various kinds in which Dr. Milner was engaged after his return. Whatever may be the merits of them, it is clear that Dr. Milner was not singular in his opinions, for he received an address signed by above four thousand Catholics in England, thanking him for his conduct "in defending their faith and church from the attempts of open foes and insidious friends to corrupt and destroy them."

Some proceedings in the House of Commons in the spring of 1816, with a view to ascertain what were the laws of foreign countries affecting Roman Catholics, induced Dr. Milner to publish two works. The first was intituled, "An Humble Remonstrance to the Members of the Honourable House of Commons, on the Nature and Object of the Report of the Select Committee for inquiring into the Laws and Ordinances of Foreign States respecting their Roman Catholic Subjects, &c. By a Native Roman Catholic Prelate." In this "Remonstrance Dr. Milner argued, that the laws and practices of Catholic states were no proof of the doctrine and discipline of the Catholic Church, unless they were acknowledged and received by her; and that to follow the decrees of absolute monarchs, would be to deprive the English Catholics of their constitutional religious liberty, and inflict upon them a real religious persecution. The other work was intituled, "Inquisition. A Letter addressed to the Hon. Sir John Coxe Hippisley, Bart. M. P. Recorder of Sudbury. By a Catholic Christian." This was a small pamphlet of twenty-six pages, and represented the Baronet as Grand Inquisitor, calling before him the late Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Troy; Dr. Milner; the Rev. Mr. Browne of Stonyhurst; and Father Anthony of the order of La Trappe.

In Jauuary 1817, there appeared in the Orthodox Magazine (to which Dr. Milner continued to be a frequent contributor), a critique by him on Mr.

Brown's "Historical Inquiry into the Ancient Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction of the Crown."

On the 28th of April 1817, Sir Henry Parnell presented the Petition from the Roman Catholics of Ireland to the House of Commons, in which securities were more than hinted at as likely to be conceded by them. On the same evening Mr. William Smith presented a Petition from the Roman Catholics of Warwickshire and Staffordshire, which was drawn up by Dr. Milner, and in which the petitioners stated, that "they had heard with the utmost grief and dismay that proposals had been made to the honourable House for annexing to a Bill for their further temporal relief different galling restrictions on their religious discipline, which they were convinced would essentially injure and subvert the religion itself, that taught them to be good subjects;" and "that, however desirous they were to partake with their fellow-subjects in the full benefits of the happy constitution founded by their ancestors, they were still more anxious for the safety and integrity of their religion."

In 1818 appeared a work by Dr. Milner, which had lain by him unpublished for at least fifteen years, intituled, "The End of Religious Controversy; or, a Friendly Correspondence between a Religious Society of Protestants and a Roman Catholic Divine, addressed to the Right Rev. Dr. Burgess, Lord Bishop of St. David's, in answer to his Lordship's Protestant Catechism." This

is pronounced by Mr. Butler, in his Book of the Roman Catholic Church, to be " the ablest exposition of the doctrines of that Church on the articles contested with her by Protestants, and the ablest statement of the truths by which they are supported, and of the historical facts with which they are connected, that has appeared in our language." Be this as it may, it roused the ardour of several antagonists. In the first rank stood forth Dr. Samuel

Parr in defence of Bishop Hallifax, whom Dr. Milner, in three places, stated to have died a Roman Catholic. Dr. Parr's "Letter" was originally intended for the Gentleman's Magazine, but this its length prevented *. It did not eventually appear till after the Author's death; when it was rebutted, by Dr. Milner, in no very satisfactory manner, in "A Parting Word to the Rev. Richard Grier, D. D. Vicar of Templebodane, on the End of Religious Controversy; with a brief notice of Dr. S. Parr's Posthumous Letter." Two other Protestant Champions were also induced to attack the Romish Goliath, in "Two Letters to the Right Rev. J. Milner, D. D. occasioned by certain passages in his End of Religious Controversy.' By the Rev. T. H. Lowe, M. A. Vicar of Grimley, Worcestershire, and Chaplain to Viscount Gage ;" and in "A Letter to the Right Rev. J. Milner, D. D. upon certain erroneous

*It was thus originally proposed in a letter to Mr. Nichols, dated Dec. 18, 1818:

"Milner the Roman Catholic has published an elaborate work, which cannot fail of having a very extensive and powerful effect on any person of his own religion. He has put forth all his strength, and let loose all his venom. Among other matter, he three times says, that Bishop Hallifax died a Catholic, and this you see affords a glorious triumph to the Roman Catholics. I am determined to call him to a public account. I have all the matter and paper now lying before me. If you chuse to insert it in your old Magazine, be it so. But you will observe, first, that it will occupy twenty-five or thirty pages; secondly, that it must not be divided; thirdly, that I must be permitted to revise one proof-sheet, and to give directions to the printer about italic lines, &c. &c. The whole bench of Bishops will have their eye upon me, and a whole army of Catholic polemics may fall upon me. This I regard not. If you refuse admission to so long an article, I will offer it to one more periodical publication, and if it be thought too long there, I shall print a pamphlet, and put my name.

"

In a second Letter, only five days after, the Doctor says: "Some how or other my matter had crowded upon me so fast, that I must give up all thoughts of introducing it into any periodical publication, and therefore I shall make a pamphlet, and print it at Warwick. There again my vexations about a scribe are almost intolerable; I must admit to the torments of delay!"

statements affecting the character of Divines of the Church of England, in the End of Religious Controversy.' By the Rev. John Garbett, M. A. Minister of St. George's, Birmingham." To the latter our veteran controversialist, in a private letter, excused himself from answering, on the plea of his declining health *.

The article on Gothic Architecture in Dr. Rees's Encyclopædia, was from the pen of Dr. Milner. To the Archæologia of the Society of Antiquaries he contributed, in 1794, Observations on an ancient Cup formerly belonging to the Abbey of Glastonbury, printed with a plate in vol. XI.; in 1806 an Account of an ancient Manuscript of St. John's Gospel, printed in vol. XVI.; in 1809 a Description of a Mitre and Crosier, part of the Pontificalia of the See of Limerick, printed with a plate in vol. XVII.; in 1811 an Account of the Monastery of Sion in Middlesex, printed with a wood-cut of the conventual seal in the same volume; in 1821 Observations on the use of the Pax in the Romish Church, printed in vol. XX. with a plate of an Ancient Pax; and in 1825 an account of the peregrinations of the nuns of St. Bridget of Sion, three of whom, the only remainder of the Order, were then living near Newcastle, with observations on certain antiquities, and impressions of three seals, still in their possession. He was the most voluminous contributor of Essays illustrative of the admirable Etchings of his friend Mr. John Carter, in his "Specimens of Antient Sculpture and Painting .” He

* See the Gentleman's Magazine, vol. XCVI. ii. 303. † Gent. Mag. XCV. i. 164.

The following subjects were elaborately described and explained by him: "Paintings in St. Mary's Chapel, Winchester," I. pp. 40, 43, 47, 51; "Account of the Murder of Thomas Becket, Abp. of Canterbury," p. 57; "Basso-relievos on the Capitals of Columns supporting the Lantern of Ely Cathedral," vol. II. pp. 14, 17, 24; "Sculptures, &c. from Hyde Abbey," p. 19: "Sculptures from the Hospital of St. Cross," p. 29;

also contributed to Mr. Schnebbelie's " Antiquaries' Museum," an "Account of Paintings discovered in Winchester Cathedral."

Dr. Milner's last illness was of a protracted and painful description. Some time before his death, he received the last rites of the Catholic Church in the presence of several of the congregation; and before them he forgave every one who had been his enemy, and begged pardon of all those he might have injured in the most trifling degree. He made a public act of faith in his religion, and gave up his soul, with sentiments of humility and resignation. He expired on the 19th of April 1826, at his residence in Wolverhampton, in his 75th year.

;

The funeral obsequies of the great controversialist were celebrated at the Catholic Chapel, Wolverhampton, on the 27th of the same month. The altar and railing which surrounds it were covered with black cloth. In the centre of the aile and in front of the altar, the coffin was placed; upon the top of it were a chalice, a mitre, and the episcopal vestments of black velvet, embroidered with silver on each side were wax lights burning. Upwards of thirty of the neighbouring Priests attended, by whom the office for the dead was repeated, and a High (Requiem) Mass was performed, in which the Right Rev. Dr. Walsh officiated, assisted by the Rev. Henry Weedall and the Rev. T. Green, as Deacon and Subdeacon, with others, principally from Oscott College. After reading the Epistle and

"An Antient Chapel near the Angel Inn, Grantham," pp. 34, 35; "An Oak Chest in the Treasury of York Cathedral," p. 37; "Statues and a Basso-relievo, in the High Altar of Christ Church, Hants," p. 43; "Brass in the Hospital of St. Cross," p. 46; "Statues on the Screen entering into the Choir of York Cathedral," pp. 50, 54, 60, 64; Painting on Glass at All Souls College, Oxford," p. 54; "A Brass and Sculptures from Wimborn and Sherborn Minsters, Dorsetshire," p. 57; "The Penance of Henry II. before the Shrine of Thomas Becket, Abp. of Canterbury," p. 65.