For had he not come begynge
for the clergy from purgatory, wyth his 'supplicacion of
soules,' and Rastal and Rochester had they not so wyselye
played theyr partes, purgatory paradventure had served them
yet another yere; neyther had it so sone haue bene quenched,
nor the poor soule and proctoure there ben _wyth his bloudye
byshoppe christen catte so farre coniured into his owne Utopia
with a sachel about his necke to gather for the proud prystes
in Synagoga papistica_."
The Rastell here mentioned was doubtless he whom More (_Works_, p.
355.) calls his "brother" (i.e. his sister's husband), joining him
with Rochester (i.e. Bp. Fisher), as in this passage, on account of
his great zeal in checking the progress of the earlier Reformation;
but what is the allusion in the phrase "with his bloudye bishoppe
christen catte," &c., I am unable to divine. Neither in the
_Supplicacion of Soules_, nor in the reply to the "nameles heretike,"
have I discovered the slightest clue to its meaning.
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