Aspects of Kentish Local History

HENRY OXIDEN'S works are so hard to come by that some account of their history and contents may be serviceable to readers of his correspondence. The information given in the Dictionary of National Biography is scanty and incomplete.

I

   The two Latin poems in hexameters entitled Religionis Funus and Hypocritae Finis were printed in London by Thomas Whittaker (of King's Arms, St. Paul's Churchyard) in 1647, in a small quarto volume.¹ The frontispiece is an oval portrait of the author, finely engraved, (probably the "medallion" referred to in Letters CLIV and CLXIX);² above it are Henry's coat-of-arms and crest; and beneath is his motto, "Non est mortale quod opto".
   The title page has no author's name, but bears two Latin mottos: "Quasi Vulpes in deserto Prophetae tui O Israel", Ez. 13, 4; and the lines:
       "Ne rodas, jubeo, mea carmina Mome, sed Orbi
        Ede tua, et Momos etiam tu Momus habebis".

The first poem is an attack on the Directory for Public Worship, issued in January 1644-5; the second on the personnel of the Puritan ministry. The poet in search of True Religion goes first into princes' palaces, but finds in high places only fraud and wickedness. Next he questions the Army; their God is the sword in their right hand; their creed is to overthrow the temples of the gods, not the creed which shuts the gates of war. After this he begs the Lawyers to tell him where to find Religion. Holy writ, they reply, is child's play to our English Law, which is based on solid reason; to supersede it by the Law of Moses or of Christ would bring about chaos.
   Next the author considers approaching the Physicians, but remembers the saying that given three doctors, two of them are unbelievers, and determined to seek his "Spouse Beloved" among the Priests. One of these, clearly a virtuous if not a saintly person, meets him and asks why he looks so sad. He explains his quest and is told the Bride
  ¹ Whittaker died about 1650, which may account for Henry's change of printer in his later books (cf. Plomer, p. 192).
   ² Reference to The Oxinden and Peyton Letters, 1642-1670, edited by Dorothy Gardiner (Sheldon Press, 1937).