Note 313 — Chapter IV
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Footnote 313
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The Popish Kingdome or reigne of Antichrist, written in Latin verse by Thomas Naogeorgus and Englyshed by Barnabe Googe, 1570, edited by R.C. Hope (London, 1880), p. 52, recto. The title of the original poem was Regnum Papisticum. The author, Thomas Kirchmeyer (Naogeorgus, as he called himself), died in 1577. The book is a satire on the abuses and superstitions of the Catholic Church. Only one perfect copy of Googe's translation is known to exist: it is in the University Library at Cambridge. See Mr. R.C. Hope's introduction to his reprint of this rare work, pp. xv. sq. The words, "Then Clappers ceasse, and belles are set againe at libertée," refer to the custom in Catholic countries of silencing the church bells for two days from noon on Maundy Thursday to noon on Easter Saturday and substituting for their music the harsh clatter of wooden rattles. See R. Chambers, The Book of Days (London and Edinburgh, 1886), i, 412 sq. According to another account the church bells are silent from midnight on the Wednesday preceding Maundy Thursday till matins on Easter Day. See W. Smith and S. Cheetham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities (London, 1875-1880), ii. 1161, referring to Ordo Roman. i. u.s.