Eckius de Sa crif.Miff. p.43. offer'd for it, or no : At last, a Monk proved it out of Pfal. 72. v. 16. There fhall be a Handful of Corn in the Earth, upon the top of the Mountain. A Man fees nothing like Elevation in our English Version; but for your comfort, Mr. Bays, the Word Elevabitur is to be found in the Latin Tranflation; and then the Handful of Corn was immediately turned into a Wafer, and the Top of the Mountain was to paß current for the Priest's Head. Whether or no thefe Reasons were thought of, at the fame Moment as thofe Ceremonies commenc'd in the Church, or afterwards, as I imagine they were, is no great matter; for any one may fee, from the Abfurdity of them, that the Reason was rather made for the Ceremony, than the Ceremony for the Reason; fo that I cannot but apply an Ingenious Paffage in Monfieur Vaugelas, with a little alteration of the Words, upon this occafion : Ce'ft faire comme à la Fefte des Saturnales, où les Serviteurs eftoient fervis par leur Maiftres, la Devotion eftant comme la Maiftreffe, & les Ceremonies comme les Serviteurs. And the truth on't is, nothing elfe cou'd be expected, when Monks were the only Masters of the Ecclefiaftick Ceremonies, and brought in their adulterated Ore to the Papal Mint, to receive there a Canonical Stamp. They lived in Eafe, and Fed high, and mistook every Hypochondriac Fit for a Revelation; they had too much Ignorance and Stupidity, to affimulate (as the Phyficians term it) their Devotion; and therefore it broke out into Watchings, Dreams, Silences, Hours, Altars, Images, Murmurings, Rofaries, Unctions, Ashes, Palms, Beads, Croffes, Tapers, Holy Water, and fuch Scorbutic Humors, In the Addreffes which you pay to the Saints, (which is indeed the principal Depotion of your Church) a Man would find himself extreamly mistaken,if he expects to meet with any thing that is Rational and Solid: For admitting that that kind of Worship were allowable, yet the Choice that you make of your Saints, for Some little Refemblance or Fingling of his Name, is fo very Les Origines de la Langue Francoife, p. 8. ; Ridiculous, that it can admit of no Defence. An this has been curiously obferved by Monfieur Menage, the Hefychius of France, who upon the Word Acariaftre, has remark'd, that for the Conformity it bears to the Name of Acarius, therefore they made their Recourfe to that Saint for the Cure of this Malady. Ainfi on eft (says be) s'eft addreffé à Saint Mathurin pour les fous, quon appelle en Italien Matti; à Saint Eutrope pour les hydropiques; à Saint Auertin pour les vertigineux, qu'on appelloit autrefois Auertineux à Saint Mammard pour les maux de mammelles ; à Saint Main pour les rongnes des mains; à Saint Genou pour la goutte; à Saint Aignan pour la taigne; à Saint Clair pur le mal des yeux; à Saint Quen pour la furdité; à Saint Fenin, qui eft comme les payfans de Normandie appellent Saint Felix, pour ceux qui font tombez en chartre, ils appellent fenez; à Saint Atourny, c'eft Saint Saturnin, pour ceux à qui la tefte tourne. Par cette mefme raison on à eu recours pour les chofe égarées, qu'on appelle épaves, à Saint Antoine de Padoüe. I need not tranflate this Paffage into English, because most of the Fefts will be lost in the Tranflation: But for the Satiffaction of the English Reader, he's to imagine that the Saint is only chofen for the Conformity of the Name; as if our Sales-Men here in the City should chufe St. Francis de Sales for their Protector, and the Merchant-Adventurers Should pitch upon St. Bonaventure. And now I am difcourfing of the Saints, I have oftentimes admired, that fince you leave most of your Cities under their Protection, you never paid that Complement to them, which the Old Romans ufed to pay to their Tutelar Gods; I mean, that when you fit down before the Siege of any Place, you have not the Good Breeding to invite the Saint, to whofe Care the Town is committed, to a better Station, and beg his Pardon for disturbing him in his Quar Quarters. I wonder (1 fay) Mr. Bays, that fuch a thing was never practifed; both because there's a great Appearance of Civility in it, and because, as it has happened, the whole Form, tranfcribed out of the Old Roman Pontifical,is ftill to be found in Macrobius; Satur.1.3.c.9. and you know a Pagan Ceremony, if your Infallibility pleafes, is as eafily changed into a Chriftian Rite, as Agrippa's Pantheon was turned from a Temple of all the Gods, into a Church of all the Saints. от And this has led me to confider the Merits of your Canonization; which needs no formal Conviction, being one of the abfurdest Impoftures that the World ever knew. 'Tis an unaccountable thing how most of your Saints got into Heaven, and, to make them amends, when they are there, they are as unaccountably Worshipped. Indeed if preferring a Perfon to the Almanack, fignified only this, That on St. Dominic's Day it would be convenient to let Blood, and cut Corns; on St. Ignatius's Day to geld Hogs, drench Horfes; on St. Francis's Day to raife Melons, and Jow Cucumbers; that St. Xavier fhould prefide over fuch a Fair, or fuch a Market, it were no very great matter; we should never grudge them so small a Courtefie; but when we fee a Divine Adoration entailed upon them, immediately after their Preferment to the Calendar, we are naturally led to enquire, whether they deferved fo great an Honour, and whether the Perfon that advanced them to it, had the Authority to make the Promotion. Some of them I am fure, as St. Dominic for instance, were fad gloomy Wretches bere upon Earth; and unleß the Place has mightily altered them for the better, a Man of Senfe would bave very little Temptation upon him to wish himfelf in their Company. After all, I am afraid they have no more Right to the Place they poffeß, than the Pope had to give it ; for I never read that St. Peter left the Power of making Gods en Appanage, or by way of Portion to his Succeffor. As he is Pope, he has no more Title to Canonize, thanmy Lord Mayor has to confer the Honour of Knighthood; and there therefore, Mr. Bays, I would advise you for the fake of your Brother Poets, to take the Matter into your own bands; for originally, I am fure, the Poets only pretended to bestow fuch Favours; and what may ferve to bring them into Play again, they can Canonize a great deal cheaper than the Pope. Horace, you know, is very pofitive to the Point, Mufa vetat mori, Cœlo Mufa beat; part of which Ode I will translate, and so take my leave of you. I. From dark Oblivion, and the filent Grave, Th' indulgent Mufe does the Great Heroe fave; "Tis fhe, forbids his Name to die, And brings it to the Stars, and fticks it in the Sky. Thus Mighty Hercules did move, Not all his Twelve Exploits advanc'd him to the But 'twas the Poets Pain, and Labour brought him there. III. Thus the fam'd Spartan Twins did rife From Ornaments of Earth, the Glory of the Tho' Heav'n by turns, they do obtain, Yet in immortal Verfe the Brothers jointly reign, IV. And Bacchus too, for all his vain Pretence, Borrow'd his Crown, and Godhead hence: He by his Pow'rful Juice firft taught the Mufe to fly, And fhe in kind Requital, gave him Immortality. DIALOGUE DIALOGUE II. Will's COFFEE-HOUSE in Covent-Garden. Bays. Crites, Eugenius and Mr. Bays. W ELL Gentlemen, I find you are punctual to the Affignation, and now, if you pleafe, we'll fall to the Business in hand without any more Preface or Ceremony. You know, I promised to make you acquainted in the firft place with the Motives which obliged me to leave the Church of England, and afterwards to give you the Reasons why I fettled in the Romish Communion. This Method I defign to follow, because it will give us a full view of all the Controverted Points between both Parties; but I muft make bold to ask you one civil Question or two before-hand, fince it is fo material to our prefent Affair; and that is, Whether you have feen a famous Poem of mine, called The Hind and Panther? Crites. Seen it, Mr. Bays! Why, I can ftir no where but it purfues me; it haunts me worfe than a Pewter-Button'd-Serjeant does a decayed Cit: Some |