Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 7.djvu/183

 i2s.vn.Aro.2i.i92o.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 147 FORGED SPEECHES AND PRAYERS OF THE REGICIDES. ANOTHER FRAUD By ELIZABETH CALVERT- (See 11 S. vii. 301, 341, 383, 442, 502 ; viii 22, 81, 122, 164, 202, 242, 284, 324, 361.) IN the Calendar of State Papers, Irish Series, 1663-1665 there is a lengthy docu ment purporting to be a letter from " S.C.' at Dublin, dated Feb. 2, 1663, and addressed to " Patrick Mulleyn, at his lodging in th Strand, London" (the exact address is naturally, not stated). This is set out on pages 16 and 17 of the Calendar. The endorsements on this intendec pamphlet are as follows : (1) " News from Dublin : or a letter from Ire iand^written to a friend in London, Feb. 2, 1662 ' {3) " which accidentally became thus public.' (2) " The letter designed to be printed. Mrs, Calvert." The first endorsement is the intended title of this pamphlet, and the second that of the Secretary of State or other officer. Obviously, this document should not have been placed with the Irish State Papers, at all, but should have been calendared with the Domestic State Papers and marked down to Elizabeth Calvert, who was thrice im- prisoned in 1663 (see Domestic Calendar). " We are merry " [runs this document] " by the help of a good glass of sack, to think how neatly His Majesty drolls those fanatics by that well-worded Declaration, and prettily disjoins their whining saintships that might if otherwise twisted become a stubborn cable. As we know it is Catholic to believe that Our Lady hath command over her Son, so are we infinitely satisfied to see our most excellent Maria of France by so power- ful and prevailing an influence commanding His Majesty as a useful instrument of the Catholic After this the writer got out of his depth by using terms he did not understand : , " In a short time a Fast commanded by His Majesty, as upon Civil accounts, shall be esteemed "Catholic obedience ; for the terms already import the same by the vigils and Ember weeks " (!) The whole document is too lengthy to transcribe, but the sentences quoted should convince any one that no Catholic compiled this document. Later on the document attacks Ormonde ; and, of course, an inten- tion to murder Protestants is imputed to the Irish. I do not understand how the editor of the Irish Calendar could possibly consider this clumsy fraud to be a genuine letter, and could say of it in his Preface (p. vii.) that it was the letter of "an anonymous Catholic stouter of the day." It is, nevertheless, of considerable impor- tance in the history of the fraudulent litera- ture of the Restoration, and should give cause for wonder at the lenient treatment Elizabeth Calvert received. Moreover, it is not certain that the date of this fraud is 1663. It may really be 1662. X. AN EARLIER ABRAHAM LINCOLN. The unveiling of the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the Canning enclosure at Westminster has reminded me of an interesting book in my possession wherein the following in- scription appears on the last page of the end fly-leaf : " Abrm. Lincoln [wrjote this Book Anno Dom a 1731." This statement refers to the handwriting upon the front side of the same leaf, which literatim reads as follows : " Behold the lamb of God that take away the Sins of the world, tis he that Cleanset from all iniquity. ..." " Be still and Know that I am god feir him that Can Dastroy Soule and Body in hell." "Although my house be not So with god yet he hath made with me an Everlasting Covenant well ordered and sure in all Things. These are the words of good old David." At the foot of the next page appears : " Let him that Stand take heed lest he fall." Upon the adjacent inside of cover the writer of the ascription has penned the omment "A Knowing Abrm. Lincoln." The book itself is the seventh edition, 1679, of 'THE MUTE CHRISTIAN under the SMARTING BOD ; with SOVERIGN ANTIDOTES against the MOST MISERABLE EXIGENTS : or a Christian with an OLIVE-LEAP in his mouth, when he is under the greatest afflictions, the sharpest and sorest trials and troubles, the saddest and darkest Providences and changes, with Answers to divers Questions and Objections win and work Souls to be still, quiet, calm and ilent under all changes that have, or may pass upon them in this World &c. By THOMAS BROOKS, late Preacher of the Word at St. Mar- garet's, New Fish Street, London. ' The Lord is n his Holy Temple, Let all the Earth keep silence before him.' Hab. 2. 20." It is probable that Abrm. Lincoln, the brmer aged owner of this book, was born about 1670 ; and that he was the ancestor of he President of the United States of America, who six generations later bore the dentical name. The sequence that passes rom spiritual' seed-time to full fruition is hus strikingly illustrated within this span f the centuries. J. N. DOWLING. 48 Gough Boad, Edgbaskm, Birmingham.
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