Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 2.djvu/290

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Mercurius Publicus for 16-23 Jan., 1661/2, draws attention to some forged "speeches" of some thieves; and the same periodical for 23-30 Jan., 1661/2, prints a refutation of another forgery aimed at the Quakers, who had been emphatically dissociating themselves from the fanatics. Partly as a result, the latter did their best to masquerade as Quakers, and very many references can be found in the State Papers to "fighting Quakers" at this time. The following passage in Mercurius Publicus for 23-30 Jan., 1661/2, is, therefore, of some importance in Quaker history:—

The forgers actually went so far as to fabricate farewell sermons and prayers of the ejected ministers of 1661; and the celebrated Presbyterian divine Dr. Thomas Manton was compelled to advertise in the Newes for 24 Sept., 1663, to the following effect:—

This disclaimer affects the trustworthiness of the whole of the four volumes of sermons of ejected ministers (printed abroad and secretly published), and it is to be feared that a good many of these have been quoted by writers who did not know of this disclaimer. Several other ministers, particularly Dr. Bates, disclaimed in other ways.

Finally, another impudent forgery was the 'Depositions about the Fire,' also printed in 'State Trials.' This had several titles ('London's Flames,' 'London's Flames Revived,' &c.), and was succeeded in 1670 by a second pamphlet of depositions about the fires of that year, which professed to have been taken by Alderman Sir Richard Ford. This last pamphlet was entitled:—

Elizabeth Calvert, once more, was the chief publisher of both these frauds (whose history can be traced in the Calendars of State Papers for 1667 and 1670), and these, with 'Mirabilis Annus,' were undoubtedly the foundation in great part of the further fraud of Titus Oates's "plot"—a plot carried on by the successors of the same "committees of six" (Roger L'Estrange's 'Confederates') who gave orders for the fabrication of all the frauds I have described. A fuller account and further details can be found in the tract printed in the seventh volume of the 'Somers Tracts,' and entitled 'A Protestant Monument, erected to the immortal glory of the Whigs and Dutch.'

Another untrue narrative is that of John James, also in 'State Trials.'