1797] 
are worthy the moft exalted intelledts, 
and may be faid to conftitute a great part 
of their happinefs. Every circumftance 
which the pafling uncertainty of the 
world prefents, imprefles them with the 
aweful, but confolatory admonition, 
“ Iynocui vivite, numen ade.’ Will 
your correfpondent contend, that minds 
hike thefe would be improved by the 
practice of hero-worthip ? 
' T am furprifed that he did not adduce 
in favour of his opinions, the fentiments 
of a writer fo popular as Rouffeau. Asa 
proof of my candour, I -fhall prefent him 
with a quotation, which 1 doubt not 
he will approve :— 
“Il eft certain qu'il faut fe fatiguer 
«© me pour l’élever aux fublimes idées 
« de la Divinité; un culte plus fentible 
*‘ repofe Vefprit du peuple. Il aime 
** qu’on lui offre des objets de picté qui 
* le difpenfent de penfer a Dieu. Sur 
¢* ces maximes, les Catholiques ont-ils 
‘¢ mal fait de remplir leurs légendes, 
s¢ leurs calendriers, leurs églifes, de pe- 
‘¢ tits anges, de beaux garcons & de jolies 
S¢ faintes? ~ L’enfant Jefus, entre les 
‘6 bras d’une mere charmante & modefte, 
© eft en méme-tems un des plus touchans 
‘© & des plus agréables {peétacles que 
‘‘ la dévotion Chreétienne puiffe oftrir 
s* aux yeux des fidéles.”’ 
Fulie, Tome iv.—Note, page 10. 
~~ 
To the above I reply— 
That, although the fublimity of our 
jdeas may fatigue the mind, to rejeét or 
difregard them on that account, is the 
act only of infenfibility or lazinefs. 
That a worfhip which appeals forcibly 
tothe fenfe of the people, may have fome 
claim to preference as a popular religion, 
but will not obtain the entire fuffrages of 
enlightened minds, who confider fuch 
aids as only calculated for the pupillage 
of intellect. 
That the introduétion of more cere- 
monies than are neceflary, is injurious to 
the caufe which it is intended to promote ; 
and, if it relieves the mind, it is only 
becaule it allures it from its proper object. 
The iifant Jefus, in the arms of a 
modeft and beautiful mother, although an 
object at once interefting and agreeable, 
would appear more in its place in the 
reforts of pleafure, than in the temple of 
devotion, and is better calculated for the 
fummer-houfe than the altar. 
If devotion be referved for the only 
objeét to whom it is due, it is the more 
hkely to be fervent and fincere. If it be 
fuffered to diverge, it will become faint 
and nugatory. ©” — | | 
Here Wor fhip.e Ruins at Portici. 
345 
Hero-worfhip, as far as it has falled 
under my obfervation, has never han 
any tendency of that fublime nature 
which Mr. Hume afferts it is calculated 
to promote. It may, perhaps, be venial 
in the church of Rome, where it is ob- 
{cured by greater, or, at leaft, by more 
dangerous abfurdities; but the writer 
muit excufe me, when I acknowledge, 
that although the motive may originally 
be noble, it often leads to the moft pitis 
ful methods of perpetuating refpeG. I 
hope I may be allowed to {mile when a 
fanatic prefents me with a filver lock of 
the celebrated Jacob Behmen; ora me- 
thodift with the buckles of John Wef- 
ley; and I have reafon to believe, that 
the combers’ proceffion, in honor of 
Bithop Blaze, is only valued tby the 
devotees for the opportunity it affords of 
a pious revel. Your’s, &c. 
March 14, 1797. Be: Se 

For the Montbly Magazine. 
SKETCHES of OBSERVATIONS MADE 
IN A JouRNEY THROUGH ITALY 
IN 1790) } 
On the Manuferipts and other Antiquities 
preferved inthe Mufeum at Portics, 
| Continued from our laf. | 
H*? the degree of heat been there, 
~~ as at Herculaneum, only fufficient to 
parch, without deftroying, the papyrus, 
what ancient work of genius might we 
not have hoped to difcover, in a town 
near a mile and a half in circuit, involy- 
ed in fuch fudden ruin, that many of the 
inhabitants, far from attending to the re- 
moval of their books, either wanted time 
or prudence to fecure their perfons !— 
The ikeletons of fome are found in the. 
cellars, a hopelefs refuge, fince they were 
fure of a {peedy fuffocation ; others are 
difcovered on their threfholds, where, no 
doubt, they ftood, with the forlorn hope 
of feeing a timely end put to the dread- 
ful diitemper of the atmofphere ; and 
{ome are detected in the innermoft re- 
ceffes of their dwellings, locked in each 
other’s arms, in all the affeétionate agony 
of defpair. Thefe fad relics excite no 
concern in the breafts of the human 
brutes employed to difencumber the 
buildings. ‘They fpoke of the affecting 
fituations of the dead, with the mot 
beaftly unconcern ; and were much di- 
verted at my pocketing two or three 
vertebre of an. unfortunate cook, who- 
perifhed in the midft of her kitchen 
utenfils. One of them took occafioa to 
fay, that ““f was come a great way to: 
fetch a forry commodity’ —(per cercar 
rova cattiva » No idea, however, feems 
mre 
