1920 THOMAS HARDING 237 studies of his young countrymen, occasionally taking the matricu- lation oath for such as were not yet of age.^ He gave much help to William Allen in the foundation of the English college at Douai.^ He did not, however, himself join the young body, but remained in the old university town, a providence for his needful country- men and a great promoter of Greek and Hebrew learning and of solid theology, both by his advice and his untiring example, until in 1572 an illness overtook him. He felt death drawing near, and on 7 September made his will in presence of three friends, William Tailor, Nicolas Fox, and John Martial. Nine days later, on 16 September, he died. The account of his executors, which according to the academic rules had to be delivered before the rector, with a copy of the will in English and a Latin translation annexed, is still extant amongst the documents relative to the university of Louvain in the Records of the Realm at Brussels, where I found it after centuries of oblivion.^ This document gives many interesting particulars of the life and conditions of the members of the English colony in Louvain and of English refugees of that period in general. It shows that his friends were deeply affected by the death of Harding : his likeness was taken from the corpse before it was embalmed and laid to rest in the church of St. Ger- trude. The university was formally invited by the beadle of the faculty of theology to the solemn funeral service in the same church.* According to the desire of the deceased another service, and later on, a trigenarium and an anniversary, were celebrated in the Syon convent at Mishagen, near Antwerp, which were attended by the executors and several of the Louvain friends.^ The executors appointed by Harding were two of his intimate
- Lib. iv Intit., 18-19 May 1568 ' gwilhelmus phelps anglus pauper in theologia :
(in margin :) iuravit pro eo D. Doctor Hardingus ' (fo. 443), « Paquot, Fasti, p. 29. ^ The account of the execution takes up seventeen folio pages (pp. 1 to 21) ; the copy of the original testament in English follows (pp. 23 to 26), with a Latin translation of it by John Pulley, Doctor Utriusque Juris (pp. 27 to 29). This John Pulley is probably identical with ' John PouUye ' who is mentioned in Stephen Gardiner's will as belonging to his household (Nichols and Bruce, p. 46).
- This detail corroborates the supposition that Harding was an actual member of
that faculty. I The account notes down the expenditure of 12 flor. 13| st. for the services celebrated ' apud moniales Anglicas in monasterio iuxta Antuerpiam ', as well as for the journey. A sum of 8 flor. is put down for a ' prandium seu refectio ' in the same convent on that occasion. Another entry notifies ' pro expensis factis in profectione nostra ad anniversarium eius in Syon 4 flor. 3 st.' It is clear from the account that, if not in September 1573, at least in September 1572 the Bridgetines were still at Mishagen and had not left yet for Mechlin, as R. Lechat {Une Communaute Anglaise refugiee a Malines in Annales du Congres Historique et ArcMdogique de Malines (Malines, 1911), ii. 243-59) and P. Guilday {The English Catholic Colleges and Convents in the Catholic Low Countries (Louvain, 1914), p. 58) seem to imply.
