MISCELLANEOUS 
the medium of opinion. To com- 
-mand that opinion, the firft ftep is 
to eftablifh a dominion over thofe 
who direét it. “They contrived to 
poffefs themfelves, with great me- 
thod and perfeverance, of all the 
avenues to literary fame. Many 
of them indeed ftood high in the 
ranks of literature and fcience. The 
world had done them juftice; and 
in favour of general talents for- 
gave the evil tendency of their pe- 
culiar principles. This was true 
liberality ; which they returned by 
endeavouring to confine the reputa- 
tion of fenfe, learning, and tafte to 
themfelves or their followers. I 
will venture to fay that this nar- 
row, exclufive {pirit has not been 
Jefs prejudicial to literature and to 
tafte, than to morals and true phi- 
lofophy. Thefe Atheiftical Fathers 
have a bigotry of their own; and 
they have learnt to talk againft 
monks with the fpirit of a monk. 
But in fome things they are men 
of the world. ‘The refources of 
intrigue are called in to fupply the 
defeéts of argument and wit. To 
this fyftem of literary monopoly 
was joined an unremitting induftry 
to blacken and difcredit in every 
way, and by every means, all thofe 
who did not hold to their faction. 
To thofe who have obferved the 
fpirit of their conduét, it has long 
been clear that nothing was wanted 
but the power of carrying the in- 
tolerance of the tongue and of the 
pen into a perfecution which would 
ftrike at property, liberty, and life. 
The defultory and faint perfecu- 
tion carried on againft them, more 
_ from compliance with form and de- 
_ @ency than with ferious refentment, 
ESSAYS, we 
neither weakened their ftrength, nor 
relaxed their efforts. The iffue of 
the whole was, that what with op- 
pofition, and what with fuccefs, a 
violent and malignant zeal, of a 
kind hitherto unknown in the world, 
had taken an entire poffeffion of 
their minds, and rendered their 
whole converfation, which other- 
wife would have been pleafing and 
iaftructive, perfeétly difgufting. A 
fpirit of cabal, intrigue, and profe- 
lytifm, pervaded all their thoughts, 
words, and actions. And as con- 
troverfial zeal foon turns its thoughts 
on force, they began to infinuate 
themfelves into a correfpondence 
with foreign princes; in hopes, 
through their authority, which at 
firft they flattered, they might bring 
about the changes they Ca in view. 
To them it was indifferent whether 
thefe changes were to be accom- 
plifhed by the thunderbolt of def- 
potifm, or by the earthquake of po- 
pular commotion. The correfpon- 
dence between this cabal, and the 
late king of Pruffia, will throw no 
fmall light upon the fpirit of all 
their proceedings *. For the fame 
purpofe for which they intrigued 
with princes, they cultivated, in a 
diftinguifhed manner, the monied 
intereft of France ; and partly thro” 
the means furnifhed by thofe whofe 
peculiar offices gave them the moft 
extenfive and certain means of com- 
munication, they carefully occupied 
all the avenues to opinion. 
Writers, efpecially when they act 
in a body, and with one direction, 
have great influence on the public 
mind; the alliance therefore of thefe 
writers with the monied intereft 
had no {mall effect in removing the 
* I do not chufe to fhock the feeling of the moral reader with any quotation of 
their vulgar, bafe, and profane language. 
Vou. XXXII. 
K popular 
