Settlements. The Spaniards have followed the same line of conduct: so that, probably, in one year, the small-pox will only be known in Britain. Excuse this letter of nothings, from Your Friend, J. C. LETTSOM. LETTER CXXIII. From the same. London, July 2, 1805. In consequence of some wicked and foolish papers against the cow-pock, Dr. Moseley and others have inoculated with the small-pox, and the disease is now spreading in London, and proving very fatal. No less than 25, in the last week, died in London. These infantile murders give me extreme pain. What have not the abettors of variolous inoculation to answer for? To shoot a dozen or two innocent people in the public streets of London, would not be half so injurious as allowing the murderers to kill the rising generation, the future hope of the state. Nothing can shew the supineness and ignorance of the Government more than legalizing these variolous murders. The parliament should not be prorogued till this destructive process is stopped. Our houses have now party-walls; and a man setting his house on fire is nothing, compared to the destruction by variolous inoculation. I am now attending where the small-pox has killed every person in the family who had not previously had the disease. In another family, with three children, to whom I recommended the cow-pock, the mother said, she would not suffer them to have a bestial disease. They have caught the small-pox; two are dead, and the other is maimed for ever: worse than death. Do not you think that the Legislature should interpose? If we are hardy enough to oppose or refuse the blessings of Providence, other nations must institute quarantine laws against English ships, as being the only ones that convey the worst of all pestilences; for nearly all Europe, except England, has eradicated the small-pox. You and I, as Jennerians, will remain clear of innocent blood. Yours, &c. J. C. LETTSOM. LETTER CXXIV. The Rev. J. PLUMPTRE to Dr. LETTSOM. June 8, 1805. I have not yet absolutely fixed upon the subject for my Assize Sermon, but I rather think I shall make it on James v. 19, 20, as that which I can easiest execute amidst my variety of business (which is perhaps worse than quantity), as being that which will require me least fresh study and reading. I shall treat it in the light of preventing crimes by early religious instruction and civilization; and, when committed, by reclaiming the offenders (which will introduce Prisons), and affording opportunities of returning to society, which will allow of an allusion to a Samaritan Society. I had thought of Luke x. 27-" Love being the fulfilling of the Law." The Prisoner, Psalm lxxix. 12, would be a fine subject, but I do not feel competent to it at present, if I may ever use the word competent. I have read Beccaria, but do not feel satisfied with him: he seems to me to be more of a politician, or moral philosopher, than a Christian legislator. The Duke de Liancourt, which you intend sending, I shall peruse; and shall accept the pamphlet you mention with pleasure and thanks. Dr. Jenner has favoured me with a letter, which I received yesterday. I have great reason to rejoice at the success of our vaccination here, and at the prudence with which Mr. F. Thackeray has conducted it. We began in my clerk's family, who is an intelligent man, and who had two children, which had not had the small-pox; the youngest was not well, and Mr. F. T. would not inoculate it. The child died yesterday; and I make no doubt, had it been inoculated, that its death would have been laid upon the cow-pock; though, possibly, had it been vaccinated, it might have given a turn to its constitution, that might have preserved its life. J. P. LETTER CXXV. Dr. LETTSOM to the Rev. J. PLUMPTRE. Reverend Friend, London, July 14, 1805. This Although a layman, if I might give an opinion on the texts you mentioned for your Sermon I like that of your namesake the best-"Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; let him know, that he which converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." opens a wide field for the encouragement of mutual good offices. I approve it the more, as it affords a strong proof against the doctrine of necessity and predestination. If we save one from ruin, who would otherwise have been lost, there could have been no predestined event; for what was predes-tined would not have been retrieved. There is a woman here, of the name of Joanna Southcott, who pretends to have free intercourse with the Divine Spirit; she has made many converts, and they have already established two or three chapels. I have never been at one, but I have met with one or two of her votaries, who conceive that the Scriptures never were explained, till her conversations with the Almighty were given out. These converts are zealous, and absolute devotees to her opinions and illuminations, Yesterday in riding near the City Road, I saw in gold letters," To be had here, the Prophecies of Joanna Southcott." I bought one pamphlet, but there appeared about thirty more. This I send. I read part of it, but I found it unintelligible, and did not choose to waste my time in reading the ravings of an hysterical woman, bordering upon derangement. I am told, however, the converts multiply very rapidly. It seems strange, that religious opinions the most inconsistent with reason, generally rivet the mind most powerfully. I imagine she is a new Jacob Behmen, or Baron Swedenborg. There was some years ago in London one of these madmen, Count Zinzendorff, who sometimes experienced his possessions in the filthy gutters of the streets, like a hog. Happy it is, that most of the mystics are harmless, as the followers of Fenelon, Madame Borignon, and others. If the Cromwellians were mystics, they, however, offer an exception, for they were persecutors of others. The Quakers, who appeared about the same time, |