ABSTRACT
William Leslie came from an old Aberdeenshire family. He left Scotland in 1640 for the Scots College Douay, went almost immediately to the Scots College Rome, and was ordained there in 1647. From his office in the Papal Chancery Leslie thus had access to Papal missionary policy both for Europe and for the Far East. He met Henry Howard in Rome in the summer of 1666: the nature and fruits of their contact is the subject of this article. The memorandum ‘Concerning the affairs of Rome in Relation to England’ is of more immediate and personal significance. Leslie’s arguments are very convoluted, and when stripped of their verbosity they are sometimes astonishing. Henry Howard was not a likeable man, but he deserves some respect: he remained true to his Catholic faith, he eventually married his mistress, and showed great dignity and civil courage at the time of the Popish Plot.
