scious of the fraud he was acting, and perhaps some little remorse, or it may be anger, had excited that sudden change of countenance. It was well I went away, or otherwise he might have given notice to these poor deluded souls, (with enthusiastic minds, and heated imagina tions), of my being an heretic, and despising their saiut, which probably would have exposed me to some insults from these misled and infatuated people. At the church of Saint Genevieve, I several times saw the linen that had been applied to the distempered part of those afflicted with any disorder, put upon the end of a long pole, elevated and rubbed against the shrine of St. Genevieve, con. taining her relics, (which hang in a fine superb wrought case, suspended from the ceiling by a gilt chain,) to cure those who had a large share of faith, in her powerful intercessions on their behalf. Any failure in cure, was solved in the same easy way, without any discredit to her ladyship; that is, want of faith. But if success attended, which often happens, as nature always exerts herself to throw off disorders, it then raised the saint's reputation, and cousequently brought more adorers, and lucrative customers, to be duped in the same manner.

It is astonishing to think, what blind faith the poor ignorant people have in the virtues of "holy-water, When it thunders, they sprinkle themselves therewith, believing it a preservative against divine vengeance, evil spirits, or any temporary ills.

At an evening interment, where the burial service was performed in the church, a poor fellow, who had before been drinking too freely, fell fast asleep; the congregation being gone, the sexton was fastening the doors, which awakened him, and he got up to go out. The sexton, thinking no one to be there but himself, and hearing something coming after him, not having a conscience of the brightest hue, a panic seized him, and fearing it was an evil spirit, come to requite him for his former misdeeds, ran jimmediately to the holy water, and setting his posteriors therein, believed himself then secure; clapping his hands together, he cried out, in a voice of exultation, Now d), come d1, bidding defiance to all bis artifices; so high an opinion, and such an implicit faith had he, in the virtues of this salt-water,

*

Salt is put in at the benediction of the priest, to keep it from putrefaction.

as to brave the d, and all his imps, when immersed in such holy pickle.

I had a fine specimen of the ignorance, of the mendicant friars. I used to be visited by one of them, who would rap at my door, to ask charity, Pour l'ammir de la Sainte Vierge, for love of the Holy Virgin, laving given him some pence, he frequently afterwards renewed bis visits, and at last became troublesome. Finding I was au Englishman, and an heretic, so totally illiterate was he, that he enquired if we were baptized in England, or had marriages amongst us; thinking us near a-kiu to savages and cannibals.

In all countries, the Romish clergy are nearly the same; they entertain prin ciples unfriendly to that liberty, for which reason, humanity, and christianity, plead: but especially in France, they are for supporting despotism in the monarch; by which means themselves are protected in their arbitrary sway over the minds and effects of the people, keeping them in ignorance and servility, aiming cluefly at two things-power from the king, and money from the subjects.

The love of authority is so very prevalent with them, that from this motive, interested and ambitious men are cons tinually preaching the doctrine of passive obedience and non-resistance. Subunit yourselves to your superiors in all things, right or wrong, this is their maxim; not considering that obedience to superiors must be determined by the nature of the constitution.

Bigoted ecclesiastics, and infidel statesmen, though they differ in principle, agree in conclusion; the views of both are unfriendly to the great interest of truth and freedom. The doctrine of ab solute submission, in all cases, is an absurd dogmatical precept, with nothing hut ignorance and superstition (which have ever been inseparable companions) to support it. Popery has for one of its principal objects, the destruction of the liberties of the people, and the formation and support of an arbitrary, despotic government; as passive obedience in the people is enjoined on pain of eternal damnation, and is one of its distinguishing peculiarities. Men were not formed into societies, only to be the subjects of ar bitrary will, the slavish instruments in gratifying the ambitious or other corrupt designs of one or more men; but for the safety and prosperity of the whole community; as the end of all government is to give the people justice and security,

France, which was three years after wards,) than what he had been pleased to communicate to me. I had the honour of his protection, and inscribed a copperplate to him, by his permission, for which he made me a generous present. His son, Monsieur Devoyer D'Argenson, was greatly my friend and encourager; he endeavoured to persuade me to settle in France, by telling me, he would give me apartments in his house, procure me any paintings that I wished to engrave, and obtain for me a particular order from the king (as being a protestant,) for my reception as a member of the Royal Academy of Painting, at Paris; whereby I should be one of the king's engravers, with a pension of four hundred livres. This would also exempt me from the capitation tax, and privilege me to have a printing-press of my own, with other inmunities. At his desire, I engraved two fine paintings, in his collection (which at that time was very capital). I dedicated them to him, and published them

in France.t

Some years after my return to London, when (by my place, as king's chief engraver, in 1756) I became acquainted with William Sharpe, esq. clerk of the privy council, he informed me of the risk I had run in the Bastille. The French had sent six regiments to assist the Scotch in the rebellion, one of them was the Irish regiment of Fitz James, commonly called the Irish Brigade, which, after the defeat of the rebels at the battle of Culloden, was taken almost entire. A debate arose in our council, whether they should be treated as prisoners of war, or as rebels, being subjects of the king, and coming in open rebellion. The French, apprized of this, arrested all the English they could find, who, were protestants, by way of reprisal. Fortunately for us, it was determined, (though by three voices only,) to treat them as prisoners of war. Had they been dealt with otherwise, we, in France, who were in durance, should, in all probability, have fallen innocent victims to the manes of the Irish regiment; and as a poor retaliation for the just sentence passed on the rebel lords, Kilmarnock, and Balmirino, who very deservedly met their fate on Tower-hill, August 18, 1746, by the hands of the common ex

Le Chirurgien de Campagne, from Teniers.

+ Le Voyageurs, from Bergem; Le Manege, from Wouvermans.

ecutioner, for their treachery to their
king and country, by their endeavours to
subvert the government, and to intro-
duce popery and slavery. Lord Lovett,
(who died a Roman catholic,) was ex-
ecuted April 19, 1747. Had the Pre-
teader gained his ends, from his bigotry
and superstition, we might naturally have
expected the same bloody scenes to have
been acted again, (as in Queen Mary's
time,) and notwithstanding all his pro-
testations against it, had he once obtained
power. This was evident from his be-
haviour at Paris, on the Fête de Dieu,
or Feast of God. The host being carried
through the streets with great pomp and
magnificence, he was then at the window
kneeling, and paying adoration to the
consecrated wafer, believing it to be
God himself. Happening to turn his
head, and observing the Scotch officers
who were with him, to be standing, he
cast on them an angry look, for their not
complying with this idolatrous ceremony.
Mr. Dumesnil, a master of languages,
(who taught the Camerons French,) was
present, and told me that the Scotch,
being presbyterians, were greatly dis-
pleased at it, thinking it hard that their
minds should be enslaved, who had
risked their lives, abandoned their
country, and sacrificed their fortunes in
his service.

In the chapel, at the Scotch college, in Paris, I saw the remains of King James the Second, uninterred, to be carried to England, and deposited in Westminster-Abbey, when any of his family are seated on that throne. It is covered with a black velvet pall, and a large cross of white sattin thereon. Much of the velvet had been carried away piece-meal, by his votaries, who had hung a variety of crutches and bandages against the walls, in token of miraculous cures performed by him. After the peace was made, many English resorted to Paris, as usual. "Some of our wits being told by the Scotch priests, the history of those miracles, observed, that it was very strange, since he had such power, that he had not placed his son on the throne. This witticism was reported to the archbishop, who very judiciously ordered the removal flections and sarcasms on his sanctity of those trophies, to prevent further reand power.

Had I known the real cause of my confinement, and the critical juncture I was in, I certainly should have felt greater anxieties for welfare, as sel my

preservation

preservation is the first law of nature. It was happy for me that I did not know it, otherwise I could not have enjoyed that peace of mind, which is the constant attendant upon innocence in distress. I am not surprised at the many reports (common even at Paris) of eruelty exercised in the Bastille. This suspicion may arise from the impossibility of coming at the knowledge of any transaction in this place. This is verified by Monsieur Voltaire, in his 19th Letter upon the English Nation: speaking of Sir John Vanbrugh, he says, "This Knight having taken a tour to France, before the war, 1701, was put in the Bastille, without ever being able to learn the cause why the minister of state had confined him."*

When the means of an éclaircissement cannot be obtained, it must be owned, and very naturally, that fears are often raised in the mind, without foundation.

London Chronicle, Tuesday, July 21, 1789.

his vain, ambitious, turbulent, disposi tion. He erected despotism into law; "In consequence of the destruction of and vexations of all kinds were his this dreadful fortress, the grave of many engines. He bad even in his own house miserable thousands, or rather millions a (Vade in pacem) an Oubliette, where he of French subjects, such horrid scenes frequently destroyed victims of his un- are come to light, as must make human bounded tyranny. Whilst the arbitrary nature shrink at itself. We are informed, will of the prince, or rather the caprice through the means of a wretched captive, of those who govern under him, hold the who had been confined forty-seven years place of law, such prisons as the Bastille will in those infernal regions of despotism, never want a succession of inhabitants; tyranny, and misery, that when a pris it is an insatiable gulph, incessantly open soner was committed to that horrid for the reception of devoted victims. I place, he was immediately confined in a have been informed, by the Parisians solitary cell, where the sun could not themselves, that every thing done in this penetrate; and whatever food might he place, is mysterious, trick, and artifice; allotted him, was served him by mutes. a series of oppression, and a chain of ini- It was death for either to speak." quities, heaping sorrow upon sorrow. It cannot be supposed, that a civilized nation like the French, delight in inhu manity, especially to their own people, whatever they may do to others. A recent example, however, we have had in one, who has no pretensions to the ticle of a man. Future ages will scarcely believe, that Monsieur Vaudrueil, governor-general of Canada, and of Quebec, gave rewards to the Indians, for scalping his enemies, an action so repugnant to christianity and human nature, that posterity, and even his own Countrymen (who are not entirely divested of humanity,) will ever brand his memory as a monster; continually dining in public with his friends, in a hall, or namented with scalps, arranged in a variety of figures.*

On Tuesday, the 14th of July, 1789, the Bastille was attacked by the citizens of Paris, in the civil commotions for liberty, assisted by some of the soldiery, and taken by them, after the loss of more than three hundred lives, besides those destroyed by the treachery of the go vernor, who pretended to capitulate, by holding out a flag of truce; after many had unwarily entered at the draw-bridge, which was let down, he suddenly drew it up, and sacrificed those who had entered.

auritated multitade, then enraged, stormed the castle, and they took pri soners, the Governor, the Marquis De Launey, the Prince de Monthory, the Fort Major, &c. They were taken im mediately to the Hotel de Ville, tried, De Launey and the Fort Major executed, and their heads carried in procession through the city.

General Amherst, when he took Montreal, humanely buried three waggon-loads of scalps.

"The emancipated author of this nara ration, having, however, by his good conduct, and the well-known goodness of his heart, excited some feelings in the breast of one of the under officers of the fortress, who had been a servant in his family, was one day permitted to walk on the place of massacre. He describes it to be a pleasant promenade, on which the devoted victim of tyranny is invited to walk, for the benefit of the air. On approaching a particular part, (the signal being given,) it gives way, and he is at once plunged into a horrid gulf, where several engines cut him to pieces."

The duration of this infernal prison, was four hundred and twenty years, and twenty-three days, from its building.

The foundation was laid, April 23, 1869, by order of Charles V. by que Hugh d'Aubriot, a Burguudian, Provost of Paris. It is remarkable, that he was the first person confined therein, at the suit of the clergy, for impiety and be resy. This prison contained about forty separate apartments, for the reception of prisoners, besides those for the governor, his attendants, &c.