As regards the charge that Pius V. really gave his
approval to Ridolfi's scheme for the assassination of Elizabeth, the Tablet also contains a pertinent defence, though it does not amount to a vindication. It attacks Ridolfi's honesty, on which the whole force of Lord Acton's proof seems to depend, and shows a certain amount of presumption at all events, that he (Ridolfi) forged a letter from the Protestant Duke of Norfolk, which he showed to the Pope, and concealed from the Pope the fact that the Duke in question was a Protestant. However, the character of St. Pius, though of interest for Roman Catholics, and to some extent, of course, for all students of history, is not of the first moment to Englishmen in general. And we can well afford to leave the controversy till it has been fairly debated out by Lord Acton and the Saint's adherents. It is, at all events, satisfactory to see that Roman Catholics treat the crime imputed-,—falsely imputed, as they think,—to Pius by Lord Acton, as a heinous one.
