xi:--'Neither was it possible for the united rhetoric of
mankind to prevail with Jack to make himself clean again.' In _Humphry
Clinker_ (Letter of Aug. 8) we are told that 'the good people of
Edinburgh no longer think dirt and cobwebs essential to the house of
God.' Bishop Horne (_Essays and Thoughts_, p. 45) mentioning 'the maxim
laid down in a neighbouring kingdom that _cleanliness is not essential
to devotion_,' continues, 'A Church of England lady once offered to
attend the Kirk there, if she might be permitted to have the pew swept
and lined. "The pew swept and lined!" said Mess John's wife, "my husband
would think it downright popery."' In 1787 he wrote that there are
country churches in England 'where, perhaps, three or four noble
families attend divine service, which are suffered year after year to be
in a condition in which not one of those families would suffer the worst
room in their house to continue for a week.' _Essays and Thoughts_,
p. 271.
[107] 'Hume recommended Fergusson's friends to prevail on him to
suppress the work as likely to be injurious to his reputation.' When it
had great success he said that his opinion remained the same. He had
heard Helvetius and Saurin say that they had told Montesquieu that he
ought to suppress his _Esprit des Lois_. They were still convinced that
their advice was right.
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