CHAPTER III.

Susceptibility of the Imagination in the East--Mahomet--His Origin--He assumes the Title of the Apostle of God--Opposition to him--Revelations brought to Him by the Angel Gabriel--His Flight to Medina--Success of his Imposture--Attempt to poison him--His Death--Tradition respecting his Tomb--Account of his Intercourse with Heaven--Sabatai Sevi, a false Messiah--Superstitious Tradition among the Jews--Reports respecting the Coming of the Messiah--Sabatai pretends to be the Messiah--He is assisted by Nathan--Follies committed by the Jews--Honours paid to Sabatai--He embarks for Constantinople--His Arrest--He embraces Mahometanism to avoid Death--Rosenfeld, a German, proclaims himself the Messiah--His knavery--He is whipped and imprisoned--Richard Brothers announces himself as the revealed Prince and Prophet of the Jews--He dies in Bedlam--Thomas Muncer and his Associates--Their Fate--Matthias, John of Leyden, and other Anabaptist Leaders--They are defeated and executed--The French Prophets--Punishment of them--Miracles at the Grave of the Deacon Paris--Horrible Self-inflictions of the Convulsionaries--The Brothers of Brugglen--They are executed--Prophecy of a Lifeguardsman in London--Joanna Southcott--Her Origin, Progress, and Death--Folly of her Disciples--Miracles of Prince Hohenlohe 34