A LETTER

Section 1.

...slightly offended original: "little piqu'd." may, by nurturing his resentment, become a literal fury for revenge. Even a good Christian—one who insists on being overly good and thinks he can never believe enough—may, by a slight tendency when nurtured, expand his faith so greatly as to include within it not only all scriptural and traditional miracles but even a solid system of old wives' tales. If it were necessary, I could remind your Lordship of an eminent, learned, and truly Christian prelate A high-ranking member of the clergy, such as a bishop. you once knew, who could have given you a full account of his belief in fairies. And this, I think, may serve to show how far an ancient poet's faith might possibly have been raised, along with his imagination.

But we Christians, who have such abundant faith ourselves, will allow nothing to the poor heathens. They must be infidels in every sense. We will not allow them to believe even their own religion, which we claim is too absurd to have been believed by anyone besides the common people original: "the mere Vulgar." Referring to the uneducated masses.. But if a respected Christian prelate can be such a "volunteer" in faith—going beyond the ordinary teachings original: "Prescription." of the Catholic Church to believe in fairies—why may not a heathen poet, in the ordinary practice of his religion, be allowed to believe in the Muses? For these, as your Lordship knows, were considered divine persons in the heathen creed,