etaphors, and men vied with each other in
giving extraordinary titles to books, and making the {486} contents justify
the title. Extravagance and the far-fetched were the gauge of wit: Donne,
Herbert, and many a man of genius foundered on this rock, as well as
Cowley, who acted up to his own definition:

"In a true Piece of Wit _all things_ must be,
Yet all things there agree;
As in the _Ark_, join'd without force or strife,
All creatures dwelt--all creatures that had life."

It is not, however, for the purpose of illustrating this mania that I am
about to dwell on the two similes which form the subject of my present
Note: I selected them as favourite party-similes which formed a standing
dish for old Anglican writers; and also because they throw light on the
history of religious party in England, and thus form a suitable supplement
to my article on "High Church and Low Church" (Vol. viii., p. 117.).

As the object of the Church of England, in separating from Rome, was the
_reformation_, not the _destruction_ of her former faith, by the very act
of reformation she found herself opposed to two bodies; namely, _that_ from
which she separated, and the ultra-reformers or Puritans, who clamoured for
a _radical_ reformation.

Taking these as the Scylla and Charybdis--the two extremes to be
avoided--the Anglican Church hoped to attain the safe and golden mean by
steering between these opposites, and find, in this _via media_ course, the
path of truth.

Accordingly, her divines abound with warnings against the aforesaid Scylla
and Charybdis, and with exhortations to cleave to the middle line of
safety. Acting on the proverb that _extremes meet_, they were ever drawing
parallels between their two opponents. On the other hand, the Puritans
stoutly contended that _they_ were the true middle-men; and in their turn
traced divers similarities and parallels betwixt "Popery and Prelacy," the
"Mass Book and Service Book."[2]

Without farther preface, I shall give the title of a curious work, which
will tell its own story:

"_Foxes and Firebrands_; or _A Specimen of the Danger and Harmony of
Popery and Separation_. Wherein is proved from undeniable Matter of
Fact and Reason, that Separation from the Church of England is, in the
Judgment of Papists, and by Experience, found the most Compendious way
to introduce Popery, and to ruine the Protestant Religion:

'_Tantum Religio potuit suadere Malorum