You May See Them On Their Knees, At The
Confessional, Every Hour In The Day.
The rich devotee has her
favourite confessor, whom she consults and regales in private, at
her own house; and this spiritual director generally governs the
whole family.
For my part I never knew a fanatic that was not an
hypocrite at bottom. Their pretensions to superior sanctity, and
an absolute conquest over all the passions, which human reason
was never yet able to subdue, introduce a habit of dissimulation,
which, like all other habits, is confirmed by use, till at length
they become adepts in the art and science of hypocrisy.
Enthusiasm and hypocrisy are by no means incompatible. The
wildest fanatics I ever knew, were real sensualists in their way
of living, and cunning cheats in their dealings with mankind.
Among the lower class of people at Boulogne, those who take the
lead, are the sea-faring men, who live in one quarter, divided
into classes, and registered for the service of the king. They
are hardy and raw-boned, exercise the trade of fishermen and
boatmen, and propagate like rabbits. They have put themselves
under the protection of a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary,
which is kept in one of their churches, and every year carried in
procession. According to the legend, this image was carried off,
with other pillage, by the English, when they took Boulogne, in
the reign of Henry VIII. The lady, rather than reside in England,
where she found a great many heretics, trusted herself alone in
an open boat, and crossed the sea to the road of Boulogne, where
she was seen waiting for a pilot.
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