was immediately printed by one of the author's friends, Valenger by name, apparently at his own private press. It was widely circulated, and attracted much attention. The government made great efforts to discover the author. Valenger was brought before the council, was fined heavily, and condemned to lose his ears; but he did not betray his friend. Walpole, however, was under grave suspicion, and thought it advisable to slip away to his father's house in Norfolk, where he was for some time in hiding, till an opportunity came for passing over to the continent. He arrived at Rheims on 7 July 1582, and at the college there he enrolled himself as a student of theology. Next year he made his way to Rome, was received into the English College on 28 April 1583, and in the following October was admitted to minor orders. Three months later he offered himself to the Society of Jesus, and on 2 Feb. 1584 was admitted among the probationers. A year later he was sent to France, where, at Verdun, he passed two years of probation, acting as ‘prefect of the convictors.’ On 17 Dec. 1588 he was admitted to priest's orders at Paris.
About 1586 a staff of army chaplains had been organised by Belgian jesuits, whose business it was to minister to the Spanish forces serving under the prince of Parma. Among these were soldiers of almost every European nationality, and it was important that the jesuit chaplains should be good linguists. Walpole was master of many languages, and was exactly the man for this work, which was now laid upon him. He was eminently successful, and he did not spare himself; but on one occasion in the autumn of 1589 he fell into the hands of the English garrison at Flushing, and was thrown into prison among common thieves and cut-throats, and had to endure great sufferings, till his brother, Michael Walpole, managed to cross over to Flushing and pay the ransom demanded for his release. In January 1590 he was set free and was still in Belgium, apparently exercising his functions as a catholic priest among the soldiery, when in October 1591 he was removed to Tournai to complete his third year as probationer.
In July 1592 he was summoned to the jesuit college at Bruges. Parsons's famous ‘Responsio ad Edictum,’ written under the name of Philopater [see Parsons, Robert, (1546–1610)], was published in the summer of 1592, and it was deemed advisable that an English translation of the book should be circulated coincidently with the appearance of the Latin version. This translation was entrusted to Walpole, and while he was engaged upon it he received orders from Claudius Aquaviva, general of the society, to join Parsons in Spain. He was present at the opening of the chapel of the lately founded jesuit college in Seville on 29 Dec. 1592, and there he met his brother Richard, whom he had not seen for ten years. Richard had already volunteered to engage in the English mission, but Parsons could not spare so able a coadjutor, and Richard had to wait his time. Henry, however, was possessed by the longing to return to England and emulate John Gerard's success as a proselytiser in Norfolk [see Gerard, John, (1564–1637)]. In June 1593 Parsons told him that it was decided he should be sent to England. Next month he was presented to Philip II at the Escurial, and was very graciously received as a jesuit father about to start on the English mission. It was not, however, till late in November that he actually set sail from Dunkirk on one of the semi-piratical vessels which at that time infested the Channel, having bargained that he should be put ashore on the coast of Essex, Suffolk, or Norfolk, where he was sure to find friends or kinsfolk. With him went two soldiers of fortune who had been serving under the king of Spain and were tired of it. One of these was Thomas, a younger brother of Henry Walpole, now in his twenty-sixth year. The voyage was disastrous from the first; the wind was boisterous and adverse, the vessel could not touch at any point near the East-Anglian coast, and was unable to stand inshore till they had got as far as Bridlington in Yorkshire, where at last the three travellers were landed on 6 Dec. and left to shift for themselves. The little party had scarcely been twenty-four hours on English soil before they were all arrested and committed to the castle at York. Henry Walpole at once confessed himself a jesuit father. The other two allowed that they had served in Sir William Stanley's regiment in Flanders. This, it seems, was no offence in law, and the only charge which could be made against them was that they had connived at the landing of a jesuit in England, which was a much more serious matter. The two made no difficulty of telling all they knew. Thomas Walpole even pointed out the place where his brother had hidden some letters and other incriminating documents on his first landing. But Henry exhibited unusual stubbornness when under examination, and, following the example of his hero Campion twelve years before, declared himself ready to defend his religious convictions against a
