Cabinet 5: The Popish Plot

William Sherlock was a leader among a group of London clergy, including Thomas Tenison, William Clagett, and Simon Patrick, who carried on the literary defence of the Church of England against Catholicism from late in the reign of Charles II into that of James II. Sherlock, made master of the Temple in 1685, published an extensive amount of controversial religious texts, all anonymously. It is notable, too, from the titles of this example that the authors’ names to whom he is responding are never mentioned.

William Sherlock, An Ansvver to a Discourse Intituled, Papists Protesting Against Protestant-popery; Being a Vindication of Papists Not Misrepresented by Protestants (London: John Amery, 1686) de Beer Eb 1686 S