George Carleton, A Thankfull Remembrance of God’s Mercie (1630)
Much as I’d like a copy of this on the Boar’s Head Bookshelf, I’ve been playing with a facsimile copy I got from www.archive.org. I think it was mentioned in one of the episodes of BBC’s wonderful Shakespeare’s Restless World – which I recommend to anyone remotely interested in Shakespeare, Marlowe and their contemporaries.
As usual, I have one eye on anything that could be interesting or useful to my A Level students, so whilst I’d like to dwell on some of the pretty hilarious vitriol this man of the cloth (Bishop of Winchester, to be exact) reserves for the Catholic faith, I’ve something a little quotable for the students of Marlowe.
The book is, essentially, an anti-Catholic tirade and compendium of the various popish plots from the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign up until the Gunpowder Plot.
It contains the following tasty morsel (I’ll update the spelling):
‘And therefore two Colleges were set up for the English fugitives, the one at Rhemes by the Guises, another at Rome by Pope Gregory 13. From these Colleges they were sent into England, under pretence of Religion, but indeed to withdraw subjects from obedience to their Prince, and to draw the land unto the subjection of strangers. They called themselves Seminaries, because they were to sow the seed of the Roman Religion in England; and what is the seed of Roman Religion but the seed of Rebellion?’
The first seminary must be the one that Marlowe spent such considerable time at that the Privy Council had to intervene to ensure his degree was awarded …
Overall, the book’s great reading, once you overcome the spelling differences. And it’s free. Read it!
The Boar's Head, Eastcheap 