In the year 1704 was published anonymously:
"_An Essay towards a Proposal for Catholic Communion_; wherein
above sixty of the principal controverted points, which have
hitherto divided Christendom, being called over, 'tis examined how
many of them may, and ought to be laid aside, and how few remain
to be accommodated, for the effecting a general Peace. By a
Minister of the Church of England. Sold by John Nutt, near
Stationers' Hall, 1704."
This _Essay_ has passed through several editions in London and Dublin:
to that of 1801 is prefixed a
"Dedication to the Right Hon. the Lords Spiritual and Temporal,
and to the Hon. the House of Commons ... and the perusal of it
earnestly recommended by a Lover of Christian Peace and Union and
a Loyal United Briton."
It has now been in circulation for nearly a century and a half; and for
want of a medium of inter-communication in olden times like "N. & Q.,"
its authorship has frequently been a topic of keen discussion. Mr.
Oakeley, in his work, _The Subject of Tract XC. historically examined_,
states that
"Its publication attracted at the time the notice of the
Government. A warrant appears to have been issued from the
Secretary of State's office for the seizure of the author's
papers, and the arrest of his person, under a suspicion apparently
that he was in league with the Pretender."
It is to be regretted that Mr. Oakeley has not given his authority for
this statement. Mr. Goode, in his pamphlet entitled _Tract XC.
historically refuted_, attributes it, on the authority of Dodd, to
Thomas Dean, a Roman Catholic Fellow of University College, Oxford;
whereas the author of _The Sure Hope of Reconciliation_, p. 61., thinks
Mr. Goode's supposition open to exception; and as the writer styles
himself "A Minister of the Church of England," he is inclined to admit
his claim to the title, till stronger evidence be adduced to the
contrary.
The following curious colloquy between two priests of the Roman and
Anglican Churches, in the Town Hall at Guildford, in 1838, respecting
the authorship of this _Essay_, is also worthy a Note:
"_Rev. Joseph Sidden._ The author of _A Proposal for a Catholic
Communion_ says----
"_Rev. M. Hobart Seymour._ Name! name.
"_Rev. J. Sidden._ I do not know his name; he appears to have been
an archdeacon of the Church of England in the reign of Queen Anne.
His work is on sale at Booker's.
"_The Chairman._ Can you name the place of which he was
archdeacon?
"_Rev. J. Sidden._ No; but I give these as the words of a
Protestant clergyman.
"_Rev. M. H. Seymour._ You do not know that he was a Protestant at
all.
"_Rev. J. Sidden._ I have put the work into the hands of a
Protestant clergyman, who agrees with it; and it agrees with
Archbishop Bramhall. I have often tried to discover who was the
author.
"_Rev. M. H. Seymour._ It was written perhaps by a Roman Catholic
Priest.
"_Rev. J. Sidden._ I think not, because the Hon. and Rev. Arthur
Perceval, rector of East Horsley, borrowed the book of me, and he
wrote to me, that he so much approved of it, that he meant to
procure a copy of it. I do not know who wrote it."
_Proceedings at a Meeting of the Guildford Protestant
Association_, 1838, p. 20.
Now, without discussing the theological points at issue between the two
parties, it is desirable that the authorship of this work, as a literary
production, should be finally settled, which I am inclined to think will
be the case when it is brought before the numerous readers of "N. & Q."
On its first appearance it was attacked by three Nonjuring clergymen,
viz. Grascome, Stephens, and Spinckes. Grascome, it appears, knew the
author; but his work, _Concordia Discors_, I have not been able to
procure. (See _Life of Kettlewell_, p. 328.) It is not to be found in
the catalogues of the Bodleian, British Museum, or Sion College. The
replies by Edward Stephens and Nathanael Spinckes are both in the
Bodleian. The first edition of the original _Essay_, 1704, is in the
British Museum, and on the title-page is written in pencil, "By Thomas
Dean, a papist," and underneath, in ink, "By Nathanael Spinckes, not a
Roman Catholic." The latter entry is clearly a mistake.
After some investigation, it appears to me that the authorship rests
between Thomas Dean and Joshua Bassett. It is attributed to the former
by Dodd (_alias_ Tootle) in his _Certamen utriusqe Ecclesiæ_; but Wood,
who has given some account of Dean in his _Athenæ Oxon._, vol. iv. p.
450. (Bliss), does not include this _Essay_ among his other works. In
the Bodleian Catalogue its authorship is attributed to Joshua Bassett,
Master of Sidney College, Cambridge, of whom our biographical
dictionaries are perfectly silent. Fortunately, Cole has preserved some
notices of him in his MSS., vol. xx. p. 117. It appears that he was a
Roman Catholic, and had mass publicly said in his college; but upon King
James revoking the mandamuses in 1688, he left Cambridge and settled in
London, where, says Cole, "he lived to be a very old man, and died in no
very affluent circumstances, as we may well imagine." Cole notices a
work by Bassett published anonymously, viz. _Reason and Authority; or
the Motives of a late Protestant's Reconciliation to the Catholic
Church_. London: 1687, 4to. With this clue, probably, some of your
readers can finally settle the question.