[193] The different parts of the body were assigned to different planets. The old almanacks have a naked figure in front, surrounded by the usual planetary emblems, which dart their rays on the parts which they govern. What Scorpio claims, if not apparent from the context, may be there found.
[198] This is our author's own averment in his "Defence of the Papers of the Duchess of York." See Note VIII.
[199] The latitudinarian, or moderate clergy above-mentioned, and particularly Stillingfleet.
[202] Stillingfleet's Vindication, which contains the imputations complained of by Dryden, bears this licence: "Imprimatur, Henricus Maurice Rmo. P. D. Wilhelmo Archiep. Cant. a sacris. January 10, 1686."
[203] In these, and in the following beautiful lines, the poet, who had complained of Stillingfleet's having charged him with atheism, expresses his resolution to submit to this reproach with Christian meekness, and without retaliation.
[207] The penal laws, though suspended by the king's Declaration of Indulgence, were not thereby abrogated.
[209] ——Sinistra cava prædixit ab ilice Cornix.
[210] Alluding to the table of Icarus:
Chelidonian, from χελιδὼν a swallow.
[211] Otherwise called martlets. Dryden.
[212] A parody on Lee's famous rant in "Œdipus."
[213] An old Saxon word for a village.
[214] It is a vulgar idea, that a dead swallow, suspended in the air, intimates a change of wind, by turning its bill to the point from which it is to blow.
[217] The Hind intimates, that, as the sunshine of Catholic prosperity, in the fable, depended upon the king's life, there existed those among her enemies, who would fain have it shortened. But from this insinuation she exempts the church of England, and only expresses her fears, that her passive principles would incline her to neutrality.
[218] Louis XIV. whose revocation of the Edict of Nantes has been so frequently alluded to. As that monarch did not proceed to the extremity of capital punishment against the Huguenots, Dryden contends his edicts were more merciful than the penal laws, by which mass-priests are denounced as guilty of high treason.
[220] The poet alludes to the enchantress Duessa, who, when disrobed by Prince Arthur, was changed from a beautiful woman into
[222] The fiend in the Book of Tobit, who haunted Raguel's daughter, is frighted away, by fumigation, by Tobias her bridegroom. Thus, Milton:
[223] A proverbial expression, taken from our author's alteration of the "Tempest." See Vol. III. p. 176.
[224] Æneid, lib. vii. 1. 213.
[226] Two pamphlets were published, urging the necessity of an alliance between the church of England and the Dissenters; and warmly exhorting the latter not to be cajoled to serve the purposes of their joint enemies of Rome, by the pretended toleration which was held out as a snare to them. One of these, called "Reflections on the Declaration of Indulgence," is ascribed to Burnet; the other, called "Advice to Dissenters," is supposed to come from the masterly pen of Halifax.
[227]Ον Βριαρεων καλέουσι θεοι, ανδρες δε τεπαντες Αιγααιων.
[229] The power claimed, and liberally exercised, by the king, of dispensing with the penal statutes.
[230] That is, wishing the accession of the Prince of Orange, then the presumptive heir of the crown.
[232] The refugee Huguenots. See Note XXII.
[233] James II. See Note XXIII.
[234] The Catholic chapel in Whitehall.
[235] The clergy of the church of England, and those of London in particular. See Note XXIV.
[236] The Catholic clergy, maintained by King James.
[237] The cock is made an emblem of the regular clergy of Rome, on account of their nocturnal devotions and mattins.
[238] The Nuns.
[240] The worship of images, charged upon the Romish church by Protestants as idolatrous.
[242] The Doves.
[243] The laws imposing the penalty of high treason on priests saying mass in England.
[244] The Roman Catholic nobility, excluded from the House of Peers by the imposition of the test.
[245] Hemlock.
[246] Quos Jupiter vult perdere, prius dementat.
[247] The foolish fable of Mahomet accustoming a pigeon to pick peas from his ear, to found his pretensions to inspiration, is well known.
[248] Gilbert Burnet, D. D. afterwards Bishop of Salisbury. See Note XXVII.
[252] ——timeo Danaos et dona ferentes. Æneid, II. lib.
[256] The promise to maintain the church of England, made in James's first proclamation after his accession; and which the church party alleged he had now broken. Note XXXIV.
[257] See note XXXIII.
[258] Declaration of indulgence. Note XXXV.
[260] The tyrant of Syracuse, who, after being dethroned, taught a school at Corinth.
[261] Quisque suæ fortunæ faber. Sallust.
[264] A New Test of the Church of England's Loyalty.
[267] A Vindication of the Answer to some late Papers.
[268] A Vindication of the Answer to some late Papers, p. 116.
[269] Ibidem, p. 117.—Stillingfleet plays on this expression of the grim logician, in allusion to a passage of our author's "Defence of the Duchess of York's Paper;" where he says, "That the kingdom of heaven is not only for the wise and learned," and that "our Saviour's disciples were but poor fishermen; and we read but of one of his apostles who was bred up at the feet of Gamaliel, and that poor people have souls to save, as precious in the sight of God as the grim logician's." Dryden retorts it upon him in the text.
[270] A Vindication, &c. p. 1.
[271] Ergoteering was a phrase used by Dryden in his "Defence of the Duchess's Paper," and which Stillingfleet harps upon throughout his "Vindication."
[272] Ralph's History, Vol. I. p. 933.—Secret Consults, &c. of the Roman Party, p. 59.
[273] "One Petre, descended from a noble family; a man of no learning, nor any way famed for his virtue, but who made up all in boldness and zeal, was the Jesuit of them all, that seemed animated with the most courage."—Burnet.
[274] "We have," says one of the order, "a good while begun to get footing in England. We teach humanity at Lincoln, Norwich, and York. At Warwick, we have a public chapel secured from all injuries by the king's soldiers; we have also bought some houses of the city of Wiggorn, in the province of Lancaster. The Catholic cause very much increaseth. In some Catholic churches, upon holidays, above 1500 are always numbered present at the sermon. At London, likewise, things succeed no worse. Every holiday, or preaching, people are so frequent, that many of the chapels cannot contain them. Two of our fathers, Darmes and Berfall, do constantly say mass before the king and queen. Father Edmund Newill, before the queen-dowager, Father Alexander Regnes in the chapel of the ambassador aforesaid, others in other places. Many houses are bought for the college in the Savoy, as they call it, nigh Somerset-house, London, the palace of the queen-dowager, to the value of about eighteen thousand florins; in making of which, after the form of a college, they labour very hard, that the schools may be opened before Easter." A Letter from a Jesuit at Liege. Somers' Tracts, p. 248. About this letter, see Burnet's History, Vol. I. p. 711. The king also granted the manor of York to Lawson, a priest, for thirty years, as a seminary for the education of youth in the Catholic faith; to the great displeasure of Sir John Reresby, the governor of the city, who had fitted it up for his own residence. See his Memoirs, pp. 245, 246.
[275] So says the memorable "Test of the Church of England's Loyalty."
[276] New Test, &c.
[277] Roman Catholic Principles, 1680.
[278] There is a copy of this old caricature print in Luttrell's Collection.
[279] History of his Own Times, Vol. I. p. 280.
[280] See Burnet's Life, by his Son, p. 686.
[281] See Dr Flexman's catalogue of his works, under the head "Tracts, Political, Polemical, and Miscellaneous."
[282] Mr B—ty, vice-chamberlain.
[283] Notes on the Phœnix Pastoral Letter, Johnson's Works, pp. 317, 318.
[284] The Declaration of Indulgence. See Vol. IX. p. 447.
[285] The addresses of the grand juries of the counties of Monmouth, Stafford, Glocester, Yorkshire, &c. &c., all pressed forward upon this occasion, and are all positive that the blessed hope of the queen's womb must necessarily prove a son, since the king seemed to have very little occasion for more daughters. Edmund Arwaker is of the same opinion, in his poem humbly dedicated to the queen, on occasion of her majesty's happy conception.
[286] "That which does us most harm with the lords and great men, is the apprehension of a heretic successor: For as a lord told me lately, assure me of a Catholic successor, and I assure you I and my family will be so too. To this purpose the queen's happy delivery will be of very great moment. Our zealous Catholics do already lay two to one that it will be a prince. God does nothing by halves, and every day masses are said upon this very occasion."—Letter from Father Petre to Father La Chaise. This letter is a forgery, but it distinctly expresses the hopes and apprehensions of both parties.
[287] The most remarkable were celebrated at the Hague, by the Marquis of Abbeville, his majesty's ambassador there. On one side of a triumphal arch were the figures of Truth and Justice, with this inscription: Veritas et Justitia fulcimentum throni Patris et erunt mei: On the other side were Religion and Liberty embracing, with this motto, Religio et Libertas amplexatæ erant. On the portico was painted the conquest of the dragon by St George, and the delivery of St Margaret, explained to allude to the liberty of conscience procured by James's abolition of the test and penal laws. These decorations, remarkable for their import, and the place in which they were exhibited, were accompanied with the discharge of fire-works, and other public rejoicings. There are particular accounts of the splendid rejoicings at Ratisbon and Paris, &c. &c. in the Gazettes of the period.
[288] As for example, the poets of Isis, in a collection called "Strenæ Natalitiæ in Celsissimum principem.—Oxoni; E Theatro Shedoniano, 1688." Consisting of Latin, Greek, Arabic, and Turkish, pastoral, heroic, and lyrical pieces, on this happy topic.
The following poems are in the Luttrell Collection:
"Votum pro Principe.
"To the King, upon the Queen's being delivered of a Son; by John Baber, Esq.
"To the King, on ditto; by William Niven, late master of the music school of Inverness, in Scotland." Surely the very ultima Thule of poetry.
"A Congratulatory Poem on ditto, by Mrs Behn.
"A Pindarique Ode on ditto, by Calib Calle."
[289] The 10th of June.
[290] Whitsunday.
[291] Trinity Sunday, the octave of Whitsunday.
[293] Alluding only to the commonwealth party here, and in other parts of the poem. Dryden.—See Note II.
[294] Rev. xii. v. 4.
[295] The Cross.
[297] The Pope, in the time of Constantine the Great; alluding to the present Pope. Dryden.—See Note IV.
[298] King James II.
[299] Bill of Exclusion.
[300] The Lemmon Ore, on which the vessel of King James was lost in his return from Scotland. The crew perished, and he himself escaped with difficulty. See Vol. IX. p. 401.
[301] Venerable is here used in its original sense, as deserving of veneration. But the epithet has been so commonly connected with old age, that a modern poet would hardly venture to apply it to an infant.
[303] Alluding to the temptation in the wilderness.
[305] Edward the Black Prince, born on Trinity Sunday.
[306] The motto of the poem explained.
[307] St George.
[308] The great Civil War.
[309] The Fire of London.
[310] The Popish plot.
[311] The Test-act.