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[27]; [4],60pp. plus extra illustration tipped in at p.54. Small quarto. Later diced Russia, rebacked, gilt leather labels. Extremities rubbed. Some soiling to rear board. Bookplate of Frank Cutter Deering on front pastedown. Later notations on front fly leaf, contemporary ink notation crossed out on titlepage. Minor soiling. Engraved titlepage of second part trimmed closely at bottom, affecting last line of imprint. Very good. Two famous anti-Catholic tracts opposing the marriage of Prince Charles with the infanta of Spain. "[This work] purports to describe the report of the Spanish ambassador, Gondomar, to the council of state in Madrid on his return from his first embassy to England in 1618. The ambassador recounts the success of his efforts to subvert the English government, and describes with evident satisfaction the crowds that flocked to mass in his chapel in London. Relaxation of the recusancy laws, the banning of decent protestant preaching as 'puritan,' and the distribution of popish propaganda, Gondomar claims, have all been obtained by bribery of courtiers and the king's ministers. Gleefully Gondomar also describes the failure of Ralegh's expedition and his subsequent destruction, connived at by the unholy alliance of greedy courtiers, personal enemies, and outright papists which the Spaniard boasts of orchestrating.Apparently taken for a piece of genuine reportage at a time of deep, and not entirely unjustified, religious paranoia, the anonymously published pamphlet caused a furore, and prompted an energetic hunt for its author. Its printers remained at work producing new editions, though they were evidently disturbed by the hue and cry - several of these editions 'are composed of assorted sheets of different impressions hastily bound together' (Adams, 'Captain Thomas Gainsford', 143).[T]his tract stands as a powerful and excoriating criticism of the Hispanophile and pacific strands of Jacobean foreign policy.In VOX POPULI, as later in the tracts written on the continent, Scott articulated strong 'country' ideology, contrasting the honest patriotism of the ordinary people and their representatives in the Commons with the vogue for all things Spanish within the highest circles of government and society; in particular he advocated an ideal of active citizenship which has been described as quintessentially puritan, or else classical republican, but which could equally well be characterized as both" - DNB. Of particular note for Americana interest, there is reference to the Spanish colonies in America, as well as to Virginia and Bermuda. ESTC S4894, S125029. STC 22100.4, 22103.3. SABIN 78376, 78377. LOWNDES, p.2222. Seller Inventory # WRCAM47297
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