reacher, with great cheerfulness, or rather wantonness, had
closely filled four sides of this letter with the account of an
enterprise which he had projected against the Convent of St. Cecilia,
and which the mother would not enter upon more particularly. After
many vain endeavours to find the persons whom this afflicted lady was
seeking, it was at last remembered that seven years ago--at a time
which seemed to correspond to the account--four young people, whose
country and origin was unknown, had been put in the madhouse, which had
been recently erected in the city by the emperor. However, as these
persons were affected by religious extravagance, and their
deportment--as the court believed it had heard--was exceedingly
melancholy, this account seemed to accord so little with the
disposition of the sons--which was but too well known to the mother
that there was no need for her to attach much importance to it,
especially as it was pretty evident that the persons were Catholics.
However, as she was struck by many peculiarities which were described
to her, she went one day to the madhouse accompanied by one of the
messengers of the court, and asked the superintendent to allow her to
examine four unfortunate lunatics who were confined there. But who can
describe the poor lady's horror, when, on entering the door, she
recognised her sons at the very first glance. They were dressed in
long black robes, and were sitting round a table, on which was a
crucifix. This they appeared to worship, leaning silently and with
folded hands upon the board. To the questions of the lady, who had
sunk into a chair quite exhausted, as to what they were doing, the
superintendents replied, that they were merely occupied in the
glorification of the Redeemer, of whose divinity, according to their
own account, they had a clearer knowledge than others. They added that
the young men had led this ghost-like life for six years, that they
slept little and tasted little, that no sound usually passed their
lips, and that it was only at the hour of midnight that they rose from
their seats, when, with voices loud enough to shatter the windows of
the house, they sang the _Gloria in excelsis_. The superintendents
concluded with the remark that the young men enjoyed perfect bodily
health, that a certain serenity, though of a very serious and solemn
kind, could not be denied them, and that when they heard themselves
called mad, they shrugged their shoulde