—John Horne Tooke, the reformer, who was in priest's orders, having been presented to the borough of Old Sarum by Lord Camelford, in February, 1801, an act was passed (41. Geo. III. c. 73.) to exclude the clergy from parliament; but as it did not vacate the seat of any member then elected, Mr. Tooke remained in the house till the dissolution in June, 1802. In the course of the debate, the case of Mr. Edward Rushworth, member for Newport, in the Isle of Wight, in 1784, was referred to. He was in deacon's orders, and a petition presented against his return, but was allowed to retain his seat. He is supposed to have been one of the two ministers of the Church of England alluded to by Sir James Johnstone in his speech in the debate on the Test and Corporation Acts, 8th May, 1789, as then being members of the House.
W. S. S.
Cabal (Vol. iv., pp. 443. 507.).
—The following extract from a curious book in my possession, entitled Theophania; or severall Modern Histories represented by way of Romance (see "N. & Q." Vol. i., p. 174.), shows a much earlier use of this word than that of Burnet's. The date of Theophania is 1655:
"He was at length taken prisoner, and, as a sure token of an entire victory, sent with a strong guard into Sicily; where Glaucus and Pausanias, fearing time might mitigate the queen's indignation, caused his process to be presently dispatched; and the judges, being all of the same Cabal, without consideration of his many glorious achievements, they condemned him to an ignominious death."—Theophania, p. 147.
T. HENRY KERSLEY, B.A.
Latin Verse on Franklin (Vol. iv., p. 443.; Vol. v., p. 17.).
—The line on Franklin—
"Eripuit cœlo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis,"
was written by Turgot, Louis XVI.'s minister and controller-general of finance. This verse, however, so happily applied to the American philosopher and statesman's double title to renown, is merely the modification of one in the Anti-Lucretius of Cardinal Polignac, the 37th of the first book, "Eripuitgue Jovi fulmen, Phœboque sagittas," which again had for its model that of Marcus Manilius, a poet of the Augustan age. It is the 104th of his Astronomicon, where he says of Epicurus (lib. v.), "Eripuitque Jovi fulmen, viresque Tonanti." This appears to be the original source of the phrase, so far as I could trace it. Turgot, though highly appreciated by his sovereign, and promoted to the prime ministry in consequence, was only suffered to hold the responsible situation for a short time, from August, 1774, to May, 1776, when he fell a sacrifice to court intrigues, which the weak king had not the energy to resist, while emphatically saying, "Il n'y a que Turgot et moi qui aimions le peuple." This eminent statesman's advocacy of the freedom of commerce, state economy, and general liberty of the subject, exposed him not only to courtly but to popular hostility. The French were certainly ill prepared for such innovations on their policy or habits, nor, I may add, even now, notwithstanding the constantly alternating schemes of government, from despotic to constitutional, in the long interposed period, do they appear fully to appreciate, or anxious to introduce these desirable improvements.