as I was going down the garden-steps (for I perfectly recollect the spot) I revolted at the recollection of what I had heard, and thought to myself that it was making God Almighty act like a passionate man, that killed his son when he could not revenge himself any other way; and as I was sure a man would be hanged that did such a thing, I could not see for what purpose they preached such sermons. ""

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There is little remarkable in this early bent. Perhaps there are few children whose undirected minds do not thus revolt from the apparent incongruities of revelation, before the discipline of religious education has accustomed them to those mysteries undiscoverable by human reason, and removed from their limited perception the many entanglements of faith. In Paine's case, however, this early-excited skepticism lasted during his life. interference with his reason ever had sufficient potency to lay that spirit of inquiry so dangerous to all systems not founded upon evidence within the reach of human investigation. He was educated, indeed, at Thetford grammar school: but religion is not acquired at grammarschools. "His studies were directed merely to the useful branches of reading, writing, and arithmetic."'* Latin he did not learn, having no inclination for it, and because of the well-grounded objection the Quakers have against the book in which the language is taught. But this did not prevent him from becoming acquainted with the subjects of all the Latin books used in the school.† From his father, he says, he received a "good moral education and a tolerable stock of useful learning."‡ About the age of thirteen he was taken into his father's shop to learn the business of stay-making.

When "little more than sixteen years of age," he tells us, "raw and adventurous, and heated with the false heroism of a master (Rev. Mr. Knowles, master of the *Rickman p. 34, † Age of Reason, part 1. Rights of Man, part 2.

Ibid.

grammar-school at Thetford) who had served in a man-ofwar, I became the carver of my own fortune, and entered on board the Terrible privateer, Capt. Death. From this adventure I was happily prevented by the affectionate and moral remonstrance of a good father, who, from his own habits of life, being of the Quaker profession, must begin to look upon me as lost. But the impression, much as it effected at the time, began to wear away, and I entered afterwards in the King of Prussia privateer Capt. Mendez, and went with her to sea." * We have no means of ascertaining how long he was at sea. The next notice we have of him, is in 1756 (but there is much confusion of dates in the various accounts of this period of his life) when he was in London, and, probably compelled by his necessities to resume his business, working with a Mr. Morris, a noted stay-maker in Hanover Street, Long Acre. In 1758 we find him at Dover, at the same trade of stay-making.† In April, 1759, he settled as a master stay-maker, at Sandwich, in Kent; and on the 27th of the following September, he married Mary Lambert, the daughter of an exciseman of that place. In April, 1760, he removed to Margate, where, shortly after, his wife died. Paine resought London. In the course of the next year he returned to his father's house, at Thetford; finally renouncing stay-making to study for the excise, in which, through the interest of Mr. Cocksedge, the recorder of Thetford, he obtained a situation as supernumerary. For some fault, possibly

*The following, from a life published under the assumed name of Oldys, may serve as a sample of the lies "like truth" with which it has been more than once endeavored to prejudice the public mind. "He (Paine) tells what surely can not be true. He was sixteen on the 29th of January, 1753. But the war was not declared against France till the 17th of May, 1756, when he had entered into his twentieth year. The Terrible was fitted out probably in the summer of 1756, and was certainly captured in January, 1757. These facts evince how little Paine is to be trusted."-Oldys, p. 8. tenth edition. Referring to Smollett's History we find that though war against France was not proclaimed till 1756, yet in 1752, the King of Prussia complained of the depredations of English privateers then infesting the seas. Probably the Terrible was one of these privateers. † Rickman, p. 35.

an official irregularity, he was dismissed from this employment, when he had held it for rather more than a year. The following is a copy of his petition to the Board of Excise, to be restored to his situation:*

"Honorable Sirs:

"In humble obedience to your honors' letter of discharge, bearing date August 29, 1765, I delivered up my commission, and since that time have given you no trouble.

"I confess the justice of your honors' displeasure, and humbly beg leave to add my thanks for the candor and lenity which you at that unfortunate time indulged me with.

"And though the nature of the report and my own confession cut off all expectations of enjoying your honors' favor then, yet I humbly hope it has not finally excluded me therefrom; upon which hope I humbly presume to entreat your honors to restore me.

"The time I enjoyed my former commission was short and unfortunate-an officer only a single year. No complaint of the least dishonesty, or intemperance, ever appeared against me; and if I am so happy as to succeed in this my humble petition, I will endeavor that my future conduct shall as much engage your honors' approbation, as my former has merited your displeasure.

"I am

"Your honors' most dutiful, humble servant,
"THOMAS PAINE.

"London, July 3, 1766.”

"July 4, 1766.—To be restored on a proper vacancy. "S. B."

His remark-"No complaint of the least dishonesty, or intemperance, ever appeared against me"-and the

* Sherwin, p. 9.

TH

HE Temple was an ancient fortress, says Lamartine, built by the monastic order of Templars, when sacerdotal and military theocracies, uniting in revolt against princes, with tyranny towards the people, constructed for themselves forts for monasteries, and marched to dominion by the combined force of the cross and sword. After their fall, their fortified dwelling had remained standing, as a wreck of past times neglected by the present. The chateau of the Temple was situated near the faubourg Saint Antoine, not far from the Bastille; it enclosed with its buildings, its palace, its towers, and its gardens, a vast space of solitude and silence, in the centre of a most densely populated quarter.

"The walls of the edifice were nine feet thick. The em brasures of the few windows which lighted it, very large at the entrance of the hall, sunk as they became narrow, even to the crosswork of stone, and left only a feeble and remote light to penetrate into the interior. Bars of iron darkened these apartments still further. Two doors, the one of doubled oak wood, very thick, and studded with large diamond-headed nails; the other plated with iron, and fortified with bars of the same metal, divided each hall from the stair by which one ascended to it.

"This winding staircase rose in a spiral form to the platform of the edifice. Seven successive wickets, or seven solid doors, shut by bolt and key, were ranged from landing to landing, from the base to the terrace. At each one of these wickets a sentinel and a key-bearer were on guard. An exterior gallery crowned the summit of the donjon. One made here ten steps at each turn. The least breath of air howled there like a tempest. The noises of Paris mounted there, weakening as they came. Thence the eye ranged freely over the low roofs of the quarter Saint Antoine, or the streets of the Temple, upon the dome of the Pantheon, upon the towers of the cathedral, upon the roofs of the pavilions of the Tuileries, or upon the green hills of Issy, or of Choisy-le-Roi, descending with their villages, their parks, and their meadows towards the course of the Seine."

It was in this dismal fortress that Louis XVI. and the royal family were confined and held as prisoners until their trial, sentence and execution.—E..