(P. 86, 1. 16.) 'Cabal calling itself philosophic ': "philosophic" seems here to imply free-thinking, the rejection of Christianity. Many of the leading thinkers in England (named below by Burke) during the eighteenth century had belonged to the "deistic" school, who had advocated a rationalist handling of the records and beliefs of Christianity. They never formulated any system, and indeed can hardly be called a "school" of thought, though much of their work was based on the teaching and spirit of John Locke.