'On St. Valentine's day I came to the Tower, where I have a very fine chamber; but was very sick the two first nights with ill lodging. I am allowed every meal a good draught of excellent claret wine, and I am liberal with myself and neighbours for good respects, to allow also of my own purse some sack.'[1]
Finally, before closing this account of Garnet's capture and progress to London, it is worth quoting the following interesting, but not quite correct, reference to his capture made by the Venetian Ambassador in a letter, dated February 24, to the Doge of Venice—
'They have, at last, captured the two Jesuits, who had already been proclaimed as guilty of conspiracy; they had taken shelter in a cave in the country, and were besieged there, and finally driven out by the hunger and suffering which they had endured. One of them is the Provincial of the Jesuits in England, and it is thought that in putting him to death with cruel torments they will wreak all their hatred of his religion and of himself. But he will not be executed in public, for he is a man of moving eloquence and vast learning, and they are afraid that his constancy, and the power of his speech, may produce just the reverse of what they desire.'
- ↑ During the whole time he was in the Tower, Garnet indulged freely in wine, and is reported to have been overcome by the effects of his potations on more than one occasion. The Jesuit story that this is mere Protestant calumny is controverted by the fact that an agent was sent from Rome to England by Father Parsons to inquire into Garnet's conduct, owing to the reports which had reached head-quarters of his drunkenness and immorality.
