Dogthea Michael (1 results)

AN EXPOSITION OF THE MASS, AUTHORED ANONYMOUSLY IN THE WAKE OF THE RYE HOUSE PLOT? 12mo. (12) plus engr. frontispiece, 130 pp, plus unsigned leaf following G12 with (2) pp of "Books lately Printed for and sold by Thomas Malthus at the Sun in the Poultrey". Bound in simple contemporary plain sheep; upper third of spine split; joints cracked but holding. Engr. frontispiece strengthened at margins on verso and re-inserted. Private mid-20th century stamp of Charles Burstow, Horley Station, Surrey on pastedown and verso of frontispiece. Sole edition of this curiously rare work, printed either just before or in the aftermath of the Rye House Plot (April, 1683), in which King Charles II and his brother James II were targeted for their perceived Catholic sympathies. The author, perhaps also the same person who signs the dedication, is utterly merciless in his attacks on the Catholic Mass (and perhaps by extension the Anglican Mass?). The engraved frontispiece, however, is fairly tame in comparison: there is no hint of satire or grotesque exaggeration, and it merely depicts a congregation of well-dressed men and women kneeling while a Catholic priest consecrates the Host. The language of the Romish Mass-Book is reminiscent of the sort of literature which abounded in the lead-up to the Popish Plot; but as the tide turned in mid-1681, political and judicial pressure discouraged such open displays of religious intolerance. While their beliefs around transubstantiation differed, both Anglicans and Catholics commonly received the Holy Eucharist in church; the author of the present work is thus presenting a decidedly non-conformist view, which had perhaps fallen out of favor following the Act of Uniformity in 1662. His "Epistle" warns the reader that "this is that Mass which you must go to, or be BURNT, if Popery should grow rampant here (which God in his mercy prevent)"; elsewhere he turns to mockery, explaining that "the Chasuble is a loose Garment with a hole in the middle, through which the Priest like a Monkey puts his head". On the Mass of the Five Wounds, intended to offer some protection against calamity, our author notes that its efficacy is questionable: "Well; but how comes it to pass that the late Jesuits and their Bretheren Martyr'd for Treason, (If I may use a Catachresis) made no use of this glorious receipt to save their Necks. If they try'd it, the Devil fail'd'um. If not, they were all so many (felo's de se) self murtherers, when they might scape if they would. I would advise the Priests in Newgate &c. to get themselves out by this trick, as also their friends in the Tower." (p. 115). The ESTC suggests that the dedication is signed 'R.V.', but this is a misreading of the valediction "Sic Supplex precatur R. V. Humilimus Servus" in which R. V. more plausibly stands for Reverentia Vestra, referring to the dedicatee of whom the author is a humble servant. Instead, this dedication is actually signed in Greek: the first name is Michael (??????) but the last name is more puzzling. As the ESTC also notes, the English "Epistle to the Reader" is alternately signed 'T. D.'. The ESTC also calls for (10) pp of prelims; our copy instead has (12), but so does the scanned copy at the UTS. The (2) pp publisher's catalog at the rear is also not reflected in the ESTC collation. ESTC shows US copies at the Newberry, UTS, and the Clark; however, we have also located a copy at the Folger. Presumably all of these copies bear the frontispiece, if not also the Malthus catalog. * Wing R1907; ESTC R27564.