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was never known to have learnt the alphabet, no more than the fingers or toes. It is easy to perceive the connexion of these cases of Petetin with each other, and with the uproar of the time about the wonders of magnetism.

Also in periods of religious excitement and persecution like wonders have occurred. In proof of this we shall briefly notice one or two circumstances, in the recent, and consequently authentic, history of France. The first of these regards the nuns of Loudun, who were supposed to be possessed with devils. The whole transaction occurred during the administration of Cardinal Richelieu; by whose permission or direction the investigation, which we have to mention, took place at Loudun in 1634.

Two young nuns of the Ursuline Convent of that city were seized with strange convulsions. Their confessor persuaded them that the cause was supernatural, and that it was only by being exorcised that they could recover. They were accordingly exorcised, and the devils that possessed them, on being cross-examined, declared they had been sent by a curate of the town, called Urbain Grandier, who had for some time been making a great noise on account of his liberal opinions, agreeable person, and gallantry; all which had brought him into ill report. It is to be remarked, that the imaginations of the nuns had been alarmed by Grandier's proposing to become their director; and their exorcist had shortly before been his rival candidate. The whole affair was kept secret as long as possible, till almost all the young nuns in the convent were attacked with the same convulsions. After this, the convulsions were not long confined to the nunnery, but spread over the whole town and neighbourhood-solely, however, among the young women. All affected were in a similar state; and, when exorcised, all declared that the evil spirits had been sent by the curate. Twelve judges, selected by the cardinal's directions, in the neighbourhood, were appointed to investigate the matter, and decide the fate of Grandier. The process lasted eight months, and during all that time the nuns were exorcised twice every day. The unhappy curate was unanimously condemned, and burnt alive in April, 1634-about two years after he had first been accused.

Now, whatever opinion we may entertain of the character of Cardinal Richelieu, or of the twelve judges appointed by his directions, or of the jesuits, who were the confessors of these nuns, and the personal enemies of Grandier, we conceive that any one who chooses to read the details of the transaction, will find evidence enough to convince him, that these convulsions

did

did not originate in any conspiracy, on the part of the nuns at least, against Grandier's life, but were in reality first caused by their excited imaginations and their terror of devils, and propagated by the contagion of imitation which is known to be so powerful in such cases. Two of the exorcists themselves died shortly afterwards in the belief that they were possessed, and showed all the symptoms resulting from such a conviction. With the dishonest uses which the jesuits subsequently attempted to make of these convulsions, publishing them as a 'divine proof' of their superstition, we have nothing to do at present, no more than with the fact, that many women were afterwards found wicked enough to feign them: we have merely adduced the case of these young girls as affording a curious instance of an epidemic of convulsions caused by the fear of evil spirits. We have not spoken of the other phenomena which were observed along with these convulsions, the knowledge of strange tongues, the suspension of the body in the air, &c. &c., because they did not at first accompany the convulsions, and seem to have been nothing but cunning inventions of the jesuit priests.

The next circumstance to which we alluded is what took place among the Protestants of the Cevennes, after the revocation of the Edict of Nantz. The peasants of those mountains, it is well known, were exposed to merciless persecution, were massacred in great numbers; and their children were violently taken from them to be educated in the Roman Catholic faith. It was usual among them to hold secret meetings for prayer and other religious purposes; and at such times their minds were naturally in a state of the utmost excitement. Some, more strongly affected than the rest, more zealous for their religion, or of a more vehement temperament, fell into extasies, which commenced in convulsive motions; and in this state they would preach, pray, and utter prophecies, all relating to the speedy triumph of their sacred cause they also conceived themselves capable of foreseeing at a great distance the approach of their enemies, and of distinguishing when any of these or their spies were amongst them at their meetings; and, in short, many of them presented all the phenomena of Somnambulism. (Vid. Bertrand du Magnétisme An. p. 362, et seq.) These extasies spread among them like a true epidemic, and in a little while many thousands were affected. The Maréchal de Villars, who was sent against these unfortunate people to quell or extirpate them with a military force, has observed: I have seen things of this sort which I would not have believed, had they not occurred under my own eyes. All the women and girls of a whole town, without exception, appeared

to

to be possessed with the devil. They trembled and prophesied publickly in the streets. One had the boldness to prophesy before me for an hour.'-(Vie du Maréchal Duc de Villars, p. 325.)

The last circumstance of this nature which we shall notice, is what occurred around the tomb of the deacon Pâris, at the cemetery of St. Medard. Here we have miracles, convulsions, extasies, prophecies, visions, prayers, sermons, &c. &c., in short, all the wonders of Magnetism. The whole affair is too recent and too well known to require any detail on our part. Hume, in his Essay on Miracles,' has remarked, that after the account of these wonders was published by the Jansenites, in favour of whose opinions they were supposed to have been wrought, their openly declared enemies, the Jesuits, with all their ingenuity and seconded by the government, could never fully disprove them, or reveal the imposture.

We have only hinted at these scenes to show what may occur among honest, but weak-minded, credulous people, in a state of mental exaltation. Such instances are to be found in hundreds, and we need not, indeed, have gone out of our own country to seek them. In times of religious discord and persecution, we too have had our prophets and gifted men; and examples, as well attested as any thing of the kind can be, of their visions and prophecies having been fulfilled, of their speaking in strange tongues and their extacies; and though a German Journal of Magnetism now complains with justice, that Great Britain and America present a "tabula rasa" in regard to every thing connected with Magnetism,' a time has been when it was other. wise with us. We have had our sorcerers and witches, our prophets and miracle-workers. Our Fludds, Greatrakeses, Maxwells, Perkinses, &c. &c. have thriven amongst us in their own good time. Some of them were honest, well meaning men in their day and generation; but now their wonders have gone the way of all such things. So will it also fare with Animal Magnetism: we have seen enough of it to enable us to predict with confidence, that its wonders will also diminish and fade away as they are made the subject of more rigid and scientific investigation; and that this vast discovery,' which was to reform the human race,' will finally dwindle down to the common standard of earthly things, and become a very small matter indeed.

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But while we thus acknowledge our utter inability to believe that Animal Magnetism is any thing more than a mere creature of the fancy, we are far from pretending to set limits to the effects which may be produced on ignorant, credulous, suscep

tible people, when they are labouring under disease and debility, whether of body or of mind. We have seen enough of the effects of the imagination and the passions in such cases, to convince us, that we do not yet know the limits of their influence: from the details which we have already given regarding the processes of the magnetisers, our readers will be enabled to judge how much both these are acted upon in magnetising. Much that appears supernatural is so to us only because our knowledge of nature is very limited many wonderful things take place around us which might cease to be wonderful if our vision were a little deeper. We have on record hundreds of 'well-attested' stories regarding ghosts, spectres, and strange things of every sort; which, though we can neither altogether disprove nor explain them, we continue to disbelieve; for they contradict what we conceive, from our own experience, to be the laws of nature. And a sober man, without believing all the wondrous things that the magnetisers and others of the same class relate, may still find much in them that has not yet been fully explained. We are fearfully and wonderfully made:' the acutest physiologist amongst us cannot explain the simplest function of our bodies; and who hath seen into the mysterious being of that immortal spirit which we feel within us, or known the laws to which it is subject in its connexion with our material part? It was nothing but matchless, unutterable vanity that made Buffon style himself a Genius equal to the Majesty of Nature.' There is enough in the meanest fibre of our bodies to convince us of our ignorance, to humble our pride, and fill us with reverence for Him who hath created all things, for whose power nothing is too great, for whose Eye of Providence no object in this vast universe is too minute!

1820-25.

ART. VI.-Gesammelte Werke der Brüder Christian und
Friedrich Leopold Grafen zu Stolberg. 20 vols.
Hamburgh, bei Perthes und Besser.

THE poets of Germany, if sometimes the most original, are also the most imitative of all the sons of song. Klopstock, in his Ode which describes the race between the two muses of his native land and of England, wisely veils in a cloud of dust the issue of the contest. Not only, however, did he leave the victory undecided; he felt too conscious of his own obligations to the muse of Britain to deny her older standing, and greater experience in such competitory warfare. For some time the

German

German poets had been content with French models, which, while they taught them elegance of composition, crippled the energy of invention; until the two Swiss writers, Bodmer and Breitinger, demonstrated the superiority of English literature. The influence of such example was not unfelt, and a bolder spirit of originality inspired the writers of Germany. No sooner was the impulse given by Klopstock, than the electric shock communicated itself from breast to breast, and every heart kindled with emulation and patriotism. Of all those who may be considered as having caught the spark of inspiration from the noble enthusiasm of the poet of the Messiah,' no writers are more deserving of notice than the two Stolbergs, whose works we make the subject of our present article.

The Stolbergs were imitators of Klopstock, and, at a later period, of Bürger. Had they, however, been only imitators; such, for instance, as were the followers of Pope in our country, we should not have thought of bestowing this notice upon them. They wore not the mantle of those poets only, but also imbibed their spirit. In the times of old, we know there were schools of the prophets in which was taught the prophetic art; but this instruction was so far from precluding inspiration, that it presupposed it as a necessary condition. The Stolbergs, particularly the younger, were poets by nature; the direction of their genius was, however, probably, determined by the example of their great predecessor.

'The more original,' (says Frederick Leopold Count Stolberg himself,) the more animated a man's works are, the more clear and profound are his thoughts; and the more strong and flowing his sensations, the more certain we may be that the man is more excellent than his writings. Whoever is of secondary order, either in poetry or philosophy, exhausts himself on paper. The works of a compiler are always superior to their author; with whom I have no wish to be acquainted, even though he should collect something valuable for my amusement. We cannot long stand to admire an artificial fountain, where the water issues through the mouths and breasts of dolphins and mermaids; though we repose with delight on the bubbling source, and under the cool shade of the dripping rocks where the stream first takes its rise. O Klopstock! Thou mighty river of our age and country, how often have I been strengthened and refreshed and inspired with new life by thy stream; which, flowing full and exhaustless, directs its bold course to the ocean of immortality!"

The personal history of the Stolbergs is not, like that of Klopstock, full of interest. They had no early difficulties to contend with; no trials of the heart to surmount. They were

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