himself in gaol. He went there sure
to conquer the Justice, and the first thing he did was to demand to see his
lawyer. He was told, to his horror, that as soon as he had been cropped and
prison-dressed, he might see as many lawyers as he pleased, to be looked
at, laughed at, and advised that there was but one way out of the scrape.
Higgins was, in his speculations, a regular counterpart of Bailly; but the
celebrated Mayor of Paris had not his nerve. It was impossible to say, if
their characters had been changed, whether the unfortunate crisis in which
Bailly was not equal to the occasion would have led to very different
results if Higgins had been in his place: but assuredly constitutional
liberty would have had one chance more. There are two works of his by which
he was known, apart from his paradoxes. First, _An apology for the life and
character of the celebrated prophet of Arabia, called Mohamed, or the
Illustrious_. London, 8vo. 1829. The reader will look at this writing of
our English Buddhist with suspicious eye, but he will not be able to avoid
confessing that the Arabian prophet has some reparation to demand at the
hands of Christians. Next, _Horae Sabaticae; or an attempt to correct certain
superstitions and vulgar errors respecting the Sabbath_. Second edition,
with a large appendix. London, 12mo. 1833. This book was very heterodox at
the time, but it has furnished material for some of the clergy of our day.

I never could quite make out whether Godfrey Higgins took that system which
he traced to the Buddhists to have a Divine origin, or to be the result of
good men's meditations. Himself a strong theist, and believer in a future
{277} state, one would suppose that he would refer a _universal_ religion,
spread in different forms over the whole earth from one source, directly to
the universal Parent. And this I suspect he did, whether he knew it or not.
The external evidence is balanced. In his preface he says:

"I cannot help smiling when I consider that the priests have objected to
admit my former book, _The Celtic Druids_, into libraries, because it was
antichristian; and it has been attacked by Deists, because it was
superfluously religious. The learned Deist, the Rev. R. Taylor [already
mentioned], has designated me as the _religious_ Mr. Higgins."

The time will come when some profound historian of literature will make
himself much clearer on the point than I am.

ON POPE'S DIPPING NEEDLE.

T