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No. IV
CATHOLIC CHAPLAINCIES AND FAMILIES IN THE NORTH DURING THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY NOTES AND MEMOIRS BY FATHER JOHN LAURENSON , S.J. , CHAPLAIN AT BROUGH HALL, YORKSHIRE, 1808. Now PRESERVED IN THE ARCHIVES OF THE ENGLISH PROVINCE S.J. FATHERJOHN LAURENSON , the author of the following notes, was born in January, 1760, and having made his studies at the English Academy, Liège , remained there until its dispersion by the French Revolutionary army, July, 1794. Accompanyingthe migration of the establishment to Stonyhurst , he has left a most interesting account of it, which is preserved in the Stonyhurst library. In the transplanted college , he served as Librarian and Professor of Mathematics , and in 1799 established the mission of Clitheroe . The Society of Jesus being , in 1803, restored in England , he joined it , being recorded as the first, not previously a member, who did so. In 1808 he became chaplain at Brough Hall , Yorkshire, and, as appears from internal evidence, it was in this yearthat he wrote most of these recollections , which he had begun in 1806 ( cf. nn. 11 , 16, 65) . In 1830 he returned to Stonyhurst , and in 1832 was appointed Superior of the mission of Bury St Edmunds , where he died , September 19 , 1832. As will at once be seen , he evidently wrote very largelyfrom memory , leaving many blanks for names and dates , which were never filled up. The result is an extremely fragmentaryrecord , and, in several instances , he has evidently confused or transposed persons or events; but , nevertheless, the number of persons as to whom he is able to supply informationand theoriginality of many of his comments make the document valuable . The number of outspoken remarks of a jocular , sarcastic or depreciatory character is unusual in a document of this character . It is , therefore , printed in its entirety, with the exception of some rough drafts , the substance of whichis repeated elsewhere. Neither has it been thought necessary to print casual interpolations , which have no historical interest , as the draft of a congratulatoryletter addressed to Sir John and Lady Lawson on the anniversary of their wedding day, and the commencement of a projected discourse for Septuagesima Sunday, in which he has got no further than the text, Quid statis hictota die otiosi? (Matt. xx, 6) Why stand you here all the day idle? The MS. consists of fourteen leaves of 4to size , but there is nothingto show what their proper sequence should be . Indeed at first sight everything seems in confusion . Some entries are struck out and rewritten, some rewritten without the draft being struck out . There are no headings , no plan , unity, order or object . After careful reading , however, one notices that the compiler is generally following up (but with many digressions) the history either of some chaplaincy or of some old Catholic family. It has for this reason seemed well to prefix here and there the name of the chaplaincy or family under discussion . It will be remembered, therefore , that these headings , which are given in italics, are in all cases editor's additions , as also are the numbers prefixed to the various entries . Some notes are added containingfurther information gleaned chiefly from H. Foley's Records and J. Gillow's Dictionary. They have been collected by Father Patrick Ryan, who has also added some ingenious conjecturesfor the reconcilement of apparent discrepancies . JOHN GERARD , S.J.
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