost incre- 
 dible, how much he wrote. Nor were his writings 
 confined to works of controversy, or Catholic politics ; 
 but he continued at intervals to devote his talents to 
 his favourite study of architecture and archaeology. 
 Early in the year 1811 he pubUshed a second edition 
 of his " Dissertation on the modern Style of altering 
 ancient Cathedrals" with plates, dedicated to Sir 
 Henry Englefield, Bart. This treatise, first published 
 in 1798, was occasioned by certain alterations made in 
 the Cathedral of Salisbury, under the direction of the 
 celebrated architect Wyatt, which Dr. Milker con- 
 sidered destructive of the proportions of that noble 
 edifice, as well as of the due disposition of its parts, 
 and its general effect ; as also entaihng ravages of its 
 most venerable and interesting antiquities. Accord- 
 ingly in this " Dissertation" he first dwells upon the 
 following objections to those alterations ; — that they 
 occasioned the loss of several valuable monuments of 
 antiquity, — the violation of the ashes and memorials of 
 many illustrious personages, and the destruction of the 
 proportions and due relation of the different parts of 
 the Cathedral to each other. He then refutes the chief 
 arguments in favour of these changes: — which were, 
 that they have strengthened the fabrick, — introduced 
 uniformity of plan and decoration, — and greatly 
 heightened the beauty of the Cathedral. The work is 
 written with that sound judgment and ready discrimi- 
 nation, for which all his productions on architectural 
 subjects are distinguished. He was, in fact, perfect 
 master of the subject, and brought to it very extensive 
 stores of antiquarian and historical research, with an 
 ease and accuracy, which are quite astonishing, when 
 we consider the time in which he lived, and how little 

 
 AGE 59.] CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 205 
 
 such subjects were then understood. The most glar- 
 ing mistake of Mr. Wyatt was adding the Lady chapel 
 at the East end to the chancel, and placing the com- 
 munion table at its extremity, thereby lengthening the 
 chancel to such an extent, as to destroy all its fine 
 proportions, and render the " most sacred part of the 
 edifice itself, no longer a Cathedral choir, but a long 
 unmeaning portico."* 
 
 An amusing note records a declaration of Dr. Dou- 
 glas, Bishop of Salisbury, at a public meeting of the 
 Antiquarian Society, " that it was impossible either to 
 hear, or see, from the choir, what was going on at 
 the communion table ; and that for want of rails, &c., 
 a dog, some time before, had eaten the bread prepared 
 for the sacrament, from off the little low table on 
 which it was placed."f Indeed the inconvenience has 
 been so much felt that a second communion table 
 stands now at the upper end of the choir, and is com- 
 monly used. The verger, however, a few years ago, 
 expressed his doubts very gravely to the present 
 writer, as to the propriety of having two communion 
 tables. 
 
 In this year, 1811, Dr. Milner visited a great part 
 of his extensive District. In the latter part of May, 
 he gave Confirmation at St. Mary's College, Oscott, 
 and at Birmingham. In June he confirmed at Aston, 
 Cresswell, Caverswall, Swinnerton, and Tixall ; he 
 blessed a new Abbess (Shuttleworth) for Caverswall 
 Convent, and professed a nun there. In July he 
 visited Worcester, Salford, where he administered 
 Confirmation, Oxford and Britwell ; at which last he 
 
 * " Dissertation," &c., p. 23. t I^id- Note.
 
 206 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. 
 
 [1811. 
 
 confirmed a novice. In August, he clothed a lay sister 
 at Caverswall, visited and confirmed at Glossop, and 
 visited Hathersage and Hassop. In the Autumn, he 
 confirmed at Acton Burnell and Plowden, and held 
 an Ordination at Acton Burnell, when he ordained 
 four subdeacons and one deacon, all Benedictines. He 
 completed a year of zealous labour by a Confirmation 
 in November at Sedgley Bark, and by ordaining a 
 priest, on the 14th November, the Rev. Richard 
 Hubbard, whose conversion and reception by him at 
 Winchester have been related in Chapter Third. 
 
 The effect produced by Dr. Milner's " Elucidation 
 of the Veto" was very great ; and in hopes of counter- 
 acting; that effect, Mr. Charles Butler of Lincoln's-Inn 
 published a " Letter to an Irish Catholic Gentleman^ 
 on the Fifth Resolution of a Meeting of English 
 Catholics^ Feb. 1, 1810." This Dr. Milner answered 
 in the months of March and April, by " Two Letters 
 to a Roman Catholic Prelate of Ireland, in Refutation 
 of Counsellor Charles Butler's Letter to an Irish 
 Gentleman; to which is added a Postscript, containing 
 a Review of the Rev. Dr. O'Conor's work, entitled 
 Columbanus ad Hibernos on the Liberty of the 
 Irish Church. By the Rt. Rev. J. Milner^ D.D.^ 
 F.S.A., C.A.R., and V. A. of the Midland District 
 in England. — 1811." This is a very valuable and 
 important production of the indefatigable champion 
 of religion. In the First Letter he takes a view of 
 the attacks upon the rights and jurisdiction of the 
 Church in France, Spain, Naples, Tuscany, Austria, 
 and the Netherlands, and especially in the very centre 
 of Catholicity : " we now behold our venerable and 
 beloved father Pope Pius VII. stripped of his princi-
 
 AGE 59.] CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 207 
 
 pality, and almost of the necessaries of life, and 
 languishing in confinement."* He then comes to the 
 several attempts on the doctrine and discipline of the 
 Catholic Church in this island for the last quarter of a 
 century, and the late similar attempt by Mr. C. Butler 
 in his '■'■Letter to an Irish Catholic Gentleman^ He 
 declares that he has no antipathy against the learned 
 gentleman, but rather a great respect for him. " But," 
 he continues, " when I continually find him, during a 
 whole quarter of a century, undermining the religion 
 of which I am a pastor and a guardian, by the books 
 which he publishes himself, and encourages others to 
 pubhsh, and still more fatally by his secret negociations 
 in England, in Ireland, and at Kome, with clergy and 
 laity, with Protestants and Dissenters, with ministers 
 of all parties and all subdivisions of parties, from Lord 
 North down to Mr. Perceval ; when I hear him lectur- 
 ing his bishops, dictating new creeds, and modifying 
 the ancient discipline, on his own theological judgment 
 and assumed authority, I feel that it is my duty to 
 oppose him in every way that seems most effectual for 
 this purpose."! The Bishop gives a succinct account 
 of the proceedings of the English Catholic Committee, 
 the Protestation^ the condemned Oath^ the Blue 
 Books^ his own note to Mr. Ponsonby, and his Letter 
 to a Parish Priest^ both of which last, Mr. C. Butler, 
 he says, has now republished, because their author has 
 protested against the sense affixed to his Note^ and 
 because he has condemned and retracted his Letter. 
 
 Dr. Milner begins his Second Letter by thus 
 characterising Mr. C Butler's i)ublication : — " It 
 
 * " Two Letters, &c.," p. 3. 
 
 t " Two Letters, «Sbc.," p. 5.— Note.
 
 208 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1811. 
 
 pretends to be a defence of the E7iglish^ but it is an 
 attempt upon the Irish ; it professes great veneration 
 for the authority of your Prelates ; but it is a direct 
 attack upon the solemn act of your united body ; it 
 appears to reprobate every species of Veto ; but is 
 calculated to dispose your people to accept of any 
 species of it, which he, the framer of the heterodox 
 oath and schismatical appellation of 1791, shall find 
 it convenient to arrange with Protestant statesmen. 
 In short this Irish Blue Book is as specious in its 
 appearance, but as mischievous in its effects, as the 
 English Blue Books were."* Though Mr. C. Butler, 
 in a subsequent Letter to Dr. Poynter, dated August 
 13, 1811, is bold enough to write thus : — " On the Veto 
 I have nothing to say in addition to what I have 
 published in my Letter to an Irish Gentleman : not 
 one word of which Dr. Milner has refuted ;"f Dr. 
 MiLNER does decidedly answer and refute each of his 
 positions. Thus Mr. Butler asserted that the Veto 
 orisinated with the Irish : Dr. Milner shows that it 
 owed its origin to Mr. Pitt. Mr. Butler denied that the 
 Veto^ or anything implying it, was ever broached before 
 the recent mention of it in Parliament. Dr. Milner 
 points out several works and declarations, which Mr. 
 B. must have known, in which the Veto had been 
 dwelt upon long before. Mr. Butler asserted that the 
 Irish offered the Veto^ and that their offer made a 
 strong impression in their favour : Dr. Milner proves 
 it notoriously false that the Irish ever did offer the 
 Veto ; and shows that the unauthorised proposal of it 
 in Parliament in 1808, never made one convert to the 
 
 * Page 35. 
 
 t " Letter to Dr. Poynter." — 3rdly.
 
 AGE 59.] CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 209 
 
 cause. Mr. Butler farther declared that the recall of 
 the Veto made a strong impression against the Irish : 
 Dr. Milner convicts him again of a dehberate mis- 
 statement, inasmuch as what was never offered could 
 not be recalled. A delusion indeed had gone forth, 
 and when it was dissipated, a reflux of bigotry followed 
 against Catholics, but this is not to be ascribed to those 
 who were never implicated in such delusion, but to 
 those who were. " And so also, when it shall appear, 
 as it will appear, that a majority of those English 
 Catholics who signed the Fifth Resolution will not 
 abide by what our Parliamentary friends consider as 
 the natural sense of it, they will be overwhelmed with 
 reproaches, and will clearly see how much better they 
 would have consulted their worldly reputation by 
 rejecting it, than by subscribing to it."* These are 
 some of Mr. Butler's assertions, which Dr. Milner 
 refuted ; and yet he boasted that he had not refuted a 
 single one! The Bishop says much more in answer to 
 other assertions of Mr. Butler respecting the Veto and 
 the Fifth Resolution ; " the obvious and received 
 sense of which" he declares to be, " that he (Mr. B.) 
 will enter into arrangements for preventing the appoint- 
 ment of able and zealous Bishops, in order to prevent 
 conversions from the Protestant to the Catholic reli- 
 gion In vain does he harp upon ' This basis 
 
 of mutual satisfaction and security :' because this basis., 
 as I have proved, is too narrow to be a secure one ; 
 and because, from the nature of the thing and the 
 declarations of our Protestant friends, we are perfectly 
 convinced that they will judge of, and decide upon 
 what is, and what is not conformable to our faith and 
 
 * Page 45.
 
 210 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1811. 
 
 discipline ; of what is a sufficient security to the 
 Catholic, as well as to the Protestant Church."* 
 
 To these Letters is ap}3ended a Postscript of fifty- 
 pages, in which Dr. Milner analyses the principal 
 matters contained in three late schismatical pamphlets, 
 under the title of " Columhanus ad Hihernosr The 
 author of these was an Irish priest, the Rev. Dr. 
 O' Conor. He had been educated at the Ludovisian 
 College at Rome, and ordained in the Cathedral of 
 St. John Lateran. He became a parish priest in 
 Ireland ; but several years before this publication, he 
 sold his Irish MSS., abandoned his politics, his parish, 
 and his country, and became librarian to the Marquis 
 of Buckingham at Stowe. He had intrigued and can- 
 vassed in the hope of being elected to the See of 
 Elphin, and had even made promises to a certain 
 English priest, in connexion with his expected promo- 
 tion. The uncanonical means, however, by which 
 that promotion was to have been eifected, were frus- 
 trated by his rejection by the Chapter of Elphin ; and 
 Dr. Milner considered that his publication was the 
 result of being stung with disappointment, which led 
 him to threaten the Irish hierarchy with the full effect 
 of those arrangements, which would subjugate them 
 and their discipline to the control of Protestant states- 
 men. The three pamphlets of Dr. O'Conor, under 
 the assumed name of Columhcuius^ were an attempt to 
 stir up the Irish to adopt a new system of Church 
 discipline, and become more closely bound to the 
 state ; in fact, he openly advocated the Veto^ and 
 opposed the canonical election of Catholic Bishops. 
 These pamphlets were absolutely scJdsmatical^ and 
 
 * Pages 61-62.
 
 AGE 59.] CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 211 
 
 whoever should adopt them would cease to be a Catho- 
 lic. Dr. Milner, professing merely to analyse these per- 
 nicious publications, furnishes in reality the principles 
 of a solid refutation as he proceeds. Coluinhanus 
 had loaded him with copious abuse ; the Christian 
 Bishop does not revile again ; but to his final tirade 
 against Dr. Milner's defence of miracles, contents 
 himself with a solid refutation of his objections to the 
 miraculous cure of Winefrid White, of which he had 
 published '■'' Authentic Documents''' a few years before. 
 
 Thus did this laborious Prelate continually labour 
 with his pen, as in every other way, in which he could 
 promote the great objects always uppermost in his 
 mind, the glory of God, the defence of religion, and 
 the salvation of souls. He had indeed some time 
 before fully determined to undertake a history of 
 England ; but this important and laborious work he 
 never accomplished, which is exceedingly to be re- 
 gretted. He was blamed, at this time, however, for 
 writing in an Irish paper, called " TJie Harpl' because 
 it was understood to be edited by a man who had 
 joined in the Irish rebellion, and was banished from 
 his country: but he did so in consequence of the pub- 
 lication in that paper of the authorised speeches of Sir 
 John Cox Hippisley. 
 
 In the Autmiin of 1811, Dr. Milner paid a visit to 
 Lucien Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon, who lived on 
 his imrole near Worcester, and was permitted by Go- 
 vernment to go any where within a distance of thirty 
 miles. It was considered by some persons that Dr. 
 Milner had rather too favourable an opinion of Lucien; 
 and that his visiting him was somewhat imprudent, 
 and likely to give oiFence to the Government. But 
 Dr. Milner had too great a mind to be influenced by
 
 212 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1812. 
 
 such apprehensions: though his intimacy with Lucien 
 and his family was well known, no mischievous con- 
 sequences appear to have resulted from it. 
 
 To his Lenten Pastoral for the next year, 1812, 
 Dr. Milner appended two notes. One was to inform 
 the Clergy of his District of the test agreed upon by 
 the Vicars Apostohc, at their Meeting on the 24th of 
 February, 1810, against Blanchardism ; and the other 
 was in these terms: " It is proper also that they (the 
 clergy) should be informed that a certain priest, the 
 Rev. Dr. O'Conor, who resides on the borders of the 
 Midland District, and whose spiritual relations have 
 been greatly within that District, has no spiritual 
 faculties or authority to offer up the Holy Sacrifice in 
 it ; and as he perseveres in publishing the most irre- 
 ligious and schismatical errors, to the great scandal of 
 the Church, he is not to be considered (without a 
 public retractation) as being in a fit state to receive 
 any sacrament." 
 
 The good and zealous Prelate held Ordinations on 
 the 25th, 26th and 27tli of May, in which several church 
 students from Sedgley Park received the four Minor 
 Orders, and other candidates were promoted to the 
 subdeaconship. On the latter day, Henry Weedall 
 and William Wareing were ordained subdeacons, and 
 Samuel Jones, deacon. On the 27th, were ordained 
 two priests, the Rev. Edward Pugh, and the Rev. 
 Edward Richards, O.S.F. 
 
 On the 2nd of June, he held the triennial Meeting 
 of his clergy in his chapel at Wolverhampton. His 
 exhortation embraced nearly the same subjects as at 
 the preceding meeting of 1809, already detailed. 
 He added, however, an account of the means em- 
 ployed to continue a succession of pastors at Oscott
 
 AGE CO.] CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 213 
 
 College, of certain fuuds withheld, and of others 
 recovered, exhorting all to exert themselves in this 
 great work. In July, he administered Confirmation at 
 Wooten Waven, and at Aston, near Stone. 
 
 The Vicar Apostolic of the London District, Dr. 
 John Douglass,* died on the 8th of May, 1812, and 
 his coadjutor, Dr. Wilham Poynter, Bishop of Haha, 
 succeeded him as Vicar Apostolic. This Prelate had 
 written several Letters to the Archbishop of Dublin, 
 Dr. Troy, in hopes of satisfying the Irish Prelates on 
 the subject of the Fifth Resolution. In these 
 letters. Dr. Poynter had made strong charges against 
 the twenty-nine Bishops of Ireland, and their agent in 
 England, Dr. Milner. In hopes of clearing up the 
 misunderstanding. Dr. Milner wrote " An Explana- 
 tion with the R. Rev. Dr. Poynter^ Coadjutor L.D. 
 —By the R. Rev. Dr. Milner, V.A.M.D:' It was 
 a work of 108 octavo pages, but though printed it was 
 never published. The Bishop first lays down twelve 
 important maxims, which ought to guide the Bishops 
 at the critical time of his writing. He next takes in 
 order the several complaints against himself and his 
 Irish brethren, and answers them ; in the course of 
 which he details at some length the proceedings at 
 the Tavern dinner the day before the meeting at St. 
 Alban's Tavern, Feb. 1, 1810, and the proceedings of 
 that day, when the fatal Fifth Resolution was agreed 
 to. Havinc mentioned what has been recorded above 
 in Chapter Ninth, that a certain gentleman, who was 
 chiefly instrumental in inducing Drs. Collingridge and 
 
 * This Prelate's name has frequently been written Douglas ; 
 but the writer of these lines has his own autograph signature now 
 before him, Douglass.
 
 214 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1812. 
 
 Poynter to sign that Resolution, met him soon after 
 and said : " Do not be angry with your brethren ; 
 they resisted as long as they could, but we jockeyed 
 them," he relates another memorable occurrence : 
 " Happening to drive with the same gentleman, on the 
 day week of the (first) Tavern Meeting, Feb. 7 (by 
 which time letters had arrived from Dublin, announc- 
 ing the total failure of the Fifth Resolution, in its 
 intended effect, in Ireland), I saw him enter the room 
 with a dejected countenance, and I heard him sigh out 
 the following sentence : ' It is hard to be tyrannised 
 over in this manner by Protestant Lords.' Upon 
 this I exclaimed : ' So then I have won my wager, 
 have I ? (we had actually laid a wager on the event). 
 He replied : ' To be sure you have ; you knew Ire- 
 land better than w^e did.' I rejoined : ' Then I acted 
 right on the 1st inst. ; and you would have acted the 
 same part in my situation.' His answer was : ' Most 
 certainly.' "* 
 
 Dr. Milner is particularly powerful upon Dr. P.'s 
 main complaint, repeated in all his letters, that the 
 Fifth Resolution is neither vague and indefinite^ nor 
 pledges Catholics to arrangements, possibly injurious 
 to their religion, as stigmatised by the Irish Prelates. 
 " But think, R. R. Sir," says Dr. Milner, " have not 
 you yourself publicly said both these things ? You 
 said in your speech at the Tavern, that it would pro- 
 bably involve in its consequences questions, &c.' 
 Certain objects, then, to which it extends, are contin- 
 gent^ and these objects are not expressed either in the 
 Resolution, or even by yourself. What so evident, 
 then, as that the Resolution is in this respect vague 
 
 * " Explanation with Dr. Poynter," page 25.
 
 AGE 60.] CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 215 
 
 and undefined ? Again you say, that these ' conse- 
 quences probably involve questions which will affect 
 spiritual interests^ &c.' If they may affect them, 
 they may eventually injure them ; which is the quali- 
 fication you complain of in our Seventeenth Resolu- 
 tion, as applied to your Fifths* 
 
 Dr. Milner mentions the serious complaint of the 
 Irish Prelates, that Dr. O'Conor has not been re- 
 strained in the London District from his calumnious 
 and irreligious railing against them, and his unremit- 
 ting schismatical attempts against their national 
 Church. The second part of this " E.vplanati07f is 
 devoted to Blanchardism, and Dr. Milner comments 
 strongly on five pleas alleged by Dr. Poynter in defence 
 of the conduct of Dr. Douglass and himself in remov- 
 ing the suspension of the Abbe Trevaux, without re- 
 quiring from him a public retractation ; by which, as 
 the Irish Prelates declared, " schism, though uninten- 
 tionally on the part of Bishop Douglass, is openly 
 countenanced, to the great injury of religion." In the 
 third part. Dr. Milner treats of the Veto^ and answers 
 Dr. Poynter's "cavils and retorsions" against the Irish 
 Bishops and himself on that subject. He alludes to 
 Dr. Poynter's praise of his ^^Letters to a Prebendary" 
 and to a passage in one of Dr. P.'s letters, where 
 he says : " Dr. Milner would have done well for his 
 reputation, if he had ceased to write after the date of 
 those letters." This Dr. Milner meets by mention- 
 ing in very modest terms the favourable reception of 
 several of his subsequent works ; but he adds : " Has 
 my late Treatise on Ecclesiastical Architecture 
 met with no applause among the ingenious and 
 
 * " Explanation, &c.," p. 32.
 
 216 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1812. 
 
 learned ? Whether deservedly or not, this last work 
 has gained me more reputation than any I have yet 
 written."* He most ably answers the charge that the 
 Irish Bishops and himself interfered with the concerns 
 of the London District. He concludes with recording 
 his many efforts to bring about peace and concurrent 
 action among the Vicars Apostolic, and his having 
 gone upon his knees before Dr. Douglass, Dr. Poynter, 
 and other clergymen, and knelt another time to Dr. 
 Douglass, to soothe their groundless irritation, and 
 engage them to concur with him in the common cause 
 of our holy religion. " At the present time," he says, 
 " if I know my heart, there is no sacrifice, whether of 
 reputation, fortune, or of life itself, which I would not 
 cheerfully make to engage all my brethren and you to 
 unite, hand and heart, in securing and promoting this 
 all-necessary concern. Nevertheless, I am not disposed 
 to give up the kernel for the shell, the substance of 
 religion for the appearance or it. ' Speciosum est, 
 nomen pacis et pulchra est opinio unitatis : sed quis 
 ambiget cam solam esse pacem Ecclesise, quae est 
 Christi ?' S. Hilar, contra Auxent."t 
 
 After an Appendix containing various documents 
 on Blanchardism, Dr. Milner adds a Postscript 
 relative to a new work of Dr. O'Conor, which he had 
 just received, of a more violent, if not more openly 
 schismatical character than even his previous pub- 
 lications. He places several extracts before Dr. 
 Poynter, hoping that he will, in conjunction with Dr. 
 Douglass, put an end to every compromise with this 
 dangerous enemy of the Church, no less than with his 
 allies, the Blanchardists. " With me," says the 
 
 * " Explanation, &c.," p. 79. f " Explanation," p. 95. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 60.] CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 21? 
 
 learned Bishop in conclusion, — " with me stand the 
 Prelates of the Catholic Church, with you the 
 O'Conors, the Charles Butlers, and the Blanchard- 
 ists !" 
 
 It was indeed most desirable that a good understand- 
 ing should be brought about between the Irish hier- 
 archy and their agent Dr. Milner on the one side, 
 and the three other English Vicars Apostolic on the 
 other. In hopes of effecting this, a pacificatory mis- 
 sion was undertaken, with the approbation of his epis- 
 copal brethren, by Dr. Moylan, Bishop of Cork, who 
 came over to England with his Dean, Dr. Macarthy, 
 in July, 1812. After an unsatisfactory interview with 
 the V. A. of the Western District, Dr. Collingridge, 
 he proceeded to London, where he was received with 
 much courtesy and fair promises, which however only 
 proved delusive. One great object of his mission was 
 to obtain from Dr. Poynter an authentic copy of the 
 Abbe Trevaux's Retractation of his signature to the 
 schismatical book of Blanchard, mentioned in the last 
 chapter. He had been promised a sight of this 
 Retractation ; but no such document was ever in 
 existence, the Abbe having been restored merely upon 
 his making a personal apology to Dr. Douglass. Dr. 
 Moylan then proceeded to visit his friend Dr. Milner 
 at Wolverhampton, and prevailed upon him to accom- 
 pany him to a meeting of all the four Vicars Apostolic 
 at the house of the senior. Dr. Gibson, at Durham. 
 Dr. Collingridge was unable to attend, but the other 
 three met Dr. Moylan there, and there were also 
 present Dr. Smith, coadjutor to Dr. Gibson, Dr. 
 Macarthy, and the Rev. Messrs. Gillow and Bramston.* 
 
 * Postscript to Dr. Milner's " Pastoral on the Jurisdiction of 
 the Catholic Church, in three Parts." 1813.
 
 218 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1812. 
 
 At this meeting, August 21st, 1812, Dr. Moylan 
 proposed, and Drs. Gibson and Milner agreed, that 
 without alluding to past differences, they should con- 
 cert measures for preserving the Jurisdiction, Disci- 
 pline, and Unity of the Church in future : but Dr. 
 Poynter insisted that satisfaction was due to him for 
 the affronts offered him in Dr. Milner's printed, 
 but not published, " Explanation with Dr. PoynterT 
 After much vague conversation, it was proposed by 
 Dr. Moylan that a project of pacification should be 
 adopted, which had been drawn up by himself and 
 Dr. Milner, with the advice of Dean Macarthy. It 
 first repeated the Resolution of the Irish Prelates, 
 Sept. 14, 1808, to the effect that they deemed it 
 inexpedient to concur in any change in the canonical 
 mode of appointing Bishops, unless a different dis- 
 cipline should be authorised by the Holy See : and 
 secondly, it declared that no priest should be per- 
 mitted to exercise any sacerdotal functions, who, when 
 called upon, should refuse to sign the test against 
 Blanchardism, and that all priests suspected should be 
 called upon to make the required declaration. Unfor- 
 tunately this project was objected to, and the meeting 
 broke up that day without coming to any conclusion. 
 
 On the following day, August 22, Dr. Gibson, the 
 senior V. A., proposed that all should sign the follow- 
 ing formula : " Having conferred together, we find 
 that we are all of one faith and communion:" but Dr. 
 Moylan objected that he could not carry back so vague 
 a declaration, as any adjustment of the existing dif- 
 ferences. Dr. Milner also observed that the pub- 
 Hcation of it would every where expose their Lordsliips 
 to ridicule, and insisted on the necessity of a pubHc 
 declaration against any vetoistical arrangements as
 
 AGE 60.] CHAPTEE ELEVENTH. 219 
 
 the only way to satisfy the Catholics of both islands, 
 and to secure the discipline of the Church from the 
 attempts which politicians on both sides were meditat- 
 ing against it. The meeting closed without making a 
 single step towards the desired pacification. Pre- 
 viously, however, to separating, Dr. Milner, anxious 
 to promote charity, read an apology to his brethren for 
 any expression in his writings which they might deem 
 offensive, and to Dr. Poynter in particular. He was 
 proceeding to volunteer further concessions and 
 pledges, when he was told: "All this signifies no- 
 thing, unless you give up the substance of the dif- 
 ferences." This in fact meant that he must acknow- 
 ledge it right to sign the Fifth Resolution^ and to 
 restore the Abbe Trevaux without any public retracta- 
 tion. The reader will readily judge how likely Dr. 
 Milner was to agree to such proposals. 
 
 Thus the mission of Dr. Moylan produced no result, 
 except that, a little before his and Dr. Milner's de- 
 parture, on the 23rd, Dr. Poynter put into the hands 
 of Dr. Moylan a Letter, in which himself and his 
 venerable coheagues engaged to be " vigilant in pre- 
 venting, and firm in resisting, any innovations, or 
 measures prejudicial to the unity or authority of the 
 Catholic Church, to the sacred rights of the Apostolic 
 See, or to the integrity or security of our holy religion, 
 in its faith, morality, or discipline." But, as Dr. 
 Milner observed, in rejecting the resolutions proposed 
 by Dr. Moylan and himself, they rejected the very 
 means of accomplishing all this. Had these resolu- 
 tions been adopted, peace would have been restored, 
 the mischievous Fifth Resolution would have been 
 rendered innoxious, and the Blanchardist schism 
 would have been repressed.
 
 220 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1812. 
 
 CHAPTER TWELFTH. 
 
 PASTORAL VISITS AND CONFIRMATIONS BY DR. MILNER. — AD- 
 VENTURE ON ONE OF HIS JOURNEYS. — PACIFICATORY MEETING 
 AT THE LONDON RESIDENCE OF LORD CLIFFORD. — DR. MILNER's 
 *' RE-STATEMENT OF THE CONFERENCE," AND HIS " MULTUM IN 
 
 PARVO." HIS PASTORAL ON THE JURISDICTION OF THE CHURCH, 
 
 IN THREE PARTS. — THE BILL OF 1813 INTRODUCED INTO 
 
 PARLIAMENT. — DR. MILNER's " BRIEF MEMORIAL UPON IT." 
 
 FATE OF THE BILL. 
 
 Dr. Milner found consolation and refreshment under 
 his severe struggles, and the trying opposition which he 
 met with in the sacred cause of Catholic unity and 
 ecclesiastical disciphne, in the assiduous discharge of 
 the immediate duties of his episcopacy. On the 9th 
 of October, 1812, he ordained another priest, the Rev. 
 Thomas Tysan, and placed him at Sedgley, to assist 
 his aged Vicar General, Rev. John Perry. In Octo- 
 ber also he began another of his long journeys in his 
 wide District, and during that, and the two succeeding 
 months, he confirmed at the following places : Bad- 
 desley Green, for the congregations of that place, 
 Grove Park, and Solihull ; Coventry and Wappenbury, 
 Bosworth, Holt, King's ClifFe, Irnham, Worcester and 
 Spetchley, Blackmore Park, and Little Malvern, 
 Coughton and Beoley, and finished by confirming at 
 Sedgley Park, on the 13th December, 36 of the boys 
 at school there. On the 18th of December, he 
 ordained priest, the Rev. John Beaumont from the 
 College at Stonyhurst.
 
 AGE 60.] CHAPTER TWELFTH. 22 1 
 
 Dr. Milner usually performed his journeys in a gig 
 of very plain construction and homely appearance. 
 It had no armorial insignia, but his favourite monogram^ 
 on a gilt oval on th eback of the vehicle. He 
 was always unwilling to press upon the scanty 
 means of his clergy, and usually put up at some 
 inn near the chapel. He never went to a first- 
 rate inn, but preferred an inferior house, and was 
 generally shown, at his own request, into the Com- 
 mercial Traveller's Eoom, where he used to say, he 
 often picked up valuable information from the conver- 
 sation which he heard, and in which he occasionally 
 engaged. On one of his journeys in Leicestershire, 
 Mrs. Nevill of Holt Hall had given him some live 
 eels ; for he was very fond of fish of all kinds. 
 These he was carrying with him, in a basket 
 fastened behind his gig ; but he had not gone far 
 before some of them got out, and dropped about the 
 road. This of course he did not see, and he would 
 probably have lost them all, but for a gentleman on 
 horseback who overtook him on the road, and informed 
 him of his loss. They both got down, and the gentle- 
 man, whose name was Cook, helped him to recover 
 and secure his fugitives. Dr. Milner thanked him 
 cordially for his kind service, said it was right that he 
 should know whom he had thus assisted, and informed 
 him that he was a Bishop. " Then," said Mr. Cook, 
 " you ought to be Bishop of ElyT 
 
 In the following year, 1813, Dr. Milner ordained 
 priest on the 12th of March, Rev. Samuel Jones, the 
 second of five brothers, all of whom became priests, 
 and were ordained in succession by Dr. Milner : and 
 on the 15th of April he gave the tonsure and four 
 Minor Orders to John Bede Folding, now Archbishop
 
 222 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 of Sydney, and to William Placidus Morris, the revered 
 and beloved Bishop of Troy. 
 
 The year 1813 was a most eventful one for the cause 
 of Catholic Emancipation, and for the illustrious sub- 
 ject of this biography. On the 19th of February a 
 meeting took place at the residence of Lord Clifford, 
 in Portman-square, London, at which were present the 
 Earl of Shrewsbury, Lord Clifford, the Hon. Robert 
 Clifford, Dr. Milner, Sir Ed. Bedingfeld, Messrs. 
 Maxwell, Constable, Edwd. Jerningham, W. Sheldon, 
 C. Sheldon, Jos. Weld, Charles Butler, and T. Stonor. 
 This meeting was held in consequence of several 
 conferences between Dr. Milner and Lord Clifford, 
 in which that noble Lord had expressed the most 
 orthodox and religious sentiments, and promised Dr. 
 Milner all the redress in his power for remedying 
 certain measures, of which the Bishop had complained, 
 as injurious to our holy religion, and disrespectful to 
 the Vicars Apostolic and clergy, and especially to him- 
 self. The real business of the meeting was to esta- 
 blish a right understanding and cooperation between 
 the laity and the Bishops and clergy, and himself in 
 particular, who had been exposed to obloquy and 
 persecution from some of the leading Catholics ever 
 since the year 1791- Dr. Milner was satisfied with 
 the assurances given him at the meeting that the 
 grievances should be remedied, and understood those 
 present to concur in the edifying sentiments which 
 Lord Clifford had often expressed to him, that he 
 would oppose all further securities, except by such an 
 oath as should be approved by the Bishops. Mr. 
 Charles Butler was invited to this meeting, and though 
 its real object was to consider Dr. Milner's public 
 grievances, he obtained a hearing before the Bishop,
 
 AGE 61 ] CHAPTER TWELFTH. 223 
 
 and read from a paper several charges which he alleged 
 had been published by Dr. Milner against him, and 
 complained of as false and unjust. A " Statement of 
 the Conference'' was afterwards published, with the 
 signatures of C. Butler, Lord Clifford, and T. Stonor; 
 in which it was said that " it appeared to the satisfac- 
 tion of every one present, and was admitted by Dr. 
 Milner., that the following charges which had been 
 brought by Dr. Milner against Mr. Butler, and which 
 the latter disproved., vfere wholly founded 07i mistake.'" 
 Dr. Milner felt obliged to meet this by a " Re-state- 
 ment of the Conference^'' dated April 22nd;* in 
 which, though he declared himself able to show the 
 falsehood or inaccuracy of every word printed above 
 in Italics, he proceeded to defend himself against all 
 the alleged charges in order.t After this meeting, 
 however, the best understanding existed between him 
 and the lay personages present, who communicated 
 with him in the kindest and most confidential manner. 
 This he returned by writing and publishing a paper, 
 which he entitled " Multum in Parvo," which was 
 allowed to have greatly forwarded the Catholic cause. 
 It was addressed to a Member of Parliament, and 
 was a temperate exposition of the arguments for the 
 Catholic claims, with a fair statement and refutation of 
 the objections against them. On the subject of secu- 
 rities, it proclaimed the grand security afforded by the 
 Catholic Oath ; and concluded in these remarkable 
 words : " As to the exchange you have talked of be- 
 tween the Legislature and its Catholic subjects, I own 
 it is the most extraordinary thing I ever heard of, and 
 
 * Published in the Ortlwdox Journal for 1813, p. 94. 
 t These will be noticed further on under the year 1822.
 
 224 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 the proposal of it almost reduces me to despair. In 
 fact, what have we left to give you, legislators, in re- 
 turn for the common rights of loyal subjects, which we 
 ask of you ? We have already, in form of oaths 
 devised by yourselves, given you our fealty, our ser- 
 vices, our purses, our lives, our public prayers and 
 instructions : in short, we have absolutely nothing left 
 to give but our b carts, which we now ofler you : this, 
 however, is an invaluable present, whether made to a 
 state, or to an individual."* 
 
 In his Pastoral for the Lent of this year, the ever 
 vigilant Bishop Milner had signified that he had 
 " other matters of spiritual import to communicate, 
 which he should take another opportunity of com- 
 municating." Accordingly he addressed and published 
 " A Pastoral Charge on the Jurisdiction of the 
 Catholic Church ; addressed to the Catholic Clergy 
 of the Midland District. By the R. R. Dr. Milner, 
 B. C V. A.'' It is dated March 24, 1813. Ever 
 alive to the dangers which threatened religion, Dr. 
 Milner feared that the Bill, which was known to be 
 framing by a Committee of the House of Commons, 
 was but too likely to aifect essentially the jurisdiction 
 of the Catholic Church ; and he saw with grief that 
 several Catholics even were lending their aid to inter- 
 rupt or restrain that jurisdiction. The Bishop points 
 out the Rev. Dr. Charles O'Conor (Columhanus) as 
 the most determined foe to the spiritual jurisdiction 
 of the Church ; he having published more than half a 
 dozen volumes " replete with heterodox, schismatical, 
 and anarchical doctrines ;" and proceeds to comment 
 upon certain passages of the first number of Colum- 
 
 * " Multum in Parvo," p. 4.
 
 AGE 61.] CHArTER TWELFTH. 225 
 
 hanus ; these he shows to be schismatical^ and the 
 object of the whole work is, he declares, to excite to a 
 schism* He next denounces another writer, Mr. 
 John Joseph Dillon, who " is found to be ignorant 
 of the very first principles of the Catholic religion, 
 and by his obstinacy in adhering to his schismatical 
 errors, does in fact unchurch himself. He is, as might 
 be expected, the firm ally of the excommunicated Dr. 
 O'Conor, and accordingly they pay each other the 
 loftiest compliments in their respective pubhcations."f 
 Mr. Dillon advocated the Veto in the broadest terms, 
 witness the following passage in his " Letter to Mr. 
 Canning;' " I have never felt any objection to invest 
 the Crown with an effectual negative upon the ap- 
 pointment of Catholic Bishops.'' Dr. Milner, pass- 
 ing over several other writers, denounces the plans of 
 Sir John Cox Hippisley for the subjugation of the 
 Church to the temporal power of a Protestant Govern- 
 ment, which, if ever adopted, would require us to 
 prepare for persecution, instead of relief Sir John's 
 plan was to enact an unrestricted Veto upon the 
 appointment of our Bishops, with a Crown Office to 
 revise all correspondence with the Holy See, and this 
 was actually embodied in the Bill soon after brought 
 into Parliament. 
 
 Dr. Milner printed, but did not publish, two suc- 
 ceeding Parts of this " Pastoral ;" Part 11. being 
 dated March 30, and Part III. April 12, 1813. They 
 are chiefly on matters of doctrine, and occasioned by 
 certain publications, of a very diff'erent character from 
 those above, the object of them being innocent and 
 
 * Dr. O'Conor died at Balllnagar, in Ireland, July 29, 182&. 
 t " Pastoral," p. 11 . 
 
 Q
 
 226 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 laudable, and their errors to be palliated on the score 
 of oversight or human infirmity. Still the Bishop had 
 been called upon by some of the most respectable of 
 his clergy, to give his judgment upon them, and he 
 felt bound to do so. These two parts of his Pastoral 
 were sent only to the Bishops, to his own clergy, 
 and a few distinguished Catholics, but marked 
 " private." He first reviews " The Faith of Catho- 
 lics" published a few months before, under the joint 
 patronage of the Rev. Joseph Berington and the Rev. 
 John Kirk. This is well known to be a collection of 
 passages from Scripture and the Holy Fathers, attest- 
 ing and confirming certain doctrines of Catholic faith. 
 The chief objection to it was, that it adopted as its 
 text, an exposition of doctrine, known by the name of 
 " Roman Catholic Principles in reference to God 
 and the King" first published in the reign of Charles 
 II. The work of Berington and Kirk contained a 
 letter to Dr. Poynter in answer to certain remarks and 
 queries made by his Lordship to Mr. Berington, who 
 resided in his District. Dr. Milker informed Dr. 
 Poynter of his intention to make some remarks also on 
 the work, the other editor of which, Mr. Kirk, belonged 
 to the Midland District, signifying that if he was dis- 
 satisfied with the use made of his name, and the 
 answers made to his observations, he Dr. Milner, 
 would say whatever he should be pleased to dictate to 
 him on those subjects. Dr. P. dechned giving any 
 answer ; and Dr. Milker proceeded to discharge his 
 own duty with regard to the work, and the answers. 
 
 He remarked that in neither of its forms, as it 
 appeared in the 17th and 18th centuries, was the 
 " Principles" approved by due authority : and that no 
 two editions of it agree even upon essential points of
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER TWELFTH. 227 
 
 doctrine. Moreover, though professing to be The 
 Faith of Catholics^ it does not contain a word about 
 the Unity and Trinity of God, the Incarnation and 
 Divinity of our Saviour ! He then examined some of 
 its propositions. One declares that " The merits of 
 Christ are not appUed to us otherwise than by a right 
 faithr This, as it stands, sanctions the condemned 
 errors, that man is justified by faith alone, and that 
 Infant Baptism is of no avail. Another pro})osition 
 declares that " the Pastors of the Church, are the 
 body representative^ either dispersed^ or convened in 
 Council." This, he says, insinuates that they derive 
 their authority from earthly constituents, and deliver 
 the faith in the name of those constituents, and not of 
 God ; an error condemned as heretical in the late 
 condemnation of the Synod of Pistoia by Pope Pius 
 VI. He says also that as it makes no distinction of 
 pastors, it savours of the schismatical doctrine of 
 the Calvinists, recently condemned also in Dr. 
 O'Conor, by the Prelates of Ireland. Dr. Milner 
 censured another proposition which declared it " no 
 article of faith that the Church cannot err in matters 
 of fact, or discipline ;" and the suppression of the 
 Pope's title of Vicar of Jesus Christ, as also the 
 ascribing to him merely peculiar powers in the 
 Church, which implies no superiority over other 
 Bishops, but is compatible with 2i perfect equality, esich. 
 one having his peculiar department. He points out 
 some other inaccuracies, and especially a more formal 
 and dangerous error where it is said : " We believe 
 matrimony to be a Sacrament of the new law, instituted 
 by Christ ; whereby a new dignity is added to the 
 civil contract of marriage, and grace given to those 
 who worthily receive it."
 
 228 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 The Bishop next denounces the mixture of er- 
 roneous and dangerous morahty m two sets of Sermons 
 of the Rev. James Archer, more especially those on 
 Humility, on the Passions, and on the Means of sub- 
 duing the Passions ; and mentions having witnessed 
 a learned priest " breaking short off, as he was reading 
 one of the said Sermons to his congregation, his 
 conscience not permitting him, as he afterwards told 
 me, to proceed with the lecture. In like manner," 
 continues the learned Prelate, " the preacher's disdain 
 of controversy, — his affected liberality in soothing, 
 rather than rousing the just apprehensions of his 
 heterodox and schismatical hearers, and his indulgent 
 compounding with the dangerous amusements of the 
 theatre, are of quite an opposite tendency to the 
 lessons of the holy Fathers, and approved Doctors of 
 the Church in all ages."* Dr. Milner was so appre- 
 hensive of evil from these Sermons, that he absolutely 
 forbid them to be publicly read in the chapels of his 
 District ; and even when asked by some priests if they 
 might read them to their congregations, provided that 
 they looked them over beforehand, and omitted all ob- 
 jectionable matter, he was always inflexible in refusing 
 such permission : the writer has more than once heard 
 him declare that he could not allow them to be publicly 
 read at all in the chapels of his District. Dr. Milner 
 concludes Part II. of this energetic Pastoral with a 
 denunciation of the Bible Societies^ which some mis- 
 guided Catholics had begun to show a disposition to 
 imitate, and with laying down the sound maxims of 
 Catholic doctrine and practice on the subject of the 
 Holy Scriptures. 
 
 * " Pastoral," Part II., p. 9.
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER TWELFTH. 229 
 
 Part III., which concludes this Pastoral, is an ad- 
 mirable history and exposure of the Blanchardist 
 schism ; of which he says : " A real and fatal Schism^ 
 much more malignant in its nature, and far less excus- 
 able in its pretexts, than that of the Donatists, has, for 
 nearly twelve years past, subsisted in this heretofore 
 most pure and edifying portion of Christ's fold." The 
 Bishop complains that the test agreed upon by the four 
 Vicars Apostolic in 1810, had never been enforced in 
 the other Districts, which had created great confusion 
 and diiference of discipline, so that schism was openly 
 countenanced in the London District especially. He 
 then lays down certain declarations and regulations 
 for the Midland District, made with the advice of some 
 of the most learned and pious of his clergy. In these 
 he concurs with the Irish Bishops in their condem- 
 nation of Blanchardism, and renews his protest against 
 the release of the Abbe Trevaux from the censure 
 justly inflicted upon him by Dr. Douglass, without any 
 public retractation: he protests against the suppression 
 of the Test against Blanchardism in the London Dis- 
 trict, as weakening the cause of unity, as a desertion 
 of himself in his efforts to defend it, and disrespectful 
 to him as the second Vicar Apostolic in seniority and 
 rank. He interdicts the authors of the numerous pro- 
 ductions in support of Blanchardism from the exercise 
 of ecclesiastical functions in his District ; and requires 
 that all ecclesiastics suspected of Blanchardism be 
 refused faculties or permission to say Mass, unless 
 they declare, verbally at least, their assent to the Test. 
 A Postscript is appended to this very important Pas- 
 toral, which, as already noticed, details Dr. Moylan's 
 mission to England, and the proceedings of the meet-
 
 230 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 ing of Bishops at Durham, on the 21st and 22nd of 
 August in the preceding year. 
 
 Too truly did Dr. Milner predict, at the close of 
 the year 1810, that there was " a settled plan formed 
 by eminent statesmen, and promoted by the general 
 disposition of the legislature, and the efforts of some 
 Catholics, to introduce changes into our Church dis- 
 cipline, incompatible with its safety and integrity."* 
 He also proceeded to prove that the Fifth Resolution 
 was intended by its framers, and is calculated to 
 express a disposition in the CathoHcs who signed it, to 
 acquiesce in these changes."f Hence the Irish 
 Bishops condemned that Resolution, as " pledging 
 Roman Catholics to an eventual acquiescence in 
 arrangements, possibly prejudicial to the integrity and 
 safety of our Church discipline."! Dr. Milner fore- 
 saw that when a new Bill should be brought into 
 Parliament for our Emancipation, it would be grounded 
 on these pledges ; and this year witnessed the sad 
 fulfilment of his prediction. From the circumstances 
 and terms of its forerunner, The Fifth Resolution^ 
 there was reason to fear that the Bill of Relief, as it 
 was termed, would turn out to be a Bill of persecu- 
 tion ; but no Catholic alarmist ever conceived it would 
 be of so oppressive a nature as it proved to be."§ 
 
 On the 30th of April, 1813, Mr. Grattan brought 
 in his Bill for Catholic Emancipation, which was read 
 a first time. Mr. Canning gave notice of certain 
 
 * " Instructions to the Catholics on the State and Dangers of 
 their Religion," p. 27. 
 t Ibid. 
 
 X Synod of Feb. 26, 1810. 
 § " Supplementary Memoirs," p. 196.
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER TWELITH. 231 
 
 clauses which he was desirous to introduce, and to 
 have printed with the Bill. On the 11th of May, 
 Mr. Grattan's Bill was read a second time, and a few 
 days after, two sets of clauses suggested by Mr. 
 Canning were printed. These were followed by other 
 clauses proposed by Lord Castlereagh. The Bill thus 
 amplified, and clogged with intolerable restrictions, was 
 read a second time on the 13th of May ; and on the 
 19th, the House went into Committee for its further 
 consideration. The ever vigilant Milner was anx- 
 iously alive to the dangerous, oppressive, and schis- 
 matical nature of this Bill, which he has well charac- 
 terised in a few words. " It contains four or five 
 different sets of galling restrictions, so as to constitute 
 it a Bill of pains and penalties^ rather than of relief, 
 and it enjoins no fewer than six new oaths, adapted to 
 the purposes of the restrictions."* He further ob- 
 serves that as the clauses of the Bill were in some 
 instances schismatical^ attributing spiritual jurisdiction 
 where it does not exist, and rejecting it where it does 
 exist, the chief opposition to it was naturally to be 
 looked for from the Catholic Bishops. Dr. Milner 
 at least was determined to do all in his power against 
 it. He resolved to proceed at once to London, and 
 when on the point of setting out, wrote thus to his 
 excellent friend and successor at Winchester, Kev. 
 Thomas White: "I shall be baited like a bull, but I 
 am ready to encounter the white bears of Hudson's 
 Bay, and the kangaroos of Botany Bay, rather than 
 yield. I would willingly endure all sorts of sufferings 
 for my own sins, but for the sins of the episcopacy I 
 have nothing to answer." He hastened to London, 
 
 * " Sup. Mem.," p. I96.
 
 232 LIl^E OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 and on the 20th of May, the day after his arrival, sent 
 a note to Dr. Poynter to ask whether his Lordship 
 would join him in openly opposing Mr. Canning's 
 clauses. He did not ask him officially to condemn 
 them^ as it was afterwards falsely represented, for they 
 were not then exactly defined, but merely to join him 
 in openly opposing them. Dr. Poynter answered 
 that he did not know what the clauses were. As the 
 whole Bill, with both Canning's and Castlereagh's 
 clauses, was circulated in print on the 21st, Dr. 
 MiLNER again inquired, in a second letter, if Dr. 
 Poynter would then, at least, join him in openly oppos- 
 ing them. To this he received no answer ; and in 
 consequence drew up a paper, which he entitled, " A 
 Brief Memorial on the Catholic Bill^^ which was 
 printed and partly circulated the very same day among 
 members of Parliament. This paper bears evident 
 marks of haste and anxiety : the style and language 
 are clumsy and diffuse, and it might have been made 
 much more effective by judicious condensation. Still 
 the substance and reasoning of it are excellent, and 
 unanswerable. It shows that the Bill would cause 
 more jealousy and animosity than any innovation since 
 the Revolution: — that it would exclude from the bene- 
 fits of the constitution, and oppress the Catholic 
 Bishops and clergy, leaving them at the mercy of a 
 few lay persons, and degrading them in their civil and 
 social characters: — that the tendency of the proposed 
 clauses is to render the constitution of the Catholic 
 Church in a great degree democratical, and to subvert 
 the religion, which the Bill professes to protect : — 
 that no Catholic could, without schism, become a Com- 
 missioner under the act : — that it is incompatible with 
 the character of the Catholic Prelates and clergy to
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER TWELFTH. 233 
 
 subject their correspondence with the Holy See to the 
 opinion of laymen ; nevertheless, that they are ready to 
 swear that they will not so correspond on any matter 
 affecting the Government or Establishment in Church 
 or State, or on any political subject. This is the sub- 
 stance of Dr. Milner's Memorial How strongly he 
 felt the objectionable character of the Bill, may be 
 gathered from the many articles which he wrote 
 against it at different times for years afterwards. 
 Thus he calls it " that most infamous Bill, the like of 
 which was never devised by Cecil, or Shaftesbury, or 
 Kobespierre himself. This Bill was contrived with a 
 heart and mahce which none but the spirits of wicked- 
 ness in high places^ mentioned by St. Paul, could 
 have suggested, to undermine and wither the fair trees 
 of the English and Irish Catholic Churches. Upon the 
 appearance of this Bill, the Prelates, one and all, were 
 struck with horror, and one of them was reduced to 
 death's door, from the dread of it."* 
 
 On the 24th of May, Dr. Milner held a confer- 
 ence with Dr. Collingridge and Dr. Poynter, in pre- 
 sence of two Catholic Lords and several gentlemen, in 
 which he read three questions from a written paper, 
 as to whether the Bill contained anything contrary to 
 Catholic doctrine or discipline ; whether a Catholic 
 could be a Commissioner under the Bill ; and whether 
 a Vicar Apostolic was not bound to speak out openly 
 in opposition to the Bill. The other two Bishops 
 refused to answer these questions, " though I showed," 
 says Dr. Milner, " that by doing this, they might, 
 through the weight of the company then present, pre- 
 vent their (the clauses) passing that very night. The 
 
 * Letter in "Orthodox Journal," for 1819, p- 105.
 
 234 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNEK. [1813. 
 
 conclusion of the conference was, that I answered 
 these questions for myself in the manner that you will 
 suppose, and in the most emphatical terms that occurred 
 to me, and I charged my brethren, before God and 
 the Church, with all the mischief which would arise 
 from the expected Act."* 
 
 Though the Bill was fully expected to pass, it 
 pleased divine Providence to avert the calamity in a 
 remarkable manner. On the 24th of May, the 
 Speaker, Mr. Abbott, afterwards Lord Colchester, 
 moved in Cormnittee that the words in the first clause: 
 to sit and vote in either House of Parliament^ should 
 be omitted. This was carried by a majority of four. 
 Mr. Ponsonby declared that the Bill without this 
 clause was worth neither the acceptance of the Catho- 
 lics, nor the support of their friends, and therefore the 
 Bill was given up. 
 
 « " Encyclical Letter," p. 1 1.
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. 235 
 
 CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. 
 
 DR. MILNEr's expulsion FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF THE 
 CATHOLIC BOARD. — VOTES OF THANKS TO HIM FROM IRELAND 
 
 AND LIVERPOOL. HE CONDEMNS THE CATHOLIC BIBLE SOCIETY. 
 
 CONFIRMATIONS IN THE EASTERN PART OF HIS DISTRICT 
 
 THE SCHEME OF BIBLE SCHOOLS. — MEETING OF BISHOPS AT 
 
 DURHAM. — PASTORALS OF BISHOPS GIBSON AND POYNTER 
 
 ENCYCLICAL LETTER OF DR. MILNER. — DR. POYNTER's COM- 
 PLAINTS AGAINST IT. — SYNODICAL EPISTLE OF ALL THE IRISH 
 BISHOPS. — ACCOUNT OF THE ENGLISH CATHOLIC BOARD IN 
 A LETTER BY DR. MILNER IN THE ORTHODOX JOURNAL. 
 
 Those gentlemen, who called themselves the Board 
 of British Catholics^ chagrined at the failure of the 
 Bill, and displeased with Dr. Milner's conscien- 
 tious opposition to it, sent him notice by two of 
 his friends on the 28th of May, 1813, of their inten- 
 tion of censuring liim, and expelling him the next day 
 from what was called the Select Committee of that 
 Board, on which, however, Dr. Milner never knew 
 that he had been placed. The two members of it, 
 who waited upon him, intimated that to save himself 
 from such a disgrace, he had better send in his resig- 
 nation beforehand. They forgot to whom they were 
 speaking. No man on earth was less likely to flinch 
 before such a tribunal. He at once answered that he 
 wished to keep peace with them, as far as his duty 
 would permit, and that whatever Resolutions they 
 might pass, he should not notice them, if they did not 
 pubhsh them; " but," he added, "connected with a great 
 and sacred cause, as I am, if you publish against me, be 
 assured that I will answer you." He refused to with-
 
 236 LIFE OF BISHOP MTLXER, [1813. 
 
 draw his name, because this would appear to be dis- 
 avowing conduct, in which he must for ever glory. 
 He accordingly attended the meeting on the following 
 day, when after passing Resolutions to the effect that 
 his " Brief Memoriar called for, and had their 
 marked disapprobation, and that they were no way 
 responsible for his political opinions or writings, the 
 Board called upon him to state whom he meant to 
 designate by the expression of " false brethren" in his 
 " Brief Memorial'' Dr. IMilxer at once declared 
 that he had referred to Mr. Charles Butler. Upon 
 this a vote of thanks was immediately passed to Mr. C. 
 Butler, declaring Dr. Milxer's charge against him to 
 be a "gross calumny ;" and this was followed by another 
 Eesolution that " Dr. Milxer should cease to be a 
 member of the private board or select committee, 
 appointed by the general Board of British Cathohcs." 
 Dr. Milxer upon this read up the following Pro- 
 test : " My Brief Memorial was published, not on 
 behalf of the present company of 65 persons, nor of 
 their constituents, they not being chosen to represent 
 any other Cathohcs, nor does it profess to speak their 
 sentiments. In short, I have spoken and acted on 
 behalf of thirty Bishops, and of more than five miUions 
 of Cathohcs, whom the Bill concerns, and whose reli- 
 gious business I am authorised to transact." He then 
 calmly moved to the door, and with his hand on the 
 handle, pronounced these memorable words, as the 
 writer has often heard him relate : " You may expel 
 me from this Board : but I hope you will not turn me 
 out of the Catholic Church, nor exclude me from the 
 kincrdom of heaven." Thus was a venerable Cathohc 
 Bishop dehberately insuhed by a body of CathoUc 
 laymen. A more disgraceful proceeding is hardly to
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. '237 
 
 be found in the history of the Church. " A Society 
 of CathoHcs, acknowledging their Bishops to be the 
 divinely constituted judges and guardians of their 
 religion, publicly insult and persecute a Bishop for 
 doing his duty."* His conduct on that memorable 
 occasion has been described to the writer by one who 
 was present, as the grandest feature of Dr. Milner's 
 career. The meeting was popularly called at the time 
 " The Milner baiting." " K," said the gentleman al- 
 luded to, " I ever witnessed a manifestation of heroic 
 fortitude inspired by religion, it was upon that occa- 
 sion." 
 
 But the injured Prelate was very soon triumphantly 
 vindicated, and the insult offered him indignantly 
 resented. For on that very day, and at the same hour, 
 the venerable hierarchy of twenty-seven Bishops in Ire- 
 land, assembled in synod, were passing a vote of appro- 
 bation of their faithful agent, in these remarkable 
 terms : " Eesolved, that the Et. Rev. Dr. John 
 Milner, Bishop of Castabala, our vigilant, incorruptible 
 agent, the powerful and unwearied champion of the 
 Catholic rehgion, continues to possess our esteem, our 
 confidence, and our gratitude." On the same day also, 
 the Irish Catholic Board met, and thanked their Pre- 
 lates for condemning the Bill, which they rejoiced 
 had been lost ; and on the 15th of June, an aggregate 
 meeting of Irish Catholics passed a resolution of warm 
 approbation and gratitude to Dr. Milner, "for his 
 manly, upright and conscientious opposition" to the 
 late Bill. This vote of thanks was moved by Mr. 
 O'Connell. The whole assembly rose, all hats were 
 waved with loud demonstrations of applause, and the 
 
 * Dr. M.'s " Sup. Mem.," p. 212.
 
 238 LIFE OF BISHOP MZLISTER. ['SIS. 
 
 ladies waved their handkerchiefs and curtsied in token 
 of approbation. Similar votes of thanks to Dr. Milner 
 were passed at numerous meetings in Ireland. Nor 
 were they confined to that country ; for he received an 
 address of thanks from Liverpool, with upwards of 4,000 
 signatures. The most important and valuable act of all, 
 however, was the following decision of the whole Irish 
 hierarchy assembled in Dublin, May 26 : " We feel 
 ourselves bound to declare, that certain ecclesiastical 
 clauses or securities therein contained (that is, in the 
 Bill) are utterly incompatible with the discipline of the 
 Ro manCathohc Church, and with the free exercise of 
 our rehgion. That we cannot, without incurring the 
 heavy guilt of Schism^ accede to such regulations.'"* 
 With such approbation and support, the venerable 
 Bishop might well console himself under the puny 
 attempts of a few lay persons to discredit and disgrace 
 him. They only tended in reality to give him fresh 
 courage and resolution, and increase his vigilance and 
 fidelity as a pastor of God's holy Church : " Civitas est, 
 vigilate ad custodiam ; sponsa est, studete ornatui ; oves 
 sunt, intendite pastui."f 
 
 One of the most extraordinary expedients resorted 
 to at this time to humour the Protestant party, and 
 render them more favourable to Catholic Emancipa- 
 tion, was the formation of a Catholic Bible Society ; 
 announcing, as Dr. Milner observed, " in its very 
 title a departure from the Catholic RuU\of FaithrX 
 
 * " Pastoral Address of the Roman Catholic Prelates." Resolu- 
 tions I. and II. 
 
 t It is a city, watch for its custody ; she is a spouse, study to 
 adorn her ; they are sheep, attend to their pasture. — S. Bernard, 
 Sermon 56 on the Canticle. 
 
 + '' Sup. Mem.," p. 239.
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. 239 
 
 On the 8th of March, 1813, a meeting of Cathohc 
 laymen resolved that it was highly desirable to have a 
 subscription for a gratuitous distribution of the Holy 
 Scriptures. On the '27th, however, having found that 
 they had invaded the province of their ecclesiastical 
 superiors, they invited the Bishops to become patrons 
 of the Society. Dr. Poynter's respectable name ap- 
 pears often in their proceedings ; but there is no evi- 
 dence of his having become a patron : he may, as Dr. 
 MiLNER, suggests, have become so, however, with the 
 view of keeping the Society in order. As to Dr. 
 MiLNER, he rejected every invitation made to him to 
 be in any way connected with this unheard of institu- 
 tion ; and immediately printed and circulated among 
 his clergy instructions concerning the Bible in general, 
 which he afterwards made public. " Who could have 
 imagined," he says, in these instructions, " that Catho- 
 lics, grounded upon quite opposite principles, should 
 nevertheless show a disposition to follow the example 
 of Protestants, in this particular ; by forming them- 
 selves also into Bible Societies and contributinsf their 
 money for putting the mysterious letter of God's Word 
 into the hands of the illiterate poor, instead of educat- 
 ing clergymen, even in the present distressing scarcity 
 of clergy, to expound the sense of that word to 
 them ?"* He then proceeds to lay down maxims 
 against the promiscuous reading of the Bible, for the 
 guidance of the clergy, whom he warns not to coun- 
 tenance the chstribution of Bibles or Testaments 
 among the very illiterate of their flocks, as proper 
 initiatory books of instruction. There was, however, 
 
 * "Pastoral Charge," 1813 — Part II. " Sup. Mem.," Appen- 
 dix H. " Orthodox Journal," 1813, p. 131.
 
 240 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 as it happily turned out, very little danger of gra- 
 tuitous distribution ; for all that the Society produced 
 was a stereot\^e New Testament, very incorrect, with 
 very few notes, and without the usual separation of 
 the verses into paragraphs ; and this was offered for 
 sale in boards at a higher price than the common 
 Catholic edition bound. It appeared prefaced with 
 an Address written by Dr. Poynter, at the end of 
 which he represents the object of the English Catholic 
 Board to be, " to raise a fund to print and circulate, 
 at a very cheap rate, an approved edition of the 
 Catholic version of the Sacred Scriptures in English^ 
 especially of the New Testament, with notes."* 
 
 Bishop Milner always steadily opposed this un- 
 Cathohc scheme. "Whatever other Prelate," he said, 
 " may connive at these proceedings, contrary to his 
 expressed conviction, the undersigned Prelate hereby 
 once more enters his solemn and public protest against 
 them."f He was by no means satisfied by the deter- 
 mination of adding short notes ; for " the expedient," 
 he said, " is evidently inadequate to its intended pur- 
 pose, — and it is evidently impossible to add any notes 
 whatever to the sacred text, which shall make it a 
 safe and proper elementary book of instruction for the 
 illiterate poor."J It hardly needs to be added that 
 the scheme soon fell to the ground : the stereotype Tes- 
 tament soon disappeared, and is now hardly to be met 
 with : the writer, however, possesses a copy. " The 
 plates," Dr. Milner says, " are supposed to have been 
 sold to the pewterers," and the scheme received its 
 
 * Address prefixed to the Stereotype Testament, 1815, p. 7- 
 t " Orth. Joiu-n.," 1813, p. 130. 
 X Ibid.
 
 AGE 61]. CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. 241 
 
 death-blow by the Bull of Pope Pius VII. to the 
 Primate of Poland, dated June 29, 1816, condemning 
 Bible Societies, in these words : " We have been truly 
 shocked at this most crafty device, by which the very 
 foundations of rehgion are undermined."* 
 
 In the months of July and August, 1813, Dr. 
 Melner visited the Eastern portion of his District, 
 after giving Confirmation previously at Caverswall 
 Castle, and at Bloxwich. He confirmed at Oxborough 
 Hall, Cossey, Norwich, Thelton, Bury St. Edmunds, 
 Coldham, and Sawston Hall ; and in November he 
 confirmed at Sedgley Park. 
 
 In June, 1813, a singular scheme was devised by 
 certain Protestants, chiefly Dissenters, to educate poor 
 Irish Catholic children in schools, on the principle of 
 excluding all catechisms and books of religious instruc- 
 tion, except the Bible without note or comment. A 
 school of this description was opened June 27th, 
 under a master named Finigan, an apostate Irish 
 Catholic. In the list of subscribers appeared, to the 
 astonishment of all Catholics, the name of Charles 
 Butler, Esq., as a donor of Two Pounds towards the 
 " Irish Cathohc School" in St, Giles's in the Fields.f 
 That gentleman endeavoured to obtain the sanction of 
 Dr. Poynter, the Vicar Apostolic of the London Dis- 
 trict, for these Bible Schools, but he laboured in vain. 
 His Lordship refused all countenance to a scheme so 
 glaringly anti-Catholic. Dr. Milner, it may be well 
 conceived, opposed it with his wonted zeal and deter- 
 
 * See Translation of the Bull in the " CathoHcon," Vol. V. 
 p. 102. 
 
 f See " First Annual Report" — List of Subscribers at the end. 
 
 R
 
 242 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 mination ; and, to use his own expression, " the plot 
 exploded prematurely."* 
 
 At the end of October in this year, there was a 
 meeting of Bishops held at the house of the Vicar 
 Apostolic of the Northern District, Dr. Gibson. It 
 was attended by two other English Vicars Apostolic, 
 and Dr. Smith, coadjutor to Dr. Gibson ; also by the 
 two Vicars Apostolic of Scotland, Dr. Cameron of the 
 Lowland District, and Dr. John Chisholm of the 
 Highland. Dr. Milner was not only not invited to 
 this episcopal meeting, but purposely excluded from 
 it ; which exclusion he felt very sensibly, and strongly 
 protested against. The meeting seems to have been 
 projected by Dr. Poynter, and the Prelates invited as 
 early as August. When Dr. Melxer complained to 
 Dr. Gibson that he had not been summoned, that 
 Prelate answered that he, the Senior Vicar Apostolic, 
 had not summoned the meeting, but that certain Pre- 
 lates had signified that they were coming to pay him a 
 visit, and that he could not refuse their company. At 
 the same time he assured Dr. Milner that he had no 
 objection whatever to his attendance. One of the 
 Scotch Bishops, Dr. Chisholm, had expressed his 
 sincere wish for Dr. Milner's attendance, was much 
 disappointed at not finding him there, and inquired 
 why he had not been invited ; but he received no 
 exphcit answer.f It was a suspicious circumstance 
 that the so named Catholic Board had engaged to pay 
 the expenses of the Prelates who attended this meet- 
 ing ; though this engagement was not entirely fulfilled, 
 
 * See Dr. M.'s account of the Bible Schools in " Supp. Mem.," 
 p. 246 ; also his Letter in the " Orth. Journal," 1814, p. 135, 
 t " Sup. Mem.," p. 216, note.
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. 243 
 
 for Dr. Chisholm complained that he was out of 
 pocket.* 
 
 Dr. Milner wrote at the opening of this meeting, 
 to claim his right to speak and judge in it : he also 
 " lodged a regular canonical protest against the assem- 
 bly, as a packed one, or as divines call it, a con- 
 ciliabulum^ and against all the acts of it as null and 
 void."f It was alleged that a meeting of three Vicars 
 Apostolic, without Dr. Thomas Talbot, of the Midland 
 District, had been held in 1793 ; but Dr. Milner 
 who had been present as a theologian at that meeting, 
 could testify that the absent Prelate had been sum- 
 moned to it. Dr. Poynter, in his " Apologetic Epis- 
 tle^' defends himself by contending that the right 
 claimed by Dr. Milner cannot be proved by any 
 principle of canon law applicable to assemblies of 
 Vicars Apostolic, who are equal among themselves, 
 independent of each other, and subject to no metropo- 
 litan. Hence he denies that the meeting could be 
 justly styled a packed council or conciliahulum. 
 He gives as the reasons for not inviting Dr. Milner, 
 that one of the Vicars Apostolic (Dr. Collingridge) 
 absolutely refused to meet him, — that he had in 
 former meetings been arbitrary and oifensive ; and 
 that he had published mutilated and untrue accounts 
 of the transactions of former meetings. With refe- 
 rence to these charges it must be observed that 
 Dr. Milner was aware of similar accusations made 
 against him, and thus noticed them in an article 
 in the " Orthodox Journal^' dated December 16, 
 1813. " It has been," he says, " industriously 
 
 * " Supp. Mem.," p. 215, note., 
 
 t " Encyclical Letter," Nov. 22nd, 1813.
 
 244 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNEB-. [IBin. 
 
 circulated from one end of the island to the other, and 
 as effectually published as if it had been printed in the 
 Gazette, that the writer had been accustomed to 
 domineer and lose his temper in former assemblies of 
 this nature, and that he has betrayed confidential 
 secrets. To these two calumnies the writer answers, 
 that neither the author, nor any respectable propagator 
 of them, will think it prudent to discuss the truth of 
 them with him, either through the press, or through 
 private correspondence ; and he lievehj pledges his 
 character to refute them both by undeniable facts., if 
 either of these offers is accepted of."* Dr. Poynter adds 
 that he himself had no objection to Dr. Milneh's being 
 present, but that it did not please the other Bishops 
 that he should be invited. f Now, this leaves only 
 Drs. ColHngridge, Cameron, and Smith, as objectors ; 
 for we have already seen that Drs. Gibson and 
 Chisholm were not adverse to Dr. Milker's attend- 
 ance ; and it can hardly be supposed that Dr. Smith 
 would differ on the subject from his principal, Dr. 
 Gibson : so that two only of the Bishops probably 
 objected, and perhaps only one, the V.A. of the 
 Western District. 
 
 Granting, however, that Dr. Milner went too far 
 in applying to a meeting of Vicars Apostolic those 
 rules of canon law which refer only to canonical 
 synods of Bishops in ordinary, he had still ample 
 cause to complain of being excluded. For his exclu- 
 sion was contrary to all former precedent since 
 England had been governed by Yicars Apostohc ; it 
 
 * Dr. IMiLNEu's Historical Account of the English Catholic 
 Boaril— See « Orthodox Journal," 1813, p. 267. 
 t Dr. Poynter's " Apologetical Epistle," No. 40. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 61] CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. 245 
 
 was a pointed and personal slight ; and could hardly 
 fail to be connected in the view of the public with his 
 recent expulsion from the Select Committee of the 
 Board, and lead to the conclusion that he was equally 
 discarded by his ecclesiastical brethren. 
 
 The Prelates who had attended this meeting at 
 Durham, issued Pastoral Instructions after it, chiefly 
 on the late Bill and the Fifth Resolution. That of 
 Dr. .Gibson was dated Oct. 27, and Dr. Poynter 
 professed to adopt the same, and pubhshed it for his 
 District, Nov. 17 following. Dr. Milner expressed 
 his belief, however, that Dr. Poynter was the original 
 composer of the Pastoral ; and it is remarkable that 
 though Dr. P. complained of this insinuation, he never 
 denied its truth.* Dr. Milner followed with an 
 " Encyclical Letter^' dated Nov. 22, 1813, addressed 
 to the Catholics of the Midland District, but not 
 intended to be read publicly from the altar. The 
 Letter is of considerable length. He complains of his 
 exclusion from the late meeting at Durham, and 
 protests against it. He considers the joint Pastoral of 
 Bishops Gibson and Poynter as the signal of re- 
 newed hostility against himself, and a fresh attack 
 upon the unanimous decision of the Irish Bishops 
 against the Fifth Resolution^ which it even renews 
 and eulogises. He finds it necessary to repeat the 
 history and progress of vetoistical arrangements, which 
 has been already referred to, and partially quoted in a 
 preceding portion of this biography. As the Pastoral 
 of the two Prelates professes to explain and justify 
 the Fifth Resolution^ Dr. Milner proceeds again to 
 discuss the terms of it, — to inquire in what sense it 
 
 ■^ '' Apologetical Epistle," No. 38.
 
 246 LIFE OF BISHOP MELNER. [1813. 
 
 was understood by Parliament, — and in what sense it 
 was originally understood by the three Prelates who 
 eventually signed it. 
 
 From two other points in the joint Pastoral, Dr. 
 MiLNER expresses his conscientious dissent. One 
 is the indiscriminate praise bestowed in it upon the 
 laity, for " the Christian and Catholic sentiments, 
 which they have uniformly proclaimed," and for " their 
 willingness to refer all terms of Emancipation of a 
 religious nature to the judgment and decision of their 
 pastors." " These," he says, " and similar praises 
 contained in the Pastoral will most unquestionably be 
 considered, both by the public at large and by the parties 
 themselves, as applying to those leading and acting 
 English Catholics who first under the name oi Protest- 
 ing Catholic Dissenters^ endeavoured to force a hete- 
 rodox oath upon the Catholic body, and who next, 
 under that of the Cis- Alpine Club, professed to re- 
 strain the Usurpation of the Pope, and the tyranny 
 of the V.V.A., and who lastly, having formed them- 
 selves into a Board of Finance, have laboured to 
 give securities to the Established Protestant Church, 
 and lately advertised against me in the most affronting 
 terms for saving them from the actual guilt of schism." 
 He goes on to enumerate the many instances in which 
 several Catholic noblemen and gentlemen had acted 
 very inconsistently with Catholic principles, such as 
 the condemned Oath, the schismatical Protest, and 
 other matters of the Blue Book controversy ; and 
 asks if they have consulted their Bishops upon any 
 one petition, address, or resolution involving ecclesias- 
 tical questions for the last ten years. 
 
 The second point in the Pastoral against which 
 Dr. Milner protests is, its language respecting the 
 
 I
 
 AGE Gl.] CHAPTEll THIRTEENTH. 247 
 
 schismatical Bill so recently rejected by Parliament. 
 " True it is," he says, speaking of the two Prelates, 
 " that now, six months after that Bill had been 
 defeated, under God, by the Irish Bishops and myself, 
 they proclaim their ' sorrow that it contained restric- 
 tions, which,' they say, ' we cannot give our approba- 
 tion or consent to, and which a British subject would 
 feel a natural repugnance to submit to. But is this 
 the proper character of a Bill, which the assembled 
 Prelates of Ireland have pronounced, and which I, who 
 am also a Judge in Israel^ have publicly proved to be 
 repugnant to the Catholic discipline, and which could 
 not be consented to ' without the heavy guilt of 
 schism ?' Is this cold disapprobation of a darling 
 project, on the part of Vicars Apostolic, an effectual 
 way of preventing violent men from pursuing it, who 
 have solemnly protested ' against the right of Vicars 
 Apostolic to condemn an oath or other measure, which 
 they take upon themselves to say is of a spiritual 
 nature, without the specification of the particular mat- 
 ter objected to, or showing the ground of their cen- 
 sure ?' {Mediators Buff Book, p. 22.f Dr.Poynter, 
 in his '"'■ Apologetical JEpistle, No. 48,'' lays hold of 
 the expression above, — " a Judge in Israel,'' as if 
 Dr. Milner had thereby set himself up above his col- 
 leagues. It is evident that he meant nothing of the 
 kind, but alluded to his concurrent judgment with 
 that of the whole hierarchy of Ireland, and pointedly 
 to his late exclusion from the meeting of the other 
 Vicars Apostolic at Durham, where he had an equal 
 right with them to be present, and to be " a Judge in 
 Israel" 
 
 Dr. Milner concludes his " Encyclical Letter" in 
 strong and feeling terms. "Instead," he says, " of be-
 
 248 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 stowing indiscriminate praise upon the whole of his flock 
 for their late conduct, he (Dr. M.) is bound in duty to 
 admonish some of the most distinguished amongst them, 
 that but for his pastoral efforts and those of the Irish 
 Prelates, under God, they would by this time have 
 ceased to be Catholics ; and that if they are for ever 
 happy with God, as he prays and labours they may be, 
 they will, during eternity, thank him for that conduct 
 for which they now persecute him." 
 
 It is proper to consider what portions of this 
 " Encyclical Letter'" were complained of by Dr. 
 Poynter, in the " Apologetical Epistle'' which he 
 drew up at Rome, March 15, 1815. He complained 
 that Dr. Milner attacked the Pastoral of another 
 Bishop over whom he had no jurisdiction. But 
 assuredly every Bishop has a right to guard his flock 
 against what he judges to be dangerous principles, or 
 unsound expositions put forth by any of his episcopal 
 brethren. Dr. Poynter complained that his Pastoral 
 was " contemptuously called a circular letter :" a 
 charge puerile as well as unreasonable. For though 
 Dr. Milner did once call it " a circular letter," it is 
 evident that he did so, if not accidentally, certainly 
 not " contemptuously ;" for when he had occasion 
 afterwards to name it, he called it " Pastoral Letter," 
 or simply " Pastoral." It is beyond question that he 
 meant no incivility by the expression, for he speaks 
 of this very " Encyclical Letter'' of his own, as a 
 " circular letter. "* Other charges of Dr. Poynter's 
 have been already disposed of : but it remains to be 
 noticed that Dr. Poynter denies and proclaims to be 
 most false the assertion of Dr. Milner that the meet- 
 
 * See Lis Letter in the " Orthodox Journal," 1814, page 52. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. 249 
 
 ing at Durham was " known to have been suggested 
 and planned by certain English lay Catholics, in order 
 to furnish a sanction or pretext for concessions to the 
 Established Church, as a foundation for a fresh Bill to 
 be presented to Parliament by them." Dr. Milner 
 certainly gave no proofs of this alleged fact : but it is 
 most probable that he had good grounds for his asser- 
 tion ; particularly when it is remembered that as early 
 as August 13, a leading layman, Mr. Charles Butler, 
 was fully aware of the intended meeting ; for that is 
 the date of a letter which he addressed to Dr. 
 Poynter, beginning with these words : " Understand- 
 ing your Lordship is likely soon to meet Dr. Gibson, 
 Dr. Collingridge, and Dr. Smith, I beg leave to 
 trouble your Lordship and them with the follow- 
 ing declaration."* Dr. Milner had said in his 
 " Encyclical Letter"" that Dr. Poynter — though he 
 did not name him — held a pension at the will of 
 certain laymen, raised for him soon after he had signed 
 the Fifth Resolution. This Dr. Poynter denies, and 
 explains that the fund for the support of the V. A. of 
 the London District was collected in the time of Dr. 
 Douglass, that he himself was never consulted about 
 it, and that it had no connexion with the Fifth Reso- 
 lution. The last assertion of Dr. Milner of which 
 Dr. Poynter complains, is that "a principal business of 
 the Episcopal Meeting, was to renew that fatal Fifth 
 Resolution^ in op])osition to the decisions of the 
 Catholic Prelates of Ireland, Sept. 14, 1808, and Feb. 
 26, 1810. But Dr. Milner retracted this assertion 
 in these words : " The writer owns himself to have 
 
 * '' Hist. Mem.," Appendix, p. 516, and C. Butler's " Memorial 
 to Card. Fontana," § VII. In botli it is strangely mibdated 1811, 
 instead of 1813.
 
 250 LIEE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 been mistaken. He is now satisfied that this dis- 
 astrous measure was the spontaneous deed of the pro- 
 poser of it, to cover the momentary weakness of a few, 
 by the dehberate, though forced act of many. — Alas!"* 
 
 Thus had Dr. Milner to defend single-handed the 
 sacred interests of religion in England, and to struggle 
 for the safety of Catholic discipline in the face of open 
 persecution on the part even of those who should have 
 fought resolutely at his side. Nevertheless he went 
 on, and never lost courage. "Thus deserted," he 
 said, " assailed and wounded as I am in the most 
 sensible part, by the natural friends of the Church, 
 after having for these twenty-five years past combated 
 her declared enemies, I nevertheless will not yield to 
 dejection of spirits ; for I am conscious of having still 
 not only a good, but also a clearly victorious cause, "f 
 
 He was nobly and powerfully supported, however, 
 by the twenty-nine Prelates of Ireland, in a Synodical 
 Epistle, dated November 12, 1813, and addressed to 
 Cardinal de Pietro, then Prefect of the Propaganda. 
 This Epistle is given in the original Latin, by Dr. 
 Milner in the Appendix to his " Supplementary 
 Memoirs;'"' it being, as he observes, "too precious 
 and luminous a monument of the ecclesiastical history 
 of this age and comitry, to be omitted." This Epistle 
 of the Irish Bishops was occasioned by a Letter from 
 the Pro-prefect of the Congregation, Mgr. Quaran- 
 totti, to Dr. Milner, February 15, 1813, containing 
 various complaints which had been forwarded to 
 him from England against the worthy Prelate, and 
 detailed in his " Explanation with Dr. Poynter^' 
 
 * Additional Notes to " Supp. Mem.," p. 334. 
 f " Encyclical Letter," towards the beginning.
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER THIRTEENTH. 251 
 
 already noticed. Dr. Milner was the agent of the 
 Irish Bishops, his cause was theirs, and they nobly came 
 forward now in his vindication. They explain to His 
 Eminence the real character and tendency of the 
 Fifth Resolution ; and show how its real meaning 
 became manifestly developed in the Bill of the pre- 
 ceding May, which they designate as evidently 
 schismatical. They observe that the other Vicars 
 Apostolic were so far from opposing this " profane 
 Bill" that they seemed rather to connive at and pro- 
 mote it, and even induce the Catholic laity to accept 
 it. " But, by the mercy of God, by the opposition of 
 our Bishops, and the exertions of Dr. Milner, beyond 
 all expectation, our Churches were saved for this time."* 
 They then go on to explain, in the clearest terms, 
 the affair of the Abbe Trevaux, and commend Dr. 
 Milner' s opposition to his being restored to his spiri- 
 tual faculties without any retractation ; observing that 
 Dr. Milner had opposed the Blanchardists, as he had 
 done the other enemies of the Holy See, for the last 
 twenty years. They refer to their own remonstrances 
 with the Vicar Apostolic of the London District, Dr. 
 Douglass, in the case of Trevaux, and to the evasive 
 and unsatisfactory answers which they received, and 
 refer his Eminence in conclusion, for further informa- 
 tion on these matters, to the several Letters written 
 by the Archbishop of Dublin to Mgr. Quarantotti, and 
 to the more copious writing {fusiori calamo) of Dr. 
 
 * " Huic profange legi adeo non obstiterunt , 
 
 quin potius, a D. Milner ad resistendum invitati, eidem per conni- 
 
 ventiam suffragari videbantur, Catholicosque laicos 
 
 ad earn amplectandara incitare. Verum Dei miseratione, obsistenti- 
 bus episcoporura nostrorum et D. Mihier couatibus, prseter omnium 
 expectationem, salva? factai sunt Ecclesite nostra; pro Lac vice."
 
 252 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 MiLNER in his " Explanatioyi with Dr. Poynter''' in 
 the month of March, 1812, printed, but not published* 
 which they are aware had been received by Cardinal 
 della Sommagha. 
 
 Dr. Milner finished this year, 1813, with an able 
 and lucid history of the English Catholic Board, in a 
 Letter which appeared in the " Orthodox Jour7ial for 
 December." He wrote this in consequence of articles 
 which had appeared in that journal from two writers 
 unknown to him, on the important subject of inquiry 
 for English Catholics, that of their internal economy 
 and governing power. Having traced the history of 
 Catholic affairs through the several periods of the 
 First Committee for five years, — the Cisalpine Club^ 
 for the avowed purpose of " resisting the usurpation of 
 the Pope, and the tyranny of the Vicars Apostolic," 
 and what may be called the Third English Catholic 
 Dynasty^ the existing Catholic Board, first set on 
 foot in 1807, and more fully organised in 1809, he 
 savs : " Having furnished the Catholic public with 
 this mass of information, — in doing which, should the 
 writer have made any mistake, he will readily correct 
 it, on its being pointed out to him, — concerning its 
 vital interests, he leaves it either to support the Board 
 with its votes and secret service money, or openly to 
 oppose it in the manner one of your correspondents 
 points out ; or what the writer thinks the preferable 
 plan, to reform those undeniable abuses in the Boards 
 which are here pointed out." 
 
 * It is extraordinary that Dr. Poynter in his " Apologetical 
 Epistle," No. 42, speaks of Dr. Milner's "Explanation," as 
 having been published on the 25th of March, 1812, whereas' it 
 never was published at all. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTEE FOURTEENTH. 253 
 
 CHAPTER FOUETEENTH. 
 
 REVIEW OF DR. MILNER's LABOURS IN THE EVENTFUL YEAR 
 
 1813, AND OF HIS OPEN, STRAIGHTFORWARD CONDUCT HIS 
 
 LETTER ON CATHOLIC AFFAIRS, — LETTER TO THE HONBLE. 
 ROBERT CLIFFORD ON THE VETO. — LETTER IN ANSWER TO 
 THE REV. N, GILBERT ON THE TRACT CALLED THE PRINCIPLES 
 OF CATHOLICS. — LETTER ON THE NEW PETITION OF THE 
 CATHOLIC BOARD. 
 
 Having at length finished the occurrences of the most 
 eventful year of Dr. Milner's episcopacy, the year 
 1813, we may pause to consider how much that in- 
 comparable Prelate accomplished within that year, 
 how much he endured, how much he wTote, how much 
 he laboured, and how signally he triumphed. Sincerely 
 desirous of peace and union, he laboured strenuously 
 for both at the pacificatory meeting early in the year, 
 at the house of Lord Clifford, and wrote his " Midtum 
 in Parvo'' with the same object, and with marked 
 success. Anxious to secure his flock against the wolf, 
 whether disguised in sheep's clothing, or appearing in 
 open hostility, he wrote an elaborate and most impor- 
 tant " Pastoral Letter on tlie Jurisdiction of the 
 Catholic Church.,'' in Three Parts, containing al- 
 together eighty-one octavo pages. To defeat the 
 dangerous and schismatical Bill introduced into Par- 
 liament, he hastened to London, and printed his 
 '"''Brief Memorials He endured with dignified 
 equanimity his expulsion from the select committee of 
 the Catholic Board, which will for ever brand its con- 
 trivers with disgrace ; and received in reparation votes
 
 254 LIFE OF BISHOP MK^NEK. [1813. 
 
 of thanks and approval from the whole of the assem- 
 bled hierarchy of Ireland, from numerous public meet- 
 ings in that country, and from a very large meeting of 
 Catholics in Liverpool. Never neglecting the duty of 
 pastoral vigilance, he condemned the Catholic Bible 
 Society, and the proselytising Bible Schools. He 
 circulated among his clergy an admirable " Encyclical 
 Letter''' after his unjust exclusion from the Meeting of 
 Bishops at Durham ; and wrote also a very able and 
 interesting Historical Account of the Catholic Board. 
 These, with pastoral Visitations and Confirmations in 
 various parts of his District, and some Ordinations, 
 filled up the course of Dr. Milner's labours in this 
 memorable year. 
 
 It is impossible not to admire the bold, open, 
 straightforward character of Dr. Milner's writings 
 and conduct through the whole of these transactions, 
 when contrasted with the timid and evasive policy of 
 his three episcopal colleagues. How efficacious, and 
 how edifying would have been their joint concurrence 
 in opposing openly and manfully those dangerous 
 measures which Dr. Milner was left to combat almost 
 single-handed in England, though with the powerful 
 support of the venerable Irish Bishops ; presenting as 
 they did at that time the spectacle of almost the sole 
 unbroken hierarchy in the Catholic Church. But Dr. 
 Milner went on his way, undaunted, courageous and 
 confiding. He never knew what it was to fear danger, 
 or shrink from labour: but to spend himself and to be 
 spent in the cause of his Divine Master was his joy, 
 his glory and his crown. 
 
 St. JohnChrysostom declares faith to be the " source 
 of justice, the head of sanctity, the beginning of devo- 
 tion, the foundation of religion, without which no one
 
 AGE 61.] CHAPTER FOURTEEKTH. 255 
 
 ever deserved the enjoyment of God, no one ever 
 ascended to the summit of perfection :"* and Dr. 
 MiLNER developed his own possession of this essential 
 virtue in the most striking manner. He guarded the 
 sacred deposit of faith with the flaming sword of the 
 seraph at the gates of paradise, and the shield of the great 
 archangel guardian of Christ's Church, the victorious 
 Michael. He has been often compared to St. Jerom, 
 and certainly he might have said, like that great doctor 
 of the Church : " I own that I have never spared 
 heretics, and have used every endeavour that the ene- 
 mies of the Church should become also my enemies."f 
 It was his great trial and affliction, however, to have 
 adversaries within the Church, and to be deprived of 
 the confidence and cooperation of his episcopal bre- 
 thren. Yet while conscientiously pursuing that course 
 which he was bound in duty to follow, he was always 
 ready to bear testimony to the merits of his opponents. 
 Thus, in his " Letter of Thanks to Mr. Wilberforce, 
 he testifies to his three episcopal brethren having held 
 the Bill of 1813 " to be unlawful, and rejoiced at its 
 failure." He even quotes from the Pastoral of Bps. 
 Gibson and Poynter, two passages, in which they 
 declare that they cannot give their approbation, or con- 
 sent to " restrictions, which control the exercise of the 
 powers of the Pope in spiritual matters."! In like 
 manner he inserts at full length in his " Supplemen- 
 tary Memoir s^"" certain Resolutions which were drawn 
 
 * S. Joan. Chuys. Serm. de Fide, Spe et Cliaritate. 
 
 t " Fateor me nunqnam hgereticis pepercisse, et omni egisse 
 studio, ut hostes Ecclesiai, mci quoque hostes ficrent." S. Hieron. 
 1. I. adv. Pelag. 
 
 t " A Letter of Thanks from the R. R, Milner to Wm. Wil- 
 berforce, Esq., M.P.," p. 2.
 
 256 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 up by Dr. Poynter in the year 1817, because, he says 
 of this paper, " its contents are too important, and too 
 creditable to its author, to be omitted in this Supple- 
 ment."* He also testifies that he warmly approves 
 of the general tendency of these Resolutions, and only 
 refrained from signing them till the wording of some 
 of them should be improved, which unhappily led to 
 their being suiFered to fall to the ground. He owns 
 that this was so far his fault ; and an event, which he 
 " has never since ceased to lament, and to reproach 
 himself with, as far as he was the cause of it."f Yet, 
 though these Eesolutions were never published in 
 their original form, the whole of them were, almost 
 word for word, embodied and circulated in a Pastoral 
 by Dr. Collingridge, in the year following, as will be 
 noticed in its proper place. 
 
 So ready, indeed, was this great man to acknow- 
 ledge his faults, that he never hesitated to do so 
 by the lowest acts of humiliation. The following 
 is a remarkable instance. When the Blanchardist 
 schism prevailed so much in London, the Vicars 
 Apostolic were particularly anxious that none of its 
 supporters should receive any attention from the 
 Bishops. Dii. MiLNER was obliged to see a lady on 
 important business, who was considered a partisan 
 of the schismatical Blanchardists. He felt the deli- 
 cacy of the act, and that he should expose himself to 
 misapprehension ; yet he did not see how he could 
 avoid it. Afterwards, on his arrival at Dr. Poynter's 
 house, the moment that he entered the room, the 
 Bishops fell upon him, and reproached him with such 
 earnestness, that, as he said to Dr. Weedall, to whom 
 
 * « Supp. Mem.," p. 249. f Ibid., p. 52.
 
 AGE Gl.] CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. 257 
 
 he related the occurrence : " I did not know what else 
 to do to pacify them, so I fell on my knees and said : 
 I humbly ask your pardon." 
 
 Many opportunities, however, will occur in the course 
 of this biography, of exhibiting to admiration the ster- 
 ling merits and virtues of the immortal Milner. Let 
 us proceed with the records of his labours in the great 
 cause of religion. In the " Orthodox Jouvnar for Janu- 
 ary, 1814, appeared from his indefatigable pen another 
 important Letter of considerable length on Catholic 
 Affairs. It shows the fatal effects of hasty signatures 
 to captious or equivocal propositions,beginning with the 
 famous Protestation^ which was the origin of violent 
 dissension among Catholics, and led to the condemned 
 Oath^ and numerous schismatical and impious publica- 
 tions. The second instance is the unfortunate Fifth 
 Resolution^ of which Dr. Milner recapitulates the 
 history briefly, by way of introduction to some further 
 remarks upon it. The first fatal effect of this was a 
 division among the English Vicars Apostolic, " which 
 all good Catholics so much deplore." The second 
 was a similar disunion between three of the English 
 Bishops and the twenty-nine Prelates of Ireland. 
 The third was the production of the expected fruits 
 of the Fifth Resolution in the schismatical Bill of 
 1813. " To judgej" he says, " from their late Letter" 
 (Drs. Poynter and Collingridge), " published six 
 months after the contest was over, it might be supposed 
 that they had acted a glorious and successful part in 
 saving the common religion ; and that their hapless 
 brother, whom they discard from their councils and 
 their notice, had skulked from the danger : and yet it 
 is notorious that this brother was in the thick of the 
 combat, as the bruises which he still bears on his front 
 
 s
 
 258 LIEE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1814. 
 
 still testify ; and that he called, but called in vain, for 
 the aid of these his two brethren, especially on one 
 memorable occasion, when by a small exertion of cou- 
 rage on their part, they might have had a real claim to 
 a share in the victory."* 
 
 Finally, Dr. Milner dwells on the defence of the 
 Fifth Resolution in the late Pastoral of the two 
 Bishops, Gibson and Poynter, and advances some new 
 and cogent arguments against it. He first gives the 
 contested part of it, word for word, and even step for 
 step ; and then says : " Now, if any intelligent man, un- 
 acquainted with our controversies, be asked, at the 
 present day, what is his sense of this passage, I am 
 confident he will i xpress it to the following effect : — 
 ' I understand by it, that the provisions which Parlia- 
 ment is about to make for securing their own religion 
 against the danger to be apprehended from your 
 Emancipation, are, in your persuasion, perfectly recon- 
 cileable with your tenets and discipline, and that you 
 will concur in maintaining the former, by adapting 
 the latter to the purposes of it.' Now," continues 
 Dr. Milner, " what could be more rash or dangerous 
 in a conscientious Catholic, than to express a convic- 
 tion of this nature, without knowing (we have since 
 learnt them) what these Protestant securities were to 
 he ? On the other hand, what is more sinful in a 
 member of the Catholic religion, than to concur in 
 maintaining another which protests against itf 
 
 He next cites the words of Lord Grenville, from 
 whose Letter to Lord Fingall the Resolution was ex- 
 tracted, — and of Lord Grey on presenting it to the 
 House of Peers, for their sense of the real meaning of 
 
 * " Or thorlox Journal," 1814, p. 27.
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. 259 
 
 the Kesolution, which have been already quoted on 
 this subject : and then examines Dr. Poynter's 
 " glosses, and other scholastic operations in his late 
 Pastoral on the passages in question." He admits 
 Dr. Poynter's argument, that it does not concern us 
 Catholics what provisions the Legislature may make 
 for the maintenance of their Established Church, to be 
 good so far ; that is, provided the Pvesolution had 
 ended there without any pledge of our co-operation^ 
 and provided that we could suppose that Parliament 
 understood us in that sense. " But in good faith, was 
 there no expression, or understanding of a compact^ a 
 conciliation^ or an accommodation on our part, with res- 
 pect to our discipHne, to secure the Protestant religion, 
 as well as on the part of Protestants, with respect to 
 the penal laws, in order to admit Catholics into Parlia- 
 ment ?" 
 
 He further adverts to the assertion in Dr. Poynter s 
 Pastoral, that it exclusively belongs to the Legislature 
 to provide for the maintenance of the Religious Esta- 
 hlishment of this kingdom ; and denounces it as 
 grounded upon the false principle of Erastus and 
 Hobbes, that every government has a right to establish 
 whatever religion it may prefer. But the assertion in 
 the Pastoral, he contends, is evidently false upon 
 Catholic principles^ since it does not belong to the 
 province of any body of men to make provision for 
 the maintenance of a schismatical religious establish- 
 ment, such as that of this kingdom undoubtedly is. 
 Dr. Milner finally points out with remarkable acute- 
 ness how, by disjointing the latter part of the Resolu- 
 tion from the first part. Dr. Poynter has essentially 
 altered it. The Fifth Resolution^ in fact, forms one 
 single sentence, and runs on in a connected tenor.
 
 260 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1814. 
 
 Having expressed the persuasion that provision may 
 be made for maintaining the Protestant religion, con- 
 sistently with the adherence of Catholics to the faith 
 and discipline of their own, it goes on to say in a con- 
 tinuous sentence, that " any arrangement founded on 
 THIS BASIS of mutual security will meet with their 
 grateful concurrence," " which concurrence," observes 
 Dr.Milner, "to the maintenance of a schismatical Esta- 
 blishment, even though our own religion were not 
 thereby injured, it would be unlawful to give. Now, 
 in order to evade or lessen this objection, what does 
 the Letter writer do ? He disjoints the latter part of 
 the Resolution from the former part, making it a dis- 
 tinct sentence ; and he alters the definite clause, this 
 basis of mutual security, into the indefinite clause, 
 THE basis of mutual security. The fact is, there was 
 no reciprocity in the very term of the Resolution, 
 much less in the sense of the parties concerned in it. 
 The Catholics were to be content with this basis of 
 se<:urity, the one which had been described consisting 
 in an adherence to their existing discipline (it being 
 always understood that the efficient Veto, &c., was 
 compatible -with it), whereas Protestants were to make 
 as many new provisions (as they pleased) for the 
 maintenance of their Church, and this by undermining 
 ours, without the possibility of our counteracting them, 
 and even with the obligation of our concurrence with 
 them in the attainment of their object."* 
 
 In the Summer of 1813, a pamphlet was stereotyped 
 and gratuitously circulated, entitled : " The Origin 
 and Progress of the Veto,'' its object being to throw 
 upon the Irish Prelates the odium of having originally 
 
 * " Orthodox Journal," 1814. Number for Januarv. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. 261 
 
 planned the Veto. Dr. Melner refuted this in his 
 " Encyclical Letter'' of Nov. 22, 1813 ; and accused 
 the agents of the Board of having " lately expended a 
 great deal of their subscribers' money in publishing 
 and gratuitously circulating that pamphlet."* In the 
 ensuing December and February, a controversy was 
 carried on between the Hon. Robert Clifford and 
 Dr. Milner in the Press and Globe newspapers on 
 the subject of the Veto ; in the course of which Mr. 
 Clifford declared himself the author of the above men- 
 tioned pamphlet ; and that the expense was not paid 
 by the Board, but by certain individuals. So far Dr. 
 Milner was mistaken ; but the accusation was very 
 unimportant. For, as Dr. Milner asked, " would it 
 then have been unworthy the Board to publish what 
 he himself has published ?" Or " is he prepared to 
 maintain that the Board has not engaged for, and 
 actually paid expenses to a vastly greater amount, and 
 for a purpose of infinitely greater jealousy, within 
 these three months {the Durham meeting), than all 
 the stereotyping is in which he was ever concerned ?" 
 These questions occur in a Letter to the Hon. Robt. 
 Clifford, in the " Ortliodox Journal,'^ for February, 
 1814,in which Dr. Milner discusses the Veto question 
 again, in reference to their correspondence in the news- 
 papers. As Dr. Milner had thus openly acknow- 
 ledged his mistake, it was unjust and ungenerous in Mr. 
 Charles Butler to repeat this as a grave charge against 
 Dr. Milner, which he did in his " Memorial to Car- 
 dinal FontanaJ' March 23, 1822, No. VII, eight years 
 after Dr. Melner had thus retracted it. 
 
 Dr. Milner wrote a Letter in the same number of 
 
 • " Encyclical Letter," p. 2.
 
 262 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1814- 
 
 the Orthodox Journal against two articles which had 
 appeared in that periodical ; the first in the number 
 for Sept. 1813, and the second in that for January, 
 1814. They were both by the same writer, though 
 the first purported to come from the Ghost of Mr. 
 Gother, and the second was signed N. G., the initials 
 of a learned and zealous French priest, the Eev. N. 
 Gilbert. The object of both Letters was to defend 
 the tract called " Roman Catholic Principles'^ and to 
 make it appear that Mr. Gother was the author of it. 
 Dr. Milner had, as we have seen in Chapter Twelfth, 
 censured certain propositions of this tract, and ob- 
 jected to it on various grounds. He proceeded now 
 to notice the two Letters in its defence. The Ghost 
 had alleged that the tract called the Principles^ ^c, 
 was not censured on its first appearance. This the 
 Prelate meets by reminding the Ghost that no one 
 knows when it did first appear ; and that if this was, 
 as alleged, at the end of the reign of Charles II., it 
 was no wonder if it was not censured, since there was 
 then no Bishop, Archpriest, or ecclesiastical superior 
 in the kingdom. And to the further plea of the Ghost 
 that it was not censured when republished by the 
 agents of the Protesting Dissenting- Committee in 
 1791, Dr. Mn.NER, having been the agent of the 
 Vicars Apostolic at that time, affirms that it was con- 
 demned by them, and even stigmatised by their support- 
 ers as the Staffordshire Creed. The second Letter 
 contended that the author of the Principles was the 
 celebrated Mr. Gother. The writer's argument rested 
 on the assertion that Mr. Gother' s work, A Papist 
 misrepresented aiid represented., was first published in 
 168.'!), and that the tract called the Principles was 
 annexed to it. This the Bishop expected at once to
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FOURTEENTH. 263 
 
 demolish by inviting the writer to inspect a quarto 
 edition of the Papist misrepresented^ printed in the 
 year 1665. But from a subsequent Letter in the 
 same Journal, page 110, signed S., and most probably 
 from the pen of the Rev. John Kirk, it is evident that 
 Dr. Milner was mistaken ; that the date, 1665, was 
 a misprint, that the Papist did first appear in 1685, 
 but the Principles in 1680. Still that Mr. Gother 
 was not the author of the Principles is clearly proved 
 by S., who also as clearly shows that the author was a 
 Benedictine monk and abbot, the Eev. James Corker. 
 A correspondent of the " Orthodox Journal " had 
 proposed a meeting, to be held in Birmingham, of the 
 Catholics of the Midland District, to take such steps 
 as the security of our religion might require. The 
 writer highly extolled Dr. Milner, and proposed by 
 such a meeting to do him honour, to prepare a Peti- 
 tion to Parliament, and to consider by what means the 
 self-appointed Board might be opposed. In answer 
 to these Letters and proposals. Dr. Milner wrote a 
 Letter in the number for March, p. 87, in which he 
 mentions that the suggestion had been taken up by 
 Catholics of his District, and that the meeting would 
 have been held, but for his own unwillingness to con- 
 tribute to a division of the Catholic body, until driven 
 to the last extremity. He protests against the assump- 
 tion of the Board to represent the whole body of 
 British Catholics. He then states his objections to 
 the actual Petition adopted by the Board. First, to 
 its restricted ground, since it complains only of want 
 of civil rights and privileges, and says nothing of reli- 
 gious grievances. Secondly/, to the complaints of 
 being deprived of " legitimate objects of amhition ; 
 since for real Christians there could be no legitimate
 
 264 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1814. 
 
 objects of ambition^ that being the worst kind of pride, 
 and a vice the most fatal. Thirdly, to the declara- 
 tion that "their allegiance to the king, and attach- 
 ment to the constitution are unreserved and unqua- 
 lified T because our oaths always make or imply a 
 distinction between submission in matters temporal, 
 and matters spiritual. His fourth and chief objection 
 is to the prayer of the petition, that Parliament will 
 adopt such measures as the honou7xtble House shall 
 deem expedient "They petition," he says, "for 
 relief, and they leave the conditions... to the discretion 
 of an assembly bound to swear hostihties to their reh- 
 gion !" He protests against this, and professes his 
 readiness to prove, that if certain English Ecclesiastics 
 would sincerely and heartily make common cause with 
 the immortal prelacy of Catholic Ireland, and with one 
 hapless brother of theirs, who need not be named, the 
 evil might still be helped, and the Catholic religion in 
 this country be kept secure." 
 
 I
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. 265 
 
 CHAPTEE FIFTEENTH. 
 
 ORDINATION AND CONFIRMATIONS CONVENT AT CAVERSWALL 
 
 CASTLE.— TRAITS OF DR. MILNER's CHARACTER. — LENTEN 
 PASTORAL FOR 1814. — QUARANTOTTl's RESCRIPT. RESOLU- 
 TIONS OF THE IRISH BISHOPS UPON IT. — DR. MILNER's JOURNEY 
 TO ROME. — HIS GRACIOUS RECEPTION BY THE POPE. — HIS 
 MEMORIAL DECLARED SATISFACTORY. — DR. MURRAY's ARRIVAL 
 AT R031E, AND AUDIENCE OF THE POPE WITH DR. MILNER. — 
 REMARKABLE PROOF OF THE POPE's CONFIDENCE IN DR. MILNER. 
 ADDRESS OF THE ENGLISH BOARD TO THE POPE. — DR. MILNER 
 OBTAINS THE POPE's APPROBATION OF HIS SODALITY OF THE 
 
 SACRED HEART, AND SOCIETAS LIBERA RESTORATION OF THE 
 
 SOCIETY OF JESUS DR. MILNER's EXCURSION IN THE APPE- 
 
 NINES, 
 
 On the 6th of April, 1814, Dr. Milner held an 
 Ordination at Wolverhampton, when he promoted to 
 the Holy Order of priesthood the Rev. Henry Weed- 
 all, who subsequently became so distinguished an 
 ornament of the Church in this country, and whose 
 name will for ever be so intimately connected with 
 St. Mary's College of Oscott. The Eev. L. Spam, 
 O.S.B., was ordained priest by him at the same time. 
 In April he confirmed at the venerable old chapel of 
 Black Ladies, for that congregation, and also for that 
 of Long Birch ; and also at the Benedictine Convent 
 at Caverswall Castle. To this secluded s])ot he often 
 retired for a few days, to rest and refresh his spirit, 
 incessantly harassed with the labours and cares of his 
 responsible station. It was his custom, w^lien he went 
 thither on horseback, to alight when he came near to 
 the Castle, and give his blessing to it very solemnly.
 
 266 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1814. 
 
 In like manner he would often, on entering a mansion, 
 salute it in the words of the Gospel and Eitual : " Pax 
 huic do7nui, et omnibus hahitantibus in ea. — Peace 
 be to this house, and to all that dwell therein." The 
 late proprietor of Maple Durham used to relate that 
 he always did this on entering that venerable old 
 Catholic house. He always took a most kind and 
 paternal interest in the convent at Caverswall Castle. 
 There he felt himself in the reviving atmosphere 
 of holiness and religion ; and that he had escaped 
 for a while from the turmoil and distractions of 
 the world. It was often said that to see Dr. Mil- 
 NER in his real character, one should see him at 
 Oscott, or at Caverswall. He was free from restraint, 
 safe from invidious observation, and surrounded by 
 friends in whom he could repose entire confidence. 
 Then all the amiability of his real character came 
 forth. He was neither watched, nor criticised, nor 
 suspected ; and he was easy, cheerful and affable. 
 His conversation was always instructive and edifying ; 
 and on these occasions he had no reserve, but made 
 himself exceedingly agreeable to every one. 
 
 There was a remarkable simplicity about him, which 
 indeed has been observed to accompany many men of 
 great learning and high reputation. The following is 
 an amusing instance. After the eventful battle of 
 Leipsic, in November, 1813, rejoicings aud illumina- 
 tions were general all over England. The town of 
 Wolverhampton was to be illuminated, and the present 
 writer, who was then resident at Sedgley Park, had, 
 with his friend Mr. Foley, executed some transparen- 
 cies for the house of Mr. Jones, the respected father 
 of five priests. One of these especially amused the 
 people in the streets when lighted up, being inscribed
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. 267 
 
 " Leipsic Races," and representing Napoleon flying 
 before a Cossack. The writer was sitting in Mr. 
 Jones' parlour, having just brought the transparencies 
 from Sedgley Park, with Mr. Foley, when Dr. Mu^ner 
 came in, and expressed a wish that some one would 
 write or print for him, on a sheet of paper, just large 
 enough for a single pane of the centre window of his 
 house, these appropriate words from Isaias, xiv. 4 — 
 " Hoy^ hath the oppressor ceased r His idea was 
 merely to have it inscribed in black letters : indeed he 
 brought a sheet of paper in his hand, on which he had 
 already marked it out in his own fashion in printed 
 characters, very awkwardly formed. The present writer 
 suggested that in black letters it w^ould not be seen ; 
 and offered to make the inscription transparent, which 
 he proceeded to do by pasting together a few sheets of 
 brown paper, forming the words in large printed letters, 
 then cutting them out, and pasting at the back some 
 thin paper, coloured with yellow ochre and oiled. 
 Thus prepared, the inscription came out brightly wdien 
 a light was placed behind the paper. While the writer 
 was busily employed upon the transparency, with his 
 face bent down upon his work, the good Bishop did 
 not perceive who he was, though he knew him well, 
 and taking Mr. Jones aside, asked him in a whisper 
 what that man would require to be paid for his trouble. 
 Mr. Jones laughed, and said: " Don't you know him, 
 my Lord, it's Mr. llusenbeth ?" The Bishop was 
 much amused at his mistake, thanked the writer most 
 graciously for what he termed his clever contrivance, 
 and when it was finished, insisted on carrying it home 
 in his hand. It appeared illuminated in his window, 
 and the appropriateness of the inscription was greatly 
 admired. But so intent was his great mind upon the
 
 268 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1814. 
 
 text which he had chosen, that he was httle sohcitous 
 how it might be best exhibited, and any humble con- 
 trivance would have satisfied him. The worthy Mr. 
 Jones died on the 14th of May, 1816. 
 
 Great as had been the labours and trials of Dr. 
 MiLNER during the last eventful year, fresh toils and 
 troubles awaited him in the year 1814. In his Lenten 
 Pastoral, he alluded to the severe judgment of " the 
 diminution or withdrawing of the light and grace of 
 God, as also of the essential benefits of our holy reli- 
 gion ; and finally of the true and sacred religion 
 
 itself In fact," he continued, "how great 
 
 is the danger of this with respect to ourselves, in the 
 time and circumstances in which we are placed ! 
 When we addressed you at the approach of the last 
 Lent, we were led to believe and inform you, that all 
 the leading members of our holy religion were then 
 resolved not to risk the loss of it in the smallest 
 degree, for any temporal advantage whatsoever ; but, 
 alas ! succeeding events too soon proved that we were 
 deceived ourselves, and that we misinformed you in 
 this important particular." At the conclusion, he 
 exhorted the faithful to pray with suitable fervour for 
 liberation from captivity of the holy confessor, Pope 
 Pius VII. " At present," he said, " we have the 
 brightest prospect through the divine mercy, which 
 has put the most powerful engines in motion, chiefly, 
 perhaps, for these very purposes, that our ardent hopes 
 may be very soon verified, and our long continued 
 prayers granted." 
 
 The partisans of the schismatical Bill of 1813, cha- 
 grined at its failure, and still eager for it to pass at 
 least this year, were anxious above all things to obtain 
 some approval of it from the Holy See. The Pope
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. 269 
 
 was then the prisoner of Buonaparte at Fontainbleau ; 
 but it was thought that the Secretary;;|of the Propa- 
 ganda, Monsignor Quarantotti, might be induced to 
 give his sanction, and that he possessed the necessary 
 powers delegated to him by the Sovereign Pontiff. 
 Here the parties were under a serious mistake ; for 
 this secretary had only the ordinary powers of the 
 Congregation : but certainly had no power to change 
 the discipline of the Church of Ireland, or the regula- 
 tions of the English Mission, or to unite the Scotch 
 Vicars Apostolic with the English, in presenting to 
 vacant Districts.* Under this misapprehension, how- 
 ever, several letters were written to an agent in Eome, 
 Eev. P. Macpherson, President of the Scotch College, 
 who, says Dr. Milner, " through a series of gross 
 falsehoods and malicious representations, which he 
 professed to derive from high authority in England,"f 
 fraudulently obtained a Kescript in favour of the late 
 Bill, from the unsuspecting good old man, a venerable 
 Prelate, and afterwards a Cardinal. 
 
 " Thus deceived," continues Dr. Melner, " in all 
 the leading circumstances of the case, by letters which 
 the Scotch agent professed to have received from the 
 most respectable authority in England, ... no 
 wonder that the humane and pious old man should 
 have been prevailed upon to outstep his authority and 
 his province, and to sign his name to the document 
 prepared for him."J He had never even seen the 
 Bin, as Dr. Milner was informed by Cardinal Litta.§ 
 The Rescript itself need not be given here, as it was irre- 
 gular and of no authority from the beginning. It may be 
 
 * « Supp. Mem.," p. 226. f I^ji^M P- 218. 
 
 X '' Supp. Mem.," p. 224. 
 
 § " Additional Notes" to Sup. Mem., p. 335.
 
 270 LIFE OF BISHOP MILKER. [1814. 
 
 seen at length in Mr. C. Butler's " Historical Memoirs 
 of Catholics^' Vol. IV., Appendix, page 518, and in 
 the ^'■Orthodox Journar for 1814, p. 162. The sum 
 of it was expressed in a single sentence : " That the 
 Catholics ought to receive and embrace with content 
 and gratitude the law which was proposed last year for 
 their Emancipation, agreeably to the form received by 
 us from your amplitude." This refers to Dr. Poynter, 
 to whom the Rescript was addressed. Though dated 
 at Rome, Feb. 16, it did not reach England till the 
 28th of April. 
 
 The Rescript was translated and published in the 
 newspapers with much exultation on the part of those 
 who were favourable to the Emancipation of Catholics, 
 but at the same time strong advocates for vetoistical 
 restrictions. In other circumstances a Papal Bull or 
 Rescript would have been loudly protested against, or 
 at least received with suspicion and jealousy ; but now 
 these liberal Protestants were loud in their praises of 
 the liberality of the Roman Secretary. We need not 
 wonder at this, if it was true, — as the Duhlin Evening 
 Post, of July 28, announced as an ascertained fact of 
 which the reader might rest assured, — that the Re- 
 script was procured through the interference of Vis- 
 count Castlereagh and Lord William Bentinck, Com- 
 mander of the Forces, and Governor of Sicily. One 
 paper, the PHot^ even proclaimed the Rescript as the 
 first act of the Pope, returned from captivity, which 
 was false, as his Holiness did not enter Rome till the 
 24th of May. Throughout Ireland the Rescript was 
 received with distrust and alarm. The eloquentProtes- 
 tant Counsellor, Phillips, thus described the national 
 feeling upon it : " The Pontiff's captivity led to the 
 transmission of Quarantotti's Rescript ; and on the
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. 271 
 
 news of its arriva], from the priest to the peasant, there 
 was not a Cathohc in the land, who did not spurn the 
 document of ItaHan audacity."* The Irish Bishops 
 assembled atMaynooth, on the 25th of May, and unani- 
 mously agreed to four important Resolutions. The^r^^ 
 congratulates his Holiness on his liberation from capti- 
 vity ; the second is expressed in the following words : 
 " That having taken into our mature consideration the 
 late Rescript of the Vice-Prefect of the Propaganda, 
 we are fully convinced that it is not mandatory T The 
 third is to the effect that two Prelates shall be deputed 
 to convey from the Irish hierarchy, their unanimous 
 and well known sentiments to the Pope, from whom 
 they have reason to expect a satisfactory decision. 
 The last Resolution is, that the second and third pre- 
 ceding ones be communicated to Lord Donoughmore 
 and Mr. Grattan, and that they be entreated to exert 
 themselves in any future discussion to exclude from 
 the Bill those clauses which the Bishops have already 
 deprecated as penal and injurious to our religion. 
 
 But his Holiness Pius VIL had now been liberated 
 from his captivity, through the wonderful and unex- 
 pected interposition of Divine Providence, and was on 
 his way to make his triumphant entry into the holy 
 city of Rome. Dr. Milner resolved at once to repair 
 thither, to give an account to the Apostolic See of his 
 own conduct and of the state of Catholic affsiirs in 
 England. He had been for some time saving money 
 for a journey to Rome at the earliest opportunity. 
 We were still at war with France, and though the 
 struggle was fast coming to a termination, it was 
 hardly safe yet to cross the channel. Dr. Milner, 
 
 * Speech of Counsellor Phillips nt a Catholic aggregate meeting 
 at Cork, in August, 1814.
 
 272 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1814. 
 
 however, never knew fear, and he engaged a fisher- 
 man to take him over in an open boat. He had to be 
 carried through the water on a man's back to the 
 boat ; and the man complained of his great weight, 
 which was increased by the gold which he carried 
 secreted about him. He left Wolverhampton" on the 
 2nd of i\lay. " Landing on the opposite coast," he says, 
 " he passed through the several camps of the conquer- 
 ing armies from Boulogne to Parma : namely, Russian, 
 Prussian, Austrian, and English camps : and he viewed 
 with horror the dire effects of war, which appeared 
 throughout a great part of his journey ; bridges broken 
 down, forests shotj to shivers, villages laid in ruins, 
 dead horses infecting the air, and human bodies float- 
 ing down the rivers."* 
 
 The venerable Pius VII. had made his triumphant 
 entrance into Rome on the 24th of May ; and by a 
 remarkable disposition of divine Providence, the Em- 
 peror Napoleon had signed the deed of his own abdi- 
 cation, on the 6th of April previously, in the very 
 apartment at Fontainebleau, which the Pope had oc- 
 cupied during his captivity there, from the 20th of 
 June, 1812, to his unexpected liberation by Napo- 
 leon, on the 22nd of January, 1814. His Holiness 
 had previously been a prisoner from July 6, 1809, and 
 confined at Savona from the 10th of August, 1809 ; 
 so that the whole period of his captivity exceeded four 
 years and a half. It is worthy of note at the present 
 day that on the Pope's entry into Rome, the King of 
 Sardinia met him under the portico of the Vatican 
 palace, and threw himself at his feet to kiss them, but 
 the Pope extended his arms to prevent him. 
 
 * " Supp. Mem.," p. 228.
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. 273 
 
 Dr. Milner arrived at Rome only a few days after 
 the entry of the Pope. The four Prelates and the four 
 theologians who had been consulted by the Pro-Prefect 
 of the Propaganda, Mgr. Quarantotti, and had recom- 
 mended him to issue the Rescript, were already dis- 
 graced and put into penance by the Pope. The Re- 
 script was strongly disapproved of by him : and it was 
 some time before Mgr. Quarantotti was admitted to 
 the presence of his Holiness. For besides the weak- 
 ness he had shown in the affair of the Rescript, he had 
 taken a qualified oath of allegiance to the usurper of 
 the Pope's states, the Emperor Napoleon. He very 
 naturally declined all conversation with Dr. Milner 
 concerning his former letter, and his late Rescript, but 
 the good Bishop found the other Cardinals and Pre- 
 lates, without exception, cheerful, friendly, and com- 
 municative. 
 
 He was soon admitted to an audience of the Pope, 
 and addressed his Holiness in these words : " As the 
 hart panteth after the fountains of waters : so my soul 
 hath panted to see your Holiness and kiss your feet." 
 He was received by that holy Pontiff with more than his 
 accustomed benevolence. The Pope said he had heard 
 much of him, and wished much to see him. He then 
 hastily exclaimed : " Has the Act of Parliament 
 passed ? Have the Catholics taken the oath ?" The 
 Pope added : " he," that is, Monsignor Quarantotti, 
 " ought not to have written that Letter without autho- 
 rity from the Holy See." Dr. Milner thus answered 
 the inquiries of his Holiness : " There is no question, 
 Holy Father, about an oath, or an Act of Parliament : 
 the Emancipation will take place, but not till there is a 
 great change in his 'Majesty's counsels. In the mean- 
 time, schismatical measures have been carried on 
 
 T
 
 274 LITE or BISHOP MILNER. [ISH. 
 
 among our Catholics, as I am prepared to prove to your 
 Cardinals."* 
 
 Dr. Milner had numerous interviews with Cardinal 
 Litta, of whom the Pope spoke highly, and com- 
 mended also for his knowledge of the English lan- 
 guage. He had presided over the Congregation of the 
 index, but on the restoration of the Pope, he was 
 appointed Prefect of the Propaganda, and in Septem- 
 ber following was made Bishop of Sabina. With this 
 venerable Cardinal, Dr. Milner had chiefly to trans- 
 act business ; and in one of his first interviews, his 
 Eminence directed him to draw up a memorial of his 
 whole case, to be laid before the Pope's Council. Dr. 
 Milner did this in a few days, and concluded his 
 memorial thus : " I know I have numerous and power- 
 ful enemies, Catholics as well as Protestants, whom I 
 have provoked by my mflexibility in defending and 
 securing our holy religion : if on this, or any other 
 account, the See Apostolic judge it to be for the ad- 
 vantage of religion that I should retire from my situa- 
 tion, I make an unreserved tender of resigning it."t 
 
 On arriving at Rome, the good Bishop took up his 
 quarters at St. John and Paul's, the head house of the 
 Passionists, which looks upon St. Gregory's, on the 
 Coelian Hill, a place that must have been very dear to 
 him, as being the spot whence St. Gregory the Great 
 sent St. Augustin and his companions to convert our 
 Saxon ancestors. St. John and Paul's, moreover, 
 looks down upon the Coliseum, that noble amphitheatre 
 which had been the scene of so many martyrdoms. 
 This choice of a residence so far away from the centre 
 of the Eternal City, and from all places of ecclesiastical 
 
 ^ " Supp. Mera.," p. 230. t Ibid., p. 231.
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. 275 
 
 and other business, could have been dictated only b}^ 
 his piety ; for it is in the midst of the desolation left by 
 the ruins of what was once the most splendid portion 
 of Rome. 
 
 After a certain number of days had elapsed, during 
 which Dr. Milner's memorial was under considera- 
 tion, he was summoned to an official audience, at 
 which he was assured that his memorial had given 
 great satisfaction, and that the writer was in high 
 favour with the venerable College of Cardinals, and 
 the Holy Father himself ; that he had well defended 
 his cause, and that of the Church, and on the true 
 ground. Moreover, that his offer of resignation could 
 not be accepted. It was signified to him on various 
 occasions, by other Cardinals, that he had done his 
 duty, and ought to proceed in the track which he had 
 hitherto pursued. At the same time he was admo- 
 nished that this ought to be done with moderation, and 
 without irritating the feelings of others. We have 
 seen previous instances of Dr. Milner's readiness to 
 make ample apology and reparation, wherever it could 
 be shown that he had exceeded the bounds of just and 
 reasonable defence ; and when he recorded the above 
 in his " Supplementary Memoirs^' page 231, he de- 
 clared again, in a note, his readiness to make satisfac- 
 tion to any injured party, at the discretion of some 
 intelligent and conscientious arbiter. He added these 
 words in the note alluded to : " It appears to him 
 (Dr. M.), " that in the present work, and his other 
 works, the writer has spared the character and feelings 
 of his adversaries to the best of his power, with the 
 exception of one domestic enemy of the Church, whom 
 he despairs of reclaiming, and therefore thinks it his 
 duty to disarm." The allusion will be readily under-
 
 276 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. ['814. 
 
 stood. Again, in his " Additional Notes^^ to his 
 " Supplementary Memoirs^' p. 335, in allusion to his 
 former apology at Durham in 1812, he observes that 
 as that apology does not come down lower than that 
 date, he now again (1821) pledges himself to make 
 full satisfaction to every fellow-creature who thinks he 
 has been injured by him, at the discretion of an um- 
 pire, to be mutually chosen. 
 
 It has been mentioned above that the Irish Bishops, 
 when assembled on the 25th of May at Maynooth, had 
 resolved to depute two Prelates to Rome. Only one 
 Irish Bishop, however, was thus commissioned, who 
 was the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, coadjutor of the Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin, Dr. Troy ; the other deputy was 
 their long tried and faithful agent, Dr. Milner. Dr. 
 Murray arrived in Rome about a month after Dr. 
 Milner, and had several audiences of the Pope toge- 
 ther with our Prelate. The Pope on those occasions 
 expressed his esteem for the Irish Bishops, clergy, and 
 laity, in very warm terms of approbation. AVhen Dr. 
 Murray arrived at Rome, Dr. Milner thought of 
 returning home shortly ; but he agreed to stay for Dr. 
 Murray, and ultimately prolonged his stay to nine 
 months from the date of his arrival. He continued to 
 be treated during his stay in the Holy City with the 
 greatest favour and confidence. No proof of these, 
 however, was so gratifying to him as the following, 
 which the writer gives as he heard it from Dr. 
 Milner's own lips. A certain Catholic gentleman, 
 then at Rome, was very urgent to obtain of the Pope 
 that the Catholics in England should be dispensed 
 with from the obligation of keeping abstinence on 
 Saturdays. Accordingly he represented to his Holi- 
 ness that that point of discipline had almost entirely
 
 AGE 62 ] CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. 277 
 
 gone into disuse, and might therefore very reasonably 
 be abrogated by the Pope's dispensation. The Pope 
 doubted the truth of this representation, and said to 
 the Prefect of Propaganda, Cardinal Litta : " Let us 
 ask Dr. Milner: he will tell us the truths The 
 Bishop was accordingly sent for, and interrogated on 
 the matter by his Holiness. He at once answered: 
 " Yes, I will tell your Holiness the truth : the good 
 Catholics keep the abstinence on Saturdays, and the 
 bad ones do not." " Then," said the Pope, " it shall 
 remain as it is." Well might he congratulate himself 
 on so high a testimony to his integrity from the Head 
 of the Church himself. 
 
 Dr. Milner always spoke with great satisfaction of 
 the kindness and confidence which he experienced 
 from Cardinals Litta and De Somaglia in particular ; 
 and he wrote from Rome, that he found the " Cardinals, . 
 and superior Prelates, in general, well informed and 
 sensible men, engaging and edifying in their manners, 
 and taken up with the duties of their respective 
 charges." Soon after Dr. Milner's audience on his 
 memorial, which took place on the eve of SS. Peter 
 and Paul, he received a note from Cardinal Litta, 
 ending in these words : " Henceforth I give you my 
 entire esteem." On another occasion, the Cardinal 
 said to him: " Alas, Dr.Milner, you have very power- 
 ful enemies."* AVhen the Bishop spoke of apologising 
 for any intemperate expressions, the Cardinal said to 
 him : " Take care not to compromise any of your 
 principles."t And when Dr. Milner observed that 
 the question was not merely about the appointment of 
 
 * " Helas, Mgr. M., vous avez des ennemis bien puissants." 
 t " Gardez vous de compromettie aucaii de vos principes."
 
 278 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [18! 4. 
 
 our Prelates, but whether our old principles and piety 
 should remain, the Cardinal eagerly and strongly 
 assented to his assertion. The good Cardinal con- 
 tinued to honour him with equal marks of his confi- 
 dence at Viterbo, Pisa, and Genoa. Pie wished Dr. 
 MiLNER to remain with the Ploly Father, till the 
 Conference of Vienna and the troubles of Italy were 
 ended, and promised then to take him back to Rome 
 in his carriage. 
 
 It was to be expected that the party in England 
 favourable to the late Bill would anxiously endeavour 
 to procure the sanction of the Pope to the Rescript of 
 Quarantotti. They sent an Address agreed upon at a 
 Meeting of the General Board of British Catholics, to 
 his Holiness, dated June 17, 1814, expressing their 
 dutiful congratulations on his happy return from 
 captivity ; but they inserted in it some strong animad- 
 versions on some of their " own brethren, w^ho ceased 
 not," they say, " to accuse us as apostates, and ready 
 to sacrifice our faith to the acquisition of worldly 
 advantages," adding, however, " we were not afirighted 
 by the menaces of those our bosom enemies." They 
 declare that they received the late Rescript " with un- 
 speakable joy," and that to the sentiments contained 
 in it they have given their " fullest and most unequivo- 
 cal assurances of adherence and respect ;" and they 
 express their confident expectation that they shall 
 receive the assurance that it speaks the genuine and 
 full sentiments of the paternal heart of his Holiness 
 towards the faithful of these countries. In other 
 words, they expect that the Rescript will be confirmed 
 by his Holiness.* 
 
 * See the Address in Mr. C. C Butler's " Hist. Mem.," vol. iv., 
 Appendix, Note III.
 
 AGE 62.] CHArTER FIFTEENTH. 279 
 
 In this expectation, however, they were doomed to 
 be disappointed. It was made known to Dr. Milner 
 from the time of its reception, that the prayer of the 
 Address could not be granted; and though it was well 
 understood that he was primarily alluded to among the 
 " bosom enemies" of the Board, he continued to be 
 treated by the Holy See as the "bosom friend" of that 
 See and of the Catholics. " On the other hand, the 
 procurer and bearer of the Rescript (Macpherson), on 
 his return to the Christian capital, had to digest many 
 a severe mortification, in return for his agency."* No 
 answer was returned from the Pope to this Address 
 for six months ; and when at length his HoHness did 
 answer it, though he expressed himself very graciously 
 and paternally, he carefully intimated that the Rescript, 
 having been issued in his absence, and turning on a 
 matter of the highest moment, had been given to be 
 examined maturely ah integro by those Cardinals, to 
 whom such matters are usually referred. The answer 
 is dated December 28, 1814, but was not received in 
 England till the February of 1815.f 
 
 Dr. Milner took the opportunity of his stay in 
 Rome, to present a petition to the Pope, praying that 
 for the continual increase of devotion to the Sacred 
 Heart of Jesus, his Holiness would please to grant in 
 favour of all the faithful who should confess and 
 communicate, and devoutly visit in any place in his 
 District, on the Friday after the octave of Corpus 
 Christi, or any other instead thereof to be assigned by 
 the Bishop, as also on the first Friday of every month, 
 
 * " Supp. Mem.," p. 234. 
 
 t See this document also in "Hist. Mem.," vol. iv., Appendix 
 Note IV. i ^ >
 
 280 LQ^E OF BISHOP MILNER. [1814. 
 
 or instead thereof on any Sunday of the month to be 
 appointed by the Bishop, a picture or image of the 
 most Sacred Heart of Jesus, exposed in any public 
 church or oratory, or in any monastery, seminary, or 
 other pious place, and pray there for the concord of 
 Christian princes, the extirpation of heresy, and the 
 intentions of his Holiness, — a plenary Indulgence, 
 applicable also in the way of suffrage to the souls in 
 Purgatory : and to those who should devoutly visit the 
 said image or picture, and pray there in like- manner, 
 an Indulgence of an hundred days, to be gained on 
 any day of the year once in the day, applicable also to 
 the souls in Purgatory. His Holiness was graciously 
 pleased to grant tliis petition by an Indult, dated June 
 27, 1814, and to hold good for fifteen years. Thus 
 Dr. Milner was the first to introduce into England 
 the public practice of devotion to the Sacred Heart of 
 Jesus, which however had been for several years 
 before practised privately. The zealous and pious 
 Prelate afterwards published a Pastoral Address to the 
 faithful of the Midland District, explaining the nature 
 and object of this devotion, followed by a collection of 
 prayers adapted to it, many of them borrowed from 
 approved works, but a good part being his own com- 
 position, and aff'ording abundant proofs of his tender 
 piety, and especial devotion to the Sacred Heart of 
 Jesus. Sodalities were afterwards formed in various 
 places in the Midland District, and the good Bishop's 
 devotional exercises continued to be used with so much 
 fruit and edification that at the expiration of the 
 fifteen years, application was made to the Holy See by 
 his successor, Dr. Walsh, for a renewal of the Indul- 
 gences, and Pope Pius VIII. renewed them for a 
 further term of fifteen years. Finally, at the petition
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FIFTEENTH. 281 
 
 of Dr. Wareing, Vicar Apostolic of the Eastern 
 portion of the former Midland District, they were 
 granted by Pope Gregory XVI. in perpetuity. 
 
 Encouraged by the success of this application, Dr. 
 MiLNER projected another most excellent and com- 
 mendable institution, which he called the Societas 
 Libera^ or Free Society of Secular Clergy in the 
 Midland District. In a fresh petition to Pope Pius 
 VII., he represented that certain priests and ecclesias- 
 tics of St. Mary's College, Oscott, and several other 
 priests on the Mission in his District, would engage 
 voluntarily, though not under sin, to keep up certain 
 pious practices and exercises, to which they were 
 already bound by the rules of the College ; and 
 petitioned that his Hohness would grant a Plenary 
 Indulgence to each, on the day on which they made 
 such engagement, and also on the day on which they 
 should annually renew the same. This petition, dated 
 July 13, 1814, his Holiness was pleased also to grant, 
 by an Indult dated Sept. 1, 1814 ; and he annexed to 
 it, as the petitioner had requested, all those Indul- 
 gences, which had previously been granted to the 
 Sodality of the Sacred Heart, at Sancta Maria ad 
 Pineam^ at Rome. The Bishop afterwards printed 
 his petition and the Pope's Indult, with the names of 
 the associates, his own being at the head, followed by 
 thirty others, either priests or ecclesiastical students. 
 This Societas Libera has been cherished and kept up 
 by many worthy priests, and has proved a very valuable 
 support and stimulus to them in the course of their 
 arduous ministry. 
 
 Pope Clement XIV., it is well known, had sup- 
 pressed the Society of Jesus by a Brief on the 21st of 
 June, 1773. The Society was again established by
 
 282 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1814. 
 
 Pope Pius YII. by his Bull of August 7, 1814. Dr. 
 MiLNER assisted on the solemn occasion of its pub- 
 lication, when his Holiness celebrated Mass at the 
 altar of St. Ignatius. On the 18th of October, the 
 venerable Prelate set out from Rome on a little tour 
 in that part of the Appenines which lies to the east 
 of the Eternal City. Two Letters of his were pub- 
 lished in the Orthodox Journal for December, 1814, 
 in which he gives a very animated account of his short 
 tour, which embraced first Tivoh, — where he met 
 Cardinal Litta, who accompanied him to his inn, and 
 conversed with him for a considerable time, — then 
 Subiaco, on the way to which, he most amusingly 
 describes a wretched inn, near Vicovara, where he was 
 obhged to stop, consisting of " one large cave, crowded 
 with mules, horses, asses, and their drivers, with a 
 dresser at the farther end of it, where the landlord 
 and landlady sold coarse bread, sour wine, and horse 
 food." At Arsoli he met with 'a most curious subject 
 of antiquarian observation, the only ancient Poman 
 mile stone known to exist. At Subiaco, he received 
 hospitality from the amiable Bishop, Cardinal Galeffi, 
 who was then making his episcopal visitation. On the 
 21st of October, he set out for the famous grotto and 
 monastery of St. Benedict, two miles to the east of 
 Subiaco, of which he gives a very interesting descrip- 
 tion. Thence he had to make his way mostly on foot, 
 passing from place to place where there were no roads, 
 " clambering up rocky mountains, descending into steep 
 precipices, now immersed in mud, now forced to jump 
 from one large stone to another, it being impossible to 
 make regular steps." His guide led him astray, not 
 knowing the country, and he was obliged to engage 
 another, whom he met with accidentally half way. It
 
 AGE 62.] CHAPTER FIFTEEN i'H. 283 
 
 rained in torrents almost all the way; so that in all 
 these adverse circumstances he was four hours travel- 
 ling five miles to Racco di San Stefano. " Arriving 
 here," he says, " at what is called an osteria, or inn, we 
 found the whole cave, of which it consisted, quite full 
 of pigs, which were eating the food that was there 
 given them." But he was most hospitably entertained 
 at a Franciscan convent two miles farther on. At Gene- 
 zano, " our habitation was a ruined castle, without 
 glass in the windows, and destitute of almost every 
 other convenience of life. Hunger and fatigue, how- 
 ever, enabled me to make a good meal of homely fare, 
 and to sleep soundly in a pair of hopsacks." He 
 visited, the next morning, a place of great devotion, 
 the Sanctuary of " Our Lady of good counsel," in the 
 convent of the hermits of St. Augustin. Thence he 
 proceeded to Palestrina, the ancient Prseneste, and 
 rode thence through rich vineyards, by Monte Porzio, 
 where the English College has a country house, and 
 Monte Dragone, to Frascati, which he calls the Rich- 
 mond Hill of the Christian capital. The intelligent 
 and excellent Cardinal de Somaglia had been enthroned 
 in the cathedral on the day that Dr. Milner arrived, 
 which event was celebrated with solemn services, 
 music, fireworks, and other demonstrations of joy. 
 But only a few hours afterwards there was an earth- 
 quake, and the weather again became stormy, which 
 detained him another day. On the 27th he came to 
 Castle Gandolfi, " the Holy Father's country house, 
 where he was then enjoying a three weeks' partial 
 repose from the arduous and uninterrupted duties of 
 
 his sublime station I had nothing now to do 
 
 but to pursue my journey through the remains and 
 vestiges of aqueducts, temples, and other monuments
 
 284 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1815. 
 
 of remote antiquity, that cover the plains, to the Eter- 
 nal City, which the Almighty was pleased to raise to 
 supreme empire, in order to make it afterwards the 
 head of his never failing religion. Roma caput 
 mundi^ quidquid non possidet armis reUgione tenetr 
 
 CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. 
 
 letter of dr. moylan to dr. milner against the veto dr. 
 
 Murray's account of his mission to rome. — dr. milner's 
 spiritual retreat at rome. — his admiration of the 
 
 order of passionists. — he returns to england. dr. 
 
 poynter at rome. — his apologetical epistle. — particu- 
 lars about dr- milner on his return. — visits oscott, 
 caverswall and winchester. — his affection for his old 
 chapel at winchester. — he rejects proposals of ad- 
 dresses and presentations to him. — letter of cardinal 
 
 litta from genoa. alarm occasioned by it in ireland. 
 
 resolutions of the irish bishops. deputation from 
 
 them to rome. — calumnies against dr. milner. — honour- 
 ABLE REPARATION BY O'CONNELL. — DR. MILNER's ESTEEM FOB 
 HIM. 
 
 Eaely in the year 1815, Dr. Milner received at Rome 
 a remarkable letter from his friend Dr. Moylan, 
 Bishop of Cork, dated from that city, December 7, 
 1814, containing his sentiments on the Veto. It was 
 one of the last letters of that excellent and highly 
 revered Prelate, and deserves to be preserved in this 
 biography. 
 
 " My Dear and Honoured Lord, 
 
 " I am the oldest of the Catholic Prelates in 
 this kingdom, and expect soon to appear before the
 
 AGE Gy.] CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. 285 
 
 awful tribunal of the Almighty Judge, in whose sacred 
 presence I solemnly declare, that any compromise made 
 or control whatever given to our Protestant Government, 
 or ministers, in the appointment or nomination of the 
 Catholic Bishops or clergy of this kingdom, or any in- 
 terference whatsoever^ or influence over them, in the 
 exercise of their spiritual functions, will eventually lead 
 to the subversion of our venerable hierarchy^ and in 
 consequence to the ruin of the Catholic religion in 
 this long suffering and oppressed Catholic country. 
 It would most certainly cause the greatest dissatisfac- 
 tion in the minds of the Catholic body, lessen their 
 attachment and respect to the Holy See, and by 
 degrees dispose them fop every bad change. But 
 under our present enhghtened and most venerable 
 Pontiff, we have nothing to apprehend. The Al- 
 mighty God has preserved him from his enemies, and 
 restored him to his Church, for its support, and the 
 glory of his own holy name. Could I presume, through 
 you, my dear and honoured Lord, to present the 
 sincere homage of my heart to the holy Father, 
 prostrate most humbly at his sacred feet, I kiss them 
 with all my reverence, respect, and affection, and on 
 my knees I most earnestly supplicate his paternal bene- 
 diction." 
 
 Though no answer from Dr. Milner has been pre- 
 served, no doubt he hastened to lay before the Pope 
 these edifying sentiments and wishes of the venerable 
 Prelate : and it is to be hoped that an answer reached 
 Dr. Moylan before his death, which ha])})cned very 
 shortly after, on the 10th of February, IS 15, in the 
 eightieth year of his age. He was a long cherished 
 friend of Dr. Milner s, and a Prelate of exemplary 
 life and apostolic firmness. Of this he gave a remark-
 
 286 LLb^E OF BISHOP MILNER. [1815. 
 
 able proof at the meeting of the Irish Bishops in May, 
 1814. Some of the Prelates were recommending the 
 expediency of a little delay, when Dr. Moylan rose, 
 and brought them at once to a unanimous decision by 
 these memorable words : " Let us put expediency 
 out of consideration : let us consider what is right., 
 and let us act like Irish Bishops. '" 
 
 On the 1 5th of February, a deputation from the Irish 
 Catholic Association waited on the Most Reverend Dr. 
 Murray, who had returned to Dublin, and received 
 from him some very important and interesting informa- 
 tion relative to his late mission to Rome. His Grace 
 stated that he had gone thither as the delegate of the 
 Irish Bishops, for the sole purpose of remonstrating 
 against the Rescript of Monsignor Quarantotti ; that 
 the said Rescript had been recalled by the Pope, and 
 the matters contained in it referred to a special Congre- 
 gation. He expressed his conviction that when their 
 opinion should be reported to his Holiness, who had 
 reserved to himself the right to pronounce definitively 
 on the subject, he would be influenced solely by a 
 regard for the spiritual welfare of the Irish Catholics, 
 and not by any interference of the British ministry, or 
 any other temporal consideration. In answer to an 
 inquiry from the deputation, whether any communica- 
 tion from the English Board, or any other English 
 Catholics had reached Rome, his Grace replied that 
 Mr. Macpherson had presented an address to the Pope 
 from some Catholic body, which he believed to be the 
 English Board, praying his Hohness to confirm the 
 Rescript ; but that Dr. Milner had protested against 
 Mr. Macpherson as the English agent, and also against 
 the Board being considered to represent the English 
 Catholics.
 
 AGE 63.] CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. 287 
 
 Before Dr. Milner quitted Rome, he made an 
 edifying spiritual retreat at the Convent of the 
 Passionists, St. John and Paul's, where he had all 
 along resided. Of this retreat, the paper of exercises 
 and notes, in his own hand, lies now before the writer, 
 being partly in Italian, partly in Latin, and partly in 
 English. It began on the 14th of March, and ended 
 on the 21st. He has carefully written down the dis- 
 tribution of his time, and the various exercises of the 
 day. At first he notes the hour according to the 
 Italian mode of reckoning, and the English hour by 
 the side of it ; but he grows tired of this, and contents 
 himself towards the end with marking the English 
 hour alone. The paper, however, is a real curiosity, 
 and the reader will not be sorry to find it here 
 verbatim. 
 
 >S'^. Giovdn S)- Paolo. 
 
 ^ Impiego del Tempo negli Esercizi spirituali. 
 Martii 14, fin. al. 21. 
 
 Mattina. 
 
 Ora 1x5 Levata. 
 
 1-|, 6 Medit. in Cappella. 
 
 In Stanza per riflettere a quanto si e oscoltato e 
 notare i lumi avuti, ed i buoni proponimenti. 
 
 Ora 3-8, Missa. Via Crucis. 
 
 In stanza. Libro spirit, ove esame della coscienza. 
 
 Ora 4-|, 9-| Lezione e Pi form a. 
 Pranzo. 
 
 Indi alia Cappella per ringraziare ed Angelus 
 Domini. 
 
 Ora 8-1, Petiro. Piposo. 
 iSera. 
 
 19-2, Fine del Piposo. 
 
 19-1, 2-1, Visita al SS. Sacram.
 
 288 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1815. 
 
 Ritiro in stanza lettura ove esame di coscienza. 
 
 20-3|, Lezione commune nel cappella. 
 
 Passegio nel orto. 
 
 22-5J, Meditazione. 
 
 Ritiro in stanza rmiiinando, &c., con notarli in carta 
 Cena in Refettorio. 
 
 Ritiro in stanza. 
 
 8, II Rosario e esame particolare in cappella. 
 
 8J, Riposo dopo 3 ave Maria in onore della Purita 
 B.M.V. 
 
 Meditatio. Devotio erga Xtum passum et M. Dolo- 
 rosam. Humilitas et mansuetudo. Fuga periculorum. 
 
 Then follow a series of resolutions in English, some 
 of which, being of a private character, cannot with pro- 
 priety be given here ; but the following will be perused 
 with admiration and edification. 
 
 " I resolve with God's grace and the prayers of B. V. 
 to rise Winter and Summer at six. — To salute J. Xt. 
 crucified and B.V. adolorata. — After this and other 
 prayers, Mental prayer for half an hour. — Then read 
 Scripture and prepare for Mass. — After breakfast, 
 Little Hours. — Before dinner, Examen. Pious Reading 
 or Prayer. 
 
 " Vespers and Complin immediately before, or after 
 dinner. 
 
 " Spiritual Reading afternoon. — Grace, Rosary, 
 Sacred Heart. 
 
 " Matins and Lauds before or after supper. — 
 Stinted measure of meat and drink. 
 
 " To be in bed at eleven." 
 
 Dr. Milner had a great esteem for the Order of 
 the Passionists, and often used to speak of them with 
 admiration and preference. He used to say that 
 though he should not live to see them established in
 
 AGE 63.] CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. 289 
 
 England, they would be so, and he assured the nuns at 
 Caverswall, that some of them would see the Pas- 
 sionists going about in their habits. They were much 
 struck with the fulfilment of this, when a few years 
 after Dr. Milner's death, a congregation of these 
 religious were established near them, at Aston. In 
 a Letter in the " Orthodox Journal^"" dated August 
 18, 1815, in which he expresses a strong wish that a 
 continuation of Butler's Lives of the Saints might be 
 undertaken, which was in part performed subsequently 
 by Mr. C. Butler, he mentions several holy personages 
 of modern times, but dwells particularly on the vene- 
 rable founder of the Passionists, Paul of the Cross, who 
 has since been beatified. He gives a most edifying 
 and remarkable account of the affection and devotion 
 of that holy man for our country, and his constant 
 prayers and aspirations for the conversion of England.* 
 The venerable Pontiff, Pius VII., was as benign to 
 Dr. Milner at his final audience, as he had been at 
 the first. But Napoleon had now quitted Elba, and 
 disembarked near Antibes, on the 1st of March ; and 
 Murat was by this time approaching the frontiers of the 
 Ecclesiastical States. The Pope therefore judged it 
 advisable to quit his capital for greater security. He 
 did so on the 22nd of March, and on the 3rd of April 
 he made his solemn entry into Genoa ; thirteen Car- 
 dinals arrived there on the day following. Dr. Milner 
 left Rome also for Genoa : and soon after proceeded 
 to England by Milan, Basle, Frankfort, Cologne, and 
 Brussels. He arrived in London on the 2nd of June, 
 1815. His mission to Rome had been successful : 
 his cause was judged to be right, and his firm and 
 
 * " Orthodox Journal" fur August, 181-0, p. 307. 
 
 U
 
 290 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1815. 
 
 intrepid character was so firmly established in Rome 
 that he used to be styled there the English Athanasius. 
 On his return, he frequently entertained his friends 
 with very interesting accounts of his journey and 
 adventures ; and he used to say that now he had seen 
 all that he wished to see in this world. 
 
 At the close of the year 1814, Dr. Poynter, the 
 Vicar Apostolic of the London District, left England 
 for Rome. During his stay in the Eternal City, he 
 drew up his " Apologetical Epistle' to the Prefect of 
 Propaganda, Cardinal Litta, against the charges 
 brought against him and the other Vicars Apostolic 
 by Dr. Milner. It is dated at Rome, March 15, 
 1815, and is a very long document of nearly forty 
 octavo pages. It was the intention of the Holy See to 
 take it into consideration after Low Sunday ; but the 
 Pope was obliged to leave Rome in Holy Week, March 
 22, so that the proceedings were prevented. The 
 document was not meant to be made public, and was 
 not actually published till the latter part of 1820, when 
 it was translated and printed without the knowledge of 
 Dr. Poynter, by Mr. Charles Butler, shortly after the 
 appearance of Dr. Melner's " Supplementary Me- 
 moirs" to that gentleman's " Historical Memoirs of 
 Catholics" and in circumstances which will be better 
 understood later in the present biography, when the 
 subject shall be resumed. Reference, however, has 
 been already so frequently made to the contents of this 
 " Apologetical Epistle'' in the preceding chapters, and 
 so many of its statements have been already examined, 
 that little will remain to be said upon it, when we reach 
 the period of its publication. It was taken into conside- 
 ration by the proper authorities during the Pope's resi- 
 dence at Genoa ; but " it does not appear to have even
 
 AGE 63.] CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. ^29^ 
 
 modified the impression that Dr. Milner pursued the 
 right course, although rather too warmly. Dr. Poynter, 
 indeed, was complimented as an excellent Prelate ; 
 but this, with its accompaniment of a painfully cool 
 reception, was scarcely so full an exculpation as he him- 
 self had requested."* 
 
 Dr. Milner, as already stated, arrived in London, 
 June 2, 1815. He soon paid a visit to his beloved 
 college, St. Mary's, Oscott. Every one was struck 
 with his healthy and animated appearance : he wore 
 his white hair more flowing than formerly, Avhich 
 added still more to his venerable appearance ; and we 
 thought him every way improved by his continental 
 travels, and residence at Eome. Like most of those 
 who have been some time there, he had fallen into the 
 Italian mode of pronouncing Latin ; which, however, 
 he managed so awkwardly and imperfectly, that his 
 confusion of the Roman and English pronunciation 
 was strangely remarkable. If the maxim be just : 
 Cum Romce fueris^ Romano vwito more, surely in 
 England it is equally proper to drop the Italian, and 
 keep to our own pronunciation of Latin. But no man 
 was farther from singularity or affectation than Dr. 
 Milner, and his Italian pronunciation of Latin gradu- 
 ally wore off. 
 
 He had brought from Rome several precious relics. 
 The writer of these pages, being in his room with him 
 at Wolverhampton shortly after his return to England, 
 begged of him with much diffidence to give him some 
 small rehc. The good Bishop directed him to open a 
 certain drawer, and told him that there he would find 
 
 * " Hist, of the Church in England," by Canon Flanagan, 
 vol. ii. p. 434.
 
 292 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1815. 
 
 a number of holy relics which he had brought back with 
 him, and gave him leave to take whatever he liked, except- 
 ing only the filings from St. Peter's chains, of which he 
 said he had been able to procure so httle, that he 
 could not spare any. He opened a small paper, 
 and allowed the ^vriter to see and venerate the precious 
 fiUngs, and then left him to help himself to portions of 
 any of the other relics. He took some of SS. Candidus, 
 Epimachus, Felicitas and Victoria, as also a small 
 piece of the cloak and habit of the holy founder of the 
 Passionists, B. Paul of the Cross. He also took 
 small portions of the fine black hair and of the cassock 
 and shirt of the holy Pope Pius VIL, all of which he 
 still preserves, with the additional gratification of hav- 
 ing received them from Dr. Milner. 
 
 The good Bishop also paid visits, soon after his 
 return, to the communities at Caverswall Castle and 
 Winchester. He continued to be the confessor extra- 
 ordinary of the latter, which of course caused him to 
 visit it at least every year. On one of those occasions, 
 being as usual at the house of his great friend, the 
 Rev. Thomas White, who had succeeded to the mis- 
 sion at Winchester on the 7th of July, 1810, Dr. 
 Milner went to pray in his old and favourite chapel. 
 A female of the congregation happening to go into 
 the gallery of the chapel, observed him kneeling in 
 devout prayer at the sanctuary rails. She had gone 
 in softly, and remained perfectly quiet, so that he 
 was quite unconscious of any one's being in the 
 chapel. After some time he rose up, and took a long, 
 steady view of the whole of the sanctuary. He then 
 turned round, and walked slowly down the chapel, 
 surveying every window and fresco as he proceeded, 
 and looking earnestly at each object, as if unwilling to
 
 AGE 63.] CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. 293 
 
 leave it. At last, he got fairly into the porch, when 
 the woman heard him say, in a low voice, but with 
 much emphasis and feeling: " Oh, my dear chapel!" 
 
 On the return of Dr. Milner from Rome, several 
 proposals were made from different quarters to testify 
 the admiration and gratitude of the Catholic body 
 towards him. One was to publish his portrait, another 
 to present to him an address of congratulation on his 
 great exertions in the cause of religion, and on the 
 successful accomplishment of his mission to Rome. 
 Another was to present him with a rich crozier, or 
 valuable piece of altar plate for his own chapel. But 
 the noble-minded and disinterested Prelate would listen 
 to none of these proposals. St. Bernard says : " It is 
 truly a great and rare virtue, when you do great things, 
 and yet are wholly unconscious of your own greatness : 
 when your sanctity is known to all, but to yourself 
 alone unknown : when you appear to all admirable, 
 and in your own eyes contemptible. This I judge 
 more wonderful than the virtues themselves."* And 
 this virtue the great Milner undoubtedly possessed. 
 He had no idea of his own excellence : he merely 
 considered that he had done what he ought to do, and 
 was after all but an unprofitable servant. He hastened 
 therefore to reject all these honorable proposals, and in 
 a short Letter in the Orthodox Journal^ he thus nobly 
 expressed himself: " The undersigned having seen in 
 your Journal for last month, proposals for subscrip- 
 tions and other measures, by way of doing him public 
 
 * "Magna et rara virtus profecto est, cum magna operaris, 
 magnum te nescire : cum omnibus nota sit sanctitas tua, te solum 
 lateat ; cum omnibus mirabilis appareas, tibi soli vilescas. Hoc 
 ego ipsis virtutibus mirabilius judico." S. Beunard. Serm. xiii. 
 in Cantic.
 
 294 LIFE OF BISHOP mLNER. [1815. 
 
 honour for the conscientious discharge of his profes- 
 sional duty, feels himself obliged, with every sentiment 
 of gratitude to the proposers, to decline, and indeed 
 positively to refuse their offers. His conduct in oppos- 
 ing a late schismatical Bill, and the fatal pledge, which 
 he so often foretold would lead to some such measure, 
 has been approved in that quarter, to which alone he 
 looks for a decision on theological questions, previously 
 to the sentence of the great Master, who can ade- 
 quately reward as well as infallibly judge of the right 
 behaviour of his ministers." 
 
 To this Letter, Dr. Mllner appended a Note, inti- 
 mating that he had just received an address of thanks 
 signed by above 4000 English Catholics ; while of 
 about forty, who, in a moment of irritation, voted 
 against him for opposing the Bill two years before, 
 some had signified their concern at having done so, 
 and all appear, from their late Address to the Pope, to 
 give up the Bill, as an uncanonical attempt to alter 
 the discipline of the Church without his authority.* 
 
 Though the Pope had retired to Genoa, the affair of 
 Quarantotti's Rescript was attended to there with as 
 little delay as possible ; and on the 26th of April, 
 1815, a Letter was addressed to Dr. Poynter by Car- 
 dinal Litta, conveying the decisions of his Holiness on 
 three important points, — the oath to be taken by the 
 Catholics, — the manner of appointing Bishops, — and 
 the examination of rescripts, briefs and ordinances from 
 the Supreme Pontiff. Three forms of an oath are 
 given, any one of which the Pope would allow. Dr. 
 MiLNER observes that " it is probable that some terms 
 
 * Letter of Dr. M. in " OHh. Journ" for June, 1815, dated 
 Wolverhampton, June 4th.
 
 AGE 63] CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. 295 
 
 respecting this change had been proposed and agreed 
 upon between a certain British minister (Castlereagh) 
 and a certain Cardinal (Consalvi), at the Congress of 
 Vienna."* On the second point, the appointment of 
 Bishops, his Holiness declares the only terms which 
 could be admitted, " after rejecting all those that have 
 hitherto been proposed." In the event of Emancipa- 
 tion being; grranted, he would allow " those to whom it 
 appertains to present to the King's ministers a list of 
 candidates, in order that if any of them should be ob- 
 noxious, or suspected, the government may immediately 
 point him out, so as that he may be expunged, care how- 
 ever being taken to leave a sufficient number for his 
 Holiness to choose therefrom." As soon as Emancipation 
 shall have been granted, his Holiness " intends finally 
 to give solemn permission to the Catholics respecting 
 the points above stated, relative to the election of 
 Bishops." On the third point, the Letter says : "As 
 
 for the examination of rescripts, it cannot even be 
 
 made a subject of negotiation. "t 
 
 This Letter was delivered to Dr. Poynter at Genoa, 
 whither he had followed the Pope, and copies of it 
 were transmitted to Dr. Troy, the Archbishop of 
 Dublin, and to Dr. Milner. This Letter Dr. Murray 
 and Dr. Milner had refused to convey to L'eland. 
 It was some time before this important document was 
 published, and it began to be whispered about that his 
 Holiness had approved of such arrangements in the 
 Bill of 1813, as the Prelates of Ireland and Dr. Milner 
 had condemned. Mr. Eneas M'Donnell wrote on the 
 
 * " Supp. Mem.," p. 235. 
 
 f This Letter of Cardinal Litta may be seen translated in C. 
 Butler's " Hist. Mem.," vol. iv., Appendix, Note V., and a different 
 translation appeared in the "■ Orth. Journal," 1815, p. 477.
 
 296 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1815. 
 
 subject to Archbishop Troy, imploring his Grace to 
 inform him of the real truth of the matter ; and Dr. 
 Troy, in his answer of August 9th, assured him that 
 his Holiness had not approved of the Bill of 1813, and 
 that he would determine nothing till Emancipation 
 should have been granted. He added that the Irish 
 Bishops would meet very shortly. This letter did 
 not allay the general uneasiness : indeed the Prelates 
 themselves were not satisfied. As they were soon to 
 assemble and consider the document, it would have 
 been imprudent to publish it beforehand: but " when 
 pubhshed," says Dr. Milner, " it was far from satisfy- 
 ing the greater part of the Catholics, as they dreaded 
 that the least interference of a Protestant ministry 
 with the appointment of their pastors, would in the 
 end prove ruinous to their religion."* 
 
 The Meeting of the Prelates of Ireland took place 
 in Dublin, on the 23rd and 24th of August, 1815, 
 when they passed five Resolutions so very firm, 
 decided and important, that they well deserve to be 
 preserved here in full. 
 
 "Resolved, — That it is our decided and conscien- 
 tious conviction, that any power granted to the Crown 
 of Great Britain of interfering, directly or indirectly, 
 in the appointment of Bishops for the Roman Catholic 
 Church in Ireland, must essentially injure, and may 
 eventually subvert the Roman Catholic religion in 
 this country. 
 
 " Resolved, — That with this conviction deeply and 
 unalterably impressed on our minds, we should con- 
 sider ourselves as betraying the dearest interests of 
 that portion of the Church which the Holy Ghost has 
 
 * " Sup. Mem.," p. 237.
 
 AGE G3.] CHArTER SIXTEENTH. 297 
 
 confided to our care, did we not declare most unequi- 
 vocally that we will at all times, and under all circum- 
 stances deprecate and oppose, in every canonical and 
 constitutional way, any such interference. 
 
 " Resolved, — That though we sincerely venerate the 
 Supreme Pontiff, as visible Head of the Church, we do 
 not conceive that our apprehensions for the safety of 
 the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland, can or ought 
 to be removed by any determination of his Holiness, 
 adopted, or intended to be adopted, not only without 
 our concurrence, but in direct opposition to our 
 repeated Resolutions, and the very energetic Memo- 
 rial presented on our behalf, and so ably supported by 
 our deputy, the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, who in that 
 quality was more competent to inform his Holiness 
 of the real state and interests of the Roman Catholic 
 Church in Ireland, than any other with whom he is 
 said to have consulted. 
 
 "Resolved, — That a declaration of these our senti- 
 ments, respectful, firm and decided, be transmitted to 
 the Holy See, which, we trust, will engage his Holiness 
 to feel and acknowledge the justness and propriety of 
 this our determination. 
 
 " Resolved, — That our grateful thanks are due, and 
 hereby given to the Most Rev. Dr. Murray, and the 
 Right Rev. Dr. Milner, our late deputies to Rome, for 
 their zealous and able discharge of the trust reposed in 
 them." 
 
 These Resolutions were signed by the four Arch- 
 bishops, and the coadjutors of two of them, and by 
 twenty-one other Bishops and the Warden of Gal way. 
 They, moreover, judged it expedient to send another 
 deputation to the Holy See, to make certain represen- 
 tations on the subject ; and they accordingly deputed
 
 298 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1813. 
 
 Dr. Murray, coadjutor of Dublin, and Dr. Murphy, 
 Bishop of Cork, who at once proceeded on their impor- 
 tant mission. One of them, probably Dr. Murphy, in 
 a letter to a priest in Dublin, dated from Dover, Sep- 
 tember 14, said : "We passed Sunday night with Dr. 
 Milner, whose heart is with us most fervently, notwith- 
 standing all the cruel calumnies that have been uttered 
 against him. My heart bleeds to see him so foully de- 
 nounced as an enemy to our cause." 
 
 To understand this, it will be necessary to revert to 
 an occurrence which took place a short time before. 
 At the aggregate meeting in Dublin, on the 29th of 
 August, Mr. O'Connell made a strong charge against 
 Dr. Milner of having written to the Bishops to 
 accede to the vetoistical plan laid down in the Letter 
 of Cardinal Litta. He professed to give an abstract of 
 Dr. Milner's communication to the Bishops, as read 
 at the late Synod, which he said had been made known 
 to him by one of the Prelates. This, coming from so 
 distinguished a speaker, produced a great sensation 
 unfavourable to our venerable Bishop ; and his own 
 honour and character required an immediate vindica- 
 tion. He accordingly wTote a Letter to the Editor of 
 the Dublin Chronicle^ where O'Connell's speech had 
 been reported. His Letter was dated September 6th, 
 and he complains in it, that a celebrated orator had 
 deprived him of the good opinion and good will of the 
 Catholics of Ireland, by grossly misrepresenting his 
 principles and degrading his understanding. " He 
 has," says he, " in the present instance, pronounced 
 upon hearsay evidence, and this at second or third 
 hand ; namely, he heard a Prelate say, that he heard 
 another Prelate read a Letter from me, which in his 
 opinion bore such and such sense." Dr. Milner goes
 
 AGE 63.] CHAPTER SIXTEENTH. 299 
 
 on to say that his Letter was confidential ; but with 
 that manly openness which ever distinguished his cha- 
 racter, he declares himself quite willing that its con- 
 tents should be publicly known, and he says : " In case, 
 however, it should be the general opinion of those Pre- 
 lates that the Letter ought to be published, I will 
 withdraw my injunction of secrecy." He considers 
 that notwithstanding all Mr. O'Connell's credit and 
 eloquence, he himself ought to stand acquitted on the 
 solemn and public testimony of the Prelates them- 
 selves, who after considering his Letter and the whole 
 of his conduct, unanimously voted their grateful thanks 
 to him, for a zealous and able discharge of the trust 
 reposed in him ; this being the fourth similar testimony 
 to him from the Prelates of Ireland. This calumny, 
 however, caused a great deal of ill-will, even among the 
 Irish, against the steady defender of their best interests. 
 But after a time, O'Connell was satisfied that he had been 
 mistaken ; and then with the frankness of a just and ge- 
 nerous spirit, he made an ample and public retractation 
 and apology. At an aggregate meeting in Dublin, on the 
 5th of March in the year following, Mr. O'Connell stated 
 that "he felt it a duty which he owed to that learned 
 Prelate, to admit most distinctly that he had wrongfully 
 accused him of having returned to the approval of any 
 vetoistical arrangements, and he felt much pleasure in 
 doing so in the face of his countrymen, now so nume- 
 rously assembled. He had seen a letter written by the 
 Rev. Mr. Hayes (the Irish deputy of the lay Catholics 
 to Rome), in which the unaltered detestation of the 
 Veto by that worthy Prelate is incontestably estab- 
 lished ; and he felt personally grateful to the Rev. 
 gentleman for having disabused his mind of such un- 
 favourable impressions, and enabled him to announce to
 
 300 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1815. 
 
 his countrjrmen, that Dr. Milner continues to be the 
 same decided, determined anti-Vetoist, that he had 
 proved himself to be under the most painful and dis- 
 couraging circumstances." 
 
 Mr. Eneas M'Donnell followed, and apologised also 
 for having in some degree aided in the circulation of 
 the opinion injurious to Dr. Milner. He read a por- 
 tion of the letter from the Eev. Mr. Hayes, alluded to 
 by Mr. O'Connell, which was as follows : " In justice 
 to this worthy Prelate (Dr. Milner), I think myself 
 bound to state that he opposed the Veto with all his 
 might at Rome and at Genoa ; and that, when unsup- 
 ported by his friends, overwhelmed by the calumny of 
 his foes, and threatened with immediate deposition from 
 his episcopal functions, he found that all his opposi- 
 tion was in vain, he then, without at all approving^ 
 softened down the evil he could not prevent, and to 
 him alone are we indebted for the mild, permissive^ 
 indecisive tone and tenor of the Genoese Letter. 
 Nay, however he may have acted under certain diffi- 
 culties since that epoch, this I know, that down to the 
 present moment his letters to the Holy See bitterly 
 lament the treachery practised on his Holiness, and be- 
 speak him still the warm hater and opposer of all 
 vetoistical arrangements."* 
 
 It is pleasing to record that Dr. Milner was always 
 a warm admirer of O'Connell. That great man had 
 not yet risen to the pre-eminent distinction which 
 awaited him, when even Wellington became alarmed 
 at his power and influence, and he thus became 
 morally the conqueror of him who conquered Napo- 
 
 * See the report of the meeting in the *' Orthodox Journal" for 
 March, ] 816, p. 115.
 
 AGE 63.] CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. 301 
 
 leon ; but Milner already appreciated highly his 
 valuable services to his country and her religion, as 
 the following anecdote will show, which the writer 
 himself witnessed. Dr. Milner had presided, as 
 usual, on one occasion at the Midsummer Exhibition at 
 Oscott College, and the writer was standing by him 
 afterwards in the Ambulacrum, when a fine Irish youth 
 passed by. The Bishop called him, and asked him if 
 he should soon see Mr. O'Connell, as the boy was 
 going home to Dublin. He replied that he should see 
 him very shortly. " Then," said Dr. Milner, "tell him 
 from me, that if he were not a Catholic, I would erect 
 a statue of brass in his honour ; but since he is a 
 Catholic, I will do something far better, I will oifer the 
 adorable sacrifice of the Mass for him, that God may 
 give him every blessing in this world and the next." 
 
 CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. 
 
 TRIENNIAL MEETING OF THE MIDLAND CLERGY. — CONFIRMATIONS 
 AND ORDINATION BY DR. MILNER. HIS CARE OF OSCOTT COL- 
 LEGE. — MEDAL IN HONOUR OF THE POPE, PRESENTED BY DR. 
 
 MILNER TO THE PRINCE REGENT ILLNESS AND INCAPACITY 
 
 OF THE PRESIDENT OF OSCOTT, MR. POTTS. — MR. QUICK MADE 
 ACTING PRESIDENT. — DR. MILNER's SERMON AT BIRMINGHAM 
 ON THE THANKSGIVING DAY. — RESOLUTIONS OF MEETINGS AT 
 NEWCASTLE AND OF THE ENGLISH BOARD CENSURED BY DR. 
 MILNER. — THE IRISH DEPUTIES AT ROME. — THE POPe's LETTER 
 TO THE IRISH BISHOPS. 
 
 Dr. Milner held the Triennial Meeting of his Clergy 
 in July of this year 1815. In August he gave Con- 
 firmation at Cobridge, and at Caverswall Castle ; and
 
 303 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1815. 
 
 in September, at Hardwick and Overthorpe. It was 
 a source of the purest consolation to his pious mind to 
 witness the flourishing state of his beloved College of 
 St. Mary's, Oscott, his own creation, his joy, and his 
 crown in the Lord. This year he had the unspeakable 
 satisfaction to ordain four priests at once from this 
 little seminary, a greater number than even Douay 
 College produced at any time in one year. The ordi- 
 nation took place on the 28th of September, and those 
 promoted to the priesthood were Rev. William Ware- 
 ing, now retired from the laborious charge of the epis- 
 copate, — Rev. Thomas Baddeley, who died at Cress- 
 well, Feb. 18, 1823,— the Rev. John Chaloner, who 
 died at Derby, December 4, 1836, and the Rev. John 
 Jones, who died at Hassop, March 11, 1852. Dr. 
 MiLNER had now begun to hold his Ordinations in the 
 College Chapel, at Oscott. He frequently visited the 
 College, looked zealously after the whole management 
 of that establishment, and took special notice of those 
 who were pursuing their studies for the ecclesiastical 
 state. Simple and averse to luxury in all his habits, 
 he was contented with a single apartment in the Col- 
 lege, which, though small and inconvenient, served him 
 for both sitting room and bedroom. He indulged his 
 love of painted glass, by introducing some into the 
 solitary casement window of this room ; but it was 
 only painted and not burnt in, so that it soon faded 
 and disappeared altogether. 
 
 Dr. Milner had become the possessor of a marble 
 bust of Pope Pius YII., executed by Milhomme, in 
 1808, which was allowed to be a better likeness than 
 that by Canova, or rather by his assistant D'Este. 
 This bust he placed in the hands of Messrs. Hardman 
 and Lewis, of Birmingham, who had a die engraved
 
 AGE 63.] CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. 303 
 
 from it by Mr. F. Webb, and produced a beautiful 
 medal, with a design and inscription on the reverse, 
 which were furnished by the Bishop. A dove was 
 represented descending, with the olive branch in its 
 beak, over which appeared a scroll with the Pope's 
 motto Pax^ with a double barred or Jerusalem cross 
 passing through the middle letter. Beneath was the 
 following inscription : 
 
 pio p. P. VII. 
 
 A DIRA CAPTIVITATE 
 
 OB. FID. CATH. LATA 
 
 REDUCI 
 
 CATH. ANG. ET HIB. 
 
 D.D. 
 
 MDCCCXIV. 
 
 The first impression of this medal, in gold, was pre- 
 sented by Dr. Milner to the Prince Regent ; who 
 acknowledged it by the following gracious letter through 
 Col. M'Mahon. 
 
 ''Carlton House, Nov. 27, 1815. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I have had the honour to receive and present 
 to the Prince Regent, in your name, a superb medallion 
 of the Pope ; and I am commanded by his Royal 
 Highness to return you his best thanks for your polite 
 attention in sending to him so beautiful a specimen of 
 art and workmanship. 
 
 " I have the honour to be. Sir, 
 " With gi'eat respect, 
 " Your most obedient Servant, 
 
 "J. M'Mahon. 
 " To the lit. Rev. John Milner, D.D., 
 Sfc. Sfc, Wolverhampton!^ 
 The obverse of this medal, now before the writer,
 
 304 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1815. 
 
 exhibits a likeness of the Pope, from the bust by 
 Milhomme, with the inscription : Pius vu. font. max. 
 It is exquisitely engraved, but gives too youthful an 
 appearance to his Holiness. 
 
 St. Mary's College at Oscott had been under the 
 presidentship of the Rev. Thomas Potts since its first 
 establishment in 1808. But this worthy and valuable 
 superior was seized with a stroke of paralysis on the 
 last day of this year, 1815 ; and shortly after he had 
 a second attack. Dr. Milner, on finding how much 
 Mr. Potts was affected by these fits, directed that 
 he should be reheved from all care and duty in the 
 College, but should remain as usual in his apartments, 
 and continue nominally the President. He expressed 
 at once his kind and considerate feeling towards the 
 venerable man, by saying that he wished him to enjoy 
 otium cum dignitate. Mr. Potts continued for a 
 short time to recite his Breviary with the help of a 
 companion, and even to say Mass ; but he grew so 
 childish that the Bishop was obliged to desire him to 
 discontinue both, and only to attempt to say the Ro- 
 sary. Dr. Milner proceeded to provide for the offices 
 which Mr. Potts had held in the College with so much 
 credit and efficiency. Mr. Quick was made the acting 
 President, and he also took Mr. Potts' chair as Pro- 
 fessor of Divinity. Thus did Dr. Milner show at 
 once his benevolence and his wisdom ; and his beloved 
 seminary still went on and prospered under the charge 
 of able and enlightened superiors. 
 
 The 1 8th of January, 1816, having been appointed 
 for a General Thanksgiving for the Peace, which was 
 now so happily proclaimed, after a war of a quarter of 
 a century, Dr. Milner preached on the occasion at 
 St. Chad's chapel in Birmingham. The sermon was a
 
 AGE 64 ] CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. 305 
 
 fine, bold, nervous composition, and delivered with 
 great spirit and effect. The Bishop was particularly 
 noble in his delivery of the following passage : " Great 
 was our Edgar when he was rowed down the Dee by 
 the King of Scotland and seven other vassal princes as 
 his boatmen ; great were our Edwards at Cressy and 
 Poictiers, but especially when the younger of them led 
 the French monarch a captive to his royal father ; 
 great were our Henrys, when the fifth of that name, 
 having achieved the splendid feat of Agincourt, his 
 generals followed up the victory till they saw his own 
 son crowned at Paris, King of France : but neither 
 our Edgars, nor our Edwards, neither our Henrys, nor 
 any other of our princes or heroes ever reached the 
 height of glory which our present Prince Regent 
 attained, when having, by the unparalleled deeds of 
 heroism on the part of his immortal general and army, 
 lopped ofif and seared the last neck of the tremendous 
 hydra in the field of Waterloo, he was hailed by the 
 powers of Europe, the finisher of their miseries, and 
 the author, under God, of their security and happi- 
 ness." He imagines these powers combining to raise 
 the Prince's figure in breathing marble, a group of 
 British statesmen and heroes supporting the pedestal. 
 " Among these I seem to descry the prophetic orator 
 who roused the nation to its heroic exertions (Burke); 
 the indefatigable admiral (Nelson) who exalted the 
 fame even of the British navy, and died in gaining the 
 greatest of all its victories ; and the incomparable 
 general (Wellington) who with British troops, in dif- 
 ferent climes, has eclipsed the glory even of that navy, 
 the conqueror of Napoleon's generals, and of Napoleon 
 himself." 
 
 The plan of the Sermon is, First, to show^the mag- 
 
 X
 
 30G LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1816. 
 
 nitude of the evils from which we were deUvered, and 
 of the benefits which we received, as they regarded us 
 as British subjects and as Catholics ; and Secondly, 
 to point out the chief requisite for completing the 
 national blessing, our full emancipation. He describes 
 the extent and horrors of the war in details far more 
 terrible than the reader could anticipate. " Never," 
 he says, " since the earth was repeopled by the sons of 
 
 Noe, has such a war existed Who can count up 
 
 the millions upon millions of human victims whom 
 this Moloch of revolutionary war has devoured in the 
 different quarters of the globe ? Who is capable of 
 describing the various misery to which a great propor- 
 tion of the human race has been reduced by the same 
 demon ?" He shows the imminent danger which 
 threatened our own country : it was far from the inten- 
 tion of the real Deistical authors of the Revolution 
 that its ravages should be confined at home. " No, 
 they meditated the destruction of thrones and of 
 altars, and of every institution connected with them 
 throughout the world, and they were resolved to make 
 their first attempt abroad on these important islands. 
 
 Oh, had the general subjugator, who negotiated 
 
 and fought and lived for no other purpose than to 
 triumph over this envied kingdom, succeeded with his 
 mighty preparations against it, we may well conceive, 
 from his treatment of other states and kingdoms, that 
 were not the objects either of his hatred or his fears, 
 how he would have treated this ; we may well believe 
 his general, who seems to have been intended to 
 command the invading army, when he declared, that 
 in the event of his conquering England, he would 
 make it such a place that even Englishmen would not 
 choose to live in it But what did I say of escap-
 
 AGE 64.] CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH, 307 
 
 ing ? Through the Providence of God, — through the 
 wisdom, courage, and perseverance of her rulers, war- 
 riors and people, this little nation not only saved her- 
 self, but also several others, enabling the remainder to 
 save themselves from the destruction in question, 
 until, behold, at length, by one mighty effort, she 
 hurled her gigantic enemy from his usurped throne, 
 forced him to seek his life on board her vessels, and 
 chained him to a rock in the middle of the Atlantic 
 ocean !"* Never, assuredly, has any orator, or any 
 writer, described the fate of Napoleon in language so 
 sententious, yet so simple. 
 
 The second part of the Sermon, from its argumenta- 
 tive character, is less spirited and eloquent : it is a 
 plain, clear exposition of the inconsistency and injus- 
 tice of the penal laws against Catholics, and a refuta- 
 tion of the pretexts for their continuance. 
 
 In his Lenten Pastoral, February 19th, 1816, Dr. 
 MiLNER cautions his flock against " signing or voting 
 Resolutions, or other instruments regarding matters of 
 religion, which have not been duly weighed and sanc- 
 tioned hy your Prelates^ who watch over you^ as being 
 to render an account to God of your souls (Heb. xiii. 
 17) ; for it is not the Catholic Rule of Faith that 
 every individual should judge of the reasonableness 
 of the different articles of this faith ; but he is to be- 
 lieve them 071 the authority of the Catholic Church ; 
 and it may easily happen that men unversed in such 
 discussions, may, in attempting to establish the doc- 
 trines of Christian charity, sanction those, which, in 
 
 * '' A Discourse delivered in the Roman Catholic Chapel of 
 St. Chad, Chadwell-street, Birmingham, on Jan. 18, 1816, by the 
 Rt. Rev. Dr. Milner, V.A.B.C, &c." Birmingham, J. Ferrall.
 
 308 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1816. 
 
 fact, are cruel and unchristian, as well as contrary to 
 the doctrine of the Fathers, and even to the written 
 word of God." The pastoral of the V. A. of the 
 Northern District, Dr. Wm. Gibson, contained a simi- 
 lar charge in equally earnest language. 
 
 These admonitions were judged necessary, in con- 
 sequence of certain Resolutions passed at a meeting of 
 Catholics at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, on the 27th of the 
 previous December, and of others at a meeting of the 
 Board of British Catholics on the 31st of January, 
 1816. The purport of these Resolutions will be seen 
 from the following extracts from a Letter of the ever 
 vigilant Prelate, Dr. Milner, which appeared in the 
 "■ Orthodox JournaV for February of this year, 1816, 
 under the signature of Pastorini. The Bishop quotes 
 the first Resolution of the Newcastle meeting, which 
 was thus worded: "We do maintain the right of every 
 individual, in every age, and in every country, to judge 
 of the reasonableness of his belief ; and we do more- 
 over maintain, that no man can be deprived of this 
 sacred, inalienable right, without injustice or oppres- 
 sion." This, and the Resolutions which followed it, 
 were occasioned by accounts of the persecution of 
 some Protestants in the South of France, which were 
 after all quite unfounded. The Newcastle Resolution 
 was strange indeed, as coming from Catholics. " It 
 is," said Dr. Milner, in the above mentioned Letter, 
 " either to adopt the Protestant Rule of Faith, — 
 according to which every man is to judge of the 
 different truths of Revelation by his private opinion, 
 instead of the authority of the Catholic Church, — or 
 it is to mock the Protestants, for gaining the favour of 
 whom the Resolution was passed and published." He 
 passes to the Resolution of the Board, which had
 
 AGE 64.] CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. 309 
 
 adopted the most important and vital decision of the 
 Newcastle meeting, in the following words : " That 
 we do not wish to obtain any religious freedom for 
 ourselves, which ^ve do not wish to extend to every 
 other country, and every other class, or denomination 
 of men ; and we should hold ourselves unworthy of 
 being considered as Christians, or Britons, if we did 
 not sympathise with all who suffer for conscience sake, 
 and if we did not regard religious persecution of every 
 description as a horrid and detestable crime." 
 
 Upon this. Dr. Milner observes, that though he is 
 far, nay vert/Jar^ from being a friend to religious per- 
 secution in general, there is, as the framers and advo- 
 cates of these Kesolutions ought to have known, an 
 immense difference between punishing or disfranchising 
 Christians, who neither teach, nor practise anything 
 contrary to the state, or to society, — and other 
 religionists, who teach and prppagate sedition, robbery, 
 bloodshed, blasphemy, obscenity, &c. — as w^as respec- 
 tively the case with the Circumcellions, the Al- 
 bigenses, the Hussites, the Fifth-Monarchy Men, 
 the Gnostics, the Turpulins, the Adamites, &c. He 
 asks if these gentlemen would sympathise with the 
 Brahmins and Gentoos in India, when our governors 
 restrain them from worshipping the idol Juggernaut, 
 with unnatural and obscene rites, or from burning poor 
 widows alive. He argues from Scripture and the holy 
 Fathers that persecution is not always, and in all cases, 
 " a horrid and detestable crime." He adds, however, 
 in conclusion, that he is convinced that most, if not all 
 the subscribers to these Eesolutions were taken by 
 surprise, and had no idea of adopting the Protestant 
 Rule of Faith, or condenming the doctrine of the 
 Scriptures or the Fathers ; but he hopes that this sur-
 
 310 LITE OF BISHOP MTLNER. [1816. 
 
 prise " will render them cautious in future, how they 
 adopt the tenets and language of men, who are not 
 qualified either by knowledge or character to dictate to 
 them." 
 
 The protest of the Irish against that part of Car- 
 dinal Litta's Letter from Genoa, which intimated a 
 willino;ness to allow certain vetoistic arransements, in 
 the event of Emancipation being granted, was firmly 
 expressed in their memorable Resolutions of August 
 23rd and 24th, 1815. Their deputies to the Holy 
 See, Archbishop Murray and Bishop Murphy, who 
 were accompanied also by Archdeacon Blake, had an 
 audience of his Holiness on the 5th of November 
 following ; when, after presenting his papers, Dr. 
 Murray with great energy and emphasis addressed a 
 few words to the Holy Father, in support of the 
 remonstrance ; and was followed at greater length by 
 Dr. Murphy, who in an afiecting strain conjured the 
 Pope not to sanction any measure destructive to 
 religion, and showed the evil tendency of the proposed 
 arrangements. The sentiments of his Holiness may 
 be gathered from what he said to the Rev. Mr. Hayes, 
 the deputy of the Catholic Association, as reported by 
 that gentleman in his letter to Mr. O' Council, dated 
 Rome, November 11th, and read by him to the mem- 
 bers assembled on the 9th of December. " His Holi- 
 ness said there was no occasion for the great alarm 
 among his good children in Ireland ; that nothing had 
 yet been done in the business ; that the Letter from 
 Genoa, besides being merely conditional^ was by no 
 means preceptive upon the Catholics ; that it contained 
 nothing more than a permission of submitting to the 
 Government, — if the usual electors pleased so to do, — 
 the ordinary list of candidates presented to a vacant
 
 AGE 64.] CHAPTER SEVENTEENTH. 311 
 
 See, in order that one or more might, if necessary, be 
 rejected ; but so as that the hst would not be renewed 
 nor so diminished, as that a sufficient number should not 
 remain for his Hohness to choose from." Mr. Hayes 
 mentioned also in his letter, that Monsignor Quaran- 
 totti had been frequently reprimanded by his Holiness 
 and the Cardinals for his Rescript.* 
 
 At length his Holiness addressed a long Letter to 
 the Irish Bishops, dated Feb. 1, 1816. He expresses 
 his deep concern at the letters and resolutions of their 
 Lordships, by which they signified that his expedient for 
 satisfying the Government of the loyalty of the candi- 
 dates proposed for the episcopacy, not only did not 
 meet their approbation, but appeared to them to 
 threaten destruction to the Catholic religion in Ireland. 
 His Holiness proceeds to argue paternally at great 
 length, that the power which he was willing to allow, 
 could never be perverted to such an effect. f This 
 Letter, however, could not allay the apprehensions of 
 the Prelates ; for, as Dr. Milner justly observed, " it 
 will require all the firmness of Catholics, in the event 
 of a new Emancipation Bill, to save themselves from 
 being hurried away by Protestant statesmen, beyond 
 the bounds marked out in the Pope's Letter."^ When 
 the plan was first made known to Dr. Mh^ner at 
 Rome, by Cardinal Litta, our Prelate reminded his 
 Eminence of what had happened in France. The 
 Pope had entered into a concordat with Buonaparte, 
 highly beneficial to religion, when presently he tacked 
 
 * See " Orthodox Journal" for 1816, p. 475-47G. 
 t See the Letter in C. Butler's " Hist. Mem.," Appendix, Note 
 VI. 
 
 t " Supp. Mem.," p. 239.
 
 312 LIFE OF BISHOP MTLNER. [1816. 
 
 to it, without the Pope's consent, the Organic Laws^ 
 exceedingly injurious to rehgion. In fact, the Pope's 
 proposal was rejected by the English ministers, as 
 not sufficient to satisfy the wishes of Government. 
 This was told to the Rev. Mr. Hayes by Cardinals 
 Litta and Galleffi.* 
 
 CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. 
 
 SIR J. C. HIPPISLEY's motion. — TWO WORKS OF DR. MILNEB 
 AGAINST IT. — DR. MILNER BUILDS THE EXHIBITION ROOM AND 
 COLONNADES AT OSCOTT COLLEGE. — HIS VISITS TO THE COLLEGE. 
 — CONFERENCES. — LETTER IN THE CATHOLICON ABOUT AN 
 EXORCISM BY THE REV. ED. PEACH. — TESTIMONIAL FROM DR. 
 MILNER TO THE AUTHOR. — LETTERS OF DR. MILNER IN THE 
 ORTHODOX JOURNAL AND CATHOLICON UNDER VARIOUS SIG- 
 NATURES. 
 
 The Pope, in the Letter from Genoa, had decided, 
 that as to allowing any power to the English Govern- 
 ment of inspecting Rescripts from the Holy See, the 
 question could never be even made matter of dis- 
 cussion. But Sir John Cox Hippisley, who had before 
 been very favourable to Catholics, had strongly set 
 his mind on the establishment of an inquisitorial office 
 for the inspection of all such documents from Rome. 
 He had made a motion* in Parliament to that effect in 
 1811, which was rejected. He again moved on the 
 28th of May in this year, 1816, for a Committee to 
 report on the laws of foreign states for the regulation 
 of their Catholic subjects in ecclesiastical matters, and 
 
 * See Mr. Hayes' Letter, as above, in the «' Orthodox Journal."
 
 AGE 64.] CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. 313 
 
 their intercourse with the See of Rome, or any other 
 foreign jurisdiction. His motion was agreed to, and a 
 Committee appointed of twenty-one members, includ- 
 ing Sir J. Cox Hippisley, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. 
 Grattan, Mr. Canning, Mr. Peel, and Mr. Wilberforce. 
 He had long been collecting papers ; and these were 
 laid before the Committee, who published their Report, 
 which, with its Supplement, filled 595 folio pages. 
 Their attention had been directed to two objects, 
 1st. The appointment of Catholic Bishops, and 2ndly, 
 The submission of Papal Rescripts to the inspection of 
 the civil government. Dr. Milner was surprised and 
 grieved to find his old friend Sir John so bent on 
 injuring the cause, which he had formerly so strenu- 
 ously promoted ; and he published a work entitled : 
 " A?! humble Remonstrance to the Members of the 
 House of Commons^ on the nature and object of the 
 Report of its Select Committee^ for enquiring into 
 the Laws and Ordinances of Foreign States respect- 
 ing their Roman Catholic Subjects, Sfc. By a native 
 Rotnan Catholic Prelate.'''' His object was to show 
 that the laws and practices of Catholic States are no 
 proofs of Catholic discipline, except so far as the 
 Catholic Church has admitted and sanctioned them. 
 He further proved that any attempt to imitate the 
 decrees of absolute monarchs, would tend to deprive 
 the Catholics of this country of their constitutional 
 liberty, and would be a real persecution. Dr. Milner 
 in this pamphlet of 48 pages, combats the alleged 
 necessity for any restrictions on our discipline, quoting 
 Grattan's challenge in Parliament : " Show me the 
 danger, and I will give you the security." He pro- 
 tests against Sir John's collection of modern decrees 
 of princes and states respecting ecclesiastical matters,
 
 314 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1816. 
 
 as being no proof of the doctrine or discipline of the 
 CathoHc Church. He quotes in illustration a maxim 
 of the celebrated Fleury: "It is not our rule to estab- 
 lish Church discipline upon mere acts and customs ; 
 as these are often nothing better than abuses^ but upon 
 Canons and Church Law."* He gives a lucid synop- 
 sis of ecclesiastical history and canon law, to show that 
 even Catholic princes merely present candidates for 
 episcopal institution, and do so by an authority derived 
 from the Church. " They have not, and cannot have 
 any original or inherent right to appoint successors 
 to the Apostles of Christ." t He shows very distinctly 
 in what manner the interference of the Crown in the 
 appointment of our Bishops would operate to the 
 "essential injury," and "the eventual subversion of 
 our religion." He records how the despotic Emperor 
 Joseph n. besought at last the Pope and Bishops, 
 whom he had so much outraged, to interpose their 
 pastoral influence with his subjects, who took up arms 
 against him in defence of their religious and other liber- 
 ties ; " which they did, but with only partial success, 
 till he recalled his edicts and died of chagrin." Also 
 that Leopold, his successor, appears to have greatly 
 changed his sentiments and conduct, when called to 
 the imperial throne ; and that the Jansenist Bishop of 
 Pistojia, Scipio de Ricci, abjured his errors to Pius 
 VII., as that Pope testified in one of his Allocutions. J 
 The '•^Humble Remonstrance'" was published in 
 1816. In the year following it was reprinted at 
 Dublin by P. Blenkinsop, with no intimation of any 
 alterations, but in reahty with so many omissions, 
 
 * " Discours sur I'Hist. Eccles." 
 
 t Page 14. X Page 35. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 64.] CHAPTER EIGPITEENTH. 315 
 
 additions, and changes, that it was pronounced a hte- 
 rary fraud. The writer has seen a copy of a letter 
 from Dr. Troy, Archbishop of Dublin, to the printer, 
 Blenkinsop, assuring him that the alterations in the 
 Dublin edition were made with the consent of Dr. 
 MiLNER. But so far from this having been the case, 
 Dr. Milner bitterly complained, — as Mr. E. Hay, 
 the Irish Catholic Secretary, declared, — of the treat- 
 ment which he had experienced. The alterations and 
 omissions even amounted to one-fifth of the original 
 pamphlet. In a letter to Mr. Hay, dated Oct. 14, 
 1822, afac simile of which is now before the present 
 WTiter, Dr. Milner says : " As to the suppression 
 of some parts of one of my pamphlets in the Dublin 
 edition of it, it is sufficient for me to say, that this was 
 done without my concurrence or knowledge." To 
 reconcile the two statements, the writer confesses him- 
 self utterly unable. 
 
 He also published an ingenious and amusing pamph- 
 let, under the following title : " The Inquisition. A 
 Letter addressed to the Hon. Sir Jolm Cox Hip- 
 pisley.^ Bart.., M. P., Recorder of Sudbury., ^-c. <^c. 
 By a Catholic Christian.'^ A second edition of this 
 appeared shortly after, " with emendations and addi- 
 tions.''' It professes to give the Baronet all the essen- 
 tial information he could wish to draw from the persons 
 whom he would summon before him, in case that he 
 obtained, under some new law, the office of Grand 
 Inquisitor ; and accordingly it pleasantly details the 
 supposed examination of Dr. Troy for Ireland, Dr. 
 Milner for England, the Rev. John Brown for Stony- 
 hurst, and the Rev. Dom. Anthony for La Trappe. 
 
 The examination ofDr. Troy turns upon the appoint- 
 ment of Catholic Bishops in foreign states, and upon
 
 316 LIFE OF BISHOP MLNER. [1810. 
 
 the proposed plan of Sir John for a new office to 
 revise all correspondence with the See of Eome ; 
 on which Dr. Troy tells him distinctly that the Pope 
 never would consent to his letters being opened by any 
 one, but the persons to whom they are sent ; and that 
 such restrictions as Sir John proposed would destroy 
 the confidence of correspondence, would injure com- 
 merce, and deprive British subjects of their constitu- 
 tional rights of Habeas Corpus. 
 
 Dr. Milner is supposed to be examined next, and 
 defends himself from the old charges of having once 
 advocated a Veto, and authorised Mr. Ponsonby to 
 offer it to Government. He reminds Sir John, that 
 he (Sir John) once positively required the consent of 
 our Bishops to the creation of his favourite office of 
 Minister of Religious Worship, but that he (Dr. 
 Milner) answered : " I would rather be led into the 
 neighbouring square to suffer instant death, than 
 consent to it ;" and Sir John's reply was : " Then we 
 are at issue." 
 
 The Rev. John Browne defends Stonyhurst and the 
 Jesuits, but denies himself to be a Jesuit. The Rev. 
 Dom Anthony explains the nature and practices of the 
 humble establishment near Lulworth, and refutes the 
 calumnies which had been propagated against its in- 
 mates. 
 
 Sir John Cox Hippisley's voluminous Report was 
 brought up by him in the House of Commons on the 
 25th of June, 1816, was ordered to lie on the table 
 and to be printed ; but was never heard of after- 
 wards ! 
 
 On Dr. Milner's return from Rome in the preced- 
 ing year, he conceived the idea of beautifying St. 
 Mary's College, and adding much to its utifity and
 
 AGE 64.] CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. 317 
 
 convenience, by the erection of a central building, to 
 connect the old portion of the house with a building, 
 which stood on the opposite side, called the "Laura," 
 and had been erected to afford greater accommodation, 
 soon after the College came into the hands of Dr. Mil- 
 NER. He planned a colonnade of seven pillars on each 
 side, with a semi-circular opening at each end, sup- 
 ported by four columns. This afforded a convenient 
 walk, protected from rain, and a sheltered passage 
 from the main building across to the " Laura," passing 
 through a spacious piazza, underneath an elegant 
 building in the centre. This building contained a 
 large and convenient room, intended for examinations, 
 exhibitions, lectures, and those sermons, which were 
 delivered by the students in divinity to the inmates of 
 the College, and proved most useful exercises for them 
 preparatory to their entering upon the actual duties of 
 the holy ministry. The building was of the Roman 
 Doric order, open below and supported by four pillars, 
 above each of which was a pilaster, and above these a 
 plain entablature. A large cross of open work gilt 
 surmounted the centre, standing on three steps, and be- 
 neath was the inscription : 
 
 D. o. M. 
 MDCCCXV I. 
 
 There were three large French windows with ground 
 glass, reHeved with portions of glass stained, and both 
 the centre building and the two amhulacrums were 
 surmounted with ornamental urns. In the s})acious 
 area beneath the great room a bust of St. Chad adorned 
 a niche in the centre, and a convenient seat went 
 along the wall at the back. In front of the building, 
 and about the centre of the space, was placed a stone 
 statue of our Blessed Lady, on a pedestal. It was
 
 318 LEFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1816. 
 
 suggested that the simple but expressive title 
 0eoTOA-o9 would be most appropriate to appear on the 
 pedestal, but the Bishop chose the following text 
 from the Canticle: " Egofios campi^ et liliuiyi conval- 
 lium.'" The room was lofty and spacious. The 
 marble bust of Pope Pius VII. by Milhomme, was pre- 
 sented to the College by the Bishop, and stood in the 
 centre, over the fire place, and opposite to the middle 
 window ; and the upper end of the room was adorned 
 with a large portrait of Dr. Milner painted by the 
 drawing-master of the College, Mr. Barber. This 
 room was opened November 15th, 1816, by a lecture 
 on the Steam Engine, delivered by the present writer, 
 and illustrated by various diagrams which he had 
 designed, and by a small model of a steam engine, just 
 powerful enough to grind coifee. It must be remem- 
 bered that steam machinery was then but partially in 
 use, steam navigation had only just been introduced 
 on the Lakes of N. America, and railway locomo- 
 tives and steam carriages were as yet unknown. The 
 above description of the new building has been thought 
 admissible in these pages, as no part of it is now 
 in existence. The " Laura" has been since taken down, 
 and the Exhibition Room was accidentally destroyed 
 by fire on the 25th of January, 1860. The above 
 brief account will at least tend to preserve the memory 
 of Dr. Milner's exertions for the improvement of his 
 beloved College of St. Mary's. 
 
 He frequently came to the College, and stayed there 
 several days together. When he was there, it was the 
 rule to have the Litany of Loretto sung at night 
 prayers, and he usually said Mass every morning for 
 the community. He gave the kindest encouragement 
 to the ecclesiastical students, always attending their
 
 AGE 64] CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. 319 
 
 Conferences, which were most punctually held from six 
 till seven in the evenings of Sundays, Tuesdays, and 
 Thursdays. The good Bishop would listen with pa- 
 ternal attention to the prones or little discourses which 
 the young Church students delivered in turns at these 
 Conferences. He very rarely interrupted the speaker, 
 whatever he might say less correctly during his dis- 
 course ; but once, when a young churchman had 
 spoken of the holy " virgin" Judith, he could not help 
 saying : " No, Sir, she was not a virgin, she was a 
 widow : pray go on." At the end, he usually said 
 some words of commendation and encouragement to 
 the youthful orator. The present writer, however, 
 once received rather an equivocal compliment after his 
 prone. He had given a little discourse on Vainglory, 
 which elicited from Dr. Milner this speech: " Thank 
 you, Sir, you have given us a very excellent discourse ; 
 you have only to apply it to yourself" After the prone, 
 or short discourse, which usually occupied only fifteen 
 or twenty minutes, the rest of the hour was filled up 
 by the discussion of some point of doctrine or mo- 
 rahty, or with some echfying narratives or remarks by 
 some of the superiors, or else by reading aloud 
 Eodriguez' Treatise on Christian Perfection, and 
 occasional comments, or queries on what was read. 
 But when the Bishop was present, he would invite any 
 one to ask him any questions on points of Church 
 History, or any other difficulties of a religious nature ; 
 and it was admirable to witness the ease and readiness 
 with which he answered any inquiries, especially on 
 Church History, with which he was thoroughly 
 familiar, and poured out the treasures of learning, stored 
 up in his mind as in a living library. 
 
 A monthly periodical had been commenced in the
 
 320 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1816 
 
 preceding year, 1815, called the " CathoUcon,'' con- 
 ducted by the well-known and respected Catholic 
 printer and publisher, Mr. George Keating. Dr. 
 MiLNER occasionally contributed to that work, and 
 frequently corresponded with Mr. Keating, who printed 
 several of his works. In the Number for July, 1816, 
 appeared a Letter from him, signed X., in which he 
 first spoke of the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 
 and quoted the decrees of Pius VI. in his Brief 
 Auctorem Fidei, by which he condemned the rash- 
 ness of those who opposed and rejected that sacred 
 devotion, to which our holy Prelate himself was so 
 much attached. The rest of his Letter expressed his 
 great consolation on perusing, in the preceding Number 
 of the Catholicon^ the account, by the Rev. Edward 
 Peach, of a successful exorcism which he had per- 
 formed about a year before. The writer well remem- 
 bers the occurrence: the account was extremely inte- 
 resting in all its particulars, and was published by Mr. 
 Peach in a separate pamphlet. After some suitable 
 remarks on the perfect credibility of the account, the 
 Bishop says : " A train of other reflections present 
 themselves to my mind on this subject, but the very 
 excellent remarks with which Mr. Peach introduces and 
 closes his narrative supersede any utility that could 
 result from my here expressing them." One wish, 
 however, he does express, that the clergy would occa- 
 sionally communicate other "edifying instances and 
 traits that occur in the discharge of their functions, 
 honourable to their religion and consohng to its pro- 
 fessors."* 
 
 The writer of these pages, with the consent of his 
 
 * " Catholicon," vol. ii. p. 24.
 
 AGE C4.] CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. 321 
 
 superiors, made a tour on the Continent, in the 
 Summer of 1816, which lasted five months. Dr. 
 MiLNER evinced his great kindness and paternal 
 solicitude, by giving him, wholly unsolicited, the 
 following testimonial on setting out, which he has 
 always preserved with gratitude and reverence. It is 
 written throughout in his own hand, and sealed with 
 his usual seal. 
 
 " Ego infrascriptus testor harum litterarum latorem, 
 Fredericum Husenbeth, qui per plures annos studiis 
 humanis, philosophicis et theologicis, prime in Collegio 
 et postea in Seminario hujus Districtus, operam nava- 
 vit, indole, industria, pietate, moribus et fide Catholica 
 superioribus suis ecclesiasticis semper se commendasse. 
 Quapropter eum omnibus et singulis prselatis, sacer- 
 dotibus aliisque bonis Catholicis, quorum ope alicubi 
 indigere potest, enixe in Domino commendo. 
 
 " ^ Joannes Milner, 
 
 L. S. Episcopjis Castabala^^ Vicarius Apos- 
 
 tolicus Medii Districtus in Ansrlia. 
 
 & 
 
 " Datum Oscotice prope Birmingham, 
 "^j?. 30, 1816." 
 
 For this unexpected favour the writer immediately 
 returned a letter of thanks, of which he had the gra- 
 tification to learn soon after that his Lordship had 
 spoken with great satisfaction. The writer had the 
 additional consolation to receive on his tour, the 
 following, in a letter from the respected President, 
 Mr. Quick, dated from Oscott, June 29th, with refer- 
 ence to Dr. Milner. " His Lordship is in excellent 
 health, and has often spoken of you, and always with 
 a truly paternal solicitude for your happiness, and with 
 
 Y
 
 322 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1816. 
 
 expressions of a real regard." To have possessed the 
 regard of the immortal Milner has been one of the 
 most valuable privileges of the author's life, and is a 
 consoling reminiscence in his declining years. 
 
 It has been already mentioned that Dr. Milner 
 frankly stated in his " Supplementary Memoirs^ (p. 
 231), that while he was assured in Rome that he was 
 in high favour with the College of Cardinals, and the 
 holy Father himself, and had well defended his own 
 cause and that of the Church, on its true ground, — 
 also that he had done his duty, and ought to proceed 
 in the track he had hitherto pursued ; — it was at the 
 same time signified to him, that this ought to be 
 done with moderation, and without irritating the feel- 
 ings of others. He, himself, on his return from Rome, 
 mentioned likewise, with that candour and openness 
 which always marked his character, that he had been also 
 advised to write under a feigned name, as it appeared 
 rather beneath the dignity of a Bishop to appear so 
 often in print with his own signature. In compliance 
 with this recommendation, he now wrote under various 
 signatures, or only with his initials. This will account 
 for the Letter in the " Catholicon''' above noticed being 
 signed X. He wrote in the " Orthodox JournaV for 
 January, 1816, some Queries on the Stereotype Tes- 
 tament published by the Cathohc Board, which he 
 signed Col. Ang. Duac. Alumn. Also an article in 
 the same number, signed Consistency, putting some 
 sharp questions to Mr. Silvertop, with reference to the 
 Resolutions passed at the Newcastle Meeting already 
 mentioned ; and referring also to the disgraceful treat- 
 ment of himself by the Cathohc Board in 1810 and 
 1813, in which that gentleman took a leading part, he 
 asks him, who at Newcastle stood forth so zealously 
 
 I
 
 AGE 64.] CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. 323 
 
 against persecution, whether he has not to atone for a far 
 more odious persecution, in the insulting treatment of 
 Dr. Milner, and what amends he owes to the perse- 
 cuted; the layman to the Bishop, &c. Another Letter 
 from his pen, in the number for February, signed 
 Pastorini, and condemning the Newcastle Resolutions, 
 has been noticed in the last chapter. 
 
 He wrote again under the signature of Consistency, 
 in the Number for March, reproving a Catholic 
 Priest, for having in the previous Number defended 
 the Resolutions of the meeting at Newcastle. Dr. 
 Milner evidently knew who the Catholic Priest 
 was, for he thus hmiiorously supposed him to be sternly 
 
 addressed by his illustrious uncle : " H y, when 
 
 thou writest in the cause of the true religion, spare no 
 false doctrine, or profane novelty, whether it is broached 
 by a friend or a stranger, whether by a Mr. Siivertop 
 or a Mr. CopperhottomJ^ It was rarely, indeed, that 
 he indulged in raillery of this kind : and the present 
 writer heard him afterwards express his regret for hav- 
 ing done so on this occasion, though protected by 
 an assumed signature. He wrote in the same Number 
 a Letter signed Col. Ang. Duac. Alumn., thanking a 
 correspondent for answering his previous inquiries 
 respecting the English Board's stereotype Testament, 
 and making some caustic remarks upon it. Two 
 Letters appeared from him in the Number for April. 
 The first, signed J. M., contained queries to the 
 Secretary of the Protestant Bible Society, Mr. Blair, 
 as to the intended issue of a new edition of the Bible, 
 without note or comment, for the use of Catholic chil- 
 dren in the Bible Schools. The other signed a Priest 
 of the Middle District, answers an inquiry of a 
 correspondent, as to whether he had ever sanctioned
 
 324 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1816. 
 
 the new stereotype Testament, by referring to his 
 Pastoral Charge, Part II. on the Doctrine of the 
 Catholic Church, early in 1813, in which he con- 
 demned the proposed Catholic Bible Society as "novel, 
 rash, intrusive, illusory, and an abandonment of the 
 Catholic maxims and rule of faith, and an adoption of 
 the general rule of heretics of all ages." A Letter 
 from him in the Number for June, signed Observator, 
 gives an account of the Cisalpine Club. One in the 
 Number for August, signed A Priest of the Old 
 School, is directed against another defender of the 
 Newcastle Resolutions. In the Number of October, 
 there appeared a very powerful Letter from him, which 
 he evidently meant to be known as his own, by his sig- 
 nature of J. M. and his date W- . It eulogises 
 
 the editors of both the Catholic periodicals, the " Or- 
 thodox JournaV" and " Catholicon^' praising the editor 
 of the latter' s prompt and spirited answer to a corres- 
 pondent who signed himself Conciliator. " Alas !" 
 says Dr. Milner in this Letter, " I am witness that all 
 the mischief which has befallen or threatened the Ca- 
 tholicity of these islands for these thirty years past, has 
 been brought forward under the smiling visor oi conci- 
 liation It was to conciliate Catholics and Protes- 
 tants together that this same obedient son of his 
 Church (Mr. C Butler), on the 31st of Jan., 1810, 
 adopted for the Prelates and clergy, as well as for the Ca- 
 tholic population of both islands, the fatal Fifth Resolu- 
 tion—fatal, alas ! in every sense and way, by which 
 Catholic subscribers bound themselves to concur in 
 adopting means for securing the Protestant establish- 
 ments, including, of course, that of the Charter Schools. 
 In vain were the conciliators convicted of having 
 signed a declaration unlawfulin its terms, — vetoistical
 
 AGE 64.] CHAPTER EIGHTEENTH. 325 
 
 in its received meanings — and ruinous to our reli- 
 gious independency in its consequences^ The im- 
 mediate occasion of his Letter, however, was to notice 
 one from the editor of the " Catholicon^' in which he 
 praised a Letter signed Pastor in condemnation of the 
 A^eto, but declared that he should not return to that 
 subject. This determination Dr. Milner was not 
 likely to approve of Lie exposes some of the baleful 
 eifects which would follow from even the most 
 moderate vetoistical arrangements ; and gives the fol- 
 lowing amusing example of what would be their prac- 
 tical effect. " The process of the appointment of a 
 Catholic Prelate, I have been informed by very high 
 authority, would, on the Veto plan, be this. The 
 returning Prelate of a Catholic recommendation, we 
 are to suppose, waits on the minister, and says, — ' My 
 Lord, we, the Prelates, or we the Dean and Chapter, 
 &c., have found that Mr. A., and Mr. B., and Mr. C. 
 are any of them worthy and fit to be appointed by the 
 Pope, the Catholic Prelate to the vacant see.' His 
 Lordship having found, upon inquiry, that each one 
 of these candidates has preached a controversial ser- 
 mon, or written an able work, or made a convert, will 
 certainly answer : — ' Not one of those whom you have 
 mentioned can be accepted of, for reasons best known 
 to us : but if Mr. F. (the flatterer), or Mr. L. (the lati- 
 tudinarian), or Mr. Z. (the cypher), be chosen, he will 
 be accepted of.' " 
 
 Dr. Milner wrote one more Letter this year in the 
 " Orthodox Journal^'' signed Poimen, whicli appeared 
 in the Number for December, arid contained some im- 
 portant remarks on extracts from certain Letters to 
 Rome, written to the Eev. Dr. Paul Macpherson, the 
 agent of the Board, " a man," says Dr. Milner, " who
 
 326 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1816. 
 
 has had dealings with all descriptions of persons, and of 
 whom all descriptions of persons complain ; but none 
 more than those who employed him in procuring the 
 Quarantotti Rescript, and in bringing it, post haste, to 
 England, with the strongest assurances^ on his part, 
 that it was irreversible.''' It has been thought best to 
 make mention of all the above articles together, though 
 they were communicated to the periodical at different 
 periods, during the year 1816. It seems advisable 
 also here to speak of a few others, which Dr. Milner 
 sent to the " Catholicony His Letter in that perio- 
 dical on the successful exorcism performed by the 
 Rev. E. Peach, has been already noticed. The Letter 
 signed Pastor mentioned above, was also written by 
 him ; and is an able exposition of the nature and ten- 
 dency of the Veto. He wrote two more articles this 
 year in the " Catholicon.^' One, signed J. M., was on 
 the bombardment of Algiers and the subsequent 
 Treaty. His object was to show that though every- 
 thing had been done by Lord Exmouth, whom he calls 
 " our second Nelson," by fightings yet enough had 
 not been done by subsequent negotiations. He fears 
 that this splendid expedition will not be attended with 
 permanent benefit in consequence of the victors not 
 improving their advantages. He willingly admits, 
 however, that much has been done for humanity and 
 much for religion. " We have also," he adds, " made 
 atonement for our past guilt : for, heretofore, we regu- 
 larly supplied the pirates with military and naval 
 stores to carry on their warfare against other nations, 
 as a tribute for our own indemnity. This I remarked 
 to Mr. Wilberforce many years ago, as an object of 
 still greater importance to the cause of humanity and 
 Christianity, than that which he was then engaged in.
 
 AGE 64.] CHAPTEE EIGHTEENTH. 327 
 
 He admitted the fact, but lamented that he could not 
 remedy the evil." Time has well proved that his 
 Lordship's apprehensions were groundless : since that 
 day of glorious achievement by Lord Exmouth and 
 his brave sqviadron, Algiers has never been formi- 
 dable : it was again reduced a few years after by the 
 French, ceased to be an independent state, and has now 
 become a colony of a Christian empire. 
 
 Dr. Milner's second Letter, in the " Catholicon'' 
 for November, 1816, signed J. M., was a very short 
 one, relating to a curious occurrence among the Dis- 
 senters in Ireland, which might well serve for a warn- 
 ing to Catholics in England. Lord Castlereagh had 
 sent for the elders of the Presbyterian Synod of Ulster, 
 sharply reproved them, and threatened to withdraw the 
 regium donum of £12,000 per annum, because they 
 had appointed a professor of divinity, before the 'plea- 
 sure of his Majesty s Government was known. The 
 Bishop speaks of Sir J. Cox Hippisley's famous 
 Report ; and shrewdly observes : " No doubt he is 
 very subtle and indefatigable in attempting to alter 
 our religion; but we all know that one more subtle 
 and powerful than he has been attempting in vain 
 the self-same thing during these eighteen centuries."
 
 328 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1816. 
 
 CHAPTER NINETEENTH. 
 
 ZEAL AND VIGILANCE OF DR. MILNER.— CONFIRMATIONS ORDINA- 
 TION AT WOLVERHAMPTON HIS REVIEW OF " MEMOIRES POUR 
 
 SERVIR A l'hIST. ECCLES. PENDANT LE XVIII. SIECLE." — REMARKS 
 ON A WORK BY BROWN, WRITTEN UNDER THE PATRONAGE OF 
 SIR J. C. HIPPISLEY. — HIS LETTER ON SOME INSINUATIONS IN 
 
 THE baronet's REPORT. — LETTER ON CATHOLIC AEFAIRS 
 
 DRAWS UP A PETITION FOR EMANCIPATION. — THREE LETTERS 
 ON CATHOLIC AFFAIRS. — HIS PORTRAIT ENGRAVED AND PUB- 
 LISHED. — EXHIBITION AT OSCOTT COLLEGE.— CONFIRMATIONS. 
 — ORDINATIONS AT OSCOTT AND CAVERSWALL. 
 
 From the many articles written by Dr. Milner 
 during the year 1816, in Catholic periodicals, of which 
 mention has been made in the preceding Chapter, it is 
 very apparent that he was not one of those watchmen, 
 of whom the prophet says : they are all blind^ they 
 are all ig7iorant : du7nb dogs not able to bark, seeing 
 vain things, sleeping and loving dreams* No, he 
 was ever watchful, ever keenly attentive to every 
 transaction affecting the interests of religion, always 
 ready to give the alarm at the approach of danger, 
 never sleeping at his post, nor lulled by empty reveries, 
 or delusive imaginations. K he so frequently dwelt 
 on past transactions, such as the Fifth Resolution, 
 the schismatical Bill of 1813, and others, it was 
 because he beheld their fatal results daily exemplified ; 
 and he earnestly wished that Catholics would learn 
 wisdom from past experience. If he wrote so fre- 
 quently, and so strenuously against the Veto, it was 
 
 * Isaias, vi. 10,
 
 AGE 64.] CHAPTER NINETEENTH. 3^9 
 
 because he dreaded the vacillating conduct of too 
 many Catholics, who seemed ready to accept it, with 
 all its degrading restrictions on the liberty of the 
 Church, and its proposed enslavement of the clergy by 
 making them pensioners of the state. The writer 
 once heard him say : " Before I would be a Bishop, 
 and take pay from that rotten Board, ' I'd rather be a 
 dog and bay the moon, than such a Bishop.' " Dr. 
 Doyle once expressed himself in somewhat similar 
 terms against receiving a state pension : "If," said 
 he, " this hand should receive pay from government, it 
 should never more grasp a crosier." 
 
 Dk. Milnee found time for all these writings 
 amidst the continual labours of his holy station, which 
 he never neglected. He was engaged for six months 
 of this year in administering Confirmation. During 
 the month of June, he confirmed at Wolverhampton, 
 Caverswall, Aston, Birmingham, Wooton, Brailes, Kid- 
 dington, and Salford. On the 31st of July he set out 
 on what he called "the Northern Visitation of his 
 District," and confirmed at Spinkhill, Worksop, Brigg^ 
 Osgodby, Louth, Sixhills, Lincoln, Newark, and Not- 
 tingham, returning home towards the end of August. 
 In September he confirmed at Sedgley, Lichfield, and 
 Yoxal. In October he clothed a choir nun, the 
 present abbess, and a lay sister, at the Benedictine con- 
 vent at Caverswall Castle, and confirmed there ; and 
 in November he confirmed at Grafton and at ]\lawley. 
 On the 20th of September he ordained at Wolver- 
 hampton two more priests for his own District, from 
 St. Mary's College at Oscott, the Rev. Edward 
 Winter and the Rev. John Marsden. Thirteen priests 
 had by this time been ordained by Dr. ]\Iilner from 
 Oscott College ; and the vacancies caused ia his
 
 330 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1817 
 
 District by the deaths of priests were by these happily 
 filled up, and several new missions also commenced, 
 and new chapels built by their zealous exertions. 
 This was a source of great consolation to the zealous 
 Prelate ; who often, in his addresses at ordinations, 
 used to allude very feelingly to the virulent efforts of the 
 French infidels to exterminate the Catholic priesthood. 
 Dr. Milner began the new year 1817, by writing 
 on its very first day, a careful and well digested 
 review of a French work, which had lately appeared 
 with the following title : " Memoires pour servir a 
 V Histoire Ecclesiastique^ pendant le dix-huitieme 
 siechy This was a most valuable production, in four 
 vols, octavo. He wrote his review for the " Catholi- 
 con^' where it appeared in the first Number for 1817, 
 under his initials J. M. He expresses his great grati- 
 fication on reading this book. "In sending me the 
 above new work, advertised in your catalogue for 1817, 
 you have furnished me with an intellectual feast, far 
 beyond what I expected to receive. I was conscious 
 of greater ignorance of the Church history of the 
 age, one half of which I had lived in, than of any 
 other since that of the Apostles, and I supposed I 
 should gain some information concerning it, which 
 would be to me, at the same time, useful and new : 
 but I found these Memoires so replete with original 
 and interesting matter concerning the Church, in its 
 whole extent from Italy to Ireland, and from Canada 
 to China : the remarks also appeared to me so judi- 
 cious, the arrangement so luminous, and, above all, the 
 principles so orthodox and edifying, that I perfectly 
 devoured the volumes one after another, not being able 
 to quit them, except on the most pressing calls of duty, 
 till I had gone through the whole."
 
 AGE 65.] CHAPTER NINETEENTH. 331 
 
 Dr. Milner's review fills nearly eighteen pages of 
 the " Catholicon^' and is itself a valuable epitome of 
 the history contained in the Memoires. He goes 
 through each volume, selecting its most important 
 contents, and supplying here and there some omissions. 
 Of Courayer, the notorious French defender of the 
 Anglican Orders, he writes thus: — "In 1727, an 
 assembly of Bishops at Paris censured the book of the 
 noted Pere Courayer, for writing which he had been 
 honoured with the title of Doctor by the University 
 of Oxford. This unhappy man became first known 
 as a Jansenist, next as an advocate for English Protes- 
 tancy, and, last of all, as a latitudinarian infidel. 
 Such is the usual descent of CathoHcs, who refuse to 
 captivate their understanding to the obedience of 
 faith.'" As the Emperor Joseph II. is often held up 
 in our days as a model reformer, it will be useful to 
 present the reader with Dr. Milner's comprehensive 
 summary of his proceedings : " He forbad the recep- 
 tion of any religious decrees from Rome, without his 
 imperial order. He abrogated different canonical 
 impediments of Matrimony, recognised by the Council 
 of Trent. He abolished hundreds of monasteries 
 without a pretext, and seized upon their revenues. He 
 suspended the ordination of the clergy during pleasure. 
 He took the education of theological students out of 
 the hands of the Bishops, shutting up their seminaries, 
 and opening others, over which he appointed Janse- 
 nistical professors and superiors. He prohibited the 
 acknowledgment of the Bull Unigenitus. Finally, he 
 took upon himself to regulate the number of Masses, 
 Benedictions and processions, which were to take place 
 in the several churches in his dominions, together with 
 the number of candles which were to be burnt on these
 
 332 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1817. 
 
 occasions. Proceeding in his schism, he afterwards 
 made a new circumscription of dioceses, legahsed 
 divorce, and banished pious images from the churches. 
 This was not the case with respect to all images ; for 
 the present reviewer, in the year 1788, saw the figure 
 of a serpent erected over the altar of the chapel at 
 Brussels, where the crucifix had before stood." 
 
 De. Milner admires the knowledge which the 
 author of the Memoir es possessed of the grand contro- 
 versy among the English Catholics in 1791 , concerning 
 the Oath to be taken, and of Catholic affairs in Eng- 
 land and Scotland in general ; but regrets to find him 
 not furnished with materials equally copious respecting 
 the Catholic Church in Ireland. He notices also that 
 his account of our Catholic writers, after he loses sioht 
 of the indefatigable Dodd, is rather defective ; and he, 
 in part, supplies his omissions, by instancing the names 
 of Archbishops Butler and Carpenter, Bishops Hor- 
 nyold and Walton, Doctors Witham and Hook, the 
 secular priests Usher and Phillips, the learned Jesuit 
 Constable, the Benedictines Mannock and Pembridge, 
 the Carmelite Blythe, and the Franciscan Baker. 
 
 Immediately following this in the " Catholicon''' 
 appeared another Article from the prolific pen of Dr. 
 Milner, signed J. M., analysing and commenting upon 
 Sir John Cox Hippisley's long-expected Report, which 
 had at last made its appearance. 
 
 This Baronet, who was so bent upon carrying out 
 his scheme for establishing the royal supremacy over 
 the Catholic Church, as " to study it by day, and to 
 dream of it by night," as he himself avowed, patronised 
 and indeed procured to be written a work by Mr. J. 
 B. Brown of the Middle Temple, entitled, " An His- 
 torical Inquiry into the Ancient Ecclesiastical Juris-
 
 AGE 65.] CHAPTER NINETEENTH. 333 
 
 diction of the Crown.''' On this Dr. Milner made 
 some excellent remarks in the " Orthodox JournaV 
 for January, 1817, dated January 7, under the signa- 
 ture of J. M. lie exposes the system detailed in this 
 work, in which it is maintained that the Koman empe- 
 ror, " though not a Christian," was the judge of eccle- 
 siastical causes, that it belonged to him to convene 
 general councils and preside in them, that he could 
 reverse sentences of deposition and excommunication, 
 pronounced even by general councils, and that there 
 are no traces of any distinction between the head of 
 the Church and the head of the State, and that 
 the Pope possessed no authority over his fellow 
 Bishops, excepting from his patriarchal dignity, in 
 common with others, or from voluntary respect. 
 Having exhibited the system of the Baronet, as de- 
 tailed in the above work, the Bishop asks what will 
 the friends of the late Bill, and of Sir John, say to it, 
 and whether they are prepared to run these lengths. 
 He seriously admonislies all Catholics to keep on the 
 watch, and prepare to cry out loudly and unanimously, 
 " should they find themselves in danger, as they were 
 four years ago, of being swindled out of their religion 
 by the politics of Protestant, and the treachery of 
 Catholic Commissioners." 
 
 A short Letter from Dr. Milner in the " Ortho- 
 dox Journar for January, dated Jan. 17, 1817, com- 
 plains of certain insinuations against the Jesuits in the 
 Appendix to Sir John Cox 11 ippisley's lleport, of 
 fanaticism and madness ; and without entering into 
 the discussion of what constitutes these, which he 
 reminds the noble accuser, " will be conclusively 
 settled in a very great meeting at a future day," he 
 proceeds to relate an interesting instance of the acti-
 
 334 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1817. 
 
 vity and braveiy of the very young men who are mis- 
 represented, in successfully aiding the captain of the 
 small vessel in which they sailed, in beating off a 
 French privateer which had attacked them, for which 
 service they have met with no other recompense than 
 the sarcasm of a noble lord, who appears to have been 
 Lord William Bentinck. 
 
 Our zealous and untiring Prelate Avas fearful of a 
 new Bill being introduced into Parliament soon after 
 Easter, a Bill of " pretended Emancipation, but of real 
 persecution ;" and judged it proper that English Catho- 
 lics, particularly in those counties where they were 
 most numerous, should by their petitions convince 
 their representatives in Parliament that the pastors of 
 their Church, and not a few laymen, are the judges of 
 her discipline as well as her faith. This he urged in 
 another Letter " On Catholic Affairs" in the Orthodox 
 Journal" for February, signed M. In it he speaks 
 again of Sir J. Cox Hippisley's huge Report, as a 
 " variegated code of persecution collected abroad and 
 imported into this country by a gentleman, who, during 
 many years, passed for our warm and disinterested 
 friend, and who, under that visor, was admitted into 
 the councils of Prelates, Cardinals and Popes." The 
 Bishop alludes to an address lately drawn up by cer- 
 tain English Catholics, for presentation to Parliament 
 as the general sentiment of the Catholics of Ireland^ 
 some dozens of whom had been induced to sign it. 
 He admits that its terms are unexceptionable ; but he 
 complains that while the parties stipulate that any 
 changes to be made shall be " compatible with the 
 doctrine and discipline of our religion, instead of 
 listening to their clergy and bishops in this essential 
 matter, they leave Sir John Cox Ilippisley, who, at
 
 AGE 65.] CHAPTEK NINETEENTH. 335 
 
 every turn, swears that this religion is idolatrous^ to 
 declare what changes are compatible with our doctrine 
 and discipline." He dwells on the contest a few 
 months before, between the layman (C. Butler) who 
 drew up the address alluded to, and his Bishop, Dr. 
 Poynter, whom he " contrived to get summoned before 
 a Parliamentary Committee, and there rigorously 
 sifted in a long series of artful queries, which he had 
 himself drawn up for the purpose of ensnaring him. 
 The Prelate, to his praise be it spoken, stood firm to 
 his ground of not countenancing the new amalgamising 
 system, and the presumptuous layman was convicted of 
 falsehood and disgraced." This related to a scheme to 
 which that layman had long been a public subscriber, 
 for the education of Catholic children in the St. Giles' 
 schools, where no priest or catechism was to be ad- 
 mitted : and the al)ove shows how willing Dk. Milner 
 was to do justice and give praise to his episcopal 
 brother wherever he could. 
 
 Following up his own suggestion, the indefatigable 
 Prelate drew up a petition to Parliament on the part of 
 the Catholics of Warwickshire and Staifordshire, 
 which was numerously signed by his clergy and laity, 
 and presented, on the 28th of April, by Mr. Wm. 
 Smith, M.P. for Norwich. It contained, amoncr other 
 paragraphs, the following, in reference to Sir J. Cox 
 Hippisley's Eeport : " That, — proposals are now about 
 to be made to your honourable House, — as they learn 
 with the utmost grief and dismay, — for annexing to a 
 Bill for their further temporal relief, different galling 
 restrictions on their said religious discipline, which 
 they are convinced will essentially injure and subvert 
 the religion itself, which teaches them to be good 
 subjects.
 
 336 LIFE OF BISHOP fiHLNER. [1817. 
 
 " That the acts and decrees of different late despotic 
 foreign princes and potentates, though possibly profes- 
 sors of their religion, with respect to the exercise of it, 
 in their several dominions, constitute neither laws 
 nor precedents for the religious discipline of your peti- 
 tioners, many of these being notoriously uncanonical, 
 capricious, and oppressive, and all of them emanating 
 from a foreign and incompetent authority ; whereas 
 your petitioners have the happiness of living in a free 
 country, and under a wise and liberal legislature, wdiich 
 affords religious toleration to all its subjects, leaving 
 them to follow their own rites and discipline, no less 
 than their belief" 
 
 The motion in favour of Emancipation was lost this 
 year in both Houses of Parliament, after all the pains 
 of Sir John Cox Hippisley and his voluminous Report. 
 Dr. Mtlner made some observations on the debates, 
 under the signature of Mentor, in the " Orthodox 
 JournaV for May. He laments the conduct of Mr. 
 Grattan. " Our general-in-chief, heretofore a host of 
 himself, has been proved to have sunk into anile 
 
 decrepitude By what right, — or on wdiat ground 
 
 did Mr. Grattan assure a Protestant assembly, that 
 they might make whatever terms they 'pleased with 
 the Catholic Church, as to its religion, provided they 
 granted certain civil pri\aleges to a part of the profes- 
 sors of that religion ; likewise that the prelates and 
 clergy of it were secretly favourable to the restric- 
 tions which had been proposed, that the Ploly See was 
 prepared to sanction them, and lastly, that the people 
 themselves would soon be reconciled to them?" 
 Mentor observes of Viscount Castlereagh that be is 
 " quails ah incepto — he inflexibly adheres to the plan 
 traced out by Mr. Pitt, that of gaining a complete
 
 AGE 65.] CHAPTEE NINETEENTH. 337 
 
 control over the Catholic Church of Ireland, and 
 making it a political tool." Speaking of the proceed- 
 ings in the House of Lords, he says : " Lord Donough- 
 more has, if possible, increased the veneration and 
 love of his Catholic countrymen towards him and his 
 family, whilst he and his fellow -advocates have ren- 
 dered their best services to our common country- 
 An equal tribute of praise and gratitude is due to the 
 venerable Bishop of Norwich, to the Lords Har- 
 rowby, Grenville, Grey, Darnley, &c. — Even those 
 right honourable peers, who were most averse to our 
 claims, drew no argument from our refusal of the 
 Veto, ridiculed the laboured and erroneous Keport ; 
 and some of them expressly declared that they would 
 not give a straw for the ahovementioned pretended 
 security.^' Lord Liverpool even, the Prime Minister, 
 professed the same, and added that " the selection of 
 our Bishops had been as good and unexceptionable 
 hitherto, as it would have been under any other form 
 of discipline which can be proposed^ 
 
 To conclude this affair of Sir John Cox Ilippisley's 
 Eeport, and the debates this year in Parliament on the 
 Catholic claims, it is proper to mention that Dr. 
 MiLNER wrote two more Letters on the subject. One 
 was dated Cosmopolis, May the 18th, and appeared in 
 the " Catholicoti " for June, under the signature of 
 J. L'Ermin, an ingenious anagram of Milner. It 
 chiefly notices a second Report, called " Supplementary 
 Papers," fiUing 51 more folio pages, by the same Sir 
 John. The other Letter appeared in the " Orthodox 
 Journar' for June, and consisted of " Kemarks on the 
 late Debates and Conduct of the Board." It was 
 signed "An Observer :" and in it the Bishop 
 remarked upon the disappointment of Catholics at the 
 
 z
 
 338 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1817. 
 
 loss of their Bill in both Houses of Parliament, and 
 observed that our only remedy was patience " till 
 some great calamity shall have subdued the re- 
 mainder of Protestant bigotry, and shall render it ne- 
 cessary to leave the defence of Ireland to her own 
 hardy sons exclusively:" in which he remarkably anti- 
 cipated the striking prophecy of our great poet Byron : 
 
 " Or if freedom past hope be extorted at last, 
 If the idol of brass find its feet are of clay, 
 Must what terror or policy wring forth be classed 
 With what monarchs ne'er give, but as wolves yield 
 their prey ?" 
 
 The Irish Avatar. 
 
 These questions and contests may appear of little 
 importance to Catholics in these days ; but we, who 
 witnessed those struggles, and lived through the alter- 
 nate hopes and fears which the different phases of the 
 Catholic question inspired, know how to estimate the 
 unwearied efforts of the great Milner, to ward off the 
 dangers which threatened our holy religion, not so 
 much from our open enemies of another creed, as from 
 the treachery and pusillanimity and time-serving policy 
 of those of our own household. His magnanimous 
 conduct was highly appreciated by the great body 
 of Catholics both in England and Ireland ; and no 
 wonder that it was thought a favourable time to pub- 
 lish a memorial of him, by engraving his portrait. 
 This was undertaken by the zealous pastor of St. 
 Chad's Chapel, Birmingham, the Rev. Edward Peach, 
 in this year, though the engraving was not ready for 
 publication until May in the year following. When 
 Mr. Peach asked Dr. Milner's permission to have his 
 portrait engraved, his humihty was alarmed, and he 
 would not hear of it. Some intimate friends of Mr. 
 Peach then joined him in the request, but still the
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER NINETEENTH. 339 
 
 Bishop refused his consent ; and he would not have 
 consented at last, had it not been represented to him, 
 that Mr. Peach hoped, by the profits of the sale, to 
 reduce some part of the debt contracted in building his 
 chapel. The portrait chosen was that painted for 
 Oscott College by Mr. J. Barber. It is a half length, 
 representing the Bishop seated in rocket, mosette, and 
 stole, with the new building at Oscott appearing in the 
 distance, through an opening on his left hand. It was 
 his own choice, when he sat for it, to be drawn with 
 his right hand on the " Following' of Christ^'' open 
 before him on a table, and pointing to the words : 
 " Vanity of vanities and all is vanity^ besides loving 
 God and serving him alone ;" and his left hand upon 
 his breast, as if cherishing that great truth. The like- 
 ness in the original is very correct, but the colouring of 
 the face is too livid and leaden, and does not convey the 
 real representation of Dr. Milner's countenance, which 
 was florid and animated. The engraving was executed 
 by Mr. William Radclyffe of Birmingham : it wants 
 spirit, the likeness is not well preserved, the cheek 
 bones are too high and prominent, and the look is 
 rather heavy and sleepy. The engraving was soon 
 bought up, and is now difficult to procure. A youn^r 
 amateur artist in Liverpool, not a Catholic, saw the 
 engraving, and though he had_ never seen Dr. Milner, 
 he made a copy of it in oil colours, and produced a 
 much better likeness. He did not even know whom 
 the engraving represented, and placed so little value 
 on his own copy, that he sold it to a furniture broker, 
 of whom it was purchased for a trifling sum, and pre- 
 sented to the writer of these pages, who had it hand- 
 somely framed, and preserves it as a valuable treasure. 
 At the Exhibition at St. Mary's College, Oscott, at
 
 340 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1817. 
 
 Midsummer, Dr. Milner presided as usual. It was 
 his custom on the morning of the Exhibition Day to 
 examine the students pubhcly in the chapel after Mass 
 in their knowledge of religion, not confining himself 
 to the bare repetition of the answers in the catechism, 
 but putting questions more or less difficult, according to 
 the ages of those whom he interrogated. He gene- 
 rally directed the questions which he put to the more 
 advanced students, and his explanations, to the proofs 
 of the existence of God, and of divine revelation, dwell- 
 ing principally on the strong argument of conscience, 
 as the great moral proof of the existence of a Supreme 
 Bein^. He dwelt much on these occasions on the 
 
 a 
 
 importance of a sound knowledge of the sacred truths 
 of religion, and on those portions of the history of our 
 own country which particularly concerned Catholics. 
 The Exhibition consisted of single speeches, dialogues, 
 dramatic scenes, and sometimes an entire tragedy, or 
 farce, with music, songs, glees, &c., interspersed. This 
 year being the first in which an Exhibition had been 
 held in the newly-erected building, the performances 
 were on a much grander scale than had been before 
 attempted. After a good selection of speeches and 
 dialogues, the grand ancient tragedy of CEdipus 
 Tyrannus was performed in an English translation, but 
 without any appropriate dresses or scenic accompani- 
 ments, which Dr. Milner would not have approved. 
 The Exhibition closed with the distribution of pre- 
 miums by the Bishop ; and then his favourite old song, 
 the Winchester Dulce domum, was sung in full chorus 
 by the whole assembly. 
 
 Dr. Milner was at Oscott in the month of July, 
 and on the 16th of that month, the present writer met 
 his Lordship coming down the staircase, with two small
 
 AGE 6.5.] CHAPTER NINETEENTH. 341 
 
 volumes in his hand, neatly bound. He handed them 
 to the writer with a very gracious smile, and said : — 
 " Here, Sir, I'll make you a present of these books ; 
 the print is too small for my eyes : I intended to give 
 them to somebody, and I'm very glad to give them to 
 you." They proved to be a beautiful Elzevir edition 
 of the Greek Testament, of 1656, the first volume 
 containing the Gospels, and the second the Acts, 
 Epistles, and Apocalypse. It is needless to add that 
 they have ever since been carefully preserved, and va- 
 lued as a precious memorial of so great and good a man. 
 In the month of June, Dr. Milner had given 
 Confirmation at Stafibrd and Cresswell. In July, he 
 confirmed at Madeley, Shrew sburj^, and Acton Burnel. 
 In August, at Coventry, Husband's Bosworth, Holt, 
 Oundle, Irnham, Eastwell, and Hinckley, and paid a 
 visit to Dalby, the residence of the Hon. F. Bowater, 
 whose chaplain was the Rev. J. Dobeler. He was again 
 at Oscott in September, and held an Ordination there 
 on the 19th, when the Rev. Thomas M'Donnell, now 
 Canon of Clifton, was promoted to the priesthood. On 
 the 7th of October he professed Dame Juliana Foster at 
 Caverswall, who has been for many years Lady Abbess 
 of the community, which is now settled at Oulton, 
 near Stone. The next day he ordained priest in the 
 chapel at Caverswall, the Rev. Thomas Laken of St. 
 Mary's College, Oscott. In the same month he con- 
 firmed at Grove Park, Baddesley Green, and Solihull; 
 on the 9th November, he finished his Confirmation 
 visits at Moseley. Thus did this incomparable Prelate 
 labour indefatigably, never sparing himself, rarely al- 
 lowing himself any respite or recreation, but ever intent 
 on the discharge of his duties, ever the same pious, 
 zealous, vigilant, undaunted pastor of God's Church.
 
 342 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNEK. [1817. 
 
 CHAPTER TWENTIETH. 
 
 SMALL SEMINARY BEGUN AT CRESSWELL LETTER OF DR. 
 
 MILNER ON THE THEATRE. — ADDRESS OF THE ENGLISH BOARD 
 TO THE POPE. — THE POPe's ANSWER. — DR. MILNER's MEMOIR 
 OF BISHOP HORNYOLD. — TWO LETTERS FROM HIM IN.- THE 
 ORTHODOX JOURNAL. — LETTER IN DEFENCE OF THE RHEMES 
 TESTAMENT. — LETTER ON THE TREATISE, CALLED THE " PRIN- 
 CIPLES." — LETTER ON A MIS-STATEMENT OF MR. OCONNELL. — 
 TERMINATION OF THE BLANCHARDIST SCHISM. — PASTORAL OF 
 BP. COLLINGRIDGE CONDEMNING THE VETO. — LENTEN PASTORAL 
 
 OF DR. MILNER GROSS INSULT OFFERED TO HIM THROUGH 
 
 THE POST CONFIRMATION AND ORDINATION LETTERS 
 
 AGAINST THE ' MAN IN THE MOON.' 
 
 In the year 1815, the Rev. Thomas Baddeley had been 
 ordained priest by Dr. Milner, as related above in 
 Chapter 17 th. He was sent on the mission at Cress- 
 well, succeeding the venerable old priest, Rev. James 
 Tasker, who was one of those twelve boys who came 
 from Betley, to begin the school at Sedgley Park on 
 Lady Day, 1763.* Mr. Tasker died at Cress well, July 
 15, 1815. The mission house there, Mr. Baddeley 
 soon thought might be available for lodging a few 
 youths, whom he meritoriously thought of teaching 
 Latin, and directing in other preparatory studies, to fit 
 them for the college course, with a view to the eccle- 
 siastical state. " For," as he well observed in his Ad- 
 dress in the Orthodox Journal for March, 1818, " ow- 
 ing to the weakness of the funds of our colleges, and the 
 distress of the times, they are not able to render spiritual 
 
 * See the " History of Sedgley Park School" by the present 
 Author, p. 10. 
 
 I
 
 AGE 65.] CHAPTER TWENTIETH. 343 
 
 assistance to thousands of poor souls, who are daily 
 crying to heaven for aid." When Mr. Baddeley men- 
 tioned his little plan to Dr. Milner, it will easily be 
 conceived that it met with his cordial approbation. He 
 was not only desirous of sapplying by every means the 
 wants of his District, but he wished to have his clergy 
 trained up in humble sentiments, prepared for a life of 
 scanty means, multiplied labours and many privations. 
 Therefore he rejoiced at Mr. Baddeley' s plan ; for he 
 used to say he wanted priests who could live on £40 
 a-year ; and he was pleased to see Cresswell turned to 
 a purpose so useful, which had been before, as he 
 observed, " a mere cheese-making place." Mr. Bad- 
 deley commenced his little establishment towards the 
 close of the year 1817, and in the following year 
 he numbered eight pupils, for the support of whom he 
 sought small annual contributions. " It is not for 
 ourselves," he said, " that we crave your mite, but 
 for the salvation of many souls, for whom our divine 
 Saviour thought it not too much to shed the last drop 
 of his most sacred blood."* This little nursery 
 became very useful : several began there, who after- 
 wards completed their course at college, and one 
 finished there entirely, and became a very laborious 
 and edifying missioner at Lane End, the Rev. Edward 
 Daniel. But Mr. Baddeley, ever humble, zealous, and 
 laborious, soon worked himself out, and died at his 
 post, Feb. 18,1 823, at the early age of 34. He had been 
 assisted there from January, 1819, by the Rev. Wil- 
 liam Wareing, who carried on the little establishment 
 after Mr. Baddeley's death, till 1832, when he removed 
 to Grantham. 
 
 * Address in the Directory fcr 1819.
 
 344 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1817. 
 
 In Chapter Sixth, Dr. Milner's sentiments on 
 theatrical entertainments have been recorded, as ex- 
 hibited in his Letter to the Abbess of Winchester. 
 To show that no lapse of time, nor any additional 
 observation or experience, had led him to the least 
 alteration of his convictions on that subject, reference 
 need only be made to another Letter which he sent to 
 the " Orthodox Journal^^ and which appeared in the 
 Number for August in this year, but without any date, 
 or signature. Li these letters he says: "In what 
 terms does the Church speak of the theatre ? In the 
 same terms in which Jesus Christ has pronounced the 
 condemnation of the world. Her language, as to the 
 stage, has never varied through the long course of 
 centuries ; — in her councils, by the voice of her chief 
 prelates, by the mouth of her holy doctors, by the elo- 
 quence of her preachers, by her sentence of excom- 
 munication against such as follow the profession of 
 actors, — in short, by the whole of her doctrine and 
 practice." He quotes also in this Letter a remarkable 
 declaration, but recently made by thirty-six Bishops, 
 some of whom were* Cardinals and Archbishops, and 
 subscribed also by Cardinal Delci, who cited their 
 words in a pastoral to his flock. The declaration of 
 the Prelates is as follows : " We, the undersigned, are 
 unanimously of opinion, that the representations of the 
 theatre, even as they are exhibited at present, are very 
 prejudicial to public morals ; that the faithful cannot 
 be permitted to frequent them, and that such diver- 
 sions are, above all, dangerous to youth. For this 
 reason, notwithstanding the boasted purity of the 
 modern stage, the Church varies not her sentiments, 
 but persists in regarding theatrical amusements as 
 criminal." Dr Milner adds : " It is sufficient that
 
 AGE 65.] CHAPTER TWENTIETH. 345 
 
 they are in direct opposition to the morality of the 
 Gospel The theatre of every nation still con- 
 secrates itself to the passion of love, and tends to 
 strengthen those domestic enemies whom the Christian 
 is taught' to consider most dangerous to the soul." 
 
 There appeared in the " Courier'' newspaper of 
 October 1st in this year, an Address from the English 
 Board to the Pope, which had been forwarded to 
 Cardinal Consalvi, through the British Foreign Secre- 
 tary, for presentation to his Holiness. The subscri- 
 bers to this Address profess to have heard with the 
 greatest concern that endeavours were making to 
 induce the Pope to remove Dr. Poynter from his 
 vicariate : and they pass the highest eulogium on that 
 Prelate, and appeal to the Pope against any such 
 attempt. Seeing this Address in the public papers, 
 Dr. Milner took up his pen, and in an admirable 
 Letter in the " Orthodox Journar for October sim- 
 ply signed *' A Catholic," censured the Board for 
 meddling in ecclesiastical affairs ; at the same time 
 highly extolling Dr. Poynter, and observing that " it is 
 creditable for his Lordship that he needs not such 
 attestations, and it is hoped that his character in the 
 Christian metropolis stands too high to be injured by 
 them. I say to be injured by them ; for, in my opi- 
 nion, the Board could not have hit on a plan more cal- 
 culated than this Address is in itself to render his 
 
 Lordship rather suspected at Rome It is plain that 
 
 if the Address has been really sent to Eome, and is 
 not a political manoeuvre, to gain a little credit with 
 the public, and perhaps money, for flying to the de- 
 fence of a Bishop so much respected and beloved, it 
 must have gone without his Lordship's knowledge : he 
 is too well acquainted with Rome to sufl^er it, unless
 
 346 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1817. 
 
 he is playing a deeper game with the Board, and 
 getting rid of them, as it is reported he has wisely 
 disentangled himself from their leader." 
 
 An answer to this Address was received, dated 
 August 31st, in which his Holiness authofises the 
 subscribers to expel from their minds all anxiety, for 
 he never entertained, respecting Dr. Poynter, the sus- 
 picion of which they are apprehensive ; and much less 
 ever thought of removing him from his vicariate. It 
 must be observed that this Address was not presented 
 through the proper channel of the Secretary of Pro- 
 paganda, but unconstitutionally and irregularly trans- 
 mitted to the Roman Secretary of State, Cardinal 
 Consalvi. It was afterwards stated, as from a respect- 
 able source, that the Address was never laid before 
 the Holy Father at all ; but that the Secretary returned 
 the answer on his own responsibility, affixing the 
 name of the Pope to it.* However improbable this 
 statement may seem, it does not appear to have been 
 ever contradicted. 
 
 Dr. Milner wrote about this time a very interesting 
 memoir of one of his predecessors, the Rev. John 
 Horny old, Bishop of Philomelia, and Vicar Apostolic 
 of the Midland District from 1752 till his death in 
 1778. In this occurs a remarkable instance of that 
 good Bishop's being directed by a manifest interposi- 
 tion of divine Providence, to a poor man dying by the 
 road side, very similar to a case recorded of the vene- 
 rable Bishop Hay in Scotland. It is also recorded 
 how the well-known school at Sedgley Park was 
 judiciously superintended soon after its establishment 
 by Bishop Hornyold,and how well it flourished under his 
 
 * " Orthodox Journal," 1818, p. 439.
 
 AGE 65.] CHAPTER TWENTIETH. 34? 
 
 guidance. This memoir appeared in the Directory for 
 1818, with a portrait of the venerable Prelate. 
 
 Two more Letters from Dr. IMilner's pen appeared 
 at the close of this year in the " Orthodox Journal.'^ 
 One, in the Number for November, signed " An 
 English Pastor," contained a defence of our Douay 
 Bible and Rhemes Testament, against certain Catholics 
 who wished to explode them, " because Protestant 
 Bible-mongers hate them ; and who, in compliment to 
 the latter, have lately stereotyped and published an 
 edition of the Testament, full of blunders, in which 
 every note of the former that was distasteful to the 
 bigoted Protestants is carefully expunged." The 
 other Letter is signed " A Midland Catholic Pas- 
 tor," and appeared in the Number for December. It 
 was written in consequence of Mr. Charles Butler's 
 work, which had just appeared : " Confessions of 
 the Roman Catholic^ Greek^ and pj'incipal Protes- 
 tant ChurchesJ^ The Bishop first censures Mr. C. 
 Butler for patronising and publishing as one of the 
 creeds of the Catholic Church that treatise best known 
 as " Roman Catholic Principles in reference to God 
 and the King^"" which had been adopted by Messrs. 
 Berington and Kirk as the text of their work, " The 
 Faith of Catholics^' already noticed above in Chap- 
 ters Twelfth and Fourteenth. He reminds his readers 
 that Mr. C. Butler had published this treatise nearly 
 thirty years before " as a creer/ which all the Catholics 
 would subscribe^ without submitting it to the judgment 
 of any ecclesiastical authority whatsoever ; and it is a 
 fact," he says, " known to the writer of this, that the 
 Vicars Apostolic, then living, highly disapproved of 
 the measure, and of the treatise itself" Dr. Milner 
 observes that when this again appeared in the work
 
 348 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 called " The Faith of Catholics^"" the London Yicar 
 Apostolic, Dr. Poynter, made objections to different 
 parts of it, which the chief editor, the Rev. Joseph 
 Berington, " instead of correcting, defended before the 
 public." Dr. Milner also printed his reasons for not 
 approving it in a Charge to his clergy, Part II., and 
 officially declared as follows : — " This oft-published 
 treatise is not to be received by you, or your flocks, as 
 an authentic exposition of Roman Catholic principles, 
 and still less as Tlte Faith of Catholics^ Yet in 
 the face of this authoritative declaration, Mr. C. 
 Butler, in this new work, proclaims the treatise to be 
 " a clear and accurate exposition of the R. Catholic 
 creed, on some of its most important articles,"* and in 
 another place he says, " there cannot be a doubt of its 
 containing a just and fair exposition of the principles 
 of the R. Catholics, on the points to which it relates."f 
 Dr. Milner briefly repeats his objections to the treatise, 
 and exposes the attempts of Mr. C. Butler " to hamper 
 all the Catholic Bishops, clergy, and people of the two 
 islands by the Fifth Resolution^ and its consequences, 
 with more serious and lasting calamities than they have 
 suffered since the reign of Elizabeth." He concludes 
 with a summary of the Bill of 1813, founded upon 
 that Fifth Resolution^ of which he considers that the 
 Catholic public ought to be frequently reminded, " as 
 it will certainly be brought forward next year, if the 
 lawyer and his Protestant cooperators find an opening 
 for it." 
 
 Dr. Milner, ever at his post, commenced the year 
 1818 by a Letter in the " Orthodox Journal^' signed 
 " Eleazar," and dated from Modin. Mr. O'Connell 
 
 * " Confessions of Faith and Essays," by C. Butler, Esq. 
 t Ibid., p. 225, Second Edition, 1817.
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTIETH. 34Q 
 
 had in the preceding month, at a meeting of the Irish 
 CathoHc Board, made a speech about the Douay Bible 
 and Kheims Testament, which contained some griev- 
 ous mistakes. He had stated among other things, 
 that the first edition of that Testament, translated 
 chiefly by Dr. Gregory Martin, " was condemned by 
 all the doctors of Douay, who at the same time called 
 for and received the aid of the Scotch and Irish Col- 
 leges." These, Dr. Milner observes, " were not then 
 in existence." Mr. O'Connell went on to say, that 
 " the book was thus suppressed, and an edition of the 
 Bible, with notes, was published at Douay, which has 
 been ever since adopted by the Catholic Church, so 
 that they not oidy condemned and suppressed the 
 Ehemish edition, but they published an edition, with 
 notes to which no objection has, or could be urged."* 
 Dr. Milner corrects this by declaring that the 
 Catholic Testament now in use is the very version of 
 Dr. Gregory Martin and his associates, " only that the 
 phraseology has been here and there modernised, and 
 the text somewhat corrected, according to the later 
 Clementine edition. This was done by the English 
 Vicar Apostolic, Bishop Challoner, who at the same 
 time abridged the notes." He denies that the notes to 
 the original Ehemes Testament contain the immo- 
 ral doctrine imputed to them by the British Critic 
 and the theological surgeon (Mr. Blair). The evident 
 cause of their indignation is that he calls a spade, a 
 spade ; but however these gentlemen may stomach it, 
 they must bolt the word heresy ; for unless they ac- 
 knowledge themselves to be Catholics, or invincibly 
 
 * Report of the meeting, " Orthodox Journal," December, p. 
 469.
 
 350 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 ignorant, they must acknowledge themselves to be 
 hei^etics — infidels they are not, because they believe 
 some of the revealed truths : they are therefore 
 choosers of what they will and will not believe. Now 
 this choice constitutes the precise, proper and etymolo- 
 gical meaning of the word heresy'' The rest of the 
 Letter is a comparison of the Bill of 1813 with Sir 
 John Cox Hippisley's late plan, in which the Bishop 
 shows that the former was by far the less persecuting 
 and tyrannical of the two : and so far defends Mr. 
 Charles Butler. 
 
 The beginning of this year witnessed the happy 
 termination of the Blanchardist schism in Eng- 
 land. It has been already recorded that in the year 
 1810 the Yicars Apostolic all met, and agreed upon 
 a Test against Blanchardism, to be applied to the 
 clergy in their respective Districts. This Test Dr. 
 MiLNER at once enforced, and his District re- 
 mained free from the schism, while "his bre- 
 thren," as he declared, "in the South and West 
 thought it prudent to cushion it, and to indulge the 
 French clergy in the possession of their prejudices."* 
 At length, on the 18th of January, 1818, being Sep- 
 tuagesima, an ordinance was pubHshed in the London 
 District, requiring all French priests to subscribe a 
 similar Test to that agreed upon by the Bishops in 
 1810 ; and this, no doubt, with the concurrence of the 
 Vicar Apostolic of the Western District, Dr. CoUing- 
 ridge. " In the meantime," observes Dr. Milner, 
 " this great cause of disunion between the superior of 
 the Midland District, supported by the decrees of all 
 
 * Letter in the " Orth. Journal" for 1818, signed "A Midland 
 Pastor," p. 22.
 
 AGE 66.'\ CHAPTER TWENTIETH. 351 
 
 the Catholic Bishops of Ireland, in synod assembled, 
 and the superiors of the London and Western Dis- 
 tricts is taken away, and our only remaining anxiety is 
 about the everlasting lot of those French Bishops and 
 priests who have died, during a course of years, in and 
 about London, openly professing those principles which 
 now are universally/ allowed to be scliismaticaiy^ 
 The Bishop took occasion also to express his great 
 gratification at a Pastoral which had only lately been 
 circulated by Dr. Collingridge, though dated April 13, 
 1817, in which that Prelate strongly condemned the 
 vetoistical Bill of 1813, and exhorted and charged all 
 to employ their influence " by every legal and peace- 
 able means to prevent the insertion of clauses in any 
 eventual Bill for Catholic Emancipation, that may be 
 any ways repugnant to the present discipline of the 
 Church, and most particularly such as may tend to 
 give, in any degree, the power of nomination of Catho- 
 lic Bishops to a prince who is by law the head of a 
 difl^erent religious establishment, or to impede that 
 free intercourse on all ecclesiastical matters, which 
 must subsist between the chief Bishop and the mem- 
 bers of the Catholic Church ; for we cannot but view 
 and deprecate such clauses, as pregnant with con- 
 sequences, that may prove highly injurious to our holy 
 religion. "t It must be observed that the Resolutions 
 agreed upon by the other Vicars Apostolic, and ap- 
 proved by Dr. Milner, in March, 1817, as recorded 
 above in Chapter Fourteenth, are all embodied almost 
 word for word, in this Pastoral of Dr. Collincridf^e. 
 its appearance gave great joy to Dr. Milner : it went, 
 
 * Letter — as above. 
 
 t Pastoral of Dr. Collingridge, in the '' Orth. Journal,'' 1818, 
 p. 35.
 
 352 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 as he observed, even ^farther than he himself had ever 
 gone, in charging the Catholics to make all opposition 
 in their power to the obnoxious Bill. It proved that 
 his episcopal brethren really thought and judged as he 
 himself did of the Veto, of the Bill and of the Report 
 of Sir J. Cox Hippisley, though from some unhappy 
 timidity or temporising policy, they had not spoken 
 out and supported him, but left him till now to fight 
 their battles single-handed. Our venerable Prelate 
 however, thoroughly rejoiced, and had the satisfaction 
 to feel that it was " better to be persecuted for firm- 
 ness, than to be reproached with tergiversation." 
 
 His Lenten Pastoral of this year was dated from 
 Westminster, Jan. 18. It contained suitable instruc- 
 tions and admonitions for that holy season of penance, 
 ending, however, with the following nervous exhorta- 
 tion : " Remember, my dear children in Jesus Christ, 
 that the spirit of Penance, namely, a contrite and 
 humble heart, is the first, and the indispensable condi- 
 tion of keeping Lent worthily and profitably. This 
 
 implies, that you should abstain from sin, and the 
 
 occasions of sin ; such as are the theatre, public and 
 promiscuous dances, and the odious and scandalous 
 nudities of dress, which, alas ! are not less prevalent 
 among Catholics, than among professed worldlings." 
 
 A Letter appeared from his pen in the " Orthodox 
 JournaV^JoY February, signed " A Catholic Divine," 
 in which he expressed his great joy at the union of the 
 other Prelates with himself on the two grand points of 
 the Blanchardist schism and Sir J. C. Hippisley 's pro- 
 jects, by which the chief source of his uneasiness had 
 been removed. He declares that he has made light of 
 his persecutions at Board meetings and public advertise- 
 ments, and even laughed at threats of personal violence ;
 
 AGE 60.] CHAPTER TWENTIETH. 353 
 
 at one in particular, when the same gentleman who 
 moved his expulsion from the Board, "jumped out of 
 his seat at another meeting, in the attitude of Mendoza, 
 to challenge him to battle. Brave northern hero ! to 
 box with his Bishop." But he adds that there have 
 been " some shocking instances of immorality practised 
 against him, which wound him to the quick, and 
 almost disgust him of life." He gives a most dis- 
 graceful instance. Soon after he had circulated his 
 " Brief Memorial" against the tyrannical Bill of 1813, 
 he received from London by post, at a heavy charge, a 
 book which " is presumed to be the most obscene pub- 
 lication in the English language. This presumption 
 rests on the circumstance of Wilkes having been ex- 
 pelled from his seat in Parliament, in punishment of his 
 being the original editor of it." This book must 
 have been the " Essay on Woman." It is pretty cer- 
 tain that the real writer of it was Thomas Potter, a son 
 of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The sentence on 
 Wilkes was for printing and publishing an obscene and 
 impious libel, entitled : " An Essay on Woman." To 
 send such a work to Dr. Milner was, as he complained, 
 " not only an affront of a real diabolical nature, but 
 also a serious pick-pocketing roguery." He added 
 that he was satisfied that it was sent by a person of 
 rank and family, but out of a Christian regard for him, 
 he would continue to conceal his name, till that 
 great day, when everything that is hidden shall he 
 brought to light. Alas ! how deplorable that such 
 scandalous excesses should have to be recorded ; but to 
 what lengths are men too often carried by prejudice 
 and party spirit ! 
 
 Dr. Milner confirmed at Sedgley Park, on the 22nd 
 of February, and came to Oscott in Passion Week, in 
 
 2 A
 
 354 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 this year 1818 ; and on the 9th of March, he ordained 
 priest, in the College chapel, the Eev. Solomon 
 Strongitharm, whom he persuaded to drop his Hebrew 
 name, and to call himself by his confirmation name, 
 Laurence, which he did from that time. On Maunday 
 Thursday, he consecrated the Holy Oils for Dr. 
 Poynter, then in Paris, on the business of claiming the 
 liberty of disposing of British and Irish Catholic pro- 
 perty in France. 
 
 A correspondent in the " Orthodox Journal" for 
 February, signing himself " The Man in the Moon," 
 had found fault with the letter of Dr. Milner signed 
 " Eleazar," for aiding the antagonists of Mr. C. Butler, 
 while professing to take up his defence ; maintaining 
 that that gentleman discharged the public duties of a 
 Catholic, which was sufficient reparation for the past, 
 until he should be called upon by his superiors to pro- 
 ceed farther. Eleazar replied in the next Number, 
 and wrote a second Letter in the Number for April. 
 He declared that Dr. Milner had no ill-will against 
 Mr. C. Butler, and no pleasure in repeating his past 
 proceedings, but that he sees him pursuing the same ob- 
 jects at the present day, namely, the entire subjugation 
 of the Catholic Bishops, and a fatal amalgamisation of 
 this unchangeable religion with heterodoxy and latitu- 
 
 dinarianism But," he continues, "the Man in the 
 
 Moon represents the individual in question as repent- 
 ant for his past misconduct : I wish he could produce 
 one single symptom of such contrition !" He shows 
 that it is not sufficient to discharge the public duties of 
 a Catholic, which many infidels, schismatics, infamous 
 women, and excommunicated priests have done : nor 
 is this reparation for scandal sufficient, till he is called 
 upon to proceed farther by his superiors. " To state
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTIETH. 355 
 
 the real case, a person who has misled others into the 
 scandalous doctrine of the Blue Books, or the active 
 support of the Fifth Resolution, and its genuine off- 
 spring, the infamous Bill, one who has publicly and for 
 a length of time supported the plan of educating 
 Catholic children in Methodistical schools, and of in- 
 structing ignorant Catholics by Bibles in the vulgar 
 tongue without a word of comment upon it, — though 
 the latter practice has been so recently condemned by 
 the Pope — may safely go on (according to the ' Man 
 IN THE Moon'), and be admitted to the Sacraments, till 
 the business attracts the notice of his spiritual supe- 
 rior." Eleazar relates what happened after the con- 
 ference at Lord Clifford's, that Mr. C. Butler asked 
 Dr. Milner whether he would now say that he might 
 go to heaven ; to which the Prelate replied with the 
 most severe air, — " I sincerely advise you, Mr. Charles 
 Butler, to revise your publications, and to retract, in 
 particular, the Protest in the second Blue Book" In 
 the second Letter, "Eleazar" proves from St. Leo, St. 
 Augustin, St. Francis of Sales, Gerson and Antoine 
 the necessity of public reparation and retractJition ; 
 instancing the cases of Mr. Wilks, Bishop Berington, 
 and the Staffordshire clergy, from all of whom public 
 retractation was required ; and observes that these 
 were chiefly by means of Mr. C. Butler implicated in 
 some part of their misconduct.
 
 356 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. 
 
 TRIENNIAL CLERGY MEETmG. — ACCOUNT OF THE JESUITS IN ENG- 
 LAND. — RESCRIPT FROM VIENNA.— LETTER OF CARDINAL LITTA 
 TO DR. GIBSON. — LETTER OF DR. MILNER IN THE ORTHODOX 
 
 JOURNAL. — CONFIRMATIONS. — DEATH OF REV. J. F. QUICK. 
 
 EPITAPH AND LINES TO HIS MEMORY. — CONTRIBUTIONS TO CA- 
 THOLIC PERIODICALS. 
 
 The triennial meeting of his clergy was held by Dr. 
 MiLNER, at Wolverhampton, on the 3rd of June, 1818, 
 and was attended by twenty-three priests. The 
 Bishop s Address to them was an earnest and paternal 
 exhortation to a due sense of the excellence and dig- 
 nity of their vocation, and the necessity of sanctifying 
 their own souls and those of their flocks, and convert- 
 ing souls from vice and error. After specifying the 
 means to be employed for these ends, he mentioned 
 the state of religion in England, the condemnation and 
 extinction of Blanchardism, — the condemnation of 
 the so-called Catholic Bible Society and their stereo- 
 type Testament, — the dispute about the existence of 
 the Society of Jesus, and the building of chapels ; and 
 he dwelt on the obligation of the clergy to unite to save 
 religion, without distinction of Orders. 
 
 To understand the final allusions of the Bishop's 
 Charge, the reader must be informed of some trans- 
 actions relative to the peculiar position of the members 
 of the Society of Jesus in England. The English 
 Jesuits at the time of the suppression of their Society 
 by Pope Clement XIV., in 1773, possessed a flourish- 
 ing college at Liege. Soon after that event, they 
 were formed, by the Prince Bishop of Liege, with the
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. 357 
 
 concurrence of the Elector, into an academy for the 
 education of youth, and the service of the EngHsh 
 Mission, subject to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of 
 Liege, but to be under that of the Vicars Apostohc, 
 when they should return to England. This arrange- 
 ment was confirmed by Pope Pius YL, by his Brief 
 " Catholici PrcBsules^' in 1778. At the French 
 E-evolution they removed from Liege, and settled at 
 Stonyhurst, in 1794. Then Pope Pius VL, by a 
 Brief of the 14th of February, 1796, confirmed their 
 former rights, and added that their young men were 
 to serve on the mission, on the same footing as those 
 of other pontifical or episcopal seminaries. In a man- 
 date from the Prefect of Propaganda^ Cardinal Borgia, 
 to the Vicars Apostolic in England, dated Dec. 3, 
 1803, the Bishops were commanded "not to acknow- 
 ledge those who would be Jesuits in England, nor to 
 admit any privileges which they might claim, unless 
 their legitimate existence should be first made known 
 to the Vicars Apostolic, and the authority of the Holy 
 See should have made it known to them throush the 
 Sacred Congregation de propaganda fide."* 
 
 By a Bescript of Severoli, Bishop of Viterbo, the 
 Pope's Nuncio at Vienna, by authority of Pius VII., 
 then in captivity at Fontainbleau, and dated Dec. 24, 
 1813, it was signified that the members of Stonyhurst 
 College did so far belong to the Society of Jesus, 
 which had been restored in Russia, that they might be 
 admitted to Holy Orders titulo paupertatis, that is, by 
 
 * " Ne illos qui Jesuitae esse volebant in Anglia agnoscerent, 
 nee privilegia admitterent, si quae forte se habere assererent, nisi 
 primura Vicariis Apostolicis de legitima eoruni existentia constite- 
 rit, eandemque illis S. Sedis auctoritas per S. Congregationem de 
 propaganda fide constiterit."
 
 358 LIFE OF BISHOP mLNER. [1818. 
 
 the title of religious poverty.* Still there was no per- 
 mission granted to send their members for ordination 
 to any other Bishop, than the Prelate to whose Dis- 
 trict they belonged. Application was therefore made 
 to Propaganda by the Rector of the Jesuits' College at 
 Stonyhurst, the Rev. Charles Plowden, for the Rector 
 of that college for the time being to be authorised to 
 present its candidates for Holy Orders to any Prelate, 
 to be ordained sub titido paupertatis^ and that such 
 Prelate should ordain them. This application was 
 enforced by De. Milner and certain Catholic gentle- 
 men. The application was favourably received by 
 Cardinal Litta, the Prefect of the Propaganda^ who 
 sent a Letter to the Senior Vicar Apostolic, Dr. Gib- 
 son, dated Feb. 14, 1818, in which he observes that it 
 has been represented that his Lordship considers that 
 the Society of Jesus has not been restored in England, 
 as no authoritative notice has been sent to him of such 
 restoration, and that he therefore objects to ordain the 
 members of the Society and give them the care of 
 souls. The Cardinal, however, reminds him that the 
 Society was every where restored by the Bull of 7th 
 of August, 1814, and that, therefore, it cannot be 
 denied that it exists in England. It follows, therefore, 
 he says, that its members, under their President and 
 Provincial, Rev. C. Plowden, are to be acknowledged 
 and reputed by the Bishop, as a legitimate regular 
 body, like the other religious orders, and are to enjoy 
 the same rights as other regulars, and particularly that 
 of being promoted to Holy Orders titulo paupertatis.f 
 
 * See the Rescript in the Documenta ad Miss. Catholicam in An- 
 glia spectardia. Romte, 1 824. 
 
 t " Ex quo quidem plane sequitur eos qui istic eidem Societati, 
 sub eorum praeside provinciali R. Carolo Plowden addicti sunt,
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. 359 
 
 Dr. Gibson considered that this was not a decree of 
 the Propaganda, but only a private communication 
 from Cardinal Litta. He therefore appealed to his 
 Holiness, who was so well satisfied with his representa- 
 tions, that he directed the Cardinal to write again to 
 Dr. Gibson, and by authority of the Pope to revoke 
 the above Letter as if never written {tanquam non 
 scriptam), which his Eminence did, under date of May 
 5, 1S18.* 
 
 Dr. Milner now lent his powerful advocacy to the 
 cause of the Jesuits and their Provincial, his old friend, 
 Rev. Charles Plowden. In a Letter to the Cardinal 
 Prefect of Propaganda, dated October 5, 1818, he 
 represented the great want of priests in his District, 
 and that the deficiency could not be supplied except 
 from Stonyhurst ; but that Dr. Gibson had for some 
 years past refused to ordain any persons from that 
 college. He therefore prayed that the same power 
 should be granted to its President, for the time being, 
 which is accustomed to be conceded to the Rectors of 
 other Pontifical Colleges, namely that of giving dimis- 
 sorial letters to the students of that college, to receive 
 both Minor and Holy Orders from any Cathohc 
 Bishop of England, or Ireland, without observing the 
 usual interstices, or the usual times of ordinations, as 
 also the power of sending and attaching the priests 
 from that college, to those chapels, of which the said 
 President enjoys the patronage, or to which they are 
 
 tanquam legitimum regulare corpus sicut cajteros regulares ordines, 
 ab amplitudine tua agnosci ac reputari decere, eosque propterea 
 iisdem plane juribus gaudere quibus caiteri Regulares, illoque prap- 
 sertim, ut sacros ordines titulo paupcrtatis promoveantur." Docu- 
 menta nt supra, p. 23. 
 « Decreta, p. 23.
 
 360 
 
 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. 
 
 [1818. 
 
 invited by their other patrons. Cardinal Litta had 
 been succeeded by Cardinal Fontana, as Prefect of 
 Propaganda ; but he was absent from Rome at this 
 time, and the answer to Dr. Milner's petition was 
 forwarded by the Pro-Prefect, Cardinal de Somaglia. 
 He sent Dr. Milner a Decree of the Propaganda, 
 sanctioned by the Pope, dated Dec. 14, 1818, which 
 confirmed all the rights and privileges granted to 
 Stonyhurst by Pius VI., under date of Feb. 14, 1796, 
 and also granted the faculties prayed for by Dr. 
 Milner, subject however to the rules of Pope Bene- 
 nict XIV. in his Bull " Apostolicum ministerium'' of 
 May 30, 1753. Cardinal de Somaglia accompanied 
 the Decree with a Letter to Dr. Milner, admonishing 
 him, for the sake of peace, not to make any publication 
 of this grant, but to hand it silently to the President of 
 Stonyhurst, so that he might prudently and quietly use 
 the faculties obtained, and not produce them, except 
 when necessity should require it.* It will be seen 
 later on that this Decree was afterwards rescinded by 
 the Pope. 
 
 At this time a work was announced as in prepara- 
 tion by Mr. C. Butler, " Historical Memoirs of Eng- 
 lish, Irish., and Scottish Catholics, since the Reforma- 
 tionr Dr. Milner wrote a Letter in the " Orthodox 
 JournaV^ for June, signed "Merlin," another ana- 
 gram of liis name, in which he expressed his apprehen- 
 sions of the mischievous effects which were likely to be 
 
 * " Verum pro bono pacis curandum est, ut nulla fiat de hujus- 
 modi concessione ostentatio vel evulgatio, sed Amp, Tua adjunc- 
 tura ipsius documentum Seminarii praesidi silenter tradet, ut ipse 
 obtentis facultatibus prudenter ac sine strepitu ulatur, nee eas 
 nisi cum necessitas postulat producat." " Documenta" ut supra, 
 p. 3.
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. 361 
 
 produced by such a work from such an author. " It 
 concerns," he said, " the Cathohc noblemen and gentle- 
 men, in particular, to reflect, that it will be impossible 
 that such a historical controversy should be carried on 
 without implicating the names of several of them, or of 
 their fathers or near relations, in some unpleasant way 
 or other." Under the signature of " A Lover of 
 Consistency," he published in the same Number some 
 strictures on a Letter of the Rev. George Ohver of 
 Exeter, who wrote in defence of Bishop Collingridge, 
 on the subject of Blanchardism. That excellent 
 priest had maintained that his Bishop had sufficiently 
 made known his opposition to Blanchardism, in a 
 public Pastoral, and by refusing faculties to two French 
 priests, who would not give the satisfaction required as 
 to the principles of the Blanchardists. Dr. Melner 
 tells Mr. Oliver that he has defended his Bishop 
 before he was attacked, and the question was not 
 whether the venerated personage at all times cordially 
 condemned, and sometimes opposed the schism of 
 
 Blanchardism ; but whether he has with equal 
 
 uniformity and consistency done all that was in his 
 power to do, in order to extirpate it, conformably to 
 the unanimous decision of the Synod of 1810. Or 
 
 whether in this business, he was not guided to a 
 
 certain degree by the political and compromising coun- 
 cils of the London District." Li refutation of Mr. 
 Ohver' s mistaken supposition that the decision of 
 the Prelates in 1810 was not signed by them. Dr. 
 MiLNER refers to the minutes in the hand-writing of 
 the secretary, Pev. J. Griffiths, who says that on the 
 8th day, Feb. 28, all the articles were " confirmed by 
 the Eight Peverend Vicars Apostolic." In a subse- 
 quent Letter, signed with his own name, in the Number
 
 362 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. 
 
 [1818. 
 
 for July, Dr. Milner dwells at considerable length on 
 the Blanchardist schism, and towards the conclusion 
 makes two important statements, first, that it was 
 false to assert that none of the acts of the above meet- 
 ing of Bishops were signed by any of the members pre- 
 sent at it, for he says : '' I myself signed them all, 
 and this at the requisition of my colleagues, when I 
 took my leave of them on the ninth and last day of 
 the meeting ; and I never doubted but that they also 
 subsequently signed them." The other important 
 ' statement is in these words : " In regard of the flimsy 
 statement you mention, that the famous Fifth Reso- 
 lution had no connexion with the infamous Bill of 
 1813, devised by Charles Butler and his assistants, I 
 can assure you that it was perfectly exploded at Rome, 
 when it was advanced there by N. N. in 1815." 
 
 On the I6th of June, 1818, Dr. Milker conferred 
 the Holy Order of Priesthood on the Rev. William 
 Benson, who soon after went as assistant priest to Wol- 
 verhampton. He was afterwards at Baddesley Green, 
 went out to Australia, returned to England for a short 
 time, and died at Bruges, November 18, 1859. In 
 the month of July, Dr. Milner. confirmed at Har- 
 vington, Blackmore Park and Worcester ; and in 
 August he began his extensive visitation of Norfolk 
 and Suffolk. lie confirmed at Lynn and Oxborough, 
 and arrived in the evening of August 13, at Cossey 
 Hall, the seat of Sir George Jerningham, Bart. On 
 the following morning he offered a Mass of Requiem 
 for the soul of Sir William Jerningham, in the beauti- 
 ful chapel attached to the Hall, it being the anniver- 
 sary of his decease. On the following day, the feast of 
 the Assumption of our Blessed Lady, he administered 
 confirmation in the same chapel to 24 persons, the
 
 AGE 66. J CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. 363 
 
 pastor at that time being the Eev. Samuel Jones. 
 During his stay, he went with one of Sir George's sons 
 to angle in the river which runs near the Hall ; and 
 having given up his fishing rod to the young gentle- 
 man, he carelessly leaned against an old rail, with his 
 back to the river. The rail broke, and he fell into the 
 water, but received no other harm than a good ducking. 
 He hastened back to the Hall, and made his way to 
 his room without saying anything to Sir George, as 
 he went by, who wondered what had happened, seeing 
 him so hurriedly passing through the hall of the man- 
 sion. 
 
 But his visit was marked by an incident much more 
 painful. The post brought him the melancholy news 
 of the death of the respected President of St. Mary's 
 College, the Eev. John Francis Quick. He was 
 thrown into a paroxysm of grief by this sad intelli- 
 gence. He walked up and down the room in extreme 
 agitation, striking his forehead, and exclaiming : " I 
 have lost my right hand !" But religion soon subdued 
 the feelings of nature ; and he calmly resigned himself 
 to the divine will, repeating fervently the words of holy 
 Job : the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away : 
 as it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done : blessed be the 
 name of the Lord !* Those only who have known 
 the value of Mr. Quick, can properly estimate the 
 greatness of Dr. Milker's affliction, or the merit of his 
 resignation. Mr. Quick was everything in the manage- 
 ment of Oscott College : the good Bishop's confidence 
 in him was unbounded : and to be at once deprived of 
 one so valuable, was as great a shock as he could have 
 had to endure. He has recorded his loss in his Jour- 
 
 * Job, i. 21.
 
 364 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. 
 
 [1818. 
 
 Dal in these affecting terms : " N.B. — Aug. 13. Died 
 at Oscott, aged 41, the pious, zealous, disinterested, 
 sweet tempered, and mortified Kev. John Quick, Pre- 
 sident of that College ! E. I. P.—" Soon after, he 
 placed a tablet to his memory in the sacristy of the Col- 
 lege Chapel, with the following inscription, the truth 
 and justice of which all who knew him will cordially 
 acknowledge. 
 
 •^ Ml 
 
 To the Memory of 
 
 The Rev. John Francis Quick, S.T.P, 
 
 And Vice-President of Saint Mary's College 
 
 of Oscott, 
 
 Whose body rests in the parish cemetery. 
 
 Whose soul, we confide, exults in the joy 
 
 of its Lord, 
 
 And whose spirit, we pray, may ever remain 
 
 in this Seminary. 
 
 Brought up in religious error, 
 
 He so faithfully followed the lights given him, 
 
 That he was, in early manhood, called, 
 
 by God's mercy. 
 
 To the true faith, to the priestly ministry, 
 
 And to the pursuit of religious perfection. 
 
 flumble, meek, benevolent, mortified, 
 
 indefatigable. 
 
 But, above all, zealous for the salvation 
 
 of souls, 
 
 And the glory of his divine Master, 
 
 He was, in a few years, prepared for that 
 
 happy summons to meet him, 
 
 Which he received, August 13, 1818, 
 
 in the 41st year of his age. 
 
 R. I. P. 
 
 Some lines to the memory of that worthy President, 
 by the present writer, appeared in the " Orthodox 
 Journar for the ensuing month, September ; and at
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. 365 
 
 tlie Christmas Exhibition an Eulogy upon him, of con- 
 siderable merit, was delivered by a student, Henry 
 Baldwin, it being his own composition. Dr. Milner 
 was present, and listened to it with great attention, his 
 eyes streaming with tears ; and when the last lines were 
 delivered with much pathos : — 
 
 " Wipe then the tear, and check the heaving sigh, 
 Heaven in its mercy, did that form but lend ; 
 His time expired, he takes his seat on high, 
 
 On earth we've lost, in heaven we've gained a friend" — 
 
 the Bishop turned round to the present writer, who sat 
 close behind him, and asked with great emotion why 
 he had not a copy of this composition. He was 
 answered that he should have one the next day, but 
 that in the Programme of the Exhibition, which he 
 held in his hand, the titles of the pieces only could be 
 inserted. The words of the songs indeed were given 
 in a separate paper, but it was not customary to write 
 out the original compositions. The present writer, 
 however, made a copy for him immediately after the 
 Exhibition. The lines were published in the " Ortho- 
 dox Journar for January, 1819. 
 
 Filled with grief and perplexity by this melancholy 
 loss of one so truly valuable to him, and so important 
 in St. Mary's College, the good Bishop would have 
 been glad to return home immediately, to make what 
 arrangements he could to supply the dreary vacancy 
 caused by the death of Mr. Quick. But duty forbad 
 him to leave his important engagements unfulfilled, 
 and he was obliged to content himself with giving his 
 directions by letter. He accordingly appointed the 
 Rev. Thomas Walsh President of the College, and the 
 Rev. Plenry Weedall, Vice-president, who also became 
 professor of divinity, and spiritual director of the lay-
 
 366 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 students and servants, while Mr. Walsh directed the 
 ecclesiastics as before, and kept his charge of the con- 
 gregation attached to the chapel of the college. 
 
 On the next day, the 16th of August, which was 
 Sunday, Dr. Milner went through the fatigue of con- 
 firming at both the chapels in Norwich. He said 
 Mass early at St. S within' s, where the Rev. James 
 Lane, S. J., was the pastor, and confirmed twenty-nine 
 persons, six of whom were from Flixton ; thence at 
 St. John's chapel, after Mass by the pastor, the Rev. 
 Edward Beaumont, he confirmed thirty persons, two 
 of whom belonged to Yarmouth, giving animated ex- 
 hortations on both occasions before and after adminis- 
 tering the Sacrament of Confirmation, though his mind 
 and heart were oppressed with heavy grief for his 
 irreparable loss. He proceeded with holy and cou- 
 rageous perseverance on his pastoral visits, and during 
 the month of August gave Confirmation at Thelton, 
 Gifi'ord's Hall, and Bury St. Edmunds ; and visited 
 Sawston Hall and Husband's Bosworth, on his return 
 to Stafibrdshire. To finish the record of his Confirma- 
 tions this year, it may be here noted that he confirmed 
 in November at Cobridge, Caverswall, and Newport in 
 Shropshire. 
 
 A new periodical, entitled the " Catholic Gentle- 
 man's Magazine^'" was established this year, but had 
 a very brief existence. Dr. Milner sent an article to 
 it, signed with his own name, " On the Restoration of 
 the Jesuits^'' which appeared in Vol. I. p. 580. To 
 the " Catholicon'^ he contributed two short articles this 
 year. One dated June 10, and signed Remembrancer, 
 appeared at p. 107, the object of which was to correct 
 a statement of Mr. C. Butler at the annual dinner of 
 the Associated Charities, who in his account of the
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIEST. 367 
 
 first establishment of the institution in 1764, attributed 
 it to " some charitable persons," whereas it was formed, 
 and for many years directed by the Rev. Henry Peach, 
 uncle to the worthy pastor of St. Chad's, Birmingham, 
 " a missionary of indefatigable labour and unbounded 
 charity." The other contribution to the " Catholicori' 
 appeared in the Number for November, signed Digi- 
 talis, and was an admonition to Sir John Cox Hip- 
 pisley to desist from his foolish threatenings to put 
 down the Jesuit College at Stonyhurst. " This gen- 
 tleman's efforts," he says, " have hitherto failed of 
 success ; for ministers have laughed at his fables ; his 
 printed speeches have long since found their way to 
 the pastry cooks' shops ; and all the shafts of his 
 anger, aimed at Stonyhurst, have fallen to the ground, 
 as harmless as the darts thrown by the feeble arm of 
 the aged Priam." 
 
 Dr. Milner, amidst all his troubles and labours, 
 found time also to write two more Letters this year in 
 the " Orthodox Journal.'" One was signed A Roman 
 Catholic Clergyman, and appeared in the Number 
 for September. It gave an account of the origin of the 
 " Cisalpine Club" in 1793, with its avowed purpose of 
 " opposing the usurj^ation of the Pope, and the tyranny 
 of the Vicars Apostolic." For many years this club 
 held convivial and political meetings, and sometimes 
 published their transactions. When Savoy and Pied- 
 mont were formed into a separate republic called the 
 Cisalpine^ the members of the Club found it prudent 
 to suppress their name. But they resumed it, when 
 that republic came to an end. Many unsuspecting 
 Catholics from time to time joined this club ; but Dr. 
 Milner here warns them that they are sanctioning and 
 partaking in all the past misconduct of the old Com-
 
 368 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 mittee, and wishes them to withdraw from it. In a 
 Postscript, he again expresses his apprehensions that 
 Mr. C. Butler's expected " Memoirs of English 
 Catholics' will " turn out to be an insidious defence 
 of bad men and wrong measures ; and that he is not 
 hkely fairly to show, — what nevertheless may be so 
 clearly proved from the first Blue Book, — that the 
 whole plan of the condemned oath was an attempt to 
 deceive, at the same time, both Protestants and Catho- 
 lics. Will he give us his own insulting letters to 
 Bishop Walmesley, and the just yet severe reproofs of 
 him by Bishop Matthew Gibson, and his old tutor, 
 
 Mr. Bannister ? Will he tell us who concerted 
 
 with Protestant politicians the wicked and unconstitu- 
 tional Bill of 1813 ? Who devised and paid for the 
 meeting at Durham ? Who counselled and revised 
 the letters to Quarantotti ? What means were used 
 to detain Dr. Milner at Eome, &c., &c. ? melius non 
 tangere clamoT 
 
 His last Letter this year in the " Orthodox Jour- 
 nal appeared in the Number for October, signed 
 Viator. There had been a controversy raging for 
 several months between the advocates of the Jesuits 
 on the one hand, and those of the secular clergy on 
 the other, relative to the rival claims of the Jesuit 
 chapel at Wigan, which had been rebuilt on a large 
 scale, while a new chapel on a smaller scale was built 
 by the secular clergy at a short distance from it. Dr. 
 Milner writing as Viator, a traveller through Wigan, 
 first reprobates the dissension in strong terms, and then 
 proceeds to an interesting description of the two rival 
 chapels, indulging his architectural taste and display- 
 ing his extensive knowledge in his minute details and 
 critical observations. "But," he says, in conclusion,
 
 AGE 66] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIRST. 369 
 
 " what are architectural defects compared with the 
 breach of peace, the breach of charity, the degradation 
 of the true rehgion, and the loss of souls !" 
 
 Thus did this incomparable Prelate hold steadily on 
 his course in good report and evil report^ ever vigilant 
 and zealous for the great cause of his divine Master, 
 and regardless of personal feelings and obloquy. Nor 
 ought any to take scandal at the opposition and perse- 
 cutions which this zealous Prelate had to endure. / 
 pray you^ said St. Paul, not to faint at my tribulations 
 for you^ which is your glory* The constancy of that 
 great Apostle was ever before the mind of Dr. 
 MiLNER, and made him also glory in suffering for the 
 Church, which he guarded and defended. It was the 
 Apostle's favourite and frequent admonition : That 
 no man should he moved in these tribulations : for 
 yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto.^ 
 Even to the close of his life it was the same with the 
 great St. Paul ; for he considered that his sufferings 
 for Christ added dignity and weight to his old age : — 
 Paul^ an old man, atid now also a prisoner of Jesus 
 Christ.X There were enemies who openly opposed 
 Dr. Milner, and some who worked against him in 
 secret ; but the great bulk of Catholics highly respected 
 him ; and his own clergy and the faithful of his own 
 District who knew him best, loved and valued him, and 
 revered him exceedingly. We shall now see him 
 rendering to religion a still greater service than by any 
 of his previous writings and labours, and preparing a 
 memorial of his merits, which will embalm his name 
 and his fame in a long futurity. , 
 
 • * Ephes. iii. 13. f 1 Thcs. iii. 3. % Philemon, 9. 
 
 2 B
 
 370 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND. 
 
 DE. MILNER PUBLISHES HIS END OF CONTROVERSY. — THE OCCA- 
 SION OF ITS APPEARING AT THIS TIME. — PLAN AND DIVISION 
 OF THE WORK ITS INCIDENTAL CONTENTS. — ITS ILLUSTRA- 
 TIONS. — ORIGINAL OF THE APOSTOLICAL TREE VARIOUS EDI- 
 TIONS, AND GREAT SUCCESS OF THE "WORK. — LETTER IN THE 
 
 ORTHODOX JOURNAL ABOUT THE STEREOTYPE TESTAMENT 
 
 PASTORAL FOR LENT. — LETTER ON MR. C. BUTLER's HISTORICAL 
 MEMOIRS OF ENGLISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 The great St. Basil, ^vriting to St. Athanasius, exhorts 
 him to leave behind him a memorial of liis pious and 
 laborious life : " Leave some monument, worthy of 
 thy life and conduct, O most venerable father ; estab- 
 lish firmly those innumerable labours undergone for 
 religion in this one work."* It may be safely affirmed 
 that Dr. Milner did raise for himself a monument of 
 endless fame in his immortal production, " The End 
 of Religious Controversy^'' which he published this 
 year. It was the grand and crowning work of his 
 great and persevering labours. His " History of Win- 
 chester" and his " Letters to a Prehendarf had 
 already rendered him famous as an historian, and for- 
 midable as a polemic ; but his " End of Controversy'" 
 established his general fame on a basis wide and im- 
 perishable. No work of controversy has been so 
 extensively read ; none has produced effects so benefi- 
 cial. The present writer had the happiness to receive 
 
 * KaraXnre ri iiPTjfjioirvvov tw $icf> rrjs ffris iroXnelas Tifuurare irdrep, rots fiv- 
 plois fKtli/ois viTfp rris evae^eias &d\ots hi tovtoi KaTaaTrjcrov epycf. O. J3aSIL. 
 
 Magn., Ep. ad Athan. 48 Edit. Paris.
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND. 371 
 
 a copy as soon as published, from Dr. Milner's own 
 hand ; and on that occasion he said : " I have called 
 this book The End of Controversy ; but it is likely 
 enough to prove the Beginning." 
 
 Though the work was only now published, it had 
 been written sixteen years before. For as the vene- 
 rable author mentions in his prefatory address to Dr. 
 Burgess, the Protestant Bishop of St. David's, it grew 
 out of his former controversy with Dr. Sturges, and 
 would have been published when ready, but for the 
 influence of a former Bishop of St. David's, Dr. Hors- 
 ley, who had so generously advocated the Cathohc 
 cause, that Dr. Milner thought it right in return to 
 reserve the publication of his work for a future occa- 
 sion. That he had thoughts of publishing it, however, 
 much earlier, appears from a letter to the Bev. Cle- 
 ment Weetman, in 1809, in which he said that he was 
 about to publish a work of controversy upon quite a 
 new plan. Now, however, it was called for by an 
 occasion so provokingly appropriate, that he resolved 
 to withhold it no longer. He had suppressed it at the 
 desire of a former Bishop of St. David's : it now came 
 forth in consequence of a violent effusion of No 
 Popery zeal on the part of a successor in that see, Dr. 
 Burgess. This Prelate put forth a work, entitled : 
 " The Protestant's Catechism^' the virulent character 
 of which may be at once gathered from the quotation 
 from Milton, with which the author began and ended 
 it, that " Popery is not to be tolerated, either in public 
 or in private, and that it must be thought how to re- 
 move it, and hinder the growth thereof." 
 
 Dr. Milner's work is prefaced with an address at 
 some length to Dr. Burgess, in which he exposes the 
 numerous paradoxes in his " Protestant's Catechism^''
 
 372 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [^818 
 
 and then expresses his trust that in the First Part of 
 this work he has shown the Rule appointed by Christ, 
 for clearly discerning the truths he has revealed, — and 
 that he has, in the Second Part, clearly pointed out 
 Christ's True Churchy which cannot but teach True 
 Doctrine. He concludes his address with an earnest 
 invitation to Dr. Burgess to dismiss all self-interest, 
 human respect and prejudice, and follow Truth with 
 the utmost sincerity and ardour of soul. 
 
 The plan of the work is novel and attractive. It 
 opens with a Letter to the author from a gentleman in 
 Shropshire, James Brown, Esq., of New Cottage, near 
 Cressage, who claims some knowledge of Dr. Milner, 
 through a mutual acquaintance, the Rev. John Corne, 
 who was then the missioner at Stafford. Mr. Brown 
 writes in the name of a friendly Society of above 
 twenty persons of various religious opinions, who meet 
 weekly at his house for religious and improving con- 
 versation ; his object being to inquire whether Dr. 
 Milner would condescend to interchange a few letters 
 with him, for the satisfaction of himself and his friends, 
 for the discovery and communication of religious 
 truths, and more particularly to discuss several " ab- 
 surd and antiscriptural doctrines and practices" of 
 Roman Catholics, which Mr. Brown observes that 
 Dr. M. has not attempted to defend in his former 
 works. Mr. Brown encloses two admirable Essays 
 by their rector, the Rev. Samuel Carey, on the Exist- 
 ence of God, and the Truth of Christianity, which 
 had been read up at their weekly meetings, and [which 
 prepare the way for the discussion of the True Church, 
 its doctrines, and practices. 
 
 When the work appeared, its ingenious construc- 
 tion led many to suppose that the Society of New 
 
 I
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND. 373 
 
 Cottage really existed, and that the correspondence 
 had actually taken place. Even respectable reviews 
 were completely taken in by the ingenious device, and 
 gravely spoke of New Cottage and its Society as reali- 
 ties. The good Bishop highly enjoyed the innocent 
 deception ; and without compromising truth, he often 
 artfully kept up the delusion. One evening, when he 
 attended the conference of ecclesiastics at Oscott, he 
 was closely pressed on the subject by the Rev. John 
 Kirk, himself a Shropshire man, and well acquainted 
 with that county. Mr. Kirk asked how far New 
 Cottage was from Cressage. 
 
 Dr. M.— I don't know exactly, Sir, but I believe not 
 far. 
 
 Mr. K. — On which side of the turnpike is it, my 
 Lord, for I know that neighbourhood very well ? 
 Dr. M. — I can't tell you. Sir, for I never was there. 
 Mr. K. — Pray, my Lord, w^ere the members of the 
 Society of New Cottage converted by your corres- 
 pondence ? 
 
 Dr. M.— Yes, Sir, I believe most, if not all of them 
 were. 
 
 Mr. Kirk looked aside, and smiled ; but did not 
 think it decorous to pursue his interrogatories farther ; 
 while we all admired the Bishop's dexterous fencing, 
 and imperturbable countenance. Dr. Milner's god- 
 father was a Mr. James Brown, and it is most probable 
 that he was thence led to choose that name for his 
 supposed correspondent. 
 
 The plan of the work is too well known to need 
 any detailed exposition in these pages. The ingenious 
 fiction of an inquiring Society, composed of members 
 of the Church of England, Methodists, Calvinists, and 
 Quakers, afibrded the best opportunities of refuting
 
 374 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 the errors of these several sects ; and the plan of in- 
 terchanging letters enabled the author to introduce the 
 various objections to the Catholic religion in the most 
 plausible and impartial manner. The great merit of 
 Dr. Melner's work, and what distinguishes it from 
 most other books on controversy, is the earnest and 
 feeling tone which pervades it. He every where shows 
 a real desire to save the souls of his correspondents ; 
 he urges the great importance of studying the truths 
 of religion, and of pursuing their inquiries with proper 
 dispositions, imploring the aid of the Holy Spirit, 
 avoiding sin, renouncing prejudice, and entering upon 
 the discussion and making the choice in the manner 
 they would wish to have done at the awful hour of 
 death. It is evident throughout that he aims not at 
 victory, but at truth ; and that he seeks not only to 
 convince, but to convert his correspondents, for the 
 eternal welfare of their precious souls. 
 
 Having then prepared the way by establishing, in 
 the two preliminary Essays, the grand leading truths 
 of the existence of God and of revealed religion, he 
 proceeds to lay down the Rule or method of finding 
 out the true religion. He refutes the fallacious Rules 
 of private inspiration, — and of Scripture according to 
 each one's interpretation, and estabhshes the True 
 Rule, the teaching of the Church. These are the 
 contents of the First Part. The Second treats of the 
 characteristics of the True Church — the marks of 
 Unity — Sanctity — Catholicity and Apostolicity. In a. 
 Postscript to this Second Part, he admirably sums up 
 all the preceding arguments, and insists on their suffi- 
 ciency to influence all reasonable persons, who are in 
 earnest to save their souls ; exhorting his friends to 
 adopt those sentiments now, which they will entertain
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND. 375 
 
 when this world closes upon them and a boundless 
 
 Eternity is displayed before them. The Third Part is 
 devoted to rectifying mistakes concerning the Catholic 
 Church ; and embraces the charge of Idolatry, under 
 which the author treats of Praying to Saints and vene- 
 rating religious memorials, — the charge of worshipping 
 bread and wine, which leads him to a masterly defence 
 of Transubstantiatioh, Communion under one kind, 
 and the Sacrifice of the Mass, — the charge of purchas- 
 ing pardons for sins past and to come, which gives him 
 the opportunity of proving the Sacrament of Penance, 
 and of explaining the real doctrine of the Church on 
 Indulgences ; and the various misrepresentations of 
 Catholic doctrines and practices, where he takes occa- 
 sion to speak of Purgatory and the lawfulness of 
 Prayers for the dead. Extreme Unction, the Supre- 
 macy of the Pope, the language of our Liturgy, the 
 proper use of the Bible, and the charge of religious 
 persecution, A recapitulatory Chapter concludes the 
 work, and ends vvith another solemn appeal to the 
 great day of final judgment and the awful abyss of 
 Eternity. 
 
 In reading this immortal work, the mind is struck 
 with admiration at the extensive range of the venera- 
 ble author's knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, his 
 familiar acquaintance with the writings of the Fathers, 
 his immense stores of historical knowledge, especially 
 regarding the Church, his extensive acquaintance with 
 Protestant writers, and his perfect readiness in dealing 
 with the objections of every class of separatists from 
 the true Church of Christ. In this book, too, the 
 reader will be surprised and pleased to find a number 
 of collateral subjects introduced easily and naturally, 
 and treated in a manner wdiich proves a thorough
 
 376 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 acquaintance with them, and the importance attached to 
 them by our opponents. Thus he disserts upon the 
 variations and impiety of the doctrine of John Wesley, 
 — he compares the hves of eminent Protestants with 
 those of contemporary Cathohcs, — he shows up the 
 falsehoods of Fox's Book of Martyrs, which has de- 
 ceived so many well-meaning readers, — he defends 
 the miracles of St. Bernard and St. Francis Xavier, 
 and details some striking miracles of our own times, — 
 he refutes the fable of Pope Joan, — he exposes the in- 
 consistencies of the Bible Societies, and retorts the 
 charge of persecution on the part of Catholics, by 
 adducing numerous instances of persecution by Pro- 
 testants in every Protestant country, in Germany, 
 Switzerland, France, Holland, Sweden and Scotland, 
 and its violence and long continuance in England. 
 
 The End of Controversy was brought out in three 
 separate volumes, or parts, in large octavo size, and in 
 a superior style of printing. The size of the volumes 
 was determined by that of the plates, the beauty of 
 which also required a corresponding elegance in the 
 style of paper and printing. These plates are six in 
 number. They represent respectively, — Tobias taking 
 leave of his Father, — Christ sending forth his Apostles, 
 
 The Judgment of Solomon, — The Apostolic Tree, 
 
 The allegorical picture of the Church and Misre- 
 presentation, and Christ giving the keys to St. Peter. 
 Some of these were engraved from drawings by mem- 
 bers of the family of Lucien Buonaparte, which had 
 been presented to Dr. Milner, and used to hang in 
 his great parlour. They are in the stiff, classical style 
 of the French painter David ; the second mentioned 
 above is a poor composition by P. Leo ; the last is Dr. 
 Milner's own invention, the design having far more
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTEK TWENTY-SECOND. 377 
 
 merit than the execution. But the most curious and 
 valuable plate was that of the Apostolical Tree, ex- 
 hibiting on its trunk the most celebrated Popes of 
 every age, and on its branches the General Councils, 
 nations converted, and the most renowned saints, 
 doctors and pious personages. Falling off from the 
 tree on each side, as dead branches, are the chief here- 
 tics and schismatics of their respective ages. The 
 tree is a vine, emblematical of Christ our Lord, who 
 declared himself the vine, and his true disciples the 
 branches. Thus the Tree presents a tabular view of 
 the history of the Church, brought down to Dr. 
 Milner's own time, for he inserts among the pious 
 personages the names of Bishops Hornyold, Walmesley 
 and Moylan. He designed the Tree himself, and his 
 own rude sketch of it is preserved at Oscott College ; 
 but it was carefully drawn out by Mr. James Cave of 
 Winchester, in 1805. Still it was not the Bishop's 
 original idea: it is borrowed from a very curious old 
 engraving, now very rare, but of which the present 
 writer possesses a copy on a large sheet. This was en- 
 graved in the reign of Charles I., having been presented 
 to his Queen Henrietta Maria, with a very eloquent 
 dedication in Latin to her Majesty. The design is very 
 ingenious, and both the drawing and engraving are 
 beautifully executed. It represents a flourishing vine, 
 with our Blessed Saviour nailed to the lower portion of 
 the stem, and St. Mary Magdalen embracing his sacred 
 feet. At the foot of the tree are two figures carrying 
 a heavy bunch of grapes between them on a pole, like 
 the spies from the promised land. One is a Jew^ bend- 
 ing beneath his load, with this inscription : " Judseus, 
 misere succumbens oneri legis, Moysaicce, quod portat 
 nullatenus videt." The other is a Christian, looking
 
 37S LIFE OF BISHOP MTLNEE. [1818. 
 
 up with confidence to Christ, and over him are these 
 words: " Christianus ocuhs fidei sufFultus gratia, quod 
 portat, videt." In this Tree, saints only are repre- 
 sented, but there are not merely their names, as in Dr. 
 Milner's Tree, but they are all drawn with their ap- 
 propriate emblems, and the figures are all well designed. 
 They come down to the year 1621. Above the tree 
 is our Saviour gloriously risen from the dead, and a re- 
 presentation of the " immense multitude which no man 
 could number," triumphant in the glory of heaven, 
 while the heretics are falling below from the tree, as 
 withered and dead branches. The title of this valu- 
 able engraving is: " Arbor pastoralis^ sive vitis Evan- 
 gelica^ ostendens Ecclesiam Catholicam ah ipsius Jesu 
 Christi incunahulis in hodiernum usque diem semper 
 visibilem et conspicuam fuisser The saints are not 
 merely seated on the branches, like fruits, but grouped 
 in artistic and appropriate forms and attitudes, grace- 
 fully and in good taste; and scrolls are interwoven 
 amid the branches, on which are engraved appropriate 
 texts of Scripture in conspicuous characters. Tliis 
 curious " Arbor Pastoralis " well deserves to be re- 
 engraved, with the saints brought down to the present 
 century. 
 
 The restricted limits of Dr. Milner's folding plate 
 did not admit of the figures of the saints ; but his 
 Tree affords a more extended \iew of the history of 
 the Church, comprehending as it does the councils, 
 doctors, and distinguished men of every age. The 
 book, thus elegantly brought out, was of necessity high 
 priced; but the author made no profit by it. The price 
 was twenty shillings; but six shillings from the price 
 of each copy sold was paid, by his express stipulation, 
 to a Catholic charitable institution. Expensive as it
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND. 379 
 
 was, the demand for it was so great, that the edition 
 was very soon exhausted, and a second pubHshed soon 
 after in one vohime, and in a cheaper form. Two 
 stereotyped editions came out in America, and another 
 edition was pubHshed in Ireland. It was translated 
 and published in France and Italy; and a cheap edi- 
 tion in England by Andrews, of 2,000 copies, was 
 exhausted in little more than a twelvemonth. 
 
 No work of religious controversy had appeared in 
 England at all equal to it; and none has ever excited 
 so great curiosity and interest, or met with a demand 
 so extensive and encouraging. Even Mr. Charles 
 Butler sat up nearly a whole night to read it, and is 
 said to have gone all through it at one reading. He 
 certainly wTote thus of it subsequently to the late Rev. 
 Dr. Oliver: " I suppose you hear of the many distin- 
 guished converts. I attribute them principally to Dr. 
 Milner s End of Controversy." Many, indeed, have 
 been the conversions to the Catholic faith, produced, 
 under God's blessing, by that masterly exhibition and 
 defence of our doctrines. There is probably not a 
 missioner in our country, who has not placed it in the 
 hands of serious inquirers after truth; and has not 
 witnessed its marvellous powder of persuasion. Multi- 
 tudes of converts have been made by that work, and 
 will no doubt continue to be made by it, probably more 
 than by all our other controversial works put together. 
 Its plan is novel and engaging, its arguments are clear 
 and cogent, and its language is plain and always intel- 
 ligible, for, as a holy writer observes, " simplicity is 
 ever the friend of truth." * Its teaching is not en- 
 
 * " Nam semper arnica est veritati simplicitas." Petrus Bles- 
 SENSis, Ep. 76.
 
 380 LIFE OF BISHOP MTLNER. [1818. 
 
 veloped in mystified expressions, novel conceits and 
 obscure and laboured argumentation; but all is easy, 
 straightforward, and such as any reader can at once 
 understand and appreciate. No wonder that it has 
 become our standard book of controversy; and that it 
 still continues to produce fruits so precious and abun- 
 dant. If Dr. Milner had written nothing but his 
 " End of Controversy^' that alone would have im- 
 mortalised his name, and established him as a distin- 
 guished pillar of God's Church in our country. It was 
 indeed his favourite production ; and he used to claim 
 it as his own creation; for all his other works had been 
 elicited by some event that had happened, or some 
 work published, which called for his attention. 
 
 It has been seen in the preceding pages, how ear- 
 nestly Dr. Milner protested against the so called 
 Catholic Bible Society^ and all its proceedings. It 
 had proved, however, a complete failure, from deficiency 
 of pecuniary resources, and from a disagreement be- 
 tween its principal patron and its chief director. An- 
 other edition of the stereotype Testament of the Society, 
 however, appeared in numbers, which was a reprint of 
 it, as far as regarded the mutilated notes. This led 
 Dr. Milner to publish a letter in the " Orthodox 
 JournaV for January, 1819, signed "A Pastor of 
 THE Middle District," against the " revival of a work, 
 avowedly made to disguise the true religion, and to 
 favour a false one, connected also, as it evidently is, 
 with the modern plan of educating Catholic children 
 in Methodist schools." In this letter he gives 
 numerous specimens of venerable Bishop Challoner's 
 notes, and compares them with the mutilated notes of 
 the stereotype edition, and the more recent one in six- 
 penny numbers, that the Catholic Prelates and clergy
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SECOND. 381 
 
 may judge whether, from the state of the Cathohc 
 and the Protestant mind at the present day, there 
 was, or is sufficient cause for the unavaihng sacrifices 
 which have been made to the prejudices of the 
 latter. ... It is plain that the cancelled part 
 of our former Catholic notes is precisely the part 
 which is wanted at the present day, as well as it was 
 heretofore, to render an English translation of the 
 sacred text safe and profitable in the hands of the 
 British laity, and that the notes, which were left remain- 
 ing in the stereotype, were only left ior form sake, and 
 to avoid the censure of the rules of the Index; to the 
 Congregation of which the stereotype ought to have 
 been denounced, as its progeny ought to be at the pre- 
 sent day." 
 
 In his Pastoral for Lent, this ever zealous and watch- 
 ful shepherd lifted up his voice again to warn his flock 
 against dangers threatening both their morals and their 
 religion. " Cautiously avoid the gratifying of every 
 sinful passion, whether of an exterior, or interior 
 nature; as likewise the exposing yourselves, or others, 
 to the guilt of sin, by the dangerous diversions of the 
 theatre, so loudly condemned as they are by the holy 
 Fathers and by succeeding Doctors of the Church; or 
 by the immodest undresses of the present age; or by 
 putting the dearest interests and the safety of that holy 
 religion, to which all your hopes for eternity are at- 
 tached, into the hands of personages, who, however 
 respectable and trustworthy they may be, in other re- 
 spects, have neither a knowledge of, nor a feeling for 
 its integrity or its security. On two several occasions, 
 within our own memory, has this sacred cause, through 
 the sole and special Providence of God, and almost 
 beyond all human hope, escaped the dreadful and im-
 
 382 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1818. 
 
 minent dangers, to which it was exposed from our 
 fault or neghgence. On the former of these, we were 
 on the point of losing our pure and charaeteristical 
 name of Catholics, and of having a schismatical ap- 
 pellation, together with a condemned and impious Oath, 
 imposed upon us; on the latter, the canonical discipline 
 of our churches and missions, together with the safety 
 of the religion itself, was near being schismatically 
 violated without any ecclesiastical authority whatso- 
 ever." 
 
 Mr. Charles Butler's long announced " Historical 
 Memoirs of the English Catholics^ Sfc.'' — had re- 
 cently appeared, and Dr. Milner, under the signature 
 of "Vindicator," wrote a Letter in the" Orthodox Jour- 
 naV for February, in which he pointed out several his- 
 torical and chronological errors in it, and censured it 
 generally, as " studiously blinking at most of those 
 affairs which most concern both Catholics and Protes- 
 tants to be informed about, and particularly those 
 which the author himself has so wretchedly marred and 
 disgraced, not unfrequently to the confusion of his 
 honourable employers."
 
 AGE 66.] CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 383 
 
 CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 
 
 DR. MILNEr's postscript TO HIS ADDRESS TO DR. BURGESS.— 
 TWO LETTERS ON MR. C. BDTLER's HISTORICAL MEMOIRS OF 
 ENGLISH CATHOLICS. — VOTES OF THANKS TO DR. MILNER AT 
 CATHOLIC MEETINGS. PETITIONS FOR UNQUALIFIED EMANCI- 
 PATION. — DEATH OF DR. MILNER's VICAR-GENERAL, MR. 
 PERRY.^ — NEW BUILDING AT OSCOTT. — VISIT TO THE EARL 
 
 OF SHREWSBURY. LETTERS OF DR. MILNER ON CATHOLIC 
 
 AFFAIRS, AND ABOUT STONYHURST COLLEGE CONFIRMA- 
 TIONS. — CONTROVERSY ABOUT DR. LINGARd's HISTORY OF ENG- 
 LAND. 
 
 The Address prefixed to Dr. Milker's End of Con- 
 troversy had attracted the notice of Dr. Burgess, the 
 Protestant Bisliop of St. David's, whom it personally- 
 concerned ; but his only attempt to answer it was in 
 a short work, entitled " Three Words on General 
 Thornton's Speech^ and one Word on Dr. Milner's 
 End of Controversy^ This gave occasion to Dr. 
 MiLNER to append a Postscript to a second edition of 
 his Address. In this Postscript, he exhibits fresh in- 
 stances of the Protestant's paradoxes and fickleness of 
 purpose, and exposes the true character of his " Pro- 
 testants' Catechism^' in a supposed address, as fol- 
 lows : — " You have here, good people, a new Catechism, 
 and Three Words, and one word more, in defence of 
 it, which I have just composed for your common use. 
 This Catechism will not perplex you with any articles 
 of belief, concerning God, or Christ, or Redemption, 
 or Grace ; nor will it incommode you with any ordi- 
 nances of the Commandments, the Sacraments, the
 
 384 LIFE OF DR. MILNEE. [1818. 
 
 love of God and man, and the like : it requires nothing 
 of you, but to adhere to your common Protestancy ; 
 which essentially consists in two points ; first, in the 
 abjuration of Popery, and the exclusion of Papists 
 from all power, ecclesiastical or civil : and secondly, 
 in holding that the worship of the Church of Eome is 
 idolatrous ; for they, who do not hold this latter doc- 
 trine, are not Protestants, whatever they may profess 
 to be." 
 
 In a letter of the vigilant Dr. Milker in the " Or- 
 thodox JournaF for March, 1819, signed with his own 
 name, he reprobates an unbecoming toast given at the 
 dinner of the Protestant Society of St. Patrick, which 
 conveyed an indecent and irreligious meaning, though 
 wrapped up in clean words. He then recapitulates 
 the leading transactions in Cathohc aifairs for several 
 years past, in order to induce the faithful to learn wis- 
 dom by past experience. He exhorts them to petition 
 Parliament for such portion of ciml liberty as the le- 
 gislature is disposed to grant ; but by all means for 
 the continuance of religious liberty. In the Postscript 
 he says : " I observe that Mr. Charles Butler, in the 
 second edition of his unfaithful Memoirs, just published, 
 puts my name down as a member of the Board of his 
 formation ; whereas he knows full well that I was twice 
 turned out of it by public advertisement, and that I 
 have refused to be taken again into it ; my conscience 
 not permitting me to become a party to the many irre- 
 ligious acts which have issued from it." He com- 
 plains also of his putting down the names of the two 
 Drs. Chisholm, Bishops in Scotland, who never 
 belonged to it, and of asserting falsely that every 
 priest in Britain is a member ; and says in conclusion : 
 " These are but a small part- of the falsehoods which I
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 385 
 
 shall have to expose, when my leisure will permit me 
 to revise the lawyer's mischievous publication." 
 
 Dr. Milner's Letter, mentioned at the end of the 
 last chapter, though signed " Vindicator," was easily 
 recognised as his writing, and was violently commented 
 upon in the " Catholic Gentleman's Magazine'' in a 
 Review of Mr. Butler's " Historical Memoirs^'' which 
 Dr. Milner had great reason to believe to be written 
 by the author himself, who was indeed a great patron 
 of the above periodical. Dr, Milner vindicated him- 
 self in a letter signed with his own name, in the " Or- 
 thodox Journal" for April, apologising, however, for 
 one fault in his former Letter, where he blamed Mr. 
 C. Butler for prefixing his own portrait to his work, 
 with a sarcastic reflection on the natural defects in his 
 countenance. " Thus far," he says, " I own I was in 
 fault, that in blaming his preposterous vanity, I pointed 
 at a natural defect in him, which he cannot help. 
 This indiscretion, however, is not that which moves 
 his bile ; but my informing the public of what was 
 known to great numbers, both in London and the 
 country, that Mr. Butler had himself written a Revievj 
 of his -late favourite work, Memoirs of the English 
 Catholics^ and that he was on the point of publishing 
 it." After defending what he had said of the flimsy 
 and unsafe character of Mr. C. Butler's numerous 
 works on religious subjects and on mystical theology, 
 the Bishop disclaims any personal ill will against that 
 gentleman : " I can forgive him all the mischief he 
 has done or attempted to do me and the Catholic reli- 
 gion, if he would neither do, nor attempt to do the 
 latter any more mischief ; but. Sir, when T find him 
 misrepresenting the whole history of English Catholics, 
 and see him, in particular, glossing over his own 
 
 2 c
 
 386 LirE OF Bisiior milner. [I819. 
 
 treacherous conduct in their regard, as he certainly 
 does in his late faithless Memoirs^ for the evident pur- 
 pose of continuing the same game in their future reh- 
 gious concerns, I felt it my duty to guard my Catholic 
 brethren against his farther intrigues, by directing their 
 attention to those which he has already practised 
 against them." The rest of the letter is an exposure 
 of the false statement of Lord Nugent, on presenting 
 a petition of certain Catholics to the House of Com- 
 mons on the 4th of March, who was instructed to repre- 
 sent Dr. Milner, though he did not allude to him by 
 name, as alone objecting to the restrictions and oppres- 
 sions upon the Catholic religion and its clergy. 
 " Certainly," he says, " the noble Lord will not subscribe 
 to the principle of enslaving subjects, by way of 
 emancipating them, — of persecuting them, by way of 
 relieving them. Now, Mr. Editor, I aver that the 
 noble Lord and the other members of the legislature 
 will find, upon due inquiry, that of the five millions of 
 Catholic subjects in our two islands, four millions, 
 nine hundred and ninety-five thousand of them would 
 refuse the most perfect civil emancipation at the price 
 of the least change in their internal spiritual economy, 
 not made by a competent ecclesiastical authority." 
 
 Meantime Dr. Milner received the most gratifying 
 proofs of the confidence of the great body of Catholics. 
 A numerous Meeting of them at Manchester on the 
 7th March, respectfully solicited his advice how to 
 proceed in petitioning Parliament ; and having re- 
 ceived his recommendation, prepared their petition on 
 the principles which he laid down ; and at an ad- 
 journed meeting on the 14th they passed a vote of 
 thanks to Dr. Milner, " that upright and efficient sup- 
 porter of the Catholic cause." A respectable meeting
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 387 
 
 of Catholics of London <and Westminster also took 
 place on the 5th of April, and resolved : " That the 
 thanks of this meeting are eminently due, and 
 hereby given to the Right Rev. Dr. Milner, for his 
 political conduct and writings, and for his invariable 
 defence of the Catholic faith ; and that this resolution 
 be conveyed to him by the present chairman." In 
 his answer to this vote of thanks, the Bishop said that 
 he had recently received letters from the leading 
 Bishops of Ireland, assuring him that they adhered to 
 their published resolutions, and that if they had taken 
 no fresh measures of late, it was merely because they 
 saw no particular danger to their Churches, and be- 
 cause they did not know what more they could do 
 than they had already done for their security. A pe- 
 tition for total and unqualified emancipation Avas sent 
 up to Parliament from Liverpool, signed by 4,300 Ca- 
 tholics ; and Dr. Milner drew up a petition for the 
 Catholics of Wolverhampton, Birmingham, and the 
 neighbourhood, which was signed by 1,134 Catholics, 
 praying that no acts for their relief might be accom- 
 panied with any degradation or change of their faith, 
 or ecclesiastical discipline. This petition was presented 
 by Mr. G. Bennett to the House of Commons, and by 
 the Earl of Donoughmore to the House of Lords. A 
 public meeting of the Catholics of Manchester on the 
 26th of April also agreed to a petition to Parliament 
 for similar unqualified emancipation, free from any lay 
 interference in their religious concerns ; and at the 
 same time resolved : " That this meeting is impressed 
 with the liveliest feelings of gratitude to the Right 
 Rev. Dr. Milner, for his vigilance in support of the 
 integrity of our religion." 
 
 Dr. Milner suffered a great loss this year in the
 
 388 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819. 
 
 death of his venerable Vicar- General, the Eev. John 
 Perry, which took place at his mission at Sedgley, near 
 Wolverhampton, on the 8th of May. He was nearly 
 80 years of age, and had been the pastor of the con- 
 gregation at Wolverhampton before he removed to 
 Sedgley, and began that mission. It has been men- 
 tioned in the early part of this biography, that Mr. 
 Perry had at first joined those priests, who were known 
 as the " Staffordsliire Clergy^' but he very soon re- 
 tracted his signature, and his sentiments were so satis- 
 factory to Dr. Milner, that on his becoming Bishop, 
 he appointed him his Vicar-General, and ever after- 
 wards placed entire confidence in him. He was also 
 the Bishop's ordinary confessor. He was a man of 
 great piety, and unwearied zeal, humble, mortified and 
 laborious. The writer remembers his frequent visits 
 to Sedgley Park, and his truly apostolic and edifying 
 appearance. He was always ardently attached to Dr. 
 Milner, and must have early conceived a high opinion 
 of his character; for when asked— when the District 
 was vacant, and it was doubtful whether Dr. Poynter 
 or Dr. Milner would be appointed to it,— whether he 
 would prefer a St. Francis of Sales, or a St. Charles 
 Borromeo, he answered with his well known zeal and 
 impetuosity: " St. Charles Borromeo ! " The funeral 
 sermon for Mr. Perry was preached by the Rev. F. 
 Martyn. It gave a rapid, but faithful sketch of the 
 life, character and labours of the deceased: "Was he 
 not," said the preacher, " a faithful follower of his 
 crucified Master, bearing in his body the cross of 
 Christ ? Did not his very appearance declare his utter 
 contempt of all worldly vanity, his disregard for the 
 sentiments of worldlings, and his disengagement from 
 earthly things ? Was not his life for many years past
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 389 
 
 a faithful model of that penance, which he so strongly 
 recommended to his flock ? " On the death of Mr. 
 Perry, the Rev. Thomas Walsh was made Yicar- 
 General for the whole District. Dr. Milner had two 
 other Grand Vicars, one for the Northern parts, the 
 Rev. George Beeston at Eastwell, and another for 
 Norfolk and Suffolk, the Rev. Edward Beaumont, at 
 Norwich. 
 
 In the summer of this year was commenced at St. 
 Mary's College, Oscott, another building, forming a 
 wing to the main portion of the college. It contained 
 a large study place on the ground-floor, two apartments 
 above for the Bishop, and over these a room for the 
 philosophers, and tw^o private rooms for upper students. 
 This building afforded additional accommodation, 
 which had been long wanted. The ambulacrum was 
 continued along the main building, and also in front of 
 this new wing. The Bishop was now lodged in two 
 roomy apartments when he came to the college, instead 
 of the one small room which he had hitherto occupied. 
 These new rooms, however, were very plainly furnished ; 
 for no man was a greater stranger to luxury in all its 
 branches than Bishop Milner. Through life he ex- 
 emplified the fine maxim of St. Bernard : " Si mundum 
 praedicas contemnendum, contemne tu prius, et ad 
 idipsum alias etficacius invitabis : da voci tuse vocem 
 virtutis, consonet vita verbis."* 
 
 A Letter appeared in the Orthodox Journal for 
 May, written by Dr. Milner, under the signature of 
 " A South Briton," making some very pertinent ob- 
 
 * If you preach that the world must be despised, despise it your- 
 self first, and you will more effectually induce others to do the 
 same : give to your voice the voice of power, let your life agree 
 with your words. S. Bern. Serm. ad Past. T. 2.
 
 390 LIFE OF BISHOP MLLNER. [1819. 
 
 servations on a Letter in the previous Number, signed 
 Garonius. Dr. Milner's object was to correct the 
 false notions of that correspondent on the subject of 
 the Pope's Letter to the Irish Bishops, on the Veto^ 
 and the Kescript of Quarantotti, of whom he says, 
 that " being deceived by a series of most egregious 
 falsehoods, sent from this country to the sly Scot, 
 Macpherson, he sanctioned the famous Rescript; but, 
 being better informed, laboured afterwards most ear- 
 nestly to counteract its contents, and was honoured 
 with the red hat by his Holiness." A short Letter from 
 Dr. Milner also appeared in the same Journal for May, 
 sisfned "Plain Truth." He contradicts a state- 
 ment in the ^^ New Times'' newspaper by " a well 
 known Catholic writer," that the Fifth Resolution was 
 signed by all our Bishops. Of course he repeats the 
 well known fact of his ow^n refusal to sign it at the 
 meeting of Peb. 1, 1810, and his having continued in 
 all his publications since that period, to protest against 
 it. " Therefore," he adds, " setting religion and con- 
 science aside, I ask how can the man, who openly tells 
 such a deliberate and notorious falsehood, lay claim to 
 the title of a GENTLEMAN ? " By the ^significant 
 way in which the last word is introduced and printed, 
 it is evident that he considered the writer in the news- 
 paper to have been the chief originator and supporter 
 of the " Catholic Gentleman's Magazine." 
 
 Charles, Earl of Shrewsbury, though opposed to Dr. 
 Milner in some degree, on what may be termed 
 Catholic politics, had no ill feeling against him ; and 
 in the summer of this year sent him a friendly invita- 
 tion to visit him at Alton, if he should come into the 
 neighbourhood, with the assurance that he should be 
 glad to see him. The Bishop answered that he was
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 391 
 
 soon going to Caverswall Castle, and would take the 
 opportunity of accepting his Lordship's invitation. 
 Lord Shrewsbury's chaplain, the Rev. James Staples, 
 met the Bishop at Caverswall, and conducted him to 
 Alton. Mr. Staples rode on horseback, and Dr. Mil- 
 NER travelled, as usual, in his gig. On the road, near 
 Cheadle, as they were coming down a steep part of the 
 road upon loose gravel, the chaplain's horse fell, and 
 he went over the horse's head, and lay on his back for 
 some seconds, stunned with the fall, but soon got up 
 and found himself unhurt. After dinner at Lord 
 Shrewsbury's, Mr. Staples told the adventure, when 
 Dr.Milner said: " Well, Sir, since you have mentioned 
 the circumstance, which I did not intend to do, I may 
 tell you that when you lay in the road, I stood up in 
 my gig, and gave you conditional absolution, not know- 
 ing but what you were dying, or even dead." The 
 next day, Mr. Staples proposed to him to visit Croxden 
 Abbey, six or seven miles from Alton, with which the 
 Bishop was much pleased, as quite accordant with his 
 taste for antiquities. He said, however, that he knew 
 but httle of its history. A manuscript account of it 
 was shown him by a person in the neighbourhood, 
 which he read with much interest, but did not think 
 it could be relied upon. A subsequent reference to 
 Doomsday Book confirmed his own conjectures respect- 
 ing the venerable ruin. As they returned to Alton, 
 they came along a road with a deep ravine on one side, 
 which the Bishop lost sight of, as he was talking on 
 some interesting subject, so that he drove within a few 
 inches of the precipice ; but Mr. Staples, who rode in 
 the gig with him, seized the reins and backed the horse. 
 The Bishop, who never knew what fear was, very 
 coolly observed that they should probably have gone
 
 392 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819. 
 
 down the steep, if Mr. Staples had not stopped the 
 horse. 
 
 In the autumn of the preceding year, 1818, a Memo- 
 rial was presented to the Holy See in favour of the 
 Jesuits' College at Stonyhurst, as a counterpoise to the 
 misrepresentations of Sir John Cox Hippisley ; who, 
 as it has been seen, threatened it with destruction. 
 Rumours were now current in London, that Dr. 
 Poynter had written to Rome that this Memorial was 
 " a surreptitious document, with stolen signatures, and 
 the contrivance of a few artful leaders of a cabal." 
 Dr. Milner, under the signature of " A Friend to 
 Stonyhurst," in the " Orthodox Journal " for May, 
 suggested, as one who had signed that instrument with 
 many others, that some gentleman should wait on Dr. 
 Poynter, to ascertain whether he had really spoken, or 
 written, as it was asserted. He quotes in the same Letter, 
 the preamble of a Decree of the " Propaganda" rela- 
 tive to Stonyhurst, w^iich recites, he says, " the com- 
 plaints — but if not true, the slanders^ — of the Vicars 
 Apostolic, — perhaps only of Dr. Poynter, who often 
 speaks for the rest, — against that celebrated establish- 
 ment." The Decree referred to was issued August 9, 
 1813, and declares that the Vicars Apostolic have 
 complained that the young ecclesiastics of Stonyhurst, 
 when they have completed their studies, do not proceed 
 to their respective missions, but remove to other parts 
 of the country, or out of England altogether. This is 
 all that Dr. Milner quotes, but it is proper to add, 
 that the Decree ordains by the authority of his Holiness, 
 that when the alumni have completed their studies, 
 and have finished their eight years' service in the 
 college, or sooner, if such services are not required, 
 they shall be bound to return to their respective
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 393 
 
 missions, and in case of refusal, shall be recalled to 
 obedience by the Vicars Apostolic, and compelled by- 
 canonical penalties. The Bishop only gives a transla- 
 tion of the first sentence ; but adds that he could 
 furnish the original Latin of this curious document. 
 As the reader may like to see it^ the principal parts of 
 the Decree are given below.* 
 
 Dr. Milner was, as usual, active in visiting and 
 confirming, this year, in different parts of his District. 
 In March, he confirmed at Bloxwich, and in May, at 
 Wolverhampton. In June, at Birmingham, Oscott, 
 Sedgley Park, Wooton and Coughton. In July, at 
 Salford ; in August, at Foxcote, Brailes, Oxford, 
 Overy, Britwell, Stonor, and Maple Durham ; and 
 visited Enstone and Kiddington, and in September, at 
 Hardwick. 
 
 In the early part of May, 1819, the first three 
 volumes of the long expected ^'■History of England^'' 
 by Dr. Lingard, were published, which brought the 
 
 * " Plures delatae sunt ab episcopis in Anglise regno Vicariis 
 Apostolicis querelse, circa alumnos Collegii Ecclesiastici Stonyhurst, 
 in comitatu Lancastricnsi, qui eraenso studiorum curriculo, non ad 
 proprias missiones, ut par est, sed vel in alias Britannia} partes, 
 vel etiam extra idem regnum sese conferunt, non sine magno 
 uniuscuj usque Vicariatus detrimento .... auctoritate a 
 Sanctissimo Domino Nostro Pio P.P. VII. specialiter tributa 
 decernitur et mandatur, ut ipsius Collegii alumni, postquam studi- 
 orum cursum expleverint, et octennium sui ministerii in eodem 
 collegio prsestandi, si aliquo ibi munere distineantur, illico autem 
 post emensa studia, vel in ipso octennio, si ab omni officio vacent, 
 ad suas quisque missiones rcdire omuino debeant, sub omnimoda 
 dependentia ab P^pisropis Vicariis Apostolicis loci ubi originem 
 ducunt : si autem parere alumni renuerint, eos Vicarii Apostolici 
 per censuras, et canonicas poenas ad obedientiam revocare, et com- 
 pelleie possunt, quovis non obstante privilegio, aliisque in contra- 
 rium quibuscumque."
 
 394 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819. 
 
 history down to the end of the reign of Henry YII. 
 Dr. Milner wrote a Letter upon them in the " Ortho- 
 dox JournaV for June, 181 9. He first laments that 
 since the days of Challoner and Alban Butler, most of 
 those qualified to vindicate our holy religion from 
 calumny and misrepresentation, have rather aided, or 
 at least connived at it. He instances four of these: 
 Rev. Joseph Berington, Rev. Dr. Geddes, Rev. J. C. 
 Eustace, and Mr. Charles Butler. He goes on to say 
 that he is far from placing Dr. Lingard in the list of 
 the above-mentioned betrayers of religion, for to do 
 this would be in opposition to his judgment as well as 
 his sentiments. Alluding to his having recommended 
 him, when a youth in his flock at Winchester, to be 
 placed at Douay College, he adds that few individuals 
 are more interested in thinking favourably of him than 
 himself; but that Dr. Lingard has not fulfilled the 
 expectations formed of his work : " he has not done 
 justice to his own abilities and learning, any more than 
 to the victorious merits of his subject: he has not suf- 
 ficiently refuted the calumnies, nor dissipated the mis- 
 representations of Protestant or infidel writers ; 
 
 nor has he displayed the beauty of holiness, irradiating 
 
 the doctrines and heroes of Catholicity In short 
 
 the History of England^ which has lately appeared, 
 
 is not a Catholic history^ such as our calumniated 
 
 and depressed condition calls for." 
 
 Dr. Milner complains of Dr. Lingard, for saying 
 that St. Germanus visited our island with the concur- 
 rence of Pope Celestine, whereas St. Prosper declares 
 that he was sent as the Pope's delegate^ '•''vice tua^ 
 Also for representing St. Germanus as inflicting a 
 severe jmnishment on the invading Picts and Saxons, 
 and the Britons as rushing upon their adversaries^
 
 AGE G7.] CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 395 
 
 shouting Alleluia, whereas historians describe the vic- 
 tory as being bloodless, and without the infliction of 
 any 'punishment^ or any rushing upon the enemy, 
 having been obtained by the blessing of God at the 
 mere sound of Alleluia. He next adverts to the lan- 
 guage of the historian with reference to St. Thomas 
 of Canterbury, that " his opinions became tinged with 
 enthusiasm^ he indentified Ids cause with that of God 
 and tlie Church : concession appeared to him Hke 
 apostacy." And again, " that in a moment oj" irrita- 
 tion^' he despatched the Pope's letters of suspension or 
 excommunication against the Bishops of York, London, 
 and Salisbury, so that they were pubHcly delivered to 
 the Bishops. As Dr. Milner was not writing a regu- 
 lar review of the work, he instanced but one more 
 passage, where the historian, having related the mar- 
 tyrdom of St. Thomas, speaks of him as " a martyr to 
 what he thought to be his duty ; the preservation of 
 the immunities oftJie Church^ He then observes in 
 conclusion: " If this, Mr. Editor, is not sacrificing the 
 cause of the Church in the person of one of its canon- 
 ised martyrs, — whose cause, as Bossuet says, God 
 
 himself has espoused by numerous miracles, — I 
 
 know not what is. Prayer and pious reading, it should 
 seem, made the saint an enthusiast^ so far as to think 
 that his cause was a just one ! Either the Pope had 
 no right to censure disorderly ecclesiastics, or St. 
 Thomas ought to havse surrendered his superior's 
 
 letters, containing such censures into their hands 
 
 The cause itself for which the holy martyr died, was a 
 had one : and all that can be said for St. Thomas is, 
 that he perished for what he thought to be his duty !" 
 This Letter produced one in the next Orthodox 
 Journal^ addressed directly to Dr. Milner, though his
 
 396 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819. 
 
 Lordship's Letter had been signed only J.M. This 
 came from an anonymous writer, adopting the signa- 
 ture of Caxdidus, but evidently written under the 
 direction of Dr. Lingard, and understood to have been 
 the Rev. J. Fletcher. He abandons Dr. Geddes to the 
 Bishop's censures, but calls upon him to declare by 
 what authority he assumes to himself " the right of 
 stigmatising as betrayers of their religion the ingenious 
 historian of Abeilard (Berington), the amiable writer 
 of the Classical Tour (Eustace), or the celebrated 
 Catholic counsellor" (C. Butler). With respect to the 
 errors of Eev. Jos. Berington, he reminds Dr. M. that 
 " he long ago retracted them all to the complete satis- 
 faction of his ecclesiastical superior." With respect 
 to the Rev. J. Eustace, he says he is not aware that 
 his work contains anything contrary to the strict tenets 
 of the Catholic faith ; and that Dr. M. has done that 
 writer an injur}^ which he is bound to repair ; and he 
 asks what right Dr. M. has to judge another man's 
 servant. As to Mr. C. Butler, " by whose offensive 
 image," he says, " your mind seems to be perpetually 
 
 haunted far from considering him as the betrayer 
 
 of his religion, I am induced, on the contrary, by his 
 exemplary forbearance, under the provocations he has 
 experienced from the virulence of your pen, to con- 
 template him as the best promoter of its interests." 
 
 Treating next of the " History of England " by 
 Lingard, " CAisrbrDUs" charges the Bishop with incon- 
 sistency, in accusing him of " having sacrificed the 
 cause of the Church in the person of one of its ca- 
 nonised martyrs, because few individuals are more 
 interested in thinking favourably of him, than Dr. M. 
 himself" The Bishop had said that the historian had 
 not fulfilled the expectations he had formed of his
 
 AGE 67.] CHArTKR TWENTY-THIRD. 39? 
 
 work. To this, Candidus replies that his expectations 
 were unreasonable, that it was not a book of contro- 
 versy that he undertook, but a history of England. 
 He passes over, he says, Dr. M.'s " verbal criticisms 
 on the word concurrence^ &c.," because he thinks them 
 " too trivial to deserve notice." But he says : " It 
 is the feeling, however, of enthusiasm ascribed to 
 Thomas a Becket, by the author of the history, which 
 has provoked against the latter the utmost fury of 
 
 your indignation Yet, what has he done ? Why, 
 
 he has only imputed to him an extraordinary ardour 
 in the prosecution of a cause, which he conscientiously 
 beheved to be the cause of God." 
 
 It will readily be conceived that Dr. Milner was 
 not slow to defend his former Letter. In the same 
 Journal^ for August, he answered it under the same 
 initials, J. M. After alluding to the surprise which 
 must be felt at the style of an anonymous writer in 
 calling to account by name a Vicar Apostolic, he asks 
 why that writer has not defended Dr. Geddes, as well 
 as the other three objectionable writers. " For who 
 was so powerfully supported by the party to which 
 they all belonged, and particularly by the learned 
 gentleman of the law ? Did not the barrister con- 
 cur in circulating some of the doctor's worst publica- 
 tions whilst he was living ? Has he not volunteered 
 a lapidary panegyric upon him, after his impenitent 
 death ? And has he not even published the last part 
 of his censured translation of the Scriptures, wliich 
 has seen the light, in defiance of this censure of the 
 Vicars Apostolic ?" 
 
 With regard to Mr. Berington, the Bishop refrains 
 from saying anything as to the alleged satisfaction of 
 his superior, "concerning which, however, much might
 
 398 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819. 
 
 be said ;" but he observes that the writer in question 
 has indeed signed several formal retractations of 
 different errors in his pubhcations : but asks, if he 
 has adhered to any one of them. He is far, however, 
 from charging ]\lr. Berington with the errors which he 
 has retracted ; yet the works containing them are still 
 quoted and commended by certain Catholics, as if they 
 were the standards of orthodoxy. 
 
 Dr. Milner next adverts to the arrogant and de- 
 clamatory tone, with which Candidus challenges him to 
 say, by what right he judges another man's servant. 
 He observes that it matters not whether that writer is, 
 or is not aware " that the work of the Rev. tourist, 
 who instead of gadding with Protestants {Lord Brown- 
 low) through classical scenes, ought to have been 
 teaching Irish Catholics their catechism, contains 
 passages contrary to the stiict tenets of the Catholic 
 faitli^^ until he first proves his ow^n creed to be ortho- 
 dox, and secondly that he is qualified and authorised 
 to judge : and even though the work should be exempt 
 from positive errors against faith, yet the uncatholic 
 and latitudinarian spirit which pervades it, renders it 
 more dangerous, and censurable, than if it broached 
 half-a-dozen open heresies. The Bishop then observes 
 that in answer to the call of Candidus to declare his 
 authority for " stigmatising this amiable writer," he 
 might allege that the public writings and conduct of 
 Catholics concerned all the Vicars Apostolic ; but he 
 tells Candidus what he seemed quite unaware of, that 
 Mr. Eustace, after provoking the indignation of the 
 Prelates of his native country, Ireland, came over to 
 England, and settled in the Midland District, " where 
 his behaviour," says the Bishop, " was still more repre- 
 hensible ; for he not only laid aside the distinctive wor-
 
 AGE 07. J CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD, 399 
 
 ship of his priesthood, in compliment, as he professed, 
 to the hberality of the Protestant clergy, with whom 
 he associated, but also permitted those, over whose 
 religion he claimed an exclusive inspection, to frequent 
 their service. This conduct was so notorious and 
 offensive to real Catholics, that I was called upon by 
 my brethren to use every means in my power to put a 
 stop to it." 
 
 " As to the learned gentleman of the law," Candi- 
 Dus had complained that the Bishop's mind was per- 
 petually haunted by his image ; to which Dr. Milner 
 replies that " the mind of every faithful shepherd, who 
 knows that the wolf is prowling round his fold, is 
 haunted by the image of it," and collects from his 
 encomium of Mr. C. Butler, that Candidus himself 
 must be a Protesting Catholic Dissenter or perhaps 
 even the inventor of that schismatical denomination. 
 Coming now to the main subject, that of Lingard's 
 History, Dr. Milner maintains that Candidus de- 
 claims without sufficient acquaintance with the cause. 
 " For how does he know in what particular relation 
 the historian's father may have stood with the Bishop? 
 or even that in which the historian himself may stand ? 
 How does he know, for example, but that this able 
 and learned writer may have been singled out by the 
 Prelate from a crowd of his companions, and provided, 
 by his zeal and laborious efforts, with those means of 
 cultivating his superior talents which now do such 
 ample justice to the Bishop's discernment ; and this 
 in the full hope and expectation that the whole of 
 these talents would be devoted to the refutation of 
 religious errors, and to the defence and service of the 
 Church?" Here the Bishop alludes to the part which 
 he took when at Winchester, in forwarding young
 
 400 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819. 
 
 Lingard in his ecclesiastical studies. It has been 
 already observed in this work, that he does not mean 
 that he rendered him any pecuniary assistance, but 
 that by his recommendation, and exertions, he pro- 
 cured for him the advantage of being sent to Douay 
 College. On this ground, therefore, he argues that he 
 had a right to expect more than the " History" had 
 fulfilled. But he further contends that it was not 
 unreasonable to expect from a missionary priest, bound 
 by oath to labour to bring back the strayed sheep, that 
 he should make use of the best opportunity which he 
 was ever likely to meet with of doing so. The his- 
 torian, he observes, might have done this without con- 
 troversy, by merely noticing facts and authorities as 
 they occur in his documents. 
 
 " The historian," he says, " seems to have as great a 
 horror of miracles as any Protestant can possibly wish 
 to find in him: hence he rejects the miraculous event 
 at Winchester, and that other at Calne, in Wiltshire, 
 in testimony of the divine approbation of the celibacy 
 of the clergy, on the mere strength of his own asser- 
 tion, and in opposition to Malmsbury, Osbern, and the 
 other original authors." The Bishop says, however, 
 that he cannot excuse the assertion of Candidus that 
 it is mere verbal criticism whether St. Germanus came 
 to England by the Pope's legatine authority, vice sua, 
 as St. Prosper asserts, or whether he came with the 
 mere concurrence of the Pope ; because the former is 
 a demonstrative proof that the British Churches ac- 
 knowledged the Pope's supremacy as early as 429 ; 
 while the historian's account would represent the 
 Pope merely as a co-equal Bishop, conformably to 
 Protestant prejudices. 
 
 On the case of St. Thomas of Canterbury, Dr.
 
 AGE G7.] CHAPTEPw TWENTY-THIRD. 401 
 
 MiLNER first sets down the historian's own words, that 
 " his opinions became tinged with enthusiasm ; he 
 identified his cause with that of God and the Church'" 
 
 and became a " martyr to what he deemed to be 
 
 his dutj/, — the preservation of the immunities of the 
 Church." The Bishop observes upon this, that he 
 died, not for the changeable immunities of the Church, 
 but for its divine and immutable jurisdiction. He 
 then gives the exposition of Candidus, and determines 
 the question by a reference to the faithful voice of the 
 Church in the prayer for the saint's feast : " O God ! 
 for whose Church the glorious pontiff died by the 
 swords of the impious, &c." and declares that " by this 
 language, and not by that of modern historians, or 
 critics, true Catholics will form their ideas of St. 
 Thomas, and of the cause for which he suffered." 
 
 Candidus rejoined, and accused Dr. MiLkER of 
 artfully attempting to invalidate his observation re- 
 specting Mr. Bcrington's having retracted to the satis- 
 faction of his superior, by adding that " much might 
 be said concerning it," and yet refraining from saying 
 any thing. This elicited more than Candidus ex- 
 pected, as will be seen presently. He charges Dr. 
 MiLNER with not attempting to justify his allegation 
 against Mr. Eustace of having deviated from the strict 
 tenets of the Catholic faith ; and observes that the 
 Bishop's jurisdiction over him does not extend beyond 
 the grave. In reply to the Bishop's inference from 
 his defence of Mr. C. Butler, that Candidus was him- 
 self a Protesting Catholic Dissenter^ or perhaps the 
 inventor of that schismatical denomination, he also 
 draws his own inference that the Bishop, unable to 
 answer, has resorted to the use of scurrilous and abu- 
 sive language. On the mission of St. Germanus, he 
 
 2 D
 
 402 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNEK. [1819. 
 
 acknowledges that St. Prosper states him to have been 
 sent by Pope Celestine : but he informs De. M. that 
 " Constantius, the contemporary author of the Hfe of 
 St. Germanus, Paulus Diaconus, Freculph, Venerable 
 Bede, Erric and Odo of Vienna, all declare positively 
 that the application was made by the Britons to the 
 Prelates of the Gauls, who assembled in council, and 
 sent the two missionaries." Baronius, he says, as 
 abridged by Spondanus, to reconcile St. Prosper' s 
 account with that of the other historians, says it might 
 have happened that the Pope approved of the person 
 whom the Synod chose for the mission, or that he left 
 the choice to the Bishops of Gaul. So Candidus pro- 
 nounces it folly to say that by using the word con- 
 currence^ Lingard has destroyed the proof that the 
 British Church acknowledged the Pope, for " the 
 assertion of Prosper is no proof, since it is opposed by 
 so many other testimonies." He defends the historian 
 from Dr. Milnee's imputation of rejecting the mira- 
 culous events at Winchester and Calne, by alleging 
 that he rejects them precisely because they were 
 unknown to the ancient authorities. 
 
 De. Milnee, in the " Orthodox Journal'" for Novem- 
 ber, proceeded to sum up the merits of the controversy 
 between Candidus and himself, in a communication 
 signed "Judex." He justly reproved his opponent 
 for departing from the established rules of decorum in 
 addressing a Vicar Apostolic by name, while conceal- 
 ing his own name, and still more for questioning his 
 divine right to pronounce as a judge of doctrine and a 
 guardian of religion. As Candidus had found fault 
 with the Bishop for refraining from saying anything 
 concerning the satisfaction given by Mr. Berington to 
 his Bishop ; and also for saying that he had not ad-
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 403 
 
 hered to his retractations, Dr. Milner now evidently 
 states a great deal more than Candidus expected, 
 or relished. He shows that in 1792, the Vicars 
 Apostolic censured many errors extracted from Mr. 
 Berington's " State and Behaviour^^ " History of 
 Abeilard,'' and " Letters to Hawkins," and even 
 condemned one of them as heretical. Mr. Berington 
 was suspended in the London District, where he had 
 resided from May, 1793. After some years he made 
 " a sort of illusory retractation," and was restored by 
 Dr. Douglass. The illusion being discovered, he was 
 again suspended till he signed a more ample retracta- 
 tion February 13, 1801. But that he did not adhere 
 to this, any more than to the former, is manifest from 
 his published Letter to the Eev. John Evans, and still 
 more from the erroneous formulary of " Catholic 
 Principles^' which he re-published with fresh errors 
 in 1815, under the title of the " Faith of Catholics.'' 
 
 As to the objections of Candidus to the condemna- 
 tion of Mr. Eustace, Dr. Milner maintains that his 
 latitudinarian and un-Catholic work is a fit subject of 
 condemnation for every Bishop, and proceeds to quote 
 certain well-known passages from the " Classical 
 Tour,'" which he says he has no doubt, if reduced to 
 a proper theological form, and submitted to ecclesias- 
 tical authority, would be condemned, respectively, as 
 " insinuations of heresy, scandalous, schisraatical, and 
 the prevailing inducements to the indifferency and 
 irreligion of the times." 
 
 Respecting St. Germanus, Dr. ^Milner grants that 
 several ancient writers say nothing about the Pope's 
 commission to him ; " but," he says, " does any one of 
 them deny that St. Germanus bore the Pope's commis- 
 sion? And is there a shadow of un opposition between
 
 404 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819. 
 
 their account and that of St. Prosper ? Certainly not, 
 as Usher himself allows. Besides this, J. M. proved 
 that St. Germanus exercised high acts of legatine 
 power, so far as to constitute St. Dubritius the first me- 
 tropolitan of Wales, as all British records and authors, 
 down to Giraldus, testify." Caxididus had observed 
 that Lingard rejected the two miracles at Winchester 
 and Calne, " because they were unknown to the most 
 ancient authors." Dr. Milner asks if there is a more 
 ancient writer of the life of St. Dunstan than his con- 
 temporary Osbern. 
 
 Candidus appealed in the Number for January fol- 
 lowing against the summing up of Judex. He main- 
 tained that Mr. Berington's explanation must have 
 been satisfactory, respecting Dr. Poynter's objections 
 to the " Faith of Catholics," since the work circulates 
 uncensured in the London District. He attempts to 
 defend the passages from Mr. Eustace, by representing 
 him as expressing, not his own views, but those of 
 everi/ candid and consisteiit Protestant. He reminds 
 Judex that Osbern was not a contemporary of St. 
 Dunstan, but flourished almost a century after his 
 death, and that Osbern's account is given on the au- 
 thority of certain Saxon documents, which, according 
 to Eadmer, were rejected by some critics, on account 
 of their opposition, in several instances, to known 
 historic facts. In a Postscript, Candidus adverts to an 
 article in the previous Number of the Journal, signed 
 Narrator, and no doubt written by Dr. Milner, 
 which stated that it was well known to all late tra- 
 vellers in Italy and to their friends, that Mr. Eustace, 
 when on his death-bed at Naples in 1S15, "bitterly 
 bewailed to all his friends who visited him the erro- 
 neous and irreligious tendency of several passages in
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 405 
 
 the publication, confessing that vanity had betrayed 
 him into them, contrary to his real principles." This 
 statement Candidus unceremoniously dismisses as 
 unworthy of credit. Yet it has been very generally 
 credited, and is corroborated by another statement by 
 the late Monsignor Weedall, as follows : " A highly 
 respectable ecclesiastic, still ahve (1832), took the 
 liberty of remonstrating with Mr. Eustace, amongst 
 other things, for the sentiments he had recorded on 
 the miracle of St. Januarius, ' How can you,' said 
 he to him, ' how can you, a simple priest, presume to 
 bring a charge against so many respectable Prelates 
 and clergy, every one of whom is as incapable of fraud 
 as yourself ?' ' I see,' replied Mr. Eustace, ' that I 
 was wrong ; but I am preparing another edition of my 
 work, and I hope that on that point, and on some 
 others, you and the public will be contented with me.' "* 
 The Letters of Candidus were written ably and with 
 moderation : he was evidently an intimate friend of 
 Dr. Lingard's ; but if his defence of him should appear 
 to any one just, such a person would do well to read a 
 masterly article on that part of his History which relates 
 to St. Thomas of Canterbury, in the '■'■ Dublin Review'' 
 for June, 1 855, of which the following extract will exhi- 
 bit the spirit and power. Quoting Lingard, Candidus 
 says : " Information of this design (to search him on 
 his landing and take from him the Pope's letters) 
 reached him, and in a moment of irritation he des- 
 patched them before himself by a trusty messenger, 
 by whom they were publicly delivered to the Bishops 
 in the presence of their attendants. It was a precipi- 
 tate and unfortunate ineasure, and probably the occa- 
 
 * " Catholic Magaziue," 1832, p. 97.
 
 406 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819- 
 
 sion of the catastrophe which followed." " That is to 
 say," observes the writer in the Review^ " the pubhca- 
 tion, by a sainted Prelate, of Papal excommunications 
 against Bishops, who had basely betrayed the Church, 
 was a 'precipitate and unfortunate measure,' only 
 owing to ' irritation,' and which caused the ' catastrophe 
 which followed' — that is, themurder^ which the Church 
 deemed martyrdom^ of the saint whom she canonized. 
 So that in Dr. Lingard's opinion a saint's martyrdom 
 may be the result of ' irritation and precipitation,' and 
 of a measure arising from human feelings of anger ! 
 This is certainly a view against which we protest, but 
 still more indignantly against the misstatement of mat- 
 ters of fact which it embodies." 
 
 So does the humble writer of these pages protest ; 
 and so did his father and teacher, the illustrious Mil- 
 NER. Soon after the appearance of the entire work, 
 he came into the room where a volume of it was lying 
 which belonged to the Kev. Walter Blount. He took 
 up the book to see what it was, and immediately shut 
 it and laid it down, saying, " It's a bad book, Sir : 
 only calculated to confirm Protestants in their 
 errors." 
 
 A paper found in Dr. Milner's handwriting, after 
 his death, contains the following notes, evidently for 
 stricture, or censure. The references given applied to 
 the quarto edition of Dr. Lingard's History ; but for 
 the convenience of the reader, they are adapted here 
 to the edition in 13 vols, octavo, by Baldwin and 
 Cradock, 1838 : 
 
 Vol. VI. p. 97. " Under his protection the Wit- 
 temberg professor," &c. 
 
 p. 107. " They had only to ascend their 
 
 pulpits," &c.
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY-THIRD. 407 
 
 Vol. VIII. p. 136. " But to add to his affliction," 
 &c. 
 
 p. 192. " They were the protomartyrs of 
 
 the reformed Church of England." 
 
 p. 195. "There he (Ridley) had the 
 
 weakness to betray his conscience by conforming to 
 the ancient worship." 
 
 p. 263. " Barlow, the deprived Bishop 
 
 of Bath, and Hodgkins, once suffragan of Bedford, 
 who had both been consecrated according to the Ca- 
 tholic pontifical," &c. 
 
 Upon the Note in Lingard, G. p. 379, referring to 
 the above, Dr. Milner writes in a tone of censure 
 thus : " Barlow truly consecrated, and, of course, 
 Parker." 
 
 p. 149. At the same "time it must be 
 
 owned that the answers which six of them gave to the 
 queries were far from satisfactory," &c.
 
 408 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [l^lO. 
 
 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH. 
 
 DR. MILNER's sentiments AND PRACTICE ON MARRIAGES IN 
 PROTESTANT CHURCHES. — HIS ADMIRATION OF A CATHOLIC 
 FREE PRESS. — CIRCULAR TO HIS CLERGY AGAINST RADICAL- 
 ISM. — LETTER TO A GENERAL VICAR AGAINST THE "PRIN- 
 CIPLES." — HIS BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE H. SCRIPTURES. — 
 DEATH OF REV. THOMAS POTTS. — CATHOLIC SCRIPTURAL 
 CATECHISM. — LARGE ORDINATION BY DR. MILNER REMON- 
 STRANCE OF THREE VICARS APOSTOLIC TO THE HOLY SEE. — 
 BRIEF IN CONSEQUENCE, REVOKING THE DECREE IN FAVOUR 
 OF THE PRESIDENT OF STONYHURST. — LETTER FROM ROME 
 FORBIDDING DR. MILNER TO WRITE IN THE " ORTHODOX 
 JOURNAL." — CONFIRMATIONS AND ORDINATION. — DR. MILNER's 
 " SUPPLEMENTARY MEMOIRS." 
 
 A LETTER had appeared in a newspaper, " The New 
 Times^' signed P., on the important subject of Catho- 
 hc marriages, in which the writer asserted that the 
 Vicars Apostohc had decided that there was no 'parti- 
 cipation in spirituals with Protestants, when Cathohcs 
 ■were married by a Protestant clergyman, according to 
 the ritual of the Church of England. Against this, 
 Dr. Milner formally protested in the " Orthodox 
 Journal for June in this year, 1819. " I have in my 
 possession," he said, " abundant documents to show 
 that the truly venerable Apostolic Vicars who go- 
 verned our Church, when the Marriage Act passed. 
 Bishop Challoner, Bishop Hornyold, Bishop Walton, 
 Bishop James Talbot, &c., considered the ceremonial 
 in question, when the whole of it takes place, as a real 
 participatio in sacris, and that, when this ceremony 
 takes place in the Jirst instance (according to the
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY FOURTH. 409 
 
 advice of certain modern divines), in the Established 
 Church, that a sacrilege is committed. Conformably 
 with this doctrine, when I consulted one of the above- 
 named Prelates, more than forty years ago, what I was 
 to do with a Catholic couple, who, after being married 
 in a Protestant church, presented themselves to be 
 remarried by me — he answered, ' You have nothing to 
 do with them, except in the tribunal of Penance.' " 
 He proves that such marriages are real marriages, and 
 acts highly spiritual. " In fact, one part of the trans- 
 action consists in the parties kneeling down at the 
 Protestant altar, before the Protestant bishop, priest, or 
 deacon, vested in his surplice and tippet, and in this 
 situation, receiving from him the proper Catholic nup- 
 tial benediction. This, Sir, is not a bare communica- 
 tio in sacris^ it is also a formal avowal of spiritualis 
 jurisdictio in the Protestant clergyman." He reminds 
 the writer, P., that he has never relaxed in his eiforts, 
 since he has been a Vicar Apostolic, to procure an al- 
 teration of the Act of Parliament, always representing 
 it as a greater grievance to religion than all the other 
 penal laws put together. Dr. Milner always held and 
 inculcated to his clergy the same doctrine and practice. 
 He was consulted in October of this same year on the 
 subject by one of his clergy, the Rev. John Jones, on 
 the mission at Hassop, and he answered in the follow- 
 ing words : " In case a couple have been married in 
 any manner whatever — the Canon of the Council of 
 Trent in this matter not having been published in Eng- 
 land — it is to be considered a valid contract., though 
 not a sacrament. Of course the matter for a sacra- 
 mental marriage., namely, a valid contract, is wanting, 
 this having been forestalled : and therefore a sacrament 
 cannot take place. Hence, there is nothing for a
 
 410 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819. 
 
 priest to do but to say to them : You have been guilty 
 of a sin, in neglecting the sacramental grace, which 
 you must repent of, and confess. For the rest, you 
 have entered into a valid contract, and must be as 
 faithful to one another as if I myself had married you. 
 Such has been the uniform language and practice of 
 our predecessors, the Hornyolds and the Challoners ; 
 and such of course is my system which agrees with 
 that of Benedict XIV. De Sijnodo Dioeces. and of 
 Pius YI. in his Letter to the Bishop of Lu9on." 
 
 Dr. Milner was so disgusted at the virulent invec- 
 tives discharged against the Catholic Church, and the 
 horrid calumnies perpetually uttered against our holy 
 faith and its ministers, that he felt great satisfaction in 
 the establishment of a free Catholic press, and wrote a 
 short Letter in the " Orthodox Journal for August, 
 signed " P. C, a Constant Reader," expressing his 
 admiration of that monthly publication. 
 
 Dr. Milner wrote a very important Letter to a 
 General Yicar of his District, dated Wolverhampton, 
 October 14th, 1819, which afterwards appeared in his 
 " Supplementary Memoirs" as Appendix A. He 
 printed it, and circulated it among his clergy at the 
 time ; as it contained serious matter for their instruc- 
 tion. It was written in consequence of Mr. Charles 
 Butler having, in three several works, proclaimed the 
 treatise known as " Roman Catholic Principles'^ to 
 be " a just and fair exposition of the Roman Catholic 
 creed ;" in direct opposition to the authoritative cen- 
 sure of that formulary by Dr. Milner, to whose Dis- 
 trict he professed to belong, from the fact of his estate 
 being in Lincolnshire. The Bishop in this Letter 
 gives the history of this formulary, and the objections 
 to it on the part of the Yicars Apostohc and the
 
 AGE 07.] CHAPTER TWEKTY-FOURTH. 411 
 
 Scotch Bishop Hay : he instances one proposition from 
 it which the Enghsh Vicars Apostohc in 179'^ con- 
 demned even as heretical. He refutes Mr. Butler's 
 assertion that Bishop Hornyold "gave a partial edition 
 of the ' Principles ;' " the fact being that Bishop H. 
 merely " denied three or four vulgar charges against 
 Catholics, in terms partly resembling the corresponding 
 articles in that formulary." Dr. Milner proceeds 
 thus : " As Mr. Butler, of the Midland District, is 
 pleased to play the theologian, and to contradict the 
 official declarations of his Bishop, I shall expect that, 
 on the sight of this Letter, which I shall take an early 
 opportunity of publishing, he will answer the following 
 positive objections against his clear and accurate ex- 
 position of the Roman Catholic creed^ as he proclaims 
 it to be, in opposition to that Bishop's censure." Of 
 this authoritative summons, however, Mr. Butler took 
 no notice, but republished the " Principles'' again in 
 the third edition of his Memoirs in 1822 : and though 
 Dr. Milner in this Letter proceeded to censure, and 
 give ample reasons for censuring several propositions 
 of the " Principles^'' Mr. Butler attempted no answer 
 to them in public, and laid no answer before Dr. Mil- 
 ner, but defended himself only in a private Memorial 
 in 1823 to Cardinal Consalvi, which Dr. Milner w^as 
 never allowed to see. This jMemorial will be noticed 
 in its proper place later on. It needs only be added 
 here, that Dr. Milner says at the conclusion of this 
 Letter : " I declare under correction of the Catholic 
 Church and the Holy See, that the said treatise is in- 
 accurate and censurable in many respects : more- 
 over that it is my earnest desire, that such persons of 
 the clergy as may he possessed of, or have control over 
 any copy or copies of the above-mentioned works (Be-
 
 412 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. 
 
 ri819. 
 
 rington's ' Reflections addressed to the Rev. J. Haw- 
 kins^' and Berington and Kirk's ' Faith of Catholics') 
 would insert a note or memorandum in them, contain- 
 ing the present official judgment and sentence." 
 
 The country was, in the latter part of the year 1819, 
 violently agitated by political parties, and radicalism 
 and infidelity had grown to an alarming height, which 
 seriously threatened the public tranquilhty. Dr. 
 MiLNER issued a Circular Letter to his clergy, dated 
 October 28th, to point out their duty in the dangerous 
 state of affairs. He observes of the kingdom in this 
 circular, that "the present is a critical and awful 
 moment for its tranquillity," that the public mind is 
 agitated and inflamed ; and that some designing indi- 
 viduals are prepared to take advantage of it, by driving 
 the multitude to the most fatal excesses ; and that the 
 clergy in this state of things are bound to do their 
 duty, by guarding their flocks from the spreading in- 
 fection of turbulency and revolution. He declares 
 that the clergy ought to convince their flocks, among 
 other truths, " that every revolutionary or disorganising 
 measure of the people must increase their distress and 
 sufferings in a tenfold degTee." Public abuses and 
 grievances have, no doubt, existed, and do exist,' but 
 it is practically impossible wholly to exclude these 
 from any government ; and the clergy may well call 
 upon their people to consider whether " it is likely 
 that the professed reformers of the present day would, 
 if they got power into their hands, prove themselves 
 more free from human passions than those personages 
 are, whom they criminate ; and may prove to them 
 from history, that no revolutionary or disorganising 
 movements can be effected in a settled government, 
 without infinitely multiplying and aggra\ating the
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH. 413 
 
 abuses, which they seem intended to rectify.... But, 
 after all, dear brethren, the principal motive which we 
 ought to impress on the minds of our Catholic flocks, 
 for withdrawing themselves from tumultuous assem- 
 blies, and illegal measures of every kind is, that it is 
 their bounden duty to do so, as faithful subjects of the 
 legitimate government which protects us, and to which 
 we have pledged our allegiance by solemn oaths." 
 This he proceeds to prove by the example of our 
 Blessed Saviour and the doctrines of his inspired 
 Apostles. He added a Postscript, in which he cau- 
 tioned the clergy, and through them " the Catholics of 
 the fifteen counties of the Midland District, against 
 signing any resolution, petition, or address, in which 
 the interests of our holy religion are concerned, yjith- 
 out a saving clause for its integrity and safety T He 
 expresses his apprehensions that the next Bill for 
 Emancipation will be drawn up on the plan of " the last 
 irreligious and tyrannical Bill, rejected by Parliament, 
 and condemned by each of the four Vicars Apostolic 
 — a Bill of pains and penalties! a Bill of schism and per- 
 secution .... Many sincere Catholics," he adds, "signed 
 the Fifth Resolution of 1810, as a mere conciliatory 
 compliment, whereas three years afterwards it was 
 found to have produced the above-mentioned schisma- 
 tical and persecuting Bill." 
 
 Dr. Milner had been requested by some of the 
 Irish Bishops to draw up an abridgment of the Holy 
 Scriptures for the use of schools ; and the indefatiga- 
 ble Prelate, in the midst of his many other labours, 
 found time to comply with this request, and had 
 finished it by the month of July in this year. It was 
 published in November following, in octavo size, and 
 afterwards in a duodecimo edition for the use of schools.
 
 414 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819- 
 
 He was ever disinterested and generous with his pub- 
 h'cations, never on any occasion having received a 
 farthing for any of them, valuable as many of them 
 were. Indeed he declared in his Letters to the 
 " Statesman'^ newspaper in 1810, that he was hun- 
 dreds of pounds out of pocket by his works.* His 
 new work he not only freely presented to Mr. Andrews, 
 who printed it, but engaged to take a hundred copies, 
 and pay for them at the trade price. The work was 
 entitled: "^ brief Summary of the History and 
 Doctrine of the Holy Scriptures.'^ He himself de- 
 scribed it as "longer than Bishop Challoner's Abstract, 
 and not so long as Mr. Reeve's work on the same sub- 
 ject." His great friend, the Rev. Thomas White, one 
 of his successors at Winchester, spoke of it as " a good 
 work for schools, more lively than Royaumont, trans- 
 lated by Reeve, and having more of comment than 
 Bishop Challoner's." The Preface treats of the Word 
 of God, written and unwritten — the proper use of the 
 written Word, — the fatal consequences of private inter- 
 pretation, which, he observes, " at the present day are 
 so numerous, so irreconcileable, and respectively so 
 defenceless, that they have been, as it were, forced to 
 enter into a general compromise of error, on the single 
 condition of an increased dihgence in reading the bare 
 text of the Bible : a certain prognostic of the decline 
 of the Christian revelation itself among them : the 
 Bible Societies lead, by a straight and short way, to 
 Socinianism and Deism. The work," he adds, "is 
 particularly intended to supersede the use of hetero- 
 dox abridgments and unfaithful translations of them 
 in Catholic schools and families." This " Summary" 
 
 * See these Letters published in a volume, p. 29.
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTEE TWENTY-FOURTH. 415 
 
 is comprised in two Parts, embracing respectively the 
 Books of the Old and New Testaments. The distin- 
 guishing feature of it is the frequent introduction of 
 the very words of the sacred text, which renders it so 
 much more interesting and satisfactory than if the bare 
 history had been given. The Second Part opens with 
 a well managed abridgment of the Life of our Blessed 
 Saviour, taken from the four evangelists, under the 
 several heads of the miracles, doctrine, ordinances, 
 precepts, parables, sufferings, death, resurrection, and 
 ascension of our Lord. 
 
 In condensing the mysterious Book of the Apoca- 
 lypse, the Bishop only partially follows the arrange- 
 ment of the venerable " Pastorini," Bishop Walmesley. 
 Lie thus classes the ages of the Church's duration. The 
 first is the age of Pagan persecution: the second, that of 
 Heretical dissension : the third, of Barbaric desola- 
 tion : the fourth, of Mahometan desolation : the fifth, 
 of Protestant destruction : the sixth, q>{ Irreligion and 
 Revolution : the seventh, of The last Judgment and 
 Eternity. The Bishop very cautiously and j udiciously 
 observes of the sixth age, of Irreligion and Revolu- 
 tion : " As these symbols appear to relate to events 
 which are not yet accomplished, it is impossible to form 
 any but loose conjectures upon them. Nevertheless, 
 we have witnessed that the age of Irreligion has been 
 ushered in by a general concussion throughout the 
 
 continent The mountains and islands have been 
 
 moved out of their places by the revolutions which 
 have taken place : and the kings and princes have 
 hidden themselves by the death of some of them, and 
 the flight of others. During this period the King and 
 Queen of France have been beheaded ; one King of 
 Sweden has been shot, and another deposed ; an
 
 416 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1819. 
 
 Emperor of Eussia has been strangled ; the Ufe of our 
 own Sovereign has been repeatedly attempted ; and 
 the respective Kings or princes of Naples, Spain, Por- 
 tugal, Rome, Tuscany, Sardinia, Denmark, Eussia, 
 Prussia, and Austria, have been stripped of the whole, 
 or a great part of their dominions. Such has been the 
 beginning of this our age, but its trumpet and vial 
 seem to announce more dreadful calamities at the ter- 
 mination of it." It is upwards of forty years since the 
 above was written : but the Bishop's apprehensions 
 have so far been only too fatally verified ; much 
 that he has recorded of his time would be sadly apph- 
 cable to our own ; but who can foresee what calamities 
 are yet before us ! Let us pray that God may shorten 
 the evil days that threaten us, for the sake of his 
 elect. 
 
 The Eev. Thomas Potts, President of St. Mary's 
 College, Oscott, whose seizure with paralysis was 
 mentioned above in Chapticr Seventeenth, died on the 
 5th of December, 1819, in the 66th year of his age. 
 He was buried with great honour and solemnity in the 
 vault underneath the sacristy of the college chapel. 
 Dr. Milner followed the corpse as chief mourner, in 
 his pontificals, and a very eloquent and effective dis- 
 course was delivered on the occasion by the Eev. 
 Henry Weedall. 
 
 It is probable that when writing his " Brief Sum- 
 mar ij of the Holy Scriptures!' and especially the Pre- 
 face on the Word of God, Dr. Milner conceived the 
 idea of drawing up the short catechism, which he pub- 
 lished early in the year following. It was called 
 " The Catholic Scriptural Catechism^" and its object 
 was to teach the doctrine of the Catholic Church on 
 the Word of God, both written and unwritten. Thus
 
 AGE 67.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH. 417 
 
 this great and learned Prelate, who so short a time 
 before had published an elaborate work of controversy 
 in three volumes, now descended to teach wisdom to 
 httle ones in a penny catechism. But he had well 
 learned, like the great apostle, to become all to all, and 
 to refuse no labour, however humble, for promoting 
 the conversion and salvation of souls. 
 
 Dr. MiLNER held a large Ordination at St. Mary's 
 College, Oscott, on the 23rd, 24th, and 25th days of 
 February, 1820, during which he conferred the Minor 
 Orders on five ecclesiastical students of the College, 
 ordained four sub-deacons, three deacons, and three 
 priests, though all these were not of his own District. 
 One of the three priests was Rev. Wm. Foley, and 
 another, the writer of this biography. Late on the 
 same day, when the writer was going to bed, the 
 Bishop came and tapped at his door. On being ad- 
 mitted, he apologised in the kindest manner for intrud- 
 ing, as he said, at so unseasonable an hour, but observed 
 that he did so, because he was going away early the 
 next morning. After several sweet and paternal 
 words of encouragement, he said : " I believe, Sir, you 
 would like to remain at the College for the present: so 
 I intend you to be what I was myself at first, a jobber^ 
 that is, without any fixed mission. You shall still live 
 here, and do duty on Sundays and Holidays at Stour- 
 bridge ; I hereby give you the usual missionary facul- 
 ties, and if you will get one of the printed forms from Mr. 
 Walsh, I will fill it up and sign it for you in the morn- 
 ing before I leave. So good night, and God bless 
 you. Sir," extending his hand and giving his blessing. 
 Thus did the writer receive his commission and facul- 
 ties from the venerable Milner, on the very day of 
 his ordination, and they were given usque ad revoca- 
 
 2 E
 
 418 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1820. 
 
 tionem. On the 17th of March, Dr. Milnee ordained 
 another priest, the Rev. James Duckett ; and on the 
 28th April, another, the Rev. Charles Jones, at Cress- 
 well. 
 
 It was observed above, that of those promoted to 
 Holy Orders by Dr. Milner in February, all did 
 not belong to his District. One of these was the Rev. 
 George Lacy, whom he ordained, as he himself has 
 recorded, " at the presentation of the Rev. Charles 
 Plowden, President of the Pontifical College of Stony- 
 hurst, in virtue of a decree of the See Apostolic {vi 
 decreti ApostoUci)'' The reader will at once perceive 
 that Dr. Milner and Mr. C. Plowden proceeded in 
 this case upon the Decree which had been obtained of 
 the Pro-prefect of Propaganda, Cardinal de Somaglia, 
 under date of Dec. 14th, 1818, as recorded above in 
 Chapter Twenty-first. Now this Decree did not be- 
 come known to the other three Vicars Apostolic till 
 the month of August, 1819- They then found that it 
 had been represented to the Holy See that they had 
 refused to ordain any persons from Stonyhurst ; 
 whereas they had been always willing to ordain them 
 titulo missionis, though not titulo paupertatis^ con- 
 sidering that they were not actually members of a 
 religious Order, the Society of Jesus not having been 
 restored in England. They further observed that the 
 aforesaid Decree was in favour of the President, not as 
 the superior of a religious Order, but as the head of a 
 Pontifical College ; whereas the members of such a col- 
 lege must, according to the universal discipline of the 
 Church, be ordained for the mission, titulo missionis. 
 The three Vicars Apostolic also considered that in a 
 matter so materially affecting their rights, they should 
 have been consulted and their opinions heard. They
 
 AGE 68.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH. 419 
 
 therefore, in conjunction with the Vicars Apostolic of 
 Scotland, sent a respectful remonstrance to the Pope, 
 dated October 30, 1819, which was answered by a 
 Brief from his Holiness Pius VII., addressed to the 
 Vicars Apostolic of England and Scotland, dated April 
 18, 1820. His Holiness therein expresses his surprise 
 that the other Vicars Apostolic should not have been 
 informed of the intention to petition for the Decree in 
 favour of the President of Stonyhurst, and that it 
 should have been obtained surreptitiously and incon- 
 siderately ; and declares that having seriously and ma- 
 turely considered the matter, he has determined to 
 satisfy the demands of the Bishops ; and accordingly 
 he revokes the Decree of December 14, 1818, and 
 declares it null and of no effect, and that the privileges 
 of the College of Stonyhurst shall be recalled to those 
 limits within which they were included previously to 
 the said Decree,* and restricted to them. His Holi- 
 ness further informs the Bishops that he commands 
 the Congregation of " Propaganda' that when a peti- 
 tion is presented for any changes, such petition shall 
 not be referred in future to his Holiness, till the said 
 Congregation shall have sought the opinions of the 
 Vicars Apostolic upon it. In conformity with this 
 Brief of his Holiness, and to secure the due observance 
 of it, a Letter was sent to the President of Stonyhurst, 
 
 * " Omnibus serio matureque perpensis expostulationibus vestris, 
 
 venerabiles fratres, satisfaoere decrevimus memoratum decre- 
 
 tum...auctoritate Apostolica qua fungimur, penitus infirmamus, nul- 
 luinque et irritum tenore prajsentium declaramus, decernentes pree- 
 
 terea ut gratiae et concessiones, quae ejusdem Collegii praesidi 
 
 impertitcB fuerunt, intra eos limitcs revocentur et contineantur, 
 
 qnibusconcludebantur antequam enuntiatum decretum fieret,etc" 
 
 Docnmenta ad Miss. Cath. in Anglia spectantia. — Romac, 1824.
 
 420 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1R20. 
 
 Eev. Charles Plowden, dated 29th of April, 1820, 
 from Cardinal -Fontana, Prefect of " Propaganda," 
 stating that as the Decree of the 1 4th of December, 
 1818, had produced ill effects, and caused grievous 
 complaints from the Vicars Apostolic, as being an in- 
 fringement of their authority and jurisdiction, the Pope 
 had revoked it, and declared it null and void, and the 
 President is exhorted and admonished to obey the pon- 
 tifical mandate.* The revocation of the said Decree 
 was also signified to Dr. Milner, in a Letter from 
 Cardinal Fontana, dated April 29th, 1820. The Rev. 
 Charles Plowden upon this proceeded to Rome, and 
 endeavoured to induce the Pope to rescind, or modify 
 his late decision ; but he laboured in vain. His Holi- 
 ness positively refused ; and when the matter was 
 pressed on him very strongly, he said, with great firm- 
 ness and energy, " Quod scripsi, scripsiy iVfter 
 staying eight months at Rome, Mr. C Plowden was 
 returning home, but died suddenly at Jougne on the 
 13th of June, 1821. A previous Rescript of the 18th 
 of April, 1820, had been sent from Cardinal Consalvi 
 to Dr. Poynter, by command of the Pope, authorising 
 him to make known to his Majesty's ministers that 
 whereas the civil Power refused to receive and acknow- 
 ledge the Society of Jesus in England, the said Society 
 is to be considered as not restored here, although it be 
 so far restored in general, that if the Government 
 should be wilhng to admit it, there should be no 
 
 * '' Cum perspectum fuerit Decretum a S. Congregatione latum 
 
 die 14 Decembris anni 1818, noxios peperisse effectus, graves- 
 
 que excitasse querelas Vicariorum Apostolicorum, qui suam aucto- 
 ritatem ac jurisdictionem eo Decreto la3sam, atqui minutam esse 
 senserunt, SS. Dominus Noster Pius PP. VII. praefatum De- 
 cretum Apostolica sua auctoritate revocavit, irritumque esse voluit, 
 etc." — Decreta, ut supra.
 
 AGE C8.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH. 421 
 
 need of any special grant for its reception in Eng- 
 land.* 
 
 " Minus pie vivis, si minus persecutionem tuleris," 
 says St. Gregory the Great ;f and thus, to perfect the 
 virtue of the illustrious Milner, he had to endure 
 much opposition, many trials and frequent persecution. 
 A very severe trial fell upon him at this time. The 
 reader has had abundant proofs that he was a frequent 
 correspondent of a monthly publication, begun in the 
 year 1813, under the title of the " Orthodox Journal^ 
 He did not always sign his communications with his 
 own name ; but the present writer is so well acquainted 
 with his style, that he has been able to point out, and 
 notice in the preceding pages every one of Dr. Milner's 
 articles. Indeed they were recognized at the time by 
 many, however disguised under feigned signatures. 
 In these articles, he spoke out with that plainness and 
 freedom which ever distinguished him ; and was often 
 severe and unsparing in his denunciations of those 
 whom he conscientiously considered to be working 
 insidiously and dangerously against the real interests 
 of religion, and the true Catholic cause. In fact, no 
 pastor was more vigilant than Bishop Milner ; and 
 it was because he was so, that he set himself reso- 
 lutely to combat enemies whom he saw, but whom 
 
 * " Universara rem Sanctissimo Domino exposui, qui me Ara- 
 
 plitudinl tute ea qua? sequuntur rescribere jussit Amplitude tua 
 
 Regis ministris poterlt declarare, Societatem Jesu in Anglia, cum 
 civilis Potestas eidem recipiendte ac revocanda3 repugnet, nondum 
 restitutam censeri, quamvis generatim ita restituta sit, ut si guber- 
 nium illam admittere vellct, opus non esset peculiari Apostolica 
 concessione ut eadem Societas in Anglia reciperetur." — Decreta, 
 p. 10. 
 
 f The less persecution you suffer, the less piously you live. — 
 Ep. 1. 6.
 
 422 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1820. 
 
 others, less vigilant, either did not perceive, or had not 
 courage to pursue. He exactly fulfilled the injunc- 
 tion of that model of episcopal zeal and firmness, the 
 great St. Ambrose, which doubtless he had often 
 deeply considered. " Canes muti reprobantur in Scrip- 
 turis, unde et tu disce vocem tuam exercere pro Christo ; 
 quando ovile Ecclesise incursant lupi, disce in ore tuo 
 verbum tenere, ne quasi mutus canis commissam tibi 
 Ecclesiae custodiam quodam prsevaricationis silentio 
 deseruisse videaris."* — S. Ambros. in Ps. cxviii. 
 
 Such plain speaking could not fail to give umbrage, 
 particularly to some who fell under the Bishop's cen- 
 sures ; and accordingly strong representations were 
 made against him to the Holy See, and also against 
 the " Orthodox Journal^'' from which certain extracts 
 were sent to Rome, in support of the allegations 
 brought forward. In consequence of these complaints, 
 His Holiness was induced to order the Prefect of 
 " Propaganda" to address a Letter to Dr. Milner, 
 dated April 29, 1820. The concluding paragraph of 
 this Letter informed him of the revocation of the 
 Decree of December 14, 1818, and has been already 
 referred to : the preceding portion will now be detailed. 
 The Letter expresses the uneasiness with which his 
 Holiness and the " Propaganda" have learnt the cir- 
 culation in England of a periodical called the " Ortho- 
 dox Journal^'' which is most calculated, it says, to 
 perpetuate dissensions among the Catholics of Great 
 
 * Dumb dogs are reproved in the Scriptures, wherefore learn 
 thou also to raise up thy voice for Christ ; when wolves attack the 
 sheepfold of the Church, learn to have the word ready in thy mouth, 
 lest like a dumb dog thou shouldst appear to have deserted the care 
 of the Church committed to thee, by a kind of silence of prevari- 
 cation.
 
 AGE 68.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH. 423 
 
 Britain : — that the said Journal^ with the greatest 
 temerity, grievously blackens by detractions and abuse, 
 and often even by enormous calumnies, the reputation 
 of several Catholics, of the Vicars Apostolic them- 
 selves, and even of ministers of the Holy See : — that 
 the said Journal contains many articles bearing Dr. 
 Milner's name, and that it is publicly known that he 
 is one of its chief supporters, and writers, and supplies 
 the editor with many contributions. The Letter ex- 
 presses surprise that a Vicar Apostohc should dare 
 to sow discord, trample upon the honour of sacred 
 ministers, eminent for their piety, learning and dignity, 
 and excite the Catholic people against the nobihty, 
 who deserve honour for their generosity in assisting 
 our missions. The reader will behold with surprise 
 these most extraordinary charges against Dr. Milner ; 
 and be still more astonished at the sentence pro- 
 nounced upon him in consequence. The document 
 proceeds to declare it to be the will and command of 
 his Holiness, that he shall take no part in future in 
 the said Journal^ directly or indirectly ; shall in no 
 way promote or patronize it, nor contribute any matter 
 or arguments to it, much less afford it any assistance ; 
 and this he must promptly and fully obey, under pain 
 of being removed from his Vicariate.* 
 
 * This document is altogether so extraordinary, that it is very 
 important to place before the reader the original of its principal 
 portions : 
 
 " Non sine magna tum Sumrai Pontificis, turn sacnc hiijns Con- 
 gregationis moleslia compertum est, periodicum quoddam Diarium 
 in Anglia circumire, sub titulo ' Orthodox Journal^ quo quidem 
 nihil aptius ad fovenda, ac perpetuanda dissidia inter Magnse Bri- 
 
 tannioe Catholicos illud acccdit, quod summa temeritate 
 
 detractionibus atque conviciis imo immanibus saspe calumniis 
 plurium Catholicorum, ipsorumque Vicariorum Apostolicorum
 
 424 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1820. 
 
 That Dr. Milner must have felt that he had been 
 accused to the Holy See unjustly, will be the convic- 
 tion of every one acquainted with his real character 
 and principles, and familiar with his writings : and 
 that he did feel this, is certain from his own words in 
 a private letter to the editor of the condemned " Or- 
 thodox Journal :'' " I am forbidden by Rome, under 
 severe threats {however unjustly)^ from contributing 
 a word, or suggestion to " The Orthodox Journal ;' 
 though I am still at liberty, as I conceive, to aid Mr. 
 Andrews in a different kind of publication.'' How 
 this affair was viewed by those, who by their intimate 
 knowledge of Dr. Milner and of the object and 
 character of his writings, were best qualified to 
 
 imo et Ministrorum Sanctas Sedis fama gravissime denigratur. 
 Quod autem Beatissimum Patrem et Eminentissimos Patres vehe- 
 mentius anxit, ac indignatione quadam afFecit, ex eo potissime 
 oritur, quod Diarium istud plures articulos continet qui palam Am- 
 plitudinis tiiai nomen prse se ferunt, et pervulgata res est, te unum 
 ex potissimis ejusdem proraotoribus atque auctoribus esse, qui 
 editor! materias large suppeditas. Nobis persuadere vix possumus, 
 quomodo Vicarius Apostolicus, .... sui iuimeraor ministerii, dis- 
 cordias disseminare audeat, sacrorum Ministrorum honorem con- 
 culcare, qui sua pietate, doctrina ac dignitate in clero prsefulgent, 
 populumque Catholicum excitare adversus proceres nobili loco 
 Uvatos, qui non minus conditione sua, quam generositate, qua mis- 
 sionibus opitulantur, omni debent affici honore, atque observantia, 
 .... et quoniam editiones in Anglia liberse sunt, neque abomina- 
 bile istud Diarium supprimi potest, vult tamen Sanctitas sua, tibique 
 in virtute sanclae obedientise, quam summo Ecclesiae capiti preestare 
 debes, jubet, ac pra?cipit, ne Amplitudo tua ullam amplius in pos- 
 terura directe, vel indirecte, partem in eodem Diario suscipiat ; non 
 illnd uUo niodo promoveat, ac patrocinetur, non illi materiam, vel 
 argumenta, vel raulto minus operam quamque pra;beat. Hand 
 equidem dubito, quin Amplitudo tua promptam ac plenam Sanctis- 
 simi D. N. mandato obedientiam sit praestitura ; ne ipsa in casu 
 inobedientiaj cogatur etc." — Decreta, p. 15.
 
 AGE 68.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH. 4'25 
 
 judge, may be gathered from a letter of the Rev. 
 Thomas White, of which the following is an extract: 
 " Thus by means of misrepresentation and political 
 influence is Dr. Milner, who for near forty years 
 has used the weapon of his pen in defence of truth, 
 and waged an honourable war against the enemies 
 of religion, required to throw away his arms, and retire 
 from the field of battle, covered with laurels, which he 
 had plucked from the brows of his adversaries, but 
 rewarded by those, in whose cause he has been 
 exposed, with disapprobation and reproof, instead of 
 applause and gratitude." The opposition to him at 
 this time, however, was so strong, that he seemed to 
 expect his dismissal, and was quite prepared for it. 
 Sometimes, indeed, he alluded to the probability of 
 such a contingency ; as he did in a letter to the writer 
 of these pages, dated September 20, 1820, where he 
 said : " For my own part, if I am dismissed from my 
 Apostolic Vicarship by Cardinal Consalvi, to gratify 
 Mr. Charles Butler and his ministerial friends, I shall 
 be glad to take the situation of Norwich." 
 
 Dr. Milner might have appealed from his severe 
 sentence, to the justice and paternal consideration of 
 the holy Father, and could have easily vindicated 
 himself from the grievous charges brought against him ; 
 he might have published his case, and engaged strong 
 sympathy in his favour, as the victim of false accusa- 
 tion and persecution ; but he bore his humiliation in 
 silence, made no complaint, and so completely con- 
 cealed the treatment which he had experienced, 
 that those about him, and in constant intercourse with 
 him, had but a very imperfect knowledge of what had 
 happened. 
 
 He attended as usual with all his wonted pastoral
 
 426 LIEE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1820. 
 
 zeal and energy to his episcopal duties, and adminis- 
 tered Confirmation this year in May, at Sedgley Park ; 
 in July, at Harvington, Cresswell, Aston and Walsall ; 
 in August, at Hassop, Wingerworth, Keddestone and 
 Derby ; and in October, at Kiddington, Overthorp, 
 Wootton and Grafton. On the 23rd of August, he 
 ordained another priest, the Rev. John Brown low. 
 
 Pursuing his meritorious career, through " good 
 report and evil report," he published in July another 
 very important work, his " Supplementary Memoirs 
 of English Catholics^ addressed to Charles Butler^ 
 JSsq.^ author of the Historical Memoirs of the Eng- 
 lish Catholics" It will be remembered that in some 
 notices of Mr. Butler's work in the " Orthodox Jour- 
 nal^'' Dr. Milner had signified his intention to pub- 
 lish a more extensive review of it, as soon as he could 
 find sufficient lesiure. Pie regretted that such a work 
 should have been written so early, and especially by 
 one who had been so intimately concerned in Catholic 
 afi"airs as Mr. C. Butler ; for " few readers can esti- 
 mate with impartiality the transactions in which they 
 themselves, their relatives, or friends have borne a 
 part "* Still, he contends, that where one party is bent 
 on recording " a defective and false account of contem- 
 porary events, it would become a duty incumbent on 
 the other to publish a full and true history of them," 
 and this more especially where the interests and truths 
 of religion are concerned. Dr. Milner considered 
 Mr. Butler s work as a covert apology for the measures 
 in which he and his friends had been engaged during 
 the thirty years of his direction of Catholic affairs ; 
 and that it was calculated to produce a fatal effect on 
 
 * " Supp. Memoirs," Prefatory Address, p. iv.
 
 AGE 68. J CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURTH. 427 
 
 the still subsisting contest between policy and religion. 
 Therefore he considered himself imperiously called upon 
 to furnish the present " Supplement to the growing 
 editions of the " Historical Memoir s'' If any scandal 
 should arise, he declares that those who have rendered 
 the exposure necessary must be answerable for it ; 
 quoting the following nervous passage of St. Bernard : 
 " Cum carpuntur vitia et inde scandulum oriatur, ipse 
 sibi scandali causa est qui facit quod argui debet, non 
 qui arguit. Denique non sum cautior in verbo nee 
 circumspectior in sensu, illo qui ait : Melius est ut 
 scandalum oriatur^ quam ut Veritas relinquatur*''' 
 St. Bernard alludes here to a sentence of St. Gregory 
 the Great in his 7th Homily on Ezechiel : " Utilius 
 nasci permittitur scandalum, quam quod Veritas reli- 
 quatur." As Dr. Milner entered upon his task with 
 great reluctance, so he resolves to pursue it with the 
 greatest regard for honourable persons of the Catholic 
 body, and determines to " suppress many interesting 
 circumstances relative to the cause he is bound to 
 espouse, when these are not necessary to its vindica- 
 tion ; and in his quotations from the letters he means 
 to make use of, he will suppress the names of the 
 writers of them, and every circumstance, as far as this 
 is possible, which can lead to a knowledge of them." 
 
 After the copious references already made in these 
 pages to this work of Dr. Milner, it cannot be requi- 
 site here to dwell upon it at any length. It is, however, 
 
 * When vices are reproved, and scandal thence arises, he is the 
 cause of scandal to himself who does what must be reproved, not he 
 who reproves. After all, I am neither more cautious in word, nor 
 more circumspect in sense, than he who says : It is better that scan- 
 dal should arise, than that truth should he abandoned. St. Bernard to 
 the Abbot Suger.
 
 428 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1820. 
 
 a book of very great importance, without which, indeed, 
 no correct knowledge could have been gained of the 
 real transactions of a most eventful period of our 
 history. It is divided into two Parts. The first em- 
 braces the history of Catholic affairs in England from 
 the Reformation to the year 1803 ; and the second 
 commences with the agitation of the Veto, and ends at 
 the year 1818, when Blanchardism was extinguished. 
 What particularly grieved Dr. Milner, was the ambi- 
 guous character of Mr. Butler's '•'•Memoirs ;" the loose 
 way in which he speaks of the Reformation, the 
 divorce of Henry YIII., " the Pope's encroachments 
 on the Sovereign and Church of England, and his 
 abuse of his spiritual power," which might well lead a 
 reader to doubt whether the author was a Catholic or 
 a Protestant. Yet Dr. Milner shows every disposi- 
 tion to favour him ; for he says, " it may be safely 
 affirmed that the uncertainty in question consists more 
 in the language than in the mind of the historiographer ; 
 and that it is to promote his views of the Catholic 
 cause, that he thus compromises with the prejudices of 
 the Protestants."* In like manner, the Bishop ob- 
 serves, that though Mr. Butler does not profess to 
 argue himself in favour of the Oath of Supremacy ; 
 he must be conscious that by adducing the arguments 
 of other professing Catholics for it, " he is thereby 
 diminishing the horror which Catholics in general have 
 entertained of it, and furnishing the ambitious and 
 avaricious among them with pretexts for taking it."t 
 Dr. Milner proceeds to examine the various preten- 
 sions in favour of the Oath of Supremacy, and then 
 
 * " Supp. Mem.," p. ,3. 
 t Ibid., p. 8.
 
 AGE 68.] ClIArTER TWENTY- FOURTH. 429 
 
 gives Mr. Butler's own impressions on the subject, the 
 obvious tendency of which he denounces. He next 
 explains the origin and tendency of the indirect tem- 
 poral power of the Pope, and defends the martyred 
 priests of England against Mr. Butler's imputations. 
 He exposes that gentleman's preference of bad mate- 
 rials in the affair of the Gunpowder Plot, where 
 " unable to meet the strong arguments which our 
 faithful advocates have adduced to vindicate us from 
 the most odious charge ever brought against us, our 
 modern Catholic barrister tries, at least, to invalidate 
 them, and appears on the whole, to have taken a brief 
 against us, rather than for us."* 
 
 Dr. Milner visits with merited censure Mr. 
 Butler's statements on the Oath of Allegiance of 
 James I. ; defends against him the loyalty of Catholics 
 in the reigns of the Charleses and James II. ; oppos- 
 ing his false statements of the lenity of William III., 
 of whose treatment of Catholics he asks : " If this be 
 lenity we may ask what is cruelty V and so comes to 
 the first Act for our relief under George III., and 
 exposes its consequences in the falling away of several 
 of the Catholic nobility and gentry from their religion, 
 and the liberties taken by others with its doctrine, dis- 
 cipline, and authority. " The sequel of his work," he 
 observes, " will furnish too many proofs of this worldly 
 spirit in several Catholics ; but particularly in their se- 
 cretary and director (Mr. C. Butler), with some of his 
 lay associates and clergymen." This brings him to the 
 formation of the first Catholic Committee in 1783, 
 and to those regular details of Catholic aflTairs by Mdiich 
 the venerable author corrects the misstatements, and 
 
 * "Sup. Mem.," p. 24.
 
 430 LITE OF BISHOr MILNER. [1820. 
 
 supplies the studied omissions of the author of the 
 " Historical Memoirs.^^ 
 
 As already observed, the contents of these " Sup- 
 plementary Memoirs'^ by Dr. Milner have been 
 already so fully developed in the preceding pages of 
 this biography, that it will suffice to sum up in few 
 words the general character of the work. It is most 
 useful and important, and indeed essential for every one 
 who desires to form a correct and connected view of 
 the various transactions of English Catholics, more 
 particularly from the latter part of the last century 
 to the year 1818. Mr. C. Butler's '^Memoirs' are 
 throughout partial and defective. Many important 
 matters he glosses over, relates with provoking bre- 
 vity only, or altogether conceals. It is, therefore, abso- 
 lutely necessary to study Dr. Melner's " Supplemen- 
 tary Memoirs^^ to arrive at a proper understanding 
 of many very important transactions. They were 
 undertaken by their venerable author from a sense of 
 duty ; and were written with dignified freedom ; yet 
 without warmth or asperity, with the e\adent love of 
 truth, and in the spirit of Christian charity.
 
 AGE 68.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH. 431 
 
 CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH. 
 
 UNUSUAL NUMBER OF PRIESTS ORDAINED BY DR. MILNER IN 
 1820. — MR. C. butler's OPINION OF THE SUPPLEMENTARY 
 MEMOIRS. — HE PUBLISHES DR. POYNTER's APOLOGETICAL 
 EPISTLE. — DR. MILNER's ADDITIONAL NOTES TO HIS SUPPLEMEN- 
 TARY MEMOIRS, AND REMARKS TO THE EDITOR OF THE APOLO- 
 GETICAL EPISTLE. — MR. PLUNKETt's BILLS DR. MILNER's 
 
 PETITION AGAINST THEM. — HIS LETTER OF THANKS TO MR. 
 
 WILBERFORCE. — HIS THEOLOGICAL JUDGMENT ON THE BILLS. 
 
 HIS LETTER ON THE USE OF THE PAX.— CONFIRMATIONS. — 
 CLERGY MEETING ORDINATION. — DR. MILNER VISITS IRE- 
 LAND. — FORM OF OATHS AGREED TO AT MAYNOOTH BY THE 
 IRISH BISHOPS.— VISITS SCOTLAND. 
 
 This year, 1820, had been fertile in the supply of 
 priests for the Midland District. On the 21st of Sep- 
 tember, Dr. Milner had the satisfaction to ordain two 
 more, the Rev. Michael Troveli, and the Rev. George 
 Jinks. These completed the number of seven priests 
 ordained in one year, for a single District, a number 
 unprecedented in the annals of our Mission. But this 
 could not fail to be considered at the time, and must 
 be here emphatically recorded as happy evidence of 
 the flourishing state of the episcopal seminary of St. 
 Mary's, at Oscott, as well as of the wise and zealous 
 administration of the District, by the intrepid and inde- 
 fatigable Milner. While his enemies feared, envied, 
 and calumniated him, his own clergy idolised him, his 
 people loved and venerated him, and all who really 
 knew him, admired and esteemed him as the undaunted 
 champion of religion, and a model of the episcopal cha- 
 racter.
 
 432 LIFE OF BISPIOP MELNEK. [1820. 
 
 Dr. Milner, when staying at Oscott College for a 
 few days, as he so often did, in the month of August in 
 this year, shortly after the publication of his " Sup- 
 plementary Memoirs^'' mentioned that Mr. Charles 
 Butler had said of that work, that it was an insipid 
 and uninteresting thing, as would appear on comparing 
 it with his own " Historical Memoirs.'" He declared, 
 however, that the Bishop should have reason to repent 
 of its publication. Mr. C. Butler complained that the 
 Bishop had spoken of him harshly, whereas he had 
 always spoken of Dr. M. favourably. Dr. Milner ob- 
 served that from all this, it did not appear that Mr. 
 Butler had found his work so very insipid. 
 
 As the '■'■Apologetical Epistle" of Dr. Poynter, which 
 had hitherto been withheld, was published soon after 
 this, in or about November, by Mr. C. Butler, Dr. Mil- 
 ner considered the publication of that document as the 
 execution of the threat that he should repent of his 
 " Supplementary Memoirs.'" He observed that it 
 was a poor piece of spite ; but added that he should 
 answer the " Apologetical Epistle^' sparing Dr. Poyn- 
 ter, however, as much as possible. That excellent 
 Prelate himself regretted the publication, as placing 
 him in antagonism with Dr. Milner. He wrote to a 
 friend, saying that he did not know how Mr. Butler 
 became possessed of this Epistle ; but that he sup- 
 posed that he considered it a public document, 
 with which he was at liberty to do as he pleased. 
 He added that certain notes of reference to his au- 
 thorities were omitted. These, Mr. Butler said, he 
 had not been able to procure. Dr. Poynter, how- 
 ever, left the publication to its fate, depending, as 
 he said, on the truth of the statements which it con- 
 tained.
 
 AGE G8.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH. 433 
 
 Dr. Milner seemed to hesitate whether to answer 
 the " Apologetical Epistle^'' or not. Though at one 
 time he said, as related above, that he should answer 
 it, sparing Dr. Poynter, however, as much as possible ; 
 at another, when a person observed to him that he 
 ought to answer it, as being the most formidable piece 
 that had appeared against him, he merely replied : 
 " Do you think so. Sir ? I don't think it requires any 
 answer." The Epistle in reality was not new to him, 
 having been written by Dr. Poynter at Rome in 1815, 
 and presented to the " Propaganda," as already detailed 
 in Chapter Sixteenth, to the observations at which 
 place the reader is referred. Pie probably considered 
 that he had again and again virtually refuted this 
 Epistle^ which chiefly turns on the affair of the Fifth 
 Resolution^ in his various publications, and articles in 
 periodicals ; and as the four Vicars Apostohc were 
 now happily agreed, and acting harmoniously together, 
 he was unwilling to resuscitate old grievances by anv 
 direct notice of this document. He contented himself, 
 therefore, with printing about twenty pages of addi- 
 tional matter, to be added to his " Supplementary 
 Memoirs'' under the following title : " Additional 
 Notes to Supplementary Memoirs of English Catho- 
 lics : with some Remarks addressed to the Editor of 
 a late Publication entitled^ an Apologetical Epistle 
 to Card. Litta,Sfc.—By the R. Rev. J. Milner, D.D., 
 F.S.A. London, 1821." Among these notes one es- 
 pecially merits attention. It refers to Robert Edward 
 Lord Petre, stating on the authority of an honourable 
 personage who had communicated the facts to him 
 that " Lord Petre, who died in 1801, did, before his 
 death, express his deep sorrow for every act and writ- 
 ting, inconsistent with his faith and religious duty, into 
 
 2 F
 
 434 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1821. 
 
 which he had fallen in the management of Catholic 
 affairs, and that he caused all the papers in his posses- 
 sion, of that nature, to be burnt in his presence." 
 This, Dr.Milner says, he feels " an indescribable plea- 
 sure in recording."* 
 
 The Remarks to Mr. C. Butler, as the editor of the 
 " Apologetical Epistle^' though brief, are exceedingly 
 pungent and appropriate. The Bishop enumerates 
 some of its grosser falsehoods. He elsewhere indeed 
 described it as " a gross and self-refuting libel."'j' 
 First, he says, "it is false that the Fifth Resolution 
 was that of the English Catholics." He proves this 
 from Mr. Butler's own account of its first formation, 
 from the fact of its having been adopted at a meeting 
 of only about 100 Catholics — "for I counted them," 
 he says, " not 200, as you affirm in the Epistle, includ- 
 ing those who did not vote at all, and those who voted 
 against it ;" and from the report of it in Mr. C. But- 
 ler's hired paper, " The Press J^ which denied it to have 
 been the act of the English Catholics. 
 
 Again, he says, it is utterly false that this Resolution 
 was understood on both sides to have no relation to the 
 vote of the Irish Prelates against the Veto, Sept. 14, 
 1808 ; which he proves from Mr. Butler's own words, 
 and Lord Grenville's celebrated Letter. Without fol- 
 lowing the writer of the Epistle into the mazes of his 
 logic. Dr. Milner says he will defy Mr. Butler to 
 deny that the Fifth Resolution contains this unlawful 
 proposition : We Catholics will cheerfully concur to 
 secure the Protestant religion.\ He next refutes 
 once again what he had refuted so many times before, 
 
 * " Additional Notes," p. 333. 
 
 t Letter to the Clergy, 1823, p. 5. % " Remarks," p. 340. 

 
 AGE 69.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH. 435 
 
 the falsehood of his answering a noble Lord (Clifford), 
 and others at the meeting, that the Resolution might 
 be signed with a safe conscience. He exposes some 
 other false statements in the Epistle, particularly that 
 Dr. Douglass expressly declared to his coadjutor, Dr. 
 Poynter, that he wished him not to do anything in his 
 place, or name ; whereas, says Dr. Milner, "he (Dr. P.) 
 positively answered my question : whether he acted for 
 Bishop Douglass, by affirming that he did'' As to the 
 denial in the Epistle that there was any connexion be- 
 tween the Fijth Resolution and the irreligious Bill of 
 1813, Dr. Milner mentions, among other things, that 
 in 1815 Dr. Poynter exerted his utmost abilities to 
 persuade Cardinal Litta into this opinion, but laboured 
 in vain ; as the Cardinal himself told Dr. Milner. 
 As the " Apologetical Epistle'' asserts that Dr. Mil- 
 ner has done the greatest injury, by his writings, to the 
 whole Catholic body in Great Britain, the Bishop con- 
 tents himself with saying : " Would to God that each 
 one of my brethren, and you. Sir, likewise, enjoyed as 
 much of the real esteem and respect of the Catholic 
 body, English as well as Irish, great as well as little, 
 and even of most of those whom I have been forced to 
 withstand, as I am conscious, and have proof of my 
 possessing." 
 
 In conclusion, he feelingly exhorts Mr. Butler in 
 these words : " Think of your pious father and saint- 
 like uncle (Rev. Alban Butler), and henceforward 
 employ your talents, natural and acquired, in protect- 
 ing, not in subjugating the Church to which you 
 belong." Dr. Milner finishes with stating his reasons 
 for objecting to, and refusing to sign in the course of 
 the last summer a petition to Parliament, containing an 
 oath and a declaration deeply affecting the doctrine
 
 436 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNEK. [^821. 
 
 and discipline of the Church. The oath was called 
 the Civil Sword Oath, because it denied the autho- 
 rity of any foreign Prelate to use the civil power in 
 this realm in any matter or cause spiritual or ecclesi- 
 astical. To deny an^ part of the civil power to the 
 Church and the foreign Prelate, the Pope, " is to re- 
 cognize," says Dr. Milner, "the validity of those 
 numberless unlawful maniages, and to deny the autho- 
 rity of the Church in matrimonial cases, on which 
 denial the Council of Trent pronounces an anathema." 
 
 Dr. Milner addressed his remarks on the Epistle 
 to Mr. Charles Butler ; because that gentleman, by 
 adopting and publishing it, had made it his own : and 
 also from a sincere desire to spare the real writer of it, 
 Dr. Poynter. But in this, as in all his other writings 
 against Mr. C. Butler, the good Prelate was not in- 
 fluenced by a grain of personal ill-will against that 
 gentleman, but by an urgent sense of duty. Pie was 
 indeed always ready to acknowledge Mr. Butler's 
 merits, when he could do so with a safe conscience. 
 Thus in his " Supplementary/ Memoirs,'' he exculpates 
 him from actually holding the false views which he 
 puts forward ; and on the subject of James 11. he 
 says : " The defence set up in the ' Memoirs'' for the 
 upright and betrayed James II. is generous, and does 
 honour to its author."* In a private letter also to the 
 writer of these pages, written November 18, 1820, he 
 informs him with evident pleasure, that he is assured 
 that Mr. C. Butler, in conjunction with Dr. Lingard, 
 is preparing to refute Dr. Philpotts, Dr. Townsend 
 and perhaps Mr. Blanco White. 
 
 Two Bills were introduced into the House of Com- 
 
 * " Sup. Mem.," p. 39.
 
 AGE 69.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH. 437 
 
 mons on the 2nd of March, 1821, by Mr. Plunkett ; 
 one for the removal of the disqualifications of Catho- 
 lics, and the other, to regulate the intercourse of our 
 clergy with Rome. On the second reading on the 
 l6th of March, a petition was presented by Mr. Wil- 
 berforce, which had been drawn up by Dr. Milner, 
 and signed by himself and the Catholic clergy and 
 laity of Staffordshire and Warwickshire, to the number 
 of 911 persons. This petition expressed grief and 
 dismay at the Bills before Parliament, as containing 
 articles contrary to their religious belief and obliga- 
 tions : it declared that the petitioners could not take 
 the oath of supremacy, even under the explanation of 
 Queen Elizabeth, for in disclaiming the actual ministry 
 of God's Word and the sacraments, she ever claimed 
 to be the only source of spiritual jurisdiction, by which 
 bishops and priests exercise it. Also that they could 
 not swear not to correspond on subjects of religion 
 without permission of the civil power, with the Pope, 
 or persons holding spiritual authority from him. 
 
 Dr. Milner wrote and published a ''^Letter of 
 Thanks to William Wilberforce, Esq.^ M.P.^'' \n\\\q[\ 
 began thus : " Permit me, in the name of my Roman 
 Catholic neighbours, as w^ell as in my own name, to 
 return you the overflowing homage of grateful hearts 
 for your kindness, in making known to our representa- 
 tives in Parliament our painful and agonizing senti- 
 ments at the prospect of the Bills, which, for the sake 
 of affording them civil relief, threaten to overwhelm 
 them with religious persecution." He declares that 
 the petition which the Hon. gentleman had presented 
 expressed the sentiments of the 911 persons whose 
 names were affixed to it, as well as of the vast majority 
 of Catholics, and that if a fortnight's more leisure
 
 438 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNEB. [1821. 
 
 could have been had, the number of names in the 
 Midland District alone would have been increased 
 tenfold. He observes that the 37th Article of the 
 Church of England attributes to the Crown "the chief 
 government of all estates in this realm, whether they 
 be ecclesiastical or ci\dl, in all causes ;" and that there- 
 fore no room is left to the Pope for any power, how- 
 ever spiritual. He shows that our obedience to our 
 Church in matters of rehgious discipline does in several 
 instances conflict with the laws of the State, and he 
 specifies some of these ; as marriages of priests, which 
 the law would sanction, and the Church would annul ; 
 as also marriages of cousins, and of parties divorced. 
 He carefully informs Mr. Wilberforce that the other 
 Vicars Apostolic, as well as himself, had expressly 
 condemned the proposed Bill of 1813. In a Post- 
 script to this Letter, Dk. Milner makes the important 
 observation, that it is impossible to devise stronger 
 terms of true and full obedience to the King and the 
 laws, ill all civil concerns^ than are employed in the 
 Oath of 1791, which Catholics have actually taken ; 
 but that if the object at present is, to transfer any 
 part of the spiritual authority of our Church to the 
 Crown, we must one and all forfeit our lives rather 
 than surrender it. He prays God that the Legislature 
 may never sully its honour by falsehoods so notorious 
 as are contained in the preamble of the proposed Bill, 
 such as : " His Majesty's Roman CathoHc subjects have 
 been at all times ready and desirous to take the said 
 Oaths of Allegiance and Abjuration ;" and that " it 
 appears from the injunction of Queen Ehzabeth, &c., 
 that such disclaimer (of the Pope's jurisdiction) was 
 originally meant only to extend to such as was incom- 
 patible with civil duty and allegiance."
 
 AGE 69.J CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH. 439 
 
 But Dr. Milner apprehended so much evil from Mr. 
 Plunkett's bills, that he had drawn up and published a 
 little before, on a single sheet, " The theological Judg- 
 ment of the Catholic Divines of the Midland District 
 on the two Bills pending in Parliament.'^ This was- 
 a very important document. It set forth that Catho- 
 lics could never take the Oath of Supremacy, which 
 had always been considered as the precise act of ab- 
 juring their religion : and that the injunction of 
 Elizabeth does not remove the difficulty ; because she 
 barely disclaims the actual exercise of the ministry., 
 claiming at the same time the entire, supreme, spiritual 
 jurisdiction within her dominions. It declares that 
 though we, in the Oath of 1791, have abjured "the 
 doctrine and position that princes, excommunicated or 
 deprived by the Pope... may be deposed or murdered 
 by their subjects," yet it is unlawful for a Catholic to 
 condemn the mere deposing doctrine as dainnahle and 
 heretical. The rest of the document censures the 
 second of Mr. Plunkett's Bills, and especially the 
 intended ecclesiastical commissioner, and revision of re- 
 scripts from the Holy See, which had been recently con- 
 demned in the Pope's Letter from Genoa, as a violation 
 of the divinely constituted spiritual supremacy of the 
 Holy See. This document was dated from Wolver- 
 hampton, March 13, 1821 ; and though it bore only 
 his own signature, and those of the two priests of the 
 place, the Rev. Walter Blount, and the Rev. AVilliam 
 Benson, yet it was well known to speak the senti- 
 ments of his clergy in general. He used to express 
 his abhorrence of these Bills in the strongest terms. 
 For instance, he declared at Oscott, while they were 
 pending, that he conceived himself bound to sub- 
 mit to be hanged on a lamp-post, rather than to take
 
 440 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1821. 
 
 the proposed Oath. It pleased God, however, to deh- 
 ver us from the impending danger. The Bill indeed 
 passed the House of Commons on the 2nd of April, 
 by a majority of 19 ; but it was thrown out by the 
 Lords by a majority of 39 votes. 
 
 In his favourite pursuit of antiquarian subjects, 
 when the graver studies and duties of his sacred pro- 
 fession afforded him leisure. Dr. Milner contributed 
 various Articles to the London Society of Antiquaries, 
 of which he was a member. One of these was in the 
 form of a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq., accompanying 
 an ancient Pax^ which he sent for the inspection of 
 his learned brethren of that Society. The Letter is 
 dated March 21, 1821, and contains an interesting ac- 
 count of the origin of the instrument called the Pax^ 
 the manner of using it, and the cause of its discontinu- 
 ance. This Letter was published in the 20th Volume 
 of the '•'' ArchcBologia^^ and was reprinted in the " Ca- 
 tholic Miscellany'' for July, 1824. 
 
 In May, Dr. Milner gave Confirmation at Bir- 
 mingham, and at Oscott College, and in June, at 
 Blackladies, for that congregation, and also for Long- 
 birch. On the 5th of June he held the triennial 
 Meeting of the Clergy at Wolverhampton, which was 
 attended by 35 priests of his District. After the 
 Veni Creator and Litany of Loretto had been sung^ 
 the Bishop addressed the clergy with great earnest- 
 ness and animation. He reminded them of the great 
 losses sustained since the last meeting by the deaths 
 of his late Vicar- General, Rev. John Perry ; of his 
 Grand Vicar for Norfolk and Suffolk, Eev. Edward 
 Beaumont ; of the zealous and indefatigable promoter 
 of the Seminary at Oscott, the Rev. John Quick, and
 
 AGE 69.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH. 441 
 
 of its learned and pious President, Eev. Thomas Potts. 
 He also mentioned the recent death of the Vicar 
 Apostolic of the Northern District, Dr. William Gib- 
 son, which took place June 2nd ; and desired all to 
 unite in reciting the De Profundis twice over with 
 him for the repose of their souls, and those of all 
 benefactors and brethren, which was done accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 The Bishop then exhorted all to zeal and punctuahty 
 in praying for deceased benefactors, and in promoting 
 the good of the Seminary, especially by a prudent 
 choice of subjects for it. He exhorted them to assi- 
 duity in attending to the instruction of their people, 
 especially the children, in visiting the sick, and in fre- 
 quently and devoutly celebrating Mass. He incul- 
 cated daily meditation and annual retreats. 
 
 He produced the plan of his Societas Libera^ with 
 the Indulgences annexed to it by his Holiness, and 
 invited those who had not yet joined it, to become 
 members. He next brought forward his pamphlet on 
 " Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus^'^ and 
 exhorted the clergy to invite their people to practise 
 that devotion. He also admonished them to keep 
 lists of their flocks, that they might see from time to 
 time who required assistance, and how to assist them : 
 also to endeavour to lead all to perfection by medita- 
 tion, &c. He read a ^IS. letter of Bishop Giffard to 
 his clergy. He exhorted all to prepare for death, first 
 by attending to their spiritual concerns, and next to 
 their temporal affairs, to make their wills, those 
 especially who held money belonging to others ; and in 
 these to show their gratitude to their mother, the 
 Church : also to leave furniture for their successors. 
 
 The Bishop spoke also of the termination of the
 
 442 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1821. 
 
 Blanchardist schism, and of our escape from the late 
 schismatical Bill. He then invited any one to ask any 
 questions. The Ohservanda was read with Bishop 
 Giffard's, alias Bishop Witham's Letter : and the 
 Psalm Laudate Dominum sung in conclusion. 
 
 This was the last meeting of the clergy held at the 
 Bishop's House at Wolverhampton ; it having been 
 agreed that the meetings should be held annually thence- 
 forth, and at Sedgley Park. The good Bishop was 
 particularly cheerful and kind to every one ; the dinner 
 passed off with the greatest hilarity and gratification : 
 several songs were sung, particularly a favourite 
 German song by the Eev. Francis Bishop, of Hey- 
 throp. He had sung this at the clergy meetings for 
 several years ; and as from his great age he was not 
 likely to survive long, the present writer was desired to 
 pay attention to the song, and learn it, that it might be 
 preserved. He did so, and learned it so completely, 
 that he was able to sing it the following day for Dr. 
 MiLNER, with whom he dined at Oscott. The good 
 Bishop expressed his surprise, saying : " I can't under- 
 stand, Sir, how you could learn that song by only once 
 hearing it : why I have heard it over and over again, 
 and don't know a word of it !" It was fortunate that 
 it was thus preserved ; for poor Mr. Bishop did not 
 live to sing it again : he died on the 26th of November 
 following. On the 18th of June, Dr. Milner ordained 
 the Rev. Edward Daniel priest, in the chapel at Aston 
 Hall ; this gentleman having gone through his whole 
 course at the little seminary of Cresswell. 
 
 Dr. Milner confirmed at Wolverhampton four 
 students from Sedgley Park, on the 20th of June, and 
 the next day set out for Ireland, to consult with the 
 Prelates assembled at Maynooth, about an orthodox
 
 AGE 69.] CHAPTER TWENTY-FIFTH. 443 
 
 and proper form of oath to be proposed on any future 
 application to Parliament for relief. He met there 
 the four Archbishops, and five Bishops, and found that 
 they entirely agreed with him. A form of oath was 
 settled on that occasion ; and Dr. Milner went on to 
 Cork, and returned home on the l6th of July. Soon 
 after his return, he printed on a folio sheet the form 
 of oath agreed upon. The first two clauses of the 
 preamble were taken from Mr. Plunkett's late Bill ; 
 and the oath was chiefly composed of that in the Act 
 of 1791, and in that of 1793, the latter having been 
 passed for the relief of the Irish Catholics. There 
 was a second form of oath to be taken by Cathohc 
 Bishops and clergy ; and it was notified in conclusion, 
 that " though the ten assembled Prelates, m approving 
 of the present formularies, spoke and acted for them- 
 selves alone, yet they generally expressed their convic- 
 tion that the same will be approved of and subscribed 
 by the rest of their episcopal brethren, throughout 
 Ireland, whenever it shall be laid before them. Thus 
 sanctioned, it is confidently hoped that these formula- 
 ries will prove a guide and rule to the Catholic laity 
 and their parliamentary friends in framing and support- 
 ing any future Bill of Emancipation." 
 
 In a few days this indefatigable Prelate was out 
 again on what he used to term his Northern visitation. 
 He confirmed at Nottingham on the 5th of August. 
 There was living in that town at the time a scandalous 
 French priest named Trochet, who had actually mar- 
 ried, but continued to attend the Catholic chapel to 
 hear mass. Dr. Milner wrote him a letter of earnest 
 expostulation, and reminded him of the miserable and 
 untimely deaths of several other fallen priests. He 
 wept, but had not courage to extricate himself from
 
 444 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1821. 
 
 his sinful life. At length, in the beginning of Decem- 
 ber, 1822, he was struck with paralysis, he acknow- 
 ledged his crime to the pastor of Nottingham, the E,ev. 
 Mr. Demasures, and promised to do what might be 
 required of him ; but before he could receive the 
 sacraments, he had a second attack, and his wretched 
 partner took care that the priest should not see him 
 again before his death. During the month of August, 
 Dr. Milner gave Confirmation at Newark, Lincoln, 
 Sixhills, Osgodby, and Worksop. 
 
 On the 16th of August, he went to confer on the 
 business of the form of oath, with Bishop Smith at 
 Durham, and Bishop Cameron at Edinburgh. Both 
 promised to his satisfaction, and he found the clergy 
 of Scotland, as well as those of England, well afifected. 
 He visited Glasgow and Greenock, and returned by 
 sea to Liverpool. On the 25th of August he attended 
 the meeting of the clergy of Lancashire, held at Pres- 
 ton. He then visited Stonyhurst College, and went 
 by Manchester and Sheffield to Worksop. He con- 
 firmed one person there on the 1st of September, and 
 gave Confirmation at Spinkhill on the 2nd, returning 
 by Derby and Oscott to Wolverhampton, where he 
 arrived on the 4th of September. On the 1st of Octo- 
 der died the Rev. Joseph Birch, President of Sedgley 
 Park, at Bristol, at the early age of forty-five. Dr. 
 Milner appointed the Rev. Walter Blount to succeed 
 him at Sedgley Park.
 
 AGE G9.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH. 445 
 
 CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH. 
 
 DR. MILNER's health. — HE SUFFERS FROM LACRYMAL FISTULA.— 
 CONDEMNATION OF THE OATH OF THE LATE BILL IN LENTEN 
 PASTORAL. — ARTICLES IN THE CATHOLIC MISCELLANY BY DR. 
 
 MILNER. — CLERGY MEETING : CENSURE OF MR. C. BUTLER. 
 
 MEMORIAL OF THAT GENTLEMAN TO CARDINAL FONTANA. 
 
 ANSWER RECEIVED BY HIM FROM CARDINAL CONSALVI. 
 
 Dr. Milner's health had been generally good ; but a 
 year or two before this time, he had been troubled 
 with a lacrymal fistula, or weeping eye, in the inward 
 corner of one eye, which disfigured his face, and was 
 very painful. He did not heed it for some time, and 
 seemed not at all aware of its nature. He applied 
 lunar caustic, which blackened the place, and dis- 
 figured him much more. Sometimes he put on a patch 
 of black court plaster, as the moisture from the eye 
 gave him great annoyance. This went on for some 
 time, till at last he resolved to undergo an operation, 
 which was performed by two able surgeons at Wolver- 
 hampton. He bore it so immoveably, that the operator 
 asked him if he felt no pain, being somewhat alarmed 
 at the apparent insensibility of the diseased organ. 
 The Bishop, however, soon relieved his anxiety, and at 
 the same time excited his admiration, by answer- 
 ing : " To be sure I do." The surgeons, after doing 
 what they judged necessary with lancet and probe, 
 found it advisable to go to work again before they left, 
 for greater security ; and the good Bishop bore the 
 second operation with the same patient and edifying
 
 446 LITE OF BISHOP mLNER. [1822. 
 
 endurance. A cure was happily effected, and all trace 
 of the fistula soon disappeared. 
 
 Our zealous Prelate was so fearful of the Oath of 
 Supremacy being again proposed in fresh applications 
 to Parliament for what was called civil emancipation, 
 but which he dreaded would prove only spiritual 
 oppression., that in his Lenten Pastoral of Feb. 2, 1822, 
 to use his own words, he " condemned the Oath of 
 Supremacy in all its disguises." As the chief pretext 
 alleged in its favour was the injunction of Queen 
 Elizabeth, he thus disposes of that argument: " Queen 
 Elizabeth succeeding her (Mary), the Act and Oath of 
 Supremacy were immediately renewed ; when finding 
 that the title and authority accompanying them exposed 
 her to much ridicule, she issued an injunction, which 
 has been frequently referred to of late. This declares 
 neither more nor less, than that ' her Majesty neither 
 doth, nor ever will challenge any authority or power of 
 ministry of divine service in the Church, or any other 
 than what was challenged and used hy her father 
 Henry VIII. and King Edward VI. ;' just as if any 
 one suspected her of intending actually to baptize 
 children, and mount the pulpit ; or in short, of claim- 
 ing more spiritual power than Henry, and Somerset, 
 in the name of Edward, had exercised : that is to say, 
 more than an absolute, uncontrolled ecclesiastical and 
 spiritual jurisdiction in all matters of faith and dis- 
 cipline.^^ 
 
 Dr. Milner, after referring to the condemned Oath 
 of 1789, adverts to the recent Civil Sword Oath., and 
 reminds his flock that good faith and plain dealing 
 require that in every oath to our neighbour, we should 
 use words in the sense in which he understands them. 
 Now Lord Liverpool and the other noble personages
 
 AGE 70.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH. 447 
 
 who had urged the objection, which the petitioners 
 professed to answer, had repeatedly and pubhcly de- 
 clared that by full and undivided allegiance they 
 meant entire submission to the Crown in spirituals 
 as well as in temporals!" Finally, he shows that the 
 Oath in the Bill which passed the Commons in the 
 last year, and was read a first time in the Lords, was 
 in fact the very same which was condemned by om* 
 Bishops and the Apostolic See in 1789 and 1791 ; 
 and proves that it would have subjected the spiritual 
 authority of the Church not only to those laws which 
 mihtate against the laws and counsels of the Gospel, 
 but also to the laws of the State and the hostility of 
 any future ministers. 
 
 A new Catholic Magazine, called the " Catholic 
 Miscellany" was commenced in January, 1822 ; and 
 Dr. Milner occasionally contributed articles to it 
 under various signatures. As the present writer 
 always knew what he wrote, he is enabled to record 
 the Bishop's several contributions, and give an account 
 of their contents. The first was dated " Somborne, 
 March 12," and signed " RoiiANo-CATHOLicus." It 
 expressed satisfaction at the establishment of the 
 " Catholic Miscellamj ^' and noticed some of its con- 
 tents with approbation. After pointing out what kind 
 of information was most desirable in such a periodical, 
 Dr. Milner expresses a hope that the " Miscellany'' 
 will notice the principal Catholic works which had 
 lately appeared, or were about to appear among us. 
 " You have not yet informed us that a reverend gen- 
 tleman, a friend of yours, is about to favour the public 
 with the translation of an interesting work respecting 
 the miracles of Prince Ilohenlohc." Here the Bishop 
 did the present writer the honour to allude to his
 
 448 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNEK. ['822. 
 
 translation from the German of a pamphlet by Baur 
 on the " Wonderful Acts'' of Prince Hohenlohe, which 
 the writer published in the same year, and which was 
 soon out of print. He complains that the Editor has 
 said nothing " concerning the Eev. Dr. Lingard's 
 splendid History of England," nor of Mr. C. Butler's 
 forthcoming new edition of his " Memoirs of English 
 Catholics^ He ingeniously alludes to the advertise- 
 ment of a seventh edition of his own " Letters to a 
 Prebendary^''' but expresses his doubts as to the pro- 
 priety of republishing the Postscript^ which was added 
 to the third or fourth edition, " in consequence of a 
 confederacy of Catholic gentlemen, two of whom are 
 said to have separately avowed to Dr. M. their share 
 in the transaction — in order to enable Dr. Sturges to 
 attack his antagonist and the Catholic religion in a 
 second edition of his Reflections on Popery upon fresh 
 
 ground However, as the actors in those scenes 
 
 have all received the divine judgment upon them, 
 except the director of them, and the object of the 
 Letters is to vindicate the Catholic religion and his- 
 tory, I think it would be better if the Postscript were 
 left out in the expected seventh edition." 
 
 A correspondent in the " Catholic Miscellany," sign- 
 ing himself R. H., — no doubt the late Rev. Richard 
 Horrabin, — having seen in the recent Pastoral of Dr. 
 MiLNER his strong objections to the Civil Sword Oath, 
 and heard some one say that it was seven to one that 
 it contained nothing deserving of censure, sent the 
 Address for insertion to the " Miscellany," which con- 
 tained the objectionable passage, with a list of the sig- 
 natures of " a great number of good, but unsuspecting 
 Catholics," as they were described by Dr. Mllner. 
 To this the Bishop sent a short reply signed Laocoon,
 
 AGE 70.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH. 449 
 
 which appeared in the Number for April. In this he 
 observed that Bishop Milner had waived the question 
 of the lawfulness of the Oath, and confined himself to 
 proving that the legislature understand by it an abso- 
 lute disclawier of all jurisdiction of the Holy See 
 whatsoever. He offers to lay eight to one that the 
 Bishop will be able to prove that it is censurable. " It 
 appears, moreover," he says, " that B. H. is not sensible 
 that the Civil Sword Oath was drawn up and ten- 
 dered as an introduction to the bare-faced Oath of 
 Supremacy, which even after Elizabeth's tiffany veil 
 had been thrown over it, some scores of our missionary 
 priests, as appears in their Memoirs^ lost their lives for 
 refusing." 
 
 In another Letter in the " Catholic Miscellany" for 
 April, signed "An Old Catholic Pastor," the 
 Bishop expressed his alarm at the notice in the news- 
 papers of a motion to be made in Parliament for 
 emancipating the Catholic nobility, wdiilst the rest 
 were to be left under their disabilities. " Will there 
 not be an Oath ?" he said : " I mean that very Oath 
 of Supremacy which was nearly enacted last year, and 
 which the Propaganda has since declared to be schis- 
 
 matical? I am the more alarmed on this head, 
 
 because I observe that the notice of the intended 
 measure comes from a quarter, which, some years 
 ago, proclaimed in Parliament, that the Catholics were 
 worthy of civil emancipation^ in consequence of their 
 having emancipated themselves from the spiritual 
 tyranny of the priesthood! Such are the w^ords, or 
 others to the same effect." 
 
 The first annual Meeting of the Clergy of the Mid- 
 land District, was held at Sedgley Park on the Sth of 
 May in this year, 1822, and w^as attended by 33 priests. 
 
 2g
 
 450 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1822. 
 
 Dr. Milner in his address to the assembled clergy 
 objected to the wording of an answer in the first cate- 
 chism, which he said had been altered from Bishop 
 Challoner's original, where it is declared that Christ 
 is of the same substance with God the Father. It 
 should be, as it was afterwards corrected, the self- 
 same substance. He condemned the conduct of the 
 priest, Vignali, who attended Napoleon on his death- 
 bed, for not requiring of him some public retractation 
 of the scandals of his life and conduct. He warned 
 the clergy against all vetoistical proposals ; and 
 charged them not to admit Mr. Charles Butler to the 
 Sacraments, without requiring from him a public 
 retractation of his opposition to his ecclesiastical supe- 
 rior. That gentleman having recently, in the third 
 edition of his " Memoirs J^ published for the twentieth 
 time his defence of the heterodox " Principles of a 
 Catholic^' which the Bishop had publicly censured, " is 
 to be treated," he said, "in this District, to which he 
 belongs, as a rebel to ecclesiastical authority and a 
 public sinner." 
 
 Shortly before this, Mr. Charles Butler had sent to 
 Cardinal Fontana, then Prefect of the Propaganda, a 
 Memorial^ dated March 23, 1822, in which he professed 
 to reply to Dr. Milner's charges against him. Dr. 
 Milner did not know of this Memorial, when he 
 directed his clergy as above ; nor does it appear 
 that he ever knew of it. A copy was sent by Mr. C. 
 Butler to Dr. Milner's successor, Dr. Walsh, March 
 '26th, 1830, about two years before Mr. Butler's death, 
 which took place on the 2nd of June, 1832, at the 
 advanced age of 82. This copy is in MS., for the 
 Memorial was never printed. It is half bound, and 
 lettered thus : Addition to Historical Memoirs^ vol.
 
 AGE 70.] CHAPTER TWENTY SIXTH. 451 
 
 2 ; the 1st vol., similarly half-bound and lettered, was 
 an " Exposition of some Circumstances which took 
 place in respect to the Controversy which took place 
 between the gentlemen of Stony hurst and Dr. Milner 
 on one side., and Dr. Poynter on the other ;" and was 
 presented to Dr. AValsh at the same time. In his 
 Memorial to Cardinal Fontana, Mr. C. Butler com- 
 plains of Dr. Milner's having " in pamphlets, journals, 
 magazines, weekly and daily newspapers, hand-bills, 
 and even in his Pastoral Letters, incessantly, and in 
 contumelious and low language, calumniated and 
 reviled him." It may be well here to recollect the 
 low and scurrilous language which Mr. C. Butler 
 could use against Dr. Milner, his superior, and 
 a venerable Bishop, when it suited his purpose. 
 Thus in a Letter in the " Catholic Gentleman's 
 Magazine'' for March, 1819, he calls Dr. Milner "a 
 fellow" — " a demagoguish scribe — without manners or 
 morality — but of unprincipled vulgarity." 
 
 He represents that in 1813 a meeting took place 
 " in order to put a termination to these proceedings, 
 and restore amity between Dr. Milner and himself;" 
 at which he selected five serious charges, which Dr. 
 Milner admitted to have been all founded on mistake. 
 Unfortunately, he says, a gentleman printed an 
 account of this meeting without his knowledge, which 
 he immediately suppressed : and he adds that Dr. 
 Milner inserted an article in consequence in the 
 " Orthodox Journal^'' more violent and abusive than 
 any of his former articles against Mr. Butler. 
 
 Now this may be taken as a fair specimen of the 
 veracity and general character of this Memorial. Let 
 the reader turn to Dr. Milner's " Re-statement of the 
 Conference' in the ^"^ Orthodox Journal^'' at the place
 
 452 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1822. 
 
 referred to, Vol. I., p. 94, or to the same published 
 separately ; and he will find that the meeting was held 
 for a very different purpose, to hear Dr. Milner's 
 jpuhlic grievances, and not Mr. Butler's jjrivate com- 
 plaints : that Dr. Milner, so far from admitting his 
 charges, has answered and refuted them, and declared 
 the whole of them to be but as dust in the scale, when 
 weighed against the real charges^ which he has 
 brought against Mr. Butler in his different w^orks. 
 These charges the Prelate enumerates, but only from 
 a conscientious sense of duty- " Not that I bear," he 
 says, " one atom of ill-will against the man ; but that 
 in the discharge of my duty to the Cathohc religion 
 and my station, I have thought it necessary to put 
 Catholics upon their guard against the agent^ who has 
 been latterly following the self-same measures, and in 
 the self-same way, which nearly involved them in 
 heterodoxy and schism upwards of twenty years ago." 
 The Memorialist slurs over the scandalous and 
 schismatical Protest of the Committee against the 
 condemnation of the Oath by Bishops Walmesley, 
 Gibson, and Douglass, Jan. 19, 1791, in these few 
 words : " It was condemned by three, and approved by 
 one of the Vicars Apostolic, the late Hon. and Rt. 
 Rev.Dr. Thos. Talbot, — he jDcrsisted in his approbation 
 of the Oath till his decease, — the Committee adhered 
 to him, and signed a Protestation against the condem- 
 nation of it by the three Vicars Apostolic." The 
 reader who has perused the account of the transaction 
 in Chapter Second of this biography, and especially if 
 he has consulted the records of the period when it 
 took place, will be astonished at the above inaccurate 
 and deceptive account of a Protest full of language 
 the most scandalous, schismatical, and even blasphe-
 
 AGE 70.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH. 4o3 
 
 mous. He will also detect the falsehood respecting 
 Bp. Thos. Talbot. For that Prelate joined his three 
 episcopal brethren in condemning the Oath, at Ham- 
 mersmith, Oct. 19, 1789 ; and if he did not join the 
 three Bishops in council when they condemned the 
 Oath afresh, with its unsatisfactory alterations, it was 
 only because he was then too much embarrassed with 
 ill-health and other difficulties. But what must strike 
 the reader most in the above extract, is Mr. Butler's 
 cool way of describing the opposition of the Com- 
 mittee: "the Committee adhered to him (Bp. Talbot), 
 and signed a Protestation against the condemnation of 
 it by the three Vicars Apostolic." As if it were a 
 mere indifferent matter of choice or j^rudence to oppose 
 a solemn decision of three Bishops, or to question their 
 right to decide on a question seriously affecting the 
 very foundations of faith and discipline ! 
 
 The Memorialist has the hardihood to defend be- 
 fore Cardinal Fontana the language of the condemned 
 Oath, and even to assert that the question why it should 
 not receive the same construction as the Oath taken 
 by the Irish Bishops, has never yet been satisfactorily 
 answered in the negative ; when he knows that Dr. 
 MiLNER has over and over again so replied to it. He 
 might mention, he says, "a niunber of falsehoods which 
 have been proved against Dr. Milner beyond a pos- 
 sibility of reply." He instances his charge against Dr. 
 Poynter of being a pensioner of the Catholic Board. 
 In this Dr. Milner afterwards acknow^ledged himself 
 to have been mistaken, though the Memorialist dis- 
 honourably conceals this acknow^ledgment ; his charge 
 against the Board of applying its funds to defraying 
 the expense of a publication against him ; which Dr. 
 Milner also afterwards retracted, though Mr. Butler
 
 454 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1822. 
 
 says not a word of the retractation. The only other 
 instance is Dr. ]\Iilner's charge against the Board, or 
 their secretary, of falsifying Lord Grey's speech. Now, 
 so far from this being a false charge, Dr. IVIilxer 
 triumphantly proved it in the " Re-statement of the 
 Conference' above referred to, Xo. II., " Orthodox 
 Journal^^ p. 97. Mr. Butler had seen this, and must 
 have winced under its concluding sentence : " Thus, 
 Sir, you stand convicted, not barely of falsehood, but 
 of impugning the known truth." Be it remembered 
 that this was one of the five charges, of which Mr. 
 Butler asserted that Dr. Milner " admitted:'' that they 
 " were luholly founded on mistake.'' And here in his 
 Memorial he has the audacity to bring it forward 
 again as an instance of falsehood on the part of Dr. 
 MiLNER, and to append to it the following impudent 
 conclusion : " and he might then ask if the acknow- 
 ledged maxim, '•falsus in uno^falsus in omnibus^ does 
 not apply to Dr. Milker ?" 
 
 He next refers to his own Letter to Dr. Poynter, to 
 be communicated by him to two others of the Vicars 
 Apostolic of England, and those of Scotland, assembled 
 at Durham in 1813, and not 1811, as he here, and in 
 his '•'■Historical Memoirs^'' 3rd Edition, page 516, most 
 unaccountably represents it. This Letter may be seen 
 at the above page of the " Memoirs." In it he says : 
 " Every charge brought against me by Dr. Milner, in 
 any of his former, or recent pubhcations, is either abso- 
 lute invention, — which applies to the greatest part of 
 them, — or absolute falsehood, or that misrepresentation 
 which amounts to falsehood. I do not except one 
 single charge." This is, indeed, a daring assertion, as 
 will strike any one acquainted with the numerous charges 
 which Dr. Milner had distinctly proved against the
 
 AGE 70.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH. 455 
 
 Memorialist : such as his latitudinarian proposals in 
 his ^'■Revolutions of the Germanic Empire^' exposed 
 in a note, p. 18, of Dr. Milner's " Elucidation of the 
 Veto" 1810 ; and the new creed proposed at the end of 
 Mr. Butler's Life of Fenelon^ which in subsequent 
 editions he omitted : such as Dr. Milner's charge 
 against him of asserting that " Indulgences are nothing 
 else than a mitigation or relaxation^ upon just causes, 
 of canonical 'penances^ enjoined by the pastors of the 
 Church on penitent sinners :"* which occurs word for 
 word in Vol. 4 of Mr. Butler's works, p. 223, Edition 
 1817 : such again as the charge of having for three 
 years, by ways which the Bishop detailed, laboured to 
 impose upon us the schismatical name of Protesting 
 Catholic Dissenters^ and a heterodox form of Oath : 
 such as the charge of writing by far the greater part, 
 and publishing the whole of the three Blue Books : 
 such as the charge of attempting to teach his eccle- 
 siastical superiors the Bishops, that they were ignorant 
 of their profession, in a folio called the Red Book^ 
 signed by himself. Many other well substantiated 
 charges did Dr. Milner bring against him : so that 
 when he has the effrontery to declare in his Letter to 
 Dr. Poynter and the Bishops, repeated in his Me- 
 morial to Cardinal Fontana, that every one of Dr. 
 Milner's charges against him is either invention or 
 falsehood, the reader will know to whom best applies 
 the maxim : '■''falsus in uno^ falsus in omnibus ;" 
 and will be able to judge how much credit is due to 
 the rest of Mr. Butler's Memorial. 
 
 He represents to the Cardinal that he lias never 
 received from any of the Prelates, to whom his Letter 
 
 * See Dr. M.'s " Supplementary Memoirs," Appendix A, p. 275.
 
 456 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1822, 
 
 was addressed, " the slightest intimation that anything 
 reprehensible has been found by them in any of his 
 publications." But he well knew that Dr. Milner 
 had long before declared to him in his " Restatement 
 of the Conference^'' No. VI. with reference to a 
 challenge which he stated he had made to Dr. M. at 
 the said conference, " to show one tenet, contrary to 
 the faith or discipline of the Church, which he had 
 ever advocated, or one person with whom he^had ever 
 confederated for undermining religion." Dr. Milner's 
 declaration being that he never remarked his challenge 
 on the occasion, and that if he had remarked it, he should 
 not then have accepted it ; because his duty to the 
 Church would forbid him to submit to any lay com- 
 pany the question as to what does, or does not under- 
 mine the Church ; or what is, or is not contrary to her 
 faith and disciphne. " But this," he adds, " I will do, 
 with God's permission ; should Mr. B. upon a receipt 
 of a copy of this paper, as he certainly will receive one, 
 think proper to repeat his challenge. I will collect 
 from his writings a sufficient quantity of the censurable 
 matter in question, upon which I will publicly pro- 
 nounce my own official judgment, and call for that of 
 my episcopal brethren." Mr. Butler was fully aware 
 of all this, and well knew that Dr. Milner was a man 
 to accomplish to the letter what he offered to undertake; 
 but he neither repeated his challenge, nor gave the least 
 hint in his Memorial of Dr. Milner's determination. 
 
 In his Memorial Mr. Butler is anxious to vindicate 
 himself against Dr. Milner's charge of want of due 
 respect for the authority of the Holy See ; and declares 
 his belief that he has not, even on a single occasion, 
 
 * MS. Memorial to Fontana, V. 4th.
 
 AGE 70.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXTH. 457 
 
 advocated any one article of Cisalpine doctrine on the 
 Pope's spiritual power.* Yet Dr. Milner had pointed 
 out in his " Supplementary/ Memoirs,''^ p. 3, a passage 
 from Mr. Butler's " Historical Memoirs^' where he 
 speaks as if he meant to " charge the illustrious Popes 
 of the sixteenth century with not understanding their 
 divine commission :" and the reader has seen above in 
 our Chapter Twelfth, that Dr. Milner had censured 
 certain propositions of the " Principles," relating to the 
 Pope ; which Mr. C. Butler must have included in 
 his general opinion, repeated even in his Memorial to 
 Cardinal Consalvi, that the " Principles" are quite free 
 from substantial objection.f 
 
 The Memorial to Cardinal Fontana does not appear 
 to have made any great impression upon the S. Con- 
 gregation of Propaganda^ if we may judge from the 
 brief answer addressed to Mr. C. Butler by Cardinal 
 Consalvi, dated July 6, 1822, which merely says that 
 the Memorial has induced him highly to commend 
 Mr. B.'s moderation, and prudent conduct towards 
 Dr. Milner, and that he trusts " that by these means 
 all further cause of ill-w^ill and animosity will cease." 
 It has been stated above that Dr. Milner knew no- 
 thing of this Memorial. It is proper, however, to men- 
 tion, in justice to Mr. Butler, that he authorised Dr. 
 Gradwell, then Rector of the English College, to state 
 to Propaganda that he was ready to furnish Dr. 
 Mllner with a copy for his defence, whenever the S. 
 Congregation should think proper. The Secretary, 
 however, Mgr. Pedicini, answered, that this was indeed 
 manly, but that as Dr. Milner was " a man of such 
 warm feelings, and of such a pertinacious disposition, 
 
 * MS. Memorial to Fontana, V. 4th. 
 t MS. Memorial to Consalvi, VI.
 
 458 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1822. 
 
 it might kindle a blaze," and that he thought " it would 
 be better to imitate the past edifying and peaceful 
 conduct of Mr. Butler, than run the risk of a trouble- 
 some and disedifying contention by communicating the 
 document to his Lordship."* And so Dr. Milner 
 was not allowed any chance of defending himself, or 
 answering the Memorial against him. It deserves to 
 be noted that Mr. Butler all along represented the 
 affair as if it were a personal quarrel between Dr. 
 Milner and himself ; and spoke of the Bishop as at 
 enmity with him. This also led Cardinal Consalvi to 
 express his hope " that ill will and animosity would 
 cease." But this was a most unfair and unjust repre- 
 sentation. It was no quarrel between two individuals ; 
 but a case of a Bishop authoritatively pronouncing 
 upon the writings and conduct of a layman : the 
 Bishop protested again and again that he had no feel- 
 ing of animosity against Mr. Butler, and those who 
 knew him intimately could attest the truth of his 
 declaration : but he pursued him, as in duty bound, as 
 a man dangerous to the interests of religion ; and in 
 this he acted in the spirit of St. Jerom, that the ene- 
 mies of the Church should ever be his enemies. The 
 further proceedings of Mr. Butler, with reference to 
 his Memorial^ and their results, will be detailed among 
 the events of the year following. 
 
 * Letter from Dr. Gradwell to Mr. C. Butler, dated Rome, 
 18th July, 1822.
 
 AGE 70. J CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 459 
 
 CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 
 
 CONFIRMATIONS. — ORDINATION AND FIRST MASS OF REV. 
 
 JAMES JONES. DR. MILNER PUBLISHES HIS VINDICATION 
 
 AGAINST GRIER THREE LETTERS OF DR. MILNER IN 
 
 THE C. MISCELLANY LETTER IN THE SAME ON THE MI- 
 RACULOUS CURE OF MISS BARBARA o'cONNOR. — LENTEN 
 PASTORAL AGAINST THE " PRINCIPLES." — MR. C. BUTLER's 
 
 MEMORIAL TO CARDINAL CONSALVI HIS ACCOMPANYING 
 
 LETTER TO DR. GRADWELL. THE ABBE CORDIER's LETTER 
 
 TO DR. MILNER. 
 
 Though Dr. Milner was constantly engaged in de- 
 fending religion by his pen, he never neglected the 
 numerous other duties of his episcopal charge. No 
 one was ever more sensible than this incomparable 
 Prelate, thai however he might be praised for his 
 learned and powerful writings, such praise would be 
 valueless, if he were inattentive to the immediate care 
 of the flock entrusted to him. Indeed he was perfectly 
 indifferent to the praise, or censure of men : he looked 
 only to the approval of his divine Master, and had no 
 doubt often repeated the memorable words of the 
 great St. Augustine : — "Nee malam conscientiam 
 sanat praeconium laudantis, nee bonam vulnerat oppro- 
 brium convitiantis. Senti de Augustine quidquid 
 libet, sola me in oculis Dei conscientia non accuset." 
 S. Aug., Lib. iii., contra Ep. PetUlan. Donat. et lib. 
 contra secund. Manich.* 
 
 * Neither does the praise of him who commends lieal a bud 
 conscience, nor the opprobrium of him who reviles wound a "-ood 
 one. Think what you please of Augustine, only let not conscience 
 accuse me in the si^ht of God.
 
 460 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1822. 
 
 Accordingly, we find him always at bis post, accessi- 
 ble at all times to his clergy, and ever ready to concm* 
 in their pious plans, to assist in their undertakings, and 
 to comply with their calls to administer the holy 
 Sacrament of Confirmation to their flocks. On the 
 25tli of April in this year, 1822, he confirmed at 
 Bloxwich ; in May, at Wolverhampton and at Oscott. 
 On the 31st of May, he ordained another priest at 
 Oscott, the Rev. James Jones, He was the youngest 
 of five brothers, who all became priests ; and said his 
 first Mass on the octave of Corpus Christi, June 13th, 
 at Long Birdi, the mission of the third brother, Samuel; 
 the eldest brother, William, assisting as deacon, and 
 the next, Charles, as subdeacon. The other clerical 
 brother, John, joined in the musical department, while 
 the sixth brother, Clement, a layman, played, and their 
 sister Sarah took part in the singing. The venerable 
 mother was also present ; and thus the whole was a 
 most gratifying religious and family celebration, perhaps 
 unprecedented. In the month of June, Dr. Milner 
 confirmed at Sedgley Park, Caverswall Castle, and 
 Tixall ; and in July at Oxford. 
 
 It was mentioned above, that when Dr. Milner 
 published his immortal work, " The End of Contro- 
 versy^''' he observed that though he had called it the 
 End^ it was likely enough to prove the Beginning of 
 Controversy. If it was not exactly such, it soon met 
 with an assailant, in the person of the Rev. Richard 
 Grier, who published in 1821, an octavo of 416 pages, 
 entitled, " A Reply to the End of Religious Contro- 
 versy., S^cy But Dr. Milner was not slow to defend 
 his work. He pubhshed in July of this year, 1822, a 
 volume of nearly the same length as Mr. Grier' s, en- 
 titled : " A Vindication of the End of Religious
 
 AGE 70.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 46 1 
 
 Controversy fro7n the exceptions of the Right Rev. 
 Dr. Thomas Burgess., Bishop of St. David's, and 
 the Rev. Richard Grier., A.M.., S^c, hy the Rev. J. 3/., 
 D.D., F.S,A:' It is in "Letters to a Catholic Con- 
 vert," for he was fond of the epistolary form, and had 
 adopted it in most of his works. He devotes about 
 twenty pages to Dr. Burgess, showing the inconsis- 
 tency of his " Protestant's Catechis7n,'' and exposing 
 the paradoxes of his later work, the " Grand Schism 
 of the SixteentJi Century.'' The bulk of the voliune, 
 however, is a refutation of Mr. Grier's work, step by 
 step, on all the points of the Bishop's " End of Con ■ 
 troversy." 
 
 It was well observed in a review in the " Catholic 
 Miscellany" for Nov., 1822, written by the Rev. Thos. 
 McDonnell, then chaplain and missioner at Worksop, 
 now Canon of Clifton, and missioner at Bath, — that 
 Mr. Grier entirely lost sight of the principles on which 
 Dr. Milner's '■'■ Endof Controversy" rested, and in- 
 stead of showing that its plan was erroneous, or that the 
 author's Rule of Faith was not the right rule, or prov- 
 ing that his Church is not the Catholic Church, con- 
 tented himself with mere desultory attacks upon some 
 of its details. " Though this proceeding is uncandid," 
 he continues, " and must be unsatisfactory, we do not 
 regret the appearance of this Reply., unless it be for 
 the sake of the Rev. R. Grier himself, or for the sake 
 of those whose delusion he may contribute to maintain. 
 In the Vindication., to which it has given rise, we 
 have another valuable treatise in defence of those doc- 
 trines, which are not only our hope and consolation^ 
 when we look forward into the world beyond the 
 grave, but even here yield a tranquillity and joy of 
 soul, which our misguided brethren can never know."
 
 462 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1822. 
 
 Dr. Milner's " Vindication,'^ however, not only regu- 
 larly follows up Mr. Grier's arguments, and ably 
 defends the positions of his first work, but contains 
 some new and valuable dissertations, such as those on 
 the Canon of Scripture, and oq the Celibacy of the 
 Clergy. " Instead of contesting my primary and funda- 
 mental principles," says Dr. M., " he undertakes to 
 answer an incidental question, of secondary import- 
 ance, which I asked, concerning the Canon of Scrip- 
 ture However, as my antagonist declines meeting 
 
 me in the open field, I must follow him into the by- 
 lanes in which he chooses to skirmish."* The Letter 
 VII., on the Canon of the Scriptures, is very valuable, 
 and closes with an admirable refutation of the pre- 
 tended vicious circle alleged against our analysis of 
 Faith, by Bp. Porteus and other Protestants. The 
 concluding Letter, XXVL, is a masterly summing up 
 of the plan and argument of the " £Jnd of Contro- 
 versy]'' and an exposure of the failure of Mr. Grier in 
 his professed '■'■ Reply '^ " To me, indeed," says the 
 Bishop, " this gentleman does not appear to have 
 proved a single point he has taken in hand : at all 
 events, it is evident that his book is no answer to 
 mine, as he quite overlooks the scope and principal 
 contents of it." What is most remarkable, and admir- 
 able, in all Dr. Milner's controversial writings, is the 
 earnest and affectionate tone which pervades them, and 
 his constantly insisting on the necessity of seeking 
 truth rather than victory, and looking not to the 
 transient things of time, but to the secure possession 
 of a blissful eternity. Thus he concludes his " Vin- 
 dication'' with this feeling appeal: "In closing this 
 
 * " Vindication," Letter VII.
 
 AGE 70.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 463 
 
 long controversy, I take leave to address my reverend 
 opponent in the words of the illustrious doctor and 
 martyr, St. Cyprian, to one of his adversaries: 'You 
 have now my book, and 1 have yours : each of them 
 will be produced before the tribunal of Christ, at the 
 day of judgment.'* Alas! what will fame, what will 
 patronage, what will preferment avail us, should we 
 then be found to have misapplied the talents entrusted 
 to us, by disguising instead of illustrating his revealed 
 truths, to the loss of our own and other immortal souls, 
 for which he shed his precious blood !" 
 
 Upon the publication of Dr. Milxer's " Vindica- 
 tion,"' there appeared a short Letter in the ''Catholic 
 Miscellany"" for July, signed "An Inquirer," but 
 written by the Bishop himself, saying that it would be 
 curious now to observe whether Mr, Grier would 
 repeat his assertions, that " Popery is an impudent 
 cause," and that the " Papists, forgetful of their past 
 defeats, seem to court fresh disgrace ;" or whether he 
 would imitate the conduct of the Professor of Divinity 
 of Berne, who being charged by its supreme council 
 to answer the well-known letter of their fellow coun- 
 sellor, M. Haller, now a Catholic convert, and having 
 engaged in a course of controversial studies to enable 
 him to perform this task, ended in becoming a Catholic 
 himself. Indeed he is now a novice in the Jesuits' 
 College, at Fribourg." 
 
 In September, the Bishop administered the Sacra- 
 ment of Confirmation at Shrewsbury; and in October, 
 at Cobridge. He wrote a short Letter, dated Nov. 
 22, and signed " Pastor Minimus," which appeared 
 
 * "Habes tu literas meas, et ego tuas. In die judicii, ante 
 tribunal Cliristi, utrumque rccitubitur." S. Cvru. Pupiano, 
 Lib. iv., Ep. 9.
 
 464 LIFE OF BISHOP MILKER. ^622. 
 
 in the " Catholic Miscellany'' for December ; in which 
 he urged the necessity of being prepared for Mr. 
 Canning's bringing on the Cathohc question early in 
 the next Session of Parliament, and clogging it with 
 some securities, in conformity with his reported words 
 in Parliament : " What, are the people (the Catholics) 
 to receive everything from us, and to give us nothing 
 in exchange ?" " which implies," says the Bishop, 
 " that he requires a slice of our religion in return for 
 civil emancipation." He denounces the false liberality 
 of some weak Catholics, who had built and endowed 
 Protestant places of worship, and even presented plate 
 to them. He mentions " that the Catholic Prelates are 
 known not to have been agreed on certain points of 
 doctrine and discipline which occurred in the Oath 
 and Bill of last year, and that it is still a point in 
 debate, whether the leading Prelate in this island (Dr. 
 Poynter) did or did not write to the lay Board, that 
 they might safely take the Oath of Supremacy^ as 
 he had modified it." This last allusion will be under- 
 stood from what follows. He wrote another Letter in 
 the same magazine for December, signed " A Catholic 
 Divine," in which he pointed out a glaring contradic- 
 tion in two works by Mr. Charles Butler, on a very 
 important subject. 
 
 Mr. Butler in his ^^ Historical Memoirs " says at p. 384 
 of the 3rd Edition: " It should be observed that in 
 every suggestion, which he made for softening the 
 securities. Dr. Poynter always took care to intimate 
 that, even with those alterations, he did 7iot approve 
 themr But in his ^'-Reminiscences^' p. 301, Mr. 
 Butler flatly contradicts this, in the following terms : 
 " The Reminiscent avails himself of this opportunity 
 to state, that he understands it to be most confidently
 
 AGE 70.] CHArTEIl TWENTY SEVENTH. 465 
 
 asserted that Dr. Poynter, the Vicar Apostohc of the 
 London District, did not only not approve, but did 
 exphcitly disapprove of the Oath finally inserted in Mr. 
 Plunkett's Bill. This assertion is most unfounded : 
 the Bill passed the Commons on the 2nd day of April, 
 1821 : on the following day, the 3rd of the same 
 month. Dr. Poynter, of his own accord, addressed a 
 letter to the noblemen and gentlemen of the R. Catho- 
 lic Board, and signified to them most ejcplicitly his 
 approbation of the Oath, and his opinion that they 
 might conscientiously take it. Dr. Milner expresses 
 his hope, that in Dr. Poynter' s absence, who was then 
 in Paris, some ecclesiastic in his confidence will pub- 
 licly state whether he did write such a letter ; and in 
 case he did, whether " he still maintains its sentiments, 
 since the latest communications here and in Ireland 
 with a certain high authority." 
 
 Early in the followingyear,1823,the pen of our indefa- 
 tigable Prelate was again employed. He wrote an admi- 
 rable Letter in the " Catholic Miscellany^'' for January, 
 in defence of the miraculous cure of Miss Barbara 
 O'Connor, a mm at New Hall, in Essex, called in reli- 
 gion, Sister Mary Aloysia Gonzaga, which cure had 
 taken place on the 3rd of May previously. From the 
 month of November, 1820, Miss O'Connor had been 
 afllicted with excruciating pains in her right arm, and 
 had lost all use of the arm and hand. Application 
 was made to the holy Prince Hohenlohe, who engaged 
 to say Mass for her on the 3rd of May, 1 822. She 
 made a holy preparation by a spiritual retreat and 
 novena, and by a general confession. On the 2nd 
 of May, her arm was examined by Dr. Badeley of 
 Chelmsford, and Mr. Barlow, a surgeon of Writtle, 
 
 2h
 
 466 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1823. 
 
 both Protestants, who declared it to be in as bad a state 
 as they had ever seen it ; the wrist measuring 15 inches 
 roimd. On the 3rd of May, Mass was said by the 
 chaplain of the convent, at which Miss O'Connor and 
 all the sisters communicated. At the beginning of 
 the last Gospel, she experienced a sudden shock in her 
 right shoulder, and a thrilling sensation passed down 
 her arm and hand. The pain instantly ceased, her 
 arm and hand were restored to motion, and the swell- 
 ing gradually subsided. Dr. Badeley and Mr. Barlow 
 visited her shortly after, expressed their astonishment 
 at the cure, and attributed it to the divine power and 
 goodness. Dr. Badeley, indeed, in a letter on the 24th 
 of May, expressed himself thus : " This, my dear Sir, 
 baffles all reasoning. What can we say ? nothing : 
 but bow in silent wonder and admiration : or burst out 
 with the poet : These are thy wondrous works ! 
 Parent of good ! Almighty !" 
 
 Dr. Badeley soon after published a very interesting 
 pamphlet : ^^An Authentic Narrative of the Extra- 
 ordinary Cure performed by Prince Alexander 
 Holenhohe^ on Miss Barbara O' Connor, a Nun in the 
 Convent of New Hall, near Chelmsford, by John 
 Badeley, M.D., Protestant Physician to theConvent.'" 
 On this pamphlet, Dr. Milner made some valuable 
 remarks in the Letter referred to, mider the signature 
 of Aloysius Stanislaus. He praises the author for 
 vindicating the community of New Hall from the 
 odious charge of imposture ; but of course differs from 
 him in his way of accounting for the cure ; which Dr. B., 
 being a physician, "is obliged, by an established 
 rule of his profession," to ascribe to natural causes. 
 Being also a Protestant, he is forced to deny with Dr.
 
 AGE 71.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 467 
 
 Middleton tliat miracles have been wrought since the 
 time of tlie Apostles. " I must a<ld," says the Bishop, 
 " that the acute Middleton demonstrates, that the 
 admission of a succession of miracles since the time of 
 the Ajjostles would inevitahly prove the trutli of 
 the Catholic religion, not only in a general way, as an 
 attestation of her sanctity, but also in a special manner, 
 inasmuch as these miracles will be found, each of them, 
 to bear testimony to some particular doctrine or prac- 
 tice of the Catholics. Thus the miraculous cure of 
 Miss O'Connor proves tlie truth and holiness of Con- 
 fession and the Sacrament of Penance, and likewise of 
 the Sacrament and Sacrifice of the body and blood of 
 Jesus Christ in the Holy Mass." 
 
 Dr. Badeley did not venture to speak out in his 
 pamphlet, as he had done in the private letter referred 
 to al)ove. lie says : " The cure was effected by 
 perfect faith and confidence in the remedy ;" and 
 concludes his painpldet with these words : " It forms 
 this remarkable coincidence, that Protestants and 
 Cathohcs unite, at last, in one belief ; — hy fnith 
 bodies are saved Jiere and souls hereafter. '" But, as 
 Dr. Mllner unanswerably argues, if faitli be the 
 efficient agent in all miracles, how will he account for 
 miracles on dead bodies and insensible matter ? Or 
 why does lie say in liis title-page that the cure was 
 performed hy Prince HohenloJie^ who was hundreds of 
 miles distant ? or how did it happen that the cure did 
 not take place at the elevation or communion in the 
 Mass, when her faith was chiefly excited, but when, as 
 Dr. Badeley himself relates, "j\Tass being nearly 
 ended. Miss O'Connor, not finding the immediate 
 relief she expected, exclaimed : ' Thy will be done, O 
 Lord ! thou hast not thought me worthy of this cure.'
 
 468 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1823. 
 
 Almost immediately after, she felt an extraordinary 
 sensation, &c."* Dr. Badeley relates some cures of 
 gout and lumbago by the force of imagination. " But," 
 continues Dr. Milner, " how diiferent are these cases 
 from that of Miss O'Connor, who was cured at the 
 day and hour predicted by her devout, but absent 
 friend, of a dreadful topical disease of the hand and 
 arm, which, during eighteen months, had baffled all 
 the skill and efforts of the most able physicians and 
 surgeons !" Dr. Badeley's long acquaintance with the 
 nuns at New Hall had, however, removed most of his 
 prejudices against the Catholic rehgion ; and Dr. 
 Milner ends his review of the pamphlet by expressing 
 an earnest hope, that from his well known good sense 
 and candour, he may be so strengthened by divine 
 srace, as to " acknowledge that God does not leave 
 his true Church, even in these days, without testi- 
 mony." Dr. Badeley died September 22, 1851, from 
 accidentally taking an over-dose of morphia. His son, 
 however, became a Catholic, and embraced the legal 
 profession. 
 
 Dr. Milner took the opportunity of sending his 
 Lenten Pastoral this year to his clergy, to communicate 
 to them some important particulars, in a " Letter to 
 the Catholic Clergy of the Midkmd District^' dated 
 January 21, 1823. It chiefly treats of the Creed or 
 Formulary first published in the Midland District, from 
 an anonymous work of the preceding century, but 
 greatly altered and corrupted. It bore the title of 
 " R. Catholic Principles in reference to God and the 
 Country:' Other editions of it followed ; but it 
 was uniformly rejected by the Vicars Apostolic, and a 
 
 * Dr. Badeley's " Authentic Narrative," p. 15.
 
 AGE 71.] CIIArTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 469 
 
 leading principle of it pronounced by them in 1792 to 
 be heretical. The Bishop charges his clergy not to 
 admit this into their flocks as dujust and accurate ex- 
 position of Catholic doctrine., and reminds them of his 
 having previously specified his grounds for censuring 
 it as defective., ambiguous^ suspicious^ and erroneous^ 
 as also essentially defective as a Creed; and recapitu- 
 lates his several other objections to it. He informs 
 his clergy that to his judgment and censure, all the 
 Catholics of the District have submitted, except one 
 lay gentleman of the law, who professes to belong to 
 the District, in consequence of his estate lying in it, 
 and " is said occasionally to retreat into this District, 
 to perform certain spiritual exercises." This gentle- 
 man, who circulated and defended this erroneous pro- 
 fession thirty years ago, has been indefatigable in 
 republishing and defending it. He has again repub- 
 lished it in a third edition of his Memoirs., " in which 
 he vainly attempts to oppose the authority of deceased 
 Prelates to that of his living, speaking Prelate. Lastly, 
 in his recent Reminiscences., he defends the Creed, as 
 ' exhibiting a just and accurate statement of the princi- 
 ples of learned and impartial Catholics.' " The Bishop, 
 after exposing some other proceedings of the layman, 
 whom he refrains from naming, but who, of course, was 
 Mr. Charles Butler, denounces again the suggestions 
 in favour of the Oath of Supremacjj., and thus con- 
 cludes : " Set your faces then, I beseech you, dear 
 brethren, against all ambiguous, involved and new- 
 invented phrases in matters of religion, and especially 
 in invoking the God of truth. If we are called upon 
 for a mere test of civil allegiance, no words can be 
 devised more express for this purpose, than those of
 
 470 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1823. 
 
 the Oath we have taken : if more than civil allegiance 
 be required of us, we must die sooner than yield it." 
 
 In consequence of this Address of Dk. Milner to 
 his clergy, Mr. C. Butler, wdio had received no further 
 notice of his first Memorial to Cardinal Fontana, 
 addressed a second one to his successor as Prefect of 
 the Propaganda^ Cardinal Consalvi. In this, he defends 
 the Formulary called the " Principles^' and attempts 
 to justify his frequent and recent publication of it, 
 from what he calls tlie " abusive vituperations" of 
 Dr. Milner. He begins by declaring very dogmati- 
 cally that Dr. M. should have made his objections 
 public, when Mr. Kirk's edition of the " Principles^'' 
 was published in 1815, and then signified them to that 
 gentleman, " instead of which," he says, " Dr. Milner, 
 laid by from 1815 to 1819, and then on the publication 
 of them by your Memorialist^ho. published his strange 
 and evasive criticism of them." To say nothing of a 
 layman's presuming to decide what a Bishop should 
 have done, it will suffice to observe that the " Princi- 
 ples''^ w^ere published in the work entitled, the " Faith 
 of Catholics" by Mr. Kirk, in 1813, as the reader has 
 seen above, in Chapter Twelfth, before he printed the 
 "Principles" separately in 1815 ; and that Dr. Milner 
 did not lie by till 1819, but in his " Pastoral Charge 
 on the Jurisdiction of the Catholic Church ^^ Part 
 III.^ April 12, 1813, only a few months after the 
 pubhcation of the " Faith of Catholics" he censured 
 several propositions in the " Principles^'' as already 
 detailed in our Twelfth Cliapter. Nor did he fail to 
 signify to Mr. Kirk his objections ; for he sent copies 
 of the Pastoral to all his clergy, and to some dis- 
 tinguished Catholics. Besides this, he had, under his
 
 AGE 71.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 471 
 
 own signature, in the " Orthodox Journar for Febru- 
 ary, 1814, publicly proclaimed his censure of several 
 propositions of the ^^ Principles" and mentioned that 
 he had premousli) given Messrs. Berington and 
 Kirk to understand that he pointedly objected to 
 different passages of it. What judgment are we to 
 form of the veracity of Mr. C. Butler's second Memo- 
 rial^ when at its very outset it asserts falsehoods so 
 glaring ? But when Mr. Butler lays down for his 
 episcopal superior that he ought to have noticed the 
 "Principles," and made known his objections to it 
 earlier, how came he himself to " lie by" from 1819 to 
 1823, before he attempted to defend that Formulary, 
 and when at last he made some attempt, how came he 
 to do so only in a private Memorial.^ and not to the 
 Bishop, though he had been solemnly called upon to 
 do so by Dr. Milner, in these words: "I shall expect 
 that, on the sight of this letter, which I shall take an 
 early opportunity of publishing, he will answer the 
 following positive objections against his clear and 
 accurate exposition of the Roman Catholic Creed., as 
 he proclaims it to be, in opposition to that Bishop's 
 (Milner's) censure, and likewise tJiat he should lay 
 before me and the public his motives for adopting 
 Mr. Berington and Mr. Kirk's numerous alterations 
 of this Creed, in preference to the original text."* 
 He proceeds, however, in his Memorial., to notice 
 Dr. Milner's chief objections to the " Principles.'' 
 First, that this tract was uniformly rejected by the 
 Vicars Apostolic in 1785. This he denies, on the 
 strength of certain letters of those Prelates preserved 
 
 * " Letter from tlie Vicar Apostolic of the Midland District to 
 a General Vicar of the same District," 1819.
 
 472 LIFE OF BISHOP inLNER. [1823. 
 
 at Buckland. But if the reader will refer to Dr. 
 Milnek's Letter to a General Vicar^ which forms 
 Appendix A to his " Supplementary Memoirs^' he will 
 find ample proofs that the Vicars Apostolic did reject 
 that Formulary ; and though Mr. Butler asserts that 
 Bp. James Talbot signed it, Dr. Milner produces his 
 own words in a letter to his brother, Dr. Thomas Talbot, 
 saying that he has declined subscribing to it. Mr. C. 
 Butler suppresses altogether the fact more than once 
 recorded by Dr. Milner, that the Vicars Apostolic, at 
 their Meeting in Ormond-street, London, in 1792, 
 censured one proposition of the " Principles'' relating 
 to the Pope as heretical So much again for the 
 veracity of this Memorial. 
 
 Mr. C. Butler labours to answer Dr. Milner's objec- 
 tions to some other propositions of the " Principles" 
 relative to Faith and Indulgences ; but whoever com- 
 pares his attempts with the sound theology of Dr. 
 Milner, in the above Letter to a General Vicar .^ or 
 in the many other writings in which he censured those 
 propositions, must be sensible that the Memoriahst has 
 only made bad worse. 
 
 Mr. Butler dwells much on the approval of the 
 " Principles" by Mr. Gother, and by Bp. Walmesley. 
 Of the first. Dr. Milner wrote thus in the " Orthodox 
 Journal for 1814, p. 56 : " Mr. Gother is no eccle- 
 siastical authority. He was a good man, and a per- 
 spicuous writer in the beaten roads of morality and 
 controversy ; nevertheless, those who are acquainted 
 with the history of his life and education, know that 
 he neither was, nor had the opportunity of becoming 
 a deep divine." Mr. Gother, indeed, when treating of 
 Indulgences in his " Afternoon Instructions," for the 
 Feast of the Nativity of the B. Virgin, is by no means
 
 AGE 71.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 473 
 
 correct in his explanation. Of Bishop Walmesley, Dr. 
 MiLNER says in his " Letter to a General Vicar ;" — - 
 " Not only the present writer (that is, Dr. Milner 
 himself), but the whole Catholic public is witness, that 
 among all the opposers of the writings and conduct of 
 both Mr. Berington and Mr. C. Butler, Bishop Walmes- 
 ley was, at all times, the most strenuous." 
 
 Finally, though Mr. Butler professes perfect ortho- 
 doxy, and expresses very laudably his readiness to 
 reject any article in the "Prz//c?/>/6\?," which is repug- 
 nant to faith, or established discipline, still in the face 
 of all Dr. Milner's arguments and plain proofs to the 
 contrary, he says : " He believes, hopes, and humbly 
 trusts that The Principles are quite free from sub- 
 stantial objection." 
 
 To the copy of this Memorial is appended a copy 
 of his Letter to Rev. Dr. Gradwell, which accompanied 
 it. In this he complains of Dr. Milner's directing 
 his clergy to refuse absolution to him unless he should 
 retract certain publications. He declares that he has 
 never been informed, which are the publications of 
 which Dr. Milner requires a retractation. Here again 
 he does not speak truth. He was told in Dr. Mil- 
 ner's '"'' Restatement of the Conference^ He well 
 knew, also, that when returning from that Conference 
 in 1813, he said to Dr. Milner, with a most fascinat- 
 ing smile : " Well, Dr. Milner, I hope you will now 
 say that I may go to heaven." To which the 
 Bishop answered with the most severe air : " I se- 
 riously advise you, Mr. Butler, to revise your publica- 
 tions, and to retract, in particular, the Protest in the 
 second Blue Book.''* In the same Letter, in which 
 
 * " Orthod. Journal" for 1818, p. 108. »
 
 474 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1823. 
 
 Dr. Milner records this, under the signature of Elea- 
 ZAR, he signifies other serious matters, which Mr. 
 Butler must recall and retract, such as the scandalous 
 doctrine of the Blue Books, his active support of the 
 Fifth Resolution, and the infamous Bill of 1813, the 
 plan of educating Catholic children in Methodistical 
 schools, and of instructing ignorant Catholics by Bibles 
 in the vulgar tongue, without a word of comment, 
 though this has been so recently condemned by the 
 Pope. But says Mr. Butler, " If they (the publica- 
 tions) are the Blue Books, I must observe that I never 
 signed them ; and it is most extraordinary, that after 
 
 all who signed them have been permitted to live 
 
 and die in peace, without any retractation having been 
 required of them, I who did not sign them should, 
 after a period of thirty years, be required to retract 
 them ?" Surely there never was so monstrous, so dis- 
 graceful a quibble and evasion. He did not sign 
 them : no, he was only the secretary ; but he wrote 
 the whole of the first and third Blue Books, and a 
 considerable part of the second ; and no one doubts 
 that he drew up the shocking schismatical Protest, 
 which, above all, it was his duty to retract. lie wrote, 
 and published, and advocated the Blue Books, and 
 sought eleven years after to get them reprinted ; and 
 now he seeks to evade retracting, because he did not 
 actually sign them ! Moreover, in saying that all who 
 did sign them were permitted to live and die in peace, 
 without any retractation having been required of them, 
 he states what he must have known to be untrue. For 
 Dr. Berington and Mr. Wilks were both required to 
 sign a retractation of them as a condition of being 
 allowed their respective faculties. The formulary 
 signed by Dr. Berington was in these terms : " Ego
 
 AGE 71.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 475 
 
 Carolus Berington ad normam declarationis milii per S. 
 Congrcgationem, probante Summo Pontifice, praescrip- 
 tcT, ad S. Congregationem perferendse, pro reprobatione 
 formulae Juramenti a S. Congregatione reprobatae, una 
 cum Libellis, qui vulgo Torchini {Blue Books) dicun- 
 tur, atque adeo pravse qualiscunque, noxiae, pericu- 
 losaeque doctrinae in ill is, sive Formula, sive Libellis 
 contentae praesenti hoc meo scripto declaro me revocare, 
 revocatamque haberi velle subscriptionem praedictis 
 scriptis ac Libellis a me appositam, etc." 
 
 He complains of Dr. Milner's "most inhumanly" 
 jeering ]iim for a natural defect in his countenance ; 
 but he knew that Du. Milner more than once in print 
 expressed his regret for having done so, and made an 
 ample apology. It was unmanly of Mr. Butler, after 
 that, to allude at all to the transaction. He declares 
 that " the charoe of continuinc^Dr. Geddes' translation 
 of the Bible, is wholly and absolutely false." But Dr. 
 Milner never made that charge. He charged him 
 with publishing a covMnuation of the infidel Geddes' 
 condemned Bible, that is publishing what Geddes did 
 not live to publish himself, which is a different thing 
 from going on with the translation, though it is an im- 
 plied approval of the same. But this denial was met 
 long before by Dr. Milner in the second of his two 
 " Letters to a Roman Catholic Prelate of Ireland^'' 
 in a note at page 56 ; where the Bishop says, in answer 
 to Mr. Butler s denial : — " I have lying before me : 'A 
 new translation of the Book of Psalms, by the late 
 Dr. Geddes, printed for J. Johnson, St. Paufs Church- 
 yard, 1807 ;' with a previous Advertisement of eight 
 pages, celebrating that unhappy priest, who lived and 
 died like an infidel, signed : ' John Disney, Charles 
 Butler, London, Jan. 17, 1807,' they being the per-
 
 476 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1823. 
 
 sons who undertook to revise the papers of the 
 deceased." Once more, what opinion must we form 
 of a man who could thus attempt to impose upon 
 Cardinal Consalvi by a palpable falsehood ? 
 
 Finally, in this Letter to Dr. Gradwcli, ^h. C. 
 Butler threatens to prosecute Dr. Milner, a Eishop, 
 for slander, and says : '• I have gone so far as to lay 
 a case upon it before one of the most eminent Counsel 
 of his Majesty's Court of King's Bench at Westmin- 
 ster." The layman, who was prepared thus to drag a 
 Bishop before a secular tribunal, in defiance of the 
 severe prohibitions of the Church, only thereby exposed 
 the hopelessness of his cause. 
 
 The reader may wish to be informed what was the 
 issue of this second Memorial and of the Letter to 
 Gradwell. There was none at ail ; as appears from 
 this final note to Mr. C. Butler's MS. "Mr. Butler 
 received no written answer to his Letter or Memorial 
 to Cardinal Consalvi, dated 1st April, 1823 : the trou- 
 bles at Rome and other circumstances having long 
 prevented his attention to these concerns. But his 
 Eminence finally took Mr. Butler's Memorial into con- 
 sideration ; was satisfied with it ; and expressed his 
 intention of returning a favourable answer to it. From 
 doing this, his death prevented him." This note is 
 signed "Charles Butler, 31st March, 1830." The reader 
 will bear in mind that all these proceedings were kept 
 from the knowledge of Dr. Milner ; who, had he 
 been allowed to defend himself, as even Mr. Butler 
 was willing to allow him to do, would have answered 
 the charges against him readily. Two years after Dr. 
 Milner's death, " mortuo hone etcT — Mr. C. Butler, 
 at a Meeting of the British Catholic Association, 
 January 22, 1828, stated that he had intended to enter
 
 AGE 71.] CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 477 
 
 fully into the topics upon which the late Catholic 
 Board, the present Association, and himself as an 
 active, and as had been frequently asserted, a leading 
 member of them, had been criminated, but he abstained, 
 owing to the lateness of the hour. He drew up a long 
 paper, however, of what he had intended to say, which 
 was printed in the February Number of the " Catholic 
 Miscellany^' p. 138. The greater part of this paper 
 needs no comment here ; its contents have been amply 
 discussed by anticipation in the foregoing pages. The 
 Letter of Lord Grenville, the Resolutions of the Irish 
 Bishops, — the Veto^ — have all been fully considered, 
 and Mr. C. Butler's misrepresentations exposed. He 
 repeats his old sophistry about the Fifth Resolution ; 
 and this after all Dr. Milner's strong objections to 
 it, which Mr. Butler never attempted to answer. His 
 defence is much the same as in his Memorials to Car- 
 dinals Fontana and Consalvi, already fully noticed. 
 There is, indeed, only one new statement throughout, 
 this document ; that his assertion that Dr. Milner 
 recommended Lord Clifford and Mr. Weld and his 
 family to sign the " Fifth Resolution^'' was made in 
 the very words of Dr. Poynter in his " Apologetical 
 Epistle ;" and that Dr. Poynter having seen all that 
 passed, and heard all that was said, must have 
 made the statement with perfect knowledge of the 
 matter. Now besides Dr. Milner's own defence 
 again and again repeated, and carefully recorded in 
 this biography, the reader may be referred to a Letter 
 in the same " Catholic Miscellanif for March, page 
 217, written by Mr. James Wlieble, in which he shows 
 that Dr. Poynter was not present at the conversation 
 between Lord Chfford, Mr. "Weld and his sons respect- 
 ing the Fifth Resolution^ and therefore could not
 
 478 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1823. 
 
 have had full knowledge of the matter. Mr. Wheble, 
 imoreover, justly contends that Dr. Poynter's assertion 
 in 1815 cannot be more valid evidence than Dr. 
 JVItlner's denial, published in 1820 in his " Supple- 
 mentary Memoirs''' and " Additional Notes' to the 
 same. He observes that it may be fairly affirmed that 
 the point has been conceded in favour of Dr. Milner, 
 since Dr. Poynter never returned to the charge. lie 
 also asks whether Lord Cliiford and the Messrs. Weld 
 stand forward to support Mr. Butler's assertion : and 
 he finally adds that he himself has documentary proofs 
 in his possession sufficient to demonstrate that Dr. 
 Milner did not recommend or persuade any incUvi- 
 dual to sign the Fifth Resolution. 
 
 The last quiverings of Blanchardism showed them- 
 selves in a very few leading French priests of the 
 party in London. Tlie Abbe Blanchard himself had 
 corresponded with Dr. Milner, and the Ab])e Cordier 
 wrote several letters to him, and sent him, Septeinber 
 20, 1822, a pamphlet and letter, which he had 
 addressed to Dr. Poynter. Dr. Milner was visiting 
 the northern parts of his District, when M. Cordier's 
 letter and pamphlet arrived, and did not answer him 
 till the 30th of October, 1822, the day after his return 
 to Wolverhampton. The Bishop alludes to his pre- 
 vious correspondence with Blanchard, and observes 
 that as his declarations to that gentleman had been 
 interpreted in a sense contrary to his real sentiments, 
 and as it is not his duty to withdraw his attentions and 
 studies from his own flock, to employ them about 
 another District, lie contents himself with assuring M. 
 Cordier that he deeply feels for several of the French 
 confessors of the faith in the London District, " who 
 having made the good confession in their own country,
 
 AGE 71.1 CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENTH. 479 
 
 have virtually spoiled it in this." lie declares that 
 his professional duties do not permit him to carry on 
 any correspondence for the purpose of proving that he 
 disclaims " all society with unretracting constitutional 
 schismatics." This, as may be supposed, did not 
 satisfy the querulous Abbe Cordier. He followed up 
 Dr. MiLNER with seven more letters, none of which 
 his Lordship answered. In March, 1823, Cordier 
 printed all his own letters, and Dr. Milner's one, in a 
 pamphlet, entitled : " The Sequel to a Strange Cor- 
 respondence^ or Dr. Milner and his Silence ! Bj/ a 
 French Catholic Priest ;" appending to each of his 
 unanswered letters the text : " B^it he luas silent f 
 Dr. Mllner used to tell us of his being pestered with 
 letters from the Abbe Cordier ; but he refrained from 
 correspondence with a man who appeared incapable of 
 sound reasoning, and on a subject which had been again 
 and again authoritatively decided.
 
 480 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1823. 
 
 CHAPTEK TWENTY-EIGHTH. 
 
 LETTER OF DR. 3IILNER ON A REVIEW OF HIS END OF CON- 
 TROVERSY. — HIS PETITION FOR LEGALISING CATHOLIC MAR- 
 RIAGES. — HIS LETTER ON MISSIONARY PROSPECTS TO REV. 
 W3I. FOLEY. — HIS APPOINTMENT OF 3IR. FOLEY TO BEGIN A 
 MISSION AT NORTHAMPTON, AND LIBERAL CONTRIBUTION 
 TOWARDS A CHAPEL THERE. CLERGY MEETING. — CONFIRMA- 
 TIONS. — DR. MILNER AT COSSEY AND NORWICH. — LETTER IN 
 THE C. MISCELLANY ON THE REVOLUTION IN SPAIN. — DEFENCE 
 OF THE MIRACULOUS CURE OF MISS o'cONNOR, AGAINST THE 
 EDINBURGH REVIEW. 
 
 It was not till the beginning of this year, 1823, that 
 any of the Reviews noticed Dr. Milner's " End of 
 religious Controversy ;" but at length it w^as criticised 
 in the '•'■ Bi^itish Review T and Dr. Milner wrote a 
 Letter in the " Catholic Miscellany' for March, but 
 without any signature on occasion of that criticism. 
 He complains that the review takes no notice of the 
 Bishop of St. David's publications, and his numerous 
 and absurd paradoxes, nor of Dr. Milner' s " Vindi- 
 catioii''' against Mr. Grier. He observes that the few 
 objections to the " End of Controversy^' for which 
 the reviewer is not indebted to Mr. Grier, are almost 
 beneath the serious answer of a theologian, though he 
 proceeds briefly to answer them. He points out a 
 curious deficiency in the reviewer, who after owning 
 himself far from satisfied with Mr. Grier's Keply to 
 Milner, because he has overlooked the main drift and 
 object of Dr. M.'s work, yet overlooks it himself, 
 while professing to supply the defect. Ele labours 
 long to prove that the Catholic Church is not infallible;
 
 AGE 71.] CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH. 481 
 
 but overlooks Dr. Milner's precise argument, that there 
 must be a definitive authority in the Church of Christ, to 
 interpret its laws, and preserve peace among its members. 
 
 Ever alive to the interests of religion, and the relief 
 of his Cathohc brethren from the oppression of unjust 
 laws. Dr. Milner drew up a petition to Parliament, 
 dated May 2oth, and had it presented as from himself, 
 the senior Catholic Prelate, to Parliament, praying for 
 the legalising of Catholic marriages. This was in con- 
 sequence of certain Resolutions of enlightened and 
 public-spirited Protestants at a Yestry meeting of St. 
 Luke's Parish in London, setting forth the grievous 
 public, parochial and moral evils resulting from the 
 general want of legal evidence of Catholic marriages 
 in England. He appended a copy of those Resolutions 
 to his Petition, which prayed that when marriage had 
 taken place in a licensed Catholic chapel before a 
 priest and competent witnesses, it might be deemed 
 legal. Dr. Poynter sent a Petition to Parliament also 
 on the same subject. Both may be seen in the " Ca- 
 tholic Spectator;' No. 6, 1823, page 222. 
 
 It has been mentioned in a preceding Chapter, that 
 the Rev. Wm. Foley was ordained priest by Dr. Mil- 
 ker, February 25, 1820. He had remained at Oscott 
 College some time, as procurator and prefect, serving 
 on Sundays and Holidays the small mission of Hop- 
 was, near Lichfield ; but it was now determined for 
 him to go forth on active missionary duty. The fol- 
 lowing letter written to him by Dr. Milner will be 
 read with twofold interest, as giving some idea of the 
 desolate condition, as to spiritual concerns, of an ex- 
 tensive portion of the Midland District, and exhibiting 
 the anxious zeal of the Bishop to aflford it all the reli- 
 gious succour in his power. Mr. Foley made a little 
 
 2 I
 
 482 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNEIl. [1823. 
 
 excursion, preparatory to leaving Oscott finally to go 
 upon the mission ; and before he set out he received 
 the following letter from De. Milner : 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 " If, in your intended journey, you should pass 
 through Northampton, I wish you to call on Mr. Done- 
 gani, jeweller, in Gold Street, to inquire of him what 
 number of Catholics there is in the town, and whether 
 Dr. Fletcher continues to goes thither to attend the 
 sick. Other Catholics there, are Mr. Owen Brennan, 
 bootmaker, John Brady, &c. K you go into Cam- 
 bridgeshire, be pleased to make the same inquiries 
 respecting the county town and its neighbourhood, of 
 Eichard Huddleston, Esq., of Sawston Hall, about six 
 miles south of Cambridge. Dr. Michael can inform 
 you of what relates to Stamford, as can the Kev. Mr. 
 Hayes of Kingschff, should you see either of them. I 
 believe, but am not certain, that a Mr. Clark, a Catho- 
 
 hc, resides at Buckden. A Mr. Mc , an Irish 
 
 farmer, lives at Peterboro. I do not intend to set off 
 on my long journey eastward, till about Saturday 
 week ; in the mean time, if you should have any in- 
 formation to give me, you will direct it hither. It will 
 be sufficient to read to the parties concerned what I 
 have written concerning them. To-morrow I propose 
 going to Worcester and Hereford. If Mr. Weedall 
 rides his horse to London once, he will not do it a 
 second time. My compliments to him, and to Mr. 
 Walsh. I shall have some accounts to settle with you 
 after your return. That God may enlighten you, 
 direct you, and strengthen you, as he did his Apostles 
 of old, is the earnest prayer of, 
 
 " Dear Sir, your faithful Servt. in Xt Jesus, 
 
 "J. M. 
 
 " Wolverhampton^ June 29, 1823.
 
 AGE 71.] CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH. 483 
 
 " Yarmouth, beyond Norwich, is an inviting place. 
 Domine, dirige 7ios /" 
 
 It was finally determined to build a chapel and es- 
 tablish a mission at Northampton ; and Mr. Foley was 
 appointed to that place. The number of Catholics in 
 the town was 80, but there was no chapel nearer than 
 Weston Underwood, about 14 miles distant, and that 
 was the private one of Sir George Throckmorton. 
 There were often hundreds of Catholic soldiers sta- 
 tioned at Weedon, and there was not a Catholic chapel 
 in the whole county of Northampton. These motives 
 led the Bishop to fix upon the town of Northampton 
 for a regular mission. But Dr. Milner gave practical 
 proof of his earnest and zealous wishes to provide for 
 the spiritual wants of that portion of his District, by 
 subscribing himself £500 towards building a chapel 
 and house for the priest, to which Mr. Foley generously 
 added £100, the whole amount of his own savings. 
 Mr. Foley left Oscott October 22nd, and began to 
 reside at Northampton on the 23rd of November, 
 1823. He struggled through many difficulties ; but 
 aided by friendly contributions, succeeded in erecting 
 a convenient chapel, and a genteel house for the priest. 
 The chapel was opened on the 25th of October, 1825. 
 When some surprise was expressed to Mr. Foley at his 
 building so large a house, he seemed to foresee some- 
 thing of its future destination ; for he replied that he 
 thought the place would become important enough to 
 justify it, and so he had built accordingly. Nor- 
 thampton has since become an episcopal see, and 
 the residence of the Bishop of the diocese. It was 
 astonishing how much money Dr. Milner contri- 
 buted continually in the various exigencies of his 
 diocese, to schools, chapels, college, and missions.
 
 484 LIPE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1823. 
 
 He was enabled to do so, partly from some little pro- 
 perty of his own, and partly from supplies from 
 charitable friends ; but both would have been much 
 less available, had he not lived in a manner so frugal, 
 as to allow of his laying by considerable sums for the 
 meritorious purposes of religion and charity. Indeed 
 he spent very little upon himself, and kept no company, 
 and no expensive establishment ; but studied to employ 
 his means, as far as possible, in the great cause of reli- 
 gion and charity. 
 
 Dr. Milner held the annual meeting of his clergy 
 at Sedgley Park, on the l6th of April, which was 
 attended by thirty-three priests, exactly the same num- 
 ber as at the meeting of the preceding year. He 
 confirmed in May at Sedgley Park, and in June at 
 Stafford, Aston, Cresswell, Caverswall, and Soddington. 
 When he came to confirm at Cresswell, the Rev. Wm. 
 Wareing, afterwards Bishop, was the pastor there, having 
 been assistant to the Rev. Thomas Baddeley till his 
 lamented death, Feb. 18, 1823. Knowing Dr. Mil- 
 ker's tastes, Mr. Wareing had provided some boiled 
 beef for dinner, well corned, and had also some good 
 port wine, to be produced at dessert ; for it was not 
 then customary to place wine on the table during 
 dinner. But before dinner was over, the Bishop drew 
 from his pocket a small bottle holding about a quarter 
 of a pint of wine, from which he filled a wineglass for 
 Mr. Wareing, and another for himself, and when they 
 had emptied their glasses, he said : " Now, Sir, you 
 and I can say that we have cracked a bottle together.'* 
 Mr. Wareing told his Lordship that he was sorry he had 
 brought this wine, because he had provided some ex- 
 cellent port, which he intended to bring forth for their 
 dessert. The Bishop expressed his thanks for his
 
 AGE 71.J CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH. 485 
 
 thoughtful provision, but added that he had not sup- 
 posed that he knew what port wine was. 
 
 From Soddington, Dr. Milner set out on his visita- 
 tion of the Eastern Counties, alkided to in his letter to 
 Mr. Foley, on the 11th of July. During that month 
 he gave Confirmation at Solihull, Bury St. Edmonds, 
 Ipswich, Botesdale, Thelton, Bungay, and on the 27th of 
 July at both chapels in Norwich, in the forenoon, and at 
 Cossey Hall in the afternoon. Mr. Foley came with his 
 Lordship to Cossey, and assisted at the Confirmation. 
 
 An incident occurred during Dr. Milner's stay at 
 Cossey, which deserves to be recorded as evidence 
 of the goodness of his heart, and his tender charity. 
 Edward Jerningham, Esq., youngest brother of Sir 
 George, afterwards Lord Stafford, died in London, 
 May 29, 1822 ; his lady died June 24th following, 
 and both were interred in the family vault beneath the 
 chapel at Cossey Hall. Dr. Milner had always felt 
 a great personal regard and affection for him, as he 
 had also for the Bishop. On the day following the 
 Confirmation, Dr. Milner went into the fine Gothic 
 chapel attached to Cossey Hall, which had been built 
 from the plan and under the superintendence of the 
 deceased Mr. Edward Jerningham, and standing at 
 the upper end, over the vault, he desired the writer of 
 these pages to point out the exact spot, where he re- 
 posed below. This being done, the Bishop turned to 
 it, said a prayer for the repose of his soul, and then 
 exclaimed with great emotion : " Ah, poor Edward ! 
 If I thought. Sir, that his spirit hovered about this 
 vault, I would get up at midnight to commune with it." 
 
 On Monday Dr. Milner dined with his clergy at 
 St. John's Chapel-house at Norwich. Before dinner,
 
 4S6 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1823. 
 
 he paid a visit to the Protestant Bishop of Norwich, 
 Dr. Bathurst, who had always been an able and gene- 
 rous supporter of the cause of Catholic Emancipation. 
 Dr. Bathurst pressed him to stay and dine with him. 
 Dr. Milner said it would have given him much plea- 
 sure to accept the invitation, but he was engaged to 
 dine with his clergy at St. John's. When he came 
 in, he told us this, and how much he was amused at 
 one thing which Dr. Bathurst said to him : " I hope. 
 Dr. Milner, you will stay and dine with me ; but I 
 have nothing to offer you but a breast of venison ; you 
 know we Bishops ought to set an example of mode- 
 ration I" 
 
 Dr. Milner proceeded on his way to give Confir- 
 mation at Oxborough. He left Cossey on Tuesday 
 morning, July 29th, travelling, as usual, in his gig, 
 and without any servant. He breakfasted early ; and 
 as the present writer sat by him, he said : " Now, Sir, 
 do you know what I am thinking of ?" " Yes : my 
 Lord, you are thinking that you should like some slices 
 of that cold roast beef put up for you in your gig." 
 " That's the very thing. Sir, for I shall get nothing on 
 the road that I like so well. The writer knew his 
 taste perfectly, and had already desired the house- 
 keeper to put up some slices for his Lordship ; so he 
 replied: "It is already done, my Lord; for I knew 
 what you would like, and secured it accordingly." 
 This anticipation of his wish amused and pleased the 
 good Bishop exceedingly, and he expressed his thanks 
 in the most flattering terms. He confirmed at Oxbo- 
 rough, Irnham, Eastwell, Holt, Leicester and Wolver- 
 hampton, whither he returned about the middle of 
 August. On the 22nd of that month he ordained the
 
 AGE 71.] CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH. 48? 
 
 Rev. R. P. Gates priest at Wolverhampton. In Sep- 
 tember, he confirmed at Oscott, and in October, at 
 Worcester and Little Malvern. 
 
 In the " Catholic Miscellany''' for September, a 
 letter appeared from Dr. Milner, signed Merlin, 
 exposing the inconsistency of our countrymen in aiding 
 by their speeches and contributions the revolutionary 
 party in Spain, under the delusive supposition that 
 they formed the bulk of the nation. But he denounces 
 as still more inconsistent the conduct of Catholics 
 in this country in defending the measures of the revo- 
 lutionists with respect to religion. " How," he says, 
 " will the Spanish liberals excuse the banishment, the 
 imprisonment and the murdering of so many pious 
 and edifying prelates and priests, who have been the 
 objects of the former persecution, and whose only 
 crime has been a faithful discharge of their pastoral 
 
 duties ? I well remember, Mr. Editor, that in 
 
 the early days of the bloody French revolution, not 
 only Mr. Pitt and his party hailed the approach of that 
 event as the dawn of true liberty and virtue in France, 
 but also that many English Catholics welcomed it as 
 the renovation of the Church, and the return of her 
 golden age ; but very soon both Pittites and Catholics 
 were forced to sing their pahnodia with no small loss 
 of their character for prudence and foresight." Alas! 
 is not this but too applicable to the revolution going 
 on at this moment in Italy ? Is it not in reality the 
 history of all revolutions ? 
 
 The miraculous cure of Miss Barbara O'Connor, 
 called in religion Sister Mary Aloysia Gonzaga, at the 
 Convent of New Hall, as detailed above in Chapter 
 Twenty-seventh, had been held up to ridicule in the 
 " Edinburgh Review^' and the pious Prince Ilohen-
 
 488 LIFE OF BISHOP MELNER. [1823. 
 
 lolie spoken of in the most opprobrious terms. Dr. 
 MiLNER vindicated both in an excellent Letter in the 
 " Catholic Miscellany''' for December, 1823. He 
 had seen and corresponded with Miss O'Connor, and 
 he appends to his Letter one received from her, about 
 three weeks before, in which "she furnishes some addi- 
 tional and highly interesting details of her malady and 
 cure. ''From the 30th of November, 1820," she says, 
 " to the 3rd of May, 1822, 1 had no use of my diseased 
 limb. The fetid odour from my hand and arm was so 
 offensive, and judged by Mr. Carpue (surgeon) to be 
 so unwholesome, that he prescribed ventilators in the 
 infirmary where I lodged. Immediately after Mass I 
 made the sign of the Cross, turned my hand behind 
 me without pain or difficulty, took up and held my 
 office book, stretched my arm in the form of a cross, 
 and on coming out of the choir made use of it with 
 ease, on several occurring occasions, such as in lifting 
 and removing things. Surgeon Barlow (a Protestant) 
 saw my hand on the 5th of May, and nearly fainted 
 with surprise ; he declared in the presence of Mr. 
 Reeve, Mr. Marest of Canford, Mr. Dennett, &c., that 
 
 it was a wonderful interference of Providence 
 
 My hand and arm in their diseased state had the 
 appearance of tallow, grown yellow by long keeping. 
 Immediately after Mass, the persons who had re- 
 marked this the day before the cure, on the day itself 
 exclaimed : The restored hand and arm have a 
 more healthy appearance than the other. The swell- 
 ing began to subside instantaneously, and was visibly 
 seen to diminish ; before night it had diminished five 
 or six inches round the wrist : there appeared no 
 swelling at all at the end of four or five days." 
 
 Of course the enemies of our holy religion are sen-
 
 AGE 71.] CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHTH. 489 
 
 sible that if the Almighty distinguishes it by miracles, 
 he thereby testifies to its truth. Hence they labour 
 to discredit every miracle wrought among us ; and the 
 '•'• Edinburgh Review'^ charged Prince Hohenlohe 
 with being an enthusiast^ a hypocrite^ an impostor 
 and chief conjuror^ or a priest who cozens people of 
 their rights and possessions ! So these writers would 
 come to Miss O'Connor, like certain scoffers of old, 
 and tell her to give up her pretended cure, for that 
 this prince was a wicked impostor : Give glory to 
 God. We know that this man is a sinner* And she 
 would answer as shrewdly and triumphantly as the 
 man cured of his blindness : " If he he a sinner^ I 
 know not : one tiling I know^ that whereas my hand 
 and arm were diseased and useless, now they are cured 
 and I can freely use both." 
 
 The writer of these pages accompanied Dr. Walsh, 
 the successor of Dr. Milner, to the convent at New 
 Hall in the summer of 1827, five years after the mira- 
 culous cure of Miss O'Connor. She was sent by the 
 Rev. Mother to make tea for us, and two or three 
 other visitors, that we might have ample opportunity 
 of seeing and conversing with her. She was perfectly 
 well, and very cheerful ; and her conversation was 
 agreeable and edifying. She afterwards sent the 
 writer a pious picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, 
 drawn with the hand so wonderfully restored. It lies 
 before him as he writes these lines, and is preserved 
 with great care as a precious memorial. Miss O'Con- 
 nor's hand and arm remained perfectly well till her 
 death, which took place on the 22nd of May, 1837, 
 fifteen years after her cure, and in the 45th year of 
 her age. 
 
 * St. John, ix. 24. ^
 
 490 LIFE OF BISHOP MELNER. [1824. 
 
 CHAPTER TWENTY-NINTH. 
 
 DR. MILNER's " EXPOSER EXPOSED." — HIS STRICTURES ON THE 
 POET laureate's BOOK OF THE CHURCH." — CLERGY MEET- 
 ING. DR. MILNER's LETTER AGAINST DR. DOYLE's PROPOSAL 
 
 FOR A UNION OF CHURCHES. ORDINATION. — CONFIRMATION 
 
 JOURNEYS. — SUFFERS TWO SERIOUS ATTACKS OF PARALYSIS. — 
 HIS LETTERS IN THE CATHOLIC MISCELLANY. — ORDINATION 
 OF REV. WM. WILLSON, AFTERWARDS BISHOP OF HOBART 
 TOWN, 
 
 Besides the miraculous cure of Miss O'Connor in 
 England, there had been some striking and well 
 authenticated miracles wrought in Ireland, through the 
 prayers of the holy and Eev. Prince Hohenlohe. 
 These were attacked in a book called : " A complete 
 Exposure of the late Irish Miracles!'' As no an- 
 swer to this appeared from Ireland, Dr. Milner wrote 
 against it his " Exposer exposed,'^ which first appeared 
 in the " Catholic Miscellanf for January and Fe- 
 bruary, 1824, and was afterwards published in the form 
 of a pamphlet, in the same year. He takes down the 
 self-importance of the author of the above work, in the 
 outset, thus : " You need not. Sir, have told us that 
 you have treated of a theological subject without 
 being a divine, because your dissertation bears intrinsic 
 evidence that you are not one ; and on the same evi- 
 dence I venture to pronounce that you are a limb of 
 the law ; there being that disingenuity and endless cavil- 
 ing in siftmg some of the witnesses against you, the 
 same abuse in addressing others of them, and the same 
 overbearing confidence in laying down your own dog-
 
 AGE 7-2.] CHAPTER TWENTY-NINTH. 491 
 
 mata, which characterise the lower order of legal 
 pleaders." He proceeds to the proper definition of a 
 miracle, rejecting Hume's, as highly objectionable, and 
 Dr. Johnson's as defective. He supplies the deficiency 
 of the latter by his own correct definition : " An efi'ect 
 produced by a divine power above natural or human 
 power." He shows that a metaj^hysical and infallible 
 criterion of miracles is not requisite, but that we must 
 be satisfied with moral certainty : " and woe to us, if 
 from a proud and captious spirit, or from interested 
 motives, we refuse to believe, when God makes his 
 wonderful works, or incomprehensible truths suffi- 
 ciently known to us." He details the cases of Mrs. 
 Stuart and Miss Lalor, the subjects of the miraculous 
 cures objected to, and answers the objections by refer- 
 ence to the evidence adduced, and by parallel miracles 
 in Holy Scripture. He thus warns the Exposer : 
 " The divinely inspired history of the Almighty's deal- 
 ing with mankind from Adam to our Saviour Christ, 
 consists of one tissue of what Hume and yourself call 
 violations of the laws of nature ; but what well- 
 instructed Christians call special interventions of the 
 
 Supreme Ruler We trace with all the evidence 
 
 that man's testimony can afiford, an uninterrupted series 
 of miracles in the Catholic communion, to the formal 
 exclusion of all others, from the Apostles down to the 
 unhappy authors of the diversified changes in religion, 
 improperly called The Reformation. At that period, 
 Luther himself bears testimony to the continuance of 
 miracles in the Church, where he indignantly cries out : 
 ' Who denies that miracles are performed at the tombs 
 of the Saints ?' {In purg. quorumdam artic.) At 
 the same time that, as Erasmus reproached the re- 
 formers, they^could not so much as cure a lame horse."
 
 492 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1824. 
 
 In the early part of 1 824, Dr. Milner published" Stric- 
 tures on the Poet Laureate^ s Book of the Church^ It 
 was a review of Mr. Southey's two volumes, " in which," 
 says the Bishop, " in the frantic style, and with the lying 
 memorials of John Fox, he raves, through the history 
 of many centuries, in abusing and calumniating the 
 common Source of Christianity, in order to court the 
 heads of the present Establishment, under pretence of 
 vindicating it."* He did not pubHsh his " Strictures'^ 
 under his own name, but with his favourite anagram of 
 John Merlin. This is perhaps to be regretted : but 
 his work is not a regular answer to Southey, but merely 
 " Strictures'"' on the principal portions of his ^^ Book 
 of the Church^'' occupying not quite 100 octavo pages. 
 As far as it goes, it is admirable and highly satisfac- 
 tory ; and, as Mr. C. Butler afterwards avowed in the 
 Dedicatory Epistle prefixed to his own complete and 
 very excellent answer to Southey, entitled, " The 
 Book of the Roman Catholic Church^'' — " If Doctor 
 Milner had framed his ' Strictures' upon the ' Book 
 of the Church' on a more extensive plan, it would 
 have made this, or any other answer to it unnecessary." 
 
 Dr. Milner's " Strictures'' are confined to some 
 of the chief misrepresentations and omissions in Mr. 
 Southey's work. Thus he points out two important 
 facts in the conversion of England, which Southey has 
 suppressed ; first, that the envoys from Pope St. 
 Gregory the Great brought from Eome the same 
 Christianity which is professed there at the present 
 day ; secondly, that they found the British Bishops 
 professing the same religion as themselves. " For had 
 it been otherwise, these Roman missionaries would 
 
 « Strictures, &c.," p. 4.
 
 AGE 72.] CHAPTER TWENTY-NINTH. 493 
 
 never have allowed, much less required them, as St. 
 Augustine of Canterbury did, to join with him and his 
 companions in converting the remaining Pagan Saxons. 
 
 "In vain do some allege that the Britons would 
 
 not receive St. Augustine for their archbishop ; in 
 fact, he neither claimed to be such, nor would the 
 maintenance of then ancient Sees, on the part of the 
 Britons, have proved in any sort their religion to have 
 been different from that of Borne."* He proved 
 against Mr. Southey that clerical celibacy was esta- 
 bhshed in the Church from the earliest times. t He 
 gives a succinct view of the contest between St. 
 Thomas of Canterbury and King Henry II. ; distin- 
 guishing its three different stages ; first, the question 
 about the exemption of the clergy from the jurisdiction 
 of civil tribunals ; secondly, " the Constitutions of 
 Clarendon, which, under the false name of ancient 
 usages^ were recent inventions concerted by the flat- 
 terers of Henry, not only for the destruction of those 
 and the other privileges of the clergy, but also for the 
 subjugation and oppression of the Catholic religion 
 itself, then the sworn religion of England."..." The 
 third scene of the contest was one of a pure, unmixed 
 ecclesiastical nature." Two of the suffragan bishops 
 of St. Thomas had concurred in invading the rights of 
 his metropolitan see, by crowning the young king in 
 his province. It was his duty to maintain the rights 
 of his archbishopric, and the discipline of the English 
 Church : accordingly he excommunicated those suf- 
 fragans, till they should acknowledge their fault."J 
 
 Dr. Milner exposes Mr. Southey's hideous cari- 
 cature of the religion of the saints and martyrs of 
 
 * «' Strictures," p. 5. f Ibul. p. 14. % Ibid. p. 19.
 
 494 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1824. 
 
 past ages, in what he calls " A view of the Papal 
 system^''' in which, as in other parts of his book, 
 he works up every legendary tale and vulgar supersti- 
 tion into an avowed doctrine or practice of the Catho- 
 lic Church. De. M. gives a very useful summary of 
 the seditious and impious doctrines of WicklifFe,* in 
 opposition to Southey's panegyric of that noted heretic, 
 and refutes his tales of persecution from Fox's '"''Book of 
 Martyrs.'"' He denounces as a foul calumny that the 
 Catholic Prelates and Superiors of monasteries propa- 
 gated popular superstitions, or practised and promoted 
 religious imposture of any kind.f He shows how 
 false and defective is Southey's account of the Eefor- 
 mation. " The important change was carried on by 
 wicked men, not from any motive of religion or 
 reference to revealed truths."J He illustrates by 
 several examples its effects on the morals of the peo- 
 ple : of which the very advocates of Protestantism 
 draw the most frightful picture. § His description of 
 the character and conduct of Cranmer is very ably 
 compiled from " a few undenied, well-known, and in- 
 controvertible facts." II 
 
 The rest of Dr. Milner's " Strictures'' is devoted 
 to the subject of religious persecution, and the high 
 and low parties, into which the reformed Church of 
 England so soon divided, the Church and the Puritans. 
 He gives Mr. Southey some concluding advice which in 
 our day would be doubly appropriate : " Exert your 
 best means to induce the majority of your clergy to 
 believe in, and openly to profess their own Articles, 
 
 * " Strictures," p. 25. f p. 35. 
 
 X " Ibid.," p. 37. § p. 45. 
 
 II " Ibid.," p. 56.
 
 AGE 72.] CHAPTER TWENTY-NINTH. 495 
 
 and especially the great fundamental articles of the 
 Unity and Trinity of the Godhead, and the Incarnation 
 and Death of the Second Person of it. Without this, 
 they are not Christians, and would have been burnt at 
 the stake by Cranmer and Eidley, had they lived in 
 their days."* 
 
 The annual Meeting of the Midland Clergy at 
 Sedgley Park was held on the 12th of May. Dr. 
 MiLNER addressed the assembled priests on the state 
 of Cathohcity, and the redoubled malice of its enemies, 
 a preparation he hoped for more conversions, and 
 greater good under the divine direction and blessing. 
 "But all depended upon the clergy, under God ; there- 
 fore he exhorted them to lead pious lives, and give 
 good example ; he recommended fervent and constant 
 prayer, and the study of their divinity. He dwelt on 
 the necessity of public retractation for public sinners, 
 and above all for those who had taught false doctrine ; 
 intimating that some of these were known to be 
 sensible of their fault in this kind, but had not the 
 hmnility to make a public acknowledgment and retrac- 
 tation. 
 
 The Et. Eev. Dr. Doyle, who had succeeded in 
 1819 to the see of Kildare and Leighlin, wrote a Letter 
 in May, 1824, to Mr. Eobertson, M.P., with a strange 
 proposal for the union of the Catholic and Protestant 
 Churches in Ireland. In that Letter, among other 
 extraordinary assertions, he said that the Pope was 
 "powerless and anxious to conciliate," that on the 
 chief points of doctrine which he enumerated, it ap- 
 peared to him that there was " no essential difference 
 between Catholics and Protestants," and that " pride 
 
 * « Strictures," p. 86.
 
 496 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1824. 
 
 and points of honour keep us divided on many sub- 
 jects, not a love of Christian humiUty, charity and 
 truth. Dr. Doyle was a young and ardent Prelate, 
 not yet forty years old : the present writer heard Dr. 
 MiLNER say when he was appointed Bishop : " He's 
 a very young Prelate, Sir." Such a proposal and such 
 assertions were not likely to escape the keen vigilance 
 of Dr. Milner ; and a Letter appeared from the 
 venerable guardian of religion in the " Catholic Mis- 
 cellany' for June, under the signature of "A Catholic 
 Pastor," expressing his regret, in which he says he 
 is joined by the great majority, if not the totality of 
 Catholic pastors in Great Britain and Ireland at the* 
 proposal for uniting our religion with that of the 
 Protestants. " What adds to our regret," he says, " is 
 the high character of the proposer, as a Prelate of our 
 Church, and as a writer, celebrated for the splendour 
 of his talents, and especially for his political sagacity, 
 
 a quality so rare in a person of his station I 
 
 consider it as indisputable that the proposal can do no 
 
 good, and is likely to do a great deal of harm In 
 
 a word, were we to unite ourselves with the Church 
 of England, the great Catholic Church would disunite 
 
 itself from us But, Mr. Editor, the unadvised 
 
 proposal of the young Prelate is not barely useless and 
 inexpedient, it is also wrong and productive of mischief. 
 
 It will be disavowed by the clergy in general, and 
 
 particularly by the episcopal brethren of the proposer. 
 
 But as among the laity there must unavoidably 
 
 be many persons ill-informed, or comparatively indif- 
 ferent about the doctrines and interests of their reli- 
 gion, a proposal of the present nature, accompanied 
 with a prospect of great civil benefits attending it, can- 
 not fail of setting them at work to devise what parts
 
 AGE 72.] CHAPTER TWENTY- NINTH. 497 
 
 of the Catholic rehgion they can respectively give up, 
 and what parts of the Protestant system "they can 
 adopt, in consideration of such temporal advantages, 
 with the certainty of producing internal enmities and 
 divisions among themselves, and with the greatest 
 danger of their stepping into the fatal gulf of heresy, 
 or schism." In fact, the experiment had been often 
 tried before, and always in vain ; and the visionary 
 scheme which had failed in the hands of Bossuet, and 
 Tillotson, and Leibnitz, and Dupin, and Wake, and 
 Wix, was not likely to succeed even under the able 
 management of Bishop Doyle. 
 
 On the 12th of June, Dr. Milner ordained another 
 priest at Oscott, the Eev. William Richmond, who 
 left the college in December following, being appointed 
 to the mission at Swynnerton. The Bishop confirmed 
 in May at Blackladies, and in June at Sedgley Park 
 and Oscott. In August he visited Coventry, Plolt, 
 Husbands Bosworth, Northampton, Leamington and 
 Warwick. On the 5th of August, while staying at a 
 small inn at Lutterworth, he was seized with his first 
 great paralytic attack. He had had some slight attacks 
 before, but this was more serious. Still it did not dis- 
 able him from the use of any limb, though he must 
 have felt much debilitated. He was at Northampton 
 on the feast of the Assumption, which fell this year on 
 a Sunday. Mr. Foley was to go that day to do duty 
 at Sir George Throckmorton's chapel at Weston Un- 
 derwood ; and Dr. Milner kindly and readily under- 
 took to supply for him in his httle temporary chapel, 
 which was only a room in his house on Black Lion 
 Hill. The Bishop accordingly said I\Iass, and preached 
 to the small congregation : he also baptized a child 
 and churched the mother. He offered likewise to 
 
 2 K
 
 498 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1824. 
 
 marry a couple, if Mr. Foley wished it. He was in- 
 deed well pleased with the opportunity of exercising 
 the holy ministry, even in circumstances so humble. 
 He went to see Mr. Foley's new chapel then building, 
 and was highly pleased with it. He made a drawing 
 for a window, and promised to order some stained 
 glass on his return to Birmingham, and present it for 
 the new chapel ; but this he probably forgot, as it 
 was never done. Mt. Foley, however, received an 
 addition of £100 to his subscription list on that occa- 
 sion, through Dr. Milner. 
 
 In September, he confirmed at Coventry, Coughton, 
 Hampton on the Hill and Baddesley Green ; and in 
 Octolaer at Caverswall, where he also professed a nun, 
 Dame Winefrid, on the 12th ; at Yoxal, Lichfield 
 and Wooton Waven. On the 17th of October he had 
 another severe attack of paralysis at Lichfield ; but he 
 was able to continue his journey, and in November he 
 confirmed at Brailes, Foxcote, and both chapels in Bir- 
 mingham. His zealous and courageous perseverance 
 in completing his Confirmation journeys is truly admi- 
 rable, when we consider that he had suffered in the 
 course of them two severe strokes of paralysis, and 
 must have experienced their effects very seriously. 
 But he probably felt that it was the last visitation of 
 his District, and the last round of Confirmations that 
 he should make ; especially as he expected soon to be 
 relieved, by the assistance of a coadjutor. It is proba- 
 ble, however, that the exertions which he made to 
 complete this circuit, contributed much to break down 
 his health. For at the end of this year, it was observed 
 to dechne, and about Christmas he was seriously ill ; 
 but he rallied, and appeared tolerably well in the early 
 part of the year following.
 
 AGE 72.J CHAPTER TWENTY-NINTH. 499 
 
 In the midst of all his labours and growing infirmi- 
 ties, however, Dr. Milner's pen was never idle. An 
 incident occurred at a Meeting of the British Catholic 
 Association this year, on the 21st of October, which 
 did not escape his notice. Mr. Wheble moved a reso- 
 lution in favour of the well known political writer, 
 William Cobbett, the purport of which was to present 
 him with a copy of Dr. Lingard's " History of Eng- 
 la7id^^ in token of the grateful sense of Catholics for 
 his powerful, generous and unsolicited support of their 
 cause. The motion was seconded by Mr. Sullivan, 
 but opposed by Mr. Charles Butler, who offered to go 
 down on his knees to entreat the Association not to 
 give even this slight mark of their approbation and 
 gratitude to that powerful advocate of their claims ; 
 which led to the motion being withdrawn, after a very 
 animated discussion. Dr. Milner, in a Letter in the 
 " Catholic Miscellany' for November, contrasted the 
 sentiments and politics of the Enghsh Catholics with 
 those of the Irish ; and expressed his fear lest the 
 English Catholics might be induced to give up some 
 part of their discipline and of the independence of 
 their Church to gratify their political friend Mr. Can- 
 ning, who had said in 1812 : " What, are the Papists 
 to receive everything from us, and give up nothing to 
 us?" He alludes to the above conduct of Mr. C. 
 Butler, and compares it with the sentiments of the 
 " oracle and idol of Catholic Ireland," as he termed 
 Mr. O'Connell, relative to the same Mr. Cobbett. 
 Mr. O'Connell called him a "powerful, honest, and 
 disinterested friend of Ireland," and expressed his 
 opinion that "no system of unjust expediency ought to 
 preclude the Irish Catholics from the happiness of
 
 500 LITE OF BISHOP MILNEK. [^824. 
 
 having so able and efficacious an advocate in the 
 Imperial Parliament." 
 
 He instances again the wide diiFerence between the 
 estimate of the late Marquis of Londonderry, better 
 known as Lord Castlereagh, formed by Mr. C. Butler 
 on the one hand, and by Mr. O'Connell on the other. 
 While Butler extolled him as the friend of Catholics, 
 O'Connell calls him " an unfortunate monster, hurried 
 by his own hand to his grave, perpetrating on his 
 his country the retributive justice, which he afterwards 
 perpetrated on himself." And he adds: "If it were 
 ever lawful to stamp on the grave of any man, that 
 man was Castlereagh ; for he it was that bargained 
 and sold the country; he it was that spread corruption 
 far and wide ; he it was that tampered with all classes, 
 the rich and the poor, the noble and ignoble, the 
 church and the law, the mitre and the robe ; these 
 were all tributary, not to the ascendancy of his genius, 
 but to the ascendancy of his debasing corruption." 
 Dr. Milner says in conclusion: " It is sufficient for us 
 to see the direct opposition there is between the English 
 and Irish Catholic leaders on points of a practical ten- 
 dency, to justify our dread of a recurrence of the 
 schism of 1813 ; unless the partisans of one or other 
 of the leaders abandon him, and prove that they prefer 
 religion itself to any temporal advantages that may 
 attend it." 
 
 Dr. Milner alluded in the next Number of the 
 Catholic Miscellany^' under the signature of " Aris- 
 TiDES," to the above transaction of the British Catholic 
 Association, and quoted from a private letter from 
 Cobbett, his feeling with regard to it. After speaking 
 of the enormous sale of his '^History of the Protestant
 
 AGE 72.] CHAPTER TWENTY-NINTH. 501 
 
 Reformation^''' then publishing in numbers, Cobbett 
 says : " And there are men, trodden down men^ stupid 
 enough to tremble at the thought of being supposed to 
 have formed a coalition with me! Really, such people 
 appear to be out of their senses. The effect that I am 
 producing is prodigious." He promises to redouble 
 his exertions in our cause, notwithstanding our appa- 
 rent neglect of him. Dr. Milner expresses his opinion 
 that " the experienced, but often mistaken counsellor 
 of forty years' standing, who offered to go down on his 
 knees to prevent the slightest possible countenance to 
 Mr. Cobbett from the Catholics, for his heroical and 
 successful vindication of them, ought to go down on 
 his knees before them, for the bad counsel he gave 
 them on the occasion." 
 
 With this Letter appeared another very short one 
 from Dr. Milner, signed " A Catholic Pastor," 
 quoting the Pope's words in his Indiction of the Jubilee 
 in that year, 1824, respecting the duty of all Bishops 
 to instruct their flocks, that "the benefit of indulgences 
 consists not only in the remission of canonical penance, 
 but also of the temporal punishment due to the divine 
 justice." This, he contends, must settle the question 
 concerning the efficacy of Indulgences, between him- 
 self and " a certain theological lawyer (Mr. C. Butler), 
 who kept pertinaciously maintaining in his various 
 works that Indulgences were nothing else than a 
 mitigation^ or relaxation of canonical penaricesy 
 " Now, Sir," adds Dr. Milner, " if it be admitted that 
 this question is decided, — which indeed was before 
 sufficiently decided by Pius YI. in his condemnation 
 of the Synod of Pistoja, — what, according to the doc- 
 trine of all divines, is not the teacher of false doctrine 
 obliged to ? He is obliged at the certain loss of repu-
 
 502 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1825. 
 
 tation, of fortune, and of life itself, publicly to retract 
 the same." 
 
 On the 16th of December, 1824, Dr. Milner con- 
 ferred the holy Order of Priesthood on the Kev. 
 William Willson, who after a long, laborious, zealous 
 and most edifying career at Nottingham, where he 
 built St. John's Chapel, formed a numerous congrega- 
 tion and commenced the Cathedral of St. Barnabas, was 
 selected for the first Bishop of Hobart Town in Van 
 Dieman's Land, since called Tasmania. He received 
 episcopal consecration in the Cathedral of St. Chad, 
 Birmingham, on the feast of SS. Simon and Jude, 
 1842, and has ever since governed the infant Church 
 of Tasmania, with consummate prudence, and with 
 every episcopal virtue. 
 
 CHAPTER THIRTIETH. 
 
 DR. MILNER's LENTEN PASTORAL ON THE WORD OF GOD. — 
 
 ORDINATION. DECLINING STATE OF HIS HEALTH. — CLERGY 
 
 MEETING. — CONSECRATION OF HIS COADJUTOR, DR. WALSH. 
 
 REMARKABLE MEETING OF EIGHT BISHOPS CONFIRMATIONS 
 
 LETTER IN TJIE CATHOLIC MISCELLANY. — PARTING WORD TO 
 
 DR. GRIER. — BRIEF NOTICE OF DR. PARR's LETTER. DR. 
 
 MILNER's LETTER TO GARBETT. — LENTEN PASTORAL. IN- 
 STRUCTIONS ON THE JUBILEE. 
 
 The new Pope Leo XIL, in his Encyclical Letter, had 
 called the attention of all Bishops to the Bibliomania^ 
 or rage for the indiscriminate reading of the Bible, 
 as the sole rule of faith. Dr. Milner, accordingly, 
 devoted his Lenten Pastoral for the year 1825 to an
 
 AGE 73.] CHAPTER THIRTIETH. 503 
 
 instruction on the Word of God, written and un- 
 written, in which he denounced the grievous error of 
 our misguided countrymen, who "identify the mere 
 letter of the Bihle^however edited or understood, with 
 God's revealed truth." Having explained how the 
 several Books of the New Testament came to be 
 written, he answers the objection of those who " think 
 it unlikely that the Almighty should entrust his sacred 
 truths to oral tradition. But they do not consider that 
 the traditions, in the case under consideration, are not 
 legendary histories, but practical maxims, such as the 
 seven Sacraments, the Real Presence, the Sacrifice of 
 the Mass, and the utility of invoking the Saints, and of 
 praying for the Dead ; and that in believing these, not 
 only millions upon millions of Catholics agree, but like- 
 wise all the ancient heretics and schismatics ; who still 
 form numerous churches in P]urope, Asia, and Africa ; 
 namely, the Greeks, the Russians, the Cophts, the 
 Abyssinians, the Nestorians and the Eutychians, the 
 last two of whom abandoned the Church near 1400 
 yeUrs ago : which traditions, considered in a mere 
 human light, form a stronger evidence than any written 
 evidence whatever can do." 
 
 He well observes that the Word of God does not 
 consist in the terms in which it is delivered, but in the 
 sense of those terms ; which implies that beside the 
 Word of God itself, written and unwritten, we must 
 admit the authority of the Catholic Church, as a living, 
 speaking judge and interpreter of it. He dwells on 
 the little fruit produced by the diffusion of tiie Scriptures 
 both abroad and at home, the wide spread of Socinian- 
 ism, and the sort of composition which the divines of 
 the Church of P^ngland have been induced to enter into 
 between orthodoxy and Arianism, and quotes the
 
 504 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. 
 
 [182.5. 
 
 memorable saying of Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, that 
 " Protestantism consists in saying what you think, and 
 in thinking what you please." 
 
 On the 25th of February, Dr. Milner ordained 
 two priests, the Rev. Thomas Green, and the Rev. 
 Richard Yanzeller, a native of Oporto, who had gone 
 through his studies at St. Clary's College, but was des- 
 tined to return to his native land, though he would 
 have preferred to labour on the mission in England. 
 Dr. Milner's health was but indiiferent at this time ; 
 though he made no complaint, but continued to attend 
 to his arduous duties much as usual. Sometimes, 
 however, when at Oscott College, finding himself 
 unable to rest at night, he w^as obliged to remain in bed 
 later in the mornings ; and he then made an humble 
 apology to the community, and begged pardon for the 
 disedification which he might have given by not 
 coming to the Meditation at half-past six in the morn- 
 ing, as he had always been accustomed to do. On the 
 25th of April, he presided at the annual meeting of his 
 clergy at Sedgley Park, which was attended by forty- 
 two priests. At this meeting, the good Bishop spoke 
 feelingly of his declining health, and said in faint and 
 mournful accents that he felt himself going the way of 
 all flesh, which had made him anxious to secure a 
 coadjutor, tie announced that the Bulls had arrived, 
 appointing the Rev. Thomas Walsh his coadjutor, with 
 the title of Bishop of Cambysopolis in partihiis. He 
 mentioned that his consecration would take place 
 immediately, and expressed his confident assurance that 
 the choice would be approved of by all his clergy. 
 
 Shortly after, on the 1st of May, the consecration 
 took place at Wolverhampton. Dr. Milner had ex- 
 pressly invited the other three Vicars Apostolic to
 
 AGE 7:3.] CHArTER THIRTIETH. 505 
 
 assist on this great occasion, and they all came, with 
 their respective coadjutors. Dr. Milner himself was 
 the consecrating Prelate, assisted by Dr. Smith, Vicar 
 Apostolic of the Northern District, and his coadjutor 
 Dr. Penswick. Dr. Poynter was present, with his 
 coadjutor, Dr. Bramston, and also Dr. Collingridge, 
 with his coadjutor, Dr. Baines. It was a great exer- 
 tion for Dr. Milxer, in his impaired health and 
 strength, to go through the long ceremonial ; and Dr. 
 Poynter, who stood by him, watched him with much 
 anxiety, lest anything essential should be omitted, or 
 imperfectly performed. All, however, was gone through 
 correctly, and with the greatest solemnity. The Rev. 
 PL Weedall, President of Oscott College, preached a 
 very elaborate and eloquent sermon on the occasion, 
 the subject being the authority of the Church. Thus 
 were eight Bisliops met together, a sight which Eng- 
 land had never belield since the subversion of the 
 Catholic faith in this country. The four Vicars Apos- 
 tolic, with their coadjutors, being thus happily assem- 
 bled together, took occasion to hold a meeting the 
 next day, in which they agreed that in future editions 
 of the first catechism, instead of those words, relating 
 to our Blessed Saviour : " being of the same substance 
 with God the Father," these sliould be substituted : 
 " being the same substance with God the Father." 
 Also, that the precept of paying tithes to our pastor, 
 should be explained, as signifying in this country, to 
 contribute to the support of our pastor. Dr. Milner 
 brought all the P>ishops up to Sedgley Park ; and the 
 boys petitioned for eight whole play-days on so extra- 
 ordinary occasion, in honour of their Lordships, which 
 was readily granted by Dr. Milner, on condition of 
 their being taken out at the rate of two in a week.
 
 506 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1825. 
 
 Happily provided now with a pious and zealous 
 coadjutor, the mind of the venerable Bishop was more 
 at ease, and the necessity for his active labour was 
 much diminished. But he was not a man to spare 
 himself in the great work of promoting the glory of 
 his divine Master, and the salvation of souls ; and he 
 continued to do the work of his ministry, as far as his 
 health and strength would allow him, to the end of his 
 course. In the month of June, he gave Confirmation 
 at Sedgley Park, and also at Wolverhampton, His 
 coadjutor administered Confirmation at several places, 
 but Dr. Milner himself held an Ordination at St. 
 Mary's College, Oscott, on the 6th and 7th of October, 
 in the latter of which days he conferred the holy 
 Order of Priesthood on the Rev. John Holden, who 
 was the last priest ordained by the illustrious Bishop 
 Milker. 
 
 He continued also to employ his pen for the good 
 of religion. A Bill for Catholic Emancipation had 
 been moved by Sir Francis Burdett this year, on the 
 22nd of March, which passed the House of Commons 
 by a majority of twenty-seven, but was lost on the 
 18th of May in the Lords by a majority of forty-eight. 
 The Catholics were generally in grief and dismay at 
 the failure of the Bill ; but Dr. Milner, in a Letter 
 in the " Catholic Miscellaw/' for October, signed 
 " An Old Shepherd," expressed a doubt whether 
 this event was a just subject for sorrow. For he 
 argued from past experience that too many Cathohcs, 
 when they have Emancipation in prospect, are but little 
 scrupulous as to the means of ensuring success, and 
 too apt to lose sight of their religion. Three parts of 
 our Protestant friends, he says, are hostile to our reli- 
 gion; and too many Catholics have shown themselves
 
 AGE 73.] CHAPTER THIRITETH. 507 
 
 ready to sacrifice the integrity and safety of their reli- 
 gion for worldly advantages. He repeats the question 
 of Mr. Canning, wliich he used very often to mention 
 in conversation on Catholic politics: " Are we to give 
 up everything, and the Catholics to give up nothing ?" 
 He argues that though the late Bill w-as less objection- 
 able than those which preceded it, " still it contained 
 such a quantity of deleterious matter," as to cause 
 clearsighted Catholics, anxious for the security of their 
 religion, to rejoice at its failure. 
 
 But the watchful " Old Shepherd" continued vigi- 
 lant, and still ready for defence against the wolf who 
 would lay waste his flock. Mr. Grier, now become 
 D.D., had published a Defence of his " Rep/j/'' to 
 Dr. Milner's " JEnd of Controversy/,'' in consequence 
 of the Bishop's " Vindication" of that work. The 
 venerable champion, therefore, once more took up his 
 pen, and in the month of July published a pamphlet 
 of forty-nine pages, entitled : — " A parting Word to 
 the Rev. Richard Grier, D.D., Vicar of Templebo- 
 dane, on the End of Religious Controversy, by the 
 Rev. Dr. Milner, V.A., F.S.A. ; with a brief notice 
 of Dr. S. Parrspostliumous Letter to Dr. Milner^ 
 In the outset he tells his opponent, who at the end of 
 his book had taken " final leave" of him " for ever," 
 that he cannot be sorry to get rid of one who does not 
 distinguish between writing about objections and 
 refuting objections, and who attacks him with weapons 
 which honour forbids him to employ in his defence : 
 and assures him that he is content to leave his '■'■End 
 of Controversy ' to speak for itself; merely observing 
 that it has gone through at least seven editions in less 
 than as many years, has been stereotyped in America, 
 and translated into French and Italian ; " and what is
 
 508 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1825. 
 
 by far of the most consequence, has, under divine grace, 
 caused the conversion of many erring souls. In the 
 meantime," he adds, " I do not hear of a single Catholic 
 who has abandoned his religion in consequence of your 
 attacks upon it. Indeed, when this can be proved to 
 have taken place in a single instance, I am pledged to 
 furnish a second instance of it in my own person." 
 
 Dr. Grier had reproached Dr. Milner with harsh 
 and coarse language ; but the Bishop met this charge 
 by culling a few flowers from the pages of his oppo- 
 nent, who in various places called him " a sophist, a 
 sciolist, a virgin doctor, a Flildebrandine doctor, a 
 Popish rabbi. Father Milner, an English Jesuit, the 
 brother of a Neapolitan Jesuit, who thanked God that 
 he did not know Greek, that knowledge being an 
 unerring mark of heresy."* But he considers this 
 vague obloquy not worth much notice, and comes to 
 those specific charges and calumnies which require 
 more consideration. It is pleasing to record that Mr. 
 Charles Butler, after Dr. Milner's death, generously 
 expressed his high estimate of the Bishop's character, 
 while he reproved the abusive and dishonourable style 
 of Dr. Grier, in these words : " We also recommend 
 him (Grier) to adopt a style of writing which the 
 Gospel, and even the ordinary rules of civility pre- 
 scribe. Dr. Milner' s eminence, the integrity of his 
 life, his learning, and the great services rendered by 
 him to literature are acknowledged by all ; and Mr. 
 Grier himself must confess that he was a priest accord- 
 ing to the order of Melchisedech. Is it decent to tell 
 such a person that he is ' besotted,' or that he is 
 ' debased,' and to charge him with fatuity '? Was 
 
 * " Parting Word," p. 5.
 
 AGE 73.] CHAPTER THIRTIETH. 509 
 
 it honourable, after Dr. Milner had unequivocally de- 
 clared in his End of Controvemi) 'his disbelief of 
 a vast number of incredible and false miracles,' to 
 accuse him ' of believing, and attempting to induce 
 others to beheve all the stupid legends of the dark 
 ages ?' "* D^i. Milner refutes two calumnies about 
 Gildas and the Gunpowder Plot, and ably exculpates 
 himself once more from the hackneyed charge of ter- 
 giversation respecting the Veto. 
 
 Having defended himself from Dr. Grier's personal 
 attacks, he notices what his adversary has said of the 
 Rule of Faith. " The Vicar of Templebodane," he 
 says, '* having attempted in his Reply to build Scrip- 
 ture on itself, pursues the same preposterous method 
 in his Defence of the Reply. His arguments on this 
 subject are beyond refutation, because they are beyond 
 comprehension. In the end, however, he professes him- 
 self willing to admit oi a tradition of testimoni/ ^hut not 
 a tradition of doctrine : that is to say, he will receive 
 the testimony of the Cimrch, declaring that she has 
 received, as divinely inspired, about four score books, 
 with all their several parts, by tradition from the pro- 
 phets and Apostles, and that they have undergone no 
 alteration from the Catholics, who kept them and 
 transcribed them in the course of a great many ages ; 
 but he will not receive the testimony of the same 
 Church, declaring, for example, that she has received 
 the belief of Christ's corporal presence in the Sacra- 
 ment, as the doctrine of the Apostles ! Just as if a 
 witness, who is supposed to have borne false testimony 
 in one case, merits credit in another !"f 
 
 * Letter on St. Fiancis Xavier, by Mr. C. Butler, under his 
 usual signature of S. in the " Catholic Misscellany" for April, 1827, 
 p. 261. 
 
 t "Parting Word," p. 15.
 
 510 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1825. 
 
 The Bishop, after a full exposure of the false reason- 
 ing of his opponent on the means of ascertaining the 
 true sense of the Scriptures, vindicates his former 
 passages from the holy Fathers, and defends his argu- 
 ments on the several doctrines of Indulgences, Pur- 
 gatory, and Invocation of Saints. He defends his 
 former observations on the subjects of Persecution 
 and Miracles ; and after an admirable exposition of 
 the four marks of the true Church, winds up with a 
 very feeling conclusion : " Thus, secure in his Rule of 
 FaitJi^ the only one that can never lead to error ; 
 united to a Church which hears every mark of truth 
 professed in the common creed, and conscious that the 
 charges brought against her are absolutely false ^ the 
 sincere Catholic never wavers in his faith during life, 
 and dies in peace and security. In the mean time, 
 those who have no rule but their own uncertain opi- 
 nion, are tossed to and fro hy every wind of doctrine^ 
 and never do, or can make an act of faith fre- 
 quently seek admittance into the house of unity and 
 peace at the last hour. You signif}^, Sir, for yourself, 
 that you can look at the emblematic scythe and hour- 
 glass which serve as a tail-piece to The End of Con- 
 troversy^ without dismay, though not without awe : 
 so have several of the death-bed converts I have 
 alluded to said, when in good health, but the king of 
 
 terrors taught them a different language. That you 
 
 may have the grace of acknowledging the truth before 
 it is too late, is the sincere prayer of, 
 " Kev. Sir, 
 
 " Your faithful Servant, 
 
 "J. MiLNER, D.D., y.A., &c. 
 
 " J^^/7/ 1, 1825." 
 
 The reader will have observed that to this " Part-
 
 AGE 73.] CHAPTER THIRTIETH. 511 
 
 ing Word"' to Grier, is appended " A Brief Notice 
 of Dr. S. Parr's Posthumous Letter to Dr. Milner." 
 This Letter was written by Parr chiefly to controvert 
 an opinion expressed by Dr. Milner in his " End of 
 Controversy',' that Dr. Ilahfax, Protestant Bishop of 
 St. Asaph's, had died a Cathohc. Dr. Parr was very sore 
 on this subject : he considered it " a most audacious 
 and mahgnant calamny," and in his pamphlet or letter 
 to Dr. Milner, after a pompous and laboured pane- 
 gyric on Bp. Halifax, whom he in reality for several 
 reasons disliked, he said : " To such persons, then, as 
 are acquainted with the events of Bp. Halifax's life, or 
 the character of his writings, must it not be highly 
 improbable that a Prelate, who, upon one occasion, 
 had vindicated the fame of Bp. Butler from the impu- 
 tation of Popery, and who upon another, defended the 
 cause of the Church of England in opposition to the 
 Church of Rome, should in his last moments have 
 renounced the tenets, which he had so long professed 
 and so ably maintained ?"* 
 
 Dr. Milner' s defence was that his opinion rested 
 " on his persuasion of the truth of the following par- 
 ticulars : that the Bishop expressed in his illness an 
 uneasiness on the score of religion, to a certain Ca- 
 tholic, who had access to hii.i ;—that this Catholic 
 advised him to send for a Catholic priest ; and that 
 he replied : ' fVhat will then become of mt/ lady and 
 my children f and that he refused the offer of the 
 then Archbishop of Canterbury to administer the 
 Protestant Sacrament to him^f He added that the 
 parties being long dead, it was impossible now to obtain 
 
 * 
 
 * •• Letter to Dr. Milner," p. 33. 
 
 t " Parting Word — Postscript," p. 47.
 
 512 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1825. 
 
 evidence ; but that his informant was a clergyman of 
 the first rank among Cathohcs, and distinguished for 
 his moral virtues, and especially for his artless veracity. 
 Dr. MiLNER observes in conclusion, that Dr. Parr's 
 Letter is in other respects liberal, and even complimen- 
 tary to the '•'•End of Controversy'' and its author, of 
 which he gives proof by a quotation from it in the 
 margin. 
 
 It has been conjectured that Dr. Milner was mis- 
 taken as to Bishop Halifax, and that he confounded 
 him with some other dignitary of the Church of 
 England, of whom he had heard a similar anecdote at 
 the house of Bp. Douglass in London. At that house 
 lived the Rev. George Chamberlayne, whose conver- 
 sion is mentioned in Bos well's Life of Dr. Johnson. 
 This gentleman used to relate of some other dignitary, 
 that when he was discoursing with him of his own 
 conversion, that clergyman exclaimed, " You are 
 right." "Then," said Mr. Chamberlayne, " if you 
 think I am right, why not follow my example ?" He 
 answered, after a pause : " AVhat would become of 
 my wife and children ?" It has been argued that in 
 a dying man such an answer would be absurd, as his 
 family could not be affected by any step he might take 
 on his deathbed. His family, however, might have 
 been seriously injured in their worldly prospects, espe- 
 cially at the time when Dr. Halifax died (1790), by 
 the very report of their father, a Bishop, having died 
 as Dr. Parr said, " an apostate." Indeed the Bishop's 
 son, the Rev. B. F. Halifax, of Batchcroft, showed his 
 sensitiveness, if not apprehension, about this report, by 
 his letter to Dr. Milner, printed in Dr. Parr's pamphlet, 
 calhng upon him for the grounds of his statement. On 
 receiving Dr. Milker's answer, with the reasons above
 
 AGE 73.] CHAPTER THIRTIETH. .513 
 
 mentioned, he wrote a second letter in stronger terms, 
 to which the Bishop did not think proper to reply. 
 Plausible, then, as this conjecture is, it does not clear 
 up the difficulty; and particularly as it leaves untouched 
 the other particulars of a Catholic having been with 
 the dying Bishop, and having advised him to send for 
 a priest ; and above all, the important assertion that 
 Bishop Halifax refused the Sacrament from the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. It can scarcely be supposed 
 that Dr. Milner could have imagined these particu- 
 lars ; and yet they do not at all apply to the anecdote 
 related by Mr. Chamberlayne.* 
 
 But there are further discrepancies, which make 
 more directly against this conjecture. Dr. Milner 
 speaks of his informant, as "a clergyman of the first 
 rank among Catholics," which Mr. Chamberlayne 
 certainly was not ; and that his informant died in 
 1811,f whereas Mr. Chamberlayne did not die till 
 Feb. 4, 1815. From Dr. Milner's description of his 
 informant, that he was " a clergyman of the first rank 
 among Catholics, and distinguished for his moral 
 virtues, and especially for his artless veracity," the 
 present writer thinks he was Bishop Douglass himself. 
 He died May 8, 1812 ; but Dr. Milner's failing me- 
 mory may have easily deceived him as to a single year; 
 and the other qualifications are perfectly applicable to 
 that venerable Prelate. 
 
 Dr. Milner administered Confirmation on the 17th 
 of December, 1825, when he confirmed fifty-one per- 
 sons in the new church at Sedgley, erected by its 
 
 * See note in the Catholic Magazine for August, 1833, p. 22. 
 Also a Letter from the Rev. T. M. M'Donnell, in the Weekly 
 Register, October, 1856. 
 
 t " Parting Word," p. 48. 
 
 2 L
 
 514 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1825. 
 
 zealous and meritorious pastor, the Eev. Thomas 
 Tysan ; and this was the last time that he conferred 
 that holy Sacrament. 
 
 Besides the Letter of Dr. Parr, there appeared a 
 pamphlet from the Rev. John Garbett, of Birmingham, 
 against the ^'- End of Religious Controversy'' in which 
 he designated De. Milner's assertion about Dr. Hali- 
 fax, as " a calumny." The Bishop, in his feeble and 
 fast declining health, contented himself with writing 
 the following Letter in reply to Mr. Garbett, which he 
 sent to the Rev. T. M. M'Donnell, of St. Peter's 
 chapel, who had it inserted in a Birmingham paper : — 
 
 " To the Eev. John Garhett, M.A. 
 
 " Rev. Sir, 
 
 " I return you thanks for the copy of the 
 printed letter, which you have sent me ; and intended 
 to publish some remarks upon it, but I find my health 
 too bad, and myself too near to the awful moment when 
 we must, each of us, give an account of our conduct 
 with respect to every fellow-creature with whom we 
 have been in any way connected, to be able to write 
 any more for the public. I must, therefore, satisfy 
 myself with assuring you that I have, in my opinion, 
 sufficient grounds for every assertion, which I have 
 made in my ' End of Religious Controversy,' con- 
 cerning the sentiments of certain Divines of the Church 
 of England and others ; and that I am convinced it is 
 no calumny, but rather a commendation, to say that 
 they entered, or sought to enter, at the close of their 
 lives, into the one sheep/old of the one Shepherd. If 
 you look around you. Sir, you will find many instances 
 of this occurring in your own neighbourhood ; and, if 
 you inquire, you will hear of other persons in a supe-
 
 AGE 73.] CHAPTER THIRTIETH. 515 
 
 rior rank of life, besides the late Sir John Hippisley, 
 who have professed the strictest adherence to the Es- 
 tabhshed Kehgion during hfe, yet have sent for a 
 CathoHc priest to attend them in their last sickness. 
 " I have the honour to be, Rev. Sir, 
 
 " Your obedient Servant, 
 
 "J. MiLNER. 
 
 ''Wolverhampton, March 17, 1826." 
 
 This Letter was Dr. Miilner's last publication. 
 He had issued on the 1st of February, 1826, his 
 " Pastoral Admonitions for the Lent of 1826." 
 This Pastoral is of considerable length, arid as vigo- 
 rous and energetic as any of his previous Pastorals. 
 In it he replies to some of the leading false accusations 
 against the Catholic Church, with all his accustomed 
 ability ; the charges of divided allegiance — of not 
 keeping faith with heretics — of being bound to perse- 
 cute heretics, and pray for their extermination. He 
 then alludes to several unhappy apostates from the 
 Catholic faith, and particularly to Blanco White, and 
 concludes in these words : " In conclusion, we are 
 indeed to lament the spiritual loss of every immortal 
 soul ; but when an unbelieving, or immoral pastor of 
 the true Church throws off the sheep's skin with which 
 he had been clothed, we cannot but see what an 
 advantage it is to the flock, that an end should be put 
 to his devastations among it. In like manner, when 
 plans of emancipating our holy religion, which contain 
 more of detriment than of benefit to it, fail, such as those 
 have been, which for many past years have been 
 brought forward, we have reason to bless God, rather 
 than to grieve." 
 
 His Holiness Pope Leo XII. having this year 
 extended the Jubilee granted in the preceding year at
 
 516 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1P26. 
 
 Rome, in favour of all the faithful throughout the 
 world, our worthy Prelate, zealous to the end and 
 faithful to his solemn duties, exerted his little remain- 
 ing strength, and published his last Pastoral instruction 
 on the 12th of February, on the nature and conditions 
 of the Jubilee. He at first limited its duration in the 
 Midland District to the fortnight between Palm Sunday 
 and Low Sunday ; but finding that he had mistaken 
 the intentions of his Holiness, he directed liis coad- 
 jutor. Dr. Walsh, to circulate a notice to his clergy, that 
 the time for gaining the Jubilee was extended to six 
 months from Palm Sunday. 
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FIRST. 
 
 BREAKING UP OF DR. MILNER's HEALTH. — VISITS CAVERSWALL 
 CONVENT. — EDIFYING LETTER TO THE ABBESS AND COMMUNITY. 
 HIS LETTER TO THE AUTHOR, PROBABLY THE LAST HE WROTE. 
 — HIS FERVENT PREPARATION FOR DEATH. — DEVOUT RECEP- 
 TION OF THE LAST SACRAMENTS. EDIFYING SCENE OF HIS 
 
 DEATH BED. — GIVES HIS LAST BLESSING TO SEVERAL OF HIS 
 CLERGY. — HIS DEATH AND FUNERAL. — HIS CHARITABLE BE- 
 QUESTS. — DIRGES FOR HIS DEPARTED SOUL. 
 
 The long, active and meritorious life of the illustrious 
 MiLNER was now rapidly drawing to its close. He had 
 fought the good fight,— he had piished his course,— 
 he had kept his faith ; and he could now look forward 
 with humble confidence to the crown laid up for his 
 reward. For some time it had been observed with pain 
 by those who often saw him, that his robust constitu- 
 tion was giving way. He could not rest well at night, 
 and was less cheerful generally, and conversed less
 
 AGE 73.] CHAPTER THIRTY-FIRST. 517 
 
 than usual. But the worst symptom was the loss of 
 appetite, which soon reduced him, and changed his 
 former florid and healthy look to a purple hue, and 
 a general appearance of ill-health and decay. In 
 January, 1826, he went to Cavers wall Castle for 
 change of air, and to be nursed by the good nuns, who 
 were ever solicitous about him, and most assiduous in 
 their attention to his comforts. He could hardly relish 
 ordinary food ; and the nuns prepared potted meats for 
 him, which he liked, and of which he brought away a 
 small supply on his return from the convent. In the 
 month of March following, he wrote the following edify- 
 ing letter to the Abbess and Community of Caverswall, 
 in reply to their anxious inquiries about his health. 
 
 " To the Lady Abbess and Religious of Caverswall. 
 " Dear Daughters, 
 
 " I thank you for your kind inquiries 
 after my health, and still more for your pious prayers 
 for my general welfare. It is true, I am, very infirm 
 and cannot be far off that great change which we must 
 all undergo ; but there are no symptoms in me that I 
 am aware of, of an immediate dissolution. However 
 in my situation and character, I ought to practise what 
 I preach : I ought to prove that I am in earnest when 
 I daily repeat Thy kingdom come. In fact, what is 
 there worth hving for, except to do penance for sin and 
 to be resigned to the holy will of God ? Happy are 
 you to have left the world before it leaves you. Never 
 then think of it but with pity, being convinced with 
 the Apostle that whatever is in the world.^ is the con- 
 cupiscence oftheflesh,^ that is sensuality, or the con- 
 cupiscence of the eyes., that is avarice or the pride of 
 life ; that is pride properly so called, and vainglory
 
 518 LIFE OF BISHOP MTLNER. [1826. 
 
 For my part, I have much, very much to make me 
 afraid of the awful tribunal of the Great Judge ; but I 
 have the precious wounds in his hands and feet and 
 sacred side, to excite my hope and make me descend 
 cheerfully into tte grave. In conclusion, pray for me, 
 as I do for you, that we may meet in a joyful Eternity, 
 never more to part, but to enjoy our God, through the 
 merits of Jesus Christ, in a bhssful Eternity. 
 
 "•i* J. MiLNER. 
 
 " Wolverhampton, March 13, 1826." 
 Mrs. Wheble, the venerable widow who had boarded 
 so long with her revered pastor, wrote a few lines on 
 the other half of the Bishop's letter, to say, that for the 
 last two days he had appeared considerably better, that 
 he eat a little more, and it agreed better with him ; that 
 his spirits were good, though his chest was not so strong 
 as heretofore, and his voice was somewhat altered. 
 She added that he was very feeble on his legs, and 
 walked with a stick, but that considering how little he 
 eat, he looked surprisingly well. 
 
 He had alluded, as we have seen, in his Lenten 
 Pastoral, to the unhappy apostate Blanco White. The 
 writer of these pages was at the time engaged in a 
 refutation of a work by that unhappy man, called 
 '"''The Poor Marl's Preservative against Popery.''^ 
 He was anxious to obtain permission to dedicate to 
 his venerated Bishop his pamphlet in answer to Mr. 
 Blanco White, which bore this title: '•'■Defence of the 
 Doctrine and Discipline of the Catholic Church 
 against Blanco White ;" and he wrote to Dr. Milner 
 on the 16th of March for that purpose, asking him at 
 the same time whether he advised publishing the book 
 anonymously. The good Prelate returned an answer 
 on the 20th, so characteristic of his piety, that though
 
 AGE 74.] CHAPTER THIRTY-FIRST. 519 
 
 it has already appeared in a former work of the author, 
 he does not hesitate to insert it here, as this biography 
 would be incomplete without it.* 
 "Dear Sir, 
 
 "I have received yours of the 16th inst, 
 in answer to which I say, that it is of no consequence 
 to me whether my name does or does not appear at 
 the head of your book, having so very little time to 
 remain in this sublunary scene. Consult, therefore, on 
 this and on every other point, the greater glory of God 
 and the good of souls. Everything else is Vanitas 
 Vanitatum. I say the same with respect to your own 
 name's appearing. My respects to Lord and Lady 
 Stafford, to the rest of the family, and to good Mr. 
 Mason. " I am, 
 
 " Your faithful Friend and Servant in Christ, 
 
 " ^ J. MiLNER. 
 
 " Wolverhampton^ March 20, 1826. 
 
 " P.S. — I need not add that I beg, both alive and 
 dead, for your united prayers." 
 
 The handwriting of this letter too painfully evidenced 
 the weak state of its writer. It was probably the last 
 he ever wrote. Dr. Walsh told the writer that he 
 thought he wrote one or two after it, but was not cer- 
 tain. In another month, he was numbered with the 
 dead. 
 
 Early in March, his health had appeared to be 
 rapidly declining, and he felt convinced that his disso- 
 lution was at hand. When Dr. Walsh entered his 
 room on one of the first days of that month. Dr. 
 MiLNER handed to him a paper, on which he had 
 written his epitaph, which was simply "Here lies 
 
 * " History of Sedgley Park Sclioo]," p. 20.9.
 
 520 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1826. 
 
 John Milner," with a space left for the date of death, 
 and a request that the faithful would pray for his soul. 
 He then directed his coadjutor to examine, without 
 loss of time, certain documents relative to the affairs of 
 the District, as well as to his temporal concerns, that 
 he might he quite free to give all his thoughts to God. 
 He immediately entered into an edifying retreat, as a 
 preparation for death, on which he conversed with the 
 utmost composure. From that time, till he breathed 
 his last, during the whole of a lingering illness, he 
 gave repeated proofs of the most affecting humility, 
 charity, lively faith and resignation. There was not a 
 shadow of complaint. His only regret seemed to be 
 that he did not suffer more for the sake of his divine 
 Master, whose image was constantly before his eyes.* 
 
 On Palm Sunday, the 19th of March, he said Mass; 
 but this was the last time that he was able to offer the 
 holy Sacrifice. He became then more seriously ill, 
 and grew daily worse. He did not appear to have 
 any decided malady, but was sinking under a general 
 breaking up of his former strong constitution, and a 
 gradual decay of health and strength. On Maunday- 
 Thursday, the 23rd, he felt much weaker, and re- 
 quested to have the holy Viaticum administered to 
 him ; " for this," he observed, " is a great day." He 
 had been making a most holy preparation for the Jubi- 
 lee, which he ardently desired to gain before his death. 
 He requested that his domestics, and several of the 
 Wolverhampton congregation might be called into the 
 room ; and falling on his knees he humbly begged par- 
 don of all for any disedification which he might have 
 given, or any thing he might done have to scandalise 
 
 * See Dr. Walsh's Letter to John Gage, Esq., published in the 
 " Catholic Miscellany" for June, 1826; p. 384.
 
 AGE 74.] CHAPTER THIRTY-FIRST. 521 
 
 them, or any other person on earth. In this humble 
 posture he received his divine Guest, evincing tlie 
 most hvely faith, hope, and love of God, with unfeigned 
 humility. 
 
 On Holy Saturday, March 25th, finding himself still 
 worse, he made a most devout preparation for the 
 Sacrament of Extreme Unction, and received it with 
 great fervour. He then took to his bed, and never 
 rose from it again. After he had received the holy 
 anointing, and remained some time in silent prayer 
 and thanksgiving, he said to Dr. Walsh: "Now, Sir, 
 take these keys, from this day you begin housekeeping. 
 In such and such drawers are my money, papers, &c., 
 &c. I have now no more to do with this world ; let 
 me turn to something more important." From that 
 time he continued to decline, but complained that he 
 did not suffer, and said to the Kev. Walter Blount, 
 who frequently visited him from Sedgley Park : — " Is 
 this dying ?" He must, however, have suffered much 
 from his fever and cough. He was so weak, that it 
 was feared at times that he would be suffocated, 
 before he could obtain relief by expectoration. 
 
 Dr. Walsh never left the house, and spent much 
 time by the bedside of the dying Prelate, whose sanc- 
 tity seemed to increase the nearer he approached to 
 his end. He was perfectly sensible till the last few 
 hours of his life, and exceedingly grateful to those who 
 read prayers for him, or rendered him any little ser- 
 vice. He twice more had the happiness to nourish 
 his soul with the Blessed Eucharist, to which holy 
 Sacrament he had always been remarkable for a most 
 tender devotion. He seemed much pleased to be left 
 to his own silent meditations, that, as he intimated, he 
 might keep himself in spirit at the foot of the cross.
 
 522 LITE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1826. 
 
 " The world was under his feet, his conversation was 
 truly in heaven."* 
 
 When Dr. Walsh sought to encourage the dying 
 Prelate, by reminding him of the great good which he 
 had done by his labours and writings, and the great 
 store of good works which he had laid up during his 
 meritorious life, he testified great displeasure, and 
 eagerly interrupted him, saying : " Don't talk of any 
 merits of mine : speak to me of the merits of my 
 Blessed Saviour !" When those about him, as usual, 
 addressed him as " My Lord," he humbly said : 
 " Don't call me so any more : I am nothing now but 
 plain John Milner, a poor sinner." He expressly for- 
 bade all unnecessary expense at his funeral : he would 
 have no silks, no plumes, no worldly pomp : but wished 
 the poor to have the money which would be saved by 
 avoiding all empty parade. Every one had free access 
 to his bedside to receive his blessing ; and as it was the 
 time of the annual clergy meeting at Sedgley Park, 
 almost all the priests who attended it went to visit 
 their beloved Bishop, to be edified with his holy dis- 
 positions, and to receive his dying Benediction. This 
 he continued to impart to each priest as he knelt beside 
 him ; but when the present writer arrived somewhat 
 later, the good Bishop was become insensible ; and 
 thus he was deprived of the happiness of receiving the 
 last Blessing of one who had so often blessed him in 
 life, and for whom he had ever felt so great affection 
 and veneration. He was then lying on his back, 
 breathing with great difficulty, and in his agony. 
 
 The meeting of the clergy was held at Sedgley Park 
 on the 19th of April ; nothing took place in the chapel, 
 
 * Dr. Walsh's letter, referred to above.
 
 AGE 74.] CHAPTER THIRTY-FIRST. 523 
 
 but the recital of the " Recommendation of a departing 
 soul," by the assembled clergy for their dying Bishop. 
 They proceeded to dine together at about two o'clock 
 in the Exhibition Room, as they had not yet begun to 
 dine at these meetings in the boys' refectory. While 
 they were at dinner, the fatal ticUngs were brought that 
 the Bishop had expired. They all instantly rose from 
 the table, and proceeded in silence to the chapel, 
 where they fervently joined in the usual prayers for the 
 precious soul which had just departed. Dr. Walsh, 
 who had so closely attended the holy Prelate during 
 his illness, thus testified ofhim in the letter already 
 alluded to, addressed to Mr. John Gage : " During the 
 course of my ministry, dear Sir, I have attended several 
 persons on their death beds ; but never did virtue 
 appear more amiable, never did religion seem to afford 
 more solid consolation, on that awful occasion, than in 
 the last moments of the deservedly lamented, and the 
 truly just Dr. Milner." It was a remarkable fact, 
 that after his death, no one could close his mouth. A 
 servant, who had spent hours in attempting it, gave it 
 up in despair : but at length it closed of itself This 
 singular circumstance strongly reminded us of what the 
 intrepid Prelate had so often declared in his life, that 
 no one should shut his mouth, in defence of relicion 
 and truth. " The nineteenth of April," said an ardent 
 and eloquent writer, still living, " was the day appointed 
 for his departure from this vale of tears ; — a day which 
 will echo a mournful return to the breasts of millions ; 
 a day which will be memorable, as long as the name 
 of MiLNER exists. Already is he canonised in the 
 recollection of the majority, we might almost say, 
 of the known world. His unequalled genius, his 
 extensive erudition, his unassuming deportment, his
 
 524 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1826. 
 
 uncompromising adherence to truth, but above all, his 
 paternal and unparalleled charity have entitled him to 
 the highest encomimns, and deserved for him the most 
 lasting endearment."* 
 
 Dr. Milner bequeathed £50 to be given to the poor 
 of Wolverhampton, without any distinction of religious 
 belief ; and £50 to be equally distributed among fifty 
 of his clergy, to say Masses for the repose of his soul. 
 This latter distribution took place on the very day of 
 his death, the meeting of the clergy affording the best 
 opportunity for it. He left also a thousand pounds to- 
 wards the noble addition to the chapel at Wolverhamp- 
 ton, w^hich was made in the year following his death. 
 The statutes of SS. Peter and Paul which surmount the 
 entrance of the present chapel, were modelled by Mr. 
 Clarke of Birmingham, and presented by Dr. Milner. 
 He had chosen the place for his burial just outside of 
 the chapel ; but the spot is within the walls of the new 
 chapel, formed by adding a nave to the old building, 
 which is now the transept. 
 
 Dr. Milner's age, at his death, was 73 years and 
 six months, and he had been Bishop 23 years, wanting 
 one month. On the 27th of April, his funeral took 
 place. All secular pomp was avoided by his own 
 express direction ; and even the black cloth, with 
 which the sanctuary was hung, was afterwards given to 
 the poor. The chapel was crowded to excess, and the 
 space about it blocked up by a multitude anxious to 
 testify their respect to the memory of the good Bishop, 
 who was beloved and honoured by all classes in Wol- 
 verhampton and its vicinity. Dr. Walsh, his successor, 
 
 * " Death of Dr. Milner," in the Oscotian, Vol. I. p. 33, 2nd 
 Edition.
 
 AGE 74.] CPIAPTER THIRTY-FIRST. 525 
 
 officiated ; and twenty-five priests surrounded the 
 sanctuary, with several ecclesiastical students from 
 Oscott College. The scene was unusually solemn and 
 affecting. The writer in the " Oscotian^' alluded to 
 above, thus describes it in his own eloquent and ex- 
 pressive language : " We were present at the funeral 
 obsequies of this intrepid champion of the Christian 
 faith ; and never did a scene more awful or more 
 imposing at any time pass before our view. The 
 immense concourse of spectators assembled to pay 
 their last duties to their Bishop ; — the cries of the 
 orphan bewailing the loss of its parent ; and the tears 
 of the widow, bereft of her support, and flung back to 
 her former state of destitution ; — all combined to work 
 upon the sensibilities of our hearts, which were already 
 ' heaving and overflowing with the ' swollen waters of 
 bitterness.' "* The Rev. Henry Weedall was deacon 
 of the Mass of Requiem, and the Rev. Thomas Green 
 subdeacon. The preacher who delivered the funeral 
 oration, was the Rev. Francis Martyn. His text was 
 from Wisdom, x. 10. — '-' Wisdojn conducted the just... 
 through the right ways^ and showed him the king- 
 dom of God^ and gave him the knowledge of the lioly 
 things^ made him honourable in his labours^ and 
 accomplished his labours'' The Sermon combined 
 many excellencies, and with much ability sketched out 
 the leading features of Dr. Milner's triple career, as 
 a student at college, as a priest on the mission, and as 
 a Bishop and Vicar Apostolic. The preacher very 
 judiciously and accurately characterised his contests, 
 first with the enemies of our holy religion, and next 
 with " men who were his brethren in faith When 
 
 * The Oscotian, ubi supra.
 
 526 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [1826. 
 
 persecution relaxed her iron grasp, the prospect of 
 
 attaining to those honours and advantages from which 
 they had so long been excluded, accompanied with 
 certain feelings of gratitude for the liberty already 
 conferred, and a wish to improve the friendly inter- 
 course now established between them and their neigh- 
 bours, led them to conceive that the shortest way to 
 the good will of government, and consequently to 
 honour and emolument, as well as to promote a better 
 opinion oftheir own religious tenets, would beto concede, 
 to soften down, and to accommodate themselves to 
 existing circumstances. But this heroic and incom- 
 parable pastor of souls, who had been nursed in the 
 seminary of martyrs (Douay College), and was ready, 
 if called upon, to imitate their noble example in sealing 
 his faith with his blood, rose up to stem the torrent of 
 innovation, withstood all attempts to undermine the 
 faith, or fritter away the essential discipline of the 
 Church, and had the happiness to see the cause of 
 truth finally triumphant over all opposition. If, in thus 
 asserting the cause of God, and of his Church, some 
 few expressions escaped his pen, which appeared to 
 savour of over harshness and severity, it was not that 
 his pen was dipped in the gall of uncharitableness or 
 malignity ; but that his zeal for the glorious cause 
 which he advocated, in its ardour outstepped the 
 kinder feelings of a heart ever alive to the impulse of 
 charity, and ready on all occasions to sacrifice per- 
 sonal comfort and convenience for the welfare of his 
 neighbour, when unattended with a compromise of 
 conscience and of duty."* 
 
 The vigilance, pastoral care, self-denial, and charity 
 
 * "Sermon," &c., p. 10.
 
 AGE 74.] CHxVPTER THIRTY-FIRST. 527 
 
 of Dr. Milner are well delineated in the following 
 passages : " Vigilant and intrepid in the discharge of 
 his pastoral duties, he visited in person every portion 
 of his extensive District ; and while he lamented his 
 inability to relieve all its wants as soon as he could 
 have wished, he readily applied such relief as he was 
 able to aiford ; and, in order to accomplish it still more 
 effectually, he cheerfully deprived himself of what 
 others in the same station would have justly deemed 
 necessary for the proper support of the dignity of his 
 station. He appeared in the same humble garb, as if 
 he had been still a private pastor, and devoted but a 
 small portion of his pecuniary resources to himself, 
 that the wants of his flock and of the poor might be 
 
 the more readily and more abundantly supplied 
 
 Did he not show himself tenderly alive to the tempo- 
 ral necessities of his clergy, and freely open his purse 
 to their relief ? Were not the poor, without regard to 
 religious creed, the dearest objects of his paternal 
 solicitude ? Is there a corner of this populous town 
 (Wolverhampton) that is not ready to proclaim to the 
 world his mibounded charities, and, at the same time, 
 the care which he took to conceal them from public 
 view ?"* 
 
 Mr, Martyn published his Sermon, as he intimated 
 in the dedication to Dr. Walsh, at his Lordship's 
 desire, modestly disclaiming all merit in its composi- 
 tion, and declaring that if he had acted up to his own 
 sentiments in its regard, he should have consigned it 
 to the flames. It had, however, considerable merit, 
 and was received with much approbation. At the 
 same time, it surprised most of the clergy that a 
 
 * Pp. 12, 13.
 
 528 LIFE OF BISHOP MILNER. [182R. 
 
 preacher of more distinguished talents was not select- 
 ed for so remarkable an occasion. There was cer- 
 tainly one, to whom all eyes were directed, and whom 
 all expected to be called upon to pour out his splendid 
 oratory over the remains of the immortal Milner : 
 one who would have struck out the noble traits of his 
 character with a more masterly hand, and pronounced 
 his panegyric in more glowing language, and with more 
 nervous and impressive eloquence : that one was 
 Henry Weedall. 
 
 At St. Mary's College, Oscott, which was Dr. 
 Milner's own cherished foundation, a solemn dirge 
 was performed for the repose of his soul, three several 
 times. A Mass of Requiem was also chanted for him 
 at St. Peter's chapel, Birmingham, when the respected 
 pastor of that chapel, the Rev. T. M. M'Donnell, pro- 
 nounced a funeral oration, from the text : / have fought 
 the good fight ^ S^c. A requiem Mass was also chanted 
 at St. Chad's chapel in the same town, by the pastor, 
 the Rev. Edwd. Peach, on which occasion the Rev. 
 John Abbot, from Oscott,* delivered a discourse from 
 EccLESiASTicus, xxxix. 12, 13, 14. Many shall praise 
 his wisdom^ 5rc. Indeed, solemn Masses were offered 
 throughout the Midland District for the soul of its de- 
 parted venerable Vicar Apostolic, and in several other 
 parts of England, as also in many places in Ireland. 
 When men began to look back calmly upon his career 
 of indefatigable exertion, and to consider what dangers 
 they had escaped, and what benefits they had secured 
 through his foresight and perseverance, they felt more 
 and more the value of the treasure which they had 
 possessed in such a champion, and their grief was the 
 more intense for the loss which they had sustained by 
 the death of the illustrious Milner. How many
 
 AGE 74.] CHAPTER THIRTY-FIRST. 529 
 
 wandering souls had been brought back by his exer- 
 tions : liow many in error had been led to the truth 
 by his incomparable writings ! How many zealous 
 priests had been trained beneath his wise superintend- 
 ence, taught by his sound precepts, and formed by his 
 edifying example ; and how many souls had been 
 safely conducted in the path of virtue by these faithful 
 ministers ! The death of Milner was a severe blow, — 
 a perfect calamity to our little Church in this kingdom. 
 Such men are rarely indeed vouchsafed to the Church 
 in any country : they are meteors which rapidly shoot 
 along their brilliant course ; and when they expire, 
 leave behind them darkness more sensibly felt, if not 
 deeper than before. 
 
 AVhen Milner was withdrawn from us, his real 
 merits began to be more fully acknowledged ; and 
 many, who had been opposed to liim during his life, 
 began to see how much they had mistaken his cha- 
 racter, and his noble purpose. But, as it usually hap- 
 pens, posterity has done him justice : it has enshrined 
 him as the " immortal Milner," — the " English Atlia- 
 nasius :" his name has already outlived the remem- 
 brance of almost all those who opposed him ; his 
 enemies will be forgotten, while his own glorious name 
 will be embalmed and held in perpetual remembrance. 
 At the long distance of six and thirty years from 
 his death, we look back with surprise, and almost with 
 derision, at the poor policy of his opponents ; more 
 especially when we recollect that every one of their 
 schemes was a contemptible failure ; and that Pro- 
 testation, Schismatical Oath, Blue Books, Veto, Fifth 
 Resolution, Schismatical Bill of 1813, Civil Sword 
 Oath, and every form of Vetoistical arrangements and 
 securities, were all exploded, and mainly by Milner's 
 
 2 M
 
 530 
 
 MELNERIANA. 
 
 resolute exertions ; that all the eiForts of our professed 
 Protestant friends, and temporising Catholic brethren 
 were alike abortive ; and that we owed our Emanci- 
 pation at last to two of our greatest enemies, Wel- 
 lington and Peel, who honourably set us free, without 
 imposing restrictions upon religion, or exacting any 
 compromise of conscience. Milner did not live to see 
 this: but it was a triumphant testimony to the recti- 
 tude of his principles, and a cutting reproof of the 
 tortuous policy of his opponents. 
 
 " And all the people of Israel bewailed him with 
 great lamentation^ and they ynourned for him many 
 days. 
 
 '-'■ And said : How is the mighty man fallen that 
 saved the people of Israel /"* 
 
 CHAPTEK THIRTY-SECOND. 
 
 MILNERIANA. 
 
 PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF DR. MILNER HEALTH. — DRESS 
 
 HABITS TASTES KINDNESS LOVE OF CHILDREN. — LITE- 
 RARY ACQUIREMENTS STYLE OF WRITING. — SIMPLICITY AND 
 
 OPENNESS. ABSTRACTION ABSENCE OF MIND. 
 
 The remainder of these pages will be appropriately 
 devoted, under the heading of Milneriana, to summing 
 up the character of Dr. Milner, and preserving much 
 interesting information concerning him, which could 
 not have been introduced appropriately into the 
 preceding biography : " If one man undertake to write 
 
 * 1 Machabees, ix., 20, 21.
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-SECOND. 53] 
 
 the life of another, he undertakes to exhibit his true and 
 real character : but this can be done only by a faithful 
 and accurate delineation of the particulars which dis- 
 criminate that character."* To do this in the most 
 complete manner, as well as in the mode most conve- 
 nient for the reader, the subsequent observations and 
 information will be arranged under distinct headings. 
 
 Personal Appearance. — Health. — Dress. 
 
 Dr. Milner was about the middle stature, but 
 appeared not so tall as he really was, from being large 
 and stoutly built. His frame was strong, his shoulders 
 broad, his neck short, and his person rather hea^^ and 
 unwieldy. His complexion was florid, he had hazel 
 eyes, a well-formed nose, and dark, expressive eye- 
 brows. His hair was dark, and almost black ; but as 
 he wore powder till his hair turned gray, the real 
 colour of it was hardly known. The writer has a lock 
 of his hair, cut off after his death, which is quite white. 
 His figure was dignified and imposing ; and it was 
 pleasantly remarked of him, that when walking pro- 
 cessionally in his episcopal vestments, he had a fine 
 pontifical strut. His voice was loud, and his delivery 
 impressive ; but his speech was somewhat affected 
 by a slight lisp. Thus, when intoning his part of 
 the litany at an Ordination, he used to sing the words 
 nearly thus : " Ut hoth electoth beneditJiere digne- 
 rith.'' It approached to this, but was not so bad as a 
 complete lisping : nor did he always pronounce even 
 so, but one heard it occasionally, and chiefly at the end 
 of words terminating with the letter 5. His health 
 was generally good ; but he suffered at times from 
 
 * Dr. Johnson — Anecdotes of him by Bishop Home.
 
 532 MILNEKIANA. 
 
 severe colds. Coming once to Oscott, when he was 
 recovering from a bad cold and cough, he produced a 
 bottle of the famous nostrum called " Balsam of hore- 
 hound," and recommended it highly, as the best cough 
 medicine he had ever met with ; but if he had known 
 its composition, he would have been more cautious in 
 its use and recommendation. He did not take enough 
 exercise ; so that he grew corpulent and less healthy 
 after middle life. When engaged in writing his great 
 works, he kept too closely to his desk, and hardly 
 stirred out at all : for which he paid the usual penal- 
 ties of sedentary persons. 
 
 He was, however, naturally strong and robust, and 
 had a sound constitution. Once in London, when he 
 had alighted from a stage coach, having but a short 
 way to go, he took his portmanteau in his hand, as it 
 was but small, and was walking away, when a porter 
 accosted him, and offered to carry his portmanteau. 
 The Bishop declined employing him, alleging the short 
 distance he was going, and said he could very well 
 carry his luggage himself. The porter told him he 
 was no gentleman : to which the Bishop answered : 
 " But I'm a stout fellow though," and walked on. 
 When a young man, he was very active ; and at Win- 
 chester he used always to run up stairs, often taking 
 three steps at a stride. 
 
 He was remarkable for plainness of dress, and 
 aversion to all finery. He never wore silk stockings. 
 His dress in these days would appear strange and 
 undignified ; but it was quite clerical in his time. In 
 company, his dress was always very becoming and res- 
 pectable. He usually wore a black velvet waistcoat, 
 double-breasted, a coat with a straight collar, and a 
 white cravat or stock, which was fastened with a large
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY- SECOND. 533 
 
 steel buckle behind his neck. In those days cassocks 
 were never worn, either by bishops or priests, except 
 when officiating in their ministry ; nor did Bishops 
 venture to display their pectoral crosses. 
 
 Habits. — Tastes. 
 
 His habits were simple and unaiFected. He indulg- 
 ed in no luxuries. His furniture and everything about 
 him was plain ; he was contented with necessaries, and 
 rarely sought after comforts. At Winchester, he often 
 kept on writing till late at night. He did not generally 
 come down to supper, nor was any taken up to him ; 
 but something was left for him on the kitchen table ; 
 and when he was tired of writing, he went down and 
 took what he liked, but frequently nothing more than 
 a roasted potato. His housekeeper observed that he 
 was always more abstemious when employed on some 
 of his numerous works ; which she piously attributed 
 to a desire to draw down the divine blessing upon his 
 undertaking. His appetite was good, but his tastes as 
 to food were peculiar. He had a strong antipathy to 
 cheese, and has been heard to say that he would rather 
 go a mile round than pass by a cheesemonger's shop, 
 or encounter the smell of cheese. When he dined at 
 Oscott, and at other places where this antipathy was 
 known, cheese was either not served at all, or handed 
 round quietly under the table. If he |>erceived it, he 
 would get up at once and draw his chair to the fire, or 
 at least away from the table. The writer's father once 
 sent Dr. Milner a present of a large Swiss cheese. 
 The Bishop brought it with him to Oscott, observing 
 that it was the most unfortunate present that could 
 have been made to him, and told the procurator that 
 he would take one of the College hams in exchange for
 
 534 MILNERIANA. 
 
 it. He never eat any white meats, veal, pork, or 
 poultry ; and preferred beef, especially boiled corned 
 beef, to every other meat. When he entertained his 
 clergy at the general Meetings at his house in Wol- 
 verhampton, he always provided a round of beef, 
 considering, as he said, that the clergy could not 
 command such a piece in their small establishments ; 
 and in the goodness of his heart, he thought it would 
 be a treat to them, as he was so fond of it himself. 
 He was remarkably fond of fish of all kinds, particu- 
 larly of shell-fish. While at Winchester, though so 
 fond of fish, he professed never to eat any but what 
 was very cheap and common. A party where he 
 dined, who knew this, were much amused on one 
 occasion by his eating plentifully of smelts, which at 
 that time were much dearer than at present. But he 
 probably thought them as cheap as sprats or herrings. 
 He begged a lady, at whose house he was to dine on a 
 Friday, not to be at any expense about fish, as a 
 flounder would suffice for him. At Wolverhampton, 
 he often went into the market to buy his own fish, and 
 would carry it home himself to his house, which was 
 not far off. Even when at Rome, he was remarked in 
 like manner for his visits to the fish-market. 
 
 Kindness. — Love of Children. 
 
 Dr. Milner, with a somewhat rough exterior, had 
 great kindness of heart, and very tender feelings. 
 He studied much the inclinations of those about him, 
 and was anxious for their comfort. His compassion 
 for the poor was very great, and his charities abundant. 
 He felt for every one in distress: and it has been 
 already recorded in this biography what exertions and 
 sacrifices he made to provide for the poor nuns who
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-SECOND. 535 
 
 arrived at Winchester, destitute of the common neces- 
 saries of hfe. It has also been mentioned that out of 
 consideration for the general poverty of his clergy, he 
 usually put up at an inn on his Confirmation visits. If 
 he did lodge with the priest, he insisted on repaying 
 him for the expense of his entertainment. 
 
 This kind feeling led him to compassionate even 
 some who did not deserve his consideration. A man 
 was once sentenced to hard labour in Stafford jail, for 
 having obtained money at Oscott College on false pre- 
 tences. It was about Christmas time, and when ])r. 
 MiLNER heard of it, he said he thought the superiors 
 had been very hard upon the poor man ; and he actu- 
 ally sent him one pound to procure some little com- 
 forts in his imprisonment at that cold season. 
 
 This goodness of heart naturally developed itself in 
 a love of children, for which he was very remarkable. 
 There were some little boys at school at Sedgley 
 Park, from Winchester, whose parents he well knew. 
 He would have these at times to his house in Wolver- 
 hampton, to enjoy a little holiday ; and he patiently 
 put up with all the mischief they did about his garden 
 and premises, and delighted to amuse them, and see 
 them enjoy themselves. When priest at Winchester, 
 he was remarkable for his ino;enious kindness to 
 children. lie would often take them up on his horse 
 for a ride ; and when visiting at their houses, he took 
 delight in cutting out of paper horses, dogs, houses, 
 and other objects to divert them, as well as in telling 
 them amusing stories. Long afterwards at Oscott, we 
 often observed instances of his fondness for children ; 
 and one day were surprised to see the venerable 
 Bishop hastening down to a pool, called the " Green 
 Pit," where the boys were playing, with a little ship in
 
 536 MILNERIANA. 
 
 his hand, which he had made himself. He set it to 
 sail on the water with great glee for the amusement of 
 the boys, to one of whom he gave it, and stood by 
 some time enjoying its tiny navigation. 
 
 Eeturning once to Winchester from a distant sick 
 call, he found a man in great difficulties with a horse 
 and cart. The good priest, as he then was, dis- 
 mounted, and rendered the man valuable assistance ia 
 putting all to rights, who in return presented him with 
 a couple of live eels. He put one into each of his 
 coat pockets, but had the greatest difficulty in bringing 
 them home, as they were continually escaping. Un- 
 fortunately, he did not know the angler's secret for 
 killing eels in a moment. 
 
 Literary Acquirements. — Style of Writing. 
 
 Dr. Milner's learning was solid and very extensive. 
 Of history he was a perfect master, a walking library, 
 always ready to answer any inquiry, and detect any 
 historical error. Let any one examine his works, and 
 especially his '■'•History of Winchester^'' and he will 
 be amazed at his ready and innumerable references to 
 authors, ancient and modern, sacred and profane, and 
 evident familiarity with every department of history, 
 and indeed, with literature in general. Yet he was a 
 young man when he wrote his " Winchester ;" and 
 must have studied very closely to acquire the deep 
 learning which it displays. He was in the habit of 
 entering notes in his books, and several of them are 
 very important and valuable. For instance, in his copy 
 of Butler's "Analogy," there are a few sheets of note 
 paper, on which he has drawn up a careful analysis of 
 that remarkable work. Here and there, too, in other 
 books are brief notes for his architectural and antiqua-
 
 CHArTER THIRTY-SECOND. 537 
 
 rian writings. He used to read after dinner and in 
 the evenings folio volumes ; and in the Winter, sitting 
 before the fire, with his knees supporting some great 
 book, and almost stuck into the fire. These fohos 
 were often the Councils of the Church. But it has 
 been well remarked by a living Bishop in the " Dublin 
 Reniew^'' that Dr. Milner chiefly studied history in 
 the lives of the saints.* 
 
 Yet, though a profound scholar and an able writer, 
 his style of writing was very defective. He had no 
 idea of elegance in composition ; but was satisfied in 
 expressing his meaning in the first words that occurred 
 to him. Hence, though he wrote in very forcible 
 language, and often with great eloquence, particularly 
 in his printed sermons, his style was usually negligent, 
 awkward, abrupt, and often obscure. He retained the 
 clumsy habit of referring to the " former" and the 
 " latter," which is always embarrassing to the reader, 
 and very easy to avoid. He clogged his sentences 
 with parentheses, which like five barred gates always 
 impede the progress of the reader, and betray a want 
 of contrivance in the writer. Before he had proceeded 
 far, or there was any danger of wearying the reader, 
 he would bring in his favourite expression : " To be 
 brief ^' which occurs in bis writings perpetually, with 
 some other peculiar expressions. 
 
 But he had, in reality, no proper idea of style, and 
 seemed unable to appreciate it. He used to wonder 
 how those well acquainted with his writings could 
 detect him in what he wrote under feigned signatures; 
 while his own guesses at authorship were singularly 
 
 * *' Dublin Keview," May, I860.— Art. on the Life of St. 
 Thomas of Canterbury.
 
 538 MILNEKIANA. 
 
 injudicious. On one occasion, the present author 
 wrote an article in a CathoKc periodical on a subject 
 which he knew would interest the Bishop. He signed 
 it for a mere joke, "K. Bewel." Dr. Milner read 
 it, and was much pleased with it ; and said he thought 
 it was written either by Mr. Weedall, or his friend, Mr. 
 White, at Winchester. After some time the writer 
 avowed the authorship, and expressed to the Bishop 
 his surprise that he should have attributed the article 
 to either of the above gentlemen, as it was not at all 
 in their style. " Style ?" he exclaimed : " I don't 
 know what you mean by style." The writer told him 
 that his style was so peculiar, that he would undertake 
 to detect it, if the Bishop wrote only two or three sen- 
 tences. He was much amused at this, and did not 
 soon forget the affair ; for when the writer entered the 
 room some time after, he said with a smile : " Here 
 comes Mr. Bewel .'" One might have quoted to him 
 the sound observation of Dr. Johnson: " I think every 
 man whatever has a peculiar style, which may be 
 discovered by nice examination and comparison with 
 others : but a man must write a great deal to make his 
 style obviously discernible."* 
 
 Simplicity and Openness. — Abstraction. — Absence 
 
 of Mind. 
 
 From the qualities already dwelt upon, it will be 
 naturally inferred that Dr. Milner had great simplicity 
 of character. The inference will be acknowledged 
 as just by all who knew him intimately. He was a 
 true Israelite, without guile. He abhorred secrecy and 
 mystification. He proceeded in an open, straightfor- 
 
 * Croker's " Boswell," vol. vii. p. 121.
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-SECOND. 539 
 
 ward way in everything. He used to say that he should 
 Hke to Uve in a house of glass, open to all beholders. 
 When in Ordinations, or other solemn functions, he 
 made some mistake, which he often did from rapidity 
 of manner, or absence of mind, he submitted like a 
 child to be set right, and was ever docile, and ready to 
 do as might be suggested. It has often been remarked 
 with great admiration, that he never showed the least 
 temper or resentment when taken up sharply, or treated 
 with less deference than was due to him by his 
 inferiors. 
 
 He always inculcated straightforward policy, can- 
 dour, and speaking the truth openly. One day when 
 seated after dinner with Mr. Foley and the present 
 writer, he gave a practical lesson on these points, though 
 it was elicited by a very trifling incident. Mr. Foley 
 was offered some coffee ; but he refused it, saying : 
 " O no : I hate coffee." The Bishop observed this, 
 and said to him: "0 Sir, you should never say you 
 hate a thing: that is not polite." To which Mr. Foley 
 made answer : " Why, my Lord, you always tell us to 
 be open, and speak candidly." This pleased the good 
 Bishop, and he said: " yes, Sir, if you will do that 
 through life, I shall never find fault with you." Any 
 little thing pleased him. When riding once in his 
 gig with Mr. Trovell, now canon of Shrewsbury, he 
 amused himself with discussing with that good priest, 
 whether an elm tree or an ash would afford the best 
 shelter in a shower, and he kept watching each of 
 these trees as they rode along, to see which had best 
 kept the ground dry beneath it, as it had been raining 
 on their way. The Bishop was at first in favour of 
 the ash, but he soon found reason to change his 
 opinion.
 
 540 MILNERIANA. 
 
 He was given to abstraction and absence of mind, 
 wliich sometimes led him into strange mistakes. Soon 
 after tlie arrival of the famous Elgin marbles, he 
 accompanied a gentleman to the British Museum to 
 see them. After viewing them for some time with 
 great dehght, he asked the attendant some questions 
 about them, observing that they were very superb. 
 The man replied: "O Sir, these are not the Elgin 
 marbles : there is another room for them." It was in 
 reality the Townley collection, which he had often 
 seen before. On another occasion he was travellintj 
 in a postchaise with the Kev. Walter Blount and the 
 venerable widow, Mrs. Wheble. They stopped at 
 Oxford for refreshment. When ready to proceed on 
 their journey. Dr. Milner rose and called his com- 
 panions to get into the chaise, which stood at the door. 
 Mr. Blount said that the horses had not been ordered ; 
 but the Bishop, in one of his absent fits, answered : 
 " yes, Sir, tlie horses are put in, and the chaise is 
 ready." Mr. Blount saw plainly that they were not ; 
 but followed the Bishop, and said nothing, quite enjoy- 
 ing the joke. They got into the chaise, and shut the 
 door, the people in the street looking on with much 
 surprise and amusement. The Bishop called out 
 " drive on," but neither driver nor horses were there. 
 Mrs. Wheble looked out, and said : " Why, my Lord, 
 the horses are not put in." " O yes, they are. Ma'am," 
 said Dr. Milner : " I wonder why they don't start." 
 As to the good old lady, she would as soon have 
 doubted the Council of Trent as the word of Bishop 
 Milner: so she leaned back in the chaise, in perfect 
 faith and tranquillity. At length, finding that they 
 did not move, the Bishop looked out, and exclaimed : 
 " Why, bobs, the horses are not in, after all!" So, Mr.
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-SECOND. 541 
 
 Blount had to get out and order them, and in due 
 time they started ; but not before a crowd had 
 collected about them, who mightily enjoyed the scene. 
 
 The writer was once returning to Oscott from a 
 day's absence, when he met Dr. Milner in his gig 
 coming from the college, and on his way home to 
 Wolverhampton. The kind Bishop invited him to go 
 back with him, and he got into the gig, well pleased 
 with his invitation. The Bishop talked for some time 
 very pleasantly upon a variety of subjects ; but the 
 writer finding him grow quite silent, supposed he was 
 in one of his abstracted moods, and did not venture to 
 say any thing. At last, the Bishop said very com- 
 posedly : " I've been saying my rosary." And this 
 he had done, quite abruptly breaking off the conversa- 
 tion without any notice, and very probably forgetting 
 altogether that he had a companion by his side. 
 
 The following is a singular instance of his absence 
 and forgetful n ess. A pious young lady once com- 
 municated to him her desire to become a religious ; 
 and he gave her excellent advice on the subject. 
 She had not mentioned her wish to any one else. 
 The Bishop, some time after, mentioned to a relative 
 of the young lady his great satisfaction at her desire 
 to become a nun. The gentleman expressed great 
 surprise, and appeared to doubt ; but Dr. Milner 
 assured him that he had heard it from her own lips. 
 This was communicated to the father of the young 
 lady, who reproved her for having concealed her dis- 
 position from her parents. She at once wrote a letter 
 of expostulation to the Bishop for having betrayed her 
 secret. In his reply, he congratulated her upon her 
 dispositions, but assured her at the same time that it 
 was a mistake to suppose that he had spoken of the
 
 542 , mLNEEIANA. 
 
 matter, for that this letter of hers was the first infor- 
 mation that he had received on the subject. Yet this 
 was merely forgetfulness and absence of mind on his 
 part. 
 
 This absence made him, as might be supposed, a 
 careless driver. An instance has been already men- 
 tioned of his nearly driving into a precipice near 
 Alton. Another time, when travelling in his gig with 
 Rev. Walter Blount, he was so little attentive to the 
 road, that he drove over a heap of rubbish, and actu- 
 ally upset his gig. Mr. Blount fell out, and the Bishop 
 fell upon him ; but, in his usual absence of mind, he 
 forgot that his companion might be considerably 
 injured ; and as he got up, he merely said : " Thank 
 God, Sir, I'm not hurt," never inquiring how Mr. 
 Blount had fared. Happily, however, that gentleman 
 received no serious injury. When engaged upon his 
 more important writings he was wholly absorbed and 
 unwilling to be interrupted. When writing his " His- 
 tory of Winchester^'' he used to sit at a window over 
 his house door. One day his old and intimate friend, 
 the Rev. J. Griffiths of St. George's chapel, London, 
 drove up in a gig, and called out at the gate: "Is Mr. 
 MiLNER at home ?" Milner, who was writing with 
 the window open, answered in a loud, gruff voice : 
 " No." Mr. Griffiths laughed, and understanding that 
 he did not wish to be disturbed, drove on.
 
 CHAPTEE THIRTY-THIRD. 543 
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-THIRD. 
 
 ABSENCE OF ANY PERCEPTION OF THE LUDICROUS IN DR. MIL- 
 KER. NO RELISH FOR PUNS. HIS EPIGRAMS. ANAGRAMS. 
 
 SEAL. HANDWRITING. AUTHORSHIP. POLITICS. — CONTESTS. 
 
 — FUNCTIONS EPISCOPAL ORNAMENTS. — C0NFIR3IATI0N. — 
 
 SINGING. 
 
 Absence of any perception of the Ludicrous. No 
 relish for Puns. His Epigrams and Anagrams. 
 
 Dr. Milner, though cheerful and very agreeable in 
 society, had no sense of the ludicrous. He hardly 
 ever noticed any thing droll, or uttered any thing 
 approaching to ridicule or sarcasm. Mr.- Bowdon, 
 when President of Sedgley Park school, had one of the 
 many copies of the famous temptations of St. Anthony, 
 by Teniers. When the Bishop came on one occasion 
 to the Park, Mr. Bowdon thought he would be greatly 
 amused at this picture, and directed his attention to it 
 accordingly. There were some devils represented in 
 it in the most ludicrous shapes, attitudes, and actions ; 
 but all was lost upon Dr. Milner, who looked at the 
 painting very gravely, and merely observed that 
 Teniers was a famous Flemish painter. The only two 
 humorous stories which the writer remembers to have 
 heard Dr. Milner relate, with evident enjoyment of 
 their drollery, were, first, that he once saw the deluge 
 represented in a show ; where, as he used to say, 
 when the cataracts of heaven were opened, and the 
 rain poured down in torrents, the ark was seen safely 
 floating upon the waters, and when Noe put his head
 
 544 MILNERIANA. 
 
 out of the window of the ark, Punch appeared, and 
 called out to him : " A hazy morning, Master Noe !" 
 
 The other story was that Dr. Moylan and himself 
 once went together through curiosity into a Methodist 
 meeting, where there was no chance of their being 
 known, and that they heard the preacher tell his 
 audience, that at the last day many of them would be 
 glad to lay hold of the skirts of his coat ; " but," he 
 added, " I'll be a match for you, for I'll wear a 
 spenser!" This is well known as a joke of the cele- 
 •brated comedian Liston ; but the present writer cer- 
 tainly heard Dr. Milner declare that Dr. Moylan and 
 himself heard it in a meeting-house long before. 
 
 He had no relish for puns, and indeed could not 
 understand them. Mr. Birch called upon him early 
 one morning, and went into his room when he was 
 shaving. As he entered, he said, " So, my Lord, I 
 find you have got into a scrape." — " A scrape, Sir," 
 said the Bishop, quite alarmed, " how so ? what scrape 
 have I got into ?" — Mr. Birch hastened to reheve him 
 by explaining that he only meant that he was scraping 
 his face in shaving. " O," said the Bishop, " is that 
 all. Sir ? I suppose that's what you call a pun." 
 But he was not in the least amused at the pleasantry. 
 
 Sometimes, however, he could joke and play upon 
 words in a way that bordered closely upon punning ; 
 as when mentioning Foulis, he calls him the Jbulest of 
 slanderers ;* and when speaking of his expulsion from 
 the Board ofEnghsh Catholics, he said : " They threw 
 me overboard^. . .how, then, can they tell the public that 
 I am on board of them now ?"f The writer once heard 
 
 * "Vindication against Grier," p. 53. 
 
 t Letter in the " Orthodox Journal," 1813, p. 178.
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-THIRD. 545 
 
 him relate that his great friend the Abbe Carron took him 
 to see the nuns whomhehadestabhshedat SomersTown. 
 They were all French, and the Abbe told him that 
 these good religious would expect him to address a few 
 words to them on that occasion. The Bishop was not 
 very fluent in French, but he managed the matter very 
 ingeniously. He began by saying to the nuns : 
 '^ Mesdames^ voire Abbe est un grand saint:' at 
 which, as it may be imagined, the humble priest was 
 quite confounded. " Out]'' he continued, " c'est un 
 grand saint : il fait meme des miracles ;" this was 
 worse still, and the poor Abbe did not know how to 
 look, till the Bishop humorously relieved him thus : 
 " // en fait meme a present^ en me faisant vous 
 addresser^ 3fesdames, en Frangais F When he told 
 this, the writer accused him of making something very 
 like a pun. " O no. Sir," he answered, " that was no 
 pun : I am so far from being able to make a pun, that 
 I can't understand one when it is made." 
 
 He was riding one day to Oscott in a snowstorm, on 
 his white charger, in his usual drab great coat with a 
 cape ; and as the storm drove in his face, his white 
 horse and coat, covered with snow, made him look 
 white all over. He met a man in a gig, who called 
 out to him in true Staffordshire phrase : " Bin vo 
 a milner ?" " Yes," he answered, quite seriously, 
 " my name is Milnf.r : I am Bishop Milner of W^ol- 
 verhampton ;" at which the man laughed outright and 
 drove on. When the Bishop arrived, he told us the 
 adventure, and wondered why the man laughed, and 
 did not stop to speak to him, as he appeared anxious to 
 know who he was. He was not aware that in 
 Staffordshire a miller is called a mihier, and that the 
 
 2 N
 
 546 MILNERIANA. 
 
 man merely meant to joke upon his looking as white as 
 a miller. 
 
 Dr. Mtlner's nearest approaches to wit were two 
 jeux d' esprit which he sent to the " Orthodox Jour- 
 nal One of these has already been copied into this 
 biography, but may be repeated here. It was occa- 
 sioned by the attempt to fix upon Catholics the 
 incongruous and schismatical name of Protestmg- 
 Catholic-Dissenters. 
 
 EPIGRAM. 
 
 " No longer prate on huge Briareus, 
 Or monstrous triple bodied Geryon : 
 For I have seen a real trifarious 
 Protesting — Catholic — Presbyterian." 
 
 Merlin.* 
 The other had no signature, but it was certainly written 
 by Dr. Milner : 
 
 AN EPITAPH. 
 
 " Stranger, here lies C. B. (Catholic Board) untimely dead, 
 The cause not told ; but yet, 'tween me and you, 
 'Tis laid by doctors, in the science read, 
 On undigested pamphlets htff and hlueP-\ 
 
 Merlin was his favourite anagram of his own name. 
 He had another, L'Ermlne, which he used only once 
 in his signature to a Letter in the ''^ Orthodox JournaV 
 He had the name Merlin written inside his hat ; and 
 used to have his letters from Rome directed to Mr. 
 Merlin. The government, however, apparently soon 
 found out the disguise : at least he was persuaded that 
 they had. For on one occasion, when the present 
 writer had been to Birmingham, and brought the 
 Oscott letters from the Post Office, there was one 
 from Rome for Mr. Merlin, which he handed to Dr. 
 
 * " Orthodox Journal," 1814, p. 37. 
 t Ibid. 1817, p. 40.3.
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-TIITRD. 547 
 
 MiLNER. He looked at the seal and exclaimed with 
 great vehemence : " This letter has been opened :" 
 and dashing it down to the ground, he added : " That's 
 Castlereagh !" 
 
 Seals. — Ua ndwriting. — A utii orsh ip. 
 
 Dr. Milner, simple and unostentatious in all his 
 habits, adopted a device for his episcopal seal far 
 more pious than heraldic. It accorded, however, 
 completely with the feelings and taste of a Chris- 
 tian antiquary. He w^as always fond of introducing 
 the favourite monogram of the first Christians, J3. 
 between the letters A and Cl ; and these with -3s^ 
 the figure of a fish " naiant" below, formed the device 
 of his usual seal. The fish, it is well known, occurs 
 also frequently in the Catacombs, having been adopted 
 by the first Christians from the initial letters of the 
 words : T^/oroy? XpioTos Qeov YIo? '2wT))p, which form 
 the word IXOYS, a fish. He had a smaller seal with 
 only, surrounded wdth rays of glory ; and this he 
 ^ wore ahvays at his watch-chain. As he never 
 adopted any proper armorial bearings, he had no 
 heraldic motto : but the one which he had adopted, 
 and often repeated was : " Salus animarum suprema 
 lex." 
 
 Dr. Milner's handwriting was the usual one of the 
 old Douay priests, and was large and plain, but by no 
 means elegant. His letters were often written on 
 very common foolscap paper, and generally after filling 
 the first page, to avoid the trouble of turning the sheet, 
 and folding it back, he would write lengtliways across 
 the third page. He was prompt and punctual in 
 answering letters, particularly those from his clergy on 
 business ; his letters were usually short, but always to
 
 548 MILNEKIANA. 
 
 the purpose, open and satisfactory. His great mind 
 seemed never capable of attention to minute things ; 
 his writing was careless, and he continually mis-spelt 
 names of places and persons. The present writers 
 name, as well as person, was intimately known to him 
 for many years ; yet, he hardly ever spelt the name 
 coiTectly, and wrote it wrong in at least four different 
 ways. He was rather proud of his handwriting, 
 because it was large and legible ; and he used to say 
 that the printers' compositors always liked his manu- 
 scripts, because they gave them so little trouble to 
 read. He dishked a small, loose running hand ; and 
 once found great fault, though goodnaturedly, with 
 one of his clergy on that head : " I wonder. Sir," he 
 said, " that you write so bad a hand, after the good 
 education you received at college." He used to say 
 of authorship, that writing his book was an author's 
 heaven, that correcting his own manuscript was his 
 purgatory, but that correcting the press might be 
 called an author's hell. This, however, had been the 
 remark of an old writer. 
 
 Politics. — Contests. 
 
 Our excellent Prelate never took any part in politics. 
 He very often repeated as his fixed principle : " Reli- 
 gion is all my politics." If whig or tory favoured our 
 holy rehgion, he was sure of the support of Dr. 
 MiLNER ; and if he inclined at any time to what is 
 now called Conservatism, he did so purely because he 
 wished to see religion and good order most effectually 
 preserved. This led him once, but only once, to issue 
 a warning admonition against radicalism. But he did 
 so to guard his flock against " the spreading infection 
 of turbulency and revolution;" and because he saw but
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-THIRD. 549 
 
 too plainly " the close alliance between revolution and 
 infidelity ;" and he held it a solemn duty to withdraw 
 " from tumultuous assemblies and illegal measures of 
 every kind, — as faithful subjects of the government 
 which protects us, and to which also we have pledged 
 our allegiance by solemn oaths." Thus, rehgion was 
 ever his guiding principle ; and where that was in no 
 way concerned, he left political discussions to others. 
 Thus, when the famous trial of Queen Caroline was 
 going on, and it was a question whether Her Majesty 
 should be prayed for in the public service in our 
 chapels, he was consulted on the matter by the Rev. 
 Mr. Barr of Coughton Court, and he answered that it 
 was purely a political question, which he was at liberty 
 to solve as he thought proper. 
 
 His contests were with the enemies of our holy 
 Faith, and with those within the fold, whom he consi- 
 dered wolves in sheep's clothing. His controversial 
 writings, however, were never acrimonious, and his 
 " Letters to a Frebendary]^ and especially his " End 
 of Controversy''^ are remarkably temperate. He was 
 most provoked by Grier's attacks upon him in his 
 " Reply'' to his " End of Controversy '^ He sat very 
 close at his " Vindication'' of that immortal work ; 
 and when he had finished it, he came to Oscott, glad, 
 as he said, to shake his leg, after being cramped up so 
 long in writing against " that impudent Grier." On 
 that occasion he said to Mr. Walsh : " You praised 
 my ' End of Controversy' for its mildness : you'll 
 not like this." Still, there is nothing violent even in 
 that work ; though the Bishop is rather more caustic 
 and abrupt in it, than in his other controversial 
 writings. On the Sunday during his stay on this 
 occasion at the College, he was requested, as usual, to
 
 550 MILNERIANA. 
 
 preach in the chapel. He said he would rather be 
 excused ; " for," he most amusingly added, " I have 
 lost all my religion by applying so closely to refute 
 that impudent Grier." Those who asked, however, 
 knew well how to secure a sermon from him : they 
 brought him, as usual, the Missal, and pointed out the 
 Epistle and Gospel for the Sunday ; and he, as usual, 
 preached an excellent sermon. 
 
 With reference to his contests in what might be 
 termed " Catholic politics," the present writer once 
 heard him speak thus to Mr. Walsh, who was after- 
 wards his coadjutor and successor. " Well, Sir, now 
 what have you to object to my writings against Mr. 
 Charles Butler and others ?" 
 
 Mr. Walsh. — " Why, my Lord, I think you are too 
 violent and severe." 
 
 Dr. M. — " But, Sir, I suppose you will allow that 
 my cause is just." 
 
 Mr. W. — " O yes, my Lord, I admit that you have 
 a right cause ; but I wish you not to be so violent in 
 defending it." 
 
 Dr. M.— " Then, Sir, if you think that I contend in 
 a just cause, you must allow me to choose my own 
 weapons. I have gone with the olive branch, and been 
 rejected ; now I must go with sword : I mean, how- 
 ever, the 'sword of the spirit' However justly I 
 might argue, if I wrote wdth a pen plucked from the 
 wing of an archangel, there are some who would reject 
 all argument if it came from me:' The prejudice 
 against him in some quarters was certainly very great ; 
 and he was fully aware of its prevalence.
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-THIRD. 551 
 
 Functions. — Episcopal Ornaments, — Confirmation. — 
 
 Singing. 
 
 Dr. Milner, though not very accurate in rubrics 
 and ceremonies, used to officiate in a very dignified 
 manner. His voice was powerful and distinct, and his 
 manner commanded attention. His pontifical orna- 
 ments were not very rich, nor always in good taste. 
 He had a small low mitre and a crosier made in 
 imitation of those of William of Wykeham ; but he 
 seldom used either. The crosier was so contrived as 
 to be easily taken to pieces, and packed in his port- 
 manteau. It was in fact a straight walking stick, 
 over which he drew a case of silver tissue, and then 
 fitted on a head of the same, worked with gold, and 
 having a graceful crook, so that it then formed a small 
 but good looking crosier. One crosier he had made 
 in form of a serpent, with the head bent down and 
 curved, and the jaws open, and painted red inside, the 
 body of the serpent being green, with small serpents 
 gilt creeping about the body, which formed the staff. 
 This was to represent the rod of Aaron changed into a 
 serpent, and devouring the rods of Pharao's magicians. 
 But he found that no one admired this fanciful crosier, 
 and he soon laid it aside. His usual one was a very 
 elegant gilt crosier carved in wood, the curved head of 
 which was particularly graceful. He had several pec- 
 toral crosses ; one was a small one of silver gilt, which 
 he usually wore, and which he one day lost in the 
 principal street of Walsall. Search was made for it in 
 vain, and it was given up. But a long time afterw^ards 
 a man, wdio had picked it up, brought it to Oscott, 
 and it was purchased by one of the superiors as a 
 locket of no great value, the purchaser being wholly
 
 552 MILNERIANA. 
 
 ignorant of its real character and history. The pre- 
 sent writer saw it, some time after, in his possession, 
 and at once identified it. It was finally presented to 
 a colonial Archbishop, who valued it as a relic of the 
 venerable Bishop Milner. But his most precious 
 cross was one presented to him by the late Mr. John 
 Gage. It is an antiquarian curiosity, having belonged 
 to the last abbot of Croyland : it is silver gilt, with 
 the figure of our crucified Saviour upon it, of very 
 elegant workmanship, and having small chains from 
 the top to the ends of the arms. It is now in the pos- 
 session of the Bishop of Birmingham. 
 
 Once, when Dr. Milner was consecrating the holy 
 oils in the chapel at Oscott, he spilt one of the holy 
 oils on his best pontifical, which was elegantly bound 
 in red morocco and gilt. He stood in great excite- 
 ment calling for some paper to stop the stream, which, 
 before any thing could be done to arrest it, had 
 run all down the folio page of the book to his great 
 vexation. Another time, as he was turning round to 
 leave the altar after an Ordination, the acolyths were 
 just passing him with their lighted candles, which 
 came in contact with his rochet and set it on fire. By 
 the prompt assistance of those about him, and chiefly 
 of Mr. Willson, now Bishop of Hobarton, the fire was 
 speedily put out ; and when he got into the parlour, 
 which served as a sacristy for all grand functions, he 
 said to Mr. Willson: " Thank j'OU, Sir, for your kind 
 service : I was just going to roll." 
 
 When administering Confirmation, he always ad- 
 dressed admirable exhortations to those who were to 
 be confirmed. He did not approve of children being 
 presented for Confirmation who had not been admit- 
 ted to their first Communion : and he once commended
 
 CHArXER THIKTY-TIIIllD. 553 
 
 a priest highly for having presented, among a consi- 
 derable number of candidates, no one who had not 
 made his first Communion. When he visited any mis- 
 sion to administer Confirmation, he was always ready 
 to go and confirm any sick poor in their houses, who 
 were bedridden, or unable to come to the chapel ; and 
 he would on such occasions sit down by the bedside, 
 and talk to the sick person first in a manner the most 
 kind and paternal. 
 
 His singing in the divine offices w^as but indiffer- 
 ent : his voice was strong, but not well supported. 
 He sung, however, tolerably in tune. Yet he had an 
 idea that he sung pretty well ; for on one occasion 
 being at Oscott on the Kogation days, he was going to 
 say Mass for the community, when Mr. Abbot offered 
 to sing the Litanies before his Mass, solely with a view 
 to spare him the fatigue of singing them. But he 
 chose to sing them himself ; and he observed on the 
 occasion to the present writer, with great good humour 
 and self complacency : " Mr. Abbot thinks I can't 
 sing : I can sing as well as he can ;" and there indeed 
 he was perfectly right. Mr. Abbot hearing him say 
 this, muttered in a voice which the Bishop luckily did 
 not hear : " As for that, I think we are ' par nobile 
 fratrum :' " but he should have said : " Arcades 
 ambo, et cantare ])a?'es.'^
 
 554 MILNERIANA. 
 
 . CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH. 
 
 PECULIARITIES. — PREACHING. — THEOLOGICAL SCIENCE AND 
 OPINIONS. — PLEASANTRY, — CHURCH DECORATION. — PIOUS 
 IMAGES. — FASTING. — ESTEEM FOR DR. POYNTER. — ENCOURAGE- 
 MENT OF PIOUS PUBLICATIONS. — DIRECTION OF SOULS. — 
 MEDITATIONS. — TENDER PIETY. — GREAT LOVE OF RELIGION. — 
 LINES TO HIS MEMORY. 
 
 Every one has his pecuharities and imperfections. 
 " It happens for the most part," says St. Gregory the 
 Great, "that the Almighty Lord, though in great 
 measure he purifies the mind of the just, still permits 
 them to be in some respects imperfect ; in order that 
 though they shine in eminent virtues, they may be 
 humbled by the discouragement of their imperfection, 
 and not be lifted up with their great deeds, while they 
 still feel their weakness in their efforts against small 
 faults."* Dr. Milner's way of saying the Litanies 
 surprised every one. He used to keep going on rapidly, 
 not allowing any interval for the attendants to answer ; 
 so that while he kept on with the invocations, they 
 kept incessantly answering " Have mercy on us," or 
 " Pray for us :" but what was more extraordinary, he 
 always maintained that this was the right way to say 
 the Litanies. 
 
 Still more unaccoimtable was a way that he had 
 
 * " Plerumque omnipotens Dominus justonim mentas, quamvis 
 nicajori ex parte perficit, imperfectas tanien in aliquibus esse per- 
 mittit, ut licet miris virtutibus rutilent, imperfectionis sua3 tabescant, 
 et de magnis se non extollant, dum adliuc contra minima innitentes 
 labuntur." S. Greg. Magn. 4 P. Past, in fin.
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH. 555 
 
 sometimes in saying his Office. It is difficult to 
 describe, and will hardly be believed ; but the writer 
 has often observed it, and has more than once stood 
 behind his chair close to him, though un perceived, on 
 purpose to be sure of it. He used to repeat a few 
 words of the beginning of a Psalm, or prayer, many 
 times over, and yet apparently manage to continue 
 with the succeeding words at the same time. For 
 instance, in saying the " Pater noster]'' he would 
 repeat those two words many times in rapid succession, 
 and then you suddenly heard him saying : " et ne nos 
 inducas in tentationem ;" and repeat those words over 
 and over again. Or he would repeat in like manner the 
 w'ord " miserere," beginning the 50th Psalm, several 
 times over, and then say a few words considerably 
 further on in the Psalm, and repeat them many times 
 over till he took up another passage. Perhaps this 
 singular habit arose from his devotion to some particu- 
 lar words, which he was led to repeat ; but how he 
 contrived to go on at the same time with W' hat followed, 
 which he certainly appeared to do, was always a 
 mystery. 
 
 Another pecuharity was, that he w ould always, when 
 he preached on a Sunday, read the Epistle and Gospel 
 in English from the large Latin altar Missal, which he 
 held in his arras, with very bad effect. The conse- 
 quence was that from his translating the Latin extem- 
 pore, one heard considerable variations from the usual 
 version. He w^as fond of smelling the smoke of wax 
 candles w^hen extinguished ; and while saying St. 
 John's Gospel at the end of Mass, he often blew out 
 the candle near him, on purpose to enjoy the smoke. 
 Lie had a strong dislike of flies, particularly of their 
 buzzins noise. Whenever he heard them in a room,
 
 556 MILNERIANA. 
 
 he rolled up his handkerchief and pursued them with 
 great vehemence. " Nasty things !" he would exclaim, 
 and never suffer one about him, if he could help it. 
 Even in the chapel, he has been seen to leave his 
 place, and chase a buzzing fly to the window in hopes 
 of killing it. He used to observe that Beelzebub 
 meant the God ofjlies^ and he really seemed to think 
 there was somethino- diabolical about them. 
 
 o 
 
 He also had a great dislike of the process of cutting 
 open the leaves of books. When he got a book with 
 the leaves uncut, he used to take it himself to his 
 bookseller in Wolverhampton, and desire him to cut 
 off the margin at once with the plough which book- 
 binders use for that purpose : nor would he read it, 
 until this operation had been performed. Towards 
 the latter part of his life De. Milner seldom read any 
 work regularly down the page. He had his own way 
 of reading diagonally, from corner to corner. For he 
 had read so much on almost every subject, that few 
 works presented any novelty to him ; and he used to 
 say that he could always catch enough of the contents 
 of any book, by reading it diagonally. 
 
 He never smoked, nor regularly took snuff ; though 
 he carried a very small box which literally held only 
 two or three pinches, of which he sometimes, but veiy 
 seldom, took one, probably to clear his head. But he 
 liked the smell of tobacco smoke, and when any one 
 was smoking near him, he often caught the smoke 
 with his hand, and brought it near him, to enjoy the 
 scent. 
 
 He had peculiar ideas about altar flowers. He used 
 to maintain that they ought to be either all white, or 
 made of gold and silver paper. He never approved of 
 coloured flowers upon the altar : yet, he never assigned
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH. 557 
 
 any rule or reason for his preference of gold and silver 
 flowers : it seemed after all in him a mere matter of 
 taste, arbitrary and peculiar. 
 
 He had the custom of saying " Sir" to almost every 
 man with whom he conversed, and at almost every 
 sentence. This was the general habit of the last cen- 
 tury, as may be observed perpetually in the dialogues 
 between Johnson and Boswell. But Dr. Milner was 
 one of the last who adhered to the custom of con- 
 tinually repeating " Sir," which has long ago been 
 exploded. In pronunciation he had some peculiarities: 
 as in the word salvation^ which he pronounced almost 
 sluation^ shortening, and indeed annihilating the first a. 
 He retained also several old fashioned words and 
 modes of pronouncing, which were remarked in most 
 of the Douay priests. 
 
 Preaching. 
 In preaching, his delivery was animated and ener- 
 getic. He usually chose plain Gospel truths, particu- 
 larly the value of our redemption, the importance of 
 salvation, the necessity of repentance, and similar sub- 
 jects for his discourses. He used to say to young 
 ecclesiastics on the subject of preaching : " Read as 
 much as you please, but at last make your own 
 sermon." His familiar acquaintance with the works 
 of the holy Fathers enabled him to quote their maxims 
 readily : and he often did so, particularly those of St. 
 Augustin. Several of his sermons on special occa- 
 sions were published, and have been noticed in the 
 preceding pages ; but except at such times, he did not 
 write his sermons, but preached extempore, always 
 with great unction, and in language which every one 
 could understand. Once when preaching to a country
 
 558 MILNERIANA. 
 
 congregation on the vice of profane swearing, he caused 
 a great sensation by first pronouncing very dehberately 
 the too common, but dreadful imprecation : " G-d 
 d-n you /" — and then exclaiming : " How horrible is 
 this in the mouth of a Christian ! How dreadful thus 
 to call down upon a fellow-creature the very extremity 
 of punishment, eternal damnation !" He preached a 
 very fine sermon once at the midnight Mass in the 
 nuns' chapel at Winchester, which was long remem- 
 bered with great admiration. 
 
 Theological Science and Opinions. 
 
 Dr. Milner was a profound theologian ; and always 
 ready upon any question of dogmatic, or moral divinity. 
 His reading had been continual, and very extensive. 
 He was particularly fond of the Sumtna of St Thomas 
 Aquinas ; and when he met with writers, or speakers, 
 who sneered at the theology of the schools, he used to 
 say : let any one of these try his skill upon the argu- 
 ments of St. Thomas, and see if he can refute any of 
 his conclusions : he will soon learn to admire the 
 depth and solidity of the saint's reasoning. Dr. 
 Milner was a sound practical divine, and no theorist. 
 He was partial to the " Douay Dictates," that is, the 
 course of divinity which was taught at the English 
 college of Douay. These " Dictates" were never 
 printed ; and it is to be lamented that now they are 
 almost forgotten. It was customarv at Oscott for the 
 young divines to write out at least the Treatises on the 
 Seven Sacraments, which are practical and very useful: 
 the present writer carefully preserves the copy which 
 he himself made. Though by no means rigid, or 
 inclined to severe opinions himself, the Bishop chose 
 Collet for the resjular author to be studied in the
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUrxTH. 559 
 
 school of divinity at St. Mary's College : for although 
 he well knew his cramped style and rigid casuistry, 
 he preferred him, as he said, because he was a safe 
 divine. Dr. Milner dreaded relaxation, either in 
 doctrine or morality : he knew the proneness of human 
 nature to relax, and how much more easy it is to soften 
 down than to grow strict. Hence, he would have his 
 ecclesiastical students use a somewhat rigid author for 
 their text book, without restricting them from the free 
 study of other divines. He knew, too, that there was 
 always the professor ready to explain or modify any 
 undue severity of opinion in the regular author. 
 
 It has been supposed by some who did not know 
 Dr. Milner, that he was disposed to admit the validity 
 of the Anglican Orders. The writer can attest that 
 this idea is utterly unfounded. For, to say nothing of 
 the absence of any such opinion from all the volumi- 
 nous writings of Dr. Milner, the writer once asked 
 him purposely what he thought on the subject. He 
 answered without hesitation, that he had formerly 
 studied very carefully both sides of that important 
 question ; and from all that he had read, he had come 
 to the conclusion that the Orders of the Anglican 
 clergy were absolutely null and void. 
 
 Pleasantry. 
 
 Though Dr. Milner had a strong mind, and was 
 profoundly learned, he never displayed his erudition, 
 or acted the pedant in society. There was, however, 
 one rather amusing exception. When he travelled in 
 a public coach he generally made it a point to talk 
 learnedly at first, that he might secure civility, if not 
 respect, from his fellow-travellers, and thus become, 
 as he used to say, " cock of the coach." But this was
 
 560 MILNERIANA. 
 
 a mere expedient, and not done for ostentation. On 
 the contrary, when he was in company that he hked, 
 and where he felt himself at ease, he was always 
 familiar, and very agreeable. If songs went round, he 
 would sing one too when called upon, but he had only 
 two that he ever produced on such occasions. One of 
 these was the well known Latin song : " Gaudeamus 
 igitur^ juvenes dum sumus^ etc.^'' and the other, 
 Blockley's famous moral song upon tobacco, each 
 verse of which ends with the burthen : " Think of this 
 when you're smoking tobacco." It has been mentioned 
 above that he had some idea of his vocal powers, and 
 an amusing instance of this once occurred. He was 
 in company with the celebrated Madame Catalani ; and 
 she was requested to sing a very beautiful Litany of 
 the B. Virgin. This she agreed to do, provided some 
 of the company would sing the responses, " ora pro 
 nobis," &c. ; but every one was afraid to sing with 
 one so celebrated. Dr. Milner, however, unwilling 
 that the opportunity of hearing Madame Catalani 
 should be lost, undertook to sing the answers ; and 
 they went through the Litany together, affording a 
 contrast which the reader may easily imagine. 
 
 He enjoyed a little pleasantry, and sometimes played 
 off a harmless joke. Thus, when his great friend, 
 Bishop Moylan of Cork, was on a visit to him at 
 Winchester, he took him to see the nuns near his 
 chapel. It happened to be Good Friday, and Dr. 
 j\IiLNER told his Lordship that though the nuns were 
 by no means uncivil or impolite, they would all turn 
 their backs upon him. Dr. Moylan could not imagine 
 what he meant ; but when he went to the refectory of 
 the convent, the nuns were all on their knees, facing 
 the altar in the refectory, and their backs were all
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH. 561 
 
 turned to the two visitors as they entered ; so that they 
 never knew till afterwards of the visit that had been 
 paid to them. 
 
 When it was resolved upon, at Dr. Milner's recom- 
 mendation, to begin a museum at Oscott College, the 
 Bishop promised to make the first donation to it, 
 which he said should be an object of great antiquity. 
 Expectation and curiosity were raised high at this 
 promise, but when he next came to the college, he 
 produced what he proclaimed to be an antediluvian 
 nut. It was found, he said, very deep down in a mine 
 in Cornwall, and must have been there from the 
 deluge. Some were taken in by this grave assurance ; 
 but others saw through his joke, and were satisfied to 
 believe that it had dropped out of some miner's pocket. 
 
 On one occasion, which arose out of something 
 which he had penned on Catholic affairs, one of his 
 dearest friends so far gave way to his feelings, as to 
 intimate to Dr. Milner that if it were not for his 
 cloth, he should consider himself called upon to take 
 further notice of what he had written. To this he 
 replied with perfect good humour : " I suppose, then, 
 you would challenge me to fight ; but in that case I 
 should have the choice of weapons, and I should 
 choose those of the ancient Britons, who fought with 
 clubs." This speech had the happy efifect of making 
 his friend burst into tears, and embrace him with great 
 affection. 
 
 Church Decoration. — Pious Images. 
 
 Dr. Milner was particularly fond of introducing 
 stained glass in the windows of churches, chapels and 
 oratories ; and not only in these but in rooms not set 
 apart for any religious purposes, as in his bed room at 
 
 2 o
 
 562 MILNERIANA. 
 
 Oscott College, and in a summer house which he made 
 in his garden at Wolverhampton. This last was to 
 defy criticism ; but it is well known to have had just 
 the opposite effect. Still, he was never able to procure 
 any really good stained glass : the art of glass-painting 
 was but slowly reviving in his time, and he could get 
 hardly any colours but orange and purple ; the attempts 
 at ruby were sad failures. The present writer being 
 fond of drawing, Dr. Milner wished him to acquire 
 the art of painting on glass. " But," he added, " you 
 must learn to burn it in well, which is the most diffi- 
 cult process of the art." The writer, however, never 
 attempted it. 
 
 Dr. Milner paid great attention to everything con- 
 nected with the building and decorating of churches 
 and chapels. He was very fond of introducing plaster 
 work and ornaments. This taste he indulged in the 
 chapel at Sedgley Park, and in the little oratory 
 which he had made in the new building there ; as also 
 in the chapel at Oscott. He greatly admired the 
 exquisite plaster work in the chapel at Wolverhamp- 
 ton, which was the work of some Italians employed by 
 Bishop Horny old to decorate the chapel in 1765. It 
 was exceedingly beautiful, and in good taste, as well as 
 calculated to inspire devotion ; and was sacrificed with 
 great regret when the building was altered and en- 
 larged soon after Dr. Milner's death. When con- 
 sulted upon the proper colouring of chapel walls, he 
 recommended French gray, freestone, or even pale 
 green ; but laid it down as a rule that whatever colour 
 was chosen, it must not be strong: he observed that any- 
 thing is preferable to white for the colour of the walls. 
 
 He was the first who procured holy images to be 
 manufactured in the Staffordshire potteries : one of
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH. 563 
 
 these isstill preserved with great care by the nuns at 
 Bergholt, the community having received it from him 
 when they were at Winchester. He was very fond of 
 busts and statues, but sometimes not very scrupulous 
 about appropriating them. Thus, when he wanted a 
 bust of St. Chad, to occupy the niche in the centre of 
 the portico, under the exhibition room at Oscott, he 
 adopted for the purpose a cast taken after death from 
 the head of the venerable Bishop of St. Pol de Leon, 
 fitted up with a tin mitre painted over ; and set it up 
 labelled as St. Chad. Some busts of pagan celebrities, 
 which stood on brackets in the above room, were also 
 converted into the heads of holy personages. 
 
 Fasting. 
 
 Dr. Milner observed the fasts of the Church with 
 the utmost exactness ; though it was evident to those 
 who had opportunity to observe him, that he suffered 
 much from fasting. For his evening collation, after 
 he returned from Rome, he often took what he called 
 an Italian toast, which was toasted bread, with salad 
 oil instead of butter, which no one could endure but 
 himself Being consulted at Oscott, as to w'hat quan- 
 tity might be safely taken for the evening collation on 
 fasting days, he limited this to four ounces, and send- 
 ing for a pair of scales, he weighed a quarter of a 
 pound of bread to show us the size, and said : " There, 
 you may safely take as much as that." After a week's 
 fasting in Lent, he much enjoyed his breakfast, and 
 particularly his cup of tea with cream, on a Sunday 
 morning. " This," he said, " is balsamic, after the 
 penance of the week." He much relished good tea, 
 and used to declaim strongly and very amusingly 
 against the frequent adulterations of that article.
 
 564 MILNERIANA. 
 
 "They mix a great deal oi smouch with it, Sir." 
 He had so often said this, that he was asked one day 
 to explain what he meant by smouch. " Why, Sir," 
 he answered, " I understand it's a mixture of Dutch 
 pink and horse dung." This so diverted the young 
 men, that the word "pink" was long used among them 
 as a slang name for tea. 
 
 Esteem for Dr. Poynter. 
 
 It has been more than once observed in this bio- 
 graphy, in recording the contests in which our Prelate 
 found himself of necessity involved, that he never 
 entertained the least personal animosity against those, 
 whose policy or productions he was obliged to oppose. 
 This was very remarkable in the case of Bishop Poyn- 
 ter. Though he felt it his duty to censure strongly 
 certain writings and proceedings of that Prelate, he 
 always entertained for him real respect and esteem. 
 Thus on occasion of an Address of the Catholic 
 Board to the Pope in 1817, containing an eulogy upon 
 Dr. Poynter, which Dr. Milner considered more likely 
 to injure than benefit him, our Prelate thus expressed 
 himself : " They have given a splendid certificate, 
 under their signatures, as due judges of the various 
 episcopal qualifications of Dr. P. But it is creditable 
 to his Lordship, that he needs not such attestations, as 
 it is to be hoped that his character in the Christian 
 metropolis stands too high to be injured by them." 
 And further on, he speaks of Dr. Poynter as " a Bishop 
 so much respected and beloved."* 
 
 But a stronger and more valuable proof of the 
 esteem in which Dr. Poynter was held by Dr. Milner 
 
 * Letter in the " Orthodox Journal," 1817, p. 392.
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH. 5G5 
 
 will be found in the following words of the Rev. L. 
 Havard, who preached the funeral Sermon on Dr. 
 Poynter : " I deem it a conscientious duty to testify, 
 that the illustrious Dr. Milner, not very long before his 
 death, declared to me, respecting the venerable Dr. 
 Poynter, in words which, coming from any one else, 
 might be construed into flattery, but he was not accus- 
 tomed to flatter— he declared,- with emotions scarcely 
 susceptible of description, that he entertained the most 
 unbounded veneration for the virtues, piety, and edify- 
 ing character of Dr. Poynter, and that he would give 
 the universe to possess half his merit in the sight of 
 God. Their esteem was perfectly reciprocal. Speak- 
 ing of the death of Dr. Milner, our venerable Prelate 
 exclaimed with emphasis. He was a St. Jerom /"* 
 
 Encouragement of Pious Publications. 
 
 Ever distinguished himself for enlightened and 
 tender piety. Dr. Milner always readily approved 
 and encouraged devotional works undertaken by 
 others. Miss Young, a religious of the Ursuline Com- 
 munity at Cork, published some excellent little devo- 
 tional treatises, ^'■llie Soul united to Jesus in his 
 Adorable Sacrament;" " The ardent Lover of Jesus;' 
 and ^''Contem.plotions on the most Holy Sacrament of 
 the Altar.'" This good nun was anxious to procure 
 the approbation of Dr. Milner for these pious trea- 
 tises ; and this he most willingly accorded to each of 
 them, testifying that on perusing them he had found 
 nothing in them contrary to the Catholic Faith, or the 
 general doctrine and sentiments of the saints and 
 Catholic doctors ; but had been much edified by the 
 
 * " Funeral Discourse," p. 20.
 
 566 MILNERIANA. 
 
 affections of a lively faith and ardent devotion towards 
 our divine Victim and Food in the adorable Sacrifice 
 and Sacrament of the B. Eucharist, which animate the 
 whole composition. In like manner he signified to 
 the writer of these pages, his particular wish that he 
 would translate into English the " Ecolier Chretien"' 
 of Collet, which he held in great esteem, and con- 
 sidered admirably calculated to do great good in our 
 colleges, and among CathoKc youth in general. This 
 the writer did, and his translation, under the title of 
 the ^^ Christian Student^' was pubhshed in 1821. Dr. 
 MiLNER also gave his approbation to the writer's trans- 
 lation of the ^^ Little Office of the Immaculate Con- 
 ception^ of the B. V. Mary^' which first appeared in 
 1822 ; and his approbation has been prefixed to all 
 the subsequent editions. Soon after the good Bishop 
 commissioned the writer to compile proper Lessons for 
 the Offices of our English Saints in the Breviary, for 
 which he said he would procure the approbation of 
 the Holy See. To this task the writer at once pro- 
 ceeded, but when, with much labour, he had com- 
 pleted these Lessons, he learned that the Rev. Dr. 
 Lingard had drawn up another set, and he at once 
 threw his ovm series into the fire. Those compiled by 
 Dr. Lingard were duly sanctioned by authority, and 
 have ever since been in use by the Enghsh Catholic 
 clergy. The only restrictions placed by Dr. Milner 
 upon the present writer, were that he should not at- 
 tempt to compile Lessons for St. George, St. Ursula, 
 or St. Winefrid ; as he considered that no records of 
 those saints are sufficiently authentic and trustworthy ; 
 and that he was not to make the Lessons too long: 
 " for," said he, " some of the compilers were so devout 
 to their favourite saints, that they thought they could 
 not say enough about them."
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH. 567 
 
 Direction of Souls.— Meditations. — Tender Piety. 
 
 Great Love of Religion. 
 
 Dr. Milner, when a priest on the mission, was 
 much esteemed as a spiritual director, and particularly 
 as a confessor of children. He would always, when 
 Bishop, give his advice most readily to his clergy 
 when consulted upon any difficulty ; but he used to 
 say that he rather wished to decline solving cases of 
 conscience, and he often thanked God that he had 
 nothing to do with the consciences of the great. He 
 had probably the same opinion as the great Bossuet: 
 " A virgin can conceive, a barren woman can bring 
 forth a child, a rich man can be saved; these are three 
 miracles, of which the Holy Scriptures give us no 
 other reason, but that God is all-powerful."* 
 
 When he recommended, on one occasion, some 
 pious person who was dangerously ill to the prayers of 
 his clergy, and one of them observed that she was ripe 
 for heaven, he quickly said : " O! but I wish you to 
 pray for her recovery ; that she may still do more good 
 upon earth." 
 
 Dr. Milner always strongly inculcated the practice 
 of daily meditation, especially, to his ecclesiastics. 
 His own conduct in this respect was extremely edify- 
 ing. Whenever he visited St. Mary's College, he 
 punctually attended the meditation every morning, at 
 the eariy hour of half past six: and when he was about 
 to confer Holy Orders there, he was accustomed to 
 join in the exercises of the Retreat previously made 
 by those who were to be ordained. As the daily 
 meditation was attended by the younger, as well as the 
 more advanced ecclesiastics, and also by the lay stu- 
 
 * Discourse on St. Frajicis of Assisium.
 
 568 MILNERIANA. 
 
 dents of the upper classes, it was customary to have 
 one of Challoner's Meditations read aloud ; ten minutes 
 being given to each of the three Considerations. Such 
 an arrangement was adapted to the capacity of all; but 
 every one was at liberty to use any other book, or aids to 
 meditation, accorcUng to his own devotion. When Dr. 
 Milker was present, he frequently desired the reader 
 to substitute for Challoner a few verses from the " Fol- 
 lowing ofClirist^' which he himself selected. His own 
 favourite subjects of meditation were from the Passion 
 of our divine Kedeemer, especially his agony in the 
 garden, and his sufferings and death on the cross. 
 After the night prayers in the college chapel, he al- 
 ways gave his blessing very solemnly to all present. 
 
 Dr. Milker had a particular devotion to the Blessed 
 Sacrament, and the holy sacrifice of the Mass. The 
 Litany of the holy Mass, which he composed in great 
 measure, and which appears in his Prayers for Sun- 
 days, affords striking evidence of his lively faith and 
 ardent devotion to the great mystery of divine love, 
 the Holy Eucharist. He never assisted at the Bene- 
 diction of the Blessed Sacrament but with his eyes 
 streaming with tears, and when reciting the hymn of 
 St. Thomas, " I devoutly adore Thee, O hidden Deity," 
 &c., his voice betrayed deep emotion, and tender feel- 
 ings of piety. In his sermons, he frequently intro- 
 duced the subject of the great benefit of our Redemp- 
 tion, and dwelt with great feehng and emphasis on the 
 value of our souls for which our blessed Saviour shed 
 his precious blood. Great indeed was the faith of Dr. 
 Milker, strongly was he attached to religion, and 
 ardently was he devoted to all its interests. He lived 
 for God alone : the world had never any of his affec- 
 tions : he sought the kingdom of God and his glory,
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH. 5d9 
 
 first, and in all things. His life was one of incessant 
 labour, and perpetual endurance for that one great 
 object ; and his death was the grand consummation of 
 a career of merit, and, doubtless, the blissful commence- 
 ment of an eternity of glory. ZZ/ffa? he ovtw, koI 
 7raicev6eU Kat rrraihevaa^j ware opou fxev YiTnaKO-nTj^ eiuai 
 rov tKeivov ^cou kuI t/jottoi/, vofxov le opBoco^ia^ ra 
 CKetuov hoyidaTu, tlvu fxiaOov rtp evae^ela^ Ko/j.i^erai ; 
 " Having thus lived, been thus taught, and having thus 
 taught others, so that his life became a rule and model 
 for Bishops, and his teaching the law of orthodoxy, 
 how great will be the reward of his piety ?" S. Greg. 
 Naz., Orat. de S. Athanasio. 
 
 The author offers no apology for reprinting here the 
 tribute which he paid to the memory of the illustrious 
 Prelate shortly after his death. He is anxious to 
 close this biography with his own warm testimony to 
 the worth of his venerated Bishop ; but he has no 
 better words to convey it than will be found in the 
 following lines, of which, after the lapse of six and 
 thirty years, he has only found greater reason to 
 prove the truth and justice. 
 
 LINES 
 
 f ll]c gjcmorg of tlje Jltcfljt gcij. gir, plncr. 
 
 When Israel's leader, Machabeus, fell, 
 Though Glory's arms received the noble dead, 
 
 Then did a nation's wailing loudly swell, 
 And sorrow's bursting cry was widely spread : 
 " How is the mighty fallen ! The laurelled head, 
 
 Hoary with triumphs, though not white with years, 
 Sunk to the dust, — the richest life-blood shed! 
 
 Stretched with the lowliest Juda's pride appears. 
 
 And Israel's strength is mourned with unavailing tears !"
 
 570 MILNERIANA. 
 
 Such is our sori'ow : — Juda's fate is ours, 
 To weep our chieftain and our leader lost ! 
 
 He who long years had watched on Israel's towers, 
 Armed for the coming foe, himself a host, 
 The flock's firm pastor, and Religion's boast 
 
 Yields to pale Death, an unresisting prey : 
 And though to Angels' hands he yields the ghost, 
 
 And Glory gilds him with her quenchless ray, 
 
 Deep is the grief that mourns great Milne r passed away ! 
 
 Our father — more than father — whom we loved 
 More fondly than a child can love his sire, 
 
 With fervour such as that lone prophet's proved, 
 Who watched his master borne on wheels of fire. 
 Following his radiant course with warm desire ; 
 
 And with a tone of bitterest anguish cried, 
 As the resplendent car still mounted higher, 
 
 My father 1 Israel's chariot and his guide, , 
 
 Why hast thou left thy son, thus vanished from his side ! 
 
 Religion mourns : he that upheld her cause, 
 That loved her in her darkest days of wo. 
 
 And braved the bold deriders of her laws, 
 His mighty arm has drooped, his head lies low, 
 The poor man weeps, whose bliss it was to know 
 
 In him an advocate, to life's full end : 
 And often to his grave shall many go 
 
 Dejected mourners, and in anguish bend 
 
 O'er the cold stone that holds their father, guide, and friend. 
 
 Pastor of Heaven's high choice ! Thy sheep lament, 
 Bereft of thy sure guidance, and thy care : 
 
 How many of thy watchful hours were spent, 
 To guard them from the wolf, and hidden snare. 
 Where danger threatened, thou wert promptly there : 
 
 Thou didst support the feeble, feed the strong ; 
 The wanderer homewards thou wouldst gladly bear, 
 
 And place him joyfully thy flocks among, 
 
 Now they are left to mourn thy sad departure long. 
 
 Farewell, thou best of Prelates ! thy great name 
 Shall live embalmed in many a fervent breast. 
 He who has here essayed to hymn thy fame. 
 
 I
 
 CHAPTER THIRTY-FOURTH. 571 
 
 Long by thy favour cheered, and presence blest, 
 
 Prays for thy parted soul eternal rest ! 
 
 And where the just made perfect ever dwell, 
 
 There be the unfading crown by thee possessed ; 
 There may thy voice with hymns of glory swell, 
 Pastor revered and loved; father and friend, Farewell 1 
 
 F. C. H. 
 
 June% 1826.
 
 Hist of m. iltilntr's wmotk^. 
 
 Funeral Oration on Bishop Challoner, 1781. 
 
 Letter to the author of ' A Candid and Impartial 
 
 Sketch of the Life and Government of Pope 
 
 Clement XIV.; 1785. 
 
 Sermon on the Recovery of King George IlL, ... 1789. 
 
 The Clergyman's Answer to the Layman's Letter, 1790. 
 
 Meditations of St. Teresa after Communion, ... 1790. 
 
 Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Leon, translated, 1791. 
 
 Discourse at the Consecration of Bishop Gibson,... 1791. 
 
 Facts relating to Contest of R. Catholics, ... 1791. 
 
 Certain Considerations, &c., suggesting Alterations in 
 
 Oath, 1791. 
 
 Divine Rights of Episcopacy, ... ... ... 1791 
 
 Audi Alteram Partem, 1792. 
 
 Historical and Critical Inquiry about St. George, 1792. 
 
 Ecclesiastical Democracy detected, ... .. 1793. 
 
 Funeral Oration on Louis XVI., ... ... ... 1793. 
 
 Reply to the Report of the Cisalpine Club, ... 1795. 
 
 Serious Expostulation with Rev. Jos. Berington, ... 1797. 
 
 History of Winchester, in 2 vols. 4to, ... ... 1798. 
 
 Brief Account of the Life of Bp. Challoner, ... 1798. 
 Dissertation on the Modern Style of altering Ancient 
 
 Cathedrals, 1798. 
 
 Observations on Means of illustrating Architecture of 
 
 Middle Ages, 1800. 
 
 Letters to a Prebendary, ... ... ... ... 1800. 
 
 Case of Conscience solved, ... ... ... ... 1801. 
 
 Letters to a Prebendary, 2nd Edition, ... ... 1801. 
 
 Elucidation of the Conduct of Pope Pius VIL, ... 1802.
 
 LIST OF DR. MILNER's WORKS. 573 
 
 Letter to the Clergy of the Midland District, ... 1803. 
 
 Exercise for sanctifying Sundays and Holidays, ... 1804. 
 Short View of the Arguments against the Catholic 
 
 Petition, 1805. 
 
 Authentic Documents relative to the Cure of Wine- 
 
 frid White, 1805. 
 
 Letter to the Faithful of the Midland District, ... 1806. 
 Case of Conscience Solved, 2nd Edition, with Obser- 
 vations on a Publication by Le Mesurier, ... 1807. 
 Examination of Articles in the Antijacobin Review 
 
 (not imhUshed.) 
 
 Letter to Clergy and Laity of Midland District, ... 1808, 
 
 Letter to Clergy of Midland District, 1808. 
 
 Letter to a Parish Priest (only 50 copies printed: 
 
 afterwards retracted), ... ... ... 1808- 
 
 Inquiry into certain Vulgar Opinions about L'eland, 1808. 
 
 Sequel to Pastoral Letter, ... ... ... ... 1809. 
 
 Supplement to Pastoral Letter, ... ... ... 1809. 
 
 Appendix to Supplement, ... ... ... ... 1809. 
 
 Appeal to the Catholics of L'eland, ... ... 1809. 
 
 Discourse at the Funeral of Sir William Jerningham, 1809. 
 
 Sermon at the Blessing of St. Chad's, Birmingham, 1809. 
 
 Letter to an English Catholic Peer (not published), 1810. 
 Letters which had appeared in the " Statesman" 
 
 Newspaper, ... ... ... ... ... 1810. 
 
 Elucidation of the Veto, 1810. 
 
 Treatise on Ecclesiastical Architecture, .... ... 1810 
 
 Dissertation on altering Ancient Cathedrals, 2nd 
 
 Edition, 1811. 
 
 Instruction for the Catholics of the Midland Counties, 1811. 
 
 Letter to aR. Catholic Prelate of Ireland, ... 1811. 
 
 Explanation with Bishop Poynter (not published), 1812. 
 Pastoral on the Jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, 
 
 PartL, 1812. 
 
 'Do.Turtsll.SLiidi HI. (not published,) 1813. 
 
 Restatement of the Conference, ... ... ... 1813. 
 
 Brief Memorial on the Catholic Relief Bill, ... 1813. 
 
 Multum in Parvo, 1813.
 
 574 LIST OF DR. MILNER's WORKS. 
 
 Inquisition — a Letter to Sir J. Cox Hippisley, ... 1816. 
 
 Humble Remonstrance to House of Commons, ... 1816. 
 
 Discourse at St. Chad's on Thanksgiving for Peace, 1816. 
 
 Memoir of Bp. Hornyold {Directory for 1818), 1817. 
 
 End of Religious Controversy, ... ... ... 1818. 
 
 Postscript to 2nd Ed. of Address to the Bishop of St. 
 
 David's, 1819. 
 
 Letter to Catholic Clergy of the Midland District, 1819. 
 
 Letter to a General Vicar of the Midland District, 1819. 
 
 Brief Summary of the Holy Scriptures, ... ... 1819. 
 
 Catholic Scriptural Catechism, ... ... ... 1820. 
 
 Supplementary Memoirs of English Catholics, ... 1820. 
 
 Additional Notes to do., 1821. 
 
 On Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, ... 1821. 
 
 On the Use of the Pax, 1821. 
 
 Letter of Thanks to W. Wilberforce, Esq., ... 1821. 
 
 Theological Judgment on Two Bills in Parliament, 1821. 
 
 Vindication of the End of Controversy against Grier, 1822. 
 
 Letter to the Catholic Clergy of the Midland District, 1823. 
 
 Strictures on Southey's " Book of the Church," ... 1824. 
 
 The Exposer exposed, ... ... ... ... 1824. 
 
 Parting Word to Dr. Grier, 1825. 
 
 Besides the above, Dr. Milner wrote the article on Gothic 
 Architecture in Rees' Cyclopcedia ; several Papers in the 
 Archceologia ; some in the Catholic Gentleman's Magazine, 
 and Catholicon; and many in the Orthodox Journal: also 
 many Letters in English and Irish newspapers, and Pastorals 
 each year for Lent. He wrote also a very interesting 
 account of the Communities of British Subjects, sufferers by 
 the French Revolution, which appeared in the Directories for 
 1795, 1796, and 1797.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Abbot, Rev. John, 553. 
 Algiei'S, bombardment of, 326. 
 Anglican orders, invalidity of, 163, 559. 
 Apostate priests, awful deaths of, 126. 
 Apostolical Tree, 377. 
 Appeal of the Catholic Committee, 25. 
 Archer, Rev. James, 13; his Sermons, 228. 
 Architecture, 79. 
 
 B. 
 
 Balguy, Rev. Dr., 76. 
 
 Bathurst, Dr., Protestant Bishop of Norwich, 486. 
 
 Beaumont, Rev. Edward, 389. 
 
 Beeston, Rev. George, 389- 
 
 Benedictine Nuns at Winchester, 54. 
 
 Berington, Rev. Joseph, 26, 63, 97, 397, 402. 
 
 Berington, Rt. Rev. Charles, 29, 56,57, 61, 475. 
 
 Bew, Rev. John, D.D., 84, 86, 157. 
 
 Bible, not sole rule of faith, 161, 503. 
 
 Bible Society (attempted Catholic), 228, 238, 323, 380. 
 
 Bible Societies condemned by Pope Pius VII., 24 1 . 
 
 Bible School scheme, 241. 
 
 Billof 1813,— 230, 234. 
 
 Billinge, apostate priest, 1 27. 
 
 Birmingham, St. Chad's Chapel, 149. 
 
 Birch, Rev. Joseph, 444, 544. 
 
 Bishops, meeting of eight, at Wolverhampton, 505. 
 
 Blanchardist Schism, 82, 148, 193, 215, 216, 217, 229, 350. 
 
 Blanchard's pamphlets, 148.
 
 567 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Blount, Rev. Walter, 117, 540, 542. 
 
 Blue Books, First, 25 ; Second, 34 ; Third, 37 ; Together, 473. 
 
 Bowdon, Rev. Joseph, 157? 543. 
 
 Brown, Mr. J. B., work on Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the 
 Crown, 332. 
 
 Buckingham, Marchioness of, 55, 202. 
 
 Buff Book, 46. 
 
 Butler, Charles, Esq., 22, 195. His Letter to an Irish Catholic Gen- 
 tleman, 206, = 222, 236, 335, 347, 354. His Historical 
 Memoirs, 360, = 379, 3S2, 384, 385, 399, 426, 434. His 
 Memorial to Card. Fontana, 450,z=464, 469. His Memo- 
 rial to Card. Consalvi, 470.=:His Letter (o Dr. Gradwell, 
 473, = 476, 492,501, 508. 
 
 C. 
 
 Candidas, letters of, 395. 
 
 Carron, Abbe, 545. 
 
 Carter, John, Esq., Architect, 79. 
 
 Carter, Rev. John, 117. 
 
 Castabala, See of (note), 87. 
 
 Castlereagh, Viscount, 336, 500. 
 
 Catalani, Madame, 160, 560. 
 
 Catholic Board (English), 151, 263,278. 
 
 Catholic Board (Irish), 237, 286. 
 
 '' Catholic Gentleman's Magazine," 366. 
 
 " Catholic Miscellany," 447. 
 
 " Catholicon" (Keating's), 320. 
 
 Caverswall Castle Convent, 265. 
 
 Challoner, Bishop, 8, 9, 12. 
 
 Chamberlayne, Rev. George, 512. 
 
 Chapels in the Midland District, 98. 
 
 Chapel building, directions for, 1 46. 
 
 Charles II., anecdote of, 72. 
 
 Cisalpine Club, 47, 367. 
 
 Clarendon Hotel, dinner at, 178. 
 
 Clifford, Honourable Robert, on the Veto, 260. 
 
 Cobbett, William, 499, 500. 
 
 Committee (Catholic, First), 21. 
 
 Do. (do. Second), 22. 
 
 Concordat of Pius VII. and Buonaparte, 82. 
 Cordier, Abbe, 478.
 
 INDEX. 577 
 
 Cossey Hall and Chapel, 167, 303, 485. 
 Courayer, 71,331. 
 Cresswell Seminary, 342. 
 
 D. 
 
 D'Arcy, Rev. Morgan, 117- 
 
 Dillon, John Joseph, Esq., 225. 
 
 District, Midland, 91. 
 
 Donoughmore, Lord, 337- 
 
 Douglass, Rt. Rev. Dr., 29, 213. 
 
 Dover-street, dinner at, 173. 
 
 Doyle, Rt. Rev. Dr., 495. 
 
 Dress, indecent. Dr. M.'s Pastoral against, 147. 
 
 Durham, meeting of Bishops at, 217, 242. 
 
 E. 
 
 Eh-ington, Rev. Dr. 163, 164. 
 
 Eustace, Rev. J. Chetwood, 398, 403, 404. 
 
 Exhibitions at Oscott College, 340. 
 
 F. 
 
 « Faith of Catholics," 226, 348. 
 
 Fifth Resolution, 173, 177, 181, 192, 198, 209, 214, 230, 245, 257, 
 
 324, 434. 
 Foley, Rev. William, 481. 
 French emigrant clergy, 96. 
 
 G. 
 
 Gage, Mr. John, 552, 
 
 Garbett, Rev. John, 514. 
 
 " Garonius," Letter of, 390. 
 
 Geddes, Rev. Dr., 127, 397, 475. 
 
 Genoa, Letter of Pius VIL from, 294, 295. 
 
 George IIL, 81. 
 
 Gibson, Right Rev. Dr. William, 29. 
 
 Glffard House, 116. 
 
 Gilbert, Rev. N., 262. 
 
 Grier, Rev. Richard, 460, 507. 
 
 2 V
 
 578 INDEX. 
 
 H. 
 
 Halifax, Dr. Protestant Bishop of St. Asaph's, .511. 
 
 Havard, Rev. L„ 565. 
 
 Hippisley, Sir John Cox, 225, 312, 332, 334, 367. 
 
 Hoadlyism, 76. 
 
 Horsley, Dr., Protestant Bishop of St. Asaph's, 75. 
 
 Hubbard, Rev. Richard, 45. 
 
 I. and J. 
 
 Jerningham, Sir "William, 167. 
 Jesuits, 281, 356, 420. 
 Insult to Dr. M. through the Post, 353. 
 Jones, Rev. John (London), 134, 
 
 Rev. Samuel, 158. 
 
 Rev. John (Hassop), 158. 
 
 Rev. Charles, 158. 
 
 Rev. James, 460. 
 
 Joseph II., 331. 
 
 Irish Catholic Bishops, 156, 182, 237, 238, 250, 276, 296, 311. 
 
 Jubileeof 1825,— 515. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kemble, John, 8. 
 Kirk, Rev. John, 373. 
 
 Lascars converted by Dr. M., 62. 
 
 Leon, Bishop of, 48. 
 
 Limerick mitie and crozier, 164. 
 
 Lingard, Rev. John, 16, 393, 405, 566. 
 
 Litta, Cardinal, 274, 277. 
 
 Liverpool Catholics, vote of thanks from, 238. 
 
 Long Bu-ch, 98, 100, 115. 
 
 Lucien Buonaparte, 211. 
 
 Lulw^orth, Trappist monastery, 88. 
 
 M. 
 
 M'Donnell, Rev. Thomas, 158, 461. 
 M'Neal, M. J., 114.
 
 INDEX. 579 
 
 Macpherson, Rev. Paul, 269, 279, 325. 
 
 Marriages in Protestant churches, 408. 
 
 Martyn, Rev. Francis, 114, 122, 525. 
 
 Medal of Pius VII., 303. 
 
 Mediators, the three, 46. 
 
 Meetings of Clergy in the Midland District, Triennial, 130, 165, 
 
 212, 301, 356, 440 ; Annual, 449, 484, 495, 504, 522. 
 Meeting at the Crown and Anchor, 39. 
 
 at St. Alban's Tavern, 177. 
 
 of Catholics at the house of Lord Clifford, 222. 
 
 MiLNER. 
 
 Birth and Baptism, 4, 5. 
 
 Sent to Edgbaston and Sedgley Park schools, 6. 
 
 Removal to Douay College, 8. 
 
 Ordained priest, — arrival in London, 9. 
 
 Appointed to the Mission at Winchester, 10, 
 
 " Funeral Discourse on Bishop Challoner," 12. 
 
 Exertions in favour of Sainsbury, 16. 
 
 Fondness for children, 1 8, 535. 
 
 " Letter on Clement XIV.," 18. 
 
 " Sermon on the Recovery of George III,," 19. 
 
 " Clergyman's Answer to Layman's Letter," 21. 
 
 " Exclamations of the Soul to God," 25. 
 
 "Discourse at the Consecration of Bishop W. Gibson," 21). 
 
 " Statement of Facts regarding the Bill of 1791,"— 35. 
 
 Certain Considerations on the Bill of 1791, — 38. 
 
 Epigram on the new name proposed for Catholics, 39- 
 
 " Audi alteram partem," 42. 
 
 Made F.A.S., 42. 
 
 " Inquiry into the History of St. George," 43. 
 
 Builds his chapel at Winchester, 44. 
 
 " Translation of the Letter of the Bishop of Leon," 48. 
 
 " Funeral Oration on Louis XVI.," 50. 
 
 "Account of the Glastonbury Cup," 53. 
 
 "Accounts of Sufferers by the French Revolution," 5-1. 
 
 " Reply to Report of the Cisalpine Club," 56. 
 
 " Serious Expostulation with Rev. Jos. Berington," 63. 
 
 " History of Winchester," 64. 
 
 " Life of Bishop Challoner," 70. 
 
 " Grounds of the Old Religion," 70. 
 
 " Letters to a Prebendary," 74. 
 
 Offer of hush money from Government, 75.
 
 580 INDEX. 
 
 MiLNER — Continued. 
 
 " Dissertation on altering ancient Cathedrals," 79. 
 
 " Do." second edition, 204. 
 
 *' Observations on Ecclesiastical Architecture of Middle Ages," 
 
 79. 
 " Case of Conscience solved," 80. 
 
 " Do." second edition, 140. 
 
 *' Elucidation of the Conduct of Pius VII.," 83. 
 Appointed Bishop and Vicar Apostolic, 87. 
 Consecrated Bishop, 89. 
 Arrival in the Midland District, 98. 
 First Pastoral Address to his Clergy, 1 02. 
 Letter to Francis Plowden, Esq., 106. 
 "Exercise for Sundays and Holidays," 108. 
 Bill filed against him by Mr. James Taylor, 111. 
 Trial on the above, 129. 
 '' Authentic Documents on the Cure of Winefrid White," 
 
 120, 125. 
 " Short View of Arguments against the Catholic Petition," 124. 
 Proposal to make Dr. M. coadjutor to Bishop Douglass, 132. 
 Letter to Rev. John Jones, 134. 
 Answer from do., 136. 
 
 " Observations on a publication of Rev. T. L. LeMesurier," 140. 
 " Examination of Articles in Antijacobin Review," 140. 
 First Tour in Ireland, 1 40, 
 Second do. 159. 
 
 ''Inquiry into vulgar En'ors about Ireland," 141, 146. 
 Pastorals and Publications against Blanchardism, 149. 
 Visit to Bristol, Portrait painted, 150. 
 " Protest against Mr. Ponsonby's Statement," 153. 
 " Letter to a Parish Priest," 154. 
 " Letter to a Catholic Peer," 178, 
 
 Condemnation of the Fifth Resolution, 179, 181, 183, 184, 
 *' Letters in the ' Statesman,' " 186. 
 
 " Sermon at the Blessing of St. Chad's, Birmingham," 187. 
 Article " Gothic Architecture," in Rees' " Cyclopaedia," 189. 
 "Treatise on the Ecclesiastical Ai'chitecture of England," 189. 
 «' Elucidation of the Veto," 191. 
 Presentation of vestments to Oscott College, 190. 
 " Instructions on the State and Dangers of Religion," 197. 
 " Two Letters to a R. Catholic Prelate of Ireland," 200. 
 Writes in the " Harp," an Irish paper, 211.
 
 INDEX. 581 
 
 MiLNER — Continued. 
 
 Visits Lucien Buonaparte, 21 1. 
 
 " Explanation with Dr. Poynter," 21.3. 
 
 Plain equipage, and mode of travelling, 221. 
 
 Eel adventure, 221. 
 
 " Re- Statement of Conference at Lord Clifford's," 223. 
 
 " Multum in parvo," 223. 
 
 " Pastoral on Jurisdiction of the Catholic Church," 224. 
 
 " Brief Memorial" on the Bill of 1813,-232. 
 
 Conference with Bishops CoUingridge and Poynter, 233. 
 
 Expulsion from Select Committee of English Catholic Boanl, 
 
 236. 
 "[Encyclical Letter" of 1813,-245. 
 " Letter of Thanks to Mr. Wilberforce," 255, 437. 
 Edifying act of humiliation, 256. 
 Instances of his simplemindedness, 266, 538. 
 Journey to Rome, 271. 
 Audience of Pope Pius VIL, 273. 
 Memorial to Propaganda, 274. 
 The Pope's confidence in him, 277. 
 Petition for Sodality of Sacred Heart, 271). 
 
 Do. " Societas Libera," 281. 
 Tour in the Appenines, 282. 
 Spiritual Retreat at Rome, 287. 
 Return to England, 289. 
 
 Letter on a charge made by Mr. O'Connell, 298. 
 Presents a medal of the Pope to the Prince Regent, 303. 
 " Sermon at St. Chad's on Thanksgiving for Peace," 304. 
 " Humble Remonstrance," 313. 
 Mutilated Edition of do., 314. 
 
 "The Inquisition. A Letter to Sir J. C. Hippisley," 310. 
 Attendance at Conferences at Oscott, 319. 
 Advised to write under feigned signatures, 322. 
 " Memoires pour servir, etc." reviewed, 330. 
 Petition against Sii* J. C. Ilippisley's Bill, 335. 
 " Memoir of Bishop Hornyold," 346. 
 " End of Religious Controversy," 370. 
 " Postscript to Address prefixed to do.," 383. 
 Strictures on Lingard's History of England, 394, 399. 
 Replies to '.' Candidus," 397. 
 Pastoral against Radicalism, 412. 
 " Brief Summary," 414.
 
 
 582 INDEX. 
 
 Milne R — • Continued. 
 
 " Catholic Scriptural Catechism," 416. 
 
 Forbidden to write in the '' Orthodox Journal," 421. 
 
 " Supplementary Memou-s of English Catholics," 426. 
 
 *' Theological Judgment on Mr. Plunkett's Bills," 439- 
 
 Letter on the Pax, 440. 
 
 Journey to Ireland : — consults Bishops at Maynooth, 442. 
 
 Journey to Durham and Edinburgh, 444. 
 
 Operation for lacrymal fistula, 445. 
 
 Condemns Oath of Supremacy, and Civil Sword Oath, 446. 
 
 Reply to R. H. in the " Catholic Miscellany," 448. 
 
 " Vindication of the End of Controversy,'' 460. 
 
 Remarks in "C Miscellany" on the cure of Miss O'Connor, 466. 
 
 " Letter to the C. Clergy of the Midland District," 468. 
 
 Letter on remarks of B. Review on the End of Controversy, 
 
 480. 
 Petition for legalising Catholic marriages, 481. 
 Letter on the Revolution in Spain, 487. 
 " The Exposer exposed," 490. 
 
 " Strictures on Southey's ' Book of the Church,' " 492. 
 Letter on Dr. Doyle's proposal, 496. 
 Attacks of paralysis, 497, 498. 
 Visit to Rev. W. Foley at Northampton, 497. 
 Letter contrasting English and Irish Catholics, 499. 
 Letter with extract from a letter from Cobbett, 501. 
 Letter on Mr. C. Butler's erroneous account of Indulgences, 
 
 501. 
 Pastoral on the Word of God, 503. 
 Decline of his health, 504. 
 
 Letter on the failure of Sir F. Burdett's Bill, 506. 
 " Parting AVord to Rev. Dr. Grier, «fec.," 507. 
 Letter to Rev. John Garbett, 514. 
 Pastoral Admonitions for Lent, 1826, — 515. 
 Pastoral on the Jubilee, 516. 
 
 Letter to the Community of Caverswall Castle Convent, 517. 
 Letter to the author, 519. 
 Last illness, 519- 
 Death, 523. 
 Bequests, 524. 
 
 Funeral and Funeral Discourse, 524, 525. 
 Requiem services for his soul, 528. 
 Personal Appearance — Health — Dress, 531.
 
 INDEX. 583 
 
 MiLNERTANA, 530. 
 
 Habits — Tastes, 533. 
 
 Kindness — Love of Children, 534. 
 
 Literary Acquirements — Style, 536. 
 
 Simplicity and Openness — Abstraction — Absence of Mind, 538 
 
 No perception of the ludicrous — No relish for puns, Epifijrams 
 and Anagrams, 543. 
 
 Seals — Handwriting — Authorship, 547. 
 
 Politics — Contests, 548. 
 
 Functions — Episcopal Ornaments — Confirmation — Singing, 
 551. 
 
 Peculiarities, 554. 
 
 Preaching, 557. 
 
 Theological Science and Opinions, 558. 
 
 Pleasantry, 559. 
 
 Church Decoration — Pious Lnages, 561. 
 
 Fasting, 563. 
 
 Esteem for Dr. Poynter, 564. 
 
 Encouragement of Pious Publications, 565. 
 
 Direction of Souls — Meditations — Tender Piety — Great Love 
 of Religion, 567' 
 
 Lines to the memory of Dr. Milxer, 569. 
 
 List of the Works of Dr. Milner, 572. 
 Miracles in Ireland, 490. 
 " Monita" of the Four V V. AA., 90. 
 Moylan, Rt. Rev. Dr., 124, 171, 217, 284, 285, 560. 
 Murray, Most Rev. Dr., 276. 
 
 Napoleon Buonaparte, 450. 
 
 N. 
 
 O. 
 
 Oath framed by the English Catholic Committee, 24. 
 
 condemned by the Vicars Apostolic, 24. 
 
 condemned afresh by three Vicars Apostolic, 3 1 . 
 
 O'Connell, his mistaken charge against Dr. M., 298. 
 O'Connell, his retractation of the charge, 299. 
 
 Dr. M.'s admiration of him, 301. 
 
 mistakes about the Douay Bible, 349. 
 
 O'Connor, Miss, her miraculous cure, 465, 487.
 
 584 INDEX. 
 
 O'Conor, Rev. Dr., 210, 212, 216, 224. 
 
 Oliver, Rev. George, 121,361. 
 
 " Orthodox Journal," 421. 
 
 Oscott College, 114, 126, 156, 184, 191, 317, 389- 
 
 Parr, Rev. Dr., 507, 511. 
 
 Passionists, Order of, 288. 
 
 Pastorals of Bps. Gibson and Poynter in 1813, — 245. 
 
 Peach, Rev. Henry, 13, 367. 
 
 Peach, Rev. Edward, 150, 338. 
 
 Perry, Rev. John, 97, 388. 
 
 Petre, Robert Edward, Lord, 433. 
 
 Pitt, Rt. Hon. WiUiam, 22, 36, 81. 
 
 Plowden, Francis, Esq., 106. 
 
 Plowden, Rev. Charles, 420. 
 
 Ponsonby, Mr. 152. 
 
 Pope Pius VII., 148, 272, 289, 302, 311. 
 
 Portrait of Dr. M. by Barber, 338. 
 
 Potts, Rev. Thomas, 157, 304, 416. 
 
 Poynter, Rt. Rev. Dr., 90, 180, 213, 243, 247, 290, 335, 345, 432, 
 
 464, 564. 
 "Principles," the Roman Catholic, &c., 226, 262, 347, 410, 468. 
 " Protest," Schismatical, of the English Catholic Committee, 32. 
 " Protestation of the English Catholic Committee," 23. 
 " Protesting Catholic Dissenters," 24. 
 
 Q. 
 
 Quarantotti, Monsignor, 269, 273. 
 Quick, Rev. J. F., 158, 304, 363. 
 
 R. 
 
 Rationalism, 77. 
 
 Relics brought by Dr. M. from Rome, 29 1 . 
 Resolutions at Newcastle, condemned, 308. 
 Richmond, Rev. Robert, 114, 130. 
 Riots, Lord George Gordon's, 10. 
 
 Sainsbury, 16. 
 
 SedgleyPark, 101, 131, 138. 
 Sharrock, Rev. James, 88. 
 
 i
 
 INDEX. 585 
 
 Shrewsbury, Charles Earl of, 390. 
 
 Silburn, Mrs. Dorothy, 55. 
 
 Silvertop, Mr. 322- 
 
 Simkiss, Rev. James, 116. 
 
 Somaglia, De, Cardinal, 277- 
 
 Southcote, Joanna, 1 28. 
 
 Spain, Revolution in, 487. 
 
 " Staffordshire Clergy," 41, 97. 
 
 Staples, Rev. James, 391. 
 
 State pensioning of Bishops, 329. 
 
 Stonyhurst College, 121, 360, 392, 418, 419, 420. 
 
 Stowe, adventure at, 202. 
 
 Sturges, Rev. Dr., 74, 79. 
 
 Synod of Ulster (Presbyterian), 327. 
 
 T. 
 
 Talbot, Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas, 56. 
 Testimonial to the author from Dr. M., 321. 
 Testimonials proposed to Dr. M., but refused, 293. 
 Theatre, Dr. M.'s disapprobation of, 112, 145, 344, 352, 38 1 . 
 Thomas, St., of Canterbury, 400, 405. 
 Throckmorton, Sir John, 27. 
 Tour in the Appenines, 282. 
 Tours in Ireland, 140, 159, 442. 
 Tysan, Rev. T.,514. 
 
 U.andV. 
 
 " Veto," 123, 154, 325. 
 
 Vicars Apostolic, 27, 90. 
 
 VignaU, Abbate, 450. 
 
 Universities, six Catholic, answers of, 23. 
 
 Votes of Thanks to Dr. M., 386. 
 
 Ursuline nuns, 144. 
 
 W. 
 
 "Walker, Mr. John, 14, 
 Walsh, Rev. Thomas, 85, 1 16, 157, 504. 
 Wareing, Rev. William, 158, 484. 
 Wareing, Rev. James, 158. 
 Weedall, Rev. Henry, 114, 158, 505. 
 
 2q
 
 586 INDEX. 
 
 Weld, Thomas, Esq., 159- 
 Wheble, Mrs. Jane, 117, 540. 
 White, Rev. Thomas, 89- 
 White, Winefrid, 118, 120. 
 Wigan chapels, 368. 
 Willson, Rev. William, 502. 
 Wilks, Rev. Joseph, 22, 40, 42. 
 Winchester, 9, 44, 292. 
 
 Cathedral, 67. 
 
 Hospital of St. Cross, 69. 
 
 Y. 
 
 Yoimg, Miss, Ursuline at Cork, 565. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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