sometimes single parts, sometimes in chorus. In the front seats of the galleries were ranged the ladies of the court, glowing with rouge, and gorgeously apparelled, to enjoy and form a part of the showy spectacle. The King laughed and spied at the ladies; every eye was fixed on the personages of the court, every ear was attentive to the notes of the singers, while the priest, who in the mean time went on in the exercise of his office, was unheeded by all present. Even when the Host was lifted up, none observed it; and if the people knelt, it was because they were admonished by the ringing of the bell; and even in that attitude, all were endeavouring to get a glimpse of the King. How can a king of France ever be brought to regard his subjects as his equals, when, eyen before the throne of heaven, he maintains so high a superiority over all around him? What an idea must he not conceive of his own importance, when he thus sees his God less honoured than himself? S. R.

LETTER XIII.

Gray's Inn, Nov. 16. 1781.

At last, my dear Roget, you find I am safe arrived at my dear home. It was very fortunate that I took advantage of the first favourable moment which presented itself for crossing the sea, as the wind has been contrary ever since, and there are, at present, no less than four mails due.

I have not yet had time to do any thing in the

commission you gave me; but I shall now set about it immediately, and give you an account of it in my next.

I forget what it was I wrote to you from Ostend; I know I mentioned something of Diderot, but did I tell you how zealously he preaches his system of materialism? In the first visit I paid him, after we had talked a little on political topics, he turned the conversation to his favourite philosophy; he praised the English for having led the way to true philosophy, but the adventurous genius of the French, he said, had pushed them on before their guides. "Vous autres," these were his words, "vous mêlez la théologie avec la philosophie; c'est gâter tout, c'est mêler le mensonge avec la vérité; il faut sabrer la théologie." He spoke of his acquaintance with Hume. "Je vous dirai un trait de lui, mais il vous sera un peu scandaleux peut-être, car vous Anglais vous croyez un peu en Dieu; pour nous autres nous n'y croyons guères. Hume dina avec une grande compagnie chez le Baron D'Holbach. Il était assis à côté du Baron; on parla de la religion naturelle: Pour les Athées,' disait Hume, je ne crois pas qu'il en existe; je n'en ai jamais vu.' 'Vous avez été un peu malheureux,' répondit l'autre, vous voici à table avec dix-sept pour la première fois.""

6

He said that Chancellor Bacon was one of the greatest men our country had ever produced, and that Bacon says, "Causa finalis est virgo, Deo sacrata, quæ nihil parit; " that Plato, too, the author of all the good theology that ever existed

on the earth, says, that there is a vast curtain drawn over the heavens, and that men must content themselves with what passes beneath that curtain, without ever attempting to raise it; and in order to complete my conversion from my unhappy errors, he read me all through a little work of his own, a Dialogue between himself and a lady of quality much attached to religion, whom he attempts to convince of her folly.'

You know that the Queen of France was brought to bed at the time that I was at Paris; but I never had time to give you any account of the rejoicings on that occasion. What seemed to me most extraordinary was, that they were commanded. The day the Dauphin was born, an order was posted up in all the streets, enjoining the citizens to illuminate their houses for three successive nights, and to shut up their shops, and commanding the officers of the police to look to the execution of this order. Who would have thought that a people so famous for their fond attachment to their kings could have needed such an order! an order which, even when rendered necessary by the disloyalty of a nation, can never answer any purpose, unless it be to lull a feeble government into a childish joy by an outward show of happiness, by making an oppressed and discontented nation for a moment act the part of a happy and a grateful people!

At night I walked about Paris to see the illuminations; the streets were crowded with people, and

This is published in his works, under the title of Entretien d'un Philosophe avec la Maréchale de

the public edifices were well lighted up; but in many of the private houses there appeared only one glimmering lamp at each window, hung up, not in token of joy, but of reluctant obedience to the Sovereign's will; and some of the citizens were daring enough not to illuminate their houses at all. In many of the squares were little orchestras with bands of music playing to the populace, some of whom danced about in wild irregular figures. But it was at the Place de Grève that the greatest crowd was assembled. The Town-house there was richly illuminated, a fire-work was played off, and afterwards the people were invited to dance to the music of four bands in different orchestras. The company, which consisted of the very lowest and dirtiest rabble of Paris, soon began to dance in a ring; but they were noisy rather than merry, and none seemed happy, unless happiness can be found in a tumultuous oblivion. My opinion of the Parisians, with respect to gaiety, is so different from that of all travellers, that I hardly dare trust to it; but I must describe things as I see them, and not borrow from others my opinions and observations. However, as the idea one forms of a. people commonly depends, in a great measure, on the disposition of mind one happens to be in oneself, I ought not to conceal from you, that the ragged and miserable appearance of the people, the sight of the guards drawn up on every side, the frequent appearance of the horse-guet, who came upon one every now and then unexpectedly, and the reflection that the pavement on which I stood had been so often wet with the blood of the

wretches whom the barbarous justice of the country dooms to expire in excruciating and lengthened agonies, spread over my mind such a cloud of melancholy as nothing could dissipate.

Forgive me for not making this long letter still longer; but as yet I have hardly found a moment's leisure since my return. Pray write to me soon, and often think of your sincere friend and most affectionate brother,

SAML. ROMILLY.

LETTER XIV.

Gray's Inn, Dec. 4. 1781.

Dear Roget,

I have just received your letter of the 14th of last month, wherein you mention a former letter addressed to me at London, which unfortunately has not yet come to hand. I fear it was on board that packet which has been lost, and which sailed the last before the one in which I came over. As there is no prospect of my ever recovering it, I shall be much obliged to you to repeat, in your next, the most interesting of its contents which you recollect. The hopes you give us of your returning to England have given me the greatest joy. When we have you here again, we intend it should be for life. I hope, therefore, you will be careful to lay in a good stock of health before you undertake the journey.

And now, to speak of public news, which is of much too serious a nature to be passed over in silence. When I arrived home, I found every