The character of cardinal Alan has been depicted in various colours. As a zealous Catholic, who boldly defended the religion which he taught, no liberal man can throw the least imputation upon his name. Ile who maintains with uniform firmness the deliberate convictions of his mind, however false or dangerous these convictions may be, is more an object of praise than of censure ; but he who maintains them in the worst of times, at the expense of his tranquillity, and the risk of his life, exhibits the features of a great and intrepid soul, which claims even the reverence and esteem of his enemies. Such was the character of cardinal Alan as a defender of the church of Rome.
But here our approbation of his conduct must termi nate. No sophistry can justify his repeated attempts against the security of his native land; and, whatever palliation may be found in the persecutions which he sustained, or in the political principles of his faith, we cannot stain our page with an apology for the cold blooded traitor, who allows personal suffering to extin rr in his breast the first and the noblest of all feel ings,—the love of country. An invisible chain, forged by the hand of nature, connects the heart of man with the soil on which he first drew his breath. The very
turf on which lie treads is hallowed in a patriot's eye ; and the remembrance of early attachments becomes a powerful check upon every emotion that tends to weak en or dissolve the sacred tie. A patriot in exile is one of the noblest of human beings : he may lawfully sigh line some change of affairs, which will permit him to return to his country ; but he will never sacrilegiously lift his arm against the land that gave him birth. Such ought to have been the cardinal's conduct. Ile would not, in deed, have been elevated to the splendour of archiepis copal dignity, hut he would have left behind him a name which posterity would have cherished, and which every liberal Protestant and Catholic would have mentioned with reverence and respect.
As an author, Alan has been ranked among the ablest defenders of the doctrines of his church. His writings on this subject are numerous ; but the ablest of them a work entitled, A True, Sincere, and Modest Derelict. of Christian Catholics, that suffered for their Faith a' home and abroad, 1583." It is a reply to a work written by Lord Burleigh, and has been highly esteemed. Sec Fuller's ll'orthies, and Andrew's _lbw. Great Britain, 3d edit. p. 511, 524. ((3)