by Archbishop DAVID MATHEW
The Lady Jane Dormer Duchess of Feria by C. A. Dowling M.A. (Campion Books 7s. 6d.) IT is appropriate that this study of the life of the Duchess of Feria should have been produced in the year of the canonisation of the English Martyrs. She was a grandniece of Sebastian Ne:wdigate, the Carthusian martyr and also a first cousin to Sir Philip Sidney.
She had been a maid of honour to Queen Mary and had married the Spanish Ambassador, who later became the Duke of Feria. Until her death in 1615 she was the protectress of the English Catholic refugees who came to Spain, using the privileges of her high rank on their behalf and also managing to secure the release of Sir John Hawkins.
She lived for nearly all her married life at her husband's country palace at Zafra in Estramadura. She was central to the life of the refugees for among the laity she alone had access to the Court of Spain. This was something that she shared with the Duke of Gandia and the Princess of Eboli.
This study has as its frontispiece a photograph of the portrait of the Duchess at Burton Constable. It sets out all that we know of her and gives fresh information of her journey on her marriage through the Spanish Netherlands. We must congratulate Sister Mary Cecfly upon her work.