INTRODUCTION .
In continuation of the tenth and eleventh volumes * of its serieswhich contained the Third, Fourth and Fifth Diaries the Catholic
-
Record Societynow presents to its members, after an interval of eighteen years, the SeventhDouay Diary, covering a period of over sixty years . The Sixth Diary is unhappily lost . Half a century ago, the Fathers of the London Oratory published, as stated in the Introduction to Volume X above mentioned, the First and Second Douay Diaries,† in which were recorded the foundation and early fortunes of that English College which, from its foundation in 1568 to its suppression in 1793 , was the chief source and place of education of the secular clergy of England. In the preface, the Fathers expressed their intention of publishing the Third Diary; but owing to the death of Dr. Knox , and other causes , further work remained in abeyance , until the Catholic Record Society took up underthe editorship of Canon Burton and the Rev. T. L. Williams . In the course of the Introduction to Volume X, Dr. Burton stated that it was intended to proceed in due course with the Seventh Diary, but as there is still a forlorn hope that the Sixth Diary may still be in existence in England or abroad , it may be as well to hold our hands for a period . As the Sixth Diary had not yet been found, Dr. Burton , who later had become President of St. Edmund's College and , still later, a Canon of Westminster Cathedral , began to edit the Seventh Douay Diary. He had a transcript made from the original manuscript in the archives of the Westminster Diocese, and had annotatedalmost the whole of the Diary, when he was overtaken by a protracted illness , terminating with his lamented death on December 13th, 1925. This temporarily put an end to the proceedings . The Rev. Dr. J. M. T. Barton, of St. Edmund's College ( who had collaborated with Canon Burton) , and the late Rev. J. R. McKee, of the Oratory, were then approached , but after some consideration each felt obliged to decline . The galley proofs and a portion of the MS . were then handed to the present editor, who, through various circumstances , was not able to proceed with the work for some little time. His work has been confined to collating the proofs with the MS. twice over, revising the notes, and attempting to unravel a few of the difficulties which have been
it
"
"
* The Douay College Diaries , Third, Fourth and Fifth , 1598-1654 , with The Rheims Report, 1579-80 . Edited by Edwin H. Burton, D.D. , F.R.Hist.S. , Vice- President of St. Edmund's College, Old Hall , Herts . , and Thomas L. Williams, M.A., Master of St. Edmund's House, Cambridge. 2 vols. Privately printed for the Catholic Record Society. (London , 1911 ) . † The First and Second Diaries of the English College, Douay , and an Appendix of Unpublished Documents, edited by Fathers of the Congregation of the London Oratory , with an Historical Introduction by Thomas Francis Knox, D.D., priest of the same Congregation. London : David Nutt , 270, Strand , MDCCCLXXVIII. (Records of the English Catholics under the Penal Laws ; vol. 1) .