Page:Omniana 2.djvu/260

, or heresy, as it would be called, of Father Bougeant, who endeavoured to deduce from reason, and prove by scripture, that the spirits of brutes are devils sentenced to punishment in that shape; a doctrine which would admirably accord with the old belief in familiars. It might also afford considerable comfort to the epicures, who used to have their pigs whipt to death, and the gentlemen of the present day who amuse themselves with Welsh mains, riding against time, and other such worthy recreations, if it did not follow as a corollary, that they who make their own spirits evil in one state of existence must afford amusement and occupation in the next to such beadles and executioners of divine retribution as themselves.

The practice which the Tupinambas founded upon their theory of generation is a memorable proof that speculative