s French Clergy.—Mr.-Robinfon and King Fames  [Feb. 15. 
The fubject will probably be deemed 
worthy of the attention which I have re- 
quefted, when it be confidered how highly 
injurious the abovementioned notion, (of 
the propriety of ufing at firft the deepett 
glaffes which the eye will admit,) mutt 
he, if general experience prove (and which 
I ftrongly fufpect it will) that facts di- 
rectly contrary to thofe upon which this 
advice is given, take place. / 
Yours, &c. 
Myops. 
. ——S— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
OBSERVE in a late number of your 
Magazine, that a writer who, under the- 
fignature of Gaipus, has givena difgraceful 
anecdote of Talleyrand, has alfo madea 
fideftroke at thofe of the French clergy, 
who have quitted their afylum in this 
country to refume their functions in their 
ewn. Hecalls them ‘* vipers, the fore- 
mott to fting, and emulous of each other 
in their prayers for the Corfican defpot’s 
fuccefs in invading and defolating Eng- 
Jand!” I prefume that the charge againft 
them of peculiar forwardnefs in this bufi- 
nefs is not to be rigoroufly underftood, and 
that no more is meant than that they aa& 
in correfpondence with the reft of their 
order. Now, not to urge that thefé priefts 
may really (with the mafs of their country- 
men) fuppofe that England is the aggreffor 
in this war, and may regard their duty to 
their native land as paramount te grati- 
tude for another—not to infift upon this 
coufideration—I- would afk, how can a 
clergy eftablifhed and paid by a ftate, act 
otherwife in public concerns, than as the 
ftate bids them? Do they not everywhere 
blefs aud curfe, preach and pray, accord- 
ing to the injunétions of that power which 
maintains them for its own fupport, jult 
as it does every other fpecies of ftanding 
force? Have we any inttances, now-a- 
days, of a prieft or a prophet who, like 
honeft Balaam, hefitates to devote a pub- 
lic foe to deitrudtion till he has received a 
{pecial commiffion for it? If the French 
emigrant clergy were juftifiable in return. 
ing to their poits when the confular repub- 
lic had been univerfally acknowledged as 
one of the regular governments in Europe, 
(which none, I believe, but a few bigots 
haye difputed), it became a part of their 
duty to act with refpeét to the new go. 
vernment as they would have done to the 
old. They were formerly the advocates 
for paffive obedience in fubje&ts, and they 
muft be fo now—they formerly denounced 
judgments againft all the enemies of the 
grand monargue, and they muft now do fo 
2 
againft thofe of the grand conful. More- 
over, they can fcarcely be thought fimple 
enough to imagine that prayers digtated 
frem a political cabinet will have any 
effect in influencing the divine decrees ; 
fo that their fentiments of gratitude to- 
wards their Englith friends, need not re- 
ceive any violent fhock from a con{fci- 
oufsefs of the mifchief they are doing us. 
Heartily do I with that the French had 
no ftronger arms to affail us with; for 
though I am not fure that our volunteers 
will be able to out-fight them, I have no 
doubt that we have plenty of thofe who 
can out-pray them. Your’s, &c. 
ike aS. 
ee a cate 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, ‘: 
Wie entering into any dif 
’ cuffion on the character of the late. 
Mr. Robinfon of Cambridge, I thall only 
obferve, that his Le&tures on Noncon- 
formity, which I read many years ago, 
firuck me as a moft violent patty per. 
formance, full of the credulitygand ma- 
lignity which never fail’ to accompany 
bigotry, whatever be the fide it takes. 
Among other calumnies, the credit given 
to the horrid charge againft James I. of 
having caufed his eldeft fon, Prince Hen- 
ry, to be poifoned, particularly thocked 
me, as I happened to be furnifhed with 
ab{olute proof that it was totally ground- 
lefs. In the medical works of Sir Theo- 
dore Mayerne is a minute narration of 
the difeafe of this prince, which was a 
putrid fever of three weeks duiation; 
and the treatment of which exhibits the 
whole range of praétice in fuch cafes, as it 
then exifted. The names of the other 
medical attendants are mentioned, the 
whole train of fymptoms, and the ap- 
pearances on diflection, are accurately 
ftated, and not.a fhadow of doubt can 
remain on the authenticity of the relation. 
T muft, however, do Mr. Robinfon and 
his brother Nonconformifts the juftice to 
fay, that they were not the only believers 
and propagatofs of this calumny againft — 
King James. In Dodfley’s Colieétion of 
Poems, (vol. iti.) is «An Epiftle from 
Florence, by the Honourable [Horace 
Walpole,]’” which contains a fketch, b 
no means flattering, of the Englith kings. 
That of James I. is highly fatirical, and 
ends with this line— 
** Poifon’d one fon, and tother fent to Spain.” 
But Mr. Cole might fay of this writer, 
« The dog was a.whig ;’’ and, doubtlefs, 
whig-lies may well be.matched again 
tory and jacobite lies. <. Your's, &c. 
N,N. 
Te 
