A Copy of a Letter written by a Jesuite to the Father-Rector at Brussels, Discovering their Designs upon England; and Their Judgment of the Temper thereof: With a Conjecture of the Success of the Parliament, Anno 1627 [drop title]
- London: s.i., 1679
London: s.i., 1679. Very Good. [London?]: N.P., [ca. 1679?] First Edition. Broadsheet (30cm.); 2pp. Moderate wear and toning to margins, some faint dust-soil, else a Very Good example.
Published version of a forged letter purportedly intercepted from an English Jesuit to the father rector of Brussels in which the author delineates the ways in which secret members of the Society of Jesus will undermine the British parliament, trade, and the monarchy: "Our Superlative Design is, to work the Protestants, as well as the Catholicks, to welcome in a Conqueror, and that is by this Means: We hope instantly to dissolve Trade, and hinder the building of Shipping, in devising probable Designs, and putting on the State upon Expeditions, as that of Cadiz was, in taking away the Merchant Ships, so that they may not easily catch, and light upon the West-India Fleet" (p. 2).
The letter was in fact written by the courtier and mischief-maker John Maynard (1592-1658), and while most members of King Charles I's court accept the letter as genuine, Maynard's patron the Duke of Buckingham recognized his favorite's hand.
This printed edition coincides with the fabricated conspiracy of a Popish Plot which took hold of England and Scotland from 1679 to 1681, and was presumably used as evidence against the Catholics despite the fact that the letter had been debunked generations earlier. Date of publication conjectured by Wing.
ESTC R224672 ; WING C-6169.
Published version of a forged letter purportedly intercepted from an English Jesuit to the father rector of Brussels in which the author delineates the ways in which secret members of the Society of Jesus will undermine the British parliament, trade, and the monarchy: "Our Superlative Design is, to work the Protestants, as well as the Catholicks, to welcome in a Conqueror, and that is by this Means: We hope instantly to dissolve Trade, and hinder the building of Shipping, in devising probable Designs, and putting on the State upon Expeditions, as that of Cadiz was, in taking away the Merchant Ships, so that they may not easily catch, and light upon the West-India Fleet" (p. 2).
The letter was in fact written by the courtier and mischief-maker John Maynard (1592-1658), and while most members of King Charles I's court accept the letter as genuine, Maynard's patron the Duke of Buckingham recognized his favorite's hand.
This printed edition coincides with the fabricated conspiracy of a Popish Plot which took hold of England and Scotland from 1679 to 1681, and was presumably used as evidence against the Catholics despite the fact that the letter had been debunked generations earlier. Date of publication conjectured by Wing.
ESTC R224672 ; WING C-6169.