Effects of Incredulity and Credulity--Knowledge supposed to be
Remembrance--Purpose of this Volume--Progress of rational
Belief--Resemblance of Error to Truth--Contagious Nature of
Excitement--Improved State of the Human Mind in Modern Times 13
CHAPTER II.
Remote Origin of Oracles--Influence of Oracles--Opinions respecting
them--Cause of the Cessation of Oracles--Superstition early
systematized in Egypt--Bœotia early famous for Oracles--Origin of
the Oracle of Dodona--Ambiguity of Oracular Responses--Stratagem
of a Peasant--Oracles disbelieved by Ancient Philosophers--Cyrus
and the Idol Bel--Source of Fire-Worshipping--Victory of Canopus
over Fire--The Sphinx--Sounds heard from it--Supposed Cause of
them--Mysterious Sounds at Nakous--Frauds of the Priests of
Serapis--The Statue of Memnon--Oracle of Delphi--Its Origin--Changes
which it underwent--The Pythoness--Danger attendant on her
office--Tricks played by Heathen Priests--Origin of the Gordian
Knot--The Knot is cut by Alexander--Ambrosian, Logan or Rocking
Stones--Representations of them on Ancient Coins--Pliny’s Description
of a Logan Stone in Asia--Stones at Sitney, in Cornwall, and at
Castle Treryn--The latter is overthrown, and replaced--Logan Stones
are Druidical Monuments 17
CHAPTER III.
Susceptibility of the Imagination in the East--Mahomet--His
Origin--He assumes the Title of the Apostle of God--Opposition to
him--Revelations brought to Him by the Angel Gabriel--His Flight
to Medina--Success of his Imposture--Attempt to poison him--His
Death--Tradition respecting his Tomb--Account of his Intercourse
with Heaven--Sabatai Sevi, a false Messiah--Superstitious Tradition
among the Jews--Reports respecting the Coming of the Messiah--Sabatai
pretends to be the Messiah--He is assisted by Nathan--Follies
committed by the Jews--Honours paid to Sabatai--He embarks for
Constantinople--His Arrest--He embraces Mahometanism to avoid
Death--Rosenfeld, a German, proclaims himself the Messiah--His
knavery--He is whipped and imprisoned--Richard Brothers announces
himself as the revealed Prince and Prophet of the Jews--He dies in
Bedlam--Thomas Muncer and his Associates--Their Fate--Matthias,
John of Leyden, and other Anabaptist Leaders--They are defeated
and executed--The French Prophets--Punishment of them--Miracles
at the Grave of the Deacon Paris--Horrible Self-inflictions
of the Convulsionaries--The Brothers of Brugglen--They are
executed--Prophecy of a Lifeguardsman in London--Joanna
Southcott--Her Origin, Progress, and Death--Folly of her
Disciples--Miracles of Prince Hohenlohe 34
CHAPTER IV.
Account of Pope Joan--Artifice of Pope Sextus V.--Some Christian
Ceremonies borrowed from the Jews and Pagans--Melting of the Blood
of St. Januarius--Addison’s opinion of it--Description of the
Performance of the Miracle--Miraculous Image of our Saviour at
Rome--Ludicrous Metamorphosis of a Statue--Relics--Head of St. John
the Baptist--Sword of Balaam--St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand
Virgins--Self-Tormenting--Penances of St. Dominic the Cuirassier--The
Crusades--Their Cause and Progress, and the immense numbers engaged
in them. 62
CHAPTER V.
Pretenders to Royalty numerous--Contest between the Houses of York and
Lancaster gives rise to various Pretenders--Insurrection of Jack
Cade--He is killed--Lambert Simnel is tutored to personate the Earl
of Warwick--He is crowned at Dublin--He is taken Prisoner, pardoned,
and made Scullion in the Royal Kitchen--Perkin Warbeck pretends
to be the murdered Duke of York--He is countenanced by the King
of France--He is acknowledged by the Duchess of Burgundy--Perkin
lands in Scotland, and is aided by King James--He is married
to Lady Catherine Gordon--He invades England, but fails--His
Death--Pretenders in Portugal--Gabriel de Spinosa--He is hanged--The
Son of a Tiler pretends to be Sebastian--He is sent to the
Galleys--Gonçalo Alvarez succeeds him--He is executed--An Individual
of talents assumes the Character of Sebastian--His extraordinary
Behaviour in his Examinations--He is given up to the Spaniards--His
Sufferings and dignified Deportment--His Fate not known--Pretenders
in Russia--The first false Demetrius--He obtains the Throne, but
is driven from it by Insurrection, and is slain--Other Impostors
assume the same Name--Revolt of Pugatscheff--Pretenders in
France--Hervegault and Bruneau assume the Character of the deceased
Louis XVI. 73
CHAPTER VI.
Disguise of Achilles--Of Ulysses--Of Codrus--Fiction employed by Numa
Pompilius--King Alfred disguised in the Swineherd’s Cottage--His
Visit, as a Harper, to the Danish Camp--Richard Cœur de Lion takes
the Garb of a Pilgrim--He is discovered and imprisoned--Disguises
and Escape of Mary, Queen of Scots--Escape of Charles the Second,
after the Battle of Worcester--Of Stanislaus from Dantzic--Of Prince
Charles Edward from Scotland--Peter the Great takes the Dress of a
Ship Carpenter--His Visit to England--Anecdote of his Conduct to a
Dutch Skipper--Stratagem of the Princess Ulrica of Prussia--Pleasant
Deception practised by Catherine the Second of Russia--Joan of
Arc--Her early Life--Discovers the King when first introduced at
Court--She compels the English to raise the Siege of Orleans--Joan
leads the King to be crowned at Rheims--She is taken Prisoner--Base
and barbarous Conduct of her Enemies--She is burned at Rouen--The
Devil of Woodstock--Annoying Pranks played by it--Explanation of the
Mystery--Fair Rosamond 86
CHAPTER VII.
Characteristic Mark of a skilful General--Importance anciently
attached to military Stratagems--The Stratagem of Joshua at
Ai, the first which is recorded--Stratagem of Julius Cæsar in
Gaul--Favourable Omen derived from Sneezing--Artifice of Bias at
Priene--Telegraphic Communication--Mode adopted by Hystiæus to convey
Intelligence--Relief of Casilinum by Gracchus--Stratagem of the
Chevalier de Luxembourg to convey Ammunition into Lisle--Importance
of concealing the Death of a General--The manner in which the
Death of Sultan Solyman was kept secret--Stratagem of John
Visconti--Stratagem of Lord Norwich at Angoulème--Capture of Amiens
by the Spaniards--Manner in which the Natives of Sonia threw off the
Yoke 109
CHAPTER VIII.
Former Prevalence of Malingering in the Army; and the Motives for
it--Decline of the Practice--Where most Prevalent--The means of
Simulation reduced to a System--Cases of simulated Ophthalmia
in the 50th Regiment--The Deception wonderfully kept up by many
Malingerers--Means of Detection--Simulated Paralysis--Impudent
Triumph manifested by Malingerers--Curious case of Hollidge--Gutta
Serena, and Nyctalopia counterfeited--Blind Soldiers employed in
Egypt--Cure, by actual cautery, of a Malingerer--Simulation of
Consumption and other Diseases--Feigned Deafness--Detection of a Man
who simulated Deafness--Instances of Self-mutilation committed by
Soldiers--Simulation of Death 118
CHAPTER IX.
The Bottle Conjuror--Advertisements on this Occasion--Riot produced
by the Fraud--Squibs and Epigrams to which it gave rise--Case of
Elizabeth Canning--Violent Controversy which arose out of it--She is
found guilty of Perjury and transported--The Cock Lane Ghost--Public
Excitement occasioned by it--Detection of the Fraud--Motive for
the Imposture--The Stockwell Ghost--The Sampford Ghost--Mystery in
which the Affair was involved--Astonishing Instance of Credulity
in Perigo and his Wife--Diabolical Conduct of Mary Bateman--She is
hanged for Murder--Metamorphosis of the Chevalier d’Eon--Multifarious
Disguises of Price, the Forger--Miss Robertson--The fortunate
Youth--The Princess--Olive--Caraboo--Pretended Fasting--Margaret
Senfrit--Catherine Binder--The Girl of Unna--The Osnaburg Girl--Anne
Moore 126
CHAPTER X.
Controversy respecting the Works of Homer; Arguments of
the Disputants--Controversy on the supposed Epistles of
Phalaris--Opinion of Sir William Temple on the Superiority of
the Ancients--Dissertation of Dr. Bentley on the Epistles of
Phalaris--He proves them to be a Forgery--Doubts as to the Anabasis
being the Work of Xenophon--Arguments of Mr. Mitford in the
Affirmative--Alcyonius accused of having plagiarised from, and
destroyed, Cicero’s Treatise “De Gloria”--Curious Mistake as to
Sir T. More’s Utopia--The Icon Basilike--Disputes to which it gave
rise--Arguments, pro and con, as to the real Author of it--Lauder’s
Attempt to prove Milton a Plagiarist--Refutation of him by Dr.
Douglas--His interpolations--George Psalmanazar--His Account of
Formosa--His Repentance and Piety--Publication of Ossian’s Poems by
Mr. Macpherson--Their Authenticity is doubted--Report of the Highland
Society on the Subject--Pseudonymous and anonymous Works--Letters of
Junius--The Drapier’s Letters--Tale of a Tub--Gulliver’s Travels--The
Waverley Novels--Chatterton and the Rowley Poems--W. H. Ireland and
the Shakspearian Forgeries--Damberger’s pretended Travels--Poems of
Clotilda de Surville--Walladmor--Hunter, the American--Donville’s
Travels in Africa 147
CHAPTER XI.
Fashion of decrying modern Artists--M. Picart asserts the Merit
of modern Engravers--Means employed by him to prove the Truth
of his Assertions--“The innocent Impostors”--Goltzius imitates
perfectly the Engravings of Albert Durer--Marc Antonio Raimondi is
equally successful--Excellent Imitation of Rembrandt’s Portrait
of Burgomaster Six--Modern Tricks played with respect to Engraved
Portraits--Sir Joshua Reynolds metamorphosed into “The Monster.” 191
CHAPTER XII.
Ancient Memorials of Geographical Discoveries--Mistakes arising
from them--Frauds to which they gave occasion--Imposture of
Evemerus--Annius of Viterbo wrongfully charged with forging
Inscriptions--Spurious works given to the World by him--Forged
Inscriptions put on statues by ignorant modern Sculptors--Spurious
Medals--Instances of them in the Cabinet of Dr. Hunter--Coins
adulterated by Grecian Cities--Evelyn’s Directions for ascertaining
the Genuineness of Medals--Spurious Gold Medals--Tricks of the
Manufacturers of Pseudo-Antique Medals--Collectors addicted to
pilfering Rarities--Medals swallowed by Vaillant--Mistakes arising
from Ignorance of the Chinese Characters. 195
CHAPTER XIII.
First Opening of the Regalia to public Inspection--Edwards appointed
Keeper--Plan formed by Blood to steal the Regalia--He visits the
Tower with his pretended Wife--Means by which he contrived to become
intimate with Edwards--His Arrangements for carrying his Scheme into
Execution--He knocks down Edwards, and obtains Possession of the
Jewels--Fortunate Chance by which his Scheme was frustrated--He is
taken--Charles II. is present at his Examination--Blood contrives to
obtain a Pardon, and the Gift of an Estate from the King. 201
CHAPTER XIV.
Horrible nature of the Superstition of Vampyrism--Persons attacked
by Vampyres become Vampyres themselves--Signs by which a Vampyre
was known--Origin of one of the signs--Effect attributed to
Excommunication in the Greek church--Story of an excommunicated
Greek--Calmet’s theory of the origin of the Superstition respecting
Vampyres--St. Stanislas--Philinnium--The Strygis supposed to have
given the idea of the Vampyre--Capitulary of Charlemagne--Remedy
against attacks from the Demon--Anecdote of an impudent
Vampyre--Story of a Vampyre at Mycone--Prevalence of Vampyrism in the
north of Europe--Walachian mode of detecting Vampyres. 205
CHAPTER XV.
Feats of Jugglers formerly attributed to witchcraft--Anglo-Saxon
Gleemen--Norman Jugglers or Tregatours--Chaucer’s Description
of the Wonders performed by them--Means probably employed by
them--Recipe for making the Appearance of a Flood--Jugglers
fashionable in the Reign of Charles II.--Evelyn’s Account of a
Fire-eater--Katterfelto--Superiority of Asiatic and Eygptian
pretenders to magical Skill--Mandeville’s Account of Juggling at the
Court of the Great Khan--Extraordinary Feats witnessed by the Emperor
Jehanguire--Ibn Batuta’s Account of Hindustanee Jugglers--Account of
a Bramin who sat upon the Air--Egyptian Jugglers--Mr. Lane’s Account
of the Performance of one of them--Another fails in satisfying
Captain Scott. 212
CHAPTER XVI.
Hold taken on the public Mind by Prodigies--Dutch Boy with Hebrew
Words on the Iris of each Eye--Boy with the word Napoleon
in the Eye--Child with a Golden Tooth--Speculations on the
Subject--Superstition respecting changeling Children in the Isle of
Man--Waldron’s Description of a Changeling--Cases of extraordinary
Sleepers--The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus--Men supposed, in the
northern Regions, to be frozen during the Winter, and afterwards
thawed into Life again--Dr. Oliver’s Case of a Sleeper near Bath--Dr.
Cheyne’s Account of Colonel Townshend’s power of voluntarily
suspending Animation--Man buried alive for a Month at Jaisulmer--The
Manner of his Burial, and his Preparation for it. 221
CHAPTER XVII.
Origin of Alchemy--Argument for Transmutation--Golden Age of
Alchemy--Alchemists in the 13th century--Medals metaphorically
described--Jargon of Dr. Dee--The Green Lion--Roger Bacon--Invention
of Gunpowder--Imprisonment of Alchemists--Edict of Henry
VI.--Pope John XXII.--Pope Sixtus V.--Alchemy applied to
Medicine--Paracelsus--Evelyn’s hesitation about Alchemy--Narrative
of Helvetius--Philadept on Alchemy--Rosicrucians--A Vision--Hayden’s
description of Rosicrucians--Dr. Price--Mr. Woulfe--Mr. Kellerman.
230
CHAPTER XVIII.
Supposed Origin of Astrology--Butler on the Transmission of
Astrological Knowledge--Remarks on Astrology by Hervey--Petrarch’s
Opinion of Astrology--Catherine of Medicis--Casting of
Nativities in England--Moore’s Almanack--Writers for and against
Astrology--Horoscope of Prince Frederick of Denmark--Astrologers
contributed sometimes to realize their own Predictions--Caracalla
244
CHAPTER XIX.
State of Medicine in remote Ages--Animals Teachers of
Medicine--Gymnastic Medicine--Cato’s Cure for a Fracture--Dearness
of ancient Medicines and Medical Books--Absurdity of the
ancient Materia Medica: Gold, Bezoar, Mummy--Prescription for a
Quartan--Amulets--Virtues of Gems--Corals--Charms--Charm for sore
Eyes--Medicine connected with Astrology--Cure by Sympathy--Sir
Kenelm Digby--The real Cause of the Cure--The Vulnerary Powder,
&c.--The Royal Touch--Evelyn’s Description of the Ceremony--Valentine
Greatrakes--Morley’s Cure for Scrofula--Inoculation--Vaccination--Dr.
Jenner--Animal Magnetism--M. Loewe’s Account of it--Mesmer, and
his Feats--Manner of Magnetizing--Report of a Commission on the
Subject--Metallic Tractors--Baron Silfverkielm and the Souls in
White Robes--Mr. Loutherbourg--Empirics--Uroscopy--Mayersbach--Le
Febre--Remedies for the Stone--The Anodyne Necklace--The Universal
Medicine 250
CONCLUDING CHAPTER.
Superstition of the Hindoos--The Malays--Asiatic Superstitions--The
Chinese--Miracle of the Blessed Virgin--Stratagem of an
Architect--Michael Angelo’s Cupid--Statue of Charles I.--Ever-burning
Sepulchral Lamps--Lamp in the Tomb of Pallas--The art of
Mimicry--Superiority of the Ancients--Fable of Proteus--Personation
of the insane Ajax--Archimimes at funerals--Demetrius the cynic
converted--Acting portraits and historical pictures--War dances of
the American Indians--The South Sea Bubble--Gay the poet--Law’s
Mississippi Scheme--Numerous Bubbles--Speculations in 1825 274
SKETCHES
OF
IMPOSTURE, DECEPTION,
AND
CREDULITY.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
Effects of Incredulity and Credulity--Knowledge supposed to be
Remembrance--Purpose of this Volume--Progress of rational
Belief--Resemblance of Error to Truth--Contagious Nature of
Excitement--Improved State of the Human Mind in Modern Times.
Incredulity has been said, by Aristotle, to be the foundation of all
wisdom. The truth of this assertion might safely be disputed; but, on
the other hand, to say that credulity is the foundation of all folly,
is an assertion more consonant to experience, and may be more readily
admitted; and the contemplation of this subject forms a curious chapter
in the history of the human mind.
A certain extent of credulity, or, more properly, belief, may, indeed,
be considered as absolutely necessary to the well-being of social
communities; for universal scepticism would be universal distrust.
Nor could knowledge ever have arrived at its present amazing height,
had every intermediate step in the ladder of science, from profound
ignorance and slavery of intellect, been disputed with bigoted
incredulity.
It has been said, that all knowledge is remembrance, and all ignorance
forgetfulness,--alluding to the universal knowledge which, in the
opinion of the schoolmen, our first father, Adam, possessed _before
the fall_,--and that the subsequent invention of arts and sciences was
only a partial recovery or recollection, as it were, of what had been
originally well known. The undefined aspirations of many minds, to seek
for what is distant and least understood, in preference to that near at
hand and more in unison with our general state of knowledge, seem to
favour this idea.
It will be the endeavour of the following pages to show that the
credulity of the many--in some cases synonymous with the foolish--has
been, from the beginning, most readily imposed upon by the clever
and designing few. It is a curious task to investigate the gradual
developement of rational belief, as exhibited in the proportionate
disbelief and exposure of those things which, in earlier ages, were
considered points of faith, and to doubt which was a dangerous heresy;
and how, at first, the arts and sciences were weighed down and the
advantages to be derived from them neutralized, by the fallacies
of misconception or fanaticism. We are, in spite of ourselves, the
creatures of imagination, and the victims of prejudice, which has
been justly called the wrong bias of the soul, that effectually keeps
it from coming near the path of truth; a task the more difficult to
accomplish, since error often bears so near a resemblance to it. Error,
indeed, always borrows something of truth, to make her more acceptable
to the world, seldom appearing in her native deformity; and the
subtilty of grand deceivers has always been shown in grafting their
greatest errors on some material truths, and with such dexterity, that
Ithuriel’s spear alone, whose touch
“No falsehood can endure,”
would have power to reveal them.
Many, and even contradictory, causes might be assigned for the constant
disposition towards credulity; the mind is prone to believe that for
which it most anxiously wishes; difficulties vanish in _desire_, which
thus becomes frequently the main cause of success. Thus, when Prince
Henry, _believing_ his father dead, had taken the crown from his
pillow, the King in reproach said to him,[1]
“Thy _wish_ was father, Harry, to that thought.”
Belief is often granted on trust to such things as are above common
comprehension, by some, who would thus flatter themselves with a
superiority of judgment; on the other hand, what all around put faith
in, the remaining few will, from that circumstance, easily believe.
This is seen in times of popular excitement, when an assertion,
quite at variance with common sense or experience, will run like a
wild-fire through a city, and be productive of most serious results.
It would appear that this springs from that inherent power of
imitation, which is singularly exemplified even in particular kinds
of disease,--comitial, as they were called by the Romans, from their
frequent occurrence in assemblies of the people,--and, more fatally,
when it impels us to “follow a multitude to do evil.”
After a long and dreary period of ignorance, the nations of Europe
began to arouse themselves from the lethargy in which they had been
plunged; _religious enthusiasm then awakened the ardour of heroism_,
and the wild but fascinating spirit of chivalry--whose actions were
the offspring of disinterested valour, that looked for no reward
but the smile of favouring beauty or grateful tear of redressed
misfortune,--taught the world that humanity and benevolence were no
less meritorious than undaunted courage and athletic strength.
Knowledge, however, advanced with slow and timid steps from the cells
of the monks, in which she had been obliged to conceal herself, whilst
her rival, Ignorance, had been exalted to palaces and thrones. From the
period which succeeded that twilight of the Goths and Vandals, when all
the useful arts were obscured and concealed by indolent indifference,
we shall find that each succeeding age happily contributed to enlighten
the world by the revival and gradual improvement of the arts and
sciences; a corresponding elevation in the general sagacity of the
human mind was the natural consequence: this can readily be shown by
the proportionate decrease of the numerous methods by which specious
impostors lived upon the credulity of others.
Few, it is to be hoped, in the present day seek consolation for
disappointment in the mysteries of astrological judgments, or attribute
their ill-success in life to an evil conjunction of the stars, as
revealed by the deluding horoscope of a caster of nativities.
That age has at length passed away, when the search after the
philosopher’s stone, or the universal solvent, terminated a life of
incredible toil and hopeless expectation, in poverty and contempt.
But there are still many who neglect the experience of the past, and,
anxious to know their future fate, seek it in the fortune-teller’s
cards; or, unhappily, a prey to some of those ills that flesh is heir
to, would rather seek to expedite their cure by some specious but
empirical experiment, than wait for the slower but surer results of
time and experience.