overleaping that term as too generic and vulgar, should at once roundly
proclaim himself to be a gentleman. The argument would be, as we say,
_ex abundanti_. From whichever cause this _excessus in terminis_
proceeded, we can do no less than congratulate the general state of
Christendom upon the accession of so extraordinary a convert. Who was
the happy instrument of the conversion we are yet to learn: it comes
nearest to the attempt of the late pious Doctor Watts to Christianize
the Psalms of the Old Testament. Something of the old Hebrew raciness is
lost in the transfusion; but much of its asperity is softened and pared
down in the adaptation.

"The appearance of so singular a treatise at this conjuncture has set
us upon an inquiry into the present state of religion upon the stage
generally. By the favor of the church-wardens of Saint Martin's in the
Fields, and Saint Paul's, Covent Garden, who have very readily, and with
great kindness, assisted our pursuit, we are enabled to lay before the
public the following particulars. Strictly speaking, neither of the two
great bodies is collectively a religious institution. We had expected to
have found a chaplain among them, as at Saint Stephen's, and other Court
establishments; and were the more surprised at the omission, as the last
Mr. Bengough, at the one house, and Mr. Powell at the other, from a
gravity of speech and demeanor, and the habit of wearing black at their
first appearances in the beginning of _fifth_ or the conclusion of
_fourth acts_, so eminently pointed out their qualifications for such
office. These corporations, then, being not properly congregational,
we must seek the solution of our question in the tastes, attainments,
accidental breeding, and education of the individual members of them.
As we were prepared to expect, a majority at both houses adhere to the
religion of the Church Established, only that at one of them a pretty
strong leaven of Catholicism is suspected,--which, considering the