HISTOET OP ENGLAND.

might as ■well be the prey of friars. A pasquinade, which,about the time of Rochester’s retirement, was fixed on thedoor of Salisbury House in the Strand, described in coarseterms the horror with which the wise Robert Cecil, if he couldrise from his grave, would see to what a creature his honourshad descended. *

These were the highest in station among the proselytes ofJames. There were other renegades of a very different kind,needy men of parts who were destitute of principle and of allsense of personal dignity. There is reason to believe thatamong these was William Wycherley, the most licentious andhard-hearted writerof a singularly licentious and hard-heartedschool.** It is certain that Matthew Tindal, who, at a laterperiod, acquired great notoriety by writing against Christiani-ty, was at this time received into the bosom of the infallibleChurch, a fact which, as may easily be supposed, the divineswith whom he was subsequently engaged in controversy didnot suffer to sink into oblivion.*** A still more infamous apos-tate was Joseph Haines, whose name is now almost forgotten,but who was well known in his own time as an adventurer ofversatile parts, sharper, coiner, false witness, sham bail,dancing master, buffoon, poet, comedian. Some of his pro-logues and epilogues were much admired by his contempora-ries; and his merit as an actor was universally acknowledged.This man professed himself a Roman Catholic, and went toItaly in the retinue of Castelmaine, but was soon dismissedfor misconduct. If any credit is due to a tradition which waslong preserved in the green room, Haines had the impudenceto affirm that the Virgin Mary had appeared to him and calledhim to repentance. After the Revolution, he attempted tomake his peace with the town by a penance more scandalousthan his offence. One night, before he acted in a farce, heappeared on the stage in a white sheetwith a torch in his hand,

* The lines are in the Collection of State Poems.

** Our information about Wycherley is very scanty; but two things arecertain, that in his later years he called himself a Papist, and that hereceived money from James. I have very little doubt that he was a hiredconvert.

*** See the article on him in the Biographia Britannica.