Foxes and Fire-brands

Full title: Foxes and Fire-brands: or A specimen of the danger and harmony of popery and separation. Wherein is Proved From undeniable Matter of Fact and Reason, that Separation from the Church of England is, in the Judgment of Papists, and by sad Experience, found the most Compendious way to introduce Popery, and to Ruine the Protestant Religion.

4to. pp. [6], 33, [1]. Signatures: A-E⁴. Printer's device on title page. Anonymous armorial bookplate with motto "Auxilium meum in Domino" of Colonel Barrington Price (1758-1839) on front pastedown. Preface signed 'Philirenes,' a pseudonym for John Nalson (ca. 1638-1686), clergyman and royalist polemic writer.

In 1682, the exiled Irish historian and forger of historical documents Robert Ware, son of the ecclesiastical historian Sir James Ware, used Nalson’s slightly more credible authority to pass on historical impostures (see Bib# 4656313/Fr# 394 in this collection). For the forgeries, based on ‘contributions’ by Robert Ware, see Philip Wilson in Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, 15 (1917), pp. 83–94, and D. MacCulloch, “Foxes, Firebrands, and Forgery: Robert Ware’s Pollution of Reformation History,” Historical Journal, 54, 2, pp. 307–46. See also D. Wing (ed.), Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641–1700. 4 vols. New York, 1982-98 (2^nd ed.), N102.

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