PAX VOBIS. An Epistle to the Three Churches; with an addition of a preface and postscript setting forth the rule for the truth, and true sense of Scriptures: establish'd by our Saviour; transmitted to posterity by his Apostles; rendering the most illiterate as able divines for the right understanding of the word of God, as the greatest peadant

London: Printed in the Year MDCCXXI. Good+. 1721. Softcover. 4 p.l., 3-144 pages; Disbound, small octavo, gathered in fours. Untrimmed edges. This anonymous volume makes an appearance in Halkett and Laing (IV, 315) -- attributed as "[Thomas Fulford?]" The English Short Title Catalogue repeats this, watered down a bit to "Sometimes attributed to Thomas Fulford." Fortunately, the DNB steers us in a different direction. Under the long article about one "Charles Dodd" we learn that the man who wrote under that name was really born as Hugh Tootel. As an English Catholic, he had ample reason to be evasive of easy identification. DNB attributes this 1721 work to Tootel/Dodd, without any question marks or equivocation. The first part of the title is a clear clue to the author's Catholic faith, being a salutation from the Catholic Mass -- PAX VOBIS (meaning "peace to you"). The long subtitle can easily be parsed as philosophically Catholic. ["setting forth the rule for the truth, and true sense of Scriptures: establish'd by our Saviour; transmitted to posterity by his Apostles; rendering the most illiterate as able divines for the right understanding of the word of God, as the greatest peadants in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin."] This is appropriate, since Hugh Tootel, before his formal studies of Philosophy, was born in Durton-in-Broughton , Lancashire and confirmed in the Catholic faith at Euxton Burgh Chapel - the property of the Dalton family, in September 1687 -- the same year that King James II, the last Roman Catholic monarch of England, issued the Declaration of Indulgence. But prospects for English Catholics changed for the worse by the following year, and Hugh Tootel was sent abroad, to be educated at the English College, Douay (1688-1693), and later at St Gregory's Seminary, Paris (1693-1697). In July of 1690, Tootel took the Douay College oath, and in September, he received the minor orders at Cambray from James Theodore de Bayes. He was awarded a B.D. degree from St. Gregory's, Paris and after ordination, returned to England in 1698 as chaplain to the Molyneux family at Mosborough Hall, in his native Lancashire. Hugh Tootel returned to the Continent in 1711, and he is said to have witnessed the siege of Douay in 1712 -- during which he may, or may not, have been Chaplin to an English Regiment. He did publish a short 'History of the English College at Douay' in 1713, and this work ["By R. C."] also represents the start of his habit of disguised authorship, as this work purports to have been written by an English Protestant chaplin. This work also began another tradition of the writings of Hugh Tootel, or "Charles Dodd," as it contained a sharp attack on the Jesuits -- a controversy with the order which would continue until Tootel expressed a desire to die at peace with the Society on his deathbed (in 1743). Between 1716 and 1718, Tootel was back at Mosborough Hall, but returned to Douay to gather materials for his intended major work, 'The Church History of England from 1500 to 1688,' which was to occupy him for twenty years. While back in Douay, Tootel wrote the present book, published in 1721. While the imprint does read "London" -- there is no printer or bookseller specified, and the volume may possibly be of continental origin. In the following year, 1722, Tootel returned to England to serve at Harvington Hall, Worcestershire, where he resided from 1722 until his death, first as assistant chaplain (to a man who used three different names!) -- then (from 1726) as chaplain. At Harvington Hall, in addition to his magnum opus, Tootel/Dodd wrote a number of tracts, most of which remain in manuscript. The big 'Church History of England' was eventually published in three folio volumes, evidently at Wolverhampton - (although the title pages read: "Brussels"). There are many useful details in Joseph Gillow's 'Biographical and Bibliographical Dictionary of the English Catholics' (5 vols, 1885-1902. Gillow, like Hugh Tootel, was a native of Lancashire). Apart from the fact that for the following century, visitors to Wolverhampton could be shown the house where Hugh Tootel/Charles Dodd lived in order to make corrections to his Church History as it passed through the press -- bibliographers have long identified the type and paper of this supposed production of the "Brussels" press as English. I would suggest that there is something odd about our "Pax Vobis..." from 1721. It is gathered in octavo half sheets, judging by the chain lines, but in a format wider, but shorter than usual -- looking like a tiny quarto (rather like the productions of a hundred years earlier). While trimming could have produced a squat, yet broad volume like this, such has not been effected here, as the edges of the leaves are most certainly not trimmed. Most of the bottom and fore-edges display considerable "deckle." On page 57, after a seemingly conclusive "FINIS" at the foot of page 56, there is a new section with a bold running headline "POSTSCRIPT to the Protestant Reader. A Rule for Scripture and Conscience!" This appears under a woodcut headpiece and using a figured initial letter "S." Our copy is disbound, with sound original sewing. There is some soiling to the first and last leaves, and some minor toning and a few faint stains scattered here and there. A small note in ink appears at the blank upper margin of the title page: "Withdrawn 8 vi 81 ms" -- [probably June 8, possibly 1881]. But as there are no marks of ownership, institutional or otherwise, the circumstances are unclear. There is a printing flaw affecting parts of two lines on two facing pages, (the second and third of the authors "Preface" = A2 & A3). This appears to have been caused by a crease to the sheet of paper under the press, now pulled flat, after printing, but improperly inked while the crease was present. Our book appears in the English Short Title Catalogue [ESTC Citation No. T131866] without any mention of Charles Dodd, or Hugh Tootel. ESTC cites 8 locations in the UK, including the Society of Jesus Library; and another 4 copies in North America [Duke University; Emory University - Candler School of Theology; Newberry Library; St. Louis University]. OCLC [entry number: 11697586] does mention "Charles Dodd" (but not Hugh Tootel) and adds a location: U. Texas/ Harry Ranson Center). The Texas-HRC copy is most interesting. It does offer an explanation for the odd collation of ours (and any other copy for which I have seen a catalogue entry) -- following the 1721 title page and three leaves of Preface, the main text begins on page 3 [second A2]. It appears that the Texas HRC copy retains a leaf which was intended for cancellation. Their description follows: " Appears to include the sheets of the 1717 edition (p.3-56) with the addition of a new t.p. and a preface (p. [1]-[8] at front) and a postscript (p. [57]-144). The title page for the 1717 edition (which should be cancelled, but which is present in the HRC copy but not in ours) has the imprint: London, Printed for T. Moore in Cornhill, 1717." I can find no other reference anywhere to a 1717 edition. It may be that Hugh Tootel, who is recorded to have been back in England in 1717, may have had a shorter version of our text set up and printed, but for some reason, the "London: 1717" version may been suppressed before publication. Like many old books, this one answers some questions, but suggests others. As to "T. Moore" as a printer/publisher , there IS a Thomas Moore, known to have published Recusant material, but he was active in Dublin (about a generation later). The long article in the DNB suggests that our 1721 PAX VOBIS was written as something of a response to an earlier book, printed under a similar salutation -- ["In imitation of 'Pax Vobis, or Gospel and Liberty,' by Robert Brown, a Scotch priest."] In keeping with what seems to be a normal feature of English Recusant literature, this earlier work seems to have been worded cautiously, to the extent that an inattentive reader might assume that it was written within the embrace of the Church of England and forms an attack on the popish ways of the Church of Rome. [Savor the subtitle of the 1679 edition: "Ghospell and libertie against ancient and modern papists." "By E.G. preacher of the word. Dedicated to the right honble the Lord Halyfax."] It may, or may not have been written by a Brown, who might have been 'S.J. Brown" as at least one source asserts. Or by "Griffith, Evan, A.M., Minister of Alderly" -- as the Bodleian states. Questions abound. .