PLOWDEN
168
PLOWDEN
EoMrND Plowden
tleman charged with hearing Mass, and detected that
the service had been performed by a layman for the
purpose of informing against those who were present,
whereon he exclaimed, "The case is altered; no priest,
no Mass", and thus secured an acquittal. This inci-
dent gave rise to the common legal proverb, "The case
is altered, quoth Plowden". He himself was required
to give a bond in 1569 to be of good behaviour in re-
ligious matters for
a year, and in 1580
he was delated to
the Privy Council
for refusing to at-
tend the Anglican
service, though no
measures seem to
have been taken
against him. His
works were: "Les
comentaries ou les
report es de Ed-
munde Plowden"
(London, 1571),
often reprinted
and t ranslated into
English; "Les
Quares del Mon-
.'iieur Plowden"
(London, no date),
included in some
editions of the Re-
ports; "A Treatise
on Succession", MSS. preserved among the family
papers. Its object was to prove that Mary, Queen of
Scots, was not debarred from her right to the English
throne by her foreign birth or the will of Henry VIIL
Several MSS. legal opinions are preserved in the
British Museum and the Cambridge University Libra-
ries. He married Catherine Sheldon of Beoley and by
her had three sons and three daughters. There is a
portrait effigy on his tomb in the Temple Church, and
a bust in the Middle Temple Hall copied from one at
Plowden.
Plowden. Records of Plowdtn (privately printed, 1SS7); Cooper, Athence Cantabrigienses CCambridge. 1858) ; A Wood, ed. Bliss, AlhencB Oxonienses (London, 1813-20); Dodd. Church History, I (Brussels, verc Wolverhampton. 1737-42) ; Foss. Judges of England, V (London, 1848-64) ; Foley, Records Eng. Prov. S. J. (giving Plowden pedigree), IV (London, 1878); Cooper in Diet. Nat. Biog.; Gillow, Bibl. Did Eng. Cath.
Edwin Burton.
Plowden, Fr.\ncis, son of William Plowden of Plow- den Hall, b. at Shropshire, 8 June, 1749; d. at Paris, 4Jan., 1819. HewaseducatedatSt.Omer'sand entered the Jesuit novitiate at Watten in 1766. When the Society was suppressed, he was teaching at the College at Bruges. Not being in Holy Orders he was, by the terms of suppression, relieved of his first vows, and soon afterwards married Dorothea, daughter of George Phillips of Carnarvonshire. He entered the Middle Temple and practised as a conveyancer, the only department of the legal profession open to Catholics under the Penal Laws. After the Relief Act of 1791 he was called to the Bar. His first great work, "Jura Anglorum", appeared in 1792. It was attacked in a pamphlet by his brother Robert, a priest under the title of ".\RomanCatholicClergyman". Thebookwasso highly thought of that the University of Oxford pre- sented him with the honorary Degree of D.C.L., a unique distinction for a Catholic of those days. His improvidence, extreme views, and untractable dispo- sition made his life a troubled one. Having fallen out with the Lord Chancellor, he ceased to practise at the bar and devoted himself to writing.
His "Historical Review of the state of Ireland" (1803) was written at the request of the Government; but it was too outspoken a condemnation to meet their views, and was attacked by Sir Richard Musgrave in
the "Historical Review" and also by the "British
Critic ". Plowden answered by a " Postliminious Pref-
ace", giving an account of his communications with
Addington, and also by a "Historical Letter" to Sir
Richard Musgrave. While in Dublin (ISll), he pub-
lished his work "Ireland since the Union", which led
to a prosecution on the part of the Government for
libel, resulting in a verdict of £5000 damages. Plow-
den considered that this had been awarded by a
packed jury and was determined not to pay it. He
escaped to Paris where he spent the remaining years
of his life in comparative poverty. He continued to
WTiteat intervals, his "Historical Letters" to Sir John
Cox Hippisley (1815) containing important matter
connected with the question of Cathohc emancipa-
tion. His other works are: "The Case Stated" (Cath.
Relief Act, 1791); "Church and State" (London,
1795); "Treatise on Law of Usurj'" (London, 1796);
"The Constitution of the L'nited Kingdom" (London,
1802); "Historical Letter to Rev. C. O'Conor" (Dub-
lin, 1812); " Human Subornation " (Paris, 1824).
Cooper in Diet. Nat. Biog., s. v.; Gillow, Bibl. Diet. Eng. Cath., s. v.; Kirk, Biographies; Foley, Records Eng. Prov. S. J., IV, VII (London, 187S-80), giving pedigree of Plowdens; Ward, Dawn of Cath. Revival (London, 1909); Genfs Magazine (1829).
Bernard Ward.
Plowden, Robert, elder brother of Charles (su- pra), h. 27 Jan., 1740; d. at Wappenbury, 27 June, 1823. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1756, and was ordained in 1763. After some years spent at Hoogstraet in Belgium, as director of the Carmelite Nuns, he returned to England, and was stationed at Arlington, Devon, from 1777 to 1787. Appointed to Bristol, he had a wider field for his zeal and ability: at his coming, the Catholics had onh' one wretched room in a back alley for a chapel; Father Plowden's exer- tions resulted in the erection of St. Joseph's Church, together with a parochial residence and schools. His activity was extended to the mission of Swansea and the South Wales District, of which he may be consid- ered the principal founder. He remained at Bristol for nearly thirty years, beloved by his flock, and es- teemed by all for his frank character, disinterested la^ hours, and bounty to the poor. Removed from Bris- tol in 1815, he became chaplain to the Fitzherbert family at Swj'nnerton until 1820, when he retired to Wappenbury, where he died. He was a keen theolo- gian, "a more solid divine than his brother Charles", according to Bishop Carroll — an unflinching defender of Catholic principles and practices, and a firm sup- porter of Bishop Milner in trj-ing circumstances. The inscription on his tomb commemorates his candour, zeal, and learning. He translated from the French: "The Elevation of the Soul to God", which passed through several editions in England; American edi- tions, Philadelphia, 1817, and New York, 1852.
Foley, Records of the English Province of the Society of Jesus, IV, 554; Oliver, Collections S. J.
E. I. Devitt.
Plowden {alias Salisbury), Thomas, b. in Oxford- shire, England, 1594; d. in London, 13 Feb., 1664; grandson of Edmund Plowden, the great lawyer; en- tered the Society of Jesus, 1617; sent on the English Mission about 1622. He was seized, with other fath- ers, by the pursuivants in 1628, at Clerkenwcll, the London residence of the Jesuits. He filled various re- sponsible offices of the order, and laboured on the perilous English INIission until his death. He trans- lated from the Italian of D. Bartoli "The Learned Man Defended and Reformed" (London, 1660).
Foley, Records of the English Province of Ihe Society of Jesus, I. VII.
E. I. Devitt.
Plowden, Thomas Percy, b. at Shiplake, Oxford- shire, Knglimd, 1672; d. at Watten, 21 Sept., 1745; joined the Society of Jesus in 1693. He was rector of
