Chapter V.—Testimony of the Poets to the Unity
of God. [De Maistre, who talks
nothing but sophistry when he rides his hobby, and who shocked the pope
himself by his fanatical effort to demonstrate the papal system, is,
nevertheless, very suggestive and interesting when he condescends to talk
simply as a Christian. See his citations showing the heathen consciousness
of one Supreme Being. Soirées de St. Pétersbourg,
vol. i. pp. 225, 280; vol. ii. pp. 379, 380.]