looked at except with the Eye of
Faith. Now the philosophers are borrowing an eye of Faith from the
theologians, and adding it on to their own microscope like another lens,
and they have detected a kind of Absolute, a sort of a Something, the
Higher Pantheism. I could never tell you all about it, and I don't even
know whether they have really put theology under the microscope, or only
theologians.'

'And the people worship St. George still?' asked Queen Mab, who, being
only a fairy, and owning no soul, had private theories of belief, based
merely on observation of popular customs.

'Oh yes, St. George and the Dragon. They have them both together on the
beads of their rosaries--the yellow things they count, and pray with, or
pay with.' said the Owl rather vaguely.

'St. George _and the Dragon!_ Why, St. George killed the Dragon.'

'Ah! the Dragon was not really killed.' said the Owl coolly. 'It was
only syncope, and he kept quiet for a time, and grew seven other heads
worse than the first. Some say St George worships the Dragon now,
himself; but people always are saying unpleasant things, and probably it
isn't true. At all events, the English worship St George and the Dragon
till they don't seem to know which is which.'

'What, has St George grown like the Dragon then?' cried Queen Mab
distractedly, wringing her hands.

'Oh no,' replied the Owl, with some condescending pity for the
foreigner's ignorance. 'But the Dragon has grown vastly like St.
George.'

'Is that all they worship?' said Queen Mab.

'Oh no, there are plenty of other patent religions. A hundred religions
and only one sauce--melted butter, as the Frenchman said, but the sauce
has outlived many of the patent religions.'

'I don't understand how religions are patent.' remarked her inquisitive
Majesty.

'We call it a patent religion.' said the Owl, 'when it has only been
recently invented, and is so insufficiently advertised, that it is
only to be found in a very few houses indeed, and is not a commodity in
general request. The Patentees then call themselves a Church, and devote
their energies to advertising the new "Cult," as they generally style
it. For example, you have Esoteric Buddhism, so named because it is not
Buddhism, nor Esoteric. It is imported by an American company with
a manufactory in Thibet, and has had some success among fashionable
people.'

'What do the Esoteric Buddhists worship?'

'Teacups and cigarettes, standing where t