‘A Dialogue in Empyreum, between Louis XVI. and Charlesl. 35§ 
numerous enough to war fuccefsilly 
with ‘an abufe, without affiftance; and 
the unjuft have fome immediate end to 
ferve by its extirpation, which renders 
the tolerance ofdelay infupportable. 
L. Then’ it will always happen in 
great events, that— 
~C. General caufes every where operate 
alike. We both fell fhort of money from 
circumftances unavoidable. We both 
affembled the deputies of the people’ to 
obtain more. We both found them de- 
termined to buy privileges for their con, 
tributions ; and, not relifhing the terms, 
we both tried to break off bargaining, and 
found them the firongeft— 
L. We did not draw back before the 
antaconift.became fo palpably infolent— 
C. Louis, it is the lait. prejudice we 
doff in thefe etherial feats—to be afhamed 
oi pleading guilty to the meaner -vites. 
We were both tainted with infincerity. 
Our foes never knew wherewith we would 
be content; and, therefore had, in every 
fituation, to multiply their precautions 
againit us. 
L. You were born in an age when the 
higheft thought much of kings; I, when 
the lowelt thought little of them. By 
early and moderate conceflions, therefore, 
you might have ‘retained a more than 
reafonable fhare of power. 
C, Brought up as kings, if was natu- 
ral for us both to over-rate alike that fhare 
of power which the general will would 
have vouchfafed. I fear there is, in this 
cafe, no other meafure of the reafonable. 
L. My facrifices have been fuch— 
C. As bore to the times the fame pro- 
portion with mine... You partook the 
philofophic temper of your age, I the chi- 
valrous fpirit of mine. You had indo- 
lence, and thought a reputation acquirable 
by commuting your power for a penfion. 
I. had aétivity, and fancied.my honour 
required that I fhould hand down iny 
patrimony of power undiminifhed to my 
fon ; but now I perceive, that,true honour 
confifts in the voluntary foregoing of un- 
reafonable privileges. 
L. That is, according to your own 
criterion, of thofe one cannot keep. 
'.C. OF thofe one cannot keep in con- 
formity with the general will,.with the 
public intereft: Opinions were, perhaps, 
in your time, fo mature, that true honour 
required a complete abdication of the 
crown. Yet, I do not believe the French 
nation fo far advanced in information. 
Prudence might have kept us both upon 
the throne. I fhould have made it the 
intereft of parliament not:to fhake the 
Prejudices which gave me importance by 
} 
’ 
y 
dividing with them my. power. .You 
fhould have made it the intereft of, dema- 
gogues to increafe your influence by joins 
ing in the overthrow of the privileged 
claffes. My country was ripe for arifto- 
eracy, where rank is power; I had to 
-preferve the prejudices of condition. 
Your country was ripe for democracy 
where opulence is empire ; you had to in- 
tereft each fucceflive adminiftration in en- 
circling you. Had you earned your pen- 
fion by .zeal—had you heen a Jacobin 
king, inftead of a rot fainéant, all had 
been well—But Doriflaus beckons. 
L. Leading hither the execrable Pel- 
letier. a 
C. Not {fo boifterous, Louis. Though 
your enemy, he was honeft. You have 
yet the paffions of earth. In time, you 
will acquire the equanimity of our fha- 
dowy dwellings. | 
ee 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
aN iGea Gopwin, in the life of his late 
IV wife, Mrs. Mary Wollftoncraft 
Godwin, fays, “* I believe it may be 
admitted as a maxim, that no perfon of a 
well furnifhed mind, that has fhaken off 
the implicit dubjeétion of youth, and is 
not the zealous partizan ofa fect, can 
bring himfelf to conform to the public and 
regular routine of fermons and prayers.” 
I cannot, however, admit, that this ob- 
fervation of Mr. Gopwun’s has any juft 
claim to be acknowledged as a maxim. 
Many of the firft and moft enlightened of 
the human ipecies have thought it their 
duty to attend public worfhip, and bave 
attended it with pleafure. Among the 
firm believers of the Chriftian religion in 
cur own country, and thofe who attended 
public worfhip, may be numbered Boyle, 
Newton, Locke, and Addifon. . Thefe 
men will not eafily be matched by the 
oppofers of revelation and of public wor- 
fhip. Itappears to me, that an attend- 
ance on public worfhip, when rationally 
performed, anddivefted of fuperftitious 
ceremonies, has a natural tendency not 
only to infpire a reverence of the Deity, 
but galio to promote a love of virtue, and 
the practice of benevolence. Its effects 
are beneficial to the heart, and to the 
manners. 
Rand in need of religious inftruction 
themfelves, may. fill think themtelves 
under an obligation to attend, from the 
reaionablenefs and propriety of public 
worfhip, and that their example may in- 
duce others to-attend, who ‘need: mora 
and religious inftruétion for the regula 
tion of their conduct. H. Ss. 
And thofe, who may not. 
