regard to his saintship, desired to be informed of his pretensions.-A list of his miracles was sent over, accompanied by the stone with S. Viar upon it. The first part of the proof was sustained; but the antiquaries found the fragment to be part of the tomb-stone of a (Roman) præfectus viarium, or overseer of the high road; to whose bones they had been so much indebted; and poor St. Viar, though probably an honester man than most of them, was ordered to be struck out of the.calendar.

The people of fashion here hold the superstition of the vulgar in great contempt; and perhaps that very superstition is one principal cause of their infidelity. Indeed I have ever found that deism is most prevalent in those countries where the people are the wildest and most bigotted. A refined and cultivated understanding, shocked at their folly, thinks it cannot possibly recede too far from it, and is often tempted to fly to the very opposite extreme. When reason is much offended by any particular dogma of faith or act of worship, she is but too apt, in the midst of her disgust, to reject the whole. The great misfortune is, that in these countries, the most violent champions for religion are commonly the most weak

and ignorant

and certainly, one weak advocate in any cause, but more particularly in a mysterious one, that requires to be handled with delicacy and address, is capable of hurting it more, than fifty of its warmest opponents.Silly books, that have been written by weak well-meaning men, in defence of religion, I am confident have made more infidels than all the works of Bolingbroke, Shaftesbury, or even Voltaire himself: they only want to make people believe that there are some ludicrous things to be said against it; but these grave plodding blockheads do all they can to persuade us, that there is little or nothing to be said for it. The universal error of these gentry is, that they ever attempt to explain, and reconcile to sense and reason, those very mysteries that the first principles of our religion teach us are incomprehensible; and of consequence neither objects of sense nor reason.—I once heard an ignorant priest declare, that he did not find the least difficulty in conceiving the mystery of the Trinity, or that of Incarnation; and that he would undertake to make them plain to the meanest capacities. A gentleman present told him, he had no doubt he could, to all such capacities as his own. The

priest took it as a compliment, and made him a bow.-Now, don't you think, that a few such teachers as this must hurt religion more by their zeal, than all its opponents can by their wit? Had these heroes still kept behind the bulwarks of faith and of mystery, their adversaries never could have touched them; but they have been foolish enough to abandon these strongholds, and dared them forth to combat on the plain fields of reason and of sense.-A sad piece of generalship indeed: such defenders must ever ruin the best cause.

But although the people of education here despise the wild superstition of the vulgar, yet they go regularly to mass, and attend the ordinances with great respect and decency; and they are much pleased with us for our conformity to their customs, and for not appearing openly to despise their rites and ceremonies. I own, this attention of theirs, not to offend weak minds, tends much to give us a favourable opinion both of their hearts and understandings. They don't make any boast of their infidelity; neither do they pester you with it as in France, where it is perpetually buzzed in your ears, and where, although they

pretend to believe less, they do in fact believe more than any nation on the continent.

I know of nothing that gives one a worse opinion of a man, than to see him make a show and parade of his contempt for things held sacred: it is an open insult to the judgment of the public. A countryman of ours, about two years ago, offended egregiously in this article, and the people still speak of him both with contempt and detestation. It happened one day in the great church, during the elevation of the host, when every body else were on their knees, that he still kept standing, without any appearance of respect for the ceremony. A young nobleman that was near him expressed his surprise at this. "It is strange, Sir, (said he,) that you, who have had the education of a gentleman, and ought to have the sentiments of one, should choose thus to give so very public offence."

"Why, Sir, (said the Englishman), I don't believe in transubstantiation."—"Neither do I, Sir, (replied the other,) and yet you see I kneel."

Adieu. I am called away to see the preparations for the feast. In my next I shall probably give you some account of it.

P. S. I have been watching with great care the return of our comet, but as yet I have discovered nothing of it: I observe too, with a very indifferent glass, several large round spots on the sun's disk, and am far from being certain that it is not one of them: but I shall not alarm you any more with this subject.

LETTER XXIX.

Palermo, July 10.

ON Sunday, the 8th, we had the long expected sirocco wind, which, although our expectations had been raised pretty high, yet I own it greatly exceeded them. Ever since we came to our new lodging, the thermometer has stood betwixt 72 and 74; at our old one, it was often at 79 and 80; so great is the difference betwixt the heart of the city and the sea-shore. At present, our windows not only front to the north, but the sea is immediately under them, from whence we are constantly refreshed by a delightful cooling breeze. Fri