and defended against Hobbes's Leviathan. In 1655, Bramhall wrote Vindication of True Liberty. Hobbes replied to Bramhall with Animadversions, and Bramhall replied to this with Castigation of Hobbes' Animadversions (with an afterpiece called "The Catching of Leviathan, the Great Whale") in 1658. Additionally, Bramhall attempted to defend the English Church from attacks from the Roman Catholic Church. In 1653, he countered Théophile Brachet de la Milletière's restatement of the doctrine of transubstantiation with a reply that restated the justifications of the Anglican doctrine of Real Presence. He also attacked the Ultramontanists of France. Bramhall's A Just Vindication of the Church of England from the Unjust Aspersion of Criminal Schism (1654) was answered by the titular Bishop of Chalcedon, and Bramhall replied to this with Replication in 1656, where he prays that he might live to see the day when all Christian churches united again. His works were collected by John Vesey, Dublin, 1677. They break down as five treatises against Catholics (including a confutation of the Nag's Head fable); three against sectaries; three against Hobbes; and seven unclassified defences of royalist and Anglican views. The works were reprinted in the Library of Anglo-Catholic Theology, Oxford, 1842–5, 5 vols. John Milton thought, mistakenly, that Bramhall wrote the Apologia pro Rege et Populo Anglicano, 1650; the real author was John Rowland. The posthumous publication of Bramhall's Vindication of himself and the Episcopal Clergy from the Presbyterian Charge of Popery, as it is managed by Mr. Baxter, &c., 1672, with a preface by Samuel Parker, produced Andrew Marvell's 'The Rehearsal Transpros'd,' 1672. He is remembered also for the phrase It is the last feather that breaks the horse's back (Works, 1655), an early version of The last straw that breaks the camel's back. Family His marriage to a clergyman's widow, Ellinor Halley, gave him a fortune and a library. Their children included: Sir Thomas Bramhall, bart., who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Paul Davys, and died without issue. Isabella, married Sir James Graham, son of William Graham, 7th Earl of Menteith; her daughter Ellinor, or Helen, married Sir Arthur Rawdon, of Moira, lineal ancestor of the Marquis of Hastings. Jane, married Alderman Toxteith of Drogheda. Anne, married as his second wife Sir Standish Hartstonge, 1st Baronet, one of the Barons of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) Notes External links Attribution 1594 births 1663 deaths Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Archdeacons of Meath