no one knew how, in shops and private houses and in the court itself. The first print was, apparently, some little book of piety or instruction. Meanwhile two clergymen, Charke and Meredith, published pamphlets in answer to the so-called 'Brag and Challenge' which had been circulated in manuscript by Campion. Parsons immediately replied in a 'Brief Censure upon Two Books,' with Douay upon the title-page. John Nichols, a seminarist, had published a recantation, and gave to the government information, much of which was false, regarding the disloyal sayings and doings of the scholars at Rheims and Rome. Within a few weeks there issued from Parsons's press a crushing exposure of, the man's character. In the early part of 1581 a session of parliament was convoked to find a remedy for the poison of the Jesuits.' In the debates which ensued Parsons waa described as 'a lurking wolf' and Campion as 'a wandering vagrant.' The act to retain her Majesty's subjects in due obedience' received the royal assent on 18 March, and made it treason to be reconciled to the Roman church or to be absolved by a priest, while it largely increased the fines for recusancy. Dr. Alban Langdale, a secular priest, thereupon circulated an anonymous tract arguing in favour of the lawfulness of going to church as an outward act of obedience on the part of catholics. Parsons at once published in reply a 'Brief Discourse,' giving 'reasons why catholics refuse to go to church;' and, under the assumed name of John Howlet, boldly prefaced it with 'an epistle dedicatorie to the most high and mighty Prince Elizabeth.' The last production of this press, which, with its seven printers, moved from place to place under Parsons's directions, was the famous 'Decem Rationes' of Campion. It 'was printed in a wood in Stonor Park, near Henley, and copies were hastily bound so as to be ready for commemoration at Oxford on 27 June, when they were discovered scattered over the benches in St. Mary's Church. Campion was at this time with Parsons superintending the publication. But a few weeks later the two friends, after renewal of their religious vows, mutual confession, and an aflectionate exchange of hats, parted never to meet again. Campion was betrayed and captured on 16 July; and Parsons, finding concealment no longer possible, retired into Sussex, and in the autumn slipped away across the Channel into Normandy.
The winter of 1581-2 was spent by Parsons at Rouen, where he purposed to complete some literary work which he had in his head. He published a treatise, 'De Persecutione Anglicana,' which was afterwards translated into French and English, continued his controversy with Charke and Hanmer, and wrote the best known and most often reprinted of his non-political writings—the first part of the 'Book of Resolution, or the Christian Directory,' a work more than once edited or adapted by protestant divines (Briefe Apologie, ff. 184, 186). During his stay in Normandy Parsons was in constant communication with the Duke of Guise, and with his aid was able to found a grammar school for English boys at Eu, near the sea-coast, where the duke frequently resided. English catholics and the friends of Mary Stuart were now turning hopefully towards Scotland, where the king was under the influence of the catholic Duke of Lennox. Father Creighton was meanwhile commissioned by the general of the Jesuits to go into Scotland, but with orders to receive instructions from Parsons on the way. Creighton accordingly arrived at Eu in January 1582, and held conference there with Parsons and the duke as to the best means of effecting the deliverance of the Queen of Scots, and in the following April he returned to Normandy with despatches from Lennox. Upon this, Guise, Parsons, and Creighton went to Paris to discuss with Dr. Allen, James Beaton, the archbishop of Glasgow, and Claude Mathieu, provincial of the society in France, certain military plans of Lennox. Their object was to obtain the co-operation of the pope and King Philip of Spain (Knox, Letters of Allen, pp. xxxv seq.) On 18 May Tassis, the Spanish agent, reporting the affair to Philip, said that Lennox had required for the invasion of England twenty thousand men, but that Parsons thought eight thousand sufficient; that the enterprise was to be carried out in the autumn; that all English catholics were most anxious that arms should be taken up in Scotland, and pledged themselves to join the invaders; and that when Parsons was asked for the proof of his assertions, he had answered that 'he knew all this from what many of them had declared when he had treated with them of their consciences.' At the same time the nuncio at Paris forwarded to the pope a memorandum drawn up by Parsons recommending the appointment of Allen, 'whose presence in England would have more effect than several thousand men,' as bishop of Durham, and urging that the greatest secrecy should be preserved, and that the catholic gentry should only be informed of the enterprise at the last moment, and by means of the priests. When the plans were matured Parsons was despatched with them to Philip at Lisbon, and
