M I R 
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The Romans attribute miracles to their emperors Adrian 
and Vefpafian. The church of Rome abounds in mira¬ 
cles : if we believe their writers, fome of their monks have 
wrought more miracles than all the apoftles; and this 
without any vilible neceffity for them. 
Mr. Hume has confronted the miracle of Vefpafian re¬ 
lated by Tacitus, that performed in a Spanifti church, and 
related by cardinal de Retz, and the cures faid to be per¬ 
formed at the tomb of the abbe Paris, in the early part 
of the laft century, with thofe of the New Teftament. 
With refpedt to the latter miracles, we may qbferve, that 
the patients who frequented the abbe’s tomb were fo af- 
fefted with their devotion, their expeftation of relief, the 
place, the folemnity, and above all, by the fympathy of 
the tiirrounding multitude, that many of them were 
thrown into violent convulfions, which convulfions, in 
certain inltances, produced a removal of diforders oc- 
cafioned by obftruftion. The above account may now 
be admitted with lefs difficulty, becaufe the fame or fimi- 
lar effe&s have been experienced in the operations of 
animal magnetifm , as related under the article Juggling, 
vol. xi. p. 493. 
As full as the Romilh church has pretended to be of 
faints, it has been a rule with them, that none ffiould be 
ever can®nized till there be a good proof of their having 
wrought miracles: fo that, were all thofe allowed to be 
good miracles, and to have happened out of the com¬ 
mon order of nature, they are fo numerous, that one 
would be tempted to think there was no order or law of 
nature at all. 
Some Proteftant writers have maintained, that the power 
of working miracles was exercifed in the Chriftian church 
during the three or four firft centuries; in proof of which 
they allege that of the thundering legion, &c. But Dr. 
Middleton, in his Free Inquiry into the miraculous Powers 
which are laid to have fubfifted in the Chriftian Church, 
&c. has maintained a very different opinion. And it 
muft be acknowledged, that the evidence of the fafits is, 
to fay the lealt of it, very doubtful. See Legion, vol. xii. 
P-4-5I- „ ... 
The many and ftupendous miracles which are faid to 
have been wrought by the Chriftian miffionaries, who 
were lent to convert the barbarous nations, in the eighth 
century, have loft, in our times, the credit they obtained 
in former ages. St. Auguftine is a ftrong advocate for 
miracles. He mentions leveral, of which lie w-as an eye- 
witnefs; and others, of which he was informed by thofe 
that were. In the fingle city of Hippo, he tells us there 
were feventy miracles wrought in the fpace of two years, 
on the building of a chapel in honour of St. Stephen. 
There are thofe, however, who fet afide the authority of 
all miracles j thinking it unbecoming the wifdom of God 
to eftablilh fuch laws as that he fhould find it frequently 
neceffary to fuperfede. And, as the former, from the 
avorved authority of fome miracles, bring an argument 
for the truth of all, pleading thofe which are allowed as 
well as thole which are queftioned; fo thefe allege the 
falfe ones, very unfairly, as conclufions againft all. But 
we Hi all defift from enlarging this article with further ar¬ 
guments, becaufe we think that few of our readers in 
this Chriftian country and in this enlightened age do 
really dilbelieve the miracles recorded in the Old and New 
Teftament. Thofe who are inclined to doubt, or who 
wilh not to believe, will of courle read with pleafure 
Hume and Gibbon ; but we hope they will alfo, in can¬ 
dour, read Campbell and Paley. 
MIR'ACLE, /'. A l’pefitacle, or fort of dramatic enter¬ 
tainment, representing the lives of faints'and the molt 
eminent fcriptural ftories; known in England, according 
to Mr. Warton, for more than two centuries before the 
reign of Edward the Second. So, in France: “ Miracle, 
piece de notre ancien theatre, qui, par fuite, fut appelee 
ini/l'tire, parce qu'on y traitoit des fujets de religion.” 
Roquefort, Glolfi. Lang. Rom. See Mystery. 
M I It 
Therfore made I my vifitations 
To vigilies, and to proceffions. 
To plays of miracles, and manages. Chaucer's Wife of Bath, 
We haunten no tavernes, ne hobelen abouten ; 
Att markets and miracles we medeley us never. 
P. PI. Creede. 
To MIR'ACLE, v. a. To make wonderful. Notinnfe: 
Who this fhould be, 
Doth miracle itfelf, lov’d before me. Shahefpeare's Cynib. 
MIR'ACLE-MONGER, f. A pretender to the per¬ 
formance of miracles ; an impoftor.—The two miracle - 
1nongers had not been above a minute in the holy fepul- 
cher, when the glimmering of the holy fire was feen, or 
imagined to appear, through fome chinks of the door; 
and certainly Bedlam itfelf never faw fuch an unruly 
tranfport, as was produced in the mob at this fight. 
Maundrell's Travels. 
To MIRAC'ULIZE, v. a. To conftrue into a miracle. 
—You are fearching heaven and earth for prodigies, and 
ftudying to miraculize every thing. Shaftejbury. 
MIRAC'ULOUS, adj. Done by miracle ; produced by 
miracle ; effected by power more than natural.—Arith¬ 
metical progreffion might eafily demonflrate how fail man¬ 
kind would increafe, overpaying as miraculous, though 
indeed natural, that example of the Ifraelites, who were 
multiplied in two hundred and fifteen years from feventy 
unto fix hundred thoufand able men. Ralegh’s JEffitys.— 1 
At the firft planting of the Chriftian religion, God was 
pleafed to accompany it with a miraculous power. Tillotfon. 
Why this ftrength 
Miraculous yet remaining in thofe locks ? 
His might continues in thee not for naught. Milton. 
MIRACULOUSLY, adv. By miracle; by power above 
that of nature.—It was the lingular providence of God, 
to draw thofe northern heathen nations down into thofe 
Chriftian parts, where they might receive Chriftianity,and 
to mingle nations fo remote miracnloujly to make one 
blood and kindred of all people, and each to have know¬ 
ledge of him. Spenfcr on Ireland. 
MIRAC'ULOUSNESS, f. The ftate of being effefted 
by miracle ; fuperiority to natural power.—The tniracu- 
loujuefs of fuch appearances will be no longer urged as an 
argument againft their poffibility. Weft on the Refurreflion. 
MIRADO'R, f. [Span, from tnirar, to look.] A bal¬ 
cony ; a gallery whence ladies fee ftiows : 
Mean time your valiant fon, who had before 
Gain’d fame, rode round to every mirador ; 
Beneath each lady’s ftand a ftop he made. 
And, bowing, took tli’ applaules which they paid. Dry den. 
MIRADOU'X, a town of France, in the department 
of the Gers: feven miles north-eaft of Leftoure, and thir¬ 
teen fouth of Agen. Lat. 44. N. lon.o. 50. E. 
MIRAFLOR'ES, a town of South America, in the pro¬ 
vince of Tucuman, on the Salado: eighty miles north- 
north-eaft of St. Miguel de Tucuman. 
MIRAFLOR'ES, a town of Peru, in the audience of 
Lima : eight miles fouth of Lima. 
MIRAFLOR'ES, or Sana. See Sana. 
MIRA'GE,yi A name given by the French failors to an 
optical phenomenon, on which M. Monge read a memoir 
to the inftitute at Cairo, during the French invaiion of 
Egypt, and alluded to under that article, vol. vi. p. 386. 
It often happens at fea, that a ffiip feen at a diftance ap¬ 
pears as if painted in the ik) r , and not to be lupported by 
the water. A fi.hilar eftefit was obferved by the French 
in the courfe of their march through the defect: the vil¬ 
lages feen at a diftance feemed to be built on an ifland in 
the middle of a lake. In proportion as they approached, 
the apparent furface of the water became narrower ; when 
they were only at a Imall diftance, it difappeared, and the 
fame 
