religious. Such a belief is unfortunately very prevalent in Germany. It is probably, more than any other country of Europe, the land of credulity. There is hardly any charlatinism of modern times which has not originated there; and no two nations can, in this respect, be more different from one another than the Germans of the present day are from their ancestors in the time of Luther. They were then hardy in their inquiries, and slow in their belief. Now, there is not a physical, a moral, or a religious wonder, which does not find admirers in Germany. To this we must add, the state of complete pupilage in which the Germans are kept by their governments. Every thing, from organizing an army to extirpating weeds, is the subject of regu lations. The people act only as government directs, and believe only as it prescribes. The sovereign of Bavaria gives his support to the belief in animal magnetism, for he has appointed a professor of this occult science. We cannot expect, therefore, that the people should be slow in believing any similar wonders, or that they should be able to scrutinize rigidly, or appreciate correctly, whatever has the appearance of a miracle. All these are circumstances which, we conceive, are favourable to any person who pretends to be endowed with miraculous power. The chief places where Prince Hohenlohe performed his miracles, are Wurzburg and Bamberg, both of them at present forming part of the kingdom of Bavaria. Although no government of Germany has been more improved within the last thirty years than that of Bavaria, or is at present conducted on more liberal principles, yet it cannot be denied that its subjects, though also in a state of rapid improvement, are among the most ignorant and bigotted of the Germans. More than three-fourths of them are Catholics, and, prior to the French Revolution, Bavaria was looked on as the strong-hold of licentiousness, ignorance, and bigotry. The very reforms which may be justly boasted of, have created a large number of discontented people; and political have therefore combined with religious causes, to create a party in Bavaria which is ready to believe whatever promises to restore dignity to the Catholic church and wealth to the Catholic priests. Under these circumstances, Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe, (Schilling Fürst, as he is called,) announces himself to the Bavarians, and is loudly echoed by his party, as endowed with the power of working miracles, for the very purpose of proving the superior saving efficacy of the holy Ro man Catholic faith. This gentleman is descended from a very ancient and noble family, which, before the dismemberment of the German empire, possessed all the rights of sovereignty; at present it is media tized, as it is called, and lives under the dominion of the king of Wirtemberg. The prince himself is distinguished from the other members of his family by the title of Schilling, this being the name of his property. He is a priest of the Catholic church, a knight of Malta, and possessor, under the title of Domicellar and vicariats Rath, of the bishopric of Bamberg. He has long been known as a zealous Catholic, and made himself conspicuous some years ago by his attempts to convert a Dr. Wetzel. He afterwards attempted to acquire reputation as an author, but in this he was disappointed. He then took up the trade of a saint, and made his first appearance in this character at Wurzburg, on the 20th of June, 1821; selecting a young lady of high rank, Mathilda, Princess of Schwarzenberg, for his first experiment. The description which the medical men have given of the state of the princess, however, does not allow us to think very highly of the miracle which he performed in her behalf. Mr. Heyne, a man of undoubted veracity and honour, under whose care the princess had been for more than a year and a half, has publicly declared, through the medium of the newspapers, that the princess was so far cured, at the time of the miracle, that she could stand, and even move backwards and forwards. This lady had attained her seventeenth year, and had been for nine years confined to a horizontal position. She had travelled, or rather been sent, seeking relief, to various parts of Germany. Her disease is not mentioned in any accounts which we have seen, but we are disposed to imagine it was seated in the spine, as she was unable to raise herself, even ten degrees, from an horizontal position. In this state she arrived at Wurzburg, and was put under the care of Professor Textor and Mr. Heyne. Aided by the perseverance and the courage of the princess, these gentlemen, by means of various machines, had given her so much strength, that she was able to bring herself to the horizontal position, to stand upright for several hours, and even to move herself backwards and forwards. They, however, did not deem it prudent to allow her to walk, though they supposed she was capable of walking. This was her state when she was visited by Mr. Heyne on the evening of the 19th of June. On the 20th, betwixt 10 and 11 o'clock, Prince Hohenlohe, accompa nied by an old peasant, called Martin Michel, came to the bedside of the princess, prayed with her, and then commanded her to arise. She got up from the bed by herself, threw away the machines which had been used to strengthen her, caused herself to be dressed, and went immediately into the court yard and garden. On the ensuing morning, she publicly performed her devotions at church, amidst thanksgivings and prayers. The VOL. II. NO. III. Catholics immediately proclaimed to the world the feat of the Prince as a miracle, and him as endowed with miraculous powers, for the purpose of restoring the Catholic church to its former splendour. It is quite obvious that the Prince must have been exactly aware of all the circumstances of the princess' situation, and that he cunningly profited by them, to obtain the reputation of a worker of miracles. The unfortunate princess, however, seems to have been made the victim of his intrigues. Her disease afterwards returned, and she is again under the care of medical men. This could not be foreseen, nor is it even at present believed by the great mass of the people, who, knowing only the two circumstances of the princess being unable to walk, and of her returning thanks to God for her recovery, gave implicit credit to the miracle. The town of Wurzburg was immediately in commotion; all the sick crowded round the prince; wherever he went he was followed by multitudes; and, up to the 2d of July, when he left Wurzburg, he had miraculously healed more than one hundred persons. Of all these, however, his followers have only particularized two, which seem, on the most favourable construction, but very silly miracles. A butcher was carried into the house where the prince was, and came out walking. So the miracle is reported. A theological student, also, unable to stand, was driven in a carriage to the prince, who prayed for him, when he arose, and was cured. The most curious thing, however, which is recorded, concerns some of those nervous disorders before-mentioned. "I know," says our author, who is a Catholic priest, and the historian of the Prince, "some of the patients "who were confined to bed lame and crooked for eight years, "where, however, they gave themselves up to debauchery. "They were instantly cured by the prince, but relapsing in a "few days into their former habits of drunkenness, they again "became bed-ridden.” From this we learn, that at least a lasting faith was not required of believers by the prince, and that his miracles had no effect in reforming their vices. The mob, however, were not the only dupes. The Crown Prince of Bavaria, the heir to the throne, the reigning monarch being sixty-six years of age, summoned this holy doctor to him, and from his great faith, was instantly relieved of a severe deafness. Prince Hohenlohe continued from that time, and still continues, as far as we have heard, to make, as his followers say, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk. It was soon discovered, however, that the prince had an aversion to perform his wonders on any individual in the presence of persons competent to judge of their validity. When he has tried his hand at a miracle out of a crowd, he has completely failed. On the 4th of July, we are told, for example, that he appeared at Bamberg, in presence of a commission appointed to inspect and report on his cures. At first nothing was done, but the prince left the commissioners, and went out to the public square amongst the multitude. For a long time he continued to heal all who were brought to him, till every one was forced to seek shelter from a sudden shower. "And, as the stormy clouds disappeared, "so vanished the miracles of the prince. Nothing remained but "reports, and the sayings of the multitude." The prince then returned to the commissioners, and made several experiments in their presence, all of which failed. A boy with a hump back, and another disfigured about the nose and mouth, were among those presented to him: "Go away," said he, " so am I treat"ed; for this fellow I must blow away a hump, and for that "make a new face." The credulity of people who could bring forward such patients with any hope of relief seems to be only equalled by the impudence of him who practises on it. Trifling as these particulars appear when thus soberly described, they have been enough to create a considerable degree of fermentation in the south of Germany. The government of Bavaria has ordered an inquiry to be made into the whole business; the people who are said to have been cured are to be examined; and we may shortly expect to receive more accurate information on the subject. It must be remembered, however, that the report will be made in some measure under the influence of the heir to the throne, who is said to be a great bigot, and who is the protector of Prince Hohenlohe. The people of Wurzburg, also, are too much excited to give immediately any correct evidence; and they have threatened, in no measured terms, every one who speaks ill of the prince. We must expect, therefore, that the delusion will last some time longer. We scarcely need to add, that we conceive the prince to be a mere impostor or a dupe. He is accompanied by an old peasant, who has long pretended to have a miraculous power of healing the sick, and who is said to have instructed the prince how to do the same thing. The object of both is to excite the people to enthusiasm in favour of Catholicism. In a letter which the prince wrote to the magistrates of Wurzburg, and in one of his sermons, he has distinctly stated, that his power was given him to shew the superiority of the Catholic church, and that it might, by extraordinary means, be restored to its former splendour. This must, however, be a vain attempt. He may stir strife, and even rebellion, but the property of the church has been too minutely divided, and now too long in the hands up of other persons than the Catholic priests, to be again recovered. Supported in their attempts by the future sovereign of Bavaria, the Catholics may disturb the religious peace of Germany, which has been so long unbroken, but no art, we are perfectly assured, will ever be able again to restore the Catholic hierarchy to the wealth and power which it formerly possessed. presence After we had written thus far, we learnt that, on the prince refusing to leave off working miracles, except in the of persons appointed to examine them, he was forbidden by the magistrates of Bamberg to cure any more sick in a miraculous manner; on which he sent a pastoral letter to all the clergymen of his diocese, informing them that he meant to perform no more wonders. ART. XV.-The Pirate. By the Author of " Waverley," W HEN, in the short intervals of his brilliant appearances, the Wizard is out of our sight, in another stretch to the regions of fancy, there is no small excitement in our busy conjectures and speculations where it shall chance that he shall alight. But we confess we were not prepared for the rocks of the Orcades! To the North, however, we turned; and, with the sailor who was blown up at a conjurer's exhibition, and believed that alert movement to be a legitimate and usual feat, we exclaimed, "what the "deuce will he do next!" Convinced by delightful experience that our conjurer turns to gold all he touches; that there is not a place, however sterile, that he does not gild with the sunshine, and clothe with the verdure of poetry-not an action that he does not make dramatic-not a person that he does not paint poetical or grotesque-nor a custom that he does not invest with a nameless antique charm-we are almost tempted to think, that, in merry mood, he chose purposely the most unpromising subject, to shew his magic power; as a poet, known to us, clothed with the richest imagery and poetic allusion, in the caprice of genius, the technical theme of a bill of exchange ! The place being the Orcadian isles-the time is a favourite one with our novelist-for it has been chosen for several of his narratives, namely, about the end of the seventeenth century. At this period the Orcadians had not ceased to prefer their Norwegian origin to their recent Scottish annexation, as the dower 2 |