Saint Mary's in the Savoy, to see him received again into the
bosom of the Church which he had deserted. He read his
recantation with tears flowing from his eyes, and pronounced a
bitter invective against the Popish priests whose arts had
seduced him.88

Scarcely less infamous was the conduct of Obadiah Walker. He was
an aged priest of the Church of England, and was well known in
the University of Oxford as a man of learning. He had in the late
reign been suspected of leaning towards Popery, but had outwardly
conformed to the established religion, and had at length been
chosen Master of University College. Soon after the accession of
James, Walker determined to throw off the disguise which he had
hitherto worn. He absented himself from the public worship of the
Church of England, and, with some fellows and undergraduates whom
he had perverted, heard mass daily in his own apartments. One of
the first acts performed by the new Solicitor General was to draw
up an instrument which authorised Walker and his proselytes to
hold their benefices, notwithstanding their apostasy. Builders
were immediately employed to turn two sets of rooms into an
oratory. In a few weeks the Roman Catholic rites were publicly
performed in University College. A Jesuit was quartered there as
chaplain. A press was established there under royal license for
the printing of Roman Catholic tracts. During two years and a
half, Walker continued to make war on Protestantism with all the
rancour of a renegade: but when fortune turned he showed that he
wanted the courage of a martyr. He was brought to the bar of the
House of Commons to answer for his conduct, and was base enough
to protest that he had never changed his religion, that he had
never cordially approved of the doctrines of the Church of Rome,