Fanatic herds, as if with strings At their nose, by priests are led; And know not that the knavish things Made that choice in God's stead. Then a preaching, &c. As crowds believe the heavens reject The prying, shrewd, and wise, No fear lest he our fraud detect, Whose faith has closed his eyes. Then a preaching, &c. Now Sion is rubied, gilt, and pearl'd, As the seat of blockheads' bliss; Our flocks may take that future world, Give us the joys of this. Then a preaching, &c. 1 Cor. chap. i. ver. 27. 2 Rom. chap. xiii. ver. 4. Our muttons, gulled and ignorant, Dare never close inquire, Lest if they disbelieve our cant, They fall to Hell's hot fire. Then a preaching, &c. Thus dolts suck in through panic dread The Gospel's milk 1 and crumbs, And with all nonsense fill their heads, Lest Hell should scorch their bums. Then a preaching, &c. March 2,1810. PHILALETHES. 1 1 Cor. chap. iii. ver. 2. and Heb. chap. i. ver. 13. LETTER TO MR. CARLILE, London, 28th February, 1819. Sir, You are about to be placed in a situation, and to perform a part, which will interweave your name in the page of history:--not, however, in that species of history which records the wars, bloodshed, or misery of nations, as opposed to one another; but in that which exhibits the cruelties of governments towards individuals among their own subjects, who seeing, or thinking they see, their fellow men suffering afflictions through the ignorance, prejudice, and misrule of their governments, endeavour to remove the causes of such oppressions and misery, by disclosing them, and setting their fellow-men to think for themselves. You have had the virtue and intrepidity to engage in this honourable career, and are, consequently, a prominent object in the public eye. Every friend to the progress of knowledge, reason, and truth, as well as of sincere humanity, is warmly interested in the nature and result of those severe proceedings instituted against you. They devoutly hope that your character as a man and a neighbour will afford no handle for disparagement of you and your conduct; that your moral principles are good, and your integrity unquestioned; that your deportment in the relations of private and domestic life is amiable: and that conscious of the purity of your motives, you will not shrink before the threats of your adversaries; but, on the contrary, display that manly firmness of courage which will enable you to encounter and defeat the numerical, though not formidable, superiority of force to be arrayed against you. If, however, contrary to our hopes and expectations, the abettors of persecution in church and state should, by their arts and machinations, succeed in obtaining a verdict for the persecutor, be you assured that the respect, sympathy, and support of every enlightened, liberal, and