"the firft minifters of either religion GC that fhall land on this island." It is equally erroneous to believe, that certain ceremonies will protect one from mifchief. In the dark ages of Christianity, the figning with the figure of a cross, was held not only to be an antidote against the fnares of malignant spirits, but to infpire refolution for fupporting trials and calamities for which reafon no Chriftian in those days undertook any thing of moment, till he had used that ceremony. It was firmly believed in France, that a gold or filver coin of St Louis, hung from the neck, was a protection against all diseafes and we find accordingly a hole in every remaining coin of that king, for fixing it to a ribband. In the minority of Charles VIII. of France, the three eftates, ann. 1484, fupplicated his Majefty, that he would no longer defer the being anointed with the holy oil, as the favour of Heaven was vifibly connected with that ceremony. They affirmed, that his grandfather Charles VII. never profpered till he was anointed; and that Heaven afterward fought on his fide, till the English were expelled expelled out of his kingdom *. The high altar of St Margaret's church in the island of Icolmkill, was covered with a plate of blue marble finely veined; which has fuffered from a fuperftitious conceit, that the smallest bit of it will preserve a ship from finking. It has accordingly been carried off piece-meal; and at prefent there is scarce enough left to make an experiment. In the Sadder, certain prayers are enjoined when one fneezes or piffes, in order to : * That ridiculous ceremony is kept up to this day fuch power has cuftom. Take the following fample of it; "The Grand Prior of St Remi opens "the holy phial, and gives it to the Archbishop, who "with a golden needle takes fome of the precious "oil, about the fize of a grain of wheat, which "he mixes with confecrated ointment. The King "then proftrates himself before the altar on a vio"let-coloured carpet, embroidered with fleurs de. lys, while they pray. Then the King rifes, and "the Archbishop anoints him on the crown of the "head, on the ftomach, on the two elbows, and "on the joints of the arms. After the feveral a"nointings, the Archbishop of Rheims, the Bishops "of Laon and Beauvais clofe the openings of the "fhirt; the High Chamberlain puts on the tunic "and the royal mantle; the King then kneels again, and is anointed in the palms of his hands." Is this farce lefs ludicrous than that of an English King curing the King's evil with a touch. chafe chafe away the devil. Cart-wheels in Lifbon, are compofed of two clumfy boards nailed together in a circular form. Tho' the noise is intolerable, the axles are never greased; the noise, say they, frightens the devil from hurting their oxen. Nay, fo far has fuperftition been carried, as to found a belief, that the devil by magic can control the course of Providence. A Greek bishop having dreamed that a certain miracle had failed by magic, the fuppofed magician and his fon were condemned to die, without the least evidence but the dream. Montefquieu collects a number of circumftances, each of which, tho' all extremely improbable, ought to have been clearly made out, in order to prove the crime (a). The Emperor Theodore Lafcaris, imagining magic to be the cause of his diftemper, put the perfons fufpected to the trial of holding a red-hot iron without being burnt. In the capitularies of Charlemagne, in the canons of feveral councils, and in the ancient laws of Norway, punishments are. enacted against thofe who are fuppofed able to raise tempefts, termed Tempeftarii. During the time of Catharine de Medicis, there was in the court of France a jumble of politics, gallantry, luxury, debauchery, fuperftition, and Atheism. It was common to take the resemblance of enemies in wax, in order to torment them by roafting the figure at a flow fire, and pricking it with needles. If an enemy happened in one inftance of a thousand to pine and die, the charm was established for ever. Sorcery and witchcraft were fo univerfally believed in England, that in a preamble to a ftatute of Henry VIII. ann. 1511, it is fet forth, "That fmiths, weavers, and women, boldly take upon "them great cures, in which they partly "ufe forcery and witchcraft." The first printers, who were Germans, having carried their books to Paris for fale, were condemned by the parliament to be burnt alive as forcerers; and did not escape punishment but by a precipitate flight. It had indeed much the appearance of forcery, that a man could write so many copies of a book, without the flightest variation. Superftition flourishes in times of dan ger ger and difmay. During the civil wars of France and of England, fuperftition was carried to extravagance. Every one believed in magic, charms, fpells, forcery, witchcraft, &c. The most abfurd tales past current as gospel truths. Every one is acquainted with the history of the Duchefs of Beaufort, who was faid to have made a compact with the devil, to procure Henry IV. of France for her lover. This ridiculous story was believed through all France; and is reported as a truth by the Duke de Sully. Must not fuperstition have been at a high pitch, when that great man was infected with it? James Howel, eminent for knowledge and for the figure he made during the civil wars of England, relates as an undoubted truth an abfurd fiction concerning the town of Hamelen, that the devil with a bagpipe enticed all the rats out of the town, and drowned them in a lake; and becaufe his promifed reward was denied, that he made the children fuffer the fame fate. Upon a manufcript doubting of the existence of witches, he obferves, "that there are "fome men of a mere negative genius, ❝ who cross and puzzle the clearest "truths I |