"It is the religion of a gentleman," "It

said Colonel Caustic." It is the religion of a philosopher," said I." It is something more useful than either," said

his sister. "Did you know his labours, as I have sometimes occasion to do! The composer of differences; the promoter of peace and of contentment; the encourager of industry, sobriety, and all the virtues that make the lower ranks prosperous and happy. He gives to religion a certain graciousness which allures to its service, yet in his own conduct he takes less indulgence than many that preach its terrors. The duties of his function are his pleasures, and his doctrine is, that every man will experience the same thing, if he brings his mind fairly to the trial; that to fill our station well is in every station to be happy."

"The great and the wealthy, I have heard the good man say," continued the excellent sister of my friend, "to whom

refinement and fancy open a thousand sources of delight, do not make the proper allowance for the inferior rank of men. That rank has scarce any exercise of mind or imagination but one, and that one is religion; we are not to wonder if it sometimes wanders into the gloom of superstition, or the wilds of enthusiasm. To keep this principle warm but pure, to teach it as the gospel has taught it, the mother of good works,' as encouraging, not excusing our duties, the guide at the same time, and the sweetener of life; to dispense this sacred treasure as the balm of distress, the cordial of disease, the conqueror of death! These are the privileges which I enjoy, which I hope I have used for the good of my people; they have hitherto shed satisfaction on my life, and I trust will smooth its close!"

"It is the religion of a Christian !" said Miss Caustic.

No. 41. SATURDAY, November 12, 1785.

Pandere res alta nocte et caligine mersas. VIRG.

TO THE AUTHOR OF THE LOUNger.

SIR, THOUGH the present age is undoubtedly possessed of a great deal of knowledge and science, of which former periods could not boast, yet it must, on the other hand, be allowed, that we are apt to plume ourselves upon our acquirements fully as much as we are entitled to. We pretend a superiority over ancient times, not only on account of the discoveries we have made, but of the prejudices we have overcome, and smile with a contemptuous self-importance on the easy faith of our ancestors.

Of this latter sort is the credit which almost every modern takes for a total disbelief of spirits, apparitions, and witches. Not a school-boy now-a-days who does not laugh at the existence of witchcraft and sorcery; and, if he has ever heard of the statute-book, he silences every argument, by the quotation of the act of parliament, which repealed the ancient laws by which those crimes were punishable, and thus expressed the sense of the legislature that no such crimes existed.

Yet it is certain, that many of the wisest and best informed among our forefathers had a firm belief in the existence of witchcraft and sorcery, and one of the most learned of our monarchs actually wrote a treatise on the subject. To this some of the less assuming of our modern sceptics answer, that though, at the time of passing the old laws now repealed, and of writing that royal and learned treatise above mentioned, such a diabolical art

and mystery might really and truly prevail; yet now, in the eighteenth century, it is no longer practised, and that witchcraft, conjuration, and sorcery, are entirely abolished and unknown.

I, for my part, have more reverence for the penetration of our forefathers, than to suppose they could have been deceived as to what happened in their own time; and farther, I am not ashamed to confess my belief, that even yet there exists such an art as that of witchcraft; nor do I despair of bringing over my readers to this opinion, if they will listen with candour to the proofs I propose in this paper to bring in support of it.

I conceive the fairest way of doing this to be, to cite, from the best authority among the old writers, the appearances they particularly remarked, and the facts they specifically set forth, of the practice of this unchristian and diabolical art in their time; and then to appeal to the ex