the famous Louis XIV, imitated his example, in
their esteem of the society; and because this was undeniable, behold
Laicus, by a bold effort of genius, has transformed the renowned monarch,
Louis XIV, into a Jesuit professed of four vows. How a Frenchman must scout
such ribaldry! But enough of these extravagancies. {285} In reading them, I
began to suspect, that Laicus's aim might be to ridicule the revilers of
Jesuits, by imputing to the latter things evidently false, clearly
inconsistent, absolutely impossible. Thus, I well remember it, when the
absurd tale of the Jesuit king Nicolas of Paraguay amused the Laicuses of
the day, the writer of one of the Holland gazettes, in his description of
that king's battle against the Spanish and Portuguese troops, endeavoured
to turn the fable into ridicule by asserting, that king Nicolas had
displayed much bravery, and had fought until three capuchins were shot
under him in the action. But I apprehend, that Laicus and his prompters do
not rave merely for sport. Their real views will gradually appear: they are
not quite unknown to

CLERICUS.

* * * * *

{286}

LETTER III.

SIR;

At the close of your first Letter, you promise to refer, in your next, to
the evidences for the statements, which you have made. I was curious to see
upon what historical evidence such a mass of forgeries could rest. In
labouring through your second Letter, I discovered much intrinsic evidence,
that you are a still improving adept in the art of bold and unsupported
assertion, but not a shadow of proof, that your rants were ever believed by
any man before yourself. The only authority cited in it is of one Collado,
who asserted, that the conduct of the Jesuits was the occasion of the
abolition of Christianity in Japan; but whoever has read the history of
{287} Christianity in those islands will deny the position, upon grounds
more certain than those on which it is advanced. The whole of your second
Letter is no more than an unconnected congeries of the grossest impostures.
In my second I marked out a few; I shall presently indicate some others;
and I shall leave my readers to determine, whether you have substantiated
your first calumnies, only by the production of new ones.

I have searched your third Letter in quest of evidence, of proof, of
historical support; and I find, that the two most prominent names in it are
Prynne and De Thou. I may here remark, that it is h