Note 20 — PREFACE.
Reading edition
The only crime of which O’Rourke could be accused, was his having received some shipwrecked Spaniards under his roof,—men, says O’Connor, whom the most hardened barbarity could scarcely consider as enemies. It is remarkable that O’Rourke previously to his execution was denied a priest of his own persuasion. But Miles Macgrath, the converted archbishop of Cashel, was sent to prevail on him to conform. “No,” said O’Rourke firmly, “but do you remember the dignity from which you have fallen; return to the ancient Church, and learn from my fortitude the lesson you should have taught me, and which you ought to have been the last to disavow.”
If there is a shadow of truth in this wild story of Leitrim, and if Rourke did not betray the lady, he deserves canonization. Essex, however, who shared the same fate, preserved the same honourable secrecy; and the purity of the Virgin Queen remains intact.