First Principle be true. Miracles to
the Catholic are historical facts, and nothing short of this; and
they are to be regarded and dealt with as other facts; and as
natural facts, under circumstances, do not startle Protestants, so
supernatural, under circumstances, do not startle the Catholic. They
may or may not have taken place in particular cases; he may be unable
to determine which, he may have no distinct evidence; he may suspend
his judgment, but he will say 'It is very possible;' he never will
say 'I cannot believe it.'

"Take the history of Alfred; you know his wise, mild, beneficent, yet
daring character, and his romantic vicissitudes of fortune. This
great king has a number of stories, or, as you may call them, legends
told of him. Do you believe them all? no. Do you, on the other hand,
think them incredible? no. Do you call a man a dupe or a block-head
for believing them? no. Do you call an author a knave or a cheat who
records them? no. You go into neither extreme, whether of implicit
faith or of violent reprobation. You are not so extravagant; you see
that they suit his character, they may have happened: yet this is
so romantic, that has so little evidence, a third is so confused in
dates or in geography, that you are in matter of fact indisposed
towards them. Others are probably true, others certainly. Nor do you
force every one to take your view of particular stories; you and your
neighbour think differently about this or that in detail, and agree
to differ. There is in the museum at Oxford, a jewel or trinket said
to be Alfred's; it is shown to all comers; I never heard the keeper
of the museum accused of hypocrisy or fraud for showing, with
Alfred's name appended, what he might or might not himself believe to
have belonged to that great king; nor did I ever see any party of
strangers who were looking at it with awe, regarded by any
self-complacent bystander with scornful compassion. Yet the curiosity
is not to a certainty Alfred's. The world pays civil honour to it on
the probability; we pay religious honour to relics, if so be, on the
probability. Is the Tower of London shut against sight-seers, because
the coats of mail and pikes there may have half-legendary tales
connected with them? why then may not the country people come up in
joyous companies, singing and piping, to see the Holy Coat at Treves?
There is our Queen again, who is so truly and justly popular; she
roves about in the midst of tradit