thin what follows:

'Men and Brethren. Whoever shall find this letter, will take it as a
warning to join, without delay, the friends of Lord George Gordon. There
are great events at hand; and the times are dangerous and troubled. Read
this carefully, keep it clean, and drop it somewhere else. For King and
Country. Union.'

'More seed, more seed,' said Gashford as he closed the window. 'When
will the harvest come!'

Chapter 37

To surround anything, however monstrous or ridiculous, with an air of
mystery, is to invest it with a secret charm, and power of attraction
which to the crowd is irresistible. False priests, false prophets, false
doctors, false patriots, false prodigies of every kind, veiling their
proceedings in mystery, have always addressed themselves at an immense
advantage to the popular credulity, and have been, perhaps, more
indebted to that resource in gaining and keeping for a time the upper
hand of Truth and Common Sense, than to any half-dozen items in the
whole catalogue of imposture. Curiosity is, and has been from the
creation of the world, a master-passion. To awaken it, to gratify it
by slight degrees, and yet leave something always in suspense, is to
establish the surest hold that can be had, in wrong, on the unthinking
portion of mankind.

If a man had stood on London Bridge, calling till he was hoarse, upon
the passers-by, to join with Lord George Gordon, although for an object
which no man understood, and which in that very incident had a charm of
its own,--the probability is, that he might have influenced a score of
people in a month. If all zealous Protestants had been publicly urged
to join an association for the avowed purpose of singing a hymn or two
occasionally, and hearing some indifferent speeches made, and ultimately
of petitioning Parliament not to pass an act for abolishing the
penal laws against Roman Catholic priests, the penalty of perpetual
imprisonment denounced against those who educated children in that
persuasion, and the disqualification of all members of the Romish church
to inherit real property in the United Kingdom by right of purchase or
descent,--matters so far removed from the business and bosoms of the
mass, might perhaps have called together a hundred people. But when
vague rumours got abroad, that in this Protestant association a secret
power was mustering against the government for undefined and mighty
purposes; when the air was filled with whispers o