The Haydock Papers. By Joseph Gillow. (Burns and Oates.)— This
book, which is described as "a glimpse into English Catholic
life under the shade of persecution and in the dawn of freedom," will have considerable interest for Lancashire Catholics and members of that communion generally. Lancashire was the stronghold of the old faith, and for nearly three hundred years
the Haydocks supplied a succession of priests to the English mission. In making what remains of their papers into a book,
Mr. Gillow has collected much information relating to the history of the different Lancashire chapels. The lay members of the family were not distinguished ; but one Squire Haydock was credited by his Jacobite friends with having bred the horse that gave William III. his fatal fall. Most of the Haydocks were educated at the Douay Seminary, and the account of the fate of this and the similar institution at St. Omer during the Revolution, is the most interesting thing in the book. The inmates made every effort to demean themselves as "good citizens," and at first with some measure of success ; but revolutionary zeal and sus- picion soon rose to fever-heat, and they were imprisoned and kept in confinement some time before being allowed to escape. Mr. Gillow repeats the story that at the Restoration a large sum was paid to the British Government in compensation for the seizure of the Douay property, and expended in paying for the Brighton Pavilion. In 1825, the Commissioners appointed to distribute the compensation received from France recognised the claim put forward by the last President of the Seminary, but declared the Crown entitled to the sum awarded, a decision upheld by Lord Gifford in the Privy Council on grounds of "public and religious policy." Public and religious policy may have been further pro- moted by spending the money on the Pavilion or paying the Royal debts, but what actually became of it has never been known with any certainty.
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