them recorded in writing. And to obey them, I wrote my Strictures on the Soul. Anxious, however, to have a judgment from the magnetie pencil on what I had wrote, The Poet being in the magnetic sleep, I proposed to him to write on the question of the Soul.-And he took the pen and wrote.. DELL' ANIMA Quel che scrivesti oggi Io lo vedo à volo "Ch' è il sistema solo Della verità Tanto è ver che il mondo Del tuo pensar divino Ne seguira 'l destino Per onorarti un dì PARAGONE Misera filosofia Se predicesti mai Della bell' alma i raz La verità qual è Fra l'innocente sonno Non d' ateista à Cinico Il mio pensier non schersa Ne l'opinion perversa Dirò sol' che l'anima Questo gran ente è l'anima Che si concentra in sè Felice quel filosofo Allor vedrà in quel vacuo A concentrarsi in Dio L'anima sua immortal And laid down his pen, and I awakened him.-Have I wrote any verses? said the poet. And this was the interest he most commonly expressed upon being awakened from his magnetic sleep; for it is now time to inform the reader that Cesare, upon most occasions, neither knew before his sleep, of what he was to treat; nor after he was awakened, could he read, without my assistance, the writing which his own hand had formed!-For he would write sometimes with such velocity, and consequently pass one line so often over another, as to make it next to impossible for any one but myself, who had constantly accompanied his hand with my eye, to decypher it. Yes, I replied, thou hast written nine stanzas on the soul.Read! And he read, and was much pleased. It made him very serious, after some pause, he said, If I am to write thus in the magnetic sleep, I may leave off making extemporaneous verses awake. Now, it may be a fair question to ask, whether Avena, with the name already abroad of an extemporaneous poet, would not have had ability to treat the same subject as well out of the magnetic sleep as in it? It is a matter of too much delicacy for me "Amicus Plato " - to decide! but I think it may be lawful for me to say from himself, whatever may be due to him upon the score of poetical merit; that his candour is so high, as to be satisfied with the glory of merely delivering the productions hereintofore and after contained from his hand to the world. For to those who would be inclined to attribute them to his own poetical proficiency exclusively, he will have the virtue peremptorily to disown them. The only desire by which I am moved to this remark, is, to keep the question clear of misconception; not to take from the poet to the account of magnetism, nor from magnetism to the account of the poet. The poet is otherwise sufficiently honoured in this case, either as original or as instrument. The truth however must remain in its place. (Vide Sessione 32.) Now to the next in order. March 3, 1795. FOURTH SITTING. THERE had circulated for some time in Alexandria a Latin prophecy, said to have been an effusion of Pope Innocent XI. and seen by many for years before the recently overthrown. government in France. As, according to some, it clearly predicted the Revolution and especially the expulsion of the Bourbons from the throne, the which event we had seen accomplished; it became so much more interesting to know the meaning of the other parts of the prophecy, which from bad copying or obscure originality were rendered very difficult of interpretation even to the deepest of us; It is therefore in condescension to an almost general wish, that we take it for subject of our next enquiry. PROFEZIA D' INNOCENZIO XI. Quando Marcus Pasqua dabit; et Antonius Pentecostem celebrabit: et Joannes Deus adorabit; totus mundus ad te Dominum clamabit. Gilium enim regnans, in parte superiori movebitur contra semen leonis: venit in terram ejus, et circundabit filium hominis. Eodem anno filium hominis, feras in brachio tenens, cujus regionem in terra summe tremendum. Per universam orbem potestate augenti. Principale gerit bellum, cum magno exercitu transibit acquas; ingredietur in terram leonis, petentium auxiliam quia bestiæ regionis suæ pellem dentibus laceraverunt. Illo eodem anno venit aquila a parte orientali: alis suis super solem extensis cum magna multitudine bellorum suorum in adiutorium filium hominis: timor ingens erit in mundo, et bellum in quarta parte leonis inter principes crudelius quod nunquam viderunt homines. Gilium enim perdet coronam, quam accipit aquila; de qua filius hominis coronabitur: et per quatuor annos sequentis erant multa prelia, et mala magna in finem sequentia: Major pars mundi destructur: et caput mundi erit penè destructur. Postea traducta erant omnia: filius leonis erit transiens acquas, et portabit signum mirabile in terram promissionis et filius hominis et aquila prevalebunt: et pax erit in toto orbe terrarum: et copia frugum. The Poet magnetised, and soon abstracted, I proposed to him, La Profezia d' Innocenzio XI. nella medema, ve sono delle denominazioni allegoriche che non bene comprendiamo: bramerissimo di averne la spiegazione. Onde si è possibile Prese la penna, e scrisse SPIEGAZIONE. Del fier Leone il figlio Egli de' Galli altéri Colle magnanim Aquile E delle Gallie il suolo L'arbitro sard |