C HA. BA Cot ELBS, 
conversion, he consented to admit 
me into the yale of the church, 
and at his feet, on the 8th of June, 
1753, I solemr'y, though privately, 
abjured the er:ors of heresy. ‘Whe 
seduction cf .n English ide of 
family and fortune was an 2@ of as 
much danger as glory; but he 
bravely overlooked the danger, of 
which Iwas not then suthciently 
informed. ‘* Where a person ‘is 
reconciled to the see of Rome, or 
procures others to be reconciled, 
the offence (says Blackstone) a- 
mounts to high treason.”? And if 
the humanity of the age would 
prevent the execution of this san- 
guinary statute, there were other 
Jaws of a less odious cast, which 
condemned the priest to perpetual 
imprisonment, aud transferred the 
proselyte’s estate to his nearest re- 
Jation.. An elaborate controversial 
epistle, approved by my director, 
and addressed to my father, an- 
nounced and justified the step which 
Shad taken. My father was neither 
a bigot nor a philosopher; but his 
affection deplored the loss of an only 
son; and his good sense was asto- 
nished at my strange departure from 
the religion of my country.: In the 
first sally of his passion he divulged 
a secret which prudence might 
have suppressed, and the gates ” of 
Magdalen College were tor ever 
shut against my return. 
After carrying me to Putney, to 
the house of his friend Mr. Mal- 
Jet, by whose plilosophy I was ra- 
ther scandalized than reclaimed, it 
Was necessary for my father to form 
a new plan of education, and to de- 
vise some method which, if possi- 
ble, might effect the cure of my spi- 
ritual malady. After much debate 
it was determined, from the ad- 
Vice apd personal experience of Mgr. 
{331 
Eliot {now lord Eliot) to fix me 
during some years, at Lausanne in 
Switzerland. Mr. Frey, a Swiss 
gentleman of Basil, undertook the 
conduét of the journey: we left 
London the 19th of June, crossed 
the sea-from Dover to Calais, tra- 
velled post through several pro- 
vinces of France, by the direét 
road of St. Quentin, Rheims, 
Langres, and Besangon, and arrived 
the 30th of June at Lausanne, 
where I was immediately settled 
under the roof and tuition of Mr. 
Pavilliard, a Calvinist minister. 
‘The first marks of my’ father’s 
di:pleisure rather astonished than 
afflicted me: when he threatened ta 
banish, and disown, and disinhes 
rit a rebellious son, I cherished’ a 
secret hope that he would not be 
able or willing to effect his me- 
naces; and the pride of conscience 
encouraged me to sustain the ho. 
nourable and important part which 
I was now acting. My spirits were 
raised and kept alive by the rapid 
motion of my journey, the new and 
various scenes of the continent, and 
the civility of Mr. Frey, a man of 
sense, who was not ignorant of 
books or the world. Butafter he had 
resigned me into Pavilliard’s hands, 
and [ was fixed in my new habitat 
tion, I had leisure to’ contem- 
plare the strange and melancholy 
prospect before me. My first com. 
plaint arose from my ignorance. of 
the language. In my: childhood I 
had once studied the French gram- 
mar, and I could imperfectly un- 
derstand the easy prose of a famiHar 
subject. But when I was thus sud_ 
denly cast on a foreign land, J 
found myself deprived of the use of 
speech and of hearing ; and, during 
some weeks, incapable not only of 
enjoying the pleasures of conyersa- 
tion, 
