with all its power, goes over to swell the torrent of impurity, cupidity, and malice. Under patronage of a belief like this, virtue and vice change sides in the court of conscience, and the latter claims sacred honours.

We recapitulate our three elements of Fanaticism, which (as we assume) will be discoverable, in different modes or proportions, under all forms of religious extravagancenamely The supposition of malignity on the part of the object of religious worship;-a consequent detestation of mankind at large, as the subjects of Malignant Power;-and then a credulous conceit of the favour of Heaven, shewn to a few, in contempt of the rules of virtue.

Now we might follow the track of history, and exhibit the modifications these elements have undergone in the religious systems that have successively ruled in the world. But any method which observes the order of Time, though obvious and simple, is laden with the inconvenience of involving frequent repetitions of general principles. It will be better to seize upon certain leading varieties of our subject, as marked by broad distinctions, easily traced in every age, and such as may be recognized, whenever they may recur, without hazard of mistake. These conspicuous varieties may be brought under four designations, of which the first will comprehend all instances wherein malignant religious sentiments turn

inward upon the unhappy subject of them to the second class will belong that more virulent sort of fanaticism which looks abroad for its victims: the third embraces the combination of intemperate religious zeal with military sentiments, or with national pride, and the love of power to the fourth class must be reserved all instances of the more intellectual kind, and which stand connected with opinion and dogma. Our first sort then is Austere; the second Cruel; the third Ambitious; and the fourth Factious.

Or, for the purpose of fixing a characteristic mark upon each of our classes, as above named, let it be permitted us to entitle them as follows— namely, the first, The Fanaticism of the SCOURGE; or of personal infliction: the second, the Fanaticism of the BRAND; or of immolation and cruelty: the third, the Fanaticism of the BANNER; or of ambition and conquest: and the fourth, the Fanaticism of the SYMBOL; or of creeds, dogmatism, and ecclesiastical virulence.

SECTION V.

FANATICISM OF THE SCOURGE.

THE broadest distinctions in the exterior character of men, and the most marked dissimilarities in their modes of conduct, do not infallibly bespeak a difference equally great in the elements of their temper. On the contrary, it is sometimes easy to trace in the minds of those between whose visible course of life there has been little or no resemblance, a close analogy. Yet even when such an analogy may be discerned, it is not always practicable to discover the causes of the external diversity which distinguishes them. An obscure peculiarity of the bodily temperament, or a forgotten incident of early life, may have been enough to determine whether certain impetuous passions should take their course abroad, or should boil as a vortex within the bosom. So is it that when a stream gushes from its cleft, the mere bend of a tree, or the angle of a rock, may be all the reason either of its taking its course westward to measure the width of a continent;

or toward the east, soon to find a home in some pent-up gully, or sullen cavern of the mountains.

Causes so inconsiderable or so latent we must not hope always to detect. It will be enough if we can shew reason for bringing together into the same general class, men who would both perhaps have recoiled with horror or Iwith disdain to find themselves in each other's company. Yes, we should all learn much of the secrets of our personal dispositions, and see our peculiar tempers as if under a sudden blaze of light, could it happen that some superior Intelligence, descending upon earth, were to do nothing more as Discriminator of character, and Censor of minds, than silently to classify the crowd of men by the rule of their original propensities, or their essential merits. We should then read our hearts in the companions with whom we found ourselves assorted.

Why has the fanaticism of one man devastated the world; while that of another has spent itself within the walls of a cloister? we may not be able to say. Nevertheless there are instances of this sort which are easily explained. As for example:-violent or malign passions sometimes turn inward, and vex the heart that generates them, in consequence of the mere sluggishness or lassitude of the animal system which, while it insulates a man from others, as if he were enveloped in an indolent fog, yet does not much affect the interior of the character.

There may exist a very high rate of moral or intellectual excitement, where the manners and mode of conduct indicate nothing but torpor.Just as, in some bottomless lakes, vehement under-currents or eddies make sport below, while the surface is still and stagnant. Not a few of our fanatics of the self-tormenting class come under this description.

There is too to be found, here and there, a pride of personal independence, and a misanthropic arrogance which, as it spurns every sort of mutuality, compels the soul to feed on its own substance. It might seem enough for such a one to refuse to draw its satisfactions from its fellows; but there is a malignant pride more excessive than this, and which even refuses to be so far dependent upon other men as to call them the objects of its hatred, or revenge. There is a haughtiness so egregious that a man will contemn and torment himself, sooner than condescend to look abroad as if he stood in need of any beings as the objects of his ireful emotions. Although nature forbids that any such attempt at mental insulation should be altogether successful, yet the endeavour is made, and is renewed, day after day, by spirits of the order we describe. On the other hand, there are instances in which a mild meditative humour, perverted by some false system of belief, or excessive sensibilities that have chanced to be torn and outraged in the world, or much physical