The publication of the _Decem Rationes_ was the last act of
Campion's life of freedom. He was seized the very next week, and
after five months of suffering was martyred on 1 December, 1581.
During that prolonged and unequal struggle against every variety
of craft and violence the _Ten Reasons_ continued to have their
influence, and on the whole they were extremely helpful, for
they enabled the martyr to recover some ground which he had lost
while under torture. During those awful agonies he confessed to
having found shelter in the houses of certain gentlemen. It is
certain that these names were all known to the Government
before, and that he was not betraying any secret. Nevertheless
the gentlemen in question were at once seized, imprisoned and
fined, on the alleged evidence of Campion's confessions only.
This of course caused much scandal among Catholics, and so long
as he lay lost in the Tower dungeons, unpleasant rumours about
his constancy could not be effectively contradicted. Thus far
Elizabeth's ministers had gained an advantage, which Pounde had
foretold they were likely to win. But the remedy he had
suggested also proved effective.
Though under ordinary circumstances Elizabeth's ministers "meant
nothing less" than having the disputation requested, nevertheless
now that Campion was so terribly shaken and reduced, they hoped
that they might arrange some sort of a meeting, which might in
show correspond with what had been demanded in the _Decem
Rationes_, and yet leave them with a certain victory. They were
emboldened too, by finding that their prisoner was not after all,
such a particularly learned man. He had never been a professor of
theology, or written or made special studies, beyond the ordinary
course which in those days was not a long one. It was, therefore,
settled that four disputations should be held in the Tower of
London. Theology was still taught at Oxford and Cambridge in
something of the old mediaeval method and in syllogistic form.
The men who were pitted against Campion had lately been, or were
still, examiners at the Universities. Nor is it to be denied for
a moment that they did their work well. The attack never
faltered. Their own side quite believed they had won. The method
they adopted was this. They assumed the role of examiners, and
starting with the _Decem Rationes_ before them, they plied
Campion with crabbed texts, and obscure quotations from the
Fathers. Then they cut short his answers, and as soon as one had
examined for one quarter of an hour, another took his place, for
they were anxious above all things to avoid defeat. The number of
topics broached and left unsettled surpasses belief, indeed the
scene was one of utter confusion, taunts, scoldings, sneers--a
very, very different test from the academic argumentation, which
Campion had requested.
The martyr did not show any remarkable erudition, indeed all
opportunity to do so was carefully shut off. No University, I
fancy, would have given him a chair of theology on the strength
of his replies on that occasion. There was more than one
premature assertion of victory on the Protestant side. But when
the Catholic and Protestant accounts are compared, one sees that
the advantages won against Campion were slight. They evidently
hoped that by vigorous and repeated attacks they would at last
puzzle or bear him down. But they were never near this. He was
always fresh and gay, never in difficulties, or at the end of his
tether. He stands out quite the noblest, the most sympathetic and
important figure in those motley assemblies. The Catholics were
delighted. They succeeded in getting their own report of the
disputations, which is still extant, and they would have printed
it, if they had been able. Philip, Earl of Arundel, by far the
most important convert of that generation, was won over by what
he heard in those debates.
On the whole then we must say that, if Campion did not come off
gloriously, he at least acquitted himself well and honourably,
and distinctly gained by the conflict. Offers of disputation were
not the ideal way of forwarding a mission such as his.
Nevertheless, in his case, despite circumstances the most
adverse, the result had proved advantageous. It had greatly
strengthened and encouraged his own followers, and that was in
reality the best that could then be expected. Incidentally too
the adverse rumours, which had gained ground during his
seclusion, were dissipated. It was clear that, though he might
have been deceived, his constancy was unconquerable.
Thus Campion's _Challenge_ and his _Ten Reasons_ not only contain
the message of his mission enunciated with characteristic
eloquence, but the delivery of each message is an history-making
event, big with dramatic consequences. The controversy about his
book did not die with him, but continued for some years, until it
was merged into the standing controversy between the two
religions. We cannot describe it here.
Suffice it to say that Mr. Simpson, in the _Appendix_ to his
_Edmund Campion_ enumerates not less than twenty works, which
appeared in those controversies between 1581 and 1585. The chief
defender of Father Campion's writings was Father Robert Drury,
S.J., but all his biographers also have something to say on the
subject. The chief opponents are William Charke, Meredith Hanmer,
William Fulke, Laurence Humphrey, William Whitaker, R. Stoke,
John Field, Alexander Nowell, and William Day. Some further
information on the whole subject may be found in articles by the
late Father Morris and myself in _The Month_ for July 1889,
January 1905, and January 1910. [J.H.P.]
[Footnote 1: Of these four are in English translations, dated
1606 (by Richard Stock), 1632, 1687, and 1827. The present
translation is thus the fifth into Campion's mother tongue.
Though each of the quaint old versions has its merits, and some
do not lack charm, not one would adequately represent Campion to
the modern reader. A new translation was a necessity--may I not
say, a most happy one--seeing that Father Joseph Rickaby was at
hand to satisfy it. [J.H.P.]]
[Footnote 2: The meaning is--"The ministers tyrannize over us, as
if we were a kingdom of unlearned schoolboys, listening to a
teacher of grammar."]
[Footnote 3: _Catholic Record Society_ IV., 14-17.]
[Footnote 4: Father Bombino calls him Richard Morris, and says he
went into exile and lived with Allen first at Rheims, and
afterwards at Rome, where he died in the English College. (_Vita
Campiani_, p. 139)]
[Footnote 5: Father Morris identified the lady who let or lent
Stonor Park, with Dame Cecilia Stonor, daughter of Leonard
Chamberlain. Father Persons describes her as a widow, and if so,
the Sir Francis, then alive, was not her husband, but her son.
Both father and son had the same Christian name.]
[Footnote 6: On the other hand, Mr. Thomas Edward Stonor, in a
correspondence to be mentioned immediately, says that there were
no definite traditions as to the actual locality of the press.]
[Footnote 7: Challoner, _Missionary Priests_, Introd. p. 12.]
[Footnote 8: As five printers were subsequently arrested, we know
their names, and they deserve to be recorded here, viz., Stephen
Brinkley, John Harris, John Hervey, John Tuker, John Compton. Allen
speaks of seven workmen. _Diary of the Tower and Douay Diary._]
[Footnote 9: The custom however was already changing, and "Roman"
type soon afterwards came into general use.]
[Footnote 1: _Memoirs_, i. cap. 24; _Collectanea P._ fol. 155.]
[Footnote 11: Bombino, _Vita Campiani_ 1620, p.136. Some of
Bombino's additions are not, perhaps, arranged in their true
chronological order. He tells us, for instance, a propos of
Brinkley's difficulties in getting printers, that he had to dress
them, and give them horses to ride, like gentlemen. But he does
not make it clear whether these were the men who printed the _Ten
Reasons_, or Persons' previous works. Bombino says that Brinkley
paid for the type, &c., but Allen, in a contemporary letter, says
that George Gilbert had left a fund for these purposes. Bombino
says the printing of the _Decem Rationes_ was commenced at
Brinkley's own house at Green Street, and had to be removed
because one of the servants was arrested in London, and tortured
to make him confess, which he heroically refused. Campion and
Persons knowing of the torture, not of the man's constancy, at
once removed the press. But Persons' _Memoirs_ ascribes this
incident to an earlier period. (_Domestical Difficulties_, p.
119; _Autobiography_ for 1581).]
[Footnote 12: Simpson, p. 217, following Lansdowne MSS. xxx. 78]