It is no less astonishing than true, that so late as 1794, a Count Thun,
at Leipzig, pretended to perform miraculous cures on gouty,
hypochondriacal, and hysterical patients, merely by the imposition of
his sacred hands. He could not however raise a great number of disciples
in a place that abounds with so many sceptics and unbelievers.
The commencement of the nineteenth century has been equally pregnant
with imposture. The delusions of Joanna Southcoat are too fresh in the
recollections of our readers to require notice here; yet, strange to
say, this fanatical old woman had her adherents and disciples; many of
them, in other respects, were keen and sensible men; nor has the
delusion altogether evaporated, though the sect is by no means powerful
or strong; the first impressions are still retained by her half frantic
and ridiculous devotees, who are only to be met with among the very
lowest and illiterate orders of society.
The farce of the convert of Newhall, near Chelmsford, is of still more
recent date. Here we have a miracle performed by the holy Prince
Hohenlohe, at a distance of at least three hundred miles from the
presence of his patient.
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