ho are confederates in a
common cause, is always open to suspicion.

Nevertheless I need not doubt that George Mason made an edifying end. It
is the way of murderers. What I venture to doubt is your statement as to
his life. You write as follows:--

"His early life was lived in the east of London, his trade being that
of a costermonger, and he was brought up by his father, a professed
atheist, who was in the habit of reading the Bible with this boy and a
company of other freethinkers, verse by verse, and deliberately turning
it into ridicule, by way of commentary. It is hard to imagine a more
deliberate training for the gallows than what his father gave him."

Later on, you say the boy was "insignificant, almost stunted to look
at," and you add that "his only opportunity was to learn how to be a
child of the Devil."

Now I wish to observe, in the first place, that you have not said
_enough_. You do not say whether George Mason's father is still living.
I have not been able to hear of him myself. If he be still living, have
you taken the trouble to obtain _his_ version of the matter? And if not,
do you think it kind or just to speak of him in this manner? Nor do
you say what religion George Mason professed in the Militia, whether he
attended "divine service," and what was its influence upon him. You were
in too great a hurry to capture your Atheist, and insult all who do not
believe the dogmas of your Church.

You regard it as "deliberate training for the gallows" to let a boy
laugh at the Bible. Has it ever occurred to you to inquire how it is
that the Bible is so easy to ridicule? Have you ever reflected that what
is laughed at is generally ridiculous? Are you not aware that the most
risible imp could hardly laugh at _all_ the contents of the Bible? Who
laughs at the saying, "Blessed are the peacemakers"? Who laughs at
the horrid massacres of the Old Testament? But who does _not_ laugh at
cock-and-bull stories like that of Jonah and the whale? Your lordship
does not discriminate. Very little thought would show you that some
parts of the Bible _cannot_ be laughed at, that where it _can_ be
laughed at it is probably absurd, and that to laugh at an absurdity is
certainly no "training for the gallows."

Your lordship evidently wishes to convey the idea that Atheists are very
likely to become murderers, or _more_ likely than their Christian fellow
citizens. This I deny, and I ask for your evidence. All you adduce is