Manuscript on Catholic Doctrine and Practice

A small but substantial bound manuscript on paper compiled by an anonymous recusant, likely English. The contents are an apparently unique collection of various texts on Catholic doctrine, often paired with typical objections raised by Protestant writers. In this way the volume reads as a kind of practical guide or model for English recusancy, covering topics that run the gamut of Catholic belief and practice from "Prayers to Saints" (p. 99) to "The Pope's Supremacy" (p. 173) and "Praying to Images" (p. 215), with most sections containing both argument and counterargument. Each Protestant "objectione" is followed by an appropriate response that disproves it. The final section of the main text (pp. 389-433) provides lengthy quotaton from various Protestant thinkers including Herbert Thorndike and William Chillingworth, but chooses selections that show places where they may be more sympathic to a Catholic cause. For example, there are several quotations regarding the dangers of an English translation of the Bible, noting how it prevents full understanding and even perverts the sense of God's message.

The volume was likely compiled in the 1760s, with a terminus post quem of 1758 provided by the inclusion of a list of Popes following the main text (pp. 435-445): the original hand accounts for the history of the Papacy through Clement XIII, who was elected in 1758, and a later owner extends the list through the election of Leo XII in 1878. With the exception of the additions to the list of Popes and a very few maginal notes or underlining in pencil, the entirety of the text is written by a single 18th-century hand in a sloping cursive script. The volume was owned in the 19th century by one John Egan, who has written his name and an inscription on the first front flyleaf, and is almost certainly the author of the additions to the Popes list. This may be the Irish bishop John Egan (1839-1891), but is certainly another Catholic. A later 19th-century or 20th-century pencil note also on the first front flyleaf reads "This M.S. is said to be from Charles Dickens' Library" but this is highly unlikely, especially given the ownership notes by Egan.

The volume retains its original vellum binding, now somewhat dirtied, with MS title on the spine: "Controversy / MS / 1758"

Extent: vi + 473 pages, small quarto, some intermediate blank leaves.