the dead, and the tremendous mystery of the sacrifice of
the body and blood of Christ, which insensibly swelled into the prodigy
of transubstantiation. In these dispositions, and already more than half
a convert, I formed an unlucky intimacy with a young gentleman of our
college, whose name I shall spare. With a character less resolute,
Mr.--- had imbibed the same religious opinions; and some Popish books,
I know not through what channel, were conveyed into his possession. I
read, I applauded, I believed the English translations of two famous
works of Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, the Exposition of the Catholic
Doctrine, and the History of the Protestant Variations, achieved my
conversion, and I surely fell by a noble hand. I have since examined
the originals with a more discerning eye, and shall not hesitate
to pronounce, that Bossuet is indeed a master of all the weapons of
controversy. In the Exposition, a specious apology, the orator assumes,
with consummate art, the tone of candour and simplicity; and the
ten-horned monster is transformed, at his magic touch, into the
milk-white hind, who must be loved as soon as she is seen. In the
History, a bold and well-aimed attack, he displays, with a happy mixture
of narrative and argument, the faults and follies, the changes
and contradictions of our first reformers; whose variations (as he
dexterously contends) are the mark of historical error, while the
perpetual unity of the catholic church is the sign and test of
infallible truth. To my present feelings it seems incredible that
I should ever believe that I believed in transubstantiation. But my
conqueror oppressed me with the sacramental words, "Hoc est corpus
meum," and dashed against each other the figurative half-meanings of
the protestant sects: every objection was resolved into omnipotence; and
after repeating at St. Mary's the Athanasian creed, I humbly acquiesced
in the mystery of the real presence.

"To take up half on trust, and half to try,
Name it not faith, but bungling bigotry,
Both knave and fool, the merchant we may call,
To pay great sums, and to compound the small,
For who would break with Heaven, and would not break for all?"

No sooner had I settled my new religion than I resolved to profess
myself a catholic. Youth is sincere and impetuous; and a momentary glow
of enthusiasm had raised me above all temporal considerations.

By the keen protestants, who would gladly retaliate