“ HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION.” 375 
cation of an epithet which, under any circumstances must be unbe- 
coming the dignity of his profession. ‘Who would not think that 
this period was written by Mr. Lowth, it being so obscure and ill 
expressed that nothing is plain but the malice of it? But he of all 
men should be the farthest from reproaching any for writing lam- 
poons, who has now given so rude a one on the late king, and the 
lords and commons; if bold railing without either wit or decency 
deserves that name. I will only say this further, that if one had the 
ill-nature to write a lampoon on the government, one of the several 
articles in it would be, that it seems writers are hard to be found, 
when such a baboon?’ is made use of. It is lampoon enough upon 
the age that he isa bishop; but it is downright reproach that he is 
made the champion of acause, which, if it is bad of itself, must suf- 
fer extremely by being in such hands.” 
However great might be the estimation in which the History of 
the Reformation was held among the learned on the Continent, it is 
not surprising that this work should be assailed by the Romanists ; 
especially as the title-page of it, might be deemed by them an offen- 
sive declaration of war against the holy Roman catholic and apos- 
tolic church as it styles itself. Among the foremost to march to 
battle against this redoubtable protestant were Varillas and Le 
Grand, two writers, who would have acquired more fame, even 
with the learned of their own communion, if they had employed half 
the zeal and industry to give currency to historical truth, which 
they used to disseminate their slanders. But, so feeble and ill-di- 
rected were these attacks, that their weapons dropped harmless from 
their hands, or else recoiled with destructive force upon themselves. 
God and Christ, as a crude and profane expression, asserting that though the 
king was indeed under God, yet he was not under Christ, but above him. 
Another of his most offensive opinions was, that it is better to indulge men’s 
vices and debaucheries than their conscience——See Eccles. Pol. p. 54. 
27 Although bishops, even in Burnett’s days, were no longer considered 
as sacred abstractions, he felt that some apology was due to his readers for 
calling his ecclesiastical superior a baboon, or else he would not have ex- 
pressed himself in the following manner. ‘ When the cardinals in Rome go 
abroad without fioccos on their horse’s heads, it is understood that they will 
then be incognito, and they expect nothing of that respect which is paid them 
on other occasions. So, since there is no fiocco at the head of this discourse, 
no name nor designation, it seems the writer offers himself to be examined 
without those nice regards that may be due to the dignity he bears; and in- 
deed when a man forgets what he is himself, it is very natural for others to 
do it likewise.”—See An Inquiry into the Reasons for abrogating the Test im- 
posed on all Members of Parliament offered by Sa. Oxon. 
