Under the Bar

Extract

The English Catholic squire of the eighteenth century, when he came to decide on the future of his sons, found his choice a very restricted one. His first-born would, no doubt, succeed to the patrimonial acres; and carry on the old traditions. Another, perhaps, might develop a vocation to the priesthood, and be satisfied with that then very humble, very obscure, and often dangerous calling. But what to do with the rest? and those were the days of large families.

Trade might claim one, and (during the first half of the century, though not so later on) without any loss of prestige, or any injury to family pride. Thus a fourth son of Sir Francis Jerningham, of Cossey, became a well-known goldsmith in Covent Garden; while the younger brother of Alban Butler, although born of an old Northern family of gentle stock, set up in business as a linen-draper in the City. But the cruel penal laws against Catholics altogether excluded them from the public services, the Universities, and the Army. The oaths of supremacy and abjuration put parliamentary life out of the question, and the Test and Corporation Acts closed the municipalities. Finally, the statute of William III forbade Catholics to exercise the professions of barrister, attorney, and notary. Hence the usual career of a younger son was found in foreign lands, and many were the English Catholics who fought for or served the Kings of France and Spain, the Emperor at Vienna, or the princes of the small Italian states.