[ 200 ] 



fandion and authority which our author mentions, that the 

 hiftorians themfelves frequently relate them as doubtful. Miracles 

 on the contrary are fcarce ever mentioned by pagan hiftorians. 

 It is in countries perfedtly civilized, and in the mofl enlightened 

 periods, that thefe are faid to have been performed. Let them 

 [ happen where they may, it is the circumftances, occalion, and 

 teftimony that fupport them, which muft finally evince their 

 reality. 



Our author adds, " a judicious reader is apt to fay upon the 

 " perufal of thefe wonderful hiftorians, ftrange that fuch pro- 

 " digious events never happen in our days! but it is nothing 

 " ftrange I hope, that men fhould lie in all ages." Nor is it more 

 ftrange, that prefumptuous ignorance fhould in all ages deny the 

 moft certain fads. Witnefs the king of Siam already mentioned. 

 Many men of education denied, as I well remember, the poflibir- 

 lity of the elevation of balloons for feveral months after their 

 invention. Defcartes denied t"lie poffibility of Archimedes's burning 

 mirrors, fince verified by Buffon. The telefcopic difcoveries of 

 Galileo were looked upon by fome philofophers as idle dreams. 

 Jitter fubjcBs of derijion than of reafomng. Lord Bacon, as Hume 

 himfelf obferves, gave no credit to the Copernican fyftem. Many 

 prodigies mentioned by Livy, fuch as monftrous births, fire ap- 

 pearing on the points of fpears, have been alfo derided ; though 

 abundant proofs of fuch births may be feen in the volumes of 

 the tranfaflions of many Academies, and fire or lambent flame 



on 



