with  a  red  hot  iron  in  the  forehead,*  intending,
by  fixing  this  mark  of  infamy  in  a  part  so
visible,  to  guard  people  against  keeping  com
pany  with  a  blasphemer.  It  was  Lewis  the
ninth,  a  king  of  France,  who  was  the  author
of  this  law.  I  cannot  help  relating  the  words
of  this  prince  in  justification  of  the  severity  of
the  law.  A  man  of  rank  in  the  kingdom
having  uttered  blasphemy,  great  intercession
was  made  for  his  pardon;  but  the  king's  answer
was  this,  "  I  would  submit,"  said  he,  "  to  be
burnt  in  the  forehead  myself,  if  by  enduring
the  pain  I  could  purify  my  kingdom  from
blasphemy."

We  affirmed,  farther,  that  some  people  habi
tuated  themselves  to  swearing  from  false  notions
of  glory  and  freedom  of  conversation.  A  man
sets  up  for  a  wit  in  conversation,  he  pretends
to  conciliate  the  esteem  of  his  company,  and
affects  to  put  on  the  air  of  a  man  of  the  world,
free  from  the  stiffness  of  pedants.  (This  is  not
an  invention  of  mine,  this  is  a  natural  portrait,
my  brethren,  and  some  of  you  gave  me  the
original.)  This  man,  I  say,  having  taken  into
his  head  this  design,  and  not  being  able  to
derive  means  of  succeeding  from  his  genius,  or
education,  calls  in  the  aid  of  oaths;  of  these  he
keeps  various  forms,  and  applies  them  instead
of  reasons,  having  the  folly  to  imagine  that  an
oath  artfully  placed  at  the  end  of  a  period
renders  it  more  expressive  and  polite;  and,
judging  of  the  taste  of  his  hearers  by  his  own,
inwardly  applauds  himself,  and  wonders  what
heart  can  resist  the  power  of  his  eloquence.
