CHAP. IV.

Of the discourses written on occasion of the King's most gracious letters of indulgence.

C. L. 39. A Letter to a dissenter, upon occasion of his majesty's late gracious declaration of indulgence.

pp. 7, 4to 1687 By George Savile, Marquis of Halifax, born about 1630, died 1695. In the State Papers, 1693, part i. p. 294. Somers Tracts.

"The Marquis of Hallifax, whose dexterity had been the active cause of throwing out the Bill of Exclusion, was in active opposition to King James ere he had held the throne two years, on which Ralph has the following sensible remarks: 'It is no uncommon thing for statesmen to look one way and row another: and yet there is scarce any circumstance of this reign more worthy of remark than the inconsistent parts now acted by two such eminent men as the Marquis of Hallifax and the Earl of Sunderland, and the inconsistent behaviour of his majesty towards them. The latter, who had gone warmly into the exclusion, under a seeming conviction of the many evils likely to befal the public under a catholic king, and who was now the oracle of the cabinet, laboured with all his might to introduce those very evils, if not to entail them on posterity. The Marquis, on the contrary, who had been indefatigable to shew that exclusion alone was a greater evil than all those put together, and yet was now out of place and favour, for that reason probably, took as much pains to convince the world that his former triumph was but a lucky mistake, and rather owing to the superiority of his parts than the goodness of his cause.' Ralph's History, vol. i. p. 953.

"Hallifax's object in the present tract is to prevent that dissension between the protestant non-conformists and the church of England, which the declaration was so likely to produce, and to unite them firmly against the papists." The Somers Tracts, vol. ix. p. 50; vol. ii. p. 364 of the original edition (first collection).

"Of the numerous pamphlets in which the cause of the Court and the cause of the Church were at this time eagerly and anxiously

pleaded before the Puritan, now, by a strange turn of fortune, the
arbiter of the fate of his persecutors, one only is still remembered,
the Letter to a Dissenter. In this masterly little tract all the argu-
ments which could convince a Nonconformist that it was his duty and
his interest to prefer an alliance with the Church to an alliance with
the Court, were condensed into the smallest compass, arranged in the
most perspicuous order, illustrated with lively wit, and enforced by an
eloquence earnest indeed, yet never in its utmost vehemence trans-
gressing the limits of exact good sense and good breeding. The effect
of this paper was immense; for as it was only a single sheet, more
than twenty thousand copies were circulated by the post; and there
was no order of the kingdom in which the effect was not felt.
Twenty-four answers were published, but the town pronounced that
they were all bad, and that Lestrange's was the worst of the twenty-
four. The government was greatly irritated, and spared no pains to
discover the author of the Letter; but it was found impossible to pro-
cure legal evidence against him. Some imagined that they recognised
the sentiments and diction of Temple. (Note. The letter was signed
T. W. Care says, in his Animadversions, This Sir Politic T. W. or
W. T.; for some critics think that the truer reading). But in truth
that amplitude and acuteness of intellect, that vivacity of fancy, that
terse and energetic style, that placid dignity, half courtly half philo-
sophical, which the utmost excitement of conflict could not for a
moment derange, belonged to Halifax, and to Halifax alone."-
Macaulay, vol. ii. p. 217.

"Lord Halifax published, on the same occasion, a Letter to a Dis-
senter; the most perfect model, perhaps, of a political tract; which,
although its whole argument, unbroken by diversion to general topics,
is brought exclusively to bear with concentrated force upon the ques-
tion, the parties, and the moment, cannot be read, after an interval of
a century and a half, without admiration of its acuteness, address,
terseness, and poignancy."- Mackintosh's History of the Revolution.
p. 174.

40. Answer to a Letter to a Dissenter, upon occasion of His C. L. Majesties late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence.

pp. 6, 4to Lond. 1687.

In the Bodleian Catalogue is "An Answer to the Letter to a Dissenter, detecting the unjust insinuations which highly reflect on his majesty, as likewise the many false charges on the dissenters." "It is justly observed by Sir Walter Scott that the object of the poem (The Hind and Panther) shews that Dryden was not in the secret of James the Second, as the purpose of the monarch was to introduce a free exercise of the catholic religion, not by an union between its adherents and the members of the established church, but by uniting the dissenting congregations in a common interest against the exclusive power and privileges of the panther and her subjects." Butler's Memoirs of the English, &c., Catholics.

C. L. 41. Animadversions on a late Paper entituled, A Letter to a Dissenter, upon occasion of his Majesties late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence. By H. [enry] C. [are].

pp. 40, 4to Lond. 1687

See No. 24 supra. A. Wood gives this account of Henry Care: "He is several times reflected upon by Roger L'Estrange in his Observators, for a poor snivelling fellow; who after he had wrote several things in behalf of the church of England and the presbyterians, and had reflected on both the Universities in several of his writings as popishly affected, was at length prevailed upon in the time of James II. to write for the Roman Catholics, against the Church which he before had eagerly defended; whereby it was made manifest that what he wrote was not for religion, or conscience' sake, which he before did pretend, but for interest." Peck gives the title, "Animadversions on a late pamphlet," &c., but the original reads "paper," as above.-J. H. T.

C. L. 42. An Answer to a Letter to a Dissenter upon occasion of His
Majesties late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence. By Sir
Roger L'Estrange.
pp. 50, 4to Lond. 1687

Born 1616, died 1704. The Letter is incorporated. "This," concludes L'Estrange, "is enough for my present purpose; and if it be not so for common satisfaction, my Third Volume of Observators has fifty times as much upon this Subject" (the King's Prerogative, and the Duty of a Subject).

"The most just principles of unbounded freedom in religion were now the received creed at St. James's. Even Sir Roger L'Estrange endeavoured to save his consistency, by declaring that though he had for twenty years resisted religious liberty as a right of the people, he acquiesced in it as a boon from the King. - Mackintosh, p. 174.

43. An Answer from the Country to a late Letter to a Dissenter C. L. upon occasion of his Majesty's late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence. By a member of the Church of England. 4to 1687

44. A modest Censure of the immodest Letter to a Dissenter, C. L. upon occasion of His Majesty's late Gracious Declaration for Liberty of Conscience. By T. N. a true member of the Church of England. pp. 24, 4to Lond. 1687

45. A second Letter to a Dissenter upon occasion of his Ma- C. L. jesty's late Gracious Declaration of Indulgence.

pp. 18, 4to Lond. 1687 Not from a Romanist, but a member of a Congregational Church.

46. The Lay-man's Opinion, sent in a Private Letter to a con- C. L. siderable Divine of the Church of England. By W. [m]

D. [arell].

pp. 8, 4to 1687

47. The Lay-man's Answer to a Lay-man's Opinion. In a Letter C. L. to a Friend.

pp. 12, 4to Lond. 1687

48. The Reasons of the Oxford Clergy against addressing.

In the ninth volume of the Somers Tracts will be found-"A Copy of an Address to the King by the Bishop of Oxon, to be subscribed by the clergy of his Diocess; with the Reasons for the Subscription to the Address, and the Reasons against it." With the following note: "That the declaration might be so much the less unpalatable, and that those of the legal church might not be rendered desperate, his majesty had been advised to open it with a clause that seemed to be in their favour, viz.: 'In the first place we do declare

that we will protect and maintain our archbishops, bishops and clergy, and all other our subjects of the church of England in the free exercise of their religion as by law established; and in the quiet and full enjoyment of all their possessions, without any molestation or disturbance whatsoever.' Now there wanted not undertakers, even among the bishops themselves, to procure addresses of thanks from the clergy of their respective dioceses to his Majesty, for the instances of his gracious regard towards them. Those of Durham, Chester, Lincoln, Litchfield and Coventry, and St. David's had their endeavours countenanced at least, if not fully answered; for after the form which had been set by the first of those right reverend fathers, the rest, at different times, made their compliments to the throne. But Samuel Parker, Bishop of Oxford, not satisfied with this simple mode of proceeding, insisted upon his clergy joining him in the address, which produced the following controversy."

See also Ralph's History, vol. i. p. 947, where are enumerated some of "the varieties of adulation that steam'd up to the Throne from every corner of the Kingdom, on this occasion."- Mackintosh's His

tory of the Revolution, p. 176.

C. L. 49. A Reply to the Oxford-Clergy against addressing.

C. L.

pp. 20, 4to Lond. 1687

The clergy having decidedly the better in their contest with the bishop,Sir Robert L'Estrange, the Corypheus of his party, was invoked to the prelate's support, and produced this defence of the proposed address.

50. An Answer of a Minister of the Church of England to a seasonable and important Question, proposed to him by a Loyal and Religious Member of the present House of Commons. Viz. What Respect ought the True Sons of the Church of England, in point of Conscience and Christian Prudence, to bear to the Religion of that Church, whereof the King is a member.

pp. 63, 4to Lond. 1687 How vast the contrast between the autonomic independency inculcated in the writings of De Foe, (see A New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty; or Whiggish Loyalty and Church Loyalty com