[129] That is, if the church of England would be reconciled to Rome, she should be gratified with a delegated portion of innate authority over the rival sectaries; instead of being obliged to depend upon the civil power for protection.
[130] Alluding to the exercise of the dispensing power, and the Declaration of Indulgence.
[131] The ten-horned monster, in the Revelations, was usually explained by the reformers as typical of the church of Rome.
[132] There was a classical superstition, that, if a wolf saw a man before he saw the wolf, the person lost his voice:
——voxque Mærin
Jam fugit ipsa: lupi Mærin videre priores.
Dryden has adopted, in the text, the converse of this superstitious belief.
[133] Although the Roman Catholic plot was made the pretence of persecuting the Papists in the first instance, yet the high-flying party of the Church of England were also levelled at, and accused of being Tantivies, Papists in masquerade, &c. &c.
[134] Hind and Panther Transversed.