d the chapel of this
Highland saint; who, in revenge, assisted his countrymen, in the French
service, to defeat the English at Bauge, and afterwards afflicted Henry
with the piles, of which he died. This prince complained, that he was
not only plagued by the living Scots, but even persecuted by those who
were dead.

I know not whether I may be allowed to compare the Romish religion to
comedy, and Calvinism to tragedy. The first amuses the senses, and
excites ideas of mirth and good-humour; the other, like tragedy, deals
in the passions of terror and pity. Step into a conventicle of
dissenters, you will, ten to one, hear the minister holding forth upon
the sufferings of Christ, or the torments of hell, and see many marks
of religious horror in the faces of the hearers. This is perhaps one
reason why the reformation did not succeed in France, among a volatile,
giddy, unthinking people, shocked at the mortified appearances of the
Calvinists; and accounts for its rapid progress among nations of a more
melancholy turn of character and complexion: for, in the conversion of
the multitude, reason is generally out of the question. Even the
penance imposed upon the catholics is little more than mock
mortification: a murderer is often quit with his confessor for saying
three prayers extraordinary; and these easy terms, on which absolution
is obtained, certainly encourage the repetition of the most enormous
crimes. The pomp and ceremonies of this religion, together with the
great number of holidays they observe, howsoever they may keep up the
spirits of the commonalty, and help to diminish the sense of their own
misery, must certainly, at the same time, produce a frivolous taste for
frippery and shew, and encourage a habit of idleness, to which I, in a
great measure, ascribe the extreme poverty of the lower people. Very
near half of their time, which might he profitably employed in the
exercise of industry, is lost to themselves and the community, in
attendance upon the different exhibitions of religious mummery.

But as this letter has already run to an unconscionable length, I shall
defer, till another occasion, what I have further to say on the people
of this place, and in the mean time assure you, that I am always--Yours
affectionately.

LETTER V

BOULOGNE, September 12, 1763.

DEAR SIR,--My stay in this place now draws towards a period. 'Till
within these few days I have continued bathing, with some advantage to
my