MASS SAID IN THE CHARTERHOUSE.

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where he remained a prisoner in his own residence, under the surveillance of Sir Henry Nevil. But the duke soon forgot his promise, and on the 7th of September, 1571, he returned to the Tower under the charge of high treason. He was accused of "imagining and compassing the death of his own sovereign (1) By seeking to marry the Queen of Scots, who claimed the English crown to the exclusion of Elizabeth. (2) By soliciting foreign powers to invade the realm. . . . (3) By sending money to the English rebels and the Scottish enemies of the queen." Though he maintained his innocence, he was found guilty. It was the queen's will that he should die, in order to prepare the way for the legal murder of the pious and unoffending Queen of Scots. In 1572 the duke was brought to the scaffold.

By the attainder of the Duke of Norfolk, his estates became the property of Queen Elizabeth, who seems to have allowed the Portuguese ambassador to live in Howard House. A long, narrow gallery, running along the south side of the monastic "little cloister," served as the ambassador's chapel, and Mass was celebrated there. In 1573 a man was accused of breaking into this chapel. A letter from David Jones, a Protestant minister, who tried to earn a penny by betraying Catholics, shows that Catholic services were still held there in August,

1 Dr. Lingard's History of England (ed. 1855), vol. vi. p. 132.

1574 Writing to Francis Mills, Walsingham's secretary, he asks if he may attend the service at the Charterhouse, to which many Papists resort.'

By an Act of Parliament, the Venerable Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, eldest son of the Duke of Norfolk, was restored in blood and to his father's estates in 1581. Thus he became the next owner of the Charterhouse. "But afterwards he embraced the Catholic religion, and, having been twice cited before the Council, . . . he was confined in his own house. Six months after, he had his liberty again, and came to the House of Lords; but he withdrew the very first day, that he might not be obliged to be present at the sermon. As he was extremely addicted to his religion, he resolved to leave the kingdom in order to have the free exercise of it; and, before he set out, he wrote a letter to the queen, which was not to be delivered till after his departure. The letter was full of complaints that his innocence was oppressed. He said that in order to avoid the misfortune which had befallen his grandfather and father, and to serve God with freedom, according to his conscience, he had resolved to quit the kingdom, but not his allegiance to his sovereign. But being betrayed by his own servants, he was apprehended just as he was going to embark, and sent to the Tower."2 He was con

1

Calendar of State Papers, Dom. Elizabeth, vol. xcviii. 10.

2 Rapin's History of England, vol. ix. p. 48.

VISIT OF JAMES I.

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demned to death, but the queen gave him his life, probably in order that he might suffer for a longer time. He died a prisoner in the Tower, and now he is honoured as a venerable servant of God. By the attainder of this holy confessor of the faith, the Charterhouse became once again the property of the Crown; it was granted, however, to Thomas, Lord Howard, the second son of the late Duke of Norfolk.

James I., like his predecessor Elizabeth, favoured Howard House with his first visit on reaching London after his accession in 1603. This visit was paid in great state; the king's escort consisting of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, with five hundred of the principal citizens on horseback. He stayed there for four days; and, before leaving, he conferred the honour of knighthood on more than eighty gentlemen. Lord Thomas Howard was soon after created Earl of Suffolk.

This brings to an end the short history of the Charterhouse as a nobleman's mansion. The Earl of Suffolk sold it to Thomas Sutton, who founded there an hospital which has ever since been intimately associated in the minds of Londoners with the name of Charterhouse.

CHAPTER II.

THOMAS SUTTON-SUTTON'S WILL DISPUTED-THE HOSPITAL IN

THOMAS SUTTON, the founder of the Protestant Charterhouse, was born at Knaith, in Lincolnshire, about the year 1532. His ancestors were, according to Hearne, "not so low that his descent should be a shame to his virtues, nor yet so great but that his virtue might be an ornament to his birth.”1 His father, Richard Sutton, was a lawyer, and held for some time the office of Steward to the Courts of the Corporation of Lincoln. His mother was a member of the Stapleton family, one of whom, Sir Miles Stapleton, was among the first knights of the Garter.

Richard Sutton sent his son to Eton College. Afterwards, it is said that he passed two years at St. John's College, Cambridge, but Dr. W. HaigBrown gives good reasons for doubting whether he

1 Domus Carthusiana (London, 1677), p. 38.

SUTTON'S PRINCIPLES.

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was ever at Cambridge at all.' He certainly became a student in Lincoln's Inn, though he does not appear to have remained there very long. He had more taste for picking up practical knowledge by travel and experience than for poring over folios in Lincoln's Inn. It is said, moreover, that the return to the Catholic religion in Queen Mary's reign was the determinant cause of his visit to foreign parts; for he, being a zealous Protestant, was afraid of getting molested on account of his belief or unbelief.

Thomas Sutton was not-like Cromwell, Cranmer, or Bedyll—an apostate. Having been brought up in the new religion and heard nothing but evil of the old, he was, like many an honest Englishman of later days, a bona fide Protestant. Far from being one of those unprincipled "Vicars of Bray," so common in his troublous times, Sutton may be counted among the earliest proofs that, although the standard of virtue was lowered by the Reformation, England could still produce noble and charitable individuals-men who were prevented by early prejudices from being fervent and exemplary Catholics.

Thomas Sutton travelled, it is said, through Holland, France, Italy, and Spain, and, after several years' absence, he returned home with a rich store of knowledge gained by careful observaCharterhouse Past and Present, p. 27.

1