Nov. 19. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUEEIES. 



487 



cient for my purpose, and I must leave room for 

 " The Trojan Horse."* 



I must content myself with giving the title of 

 the following work, as I have never met with the 

 book itself: The Troja7i Horse^ or The Presby- 

 terian 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 Siiifulnesse 

 and Wickediiesse 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 posses- 

 sion of a!)ove 1400 years, to make roome for their 

 Trojan Horse of ecclesiastical discijjline (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. 

 Il 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- 



* 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 h^s day, and, more- 

 over, loved to satirise the metaphor mania by his ex- 

 quisitely comic similes. 



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 pi-ayer-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 acces- 

 sion, 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 t<y 

 all save "Popish Recusants;" so thaj; 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 en— 

 croachments 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 bat- 

 teries, 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 imder the cant of conscience and scruple, they 

 have feigned a compliance of embracing her com- 

 munion ; 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.* 



* Let any one interested in the history of Compre- 

 hension refer to the proceedings relative to the form- 

 ation of the " Evan<ielieal 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* 



