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LETTER II. Origin or The Catholic Church. History Of The Church, is England, Down To The Time Of The " Reformation." Beginning Of The " Reformation" By King Henry VIII. My Friends, Kensington, 30th Dec. 1824. 37. It was not a reformation, but a devastation of England, which was. at the time when this event took place, the happiest country, perbaps, that the world had ever seen; and it is my chief business to show, that this devastation impoverished and degraded the main body of the people: but, in order that you may see this devastation in its true light, and that you may feel a just portion of indignation against the devastators, and against their eulogists of the present day, it is necessary, first, that you take a correct view of the things on which their devastating powers were exercised. 38. The far greater part of those books which are called " Histories of England," are little better than romances. They treat of hattles, negociations, intrigues of courts, amours of kings, queens, and nobles : they contain the gossip and scandal of former times, and very little else. There are Histories of England, like that of Dr. Goldsmith, for the use of young per- ions; but, no young person, who has read them through, knows any more, of any possible wse, than he or she knew before.— The great use of history is, to teach us how laws, usages, and institutions arose, what were their effects on the people, how they promoted public happiness, or otherwise; and these things are precisely what the greater part of historians, as they call themselves, seem to think of no consequence. 39. We never understand the nature and constituent parts of a thing so well as when we ourselves havemade the thing: next to making it is the seeing of it made: but, if we have neither of these advant...
