Nov. 29. 1851.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



419 



" If any young Man that plays well on a Violin, and 

 writes a good Hand, desires a Clerkship, I can htlp 

 him to Twenty Pounds a year." 



Of coufse twenty pounds was of more value then 

 than it is now : still it seems a small sum for the 

 performance of such duties, for twelve months. 

 Here is musical talent required for the amusement 

 of others, in combination with the daily duties of 

 a particular profession. An efficient musician, and 

 a good writer, and all for 20/. per annum! We 

 learn by the editor's " I can help him," his readiness 

 to assist all who would advertise in his journal, to 

 obtain those employments which their advertise- 

 ments specified. 



Friday, .-^pril 6, 1694. 



" A Grocer of good Business desires an Apprentice 

 of good growth." 



The " good growth " must have been intended 

 to convey the idea of height and strength. 



My next article shall be devoted to advertise- 

 ments of another class, further illustrating the 

 state of society and the peculiarities of the people 

 at the end of the seventeenth century. 



11. M. Bealbt. 



North Brixton. 



TREATISE OF EQUIVOCATION. 



As having originated the inquiry in "Notes 

 AND Queries"* respecting this Treatise, under 

 the signature of J. M., I feel great obligation both 

 to the editor of that journal, and the ediun* of the 

 Treatise itself, for having brought it to light by 

 publication, and added it to the stock of accurate 

 and very important historical information. Indeed, 

 a real vacancy was left for it ; and it is a subject 

 of high self-gratulation, thataboon previously, and 

 for a length of time, hidden and unproductive, is 

 now accessible and operative without limit. I 

 have no doubt that all your readers, and the whole 

 reading public, join with me in rejoicing that the 

 editorship of the work has fallen into hands so 

 competent and so successful. 



I was, not for ten, but twenty years or more, in 

 quest of the MS. now so happily made public pro- 

 perty, and should have fallen u[)on it much earlier, 

 but for tlie misleading title under which it appears, 

 where it iti really ; for it has been found. In the 

 Catalogiis Lib. 3ISS. : Ok. 1697, among the 

 Laudian MSS. appears, p. 62., " 9G8.95. A Trea- 

 tise, against Eciuioocation, or fraudaleut Dissimula- 

 tion." Against! when no such word is in the 

 original, and the real matter and meaning is for .' 

 I had, at some early time, marke<l the very entry ; 

 but [)resiiming that the work had been actually 

 printed (which I believe it was in a very few 

 copies, wliiuh have disappeared), naturally enough 



* Vol. i., pp. 263. asi.; Vol. ii., i>p. l.'JC. 168. 446. 

 490. 



I did not pursue the search in that direction. 

 Others, I am happy, have, and I am gratified. 



The work is very important ; for there is not a 

 work more evidently genuine and authentic than 

 this is proved to be by plain historic evidence, 

 both as to the document itself and the facts which 

 it attests. The witness, or witnesses, appearing 

 in it, give their testimony respecting themselves 

 with the most unsuspectable simplicity. They 

 meant not, and have not, misrepresented them- 

 selves : they have proclaimed their own doctrine 

 for themselves respecting Equivocation and Men- 

 tal Reservation — the last of which is really of 

 most importance; and it was most needful to the 

 Roman body at the time, and under their circum- 

 stances. Tlieir object, for mere safety, was con- 

 cealment as to their resorts or residences. They 

 could not exist, as they did, without the assistance 

 and knowledge of many individuals, some of in- 

 ferior class. Against the incessant inquiries to 

 which they were exposed they had no defence, ex- 

 cept the power of disappointing or misleading by 

 ambiguity or deception, which was comjdetely 

 secured by reserved termination in the mind to 

 any uttered declaration. Now, there is in this 

 very Treatise plain admission that all the co-reli- 

 gionists of the endangered party, particulaily a 

 lady who is distinctly noticed, were not convinced 

 of the moral rectitude of such a procedure ; and it 

 was necessary, or expedient, that their hesitation 

 should be removed. And this seems to be the 

 main object of the present work. How far it has 

 succeeded must depend upon the evidence which 

 is adduced. 



We have generally had the doctrine of the 

 Roman body on the subject of the Treatise pre- 

 sented by opponents ; here we have it as delibe- 

 rately stated by themselves. There is a passage 

 rather observable in p. 103., beginning at the 

 bottom and extending to the words " he hath no 

 such meaning to tell them," of which we are not 

 acquainted with a duplicate. But the whole has 

 something of the freshness and interest of novelty. 



Mucheth, it is agreed, I believe, was written in 

 1607, consequently after the Powder Plot, when 

 the doctrine before us was brought forward 

 jjointedly against the traitors. Might there not 

 be some reference to the fact in the Second Act, 

 where the porter of the castle, roused by repeated 

 kuockingSj'on the murder, after other exclama- 

 tions in the manner of the j)oet, proceeds : 



" Here's an Equivocator, that could swear in both 

 the scales, against cither scale : who committed treason 

 enoiigli for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to 

 lieaven. Oh, come in, Ecjulvocator " ? 



Mr. Jardlne will thank your correspondent for 

 pointing out an error or two which should be cor- 

 rected in another edition. At p. 44., for " x^"" 'n 

 the margin, should be printed "6'm6 verba." The 

 word in the MS. is a contraction to that effect : 



