Sovereign Pontiffs thought that the people could never be made to believe
too much; the same policy is practised by the Jesuit missionaries in China,
where in order to flatter the national vanity and bend it to their purposes
they represent Jesus Christ as being a great personal friend and
correspondent of Confucius.

To return to these monarchs, wise men or Magi: their _sculls_ are kept
separate to the rest of the bones and each _scull_ bears a crown of gold.
But if you are fond of miracles, legends, and details of relics, come with
me to the Church of St Ursula in this city, and see the proof positive of
the miraculous legend of the eleven thousand Virgins who suffered martyrdom
in this city, in the time of Attila; the bones of all of whom are carefully
preserved here and adorn the interior walls of the Church in the guise of
arms arranged in an armoury. Eleven thousand sculls, each bearing a golden
or gilt crown, grin horribly on the spectator from the upper part of the
interior walls of the church, where they are placed in a row. What a fine
subject this would make for a ballad in the style of Bürger to suppose that
on a particular night in the year, at the midnight hour when mortals in
slumbers are bound, the bones all descending from the walls where they are
arranged, forming themselves into bodies, clapping on their heads and
dancing a skeleton dance round the Ghost of Attila! The people of Cologne,
in the time of the ecclesiastical Electorate, had the reputation of being
extremely superstitious, and no doubt there were many who implicitly
believe this pious tale; indeed, who could refuse their assent to its
authenticity, on beholding the proof positive in the sculls and bones?

I recollect that in the History of the Compère Mathiew[21] the Père Jean
rates mightily the natives of Cologne for their bigotry and superstition
and for the bad reception they gave to him and to his philosophy. That
people are happier from a blind belief, as some pretend, appears to me