[182] The following is the description of Father Greenway given in the Proclamation for his apprehension. “Of a reasonable stature, black hair, a brown beard cut close on the cheeks and left broad on the chin, somewhat long-visaged, lean in the face but of a good red complexion, his nose somewhat long and sharp at the end, his hands slender and long fingers, his legs of a good proportion, his feet somewhat long and slender.”—S. P. James I., Vol. xviii. n. 21.
[183] Although it may seem an insult to most of my readers, there are some who are so ignorant of Catholic matters, that it may be safer to explain that in saying Father Greenway must have refused absolution, I mean absolution for past sins. Absolution cannot be given for future sins, as some Protestants have supposed, and a “dispensation to commit a sin”is an impossibility. Certain Protestant writers have implied that both were given by the Jesuits to Catesby and his fellow-conspirators.
[184] Father Garnet and the Gunpowder Plot, p. 13.
[185] Father Garnet and the G. P., Pollen, p. 11.
[186] Ib., pp. 21, 22.
[187] His own admission. S.P. Dom. James I., Vol. xx. n. 12.
[188] Father Garnet and the G. P., Pollen, pp. 22, 23.
[189] Ib., 23.
[190] Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot.
[191] Narrative of the Gunpowder Plot, p. 55.