Note 127 — Chapter XIV · THE REIGN OF JAMES II.

"Above twenty years together," says Sir Roger L'Estrange, perhaps himself a disguised catholic, in his reply to the reasons of the clergy of the diocese of Oxford against petitioning (Somers Tracts, viii. 45), "without any regard to the nobility, gentry, and commonalty, our clergy have been publishing to the world that the king can do greater things than are done in his declaration; but now the scene is altered, and they are become more concerned to maintain their reputation even with the commonalty than with the king." See also in the same volume, p. 19. "A remonstrance from the church of England to both houses of parliament," 1685; and p. 145, "A new test of the church of England's loyalty;" both, especially the latter, bitterly reproaching her members for their apostacy from former professions.