PARSONS
709
PARSONS
seminaries at Rome and Rheims, but of those at Valla- dolid, Seville, and St. Lucar in Spain, at Lisbon in Por- tugal, and at Douai and St. Omer in Flanders. In all these the English Roman Catholic youth who were sent to them were educated in violent prejudices against their native country, and their minds formed to all the purposes that father Parsons had in his head; one of these was obliging them to subscribe to the title of the infanta of Spain to the crown of England. In support of this scheme he published his Conference about the next Succession to that Crou-n, advocating as lawful the in- tended deposition of queen Elizabeth. After the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, Parsons left no means in his power untried to invite the duke of Guise, at that time all-powerfid in France, to a second invasion ; and when nothing effectual could be obtained that way, he endeavored to raise a rebellion in England. He tampered with the earl of Derby to appear at the head of it, and when that nobleman refused to be led into disloyal schemes he was poisoned, it is charged, by Parsons's procurement. Nor is this the only charge brought against Parsons. We find Sir Ralph Winwood inform- ing secretary Cecil from Paris, in 1()02, of an attempt to iissassinate the queen tliat year by another English Jes- uit, at the instigation of father Parsons (Winwood, Me- morials, vol. i). Finding all his projects against queen Elizabeth blasted, he plotted the exclusion of king James by several means; one of which was exciting the people to set up a popular form of government, for which he had furnished them with jirinciples in several of his books. Another was to engage the pope in a de- sign of making his kinsman the duke of Parma king of England, and securing the assistance of lady Arabella by marrying her to the duke's brother, cardinal Farnese. Cardinal d'Ossat gives the king of France a large account of both these projects in one of his letters, and in an- other mentions a third, wherein he himself had been dealt with by Parsons, which was that the pope, the king of France, and the king of Spain should agree among them- selves for a successor for England who should be a Cath- olic, and that they should join their forces to establish him on the throne (Ossat, Letters, pt. ii, lib. iii). How- ever, the death of his friend, cardinal Allen, in 1594, drew Parsons's attention for a while off these weighty public affairs upon his own private concerns. It was chiefly by his interest that the cardinal had obtained the pur- ple, and he conceived great hopes of succeeding him in it. The dignity was worth his utmost endeavors, and he turned every stone to compass it. For that purpose lie employed some Jesuits to set about in Flanders a petition to the king of Spain, subscribed by great num- bers of the lowest of the people as well as those of better rank and quality. He applied also to that monarch by John Piragues, one of his prime confidants, but received no answer; and then repaired himself to Rome in 1596, inuler pretence of settling some quarrels that had arisen in the English college there during his absence. He had the j^ear before been complimented, in a letter from some of the principal persons of his order there, on the assured prospect he had of succeeding ; and upon his arrival was visited, among others of the highest rank, particularly by cardinal Bellarmine, who encouraged him to wait upon the pope, as he did, with an account of the reports that were spread all over Flanders, and even at Rome, of his holiness's design to confer the purple upon him, and that the king of Spain had written to his holi- ness regarding this promotion. But in a personal inter- view with the pontiff, Parsons learned that there had been sent to his holiness so many complaints of him from the secular clergy, that, instead of bringing him into the sacred college, he had some thoughts of stripping him of the posts he was already possessed of. To avert this disgrace, Parsons withdrew on pretence of health to Na- ples, and did not return to Rome till after the death of the pope (Clement VIII) in IGOG. Parsons now con- tinued to devote his attention mainly to the successful termination of the English work, and under the next
pontiff, Paul IV, enjoyed greater favor at Rome. When suddenly brought to a sick-bed, and his recovery was regarded as extremely doubtful, the pope indulged Par- sons in all the ceremonies usually granted to cardinals at the point of death. Upon his decease at Rome in IGIO his body was embalmed, and interred, pursuant to his own request, in the chapel of his college, close to that of cardinal Allen.