St. Lucia.
* * * * *{152}
Minor Queries with Answers.
_"Preparation for Martyrdom."_--Can any of your correspondents discover
for me the author of the following work?--
"A Preparation for Martyrdom; a Discourse about the Cause,
the Temper, the Assistances, and Rewards of a Martyr of Jesus
Christ: in Dialogue betwixt a Minister and a Gentleman his
Parishioner. Lond. 1681, 4to."
In order to afford somewhat of a clue to this discovery, I send a few
extracts from another anonymous work: _A Letter to the late Author of
the_ "_Preparation for Martyrdom_," alluding to various circumstances
relating to the author:
"I must confess that I had once as great a veneration for
you as for any one [of] your figure in the church; but then
you preach'd honestly, and liv'd peaceably; but since pride
or ambitious discontent, or some particular respects to some
special friends of the adverse party, or something I know not
what else, has thrust you upon scribbling, and a design of
being popular; since you had forsaken your first love (if ever
you had any) to our church and establishment, and appear to
be running over _ad partem Donati_, to the disturbers of our
church and peace, you must needs pardon this short reflection,
though from an old friend, and sometimes a great admirer of you.
"As for the present establishment, you have (you conclude)
as much already from that as you are likely to have, but you
claw the democratical party, hoping at long run to see an
(_English_) Parliament; that is, we must know, one that has
no _French_ pensioners shuffled into it to blast the whole
business, such as will be govern'd by your instructions; and
then Presbytery (you trust) will be turn'd up Trump, the
Directory once more take place of the Liturgy, and God knows
what become of the Monarchy, and Mr. C. be made a great man.
"What an excellent design was that of your Stipulation, which
I heard one say was like a new modell'd Independency. 'Twas
intended, I suppose, as an expedient to reduce the sheep
of your own flock, which through your default chiefly (as
is commonly reported) were gone astray; but because this
tool could not work, without the force of a law to move it,
therefore by law it must have been establisht, and the whole
nation forsooth comprehended under it, and all must have set
their instruments to your key, and their voices to the tune of
_B--ley_. Oh! had this engine but met with firm footings in
Parliament, as was hoped, our _English_ world had been lifted
off its pillars long before this day; it had gone round, and in
the church all old things had been done away, and everything
had appeared new. But, Sir, I trust the foundations of our
church stand more sure than to need such silly props as your
_Catholicon_ (as you vainly call it) to support 'em.
"What an excellent thing too is your book of Patronage? 'Twere
no living for _Simon Magus_, or any of his disciples here, if
those rules you there lay down were but duly attended to.
"But in those two books you showed yourself pragmatical
only; but in this of _Martyrdom_ not a little impious, in
your unworthy reflections upon almost all the honest people
of England since the beginning of the reign of _Oliver_ the
First, and some time before; not sparing many loyal worthies'
memory who held up a good cause upon their sword points (as you
express it) as long as they could; and when they could do so no
longer, either dy'd for't, or deliver'd themselves up to the
will of the conqueror, yet never (as you) abjur'd the cause.
Our rulers you suppose are ill affected (otherwise your talk
of Popery at your rate is like that of one that were desirous
and in conspiracy to bring in Popery): and, undoubtedly, it had
been in already, had not the prayers of Mr. C., and the fifty
righteous _Non-Cons_ in every city, prevented it."
Ἁλιέυς.
Dublin.
[_The Preparation for Martyrdom_ is not to be found either in the
Bodleian or British Museum Catalogues. The author of the _Letter_ in
reply to it, however, has afforded a clue to its authorship. Zachary
Cawdrey, who appears to have been an admirer of the Vicar of Bray, was
Rector of _Barthomley_ in Cheshire during the Commonwealth, and for
fourteen years after the Restoration; this explains the hint in the
_Letter_, of "setting their voices to the tune of _B--ley_." Cawdrey,
moreover, was the author of _Discourse of Patronage; being a Modest
Inquiry into the Original of it, and a further Prosecution of the History
of it_: which is also noticed in the _Letter_. Zachary Cawdrey was born
at Melton Mowbray about 1616; at the age of sixteen he entered St. John's
College, Cambridge; and in 1649 became Rector of Barthomley, where he
died Dec. 24, 1684. His brother David was one of the ejected, and the
author of several works.]
_Reference wanted._--I find, in Blackwood, No. XXXVI. p. 432., a
reference to an article in the _Edinburgh Review_, by Sir D. K. Sandford,
on Greek banquets. As I cannot find the article itself, may I ask your
assistance?