Note 264 — Front matter (continued 9)

This tale of Friedrich may form a pendant to one of Theiner's own. He relates how, in seeking for Tridentine documents which ought to have been in the Vatican, but were not, and some of which were in the library of Lord Guildford, he proposed to make a journey all the way to England. His brother oratorian, Dr. Newman, applied to Lord Guildford requesting that Theiner might have access to them. This was refused. That nobleman could not see why the Prefect of the Vatican Archives should come so far to examine documents of which there must be abundance there! Poor Theiner had found poverty, not abundance. There had been removal, as well as concealment. His ill success in England did not prevent him from saying that the honour of first publishing the minutes of Paleotti was due to the Rev. Joseph Mendham, an Anglican presbyter,—"which, certainly, is not to our honour or glory" (vol. i. pp. vi. vii.).