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 regimen should restore him to his right fenfes; but the faint having been informed of his father's friendly intention, declined his paternal care, and quitting his house, fought a fanctuary in the palace of the bishop of Affifi. The diocesan immediately fent to the father of the fugitive, and, after hearing him upon the fubject of his right to provide for the safety of his fon, he turned calmly to the fon, 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 "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 persevere in his holy resolution, and to cherish with encreasing ardour the divine inspiration of his pious mind. The frantic youth, animated by the warm approbation of the bishop, pro ceeded Thurston del. Ridley saup 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 false 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 reafon, by ftudying, like the celebrated. phyfician we have juft mentioned, fome liberal science, he might, with the talents he poffeffed, have become a really useful member of fociety. But these wild shoots, 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 thefe wild and excentric fallies of the imagination. He who has an opportunity to indulge, without interruption or reftraint, the delightful mufings of an excurfive fancy, will foon lofe all relish for every other pleasure, and neglect every employment which tends to interrupt the gratification of fuch an enchanting, though dangerous a propensity. During the quietude of a fequeftered life, Imagination ufurps the throne of Reason, and all the feeble faculties of the mind obey her dictates, until her voice becomes defpotic. If thefe 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 inexpreffive strain Diffufes its enchantment: Fancy dreams 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, instead of finking to divine repose, feels a morbid melancholy and difcontented torpor, |