4

LETTER XVII.

CHARLES I.

1.-Mr. Townsend declares, that “he does not defend the

« cruel and savage executions of the priests in this

“ reign, for a religion which was made treason” 185

But he repeatedly eulogises the laws written in

blood which made it treason

ib.

2.--Admits the Catholics were loyal, but observes, that the

Pope had not directed them to forsake their

Sovereign

.. ib.

But the Pope had directed them, under pain of

excommunication, to forsake the standard of

Elizabeth,—yet one and all adhered to it - ib.

LETTER XVIII.

CHARLES II.—JAMES II.

1.-Mr. Townsend defends the breach of faith of Charles II.

to his Catholic and Puritan subjects, at the time of

the Restoration

187

Great inaccuracy in his defence :— The Monarch

and his Ministers defended it by flagrant

equivocation

ib.

2.-Mr. Townsend expresses his high approbation of the

Act which excludes Roman Catholics from the

Senate

189

Lord Bolingbroke, a traitor to his God, to his

King, and to his Country, was punished for

his treason by a 'less severe punishment, than

the law, thus eulogised by Mr. Townsend,
inflicts on the Duke of Norfolk, and the other

Roman Catholic Peers

3.-Mr. Townsend repeats and aggravates the terms,

“ "superstitious and idolatrous,"-applied by the

oath of 30 Ch. II. to the Roman Catholic doctrine

of Transubstantiation

190

The language in which Mr. Townsend expresses

b

O

ib.

CHARLES II.JAMES II. continued.

himself on this tenet, is left by the Author, to

the taste, the

feeling, and reflection, of every

gentleman in the world.

4. James II.—Mr. Townsend's assertion, that the Author

declares that the measures of that monarch might be

denominated a project for general religious tolera-

tion

&

Shown to be a misrepresentation

194

5.-The Bill of Rights and Act of Settlement 195

Postscript

. 196

i 193

OF

TRANSCRIPTION THE FOURTH LETTER AD-

DRESSED BY Doctor PhillPOTTS TO MR. But.

LER, CONTAINING A CHARGE AGAINST Doctor

LINGARD

1. 203

Doctor LINGARD'S REPLY

214

the Pope

APPENDIX.

N° I.

Opinions of Foreign Universities on the Temporal Power of

224

No II.

The Oath taken by the English Roman Catholics, under the

Provisions of the Act passed for their Relief, in the

226

No III.

Letter on the undivided Allegiance of Roman Catholics to

their Sovereign

228

Year 1791

No IV.

Letter on the Coronation Oath

236

L ETTER

TO

CHARLES BLUNDELL, ESQ.:

Containing the Titles of the Works written in

reply to “ the Book of the Roman Catholic Church;"- and Remarks on some Passages in them.

DEAR SIR,

IF a multitude of Answers to a work be a proof of its merit, “ the Book of the Roman Catholic Church”. has pretensions to be thought meritorious. Within a short time after it issued from the press, several answers to it appeared, and parts of it were commented upon in several other publications. I long hesitated on the plan which I ought to adopt in answering them. To answer each regularly and minutely, would make it necessary for me to write as many books as there were

This my occupations and time of life,
Quindecimum trepidavit ætas
Claudere lustrum,

НоклCE. rendered quite impossible. I therefore determined to write a full reply to such one of my answerers as had made most objections to my work, and urged

answers.

them most strongly; to reply to such other of the objections as should seem to me to call for particular notice; and to leave the rest for future discussion.

The first part of the plan, I have executed in my letters to Mr. Townsend : The second, in the letter which I have now the honour to address to you.

I shall mention in it the titles of all the works to which Doctor Southey's

" BOOK OF THE “CHURCH” has given rise, and occasionally advert to some passages in them. In the last number of the Quarterly Review, it is called " a splendid controversy :-peace and praise to us all!”

You will see, after my last letter to Mr. Townsend, a transcription of Dr. Phillpotts's letter to me, on a passage in a work published 17 years ago by Dr. Lingard; and a letter in reply to it, which Dr. Lingard has done me the honour to address to me. I am sure you will read it with great satisfaction.

I.

OF

THE

The Book OF THE CHURCH. BY ROBERT SOUTHEY,

Esq. LL.D. POET LAUREATE, HONORARY MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY, OF THE ROYAL SPANISH ACADEMY OF HISTORY, Of The ROYAL INSTITUTE OF THE NETHERLANDS, CYMMRODORION, OF

THE MASSACHUSETS HisTORICAL SOCIETY, OF THE AMERICAN ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY, OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, Of the Bristol PhiLOSOPHICAL AND LITERARY Society, &c. 8vo. 2 VOLUMES, SECOND EDITION, 1824: MURRAY.

II. STRICTURES ON THE Poet LAUREÁTe's Book of

“THE CHURCH." By John MERLIN. 8vo. 1825. KEATING & BROWN.

II. A LETTER ADDRESSED TO THE AUTHOR OF THE

Book OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC Church, By APOSTOLICUS. 8vo. 1825. BAIN.

I CANNOT give you a better account of this work than by transcribing the author's preface :" The « Roman Catholic writers of the present day have

a two-fold object in view, the advancement of “ their political interests, and the re-establishment “ of their fallen hierarchy. To the first I have

no objection. The latter I regard with that in“ stinctive aversion, which must be felt by every

one that has contemplated the pure and glorious “ fountain of light and truth, at the bare mention “ of the triumph of darkness and superstition.”

Upon this I only observe, that the Irish Roman Catholics have never lost their hierarchy, and that the English are perfectly satisfied with the vicarial prelacy, by which they are now governed.

IV. The REFORMATION AND THE PAPAL SYSTEM: RE

MARKS ON TWO LETTERS UPON THESE SUBJECTS IN The Book of the Roman Catholic CHURCH, 8vo. 1825. LONGMAN, HURST, Rees, ORME, BROWN, AND GREEN, PATERNOSTER Row; AND T. TAYLOR, LIVERPOOL.

ABLY and politely written : the chief object of the author is to shew the civil and religious blessings,