allows to have some Wit in it, concludes the Remarks he makes upon it, by
saying, "One thing more we can't forbear hinting at, that a Retaliation
would be as happy a Thought as could enter into the Head of a Man of
Genius and Spirit. What a fruitful Harvest would the Legends, Tricks,
spiritual Jugglings, Convents, and Nunneries, yield to a good Poet?
_Buchanan_ in his _Franciscani_, and _Oldham_ in his _Satires_ on the
Jesuits, have open'd the Way, and we heartily wish some equal Pen would
write the whole Mystery of Iniquity at length."
XIII. All the old Puritan Preachers, who were originally Divines of the
Church of _England_, sprinkled and season'd their Sermons with a great
many _drolling_ Sayings against _Libertinism_ and _Vice_, and against
Church Ceremonies; many of which Sayings are reported and handed down to
us in Books and Conversation, as are also the Effects of those Sayings,
which we are told converted many to _Christ_ on the Spot, or in the
Instant of Delivery. Nor is that manner wholly laid aside, but has
continued to be kept alive by some Hands at all times; who have been
greatly follow'd for their Success in drolling upon _Sinners_, and
treating of Religion in humoursom and fantastical Phrases, and fixing that
way of Religion in some Mens Minds.
I do not remember to have met with a more complete Drole in the Church of
_England_, or in any other of the _laughing_ or _ridiculing_ Sects, than
_Andrew Marvel_ of the grave _Puritan_ Sect, in many Works of his both in
Prose and Verse, but especially in his _Rehearsal Transprosed_; which tho
writ against _Parker_, who with great Eloquence, Learning, and a Torrent
of Drollery and Satire, had defended the Court and Church's Cause, in
asserting the Necessity of Penal Laws against the Nonconformists, "was
read from the _King_ down to the Tradesman with great pleasure, on account
of that Burlesque Strain and lively Drollery that ran thro' it," as
Bishop _Burnet_ tells us[109]. Nor were the gravest _Puritans_ and
Dissenters among us less taken and pleas'd with his Writings for their
_Drollery_, than our _drole King_; tho there are some Passages in them,
which should give just Offence to chaste Ears.
I find also, that the _Puritans_ and _Dissenters_ have always born with,
and allow'd of, a great Mixture of _Drollery_ in their Sermons, that one
would think should offend their Gravity, and pious Ears; and that they
applaud their Ministers for such their Discourses, as much as the Church
does Dr. _South_ for the Ribaldry sprinkled thro'out his Sermons about the
most high Points in Divinity. They have always had some eminent Divines
among them who have been remarkable for such Passages and Reflections: And
these have never lessen'd their number of Auditors, nor drawn upon
themselves the Character of _Irreligious_; but have had the largest
Auditories of contributing Hearers, as well as of Churchmen, who came to
smile, and have been esteem'd very _pious_ Men.
In fine, the _Puritans_ and _Dissenters_ have, like the Church, their
Taste of Humour, Irony, and Ridicule, which they promote with great Zeal,
as a Means to serve Religion: And I remember, that, among other things
said in behalf of _Bunyan_'s _Pilgrim's Progress_, upon the reprinting it
lately by Subscription, it was affirm'd, and that, in my Opinion, truly,
"that it had infinitely out-done _The Tale of a Tub_; which perhaps had
not made one Convert to Infidelity, whereas the _Pilgrim's Progress_ had
converted many Sinners to _Christ_."
XIV. The _Quakers_ are certainly the most _serious_ and solemn People
among us in Matters of Religion, and out-go the Dissenters of all other
Kinds therein: But yet the Church has no regard to them on that Account,
but takes Advantage from thence to _ridicule_ them the more, and to call
their Sincerity more in question. And I much doubt whether there was ever
a Book written against them by the Divines of any Sect with perfect
Decency, and that had not its extravagant Flouts, Scorn, Banter, and
Irony, and that not only of the _laughing_, but of the _cruel_ kind:
Wherein they copy'd after the _Jews_ of old, who while they prosecuted
_Christ_ to Death, and carried on their High-Church Tragedy against him,
acted against him the _comick Scenes_ [110] "of spitting in his Face, and
buffeting him with the Palms of their Hands, saying, _Prophesy unto us,
thou Christ, who is he that smote thee_;" and who, when they had nail'd
him to the Cross, _revil'd_ him with divers _Taunts_, in which the _Chief
Priests_, _Scribes_, _Elders_, and even the _Thieves, which were crucified
with him_, concurr'd. But yet for all this, these solemn Quakers
themselves are not altogether averse to _Irony_ and _Ridicule_, and use it
when they can. Their Books abound in Stories to ridicule in their Turn the
Priests, their great and bitter Adversaries: And they please themselves
with throwing at the Priests the _Centuries of Scandalous Ministers_, and
the Books of the _Cobler of_ Glocester. They have also their Satirist and
Banterer, _Samuel Fisher_; whose Works, tho all wrote in the _drolling_
Style and Manner, they pride themselves in, and have collected into one
great Volume in _Folio_; in which Quaker-Wit and Irony are set up against
Church, Presbyterian, and Independent Wit and Irony, without the least
Scruple of the lawfulness of such Arms. In a word, their Author acts the
Part of a _Jack-Pudding_, _Merry Andrew_, or _Buffoon_, with all the
seeming Right, Authority, and Privilege, of the Member of some Establish'd
Church of abusing all the World but themselves. The _Quakers_ have also
encourag'd and publish'd a most arch Book of the famous _Henry Stubbe_,
intitled, _A Light shining out of Darkness_, &c. Wherein all the other
religious Parties among us are as handsomly and learnedly banter'd and
ridicul'd, as the _Quakers_ have been in any Book against them. And when
they were attack'd by one _Samuel Young_, a whimsical
Presbyterian-Buffoon-Divine, who call'd himself _Trepidantium Malleus_,
and set up for an Imitator of Mr. _Alsop_, in several Pamphlets full of
Stories, Repartees, and Ironies; in which _Young_, perhaps, thought
himself as secure from a Return of the like kind, as a Ruffian or Thief
may when he assaults Men: His Attacks were repell'd in a Book intitled
"_Trepidantium Malleus intrepidanter malleatus_; or the West Country
Wiseaker's crack-brain'd _Reprimand_ hammer'd about his own Numbscul.
Being a _Joco-satirical_ Return to a late Tale of a Tub, emitted by a
reverend _Non-con_, at present residing not far from _Bedlam_," said to be
written by _William Penn_, who has therein made use of the carnal Weapons
of Irony and Banter, and dress'd out the Presbyterian Priest in a Fool's
Coat, for a Spectacle to the Mob. It is also to be observ'd, that there
are several Tracts in the two Volumes of _William Penn_'s Works lately
publish'd, that for ingenious Banter and Irony, are much superior to the
Priests his Adversaries; and that other Quaker Authors profess to write
sometimes in a [111] _drolling Style_.
XV. The Jacobite Clergy have set up for great _Droles_ upon all the true
Friends of the _Establishment_. And I presume, the Body of our High
Churchmen would not willingly deprive them of the Benefit of their
_Drollery_.
The celebrated Mr. _Collier_ [112] thus attacks Bishop _Burnet_, for his
ESSAY _on the Memory of Queen_ Mary. "This Doctor, you know, is a Man of
mighty _Latitude_, and can say any thing to serve a Turn; whose
_Reverence_ resolves Cases of Conscience backwards and forwards, disputes
_pro_ and _con_, praises and dispraises by secular Measures; with whom
Virtue and Vice, passive Obedience and Rebellion, Parricide and filial
Duty, Treachery and Faithfulness, and all the Contradictions in Nature,
are the _best_ and _worst_ things under the Sun, as they are for his
Purpose, and according as the Wind sits: who equally and indifferently
writes for and against all Men, the Gospel, and himself too, as the World
goes: who can bestow a Panegyrick upon the seven deadly Sins, and (if
there be occasion) can make an Invective against all the
Commandments.----"
In relation to Dr. _Payne_'s _Sermon_ on the Death of that _Queen_, he
says[113], "that to go thro' it is too great a Discipline for any Man,
whose Palate hath ever relish'd any thing above _three half-penny
Poetry_." He adds, "Why, Sir, many Years ago I have heard some of it sung
about the Streets in wretched and nauseous _Doggrel_. What think you of
this? _Page_ 6. _I know not how to draw her Picture, 'tis so all over
beauteous, without any Foil, any Shade, any Blemish; so perfect in every
Feature, so accomplish'd in every Part, so adorn'd with every Perfection
and every Grace._ O rare, Sir! here's _Phillis_ and _Chloris_, and
_Gillian a Croydon_.
"_Sh' hath_ every Feature, every Grace,
"_So charming_ every part, _&c_.
"Tis no wonder he tells us, (_p._ 8.) of _strewing her with the Flowers of
withered and decay'd Poetry_; for the _Song_ out of which he hath
transcrib'd his _Sermon_, is of very _great age_, and hath been sung at
many a _Whitsun-Ale_, and many a _Wedding_ (tho I believe never at a
Funeral before) and therefore in all this time may well be _decay'd and
wither'd_: In the mean time, if you were to draw the Picture of a _great
Princess_, I fansy you would not make choice of _Mopsa_ to sit to it.
Alas! Sir, there was _Cassandra_ and _Cleopatra_, and many a famed
_Romance_ more, which might have furnish'd him with handsome Characters,
and yet he must needs be _preaching and instructing_ his People out of
_Hey down derry_, and the _fair Maid of_ Kent. If he had intitled it,
_The_ White-Chapel _Ballad_, and got some body to set it to the Tune of
_Amaryllis_, compos'd by _W. P. Songster_, the Character of the _Author_,
the _Title_, and the _Matter_, would have very well agreed, and perhaps it
might have passed at the Corners of the Streets; but to call it a
_Sermon_, and by _W. P._ Doctor in _Divinity_, 'tis one of the _lewdest_
things in the World.----"
Mr. _Lesley_ attacks the Clergy, who pray'd "that God would give King
_James_ Victory over all his Enemies[114], when that was the thing they
least wish'd; and confess'd, that they labour'd all they could against
it," saying, "good God! What Apprehensions, what Thought had those Men of
their publick Prayers; bantering God Almighty, and mocking him to his
Face, who heard their Words, and saw their Hearts? Is not _Atheism_ a
smaller Sin than this, since it is better to have no God, than so to set
up one _to laugh at him_."
Again he says, (_p._ 123.) "It is a severe Jest, that the common People
have got up against the Clergy, that there was but one thing formerly
which the Parliament could not do, that is, to make a Man a Woman: But now
there is another, that is, to make an Oath which the Clergy will not
take."
The same Author attacks Bishop _Burnet_'s _Speech upon the Bill against
Occasional Conformity_, by a Pamphlet intitled, _The Bishop of_
Salisbury_'s proper Defence from a Speech cry'd about the Streets in his
Name, and said to have been spoken by him in the House of Lords upon the
Bill against Occasional Conformity_; which is one perpetual _Irony_ on the
Bishop, and gives the Author occasion to throw all manner of Satire and
Abuse on the Bishop. The beginning of this Pamphlet, which is as follows,
will let the Reader into the full Knowledge of the Design of the Irony,
and the manner of Execution.
"The License of this Age and of the Press is so great, that no Rank or
Quality of Men is free from the Insults of loose and extravagant Wits.
"The good Bishop of _Salisbury_ has had a plentiful Share in this sort of
Treatment: And now at last, some or other has presum'd to burlesque his
Lordship in printing a Speech for him, which none that knows his Lordship
can believe ever came from him.
"But because it may go down with others who are too apt to take Slander
upon trust, and that his Lordship has already been pelted with several
Answers to his Speech, I have presum'd to offer the following
Considerations, to clear his Lordship from the Suspicion of having vented
(in such an august Assembly) those crude and undigested Matters which are
set forth in that Speech, and which so highly reflect on his Lordship's
self."
He has taken the same Method of Irony to attack the said Bishop for his
_Speech_ on the _Trial_ of _Sacheverel_, and for a _Sermon_, under this
Title, "The Good Old Cause, _or_ Lying in Truth; being a Second Defence of
the Lord Bishop of _Sarum_ from a Second Speech, and also the Dissection
of a Sermon it is said his Lordship preach'd in the Cathedral Church of
_Salisbury_." And this Pamphlet, which is also a continued Banter, begins
thus.
"No Man has more deserv'd than this good Bishop, and no Man has been more
persecuted by various Ways and Means than his Lordship, even to mobbing!
But the ugliest and most malicious of all these Arts, is that of putting
false Things upon him; to write scandalous, seditious, and senseless
Papers, and to affix his Lordship's Name! I was forc'd some Years ago to
vindicate his Lordship's Reputation from one of this sort: That Speech had
a Bookseller's Name to it of good figure, and look'd something like; but
this Speech (said likewise to be spoken in the House of Lords) has no body
to own it, and has all the Marks of _Grub_. But the nasty Phiz is nothing
to the inside. That discovers the Man; the Heart is false."
This same Author has thought fit to attack Mr. _Hoadley_ (since a Bishop)
in the way of Banter: His _Best Answer ever was made, and to which no
Answer will ever be made_, is by his own Confession a _Farce_; when he
says in his _Preface_, "If you ask why I treat this Subject by way of
_farce_, and shew a little Merriment sometimes? it was because the
Foundation you stand upon is not only _false_ but _ridiculous_, and ought
to be treated with the _utmost Contempt_."
Again, in his "_Finishing Stroke, in defence of_ his _Rehearsals, Best
Answer, and Best of all_," he gives us (_p._ 125.) what he calls, "A
Battle-Royal between three Cocks of the Game, _Higden_, _Hoadley_, and a
_Hottentot_;" which in the _Contents_ he calls _A Farce_, and to which he
joins both a _Prologue_ and _Epilogue_, and divers other Particulars, all
taken from the _Play-house_.
The Reverend Mr. _Matthias Earbery_ sets up for a great Satirist and Drole
upon the swearing and Low-Church Clergy, in numerous Pamphlets of late,
more particularly in his "_Serious Admonition to Dr._ Kennet: To which is
added, a short but complete Answer to Mr. _Marshal_'s late Treatise
called, _A Defence of our Constitution in Church and State_; and a
Parallel is drawn between him and Dr. _Kennet_, for the Satisfaction of
the unprejudic'd Reader."
He has a bantering Argument [115] to shew, that, "If in future Ages Mr.
_Marshal_'s Book should escape the just Judgment it deserves, of being
condemn'd to the _Pastry-Cooks_ and _Grocers_, an industrious Chronologist
might make an Observation to prove him too young to write it."
The _Parallel_ is in _Pag._ 126, which being very gross _Raillery_, I only
refer you to it.
This Mr. _Earbery_ also wrote a _Letter to Bishop_ Fleetwood, under the
Title of "A Letter to the Bishop of _Ely_, upon the Occasion of his
_suppos'd_ late _Charge_, said to be deliver'd at _Cambridge August_ 7,
1716, _&c._" in which he pursues the Ironical Scheme laid down in the said
Title, and endeavours to _vindicate_ his _Lordship from the Aspersion of
writing such a mean Pamphlet_, as the _Charge_.
Nor do these _Jacobites_ confine their Drollery to their Adversaries
without, but exercise it on one another, as may be seen in their late
Dispute about King _Edward the Sixth_'s Liturgy. And Mr. _Lesley_ himself,
happening to engage on the side opposite to the Traditions of the Fathers,
and attacking those Traditions by Low-Church Notions and Arguments, and
thereby running counter to all his former Books, is attack'd just in the
same manner he attack'd Bishop _Burnet_, in a Book under this Title, "Mr.
_Lesley_'s Defence, from some erroneous and dangerous Principles, advanced
in a Letter said to have been written concerning the New Separation." And
it has several Paragraphs at the beginning in the very words of one of Mr.
_Lesley_'s Books against the said Bishop, as may be seen on Comparison.
XVI. _Christ-Church_ in _Oxford_ is no less famous for the _Drolling_,
than for the _Orthodox_ Spirit reigning there; and the former, being
judged an excellent Method to support the latter, is cultivated among the
Youth, and employ'd by the Members of that Society against all the
supposed Adversaries of the Church, and encourag'd by the governing
Ecclesiasticks there and elsewhere.
Among the many, who have receiv'd their Education there, and been form'd
in Drollery, I will only instance in the Reverend Dr. _Atterbury_ and Dr.
_South_; who being as famous for _Drollery_ as for Zeal for Religion, and
applauded for their _Wit_ no less than for their _Orthodoxy_; and
particularly for imploying the former in behalf of the latter, seem of
sufficient Weight to bear down all Attempts to stifle their Productions.
What Considerations can make us amends for the Loss of such excellent
_drolling Writings_, which promote Religion as well as Mirth?
With what incomparable Mockery, Ridicule and Sarcasm does Dr. _Atterbury_
treat all the Low-Church Clergy that come in his way, together with the
_Whig_ Ministry and Administration in his several _Convocational Tracts_?
Dr. _Wake_, our present Archbishop of _Canterbury_, is represented by him
as writing so _contumeliously_ [116] of the Clergy, _that had he not
inform'd us in his Title Page who he was, we should rather have guess'd
him to have been of the Cabal against Priests and Priestcraft, than one of
the Order_; and as wholly govern'd by [117] _Interest_ in the _Debate_,
and as giving us a most [118] _shallow empty Performance_ in relation to
our Ecclesiastical Constitution, which he [119] _has done his best to
undermine_, as knowing himself to be in the wrong; and as _deserving_ any
Name or Censure, none being _too bad to be bestow'd_ on him; and in fine,
as _the least of the little officious Pens by which he expects to be
traduc'd_.
Dr. _Bentley_ is represented as _wrote out of Reputation into Preferment_;
which, whether it be a more severe Sarcasm on the Doctor, than on the
Government, is hard to determine; and besides, it gives Applause to one of
the most drolling and bantering Performances that this drolling Age has
produc'd, I mean _Dr._ Bentley_'s Dissertations on the Epistles of_
Phalaris, _and the Fables of_ Æsop, _examin'd_.
Bishop _Burnet_ is a standing Subject of Ridicule with him; as are Bishop
_Nicholson_, Bishop _Kennet_, Bishop _Gibson_, Bishop _Trimnel_ [to whom
he writes a most drolling [120] Letter] and Dr. _West_; and all the
Topicks that can affect them as Scholars, as honest Men, and Clergymen,
are imploy'd to render them ridiculous, and set the World a laughing at
them, who are not in the least spar'd for their being of the Holy Order;
but on the contrary seem more loaded and baited with Sarcasms for that
reason.
For a _Specimen_, take this Banter or Burlesque upon Bishop _Kennet_'s
Dedication of his _Ecclesiastical Synods and Parliamentary Convocations_,
&c. to the Archbishop of _Canterbury_; which Banter runs thus[121].
"_May it please your Grace_,
"Mr. _Atterbury_ has lately forc'd a Dedication upon you, which
favours too much of Presumption or Design; he has presum'd to
surprize you with an unexpected Address, and appears very indecently
before your Grace, because he has taken no care to express upon this
Subject a due Respect and Reverence to the Governors in Church and
State, such as is suitable to the Christian Religion, and his
particular Function: The Reports and Authorities in his Book are
Fruits of other Mens Collections, not the immediate Effects of his
own Searches into _Registers_ and _Records_; he imperiously summons
your Grace and my Lords the Bishops to an immediate Compliance upon
pain of being pronounc'd Betrayers of the Church----This, my Lord, is
the Character of the Person _I set up_ against; but as for me, I am
quite another sort of Man, I am very well bred, a great Antiquary,
beholden to no body, _some Wits and merry Folks call me a Tool and a
Play-thing_ (_Pref. p._ 8.) But I assure your Grace, that what
Freedom soever I may have taken in taxing the Vices of the inferior
_Clergy_, (_p._ 77. 188.) and in reflecting _upon the ambitious
Designs of dignify'd Presbyters_ (_p._ 196.); yet _I am however
tender and dutiful in treating the Governors of our Church_ (p. 78.);
especially _those of them who are of the Ecclesiastical Commission
for Preferments_, (p. 311). I have a very great Respect and Reverence
for every body that will give me any thing; and how resolute soever
Mr. _Atterbury_ may be, your Grace may do what you please with
_Your Grace's most humble_
_and obedient Servant_,
WHITE KENNET.
But for _Drollery_, the Reverend Dr. _South_ outdoes even _Christ-Church_,
and fills all his Performances with it, and throws it out against the
Enemies of the Church, and in particular against the late Dr. _Sherlock_,
whom he thought fit to single out. I shall select some Passages from his
Writings against the said Doctor, which cannot but entertain the
High-Church Orthodox Reader, and reconcile him to a _Drollery_ so well
employ'd.
He stiles him _a great good Man, as a certain poor Wretch_, meaning
_Prior, calls him_.
Again, he says[122], "There is hardly any one Subject which he (that is
Dr. _Sherlock_) has wrote upon Popery excepted, that he has wrote both
for it and against it. Could any thing be more sharp and bitter against
the Dissenters than what this Man wrote in his _Answer_ to the _Protestant
Reconciler_; and yet how frankly, or rather fulsomly does he open both his
Arms to embrace them in his Sermon preach'd before the Lord Mayor on
_November_ 4, 1688. Tho I dare say, that the Dissenters themselves are of
that Constancy, as to own that they were of the same Principles in 88 that
they were of in 85; but the Truth is, old Friendships cannot be so easily
forgot: And it has been an Observation made by some, that hardly can any
one be found, who was first tainted with a Conventicle, whom a Cathedral
could ever after cure, but that still upon every cross turn of Affairs
against the _Church_, the irresistible _Magnetism_ of the _Good Old Cause_
(as some still think it) would quickly draw him out of the _Good Old Way_.
The Fable tells us of a _Cat_ once turn'd into a _Woman_, but the next
sight of a _Mouse_ quickly dissolv'd the _Metamorphosis_, cashier'd the
Woman, and restor'd the Brute. And some _Virtuosi_ (skill'd in the _useful
Philosophy_ of _Alterations_) have thought her much a Gainer by the latter
Change, there being so many unlucky Turns in the World, in which it is not
half so safe and advantageous to _walk upright_, as to be _able to fall
always upon one's Legs_."