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Shakespeare Connected - Not to Be: Death in the Collection

John Gee 'New Shreds of the Old Snare'

‘As you from crimes would pardon'd be, let your indulgence set me free’ (The Tempest, Epilogue)

Fear of the hereafter caused many Catholics in early modern England to purchase ‘indulgences’, or blessings from the Pope, which supposedly shortened the stay of one’s friends and relatives in purgatory. After the Reformation such practices continued amongst Catholic recusants. John Gee was a former Catholic who sought to expose such practices as nothing more than ‘pick purse trash and trumpery.’ He laments that money sent to Rome for Popish indulgences was not put to use in England for public services.

Acc no: 83014055

 

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