New Shreds of the Old Snare, Part 4
A DISCOVRSE OF ENGLISH NVNNES of late tranſported within theſe two or three yeares.
IT is obſerued, that cunning Fowlers when they hauehave caught one bird in their net, will make vſe of that for a ſtale to tole-on others. And ſo it is with our Prieſts & Ieſuits who entice the daughters of diuers of our Gentry here in England to the Nunneries beyond the Seas: They not onelyonly tranſport them thither, as it were with a Writ called Corpus cum cauſa, (them with and for their money) but alſo make vſe of thoſe that are in the Cage already, that they may ſeeme to ſing out the praiſes of the place where they are. And to this end the Mother Abbeſſe by the direction of an inſpecting ſpirituall father maketh them write ouer letters, or rather inditeth letters in their name to the exceeding magnifying of the ſtate wherein they liue, that other young Birds of that brood, remaining in Englād, may be drawn to flie to the ſame forain neſts.
I hauehave ſeene of late diuers letters written from diuers Nunnified Gentlewomen to ſome of their kindred here in this Kingdome: The ſubiect of which Letters, though from diuers hands, wholly concerned, firſt the extolling of thoſe places wherein they were ſetled; ſecondly, the earneſt requiring and demanding of great ſummes of money to be ſent ouer at appointed times.
For the former, I enuy them not that mopiſh, mōkiſh, fooliſh paradice into which their ghoſtly fathers hauehave brought them, but am content they ſhall ſolace themſelues with the ioy and delight of their Angelicall life.
The ſummes of money which paſſe out of our Kingdome to the Nunneries.But as concerning the other, I wiſh it were duly conſidered of, what infinit ſummes of money paſſe out of our kingdome yearly, to vnderline thoſe ſaid Nunneries. I hauehave beene credibly informed, and ſome of the Prieſts (namely, Father Floud Ieſuit, their prime Procurator, and others) hauehave boaſted in my hearing, that the annuall penſions giuen by our popiſh Voluntaries to ſuch vſes, amount to the full value of foure thouſand poūds, beſides the rich portions which many of our Engliſh women carry ouer with them, and muſt ſacrifice and lay downe to the Lady Abbeſſe her ſhrine, before they be acceptedof or admitted into their religious Cell, unde (ut ab Inferno) nulla eſt redemptio.
The places to which our Engliſh women are ſent.The chiefe places of receipt for our Engliſh women, are Bruxels, Griueling, and Lisbon. The ſeuerall Orders of Nunnes.The ſeuerall Couents of Nunnes there are of S. Clares order, S. Bridgets or S. Brides order, S. Katherines order of Sene, Iuſtinians order, Mary Magdalens order, and Auguſtines order.
Thoſe that hauehave but a little or no portion, are packt by their Maſters to Griueling to the poore bare-footed Clares. Mary Wiltſhire, the daughter of a poore Taylor, whom I ſpake of in my other Booke, being but a ſeruant and a poore wench, ſhe ſhould hauehave beene ſeated in this lower form, being of the courſer thred.
Thoſe of a moderate portion trudge away to Lisbon, where the whole Nunnery is allowed daily 5 crownes and their bread, with ſome other almes vponupon occaſion beſtowed vponupon them, as when they ſhew the head of S. Vrſula, the bones of S. Bridget and her daughter, ſundry reliques of S. Auguſtine, the milke of our Lady, the blood of Hales, with diuers ſuch trinkets and conceits.
But thoſe that hauehave a good round ſumme for their dowry (as 1000 or 2000 pounds, which ſome good cuſtomers cary hence) ſuch are ſtamped for Bruxels, where the hungry Ieſuits (who ſometimes meet with as good booties as the Merchants of Argier) diſpoſſeſſe thē of all worldly cares and vanities, and like ſubtile Alchimiſts refine them out of their ſiluer and golden droſſe into a more ſublime eſtate and condition.
I hauehave ſeene within theſe few dayes Letters that came from M.C. E.C. and A I. Nunnes at Bruxels to ſome of their kindred in England. One of them writes for fiue hundred pounds: That the Abbeſſe had done a great fauour in taking ſo little: That the Nunnery is poore, and that the Abbeſſe cannot forbeare the money any longer.
Pope Innocent the fourth appointed a company of inlarged, vncloiſtred, vbiquitary Votiſts of ſeuerall ſodalities: A great many of which we hauehave latent in our kingdome; and of whom the Prieſts and Ieſuits make great vſe. For theſe are the ſcraping Mendicants, who bring good ſtore of prouender to the Ignatian cratch. Their labor is to beg what they can get for their holy fathers or maſters, and to doe them all kinds of ſeruice, as to ſtarch their linnen, ſweepe their chambers, make their beds, waſt their Church ſtuffe, &c of which ranke are Miſtris Baily in Grayes Inne Lane, Clarentia the Maid, Miſtris Halſal in Bloomesbury, Miſtris Venetia, Miſtris Philpot, Miſtris Fowler, Miſtris Floud in Holborne, Black Beſſe, and others.
As for the beginning of Nunnes. When Pope Iohn the firſt was made Biſhop of Rome, Monke Bennet, aliàs Benedict, after that hee had placed himſelfe and his Monkiſh brethren in a certaine noble & famous Cloyſter, built vponupon the Mount Caſsinus, raiſed vp alſo an Order of Nunnes, and made his ſiſter Scholaſtica Abbeſſe ouer them.
Their Apparell is commonly a blacke, ſometimes a gray coat, cloake, coule, and vaile. They may not reade the holy Scripture without conſent or permiſſion of their ſuperior. Their orders are all wrapped full of ſuperſtition and hypocriſie, ſeeking their ſaluation, not in Chriſt through faith, but in mens inuentions by fooliſh and popiſh workes.
❧ A Catalogue of the Names of ſuch young Women as to this Authors knowledge hauehave beene within two or three yeares laſt paſt tranſported to the Nunneries beyond the ſeas.
Mrs. Anne M…nfeild.
Miſtris Anderton.
Mrs Parker.
Mrs Anne Gray.
Mrs. Talbot.
Mrs. Linſel.
Mrs. Sydnam.
Mrs. Percy….
Mrs. Gerard.
Mrs. Floud.
Mrs. Aſhton.
Mrs. Greffin.
Mrs. Halſal.
Mrs Blimſtone.
Iane Roe.
Mrs. Eueleigh.
Mrs Worthington.
Elizabeth Luſher.
Bridget Lee, a kitching maid, ſometime dwelling at the vpper end of Holborne.
Mrs. Molineux.
Mrs. Ingam
Mrs. Webbe.
Dorothy Stamp.
Mrs. Ireland.
Mrs. Blackſtones.
Elizabeth Powell of Holborne.
Mrs. Ruckwood.
Mrs. Lathom.
Mrs. Forteſcue.
Mrs. Winchcombe.
Mrs. Townely.
Mrs. Townely.
Mary Turner.
Mary Smith.
Mrs. Iones.
Mrs. Biſhop.
Mrs. Owen.
Mrs Clifton.
Sara Brewer.
Grace Wire.
Mrs. Atkins.
Mrs. Drury.
Mrs. Stanley.
Mrs. Sanders.
Mrs. Conniers.
Mrs. Abbington.
Factors employed for the conueying ouer of the ſaid Women to the Nunneries.
MAſter Hughes of London, a man very actiue in performing the ſaid buſineſſe.
Maſter Palmer.
Spaniſh Iohn, cōmonly called The Deuils factor: or Forty pound Iohn, which name was giuen him for coſening two gentlewomē of 40 pounds, whom he vndertook to tranſport.
Iohn Smith.
A kinſman of Maſter Fiſher the Ieſuit.
Vdal of Gun-powder Alley.
Iohn Barbar.
Iames Hart.
Vincent.
Captaine Dak.
Sherborne.
Langton, a Lancaſhire man.
Maſter Peeters.
Stubbes.
Louet, a brother to the popiſh Goldſmiths.
FINIS.
End of the text · John Gee, New Shreds of the Old Snare (1624)