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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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bs Pope , Watts or * ' Johnson , was •« conversantXfrom his earliest years with the finest models of ancient and modern literature 5 " but when we rekd the same of" a youth" are we to believe that , at six or seven years of age , he was deep-read in Homer , Milton and Swift > " The beauties
anrd force of divine truths" should , of course , be beauty . Is it correct to say that * ' the virtues of the heart cheer our suffering moments with resignation and faith" ? Should it not be , * resignation and faith cheer the suffering moments of the virtuous heart" ?
Towards the close , we have death swallowed up in victory : " and , by way of climax , " a tear swallowed up in the bosom of pity" i I have thus endeavoured to shew , that this inscription does not merit the high encomium that has been bestowed upon it . But my chief
motive in addressing you , is to inquire , upon what principle it is that epitaphs are usually divided into long and short lines ; and what rules are laid down , upon competent authority , for our guidance in that particular ? Is it that the eye requires to be relieved from the mass of letters which
would crowd upon the sight , if the words were in an unbroken form ? If so , then , I think it would be better to select the most important words , to stand alone in a line , than , as in the case before us , to give the post
of honour to ** for , but , amidst , hence , scene , of life , and , zve bid , till , o ' er . " Indeed , in Mr . B . ' s inscription , the utmost laxity , not to say disorder , prevails , in the distribution of the words ; and , if it be done according to rule , it is a rule which * would be
" more honoured in the breach than in the observance . " But , upon this subject , 1 confess myself ignorant of the existence , of any rules ; and if some one of your numerous Correspondents would state where they may be found , if such do exist , he will confer a favour on , H . X . —^^—
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Hackney , Sir , February 1 , 1819-THE following narrative ( translated from JLlorente ' s History of * he Inquisition ) will derive additional interest from its comparatively tao-
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dem date . It is not necessary fo anticipati the emotions it will excite by any introductory observations . J- B , In 1791 , Michael Maffite des Rieux was accused before the Spanish Inquisitors of infidelity . On being interrogated , he replied , with the utmost unreserve , that he had been educated
m the Catholic religion , which lie * had professed till vVithin the last five years , at which period the writings of Rousseau , Voltaire and other philosophers , satisfied him that the only
true religion , is the religion of nature , all other forms of faith being the inventions of men ; that in his researches he had been guided only by a love of ' truth—that he was still
open to conviction , and should esteem that man his friend who would convince him of any error . Magi ( afterwards Bishop of Almeria ) offered to confer with him , and after long discussions he succeeded in proving to
him the importance , and even the necessity , of a divine revelation . €€ I am subdued , ( said the ingenuous disputant , ) you are right , or else your powers of reasoning are stronger than mine . " In this state of mind he
requested to be again received into the communion of the Church , and earnestly solicited his liberty , always asserting , - however , that his conduct ( far from criminal ) had been meritorious ; as he had but followed the
dictates of an honest judgment in renouncing Christianity , and with equal honesty he had now submitted to its evidences . As the Inquisition ( he said ) possessed the right of punishing obstinate heresy alone , he claimed his freedom , ' as his errors had never come
under that description . It is the system of the inquisitors to promise indulgence and mercy to those whose confessions are sincere and unreserved . Of his honesty and
veracity the prisoner had given a thousand proofs ; he had asserted again and again that his system of faith had never altered his views of moral obligation , and that deceit and falsehood he had
always abhorred . Every inquiry he answered with open , unsuspecting simplicity , hoping for a secret reconciliation and an easy punishment , if indeed punishment were inflicted at all . He fancied he ' should again go forth from the prisons of theJnqui-
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^ l modern Vict im of the Inquisition . 01
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1819, page 91, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1769/page/23/
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