headed by the Prince of the blood next to the
throne; all stimulated by a ferocity of folly unexampled in the history
of infatuation, and all unconsciously urged to their ruin by a race of
beings inferior in rank, and almost objects of their scorn, yet, rather
embodied malignities, and essential mischiefs, than men. France in that
fearful time reminded the spectator of Michael Angelo's great picture of
the "Last Judgment"--general convulsion above, universal torment below;
the mighty of the earth falling, kings, nobles, hierarchs, warriors,
plunging down, and met by fiends, at once their tempters, their
taunters, and their torturers; a scene of desolation and destiny.

Pitt's sentiment on the safety of England from revolutionary movements
was so decided, that if France had not invaded Holland, and thus
actually compelled a war, we should probably have had none at this
period.

A distinction between the state of France and England not less
memorable, if not still more effective, than in property, was religion.
In France infidelity was not merely frequent, but was the _fashion_. No
man of any literary name condescended even to the pretence of religion;
but in England, infidelity was a stigma; when it began to take a public
form, it was only in the vilest quarter; and when it assailed religion,
it was instantly put down at once by the pen, by the law, and by the
more decisive tribunal of national opinion. Paine, the chief writer of
the Satanic faction, was a bankrupt staymaker, and a notorious
profligate: his pamphlet had only the effect of making the public
protest against its abominations; he was prosecuted, was forced to leave
the country, and finally died in beggary in America.

It is remarkable to find so cautious a man as Addington at this period
speaking of the Church as "an honest _drone_, who, if she did not stir
herself very soon, would be stung by the wasps of the conventicle." The
metaphor is not good for much, for the drone can sting too, and does
nothing but sting. But what is it that, at any time, makes the church
ineffective? The abuse of the ministerial patronage. The clergy
altogether depend on the guidance, the character, and the activity of
their bishops. If ministers regard the mitre as merely a sort of
donative for their own private tutors, or the chaplains of their noble
friends, or as provision for a relative, dependent, or the brother of a
Treasury clerk, they not merely degrade the office, but