John Donne and the Ancient Catholic Nobility by Dennis Flynn (review)

BOOK REVIEWS343 government saw to that.The further editions pubUshed in 1648 (2), 1655, and 1681 were not published under Catholic auspices. The bibUography has a very useful Ust of primary sources, printed books translated from the French and other items pertaining to poUtical controversy plus a wide range of secondary sources. I spotted one error: on p. 144 for Robert BlackweU read George BlackweU. Thomas Clancy, SJ. Jesuit Archives, New Orleans John Donne and the Ancient Catholic Nobility. By Dennis Flynn. (Bloomington : Indiana University Press. 1995. Pp. ix, 245. $35.00.) In this fascinating study, Dennis Flynn, professor of EngUsh in Bentley College , Waltham (Massachusetts), explores issues generally considered unimportant by Donne scholars, specificaUy the persistent Catholicism of Donne's family and the Elizabethan persecution of CathoUcs. Research into these areas, Flynn contends, wiU recover the "missing years" of Donne's youth and wUl effect a re-evaluation of Donne's Latin epigrams currently rejected as spurious by many scholars. Donne's family had consistendy resisted Tudor reUgious reforms. His maternal great-grandmother was SUThomas More's sister EUzabeth RasteU. One son, WUUam RasteU, was Thomas More's pubUsher.Two RasteUs, John and Edward, entered the Jesuits. A daughter, Joan, married John Heywood, an entertainer and poet who served at theTudor courts. At least two of their sons, Jasper and ElUs, entered the Society.When members of the RasteU and Heywood famiUes went into religious exüe, Donne's father protected and managed their estates through "some arcane legal maneuvers."The tactics employed by recusants to prevent confiscation deserve further study. UntU it appears, we can only observe with Flynn: "Wise as ßefe??ß, müd as doves, the Heywoods and Donne were thus able to make the most of a bad situation'^. 72). In "Donne and the Ancient CathoUc NobUity," Flynn examines relations between Donne's famUy and the ancient CathoUc houses of Percy, Earls of Northumberland, Howard, Earls ofArundel, and Stanley, Earls of Derby.The catalyst was the arrival of Jasper Heywood, who, with his coUeague WUUam Holt, entered England in 1581 atTynemouth with the connivance of CaptainWUUam PuUen,the Earl ofNorthumberland's surrogate and later a secular priest. During his years of freedom, Heywood established contact with and received financial support from many CathoUc noble famiUes whom he knew from his youth at court. Captured in December of 1583, Heywood was exiled in January of 1 585. A day before his deportation, the Earl ofDerby departed for Paris to invest King Henry III with the Order of the Garter.A young boy in his entourage was identified as "John Donnes" or'Jhon Dowries."According to Flynn, this was the poet. 344BOOK REVIEWS The "missing years" of Donne's youth were spent on the continent. From references in Jasper Mayne's translation of Donne's Latin epigrams, a translation pubUshed after the poet's death, Donne arguably was one of a group of English CathoUc boys who visited the Prince of Parma's encampment outside Antwef in May of 1585.Another was probably Donne's friend Henry Percy,later 9th Earl of Northumberland. Donne returned to England Ui late winter of 1 587 with Henry Stanley, son of the Earl of Derby. Most likely the two traveled through Spain and Italy together during their two years on the continent. I know not how literary scholars will react to Flynn's arguments for the authenticity of Donne's Latin epigrams and for Jasper Heywood's influence on his poetic style, but historians, and especiaUy those interested in recusancy, wUl learn much from Flynn's analysis of Heywood's activities among the leading CathoUc famiUes. The EngUsh Jesuit historian John Hungerford PoUen contended that Heywood's contribution has been undervalued. Because of his conflict with Robert Parsons, Heywood was deemed "out of step" with official poUcy and was exiled to Naples. Flynn has rehabUitated him. Thomas M. McCoog, SJ. JesuitProvincial Archives, London Missio Moscovítica: The Role of the Jesuits in the Westernization ofRussia, 1582-1689. By Jan Joseph Santich, O.S.B. [American University Studies, Series LX, History,Vol. 178.] (NewYork: Peter Lang PubUshing, Inc. 1995. Pp. xi, 255. $41.95.) In the late 1960's, Father Santich planned...