e-engag'd, for _he had promised the King of_ Morocco, _that if ever he
chang'd his Religion he would turn_ Mahometan." When K. _James_ sent an
_Irish_ Priest to convert the D. of _Bucks_ [_Villers_] the said Duke
entertain'd the Priest with a Bottle, and engag'd him in a _Dialogue_,
which the Duke afterwards caus'd to be printed, to the no small
Mortification of all Papists, who were therein exceedingly ridicul'd, and
to the Triumph of all good Churchmen, who are never better pleas'd, than
when they have the _Laugh_ on their side.

At this time also were publish'd two merry Books, by a couple of our
Divines, with express View to make Protestants laugh at _Popery_, as at a
_Farce_; and they were, _The School of the Eucharist_, wherein is a
Collection of ridiculous _Miracles_, pretended to be wrought to support
the Truth of _Transubstantiation_, and _Purgatory prov'd by Miracles_.

I must not omit another incomparable Piece of Wit and Raillery against
_Popery_, publish'd at that time. It seems the famous Poet, _Dryden_,
thought fit to declare himself a _Roman Catholick_; and had, as 'tis said,
a _Penance_ injoyn'd him by his Confessor, for having formerly written
_The Spanish Fryar_, of composing some _Treatise_ in a _poetical way_ for
_Popery_, and against the _Reformation_. This he executed in a _Poem_,
intituled, _The Hind and Panther_; which, setting aside the Absurdity of
the Matters therein asserted, and of the several Arguments to maintain
them, is, in other Respects, one of the most mean Compositions that ever
the Press produc'd. Was it proper to pass over in silence such a Work,
from whence probably the Popish Party expected great Matters, as knowing
the Efficacy of Poetry, and being Witnesses of the Success the Author had
had in his _Absalom_ and _Achitophel_ against the _Whigs_? Was it proper
to write _seriously_ and _gravely_ against a Book, wherein the Author
every where aims at Wit, Irony, and Burlesque, and does himself make so
ridiculous a Figure, as to be a standing Jest throughout the whole? Was
not the Convert himself, as such, a _Jest_, or as professing any Religion,
a _Jest_; who argu'd for Pay, and spoke as he was brib'd, and would have
profess'd any Opinions, as is the Mode and Practice of the World, to which
Salary and Preferments are annexed? Some ingenious Persons of the Times
took a better Method, and agreeably to the Temper and Disposition of our
Countrymen, and to the nature of _Dryden_'s Attac