CCCCXXXIV. FROM THE SAME TO THE SAME. MY LORD, THOUGH I have but little to say, yet I dare not let this messenger, Mr. Younge, pass without something more than a bare verbal remembrance of my duty and service to your lordship. I hope the papers concerning Barnabas came safe to your hand. I have prevailed with Mr. Pocock to publish that remarkable piece of Alkadi Saed, of the sects of the Arabians, with his pretty large and learned notes, which I am now a perusing before they go to the press. We of this place wait every day for a dissolution, being told by those which will be extremely angry if we believe not all they say from the pulpit, that God has spent all his attributes upon us, that we are sons of Lucifer, that we have insides as black as hell, with much more which we should not have disliked if put in the confession to God, but cannot tell what authority they have to throw these imputations upon us in their applications. Yesterday it was affirmed by the preacher, justly taxing the discountenancing of religious duties in the late times of episcopal government, that some bishops made it an article of inquiry at their visitations, whether any man did discourse of anything concerning religion at meals. I confess, as in a point of that kind, I can have no certainty, but am strongly persuaded this charge had less of truth than calumny. But this is no news for them to speak ill. God grant that by our integrity of conversation we may confute their imputations in our actions, which to offer to do by word or writing would but involve us in a greater guilt. When I set pen to paper, I had no purpose to have touched upon this harsh string, but I know not how the sad condition of this place threw me upon this not unjust, though perhaps unseasonable, complaint of hard measure. We humbly beg your lordship's prayer to Almighty God, that he would either send us deliverance from or grant us patience in all such our sufferings, by which it shall please Him in mercy to chastise us. I am, my Lord, Your lordship's most humble servant, Queen's Coll. in Oxon. GERARD LANGBAINE. To his Most Honoured Lord and Patron, James Lord Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of Ireland, at the Countess of Peterborough's house, in the Piazza in Covent Garden, these. LETTER CCCCXXXV. FROM SIR THOMAS RYVES TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH. REVERENDISSIME, SIMULAC istum chartarum tumulum aspexeris, plane inquies, Quid hic homo præsens loquendo faceret, qui tantas mihi turbas absens scribendo creat? sit sane. Ego tamen cui jam senectus frontem duriorem fecit, ab incœpto non deterrebor. Accidit enim non ita pridem, ut in Paternitatis vestræ majorem quem vocant catechismum inciderem, in cujus fine eruditissimum juxta et sanctissimum de Immanuel opusculum tuum reperi. Itaque omissis statim aliis eum exercitii et memoriæ causa ex Anglico Latinum feci, eique operi decem dies impendi. In ipsa vero ejus confectione tantam voluptatem simul et utilitatem sensi, ut ex tam longinquæ vitæ cursu, septuagenarius autem sum, hos solos decem egisse, cæteros agitasse tantum vel potius perdidisse videar. Utinam vero versio hæc archetypo suo parte aliqua responderet. Nam si id plane consequutus essem, non modo monerem, verum etiam hortarer, imo rogarem sedulo, ut eam nomine tuo in lucem ederes : nulla profecto gens aut genus hominum, doctorum præsertim, esset, in quo avidius multo quam in Anglia non legeretur. Digna enim profecto res est, quæ nunquam alias sic tractata jam in mundi ipsius notitiam perferretur, sed non isto quo a me nunc vestitum cernis habitu. Itaque, si nemo hactenus fœliciore vena id perfecerit, vehementer te rogandum censeo ut vel ipse doctissimam tuam huic operi admoveas plumam, quæque in eo corrigenda senseris, ut sunt plurima, emendes, aut quoniam tu, ad majora opera quotidie vocaris, alii cuilibet junioris et floridioris ingenii viro commendes, quicquid autem feceris non alio quam tuo nomine et inter Latina tua opera typis mandari sinas. Et ego quidem majore in hac versione quam interpreti par erat, licentia me usum esse et video et fateor, maxime in illo loco qui de Goel est, cujus ea ratio, quod divinam tuam mentem in eo non satis mihi assequi videbar; nec quam Retractus juris gentilitii, quem Galli Retraict du droit lignager appositissime appellant (quod jus ad solius redimentis utilitatem spectat, quæque propria Booz proximi Elimelech agnati causa in terris ejus redimendis erat) cum jure et officio Goel nostri similitudinem haberet intellexi. Igitur Paternitas vestra locum hunc vel lucidius ipsa explicabit, vel alii quod te præsente facile erit explicandum dabit, ne eadem cuiquam alii quæ mihi inter legendum hesitatio forsitan occurCherubinorum etiam facies in cortinis Tabernaculi densissimo opere depictas in scemate textui apposito video, in ipso textu non reperio; sed vitium illum libri mei esse potest, unicum enim habeo, nec optimi generis illum. Tu ipse videris, vides fiduciam, vides audaciam. Sed chartas has ad te missas tuas esse jubeo; tui autem juris quum sint, si nimis ab illis deviatum sit comburas velim, sed semper et impudenter moneo ne tantum studiorum tuorum lumen sub Anglicani sermonis modio abscondi, hoc est, tantum non extingui patiare. Dabit autem Paternitas vestra uti spero veniam, si exemplar ipsum vel mea vel librarii culpa hic, illic, inductum et lituris obsitum ad te miserim; non enim nunc ut olim omnia pro voluntate possumus. Deus opt. max. et ipse ille Immanuel Jesus te incolumem diutissime conservet, rat. 15 Maij 1648. Paternitatis vestræ, For the Most Reverend Father in God, my very singular good Lord, James Lord Archbishop of Armagh. Humilimus filius, T. RIVIUS. LETTER CCCCXXXVI. FROM THE ARCHBISHOP OF CASHEL TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH. REVERENDISSIME DOMINE ET IN CH. FRATER DILECTISS. MIHI MULTIS NOMINIBUS PLURIMUM OBSERVANDE. ETSI binis nunc aut si bene memini ternis meis ad eminentiss. Rever. tuam, nihil responsi acceperem; si tamen te diuturni aut potius pertinacis silentii incusarem aut cessationem hanc tuam imitarer, injuriam summam fecisse viderer sanctissimæ inter nos initæ consuetudini (quæ altius inhæret meo animo quàm ut unquam deleri posset aut obliterari) obliviscique profusissimi in nos amoris tui veteris, quem ego religiose colere et observare quamdiu vixero decrevi. Nihil interim habeo quod scribam præter hoc unum. ut si post longa tædia tristis fugæ te consule aut consulente invenire possem stabulum aliquod, in quo acquiescam in senio cum conjuge et liberis, in Angliam redeam et in pace requiescam. Neque cupio abesse Londino sed in ipsa urbe in aliqua parœcia evangelium prædicare, ne falsissimis calumniis et rumoribus onerer si longius absim a civitate, sicut in his provinciis opera cujusdam malevoli dispersæ sunt copiæ literarum quasi scriptarum a Domino Gulielmo Lentelo prolocutore domus Communium, quibus literis arguebar author rebellionis Hibernica primarius, turbamentorum Anglicanorum dum in Anglia essem fautor, qui et nunc in Belgio eadem foveo, quod quam longe abest a meis moribus omnes sciunt qui me norunt, imo ipsi isti malevoli qui ejusmodi rumores de nobis distulerunt. Sed scio Dominum Lentelum esse virum opt. cum quo familiarissime vixi ad duos ferme annos, quibus quam sedulam operam navarem |