longer his holy spirit. The godly Emanuel revived also those pious and delicate discussions which were so common during the dark ages, when it was gravely debated if Christ had any excrements, and, if he had, were they perishable, his books being filled with such delectable matter. But the most honest of our modern prophets was William Huntingdon, the coalheaver, who very strenuously laboured to preserve his auditors from that dreadful place, where

"Fires kept burning without aid of coals,

"And where they toast their cheese as well as souls."

William was not a man to boggle at trifles, he had faith, and the Lord protected him in all his doings. He began his career as a desperate sinner, agreeably to the maxim of good old John Bunyan, who used to . say, "the greater the sinner, the better the saint," and he accordingly prepared himself for heavenly glory by debauching a girl who had placed her affections on him, and then leaving her to subsist as she could without him. For this, he says, he had scripture examples in plenty. William had a deal of natural shrewdness, and he soon perceived, that credulity was as powerful as ever over mankind, and he resolved to profit by it.

He began, by burning the Whole Duty of Man and other natural books of piety, and soon afterwards set up the Bank of Faith, which proved to him a mine of gold, as God Almighty never returned his drafts dishonoured. Since the days of Moses, no man was ever so intimate as William Huntingdon with the Creator of the world; he realised the fairy fables of Fortunatus and his three wishes, to its utmost extent. Did he want a breakfast-God Almighty sent him one ready prepared, and William had only to fill his carnal man and say nothing to nobody. Did he want a pair of leather breeches, there they were, and William did ample justice to the great architect of the world in the praises which he gave them as being well made, and an excellent fit. I had now says he " plenty of work for faith, could I but find plenty of faith to work." He also numbered many rich and great men among his

hearers, perhaps attracted as much by the force and novelty of his arguments, as by their belief in his divine mission. It would be a laborious, but, by no means an uninstructive task, if the world had a good history of the various sects that have perplexed our judgments and imposed upon the simple. The whole would exhibit such instances of gross credulity, that they would scarcely be believed now, did not history authenticate their existence. Fanaticism in religion is still as powerful as ever, and we have numerous instances where the multitude swallow as gross absurdities as ever were palmed upon our pious catholic forefathers. With them, it is folly for ever, for they live on the credulity of fools.

THE VICE SOCIETY; OR, THE ESSEX-STREET

GANG.

It will require no apology from us to our readers, on again bringing this contemptible junto of knaves before the public notice, on again stripping them of the masks of Religion and Virtue which they assume to conceal their own disgusting deformities, and on once more calling public attention to the enormous oppressions and iniquities of which they are guilty. The Bridge-street Gang is a virtuous combination, compared with this horrible and unnatural Society, which was established for what secret purposes we know not, but as they have been developed in the vilJanies of its Members. They are a knot of congregated and reverend Bachelors, for the most part belonging to, and possessing livings in the Church, and we have great reason to believe, that their real object in instituting the Society for the Suppression of Vice was to gratify their own horrible propensities, fearless of detection by the high and indignant tone of virtue which they so boldly assumed. They have proved themselves in the King's Courts of Law, to be profoundly versed in that sort of learning which the righ

teous in abhorrence term, bawdy; they can readily explain any double entendre or equivoque, and they can point out with the greatest precision, to what extent the morals of our youth are in danger, and where the particular danger lies. We have now before us documents proving that no less than three of these Reverend Suppressors have been obliged to quit the country, on the discovery of their brutal propensities: and the Father in God, Percy Jocelyn, Bishop of Clogher, in whom the Holy Ghost had taken a lodging, that it might, through him pour out its Grace to the World, forms the fourth of this pious and holy quartetto. His Father in Godship was the most active Member the Gang had, and it is more than merely reported, that his Right Reverence used to purvey for his Righteous Brethren, who were equally as depraved, but not so venturesome as himself. Possessing great wealth, with very few exceptions, they can always bribe to silence, and if one of the black sheep has been detected, it can only serve as a caution to them in future. If these suspicions were not true, whence arises the intolerable hatred they universally manifest against women, and against every work that dwells on the charms of woman. They are galled to very madness, by the thought that our youth should ever incline to love, and they seem to regard that sacred passion, as something alien or disgraceful to human nature. They may plead with some show of justice, that their persecutions are only directed against obscene writings, prints, old women's apple-stalls, and violators of the sabbath, and if they had gone no further than this, and attacked these immoral productions, &c. in whatever class of society they might have been found, they would have had some claim to the title of Suppressors of Vice, and though we might condemn the means they pursued to procure the desired end, we should at least have applauded their candour, and approved of their integrity. But they have sought only to gratify the rancorous malignity of their hearts, and who can paint the rancour of the heart of a priest, to wreck their vengeance against all who should offend their illiberal

and bigoted prejudices; and what is worse, we fear, the quiet and secure indulgencies of their own degraded appetites. We said that the Bridge Street Gang was virtuous, compared with this of Essex-street, and so it is as much as they wrap not themselves up in any disguise; they profane not the name of God and the cause of Religion, and they avow openly their intentions to suppress by fair means or foul, works that they consider blasphemous or seditious. The parallel between the Essex-Street Gang, and the Orange faction of Ireland, is closer than we at first imagined, but circumstances since have proved, that they are both actuated by a spirit of furious fanaticism in matters of religion, by which all ideas of social order and loyalty must be governed, and that neither of them would scruple to sacrifice even the Monarch of the realm, should he ever interfere with the execution of their nefarious projects. They are both virtually Inquisitions; and Inquisitions the more dangerous as the parties are not responsible, but anonymous, and under the cloak of professional agents, can execute to any extent their sanguinary projects. The Orange faction consists of numerous Societies, corresponding with each other, recognizing their Members by signs, and are as firmly united together as the ancient order of Freemasons. The Essex-Street Gang, besides various ramifications and subdivisions, is assisted by societies of Fanatical and Evangelical Blackguards in nearly every town in the kingdom, and these black-coated and greasy rascals, finding that they cannot humbug the people to believe all they say, threaten the recreants with the arm of the law and the terrors of the dungeon, upon nonconformity to their unrighteous doctrines. They pretend to be upholders of the Christian Faith, yet are the grand patrons of spies and informers: treachery and ingratitude find with them a gracious reception, and our pious Suppressors think their own sins amply atoned for in thus destroying the sins of others. The Orange faction pursues its adversaries with unrelenting vengeance, so doth the Essex-Street Gang; both are managed and conducted by Priests, and both are the

causes of animosity and heart-burnings, to an extent hitherto unparalleled. And these are the followers of the pure, the meek, and the charitable Jesus ;-these the men with peace in their mouths, and war and devastation in their hearts;-these the persecutors of old women and unfortunate publishers,-these the champions for obsolete and disgusting superstitions, whose existence they would wish to perpetuate at the expence of the world's misery, for their own selfish enjoyment. And who are the men employed by this most Honourable Society: not surely men of reputable lives, for they would not be found undertaking such tasks, but petty-fogging rascally members of the law, who study it only to perplex, and who turn that into an engine of oppression, which was intended for our protection. Should a publisher be acquitted repeatedly, they can infallibly ruin him by the expences they entail upon him, and thus, no single individual can withstand this crew of wealthy wretches. How many more Bishops of Clogher the Vice Suppressors conceal amongst themselves it is not for us to say, but we have received such information respecting the lives and morals of some of the members of this nefarious gang of hypocrites, that we expect shortly to present to our readers scenes of iniquity and depravity, as disgraceful to the country as they are libellous upon human nature itself. The worm will turn when trod upon, and we cannot conclude in any better way than by exhorting the Vice Society to be a little more circumspect in their conduct, and not to give offence needlessly, for there is a power watchful, though silent, over them, which ére they are aware, may come upon them like a thief in the night, and make an example of them to future bigots, how dangerous the practice is of combining riches to oppress the poor, and to extinguish that sacred flame of freedom, which can alone illume the world. That power is the Power of the Press.