religion, was an affair which rested entirely between himself and his GOD, and it could receive no aid from the devotion of fanatics, or the piety of hypocrites.

For the last three weeks before his death, he suffered the most excruciating pain. His body was in many places covered with ulcers, and his feet with discoloured blisters, which baffled every effort to arrest their progress. He was at the same time labouring under a confirmed dropsy, attended with frequent cough and vomiting, and his decease was every day expected by those about him. In this deplorable situation, Mrs. Hedden frequently read the bible to him, but to this he paid no attention. With all this accumulation of corporal suffering, he remained perfectly sensible to the last. On the 8th of June, 1809, about nine in the morning, he expired, placidly, and almost without a struggle.

There does not appear to have been any person about him in his last moments, from whom an impartial account of his dying opinions could be expected. His surgeon, Dr. Manley, is the only one who has pretended to give any thing like a statement of the facts which took place during the latter part of his life, and

though this gentleman is a most decided advocate of the Christian religion, the whole of the account decisively proves, that Mr. Paine was a Deist to the last moment of his existence. The day before he died, he says, he purposely paid him a very late visit, with a view to ascertain the true state of his mind. After asking him several questions about his belief, without receiving any answer, he endeavoured to qualify the subject by saying" Do you wish to believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God?" After a pause of some minutes, he answered, "I have no wish to believe on the subject." These, Dr. Manley says, were the last words he uttered, and a more unequivocal evidence of the consistency of his opinions need not be adduced.

In addition to this, I have likewise received a Letter from a Friend, who is now a resident of New York, which, considering the respectability of the parties from whom he derived his information, will set the question finally at rest.

“SIR,

New York, Dec. 25th, 42nd year of Independence.

"I HAVE not been so diligent in searching after the true particulars of the death of Mr.

Paine as I should have been, were it not my opinion, that the story told of him refutes itself, at least to every reasonable mind, especially when related in those vehicles of trash and bigotry, the Evangelical and Baptist Magazines; however I have now collected a few facts which may not prove uninteresting.

"On Saturday the 20th instant, I visited the house where that great man Mr. Paine breathed his last: it is in Burrow Street, Greenwich, about two miles from the city of New York; Mr. Woodsmith and Mr. Sherwood are the present residents there; they both lived near Mr. Paine when he died, and were in the constant habit of visiting him during his illness. Mr. Sherwood stated, that the people who believed Mr. Paine died miserably were 'GROSSLY DECEIVED;' that he never recanted any of his opinions, that he never expressed sorrow at publishing any of his religious sentiments to the world, and that he believed they were just and irrefutable.

"I called on Dr. Manley (who attended Mr. Paine the last four months of his life) on the evening of the 23d instant. He said during our conversation, that all he knew was already before the public, in a letter he wrote, which was inserted in Cheetham's Life of Paine. The letter

read, occasionally explaining to me incidents that occurred during his visits; anecdotes that were told by Mr. Paine on the American and

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French revolutions, and,' added Dr. Manley, ' if I had acted as Boswell did with Dr. Johnson, I could have written a famous history.' I asked him plainly Did Mr. Paine recant his religious sentiments? I would thank you for an explicit answer, Sir.' He said, 'No, HE DID NOT;' I thanked him, and said it was my love of truth that impelled me to be thus particular, and that his letter was considered by many persons as positive proof of a recantation on the part of Mr. Paine. He said his letter did not justify such a conclusion; and added, 'I never said in my life that Mr. Paine recanted; but,' (continued Dr. Manley) I think that had Mr. Paine not been a conspicuous character, it is likely he would have changed his opinions."* The expressions which Mr. Paine is said to have uttered when in the greatest agony, are denied by Mrs. Wordsworth, who, with her husband, occupied a part of the same house, and by Mr. Sherwood, and a Mr. Holden, who, previous to Mr. Paine's

* Dr. Manley having stated the fact as to what did happen, this guess-work sort of inference, about what might have taken place, is ridiculous.

G G

illness, supplied him with liquor; I mention the liquor, as it is by many people believed he was a drunkard. Mr. Holden, with whom I am well acquainted, informs me, that he lived close to Mr. Paine for several months, and never saw him intoxicated; in fact, to use his own expression, 'It is a lie to say he is a drunkard.' Dr. Manley himself corroborates the statement, and says, While I attended him he never was inebriated.'

"Mr. Sherwood states, old Mrs. Heddon was anxious to be Mr. Paine's nurse, and that she was indirectly and artfully sent by a few PRIESTS to attend on him during his illness. That she was a religious bigot, is most certain, and likewise that she never let slip an opportunity of teasing Mr. Paine with her chattering tongue. I mentioned this to Dr. Manley, without giving an opinion, in order to see and hear how he treated the report of that mean transaction, worthy indeed of those, and those only who could condescend to propose, and advise an old, infatuated, superstitious woman, to enquire for the place of nurse to a man whom she believed to be an impious infidel. The Doctor said, Mrs. Heddon was a good and pious old lady-very constant in her devotions, and a good nurse; he did not think