[1] When Columbus sailed on his fourth voyage, in which he hoped to pass
through what we now know as the Isthmus of Panama, and sail
northwestward, he wrote to his king and queen that thus he should come
as near as men could come to "the Terrestrial Paradise."
[2] Norandel was the half-brother of Amadis, both of them being sons of
Lisuarte, King of England.
[3] Maneli was son of Cildadan, King of Ireland.
[4] Quadragante was a distinguished giant, who had been conquered by
Amadis, and was now his sure friend.
[5] The "Spectators" 414 and 477, which urge particularly a better taste
in gardening, are dated 1712; and the first volume of the "Ichnographia"
(under a different name, indeed) appeared in 1715.
[6] This is averred of the translation of the "Oeconomics" of Xenophon,
before cited in these papers, and published under Professor Bradley's
name.
[7] _Joseph Andrews_, Bk. III. Ch. 4, where Fielding, thief that he was,
appropriates the story that Xenophon tells of Cyrus.
[8] _Works of Earl of Orford_, Vol. III. p. 490.
[9] Chap. IX. p. 136, Cobbett's edition.
[10] It is to be remarked, however, that the Rev. Mr. Smith, (farmer of
Lois-Weedon,) by the distribution of his crop, avails himself virtually
of a clean fallow, every alternate year.
[11] _Transactions_, Vol. XXX p. 140.
[12] _Detached Thoughts on Men and Manners:_ Wm. Shenstone.
[13] Completing the two volumes of collected poems.
[14] A taste for this had been early indicated, especially in the essays
on Bunyan and Robert Dinsmore, in "Old Portraits and Modern Sketches,"
and in passages of "Literary Recreations." Whittier's prose, by the way,
is all worth reading.
[15] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État des Convulsionnaires_, p. 104.
[16] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc., p. 104.
[17] _Vains Efforts des Discernans_, p. 36.
[18] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc., p. 66.
[19] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc., p. 67. The latter part
of the quotation alludes to crucifixion and other symbolical
representations, to which the convulsionists were much given.
This state of ecstasy is one which has existed, probably, in occasional
instances, through all past time, especially among religious
enthusiasts. The writings of the ancient fathers contain constant
allusions to it. St. Augustine, for example, speaks of it as a
phenomenon which he has personally witnessed. Referring to persons thus
impressed, he says,--"I have seen some who addressed their discourse
sometimes to the persons around them, sometimes to other beings, as if
they were actually present; and when they came to themselves, some could
report what they had seen, others preserved no recollection of it
whatever."--_De Gen. ad Litter._ Lib. XII. c. 13.
[20] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc., p. 77.
[21] _Lettre de M. Colbert_, du 8 Février, 1733, à Madame de Coetquen.
[22] Montgéron, Tom. II.
[23] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'Oeuvre_, etc., p. 123.
[24] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc. p. 82.
[25] _Ibid._ p. 17.
[26] _Ibid._ p. 19.
[27] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc., p. 77.
[28] In proof of this opinion, Montgéron gives numerous quotations from
St. Augustine, St. Thomas, St. Gregory, and various theologians and
ecclesiastics of high reputation, to the effect that "it often happens
that errors and defects are mixed in with holy and divine revelations,
(of saints and others, in ecstasy,) either by some vice of nature, or by
the deception of the Devil, in the same way that our minds often draw
false conclusions from true premises."--_Ibid._ pp. 88-96.
[29] _Ibid._ p. 94.
[30] _Ibid._ p. 95.
[31] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc., pp. 102, 103.
[32] _Ibid._ p. 73.
[33] _Vains Efforts des Discernans_, pp. 39, 40.
[34] _Lettres de M. Poncet_, Let. VII. p. 129.
[35] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc., p. 76.
[36] _Recherche de la Vérité_, p. 25.
[37] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc., p. 76.
[38] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc., p. 73.
[39] _Philosophy of Mysterious Agents, Human and Mundane_, by E. C.
Rogers, Boston, 1853, p. 321, and elsewhere. He argues, "that, in as far
as persons become 'mediums,' they are mere automatons," surrendering all
mental control, and resigning their manhood.
[40] Montgéron, Tom. II. _Idée de l'État_, etc., pp. 34, 35.
[41] Hume's _Essays_, Vol. II. sect. 10.
[42] Diderot's _Pensées Philosophiques_. The original edition appeared
in 1746, published in Paris.
[43] Dom La Taste's _Lettres Théologiques_, Tom. II. p. 878.
[44] Montgéron expressly tells us, that, in the case of Marguerite
Catherine Turpin, her limbs were drawn, by means of strong bands, "with
such, extreme violence that the bones of her knees and thighs cracked
with a loud noise."--Tom. III. p. 553.
[45] Montgéron supplies evidence that the expression _clubs_, here used,
is not misapplied. He furnishes quotations from a petition addressed to
the Parliament of Paris by the mother of the girl Turpin, praying for a
legal investigation of her daughter's case by the attorney-general, and
offering to furnish him with the names, station in life, and addresses
of the witnesses to the wonderful cure, in this case, of a monstrous
deformity that was almost congenital; in which petition it is
stated,--"Little by little the force with which she was struck was
augmented, and at last the blows were given with billets of oak-wood,
one end of which was reduced in diameter so as to form a handle, while
the other end, with which the strokes were dealt, was from seven to
eight inches in circumference, so that these billets were in fact small
clubs." (Montgéron, Tom. III. p. 552.) This would give from eight to
nine inches, English measure, or nearly three inches in diameter, and of
_oak_!
[46] _Dissertation Théologique sur les Convulsions_, pp. 70, 71.
[47] _De la Folie_, Tom. II. p. 373.
[48] Tympany is defined by Johnson, "A kind of obstructed flatulence
that swells the body like a drum."
[49] _The Epidemics of the Middle Ages_, pp. 89-91. The same work
supplies other points of analogy between this epidemic and that of St.
Médard; for example: "Where the disease was completely developed, the
attack commenced with epileptic convulsions."--p. 88.
[50] _Traité du Somnambulisme_, pp. 384, 385.
[51] _Dictionnaire des Sciences Médicales_, Art. _Convulsions_.
[52] _De la Folie, considérée, sous la Point de Vue Pathologique,
Philosophique, Historique, et Judiciaire_, par le Dr. Calmeil, Paris,
1845, Tom. II. pp. 386, 387.
[53] See, in Calmeil's work cited above, the Chapter entitled _Théomanie
Extato-Convulsive parmi les Jansenistes_, Tom. II. pp. 313-400.
[54] _Du Surnaturel en Général_, Tom. II. pp. 94, 95.
[55] I translate literally the words of the original: "_avec des
convulsionnaires en gomme élastique_," p. 90.
[56] _Du Surnaturel en Général_, Tom. II. pp. 90, 91.
[57] See note in De Gasparin's "Experiments in Table-Moving."
[58] Montgéron, Tom. III. p. 703.
[59] Montgéron, Tom. III. pp. 712, 713.
[60] Carpenter's _Principles of Human Physiology_, p. 647.
[61] Carpenter's _Principles of Human Physiology_, p. 561. The story,
incredible if it appear, is indorsed by Carpenter as vouched for by Mr.
Richard Smith, late Senior Surgeon of the Bristol Infirmary, under whose
care the sufferer had been. The case resulted, after a fortnight, in
death.
[62] Such will be found throughout Hecquet's "Le Naturalisme des
Convulsions dans les Maladies," Paris, 1733. Dr. Philippe Hecquet, born
in 1661, acquired great reputation in Paris as a physician, being
elected in 1712 President of the Faculty of Medicine in that city. He is
the author of numerous works on medical subjects. In his "Naturalisme
des Convulsions," published at the very time when the St.-Médard
excitement was at the highest, he admits the main facts, but denies
their miraculous character.
[63] "The eye, contrary to the usual notions, is a very insensible part
of the body, unless affected with inflammation; for, though the mucous
membrane which covers its surface, and which is prolonged from the skin,
is acutely sensible to tactile impressions, the interior is by no means
so, as is well known to those who have operated much on this
organ."--Carpenter's _Principles of Human Physiology_, p. 682.
[64] Hume's _Essays_, Vol. II. p. 133.