loaded with a pack saddle: but we beg of you not to neglect the prophet Hosea, whom the Lord commanded “to take unto him a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms ;" and, some time after, to love an adultress, and he bought an adultress for fifteen pieces of silver, and a homer of barley, and half a homer of barley, chap. 3.

Nothing will contribute more, my dear brother, to form the minds of young persons, than able commentaries on these texts. Do not forget to calculate the value of the fifteen pieces of money: we are of opinion that they will amount to at least seven livres and a half, and you know that the capuchins get girls much cheaper than that.

We will now turn your attention to the New Testament. Firstyou will reconcile the two genealogies of Christ, which you will find the easiest thing in the world to do for the one is totally different from the other, and it is evident that this is a holy and admirable mystery. The good Calmet says very candidly, in speaking of the two genealogies of Melchesidech, As falsehood always betrays itself, some give his genealogy in one way and some in another." "He owns then," the unbelievers say, "that this enormous difference is an evident proof that the whole story is a lie." Very true, so far as Melchisedech is concerned; for he was only a man; but Jesus Christ was both man and God; of course, therefore, he must have two genealogies.

You will see how it happened that Mary and Joseph took their child into Egypt, according to Matthew, whereas Luke says they remained at Bethlehem ; and explain all the other sacred contradictions. Some very pretty things may be said respecting the water changed into wine at the wedding of Cana, when the guests were all drunk, for John the only one of the apostles who speaks of it, says oxpressly that they were: "et cum inebriate fuerint," says, the Vulgate. You had better read the "Questions of Zapata," upon the massacre of the innocents by Herod; upon the star of the three kings; and upon the fig-tree that was blasted for not bearing fruit, "when it was not the time for figs,” as the text says. The ham curers of Westphalia are surprised that Jesus should have sent the devil into the bodies of 2,000 swine, particularly as there were no swine in Judea; they say that if he had given them the swine, instead of sending the devil to them, they would have made more than 20,000 florins by them; that is, supposing they were fat.

When you shall have made these things all clear, we recommend to you, most earnestly, to set about a vindication of Luke, who, having been the last among the evangelists who wrote, and of course better informed than the rest of them, as he says, ought to be received with great respect. This respectable Lake assures us, that when Mary was ready to lie in, Cæsar Augustus commanded (in order that the prophecies might be fulfilled) a census to be taken of all the inhabitants of the world, and that Quirinus, governor of Syria, published that edict in Judea. Certain infidels, who unluckily are learned men, pretend that there is not a word of truth in this story; that Augustus never issued so ridiculous and extravagant an order; that Quirinus was not governor of Syria until ten years after the confinement of Mary; and that Luke was in all likelihood a block head, who, having heard that a census of Rome was made in the time of Augustus, and that Quirinus was governor of Syria after Varus, confounds events and dates; that he talks like a country booby, ignorant of what passes in the capital, and yet has the vanity to say that he is better informed than other people.

This is what the impious say; but do not heed them: think and speak only as the pious think and speak, and above all, do not forget to read those questions I have mentioned; they will clear up these difficulties, as well as all others; perhaps there is not one of them that might not puzzle a capuchin; but, with the grace of God for help, every think may be explained.

Do not fail to inform us, if you meet in your travels with any of those wretches who think lightly of the transubstantion, of the ascension, the assumption, the annunciation, and the inquisition, and who satisfy themselves with believing in God, with worshipping him in spirit and in truth, and with acting uprightly. You will easily recognize these monsters: they only aim at being good subjects, good sons, good husbands, and good fathers; they give alms to the poor, and none to the capuchins. There is no true religion but that which gives millions to the pope, and abundant alms to the capuchins. Finally, I commend myself to your prayers, and to those of the sacred little people who inhabit your beard.

ODE TO THE MEMORY OF THOMAS PAINE.

WHEN Oceans of blood through whole ages had flown,
Beneath the foul dagger of dread

Which base superstition held mask'd in her throne,
That swam in the blood she had shed,
Sad Reason, disgusted, far west bent her flight,
To shun so unhallowed a scene,

And saw with a smile in fair Liberty's light
Arise the pure spirit of PAINE.

No crown on his head, but a galaxy, shone
Of Truth in fair Freedom's defence;
The hearts of mankind were the patriot's throne,
And the sword that he used "Common Sense."
Hypocrisy's poinard was seen through its cloak,
As on the bright radiance he came,

And chains of oppression to ashes were broke
At the power-speaking sound of his name.
What sovereignty is, and from whence its true birth,
Oh, PAINE! 'twas thy pen that defin'd,

And show'd that no right is divine on this earth

But the glorious

66

Rights of Mankind."

When dark Superstition and Prejudice cease

To trammel the mind with their chain,

Amid an elysium of joy and of peace,

Blest man shall be grateful to PAINE.

SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR THE REV. ROBERT TAYLOR.

Amount already Advertised

BY MR. CARLILE:

John Watts

£127 6 0

£0 10 0

Cash received by a Jaryman, being his wages during 14 days' administration of justice, and which he thinks cannot be more beneficially employed than for the support of the Rev. Robert Taylor, now suffering under an unjust imprisonment.

A few well wishers of Bury, and its vicinity

1 12 0

0 14 3

Printed and Published by RICHARD CARLILE, 62, Fleet-street, where all Communications, post-paid, or free of expense, are requested to be lest.

No. 6. VOL. 2.] LONDON, Friday, August 8, 1828.

[PRICE 6d.

JOURNAL OF MR. CARLILE'S TOUR THROUGH THE COUNTRY.

Nottingham, August 5, 1828. I SPENT Monday, Tuesday, and the half of Saturday, last week, with Mr. Taylor, in Oakham Gaol. In addition to what I said of his situation last week, I can add, that he is by no means enamoured with imprisonment, and that he counts the days which will bring about his liberation. Oakham Gaol has so few prisoners in it, that the most dreary silence pervades it. It has all the stillness in it of a house of mourning or death; and this, to a mind so light and buoyant as that of Mr. Taylor's, accustomed to large assemblies, and to be the distinguished orator of those assemblies, is a very painful contrast and punishment. At present, his past habits and feelings struggle with his philosophy, and while the latter says you are very usefully situated as you are, the former says, I like the social life too well to bear imprisonment with pleasure. That he bears it bravely, better than he expected, and better than his friends expected, I can bear witness, and his printed as well as his private letters, bear witness to the same effect. An important consideration is involved in the question of Mr. Taylor's liberation, and that is, as to his recognizances. If these recognizances be enforced, and that they will be, unless a resolution to refuse them at all hazards be adopted, is next to certainty, they involve a double consideration, either that Mr. Taylor shall or shall not be mentally and orally shackled, or whether his mind shall be imprisoned after the body quits Oakham Gaol. I am for one of two points, either that the government shall set him free from all recognizances, or that his friends shall give the bond and risk it, on the ground

Printed and Published by R. CARLILE, 62, Fleet Street. No. 6.-VOL. 2.

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of giving him an entire mental freedom, to act as he shall think best. I am, at any rate, for his entire freedom of speech and pen, as soon as he shall leave Oakham Gaol, even if it shall cost five hundred pounds. If he liked imprisonment better, the question of refusing to give any recognizances, would stand in another light.

The remainder of the last week, I passed most pleasantly with Mr. Drakard, the high spirited proprietor of the Stamford News, and brought him with me, or was brought by him, from Stamford to Oakham, to visit the reverend prisoner. In passing from Oakham to Stainford, I was most agreeably struck with the neat appearance of a village, which, on enquiry, I found to be Empingham, and the property of Sir Gilbert Heathcote. Here, every building and wall was found so clean, so sound, and so well looking, that, in relation to our general villages, it was a sort of fairy land. On enquiry, I found, that Sir Gilbert was a most excellent landlord, and generally a very superior character as a man. In addition to the keeping of the tenements of this village, in the very best state of repair and cleanliness, he allows each cottager pasture land for two cows, so that there is not the least appearance of want of the necessaries and even of the comforts of life in this neighbourhood.

With the exception of Mr. Drakard, Stamford was to me a blank town; but this gentleman was not only my host, but in himself, worth a host of ordinary friends. I have long seen and acknowledged the great utility of his well conducted paper, and, in conjunction with the Bolton Chronicle, it deservedly ranks as the best and boldest provincial journal, giving not only a high political tone to a large district, but from its long standing, and the determined spirit of its proprietor has been mainly instrumental, in relation to the country at large, in working out that improved state, as to the freedom of the press, which we now enjoy. By his great industry and very close attention to business, Mr. Drakard is one of the very few among the class of reformers, who has secured to himself a comfortable independence, and who feels the high gratification, as he advances in life, of having spent the past alike honourably and usefully.

Finding the Leeds Mail filled for Nottingham, on the Sunday morning, I had no alternative but to go round to Leicester, to reach Nottingham, and Oakham as a town to be in, is as dull, and as much an imprisonment, as to be confined within the walls of the gaol. Having no admission to the latter place on the Sunday, I placed myself on the mail for Leicester, and, in the three or four hours that I stopped there, met with a few very agreeable friends, one of whom I had long known, and another my very clever correspondent, O. H. a young man of great promise. I had no incidents on the road, worthy of mention in a political sense. On the Friday, I was riding by the spot on which

(

Fotheringay Castle stood, and I ascended the mound that remains of it, to contemplate the spot on which Mary Queen of Scots was basely murdered, after having been most religiously insulted by that genuine priest, the Dean of Peterborough. If no other villainy had stained the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that would have placed her among the crowned wretches of the earth, who have reigned to torture those subject to their power.

In riding from Oakham to Leicester, I passed Kirby Lodge, the hunting box belonging to Sir Francis Burdett, from which, in one of his politically useful fits, he wrote his famous letter on the subject of the Manchester massacre.

I was a solitary traveller on the mail, until within three miles of Leicester, when we found waiting, by previous agreement with the driver, and took up, five very fine young women. Excepting that one of them had acquired the old maidish defect of a spoiling, because an unmarried, face, they were such countenances, with such eyes, that, if the law allowed it, one might have very wisely fallen in love with the whole of them.

I shall have a somewhat active life in Nottingham, the particulars of which I reserve for the next number. Last night I was warmly engaged with friends and friendly opponents at the Sir Isaac Newton's Head. This night I have a similar prospect at the Duke of York. To-morrow I expect to meet Mr Gilbert, one of the very zealous Christian preachers of this town; indeed, I see before me warm work for a week, but it happens to be a pleasant warfare, a sort of trade, the great end of which is to set morality above religion, and to show that the former is not a principle dependent upon the latter.

RICHARD CARLILE.

MARRIAGE.

THE following curious law case in France has gone the round of the English newspapers. The novelty of the question makes it a fit subject for discussion, in every country; but I am so far proud of England as to say, that such a case would have been here very differently decided. I think that it ought to have been differently decided in France, and, after inserting the case, i will give my reasons for that opinion.

A case has recently been heard before the Cour Royale of Riom, which, from its bizarre nature and extraordinary details, is fully entitled to occupy a distinguished place amongst the Causes Celebres.-The plaintiff's counsel, after alluding to the embarrassments and difficulties under which he laboured, in having to develope so singular and delicate a case, proceeded to state the facts in the following manner:-Francis Fressange and Mary Gaudebreuf, both belonging to the class of wealthy farmers, were born in the same village, and in the year, and lived unmarried until the age of 45, when their mutual friends unfortunately resolved to bring them together in wedlock. The marriage ceremony took place, and after the rejoicings and