478 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 295. 



his feet, with the cap of Liberty fallen off on one side, and 

 the electoral cap lying among ruins on the other. And 

 round the margin is read : 



' Immedicahile vulnus ense reddendum.' 



His Holiness has also sent the die of the medal, and we 

 intend, as soon as 'tis convenient, to strike numbers of 

 them to disperse among the steady friends to the old 

 Entjlish constitution. 



""I can't enough applaud his E— 1 H s's zeal for the 



Catholic religion : it is constantly breaking out upon all 

 occasions (and indeed sometimes more than I could wish). 

 But when I reprove him for it in private, he promises to 

 be more upon his guard. Yet, as his tongue always speaks 

 the language of his heart, the moment any occasion offers 

 he can never omit declaring his detestation of heresy ; and 

 I question whether the immediate quiet possession of all 

 his father's kingdoms could bring him to sign a declara- 

 tion that had in it even a promise of toleration. If you 

 see any such come out, you may be certain 'tis the forged 

 work of some of his Protestant followers, without his 

 knowledge or consent. He has some heretick noblemen 

 with him: and 'tis wonderful to hear how his R — 1 



H s, whenever they talk to him of his temporal affairs, 



makes the discourse always turn to some religious point, 

 wherein he never fails to show them their errors, and 

 sometimes with success ; for I have already reconciled 

 Lord George Murray (a young nobleman of the greatest 

 honour), and Mr. Cameron, to the bosom of our Holy 



Mother. His R — 1 H s's usual arguments are, that 



no man can be a good subject to his Father that does not 

 believe in the Queen of Heaven (for so he always stj'les 

 the Blessed Virgin) : and that no person shall ever be of 

 his councils, that is not of his communion. He is well 

 furnished with all that can be said for our faith: his 

 father has trained him up to it from his cradle, and I 

 believe that holy king would rather hear his son was 

 beheaded upon Tower-Hill, than that he had even pro- 

 mised the least toleration to Protestants. His last words 

 to him at parting were (for I was by), ' Go fight for your 

 religion, and my Inngdoms ; and remember, Charles, there is 

 no faith to be kept with hereticks.' 



" Oh ! my Lord, what a glorious scene opens to my 

 view. Shall the Cross once more be erected in Britain ? 

 Shall our altars be again exalted? Shall our abbej'-lands 

 revert to their right owners? Shall the clergy have 

 their due honours and weight? Shall we rush like a 

 torrent upon the laity, and make 'em know they are our 

 people, and the sheep of our pasture ? 



" Your lordship well knows, that all the rent-rolls and 

 survo3's of our former possessions (preserved from the 

 impiety of the times) are safe, and kept in good order at 

 Doway and St. Omers, and ready to follow our successes 

 here. His Majesty has constantly allowed a salary to 

 some of the reverend fathers at each place, to preserve 

 'em for better days. I have often perused 'em with tears, 

 and surely our Church met nowhere with more dutiful 

 children than this apostate island once produced. And 

 were Ave once more masters, the same yoke is still in 

 being, and might soon be made to fit their necks again. 



" In this affair I must do my royal master's zeal ample 

 justice. He has often declared to myself in the most 

 solemn manner, that the great cause of the restitution of 

 abbej'-lands shall never so much as come into litigation ; 

 but that he will himself, as he is above law, take that 

 business under his own peculiar cognizance ; and that our 

 evidences and records shall never be controverted, but 

 that we shall have all reparation possible for our long 

 deprivation and tedious sufferings. His royal word shall 

 declare our right, and his royal power put us into im- 

 mediate possession. But whatever lands are in Catholic 



hands (which they must part with) shall be fully made 

 up to them out of the estates of the heretical rebels. Of 

 this I am commanded to order you to inform all that you 

 dare trust with the important secret. But I trust in the 

 Blessed Virgin that the time is near at hand when .all 

 these kingdoms shall hear the same thing pronounced 

 from the throne itself. Before I end this letter, I can't 

 help acquainting your lordship, that I am appointed 

 Abbot of Reading. I do it, my lord, because I think you 

 will be glad to hear that my constant and indefatigable 

 labours in the cause are not forgotten. For I will be bold 

 to say that your lordship, and myself, through the weak- 

 ness of the usurpation, have, in our separate stations, 

 acted as openly, and boldly, as ever the most zealous 

 could require at our hands. Your lordship has, in de- 

 fiance of all the pretended laws, opened a constant chapel 

 at the Bath; officiated there for years as publickly as the 

 heretick priests in their churches ; made numberless con- 

 verts in contempt of their magistracy, and preserved all the 

 dignity of the Church in the land of infidels. Your pro- 

 gresses, since your elevation to the Mitre, have been open ; 

 you have visited your flocks, and appeared in as publick 

 a manner, exercising your jurisdiction, as the Protestant 

 prelates themselves. In my lesser sphere, I have acted with 

 little eelat, but great success, and may boast, within these 

 five years, in the parishes of St. George, St. Ann, and St. 

 James's particularly, to have brought above two thousand 

 stray'd sheep backto the flock. The remissness of their 

 pastors gave me great advantages, and I found the poor 

 souls miserably ignorant and consequently proper objects 

 of our charity and instruction For this I am re- 

 warded. From this I hope for my farther well-beingi 

 both here and hereafter. 



" One thing more I am commanded to acquaint youp 

 lordship with, which you are desired also to communicate 

 to all sincere friends': the vast and oppressive load of 

 debt, which His Majesty's subjects have long laboured 

 under, has always afflicted him very much, for, rebels as 

 they have been,"he has always felt a paternal concern for 

 the"undutiful children. He" has thought of many ways 

 of easing them ; but, upon the most mature consideration, 

 finds none so proper as an absolute sponge, that will 

 certainly at once take off the load, and yet not lessen the 

 credit ; "for as the debt was contracted by those who had 

 no power to contract if, it ought not, it should not, it 

 cannot, impugn or shake the credit of the true owner. 

 Put the case in private life ; if a person seised of a tor- 

 tious possession, should, upon his wrongful title, raise 

 money, is the real and true heir to it, when he comes to 

 enjoj'it, obliged to pay such a debt? No, certainly; and 

 when he has got his title made clear, will any maa 

 scruple to lend him money again on such a title ? 



"You are also to take notice of the strict justice of this 

 step ; for 'tis certain that this debt has been wholly con- 

 tracted by the most violent enemies and traitors to the 

 Eoyal House of Stuart; contracted with the one view of 

 continuing his present and late Majesty in their exile; 

 contracted to extirpate our Holy Religion ; in short, con- 

 tracted to support usurpation and heresy, and a govern- 

 ment equally detestable to God and His Church. These 

 are the arguments you are to use, together with any other 

 that your great wisdom can suggest. 



" Most of the proceedings since the unfortunate year 

 1688 are, and have for some time been, under considera- 

 tion. The numberless grants of the different usurpers i 

 the many peerages and other honours they have pretended 

 to bestow ; and as most of these favours have been shower'd 

 down upon the undeserving, the most inveterate opposers 

 of our cause, the greatest supporters of heresy ; most, if 

 not all, will meet with the fate they deserve. 



" You will see by the extracts I herein send you, that 



