Six years ago Biographical Studies began as an experimental publication. Our main intention then was to try and repair, by gradual stages, some of the omissions and errors in Gillow's Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics, and we defined our terms of reference accordingly. It soon became apparent, however, that by insisting rigidly upon them, we should have to exclude much valuable work in the field of Recusant history for which there was no other organ of publication. With the permission of the Council of the Catholic Record Society, which took over editorial direction in 1953, we began tacitly to disregard our original terms of reference and to publish research on any aspect of Recusant history. Our new title, therefore, is not an indication of a break in policy but a formal endorsement of a change which has been gradually taking place for some time. We hope to publish in future, in addition to specialised biographical and bibliographical studies, some articles based on original research but more general in their scope than anything we have so far printed. We also want to relate the periodical more closely to the affairs of the Catholic Record Society, and from time to time we shall print a resumé of the Society's activities.

On October 16 1956 the Society inaugurated a series of public talks entitled Examples of Research Work. The purpose is to explain how specific pieces of historical research have been carried out. Each speaker describes the methods he used, the sources to which he went and the problems he had to solve. The first talk was given by Brigadier T.B. Trappes-Lomax C.B.E., who described the research which he had recently done on the visitation of the Midlands and the North by Bishop Leyburn in 1687.

Twenty-five years ago two scholars working independently published the results of their researches on the origin and early history of the late sixteenth century mystical treatise known as Breve compendio intorno alla perfezione cristiana. Marcel Viller S. J., in an article in Revue d'ascétique et de mystique (1931), settled the question of authorship and provided an invaluable account of the circumstances in which the treatise was composed. Jean Dagens, writing in Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique (1931) on Bérulle’s Bref discour de l'abnégation intérieure, which is based on the Breve compendio, discussed the history of the work in France. These two studies aroused considerable interest at the time and led to the publication of further articles and notes. Dagens summarises the results of this research in his chapter on the Bref discours in his recent extensive study, Bérulle et les origines de la restauration catholique, 1575–1611 (1952). After such thorough investigation it may seem doubtful whether any further really important discoveries are likely to be made, but within certain limits there is still scope for enquiry, and in the present note I want to discuss briefly an English translation of the Breve compendio, first published in 1612, which was unknown to Viller and Dagens. First it will be necessary to summarise what they say about the early history of the original work.

Of the Venerable Christopher Robinson, who died for his Faith in Carlisle (in what year we shall see later), practically nothing save the name of his betrayer has been recorded since the days of Bishop Challoner. Among the Knaresborough MSS. as Everingham is a 17th Century transcript of a letter of some ten large folio pages entitled: “The death of Mr. Boost written by Mr. Robinson priest, who shortly afterward dyed in the same glorious manner at Carlisle.” An extract from this document was given in Challoner and the text is now printed in full in C.R.S. But for the few known facts about the Martyr's own life we have depended almost entirely on Challoner's somewhat vague compilation of only eighteen lines.

In 1639 Charles I was faced with rebellion in Scotland. On 16th January he summoned the peers to attend him at York by 1st April, with such forces of horse as their birth and honour required. Meanwhile his Catholic consort, Henrietta Maria, appealed to the leading priests in England to organize a nation-wide collection from Catholics in order to help finance the expedition and to make manifest the loyalty of the Catholic body. The superiors of the Catholic clergy, secular and regular, gave their support to the scheme, and a long list of “Advices and Motives” was drawn up, urging Catholics to subscribe. I have summarised this elsewhere. Copies of the “Advices and Motives” were sent to the clergy in various parts of the country, together with a circular letter, dated 4th April, 1639, bearing the signatures of the five superiors, Anthony Champney signing for the seculars, William Price for the Benedictines, Thomas Dade [Middleton, alias Dade] for the Dominicans, Francis Davenport for the Franciscans, and Henry More for the Jesuits. In the circular letter the superiors state that although the “Advices” are directed only to lay gentlemen, “yet we desire you (and we have answered for you) that you will employ yourself and all those that depend on you, sincerely to solicit and dispose all their minds, whom you have relation unto, as powerfully as you can, to contribute cheerfully and bountifully upon this occasion; which, as it is the first that ever we laboured in of this kind, so we hope in God it will be the last”.