These lines throw open many a dark and painful page of English history, and they remind us of More's words to Tindale: that violent death may come to saint or sinner, to martyr or heretic, to patriot or traitor. They suggest bitter reflections on More's false friends and open enemies-on Cromwell, Anne Boleyn, and Henry VIII. But I refrain. I have said as little of these as I could, and I will not conclude a Life of Blessed More by reproaches of those for whom he prayed with his last breath. A more fitting termination will be found in his own words, written in the Tower in the prospect of the block :

"To this great glory of heaven can there no man come headless. Our Head is Christ, and, therefore, to Him must we be joined, and as members of His must we follow Him, if we will come thither. Know ye not that Christ must suffer passion and by that way enter into the kingdom?' Who can for very shame desire to enter into His kingdom of Christ with ease, when He Himself entered not into His own without pain ?"

Dialogue of Comfort against Tribulation, Bk. iii. ch. 26.

APPENDIX A.

"FA

RELICS OF BLESSED THOMAS MORE.

ATHER THOMAS MORE, S.J., the last English provincial of the old Society, was the last male heir of the martyr. He died in 1795, and through him the family heirlooms of various relics of his blessed ancestor came to Stonyhurst College. Father More had a sister, who was superioress of the English Canonesses of St. Augustine at Bruges, and he gave her the only relic of the body of the martyr that is known to exist-excepting, of course, the head. Half of the Bruges relic is now, by the kindness of a successor of Reverend Mother More, at Manresa, Roehampton. The existence of this relic, descending in the family, speaks for the existence of a family tradition that the tomb of Blessed Thomas had been opened some time after the martyrdom.

A large collection of interesting relics of Blessed Thomas is preserved by the Jesuit fathers in their college of Stonyhurst. The following description is from the Stonyhurst Magazine of February, 1887 :

1. THE HAT. Fr. Boone, S.J., Superior of the Brussels Residence, April 25, 1835, attests that he received it from Mlle. Thérèse Gaillard the day before her death, to be given to the English Jesuits. It was given to her, June 24, 1809, by Philippe de la Tour, parish priest of SS. Michael and

* Rev. J. Morris, S.J., in the Month, Feb., 1891.

Gudule, in Brussels. He took it, in the presence of Fr. Perez, S.J., of Alost, from the Brussels College Library at the Suppression. It was received by Fr. Otho Zylius, the librarian of the College at Brussels, January 15, 1654, given by Fr. Charles de Breuil, S.J., rector of the College of Roermond in Holland, by leave of Fr. John Baptist Engelgrave, S.J., the provincial. It had been given to that College by Godfrey Gilekens, chancellor of the supreme court in Guelderland, who had it for many years, and on the day on which the holy martyr died (July 6) used always to wear it in court.

2. THE SODALITY CRUCIFIX. Its inscription in Greek says that "this is a relic of St. Thomas the Apostle ". Inside the cross now are bits of half-decayed paper, on which is written "St. Charles Borromeus," with some very small relics. There is also a bit of wood in a separate paper without any writing. The following is copied from the original document :

"I, Thomas More, of the Society of Jesus, and last of the family of Sir Thomas More, lord chancellor of England, with the leave and approbation of R. F. Philip Carteret, provincial, do give unto the Sodality of our Blessed Lady in the English College at St. Omer's, this large gold cross, formerly belonging unto, and us'd or wore by Sir Thomas More himself, and since his time kept with great care in our family.

"Witness my hand, 29th June, 1755.

"THOS. MORE.

"PHILIP CARTERET, Provincial."

In a cover, on which is written: "Thomæ More Donum et authenticũ Testimonium de cruce aureâ Ven. Thomæ Mori Angliæ Cancellarii pro fide passi sub Henrico 8vo ".

3. SILVER SEAL of Blessed Thomas More when sub-treasurer. Its handle is a fleur-de-lys. The arms are quarterly: 1st and 4th, a chevron engrailed between three cocks (More); and 2nd and 4th, a chevron between three unicorns' heads couped.

The crest is a Moor's head. The inscription round the seal

is "Sigillu T. More Equitis Aurati Subthesauraii Angl." With this was kept another seal, the handle of which consists of two crucifixes, back to back. The seal, engraved on a cornelian, has the inscription, "Christiano Catholico R." The arms are quarterly 1st and 4th, a chevron engrailed between three cocks (More); 2nd and 4th, three lions rampant (Cresacre). The heiress of the Cresacres married Sir Thomas More's only son, John, who would have impaled his wife's arms, or rather, as she was an heiress, borne them on an escutcheon of pretence. The earliest More, therefore, to whom the seal can have belonged is Sir Thomas' grandson, Thomas, who was born in 1531, and died in 1606. The seal is now in the Museum.

4. THE GEORGE: so-called because on its obverse it has, beautifully worked in gold and enamel, St. George and the Dragon. Sir Thomas was not a Knight of the Garter, so that this is not the decoration of that Order, commonly called a George. On the reverse is Our Blessed Lord sitting on the tomb stripped and surrounded by emblems of the Passion. The inscription round the rim is, "O passi graviora dabit his quoque finem ". Mr. Edmund Waterton says that when the George was exhibited at the Society of Antiquaries and at the Fine Art Exhibition of 1862, the minimum value put upon it was £1000.

5. CAMEO the head of the Blessed Virgin-" formerly belonging to Sir T. More". It is thus entered in the old catalogue of the Stonyhurst Museum.

6. "CAP of Sir T. More." So entered in the same catalogue, which adds: "The five preceding articles [the two seals, the George, the cameo, and the cap] were all received from Father T. More, Prov. Angl., S.J., last descendant of the family".

7. POUNCET Box, a shell with a silver lid, nearly plain. The catalogue says: "Presented by Revd. James Parker". This gives us the authorship of the following note: "This box was given to Revd. Mr. Coomb by Mrs. Dalton, sister of Revd. T.

More, my provincial, at ye dissolution of ye Society by Pope Ganganelli, who had received it from his father as a special gift, having been used by his ancestor, Sir T. More, lord chancellor of England, beheaded in ye reigning year [sic] of King Henry VIII. I.P." Father James Parker died at Liverpool, October 29, 1822, æt. 75.

8. A silver reliquary with crystal on both sides, containing a BONE. The inscription round the rim is "Reliquiæ Thomæ Mori Mar. Ang. Chan." This is entered in the catalogue: "296. Relick of Sir T. More," and in the new catalogue this entry is given, under the date 1826, as the gift of John Gage, Esq. He probably also gave the next entry in the old catalogue, viz. :—

9. "298. A GOLD CROSS which belonged to Sir T. More." It is a small but beautifully enamelled crucifix. It is worth noticing that the gold cord attached to it is the same as that attached to the cornelian Cresacre seal. It is singular that the inscription, "Presented by John Gage, Esq.," on the glass case in which the relics have been kept in the Museum should have attributed the gift of all to Mr. Gage, while he appears to have given at the most two out of the ten articles the case contained -the tenth being the Cresacre seal, still in the Museum.

Mgr. Eyston of East Hendred, in Berkshire, possesses the can or cup commonly used by More. "It is a pint cup, with a lid and handle made of pieces of oak, and bound together by rings of silver, and narrower at the top than at the bottom. It is still perfect" (Wornum: Holbein, p. 203).

The Augustinian Canonesses of Abbots' Leigh, near Newton Abbot, in Devonshire, possess the hair shirt worn by More, and sent to his daughter Margaret the day before his martyrdom. It was brought to them by the daughter of Margaret Clements, the adopted child of Sir Thomas.

Letters in the autograph of Sir Thomas may still be seen in the British Museum.