The martyr did not show any remarkable erudition, indeed all
opportunity to do so was carefully shut off. No University, I
fancy, would have given him a chair of theology on the strength
of his replies on that occasion. There was more than one
premature assertion of victory on the Protestant side. But when
the Catholic and Protestant accounts are compared, one sees that
the advantages won against Campion were slight. They evidently
hoped that by vigorous and repeated attacks they would at last
puzzle or bear him down. But they were never near this. He was
always fresh and gay, never in difficulties, or at the end of his
tether. He stands out quite the noblest, the most sympathetic and
important figure in those motley assemblies. The Catholics were
delighted. They succeeded in getting their own report of the
disputations, which is still extant, and they would have printed
it, if they had been able. Philip, Earl of Arundel, by far the
most important convert of that generation, was won over by what
he heard in those debates.
On the whole then we must say that, if Campion did not come off
gloriously, he at least acquitted himself well and honourably,
and distinctly gained by the conflict.
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