Notes and Queries, Number 212, November 19, 1853

Notes and Queries, Number 212, November 19, 1853
Various

Various

Notes and Queries, Number 212, November 19, 1853 / A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc

Notes

PARTY-SIMILES OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY—NO. I. "FOXES AND FIREBRANDS." NO. II. "THE TROJAN HORSE."

With Englishmen, at least, the seventeenth was a century pre-eminent for quaint conceits and fantastic similes: the literature of that period, whether devotional, poetical, or polemical[1 - Dr. Eachard, in his work on The Grounds and Occasions of the Contempt of the Clergy and Religion inquired into, London, 1712, after ably showing up the pedantry of some preachers, next attacks the "indiscreet and horrid Metaphor Mongers." "Another thing that brings great disrespect and mischief upon the clergy … is their packing their sermons so full of similitudes" (p. 41.). Eachard has a museum of curiosities in this line. The Puritan Pulpit, however, far outstrips even the incredible nonsense and irreverence which he adduces. Let any one curious in such matters dip into a collection of Scotch Sermons of the seventeenth century. Sir W. Scott, in some of his works, has endeavoured to give a faint idea of the extraordinary way in which passages of Holy Scripture were applied in the same century. I have a very curious book of soliloquies, which unfortunately wants the title-page. From internal evidence, however, it appeals to have been written in Ireland in the seventeenth century: the writer signs himself "P. P." The editor of this little 12mo., in "An Epistle to the Reader," after reprehending "the wits of our times" for "quibbling and drolling upon the Bible," says immediately after:—"This author's innocent abuse of Scripture is so far from countenancing, that it rather shames and condemns that licentious and abominable practice. Nor can we admit of the most useful allusions without that harmless (nay helpful and advantageous) καταχρησις, or abuse here practised: wherein the words are indeed used to another, but yet to a Holy end and purpose, besides that for which they were at first instituted and intended." The most reverend of our readers must need smile, were I to give a specimen of this "innocent abuse."While noticing the false wit which passed current in that century, we must not forget that the same age produced a South and a Butler: and that in beauty of simile, few, if any, surpass Bishop Jeremy Taylor.], was alike infected with the universal mania for strained metaphors, and men vied with each other in giving extraordinary titles to books, and making the contents justify the title. Extravagance and the far-fetched were the gauge of wit: Donne, Herbert, and many a man of genius foundered on this rock, as well as Cowley, who acted up to his own definition:

"In a true Piece of Wit all things must be,
Yet all things there agree;
As in the Ark, join'd without force or strife,
All creatures dwelt—all creatures that had life."

It is not, however, for the purpose of illustrating this mania that I am about to dwell on the two similes which form the subject of my present Note: I selected them as favourite party-similes which formed a standing dish for old Anglican writers; and also because they throw light on the history of religious party in England, and thus form a suitable supplement to my article on "High Church and Low Church" (Vol. viii., p. 117.).

As the object of the Church of England, in separating from Rome, was the reformation, not the destruction of her former faith, by the very act of reformation she found herself opposed to two bodies; namely, that from which she separated, and the ultra-reformers or Puritans, who clamoured for a radical reformation.

Taking these as the Scylla and Charybdis—the two extremes to be avoided—the Anglican Church hoped to attain the safe and golden mean by steering between these opposites, and find, in this via media course, the path of truth.

Accordingly, her divines abound with warnings against the aforesaid Scylla and Charybdis, and with exhortations to cleave to the middle line of safety. Acting on the proverb that extremes meet, they were ever drawing parallels between their two opponents. On the other hand, the Puritans stoutly contended that they were the true middle-men; and in their turn traced divers similarities and parallels betwixt "Popery and Prelacy," the "Mass Book and Service Book."[2 - An Analysis of the "divers pamphlets published against the Book of Common Prayer" would make a very curious volume. Take a passage from the Anatomy of the Service Book, for instance: "The cruellest of the American savages, called the Mohaukes, though they fattened their captive Christians to the slaughter, yet they eat them up at once; but the Service-book savages eat the servants of God by piece-meal: keeping them alive (if it may be called a life) ut sentiant se mori, that they may be the more sensible of their dying" (p. 56.). Sir Walter Scott quotes a curious tract in Woodstock, entitled Vindication of the Book of Common Prayer against the Contumelious Slanders of the Fanatic Party terming it "Porridge." The author of this singular and rare tract (says Sir W.) indulges in the allegorical style, till he fairly hunts down the allegory. The learned divine chases his metaphor at a very cold scent, through a pamphlet of his mortal quarto pages.—See a Parallel of the Liturgy with the Mass Book, Breviary, &c., by Robert Baylie. 1661, 4to.]

Without farther preface, I shall give the title of a curious work, which will tell its own story:

"Foxes and Firebrands; or A Specimen of the Danger and Harmony of Popery and Separation. Wherein is proved from undeniable Matter of Fact and Reason, that Separation from the Church of England is, in the Judgment of Papists, and by Experience, found the most Compendious way to introduce Popery, and to ruine the Protestant Religion:

'Tantum Religio potuit suadere Malorum.'"

A work under this title was published, if I mistake not, in London in 1678 by Dr. Henry Nalson; in 1682, Robert Ware reprinted it with a second part of his own; and in 1689 he added a third and last part in 12mo., uniform with the previous volume.[3 - [See "N. & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 172.—Ed.]] In the Epist. Ded. to Part II. the writer says of the Church of England:

"The Papists on the one hand, and the Puritans on the other, did endeavour to sully and bespatter the glory of her Reformation: the one taxing it with innovation, and the other with superstition."

The Preface to the Third Part declares that the object of the whole work is "to reclaim the most haggard Papists" and Puritans.

Wheatly, in treating of the State Service for the 29th of May, remarks:

"The Papists and Sectaries, like Sampson's Foxes, though they look contrary ways, do yet both join in carrying Fire to destroy us: their End is the same, though the method be different."—Rational Illust. of the Book of Common Prayer, 3rd edit., London, 1720, folio.

The following passage occurs in A Letter to the Author of the Vindication of the Clergy, by Dr. Eachard, London, 1705:

"I have put in hard, I'll assure you, in all companies, for two or three more: as for example, The Papist and the Puritan being tyed together like Sampson's Foxes. I liked it well enough, and have beseeched them to let it pass for a phansie; but I could never get the rogues in a good humour to do it: for they say that Sampson's foxes have been so very long and so very often tied together, that it is high time to part them. It may be because something very like it is to be found in a printed sermon, which was preached thirty-eight years ago: it is no flam nor whisker. It is the forty-third page upon the right hand. Yours go thus, viz. Papist and Puritan, like Sampson's Foxes, though looking and running two several ways, yet are ever joyned together the tail. My author has it thus, viz. The Separatists and the Romanists consequently to their otherwise most distant principles do fully agree, like Sampson's Foxes, tyed together by the tails, to set all on fire, although their faces look quite contrary ways."—P. 34.

It would be easy to multiply passages in which this simile occurs; but what I have given is suffcient for my purpose, and I must leave room for "The Trojan Horse."[4 - See Grey's Hudibras, Dublin, 1744, vol. ii. p. 248., vol. i. pp. 150, 151., where allusions both to "The Trojan Mare" and tying "the fox tails together" occur. Butler was versed in the controversies of his day, and, moreover, loved to satirise the metaphor mania by his exquisitely comic similes.]

I must content myself with giving the title of the following work, as I have never met with the book itself: The Trojan Horse, or The Presbyterian Government Unbowelled, London, 1646.

In a brochure of Primate Bramhall's, entitled

"A Faire Warning for England to take heed of the Presbyterian Government.... Also the Sinfulnesse and Wickednesse of the Covenant, to introduce that Government upon the Church of England."

the second paragraph of the first page proceeds:

"But to see those very men who plead so vehemently against all kinds of tyranny, attempt to obtrude their own dreames not only upon their fellow-subjects, but upon their sovereigne himself, contrary to the dictates of his own conscience, contrary to all law of God and man; yea to compell forreigne churches to dance after their pipe, to worship that counterfeit image which they feign to have fallen down from Jupiter, and by force of arms to turne their neighbours out of a possession of above 1400 years, to make roome for their Trojan Horse of ecclesiastical discipline (a practice never justified in the world but either by the Turk or by the Pope): this put us upon the defensive part. They must not think that other men are so cowed or grown so tame, as to stand still blowing of their noses, whilst they bridle them and ride them at their pleasure. It is time to let the world see that this discipline which they so much adore, is the very quintessence of refined Popery."

My copy of this tract has no place or date: but it appears to have been printed at the Hague in 1649. It was answered in the same year by "Robert Baylie, minister at Glasgow," whose reply was "printed at Delph."

As the tide of the time and circumstance rolled on, this simile gained additional force and depth; and to understand the admirable aptitude of its application in the passage I shall next quote, a few preliminary remarks are necessary.

There was always in the Church of England a portion of her members who could not forget that the Puritans, though external to her communion, were yet fellow Protestants; that they differed not in kind, but in degree—and that these differences were insignificant compared with those of Rome. At the same time, they reflected that perhaps the Church of England was not exactly in the middle, and that she would not lose were she to move a little nearer the Puritan side. Accordingly, various attempts were made to enlarge the terms of her communion, and eject from her service-book any lingering "relics of Popery" which might offend the weaker brethren yclept the Puritans: thus to make a grand Comprehension Creed—a Church to include all Protestants.

This was tried in James I.'s reign at the Savoy Conference; but in spite of Baxter's strenuous efforts and model prayer-book, it was a failure. Even Archbishop Sancroft was led to attempt a similar Comprehensive Scheme, so terrified was he at the dominance of the Roman Church in the Second James's reign: however, William's accession, and his becoming a nonjuror, crossed his design. In 1689, Tillotson, Burnet, and a number of William's "Latitudinarian" clergy made a bold push for it. A Comprehension Bill actually passed the House of Lords, but was thrown out by the Commons and Convocation. From William's time toleration and encouragement were extended to all save "Popish Recusants;" so that there were a large number in the Church of England ready to assist their comrades outside in breaking down her fences. The High Churchmen, however, as may be guessed, would not sit tamely by, and see the leading idea of the Anglican Church thrown to the winds, her via media profaned, her park made a common, and her distinctive doctrines and fences levelled to the ground. What their feelings were, may be gathered from this indignant invective:

"The most of the inconveniences we labour under to this day, owe their original to the weakness of some and to the cowardice of others of the clergy. For had they stood stiff and inflexible at first against the encroachments and intrigues of a Puritanical faction, like a threefold cord, we could not have been so easily shattered and broken. The dissenters, as well skilled in the art of war, have besieged the Church in form: and at all periods and seasons have raised their batteries, and carried on their saps and counter-scarps against her. They have left no means unessayed or practised, to weaken her. And when open violence has been baffled, and useless, stratagem and contrivance have supplied what force could never effect. Hence it is, that under the cant of conscience and scruple, they have feigned a compliance of embracing her communion; if such and such ceremonies and rules that then stood in force could be omitted, or connived at: and having once broke ground on her discipline, they have continued to carry on their trenches, and had almost brought the Great Comprehension-Horse within our walls; whilst the complying, or the moderate clergy (as they are called), like the infatuated Trojans, helped forward the unwieldy machine; nor were they aware of the danger and destruction that might have issued out of him."—The Entertainer, London, 1718, p. 153.[5 - Let any one interested in the history of Comprehension refer to the proceedings relative to the formation of the "Evangelical Alliance." Jeremy Collier gives a curious parallel:—"Lord Burleigh, upon some complaint against the Liturgy, bade the Dissenters draw up another, and contrive the offices in such a form as might give general satisfaction to their brethren. Upon this overture the first classis struck out their lines, and drew mostly by the portrait of Geneva. This draught was referred to the consideration of a second classis, who made no less than six hundred exceptions to it. The third classis quarrelled with the corrections of the second, and declared for a new model. The fourth refined no less upon the third. The treasurer advised all these reviews, and different committees, on purpose to break their measures and silence their clamours against the Church. However, since they could not come to any agreement in a form for divine service, he had a handsome opportunity for a release: for now they could not decently importune him any farther. To part smoothly with them, he assured their agents that, when they came to any unanimous resolve upon the matter before them, they might expect his friendship, and that he should be ready to bring their scheme to a settlement." Collier's Hist., vol. viii. p. 16. See Cardwell's Hist. of the Conference connected with the Revision of the Book of Common Prayer, London, 1849, 8vo. See also Quarterly Review, vol. 1. pp. 508-561., No. C. Jan. 1834. The present American Prayer Book is formed on the Comprehension scheme. Last year Pickering published a Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, adapted for General Use in other Protestant Churches, which is well worth referring to.Those who wished to "comprehend" at the Roman side of the via media were very few. Elizabeth and Laud are the most prominent instances. Charles I., and afterwards the Nonjurors, had schemes of communion with the Greek Church. A History of Comprehension would involve a historical notice of the Thirty-nine Articles, and the plan of Comprehension maintained by some to be the intention of their framers. It should include also distinctive sketches of the classes formerly denominated Church Papists and Church Puritans.]

I shall but add a postscript to my former Note. In "N. & Q." (Vol. viii., p. 156.), a number of pamphlets on High Church and Low Church are referred to. A masterly sketch of the two theories is given at pp. 87, 88. of Mr. Kingsley's Yeast, London, 1851.

    Jarltzberg.

TESTIMONIALS TO DONKEYS

The following extract from an article on "Angling in North Wales," which appeared in The Field newspaper of October 22nd, contains a specimen of an entirely original kind of testimonial, which seems to me worthy of preservation in "N. & Q.'s" museum of curiosities:

"Beguiled by the treacherous representations of a certain Mr. Williams, and the high character of his donkeys, I undertook the ascent of Dunas Bran, and poked about among the ruins of Crow Castle on its summit, where I found nothing of any consequence, except an appetite for my dinner. The printed paper which Mr. Williams hands about, deploring the loss of his 'character,' and testifying to the wonderful superiority of all his animals, is rather amusing. Mr. Williams evidently never had a donkey 'what wouldn't go.' This paper commences with an affidavit from certain of the householders and literati of Llangollen, that he 'had received numerous testimonials, all of which we are sorry to say has been lost.' Those preserved, however, and immortalised in print, suffice to establish Mr. Williams' reputation:

"Mr. W. and his son and daughter bear testimony to the civility and attention of Mr. Williams and his donkeys.

"S. P., Esquire, attended at the Haud Hotel, 24th June, 1851, and engaged four of Mr. Williams' donkeys for the use of a party of ladies, who expressed themselves highly gratified. The animals were remarkably tractable, and void of stupidity.

"Mrs. D. A. B. visited Valle Crucis Abbey on the back of Mr. Williams' ass, and is well satisfied.

"Sept. 4. 1852.
This is to certify that
LADY MARSHALL
Is to Donkeys very partial,
And no postilion in a car, shall
Ever more her drive
O'er all the stones;
On 'Jenny Jones'
She'll ride while she's alive!"

Those who have visited Malvern will remember the vast quantity of donkeys who rejoice in the cognomen of "The Royal Moses." Their history is as follows:—When the late Queen Dowager was at Malvern, she frequently ascended the hills on donkey-back; and on all such occasions patronised a poor old woman, whose stud had been reduced, by a succession of misfortunes, to a solitary donkey, who answered to the name of "Moses." At the close of her visit, her majesty, with that kindness of heart which was such a distinguishing trait in her character, not only liberally rewarded the poor old woman, but asked her if there was anything that she could do for her which would be likely to bring back her former prosperity. The old woman turned the matter over in her mind, and then said, "Please your majesty to give a name to my donkey." This her Majesty did. "Moses" became "the Royal Moses;" every body wanted to ride him; the old woman's custom increased, and when the favoured animal died (for he is dead) he left behind him a numerous family, all of whom called after their father, "the Royal Moses."

    Cuthbert Bede, B.A.

LONGEVITY IN CLEVELAND, YORKSHIRE