children of Sin, and followers of Satan. The
father of the young faint, fuppofing, from these
extravagances, that the fickness under which he
had fo long laboured had disordered his intellects,
prepared to provide him with fome proper place
of confinement, until time or medical regi-
men should restore him to his right senses; but
the faint having been informed of his father's
friendly intention, declined his paternal care, and
quitting his house, sought a fanctuary in the
lace of the bishop of Affifi. The diocefan im-
mediately fent to the father of the fugitive, and,
after hearing him upon the subject of his right to
provide for the fafety of his fon, he turned calm-
ly to the son, and defired him to reply. The
fon immediately tore off the tattered garments
which he then wore, and cafting them with
fcorn and indignation at the feet of his aftonished
parent, exclaimed, "There, take back all your

pa

(C

property. You were, indeed, my earthly father, "but henceforth I disclaim you; for I own no father but him who is in heaven." The bishop, either really or affectedly delighted with this unnatural rant of the young enthusiast, threw his own mantle over the faint, and exhorted him to perfevere in his holy resolution, and to cherish with encreafing ardour the divine inspiration of his pious mind. The frantic youth, animated by the warm approbation of the bishop, proceeded

Amelle Nicholas, tetting her Rosary:

Vol. 2.

Published as the Act directs, July 20 1799 by Vernor & Hood, Poultry.

ceeded in his religious course, and, abandoning the city, retired into the deepest gloom of an adjacent foreft, to indulge the fervors of that falfe enthusiasm which had overpowered his brain. In this retreat a fecond vifion confirmed him in his holy office; and being encouraged by Pope INNOCENT THE THIRD, and HONORIUS, he established, in the year 1209, the Order of Saint Francis. If this ridiculous enthufiaft had corrected the extravagances of his overheated imagination, by a cool and temperate exercise of his reason, by studying, like the celebrated phyfician we have just mentioned, fome liberal science, he might, with the talents he poffeffed, have become a really useful member of fociety. But these wild fhoots, if fuffered to grow to any height, cannot afterwards be eafily eradicated: and even FOTHERGILL, if he had lived, like FRANCIS, in an age of fuperftitious delufion, and been encouraged to believe the truth of his fanatic conceptions, his temporary phrenzy might have continued through life; and his character, instead of being revered as a promoter of an useful science, have been held up by an ignorant multitude to the contempt and ridicule of pofterity.

The vacancy of Solitude, by leaving the mind to its own ideas, encourages to a great excess

thefe

these wild and excentric fallies of the imagination. He who has an opportunity to indulge, without interruption or restraint, the delightful mufings of an excurfive fancy, will foon lose all relish for every other pleasure, and neglect every employment which tends to interrupt the gratification of fuch an enchanting, though dangerous a propenfity. During the quietude of a fequestered life, Imagination ufurps the throne of Reason, and all the feeble faculties of the mind obey her dictates, until her voice becomes defpotic. If these high powers be exercised on the agreeable appearances of nature, and the various entertainments poetry, painting, mufic, or any of the elegant arts are capaple of affording,

Then the inexpressive strain
Diffufes its enchantment: Fancy dreams
Of facred fountains, and Elysian groves,
And vales of blifs: the intellectual power
Bends from his awful throne a wondering ear,
And fmiles the Paffions, gently smooth'd away,
Sink to divine repose, and Love and Joy
Alone are waking.

But if the mind, as in the folitude of monaftic feclufion, fixes its attention on ascetic subjects, and fires the fancy with unnatural legends, the foul, inftead of finking to divine repofe, feels a morbid melancholy and discontented torpor,