Other editions of book Come Rack! Come Rope

Come Rack! Come Rope! is a historical novel by the English priest and writer Robert Hugh Benson (1871–1914), a convert to Catholicism from Anglicanism. Set in Derbyshire at the time of the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics, when being or harbouring a priest was considered treason and was punishable with death, it tells the story of two young lovers who give up their chance of happiness together, choosing instead to face imprisonment and martyrdom, so that God's will may be done. (Wikipedia)

Come Rack, Come Rope is a gripping historical novel which takes place during Queen Elizabeth I’s persecution of English Catholics. Based on the real sufferings of a real Catholic family in particular, and Catholics across the country, Robert Hugh Benson’s classic novel is one of tragedy and loss, but also heroism and human and divine love. The novel follows Robin and Margaret, a young couple in love who forgo their affection when Margaret realizes Robin is called to the priesthood. Both play a critical role in caring physically and spiritually for their fellow Catholics during this time of terror. Discover their heroism, love, and sacrifice, and be inspired to live it out in our own frightful times in Come Rack, Come Rope.

Come Rack, Come Rope is a gripping historical novel which takes place during Queen Elizabeth I’s persecution of English Catholics. Based on the real sufferings of a real Catholic family in particular, and Catholics across the country, Robert Hugh Benson’s classic novel is one of tragedy and loss, but also heroism and human and divine love. The novel follows Robin and Margaret, a young couple in love who forgo their affection when Margaret realizes Robin is called to the priesthood. Both play a critical role in caring physically and spiritually for their fellow Catholics during this time of terror. Discover their heroism, love, and sacrifice, and be inspired to live it out in our own frightful times in Come Rack, Come Rope.

Come Rack, Come Rope is one of Robert Hugh Benson’s best-known novels. Based on true events and individuals in the time of the Elizabethan persecution of Catholics in England, Come Rack, Come Rope centers on Robin and Margaret, who give up their love for another and hope of marriage in order to minister to their persecuted neighbors. Masterfully weaving the historical source material with his own creative additions, Benson presents an unflinchingly truthful portrayal of the terror of those times along with an achingly beautiful depiction of true faith.

Very nearly the whole of this book is sober historical fact; and by far the greater number of the personages named in it once lived and acted in the manner in which I have presented them. My hero and my heroine are fictitious; so also are the parents of my heroine, the father of my hero, one lawyer, one woman, two servants, a farmer and his wife, the landlord of an inn, and a few other entirely negligible characters. But the family of the FitzHerberts passed precisely through the fortunes which I have described; they had their confessors and their one traitor (as I have said). Mr. Anthony Babington plotted, and fell, in the manner that is related; Mary languished in Chartley under Sir Amyas Paulet; was assisted by Mr. Bourgoign; was betrayed by her secretary and Mr. Gifford, and died at Fotheringay; Mr. Garlick and Mr. Ludlam and Mr. Simpson received their vocations, passed through their adventures; were captured at Padley, and died in Derby. Father Campion (from whose speech after torture the title of the book is taken) suffered on the rack and was executed at Tyburn. Mr. Topcliffe tormented the Catholics that fell into his hands; plotted with Mr. Thomas FitzHerbert, and bargained for Padley (which he subsequently lost again) on the terms here drawn out.

All this was as it should be. There were no doubts or disasters anywhere. Marjorie was an only daughter as he an only son. Her father, it is true, was but a Derby lawyer, but he and his wife had a good little estate above the Hathersage valley, and a stone house in it. As for religion, that was all well too. Master Manners was as good a Catholic as Master Audrey himself; and the families met at mass perhaps as much as four or five times in the year, either at Padley, where Sir Thomas' chapel still had priests coming and going; sometimes at Dethick in the Babingtons' barn; sometimes as far north as Harewood.And now a man's trouble was come upon the boy. The cause of it was as follows.Robin Audrey was no more religious than a boy of seventeen should be. Yet he had had as few doubts about the matter as if he had been a monk. His mother had taught him well, up to the time of her death ten years ago; and he had learned from her, as well as from his father when that professor spoke of it at all, that there were two kinds of religion in the world, the true and the false—that is to say, the Catholic religion and the other one. Certainly there were shades of differences in the other one; the Turk did not believe precisely as the ancient Roman, nor yet as the modern Protestant—yet these distinctions were subtle and negligible; they were all swallowed up in an unity of falsehood. Next he had learned that the Catholic religion was at present blown upon by many persons in high position; that pains and penalties lay upon all who adhered to it. Sir Thomas FitzHerbert, for instance, lay now in the Fleet in London on that very account. His own father, too, three or four times in the year, was under necessity of paying over heavy sums for the privilege of not attending Protestant worship; and, indeed, had been forced last year to sell a piece of land over on Lees Moor for this very purpose. Priests came and went at their peril…. He himself had fought two or three battles over the affair in St. Peter's churchyard, until he had learned to hold his tongue. But all this was just part of the game. It seemed to him as inevitable and eternal as the changes of the weather.- Taken from "Come Rack! Come Rope!" written by Robert Hugh Benson

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Perhaps the best known of Msgr. Benson's works, this novel has been reprinted many times since its publication in 1912. The drama and the characters therein have their basis in the real life account of a Catholic family-and of the sufferings of Catholics in general under- Elizabeth I of England. In this story of deep tragedy and terror Msgr. Benson portrays the conflict between natural, tender human passion and divine love, and its heroic resolution worked out in the hearts of the two principal characters, along with the development of the doctrine of vocation. Descriptions of profound insight into the physical and spiritual suffering of one persecuted and tortured for the faith. Beautiful book, cream paper, sewn signatures, cloth hardcover.

Excerpt from Come Rack! Come RopeVery nearly the whole of this book is sober historical fact; and by far the greater number of the personages named in it once lived and acted in the manner in which I have presented them. My hero and my heroine are fictitious; so also are the parents of my heroine, the father of my hero, one lawyer, one woman, two servants, a farmer and his wife, the landlord of an inn, and a few other entirely negligible characters. But the family of the FitzHerberts passed precisely through the fortunes which I have described; they had their confessors and their one traitor, (as I have said). Mr. Anthony Babington plotted, and fell, in the manner that is related; Mary languished in Chartley under Sir Amyas Paulet; was assisted by Mr. Bourgoign; was betrayed by her secretary and Mr. Gifford, and died at Fotheringay; Mr. Garlick and Mr. Ludlam and Mr. Simpson received their vocations, passed through their adventures; were captured at Padley, and died in Derby. Father Campion (from whose speech after torture the title of the book is taken) suffered on the rack and was executed at Tyburn. Mr. Topcliffe tormented the Catholics that fell into his hands; plotted with Mr. Thomas FitzHerbert, and bargained for Padley (which he subsequently lost again) on the terms here drawn out.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

Perhaps the best known of Msgr. Benson s works, this novel has been reprinted many times since its publication in 1912. The drama and the characters therein have their basis in the real life account of a Catholic family, and of the sufferings of Catholics in general, under Elizabeth I of England. In this story of deep tragedy and terror Msgr. Benson portrays the conflict between natural, tender human passion and divine love, and its heroic resolution worked out in the hearts of the two principal characters, along with the development of the doctrine of vocation............. Robert Hugh Benson (18 November 1871 – 19 October 1914) was an English Anglican priest who in 1903 was received into the Roman Catholic Church in which he was ordained priest in 1904. He wrote the notable novel Lord of the World (1907). Benson was the youngest son of Edward White Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury) and his wife, Mary, and the younger brother of Edward Frederic Benson and A. C. Benson. Benson was educated at Eton College and then studied classics and theology at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1890 to 1893. In 1895, Benson was ordained a priest in the Church of England by his father, who was the then Archbishop of Canterbury. After his father died suddenly in 1896, Benson was sent on a trip to the Middle East to recover his own health. While there he began to question the status of the Church of England and to consider the claims of the Roman Catholic Church. His own piety began to tend toward the High Church tradition, and he started exploring religious life in various Anglican communities, eventually obtaining permission to join the Community of the Resurrection. Benson made his profession as a member of the community in 1901, at which time he had no thoughts of leaving the Church of England. As he continued his studies and began writing, however, he became more and more uneasy with his own doctrinal position and, on 11 September 1903, he was received into the Catholic Church. He was awarded the Dignitary of Honour of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre. Benson was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1904 and sent to Cambridge. He continued his writing career along with his ministry as a priest. Like both his brothers, Edward Frederic Benson ("Fred") and Arthur Christopher Benson, Robert wrote many ghost and horror stories, collected in The Light Invisible (1903) and A Mirror of Shallott (1907).His novel, Lord of the World (1907), is generally regarded as one of the first modern dystopias (see List of dystopian literature).[1] As a young man, Benson recalled, he had rejected the idea of marriage as "quite inconceivable". Benson was appointed a supernumerary private chamberlain to the Pope in 1911 and, consequently, styled as Monsignor. Benson died in 1914 in Salford, where he had been preaching a mission. He was 42. At his request, he was buried in the orchard of Hare Street House, his house in the Hertfordshire village of Hare Street. A chapel, dedicated to St Hugh, was built over the site. Benson bequeathed the house to the Catholic Church as a county retreat for the Archbishop of Westminster. The Roman Catholic church in the nearby town of Buntingford, which he helped finance, is dedicated to St Richard of Chichester, but also known as the Benson Memorial Church.....