: with forrow, the reviving fpirits of the unfortunate Don Manuel gave the firft fymptoms of a poffible recovery. At the period of a few tranquillizing weeks here paffed in the bosom of humanity, letters came to hand from the British Minister at Lisbon, in answer to a memorial, that I should have stated to have been drawn up by the friendly Captain before his departure from that port, with a detail of facts depofed and fworn to by Nicolas Pedrofa, which memorial with the documents attached to it was forwarded to the Spanish Court by special express from the Portuguese premier. By these letters it appeared that the high dignity of the perfon impeached by this statement of facts had not been fufficient to fcreen him from a very ferious and complete investigation in the course of which facts had been fo clearly brought home to him by the confeffion of his feveral agents, and the teftimony of the deceafed Leonora's attendants together with her own written declarations, whilft the poifon was in operation, that though no public fentence had been executed upon the criminal, it was generally understood he was either no longer in exiftence, or in a fituation never to be heard of any more, till roufed by the awakening trump he shall be fummoned to his tremendous laft account. As for the unhappy widower it was fully fignified to him from authority, that his return to Spain, whether upon exchange or parole, would be no longer oppofed, nor had he any thing to apprehend on the part of government, when he fhould there arrive. The fame was fignified in fewer words to the exculpated Pedrofa. Whether Don Manuel de Cafafonda will in time to come avail himself of these overtures time alone can prove: As for little Nicolas, whofe prize money money has fet him up in a comfortable little fhop in Duke's place, where he breathes the veins and cleanses the bowels of his Ifraelitish brethren in a land of freedom and toleration, his merry heart is at reft, fave only when with fire in his eyes and vengeance on his tongue he anathematizes the Inquifition, and ftruts into the fynagogue every fabbath with as bold a step and as erect a look, as if he was himself High Priest of the Temple going to perform facrifice upon the re-affembling of the fcattered tribes. N' CXLV. I WOULD wish no man to deceive himself with opinions, which he has not thoroughly reflected upon in his folitary hours: Till he has communed with his own heart in his chamber, it will be dangerous to commit himself to its impulfes amidst the diftractions of fociety: In folitude he will hear another voice than he has been used to hear in the colloquial fcenes of life for confcience, though mute as the antient chorus in the buftle of the drama, will be found a powerful fpeaker in foliloquy. If I could believe that any man in these times had seriously and deliberately reafoned himself into an abfolute contempt of things facred, I should expect that fuch a being fhould uniformly act up to his principles in all fituations, and, having thrown afide all the restraints of religion, fhould discharge from his mind all thofe fears, apprehenfions and folicitudes, K 5 tudes, that have any connection with the dread of a futurity. But, without knowing what paffes in the private thoughts of men, who profefs these daring notions, I cannot help observing that, if noify clamour be a mark of cowardice, they also have the symptoms ftrongly upon them of belying their own confcience: They are bold in the crowd, and loudest in the revels of the feaft; there they can echo the insult, dash the ridicule in the very face of Heaven, and stun their confciences in the roar of the carousal. Let me picture to myself a man of this defcription furprized into unexpected folitude after the revels of an evening, where he has been the wit of the company at the expence of decency and religion; here his triumphs are over; the plaudits of his comrades no longer encourage him; the lights. of the feast are extinguished, and he is furrendered to darkness and reflection: Place him in the midft of a defart heath, a lonesome traveller in fome dark tempestuous night, and let the elements fubfcribe their terrors to encounter this redoubted champion Who durft defy th' Omnipotent. If confiftency be the test of a man's fincerity, he ought now to hold the fame language of defiance, and with undaunted fpirit cry out to the elements "Do your worst, ye blind tools of chance! "Since there can be neither intelligence nor direc❝tion in your rage, I fet you at nought. You may "indeed fubject me to fome bodily inconvenience, "but you can raise no terrors in my mind, for I "have faid you have no master: There is no hand "to "to point the lightening, and the ftroke of its "flash is directed to no aim: If it fmites the oak, "it perishes; if it penetrates my breast, it annihi"lates my existence, and there is no foul within 66 me to resume it. What have I to fear? The "worst you threaten is a momentary extinction "without pain or ftruggle; and as I only wait on "earth till I am weary of life, the most you can "do is to foreftall me in the natural rights of fui"cide. I have lived in this world as the only "world I have to live in, and have done all things "therein as a man, who acts without account to "" an Hereafter. The moral offices, as they are "called, I have fometimes regarded as a fyftem of "worldly wifdom, and where they have not crof fed my purposes, or thwarted my pleafures, I "have occafionally thought fit to comply with "them: My proper pride in fome inftances, and "felf-intereft in others, have diffuaded me from "the open violation of a truft, for it is inconveni ent to be detected; and though I acknowledge no remonstrances from within upon the score of "infamy, I do not like the clamours of the crowd. "As for thofe mercenary inducements, which a "pretended revelation holds forth as lures for pa"tience under wrongs and tame refignation to "misfortune, I regard them as derogatory to my "nature: they fink the very character of virtue "by meanly tendering a reverfionary happiness as "the bribe for practising it; the doctrine there"fore of a future life, in which the obedient are "to expect rewards, and the difobedient are "threatened with punishments, confutes itself by "its own internal weakness, and is a system fo "fordid in its principle, that it can only be calcu "lated "lated to dupe us into mental flavery, and frighten us out of that generous privilege, which is our "univerfal birthright, the privilege of difmiffing "ourselves out of existence, when we are tired "with its conditions." Had I fabricated this language for infidelity with the purpose of ftamping greater deteftation upon its audacity, I had rather bear the blame of having overcharged the character, than to be able (as I now am) to point out a recent publication, which openly avows this fhameless doctrine: But as I do not wish to help any anonymous blafphemer into notice, let the toleration of the times be his shelter, and their contempt his anfwer! In the mean time I will take leave to oppose to it a fhort paffage from a tract, lately tranflated into English, intitled Philofophical and Critical Enquiries concerning Christianity, by Mr. Bonnet of Geneva; a work well deferving an attentive perufal. Here I invite that reader, who can elevate his mind to the contemplation of the ways of Providence, to meditate with me on the admirable methods of divine wisdom in the establishment of Chriftianity; a religion, the univerfality of which was to comprebend all ages, all places, nations, ranks and fitua tions in life; a religion, which made no diftinction between the crowned head and that of the loweft fubject; formed to difengage the heart from terreftrial things, to ennoble, to refine, to fublime the thoughts and affections of man; to render him conscious of the dignity of his nature, the importance of his end, to carry his hopes even to eternity, and thus affociate him with fuperior intelligences; a religion, which gave every thing to the spirit and nothing to the flesh; which called its difciples to the greatest facrifices, because |