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 some proper place of confinement, until time or medical regimen should reftore 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 subject of his right to provide for the fafety of his son, he turned calmly 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 the astonished parent, exclaimed, "There, take back all your "property. You were, indeed, my earthly father; "but henceforth I difclaim 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 enthufiaft, threw his own mantle over the faint, and exhorted him to perfevere in his holy refolution, 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 The Bishop of Assivi, throwing his Garment over St Francis. Vol. 2 Pub by Vernor & Hood, Poultry, 1, Aug 1805. ceeded in his religious course, and, abandoning the city, retired into the deepest gloom of an adjacent forest, to indulge the fervors of that false enthusiasm which had overpowered his brain. In this retreat a second 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 ftudying, like the celebrated physician we have just mentioned, fome liberal science, he might, with the talents he poffeffed, have become a really useful member of society. But these wild shoots, if fuffered to grow to any height, cannot afterwards be easily 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 the 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 excefs 2 these thefe wild and eccentric fallies of the imagi nation. 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 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 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 capable of affording, Then the inexpressive strain Diffuses its enchantment: Fancy dreams Bends from his awful throne a wondering ear, But if the mind, as in the folitude of monaftic feclufion, fixes its attention on ascetic fubjects, and fires the fancy with unnatural legends, the foul, inftead of finking to divine repofe, feels a morbid melancholy and difcontented torpor, |