at which has
appeared admirable at one time, becomes pitiful and ridiculous at
another. We have seen that in some ages all was turned towards a
certain kind of devotion, of studies and of exercises. It is known
that, for more than one century, the prevailing taste of Europe was
the journey to Jerusalem. Kings, princes, nobles, bishops,
ecclesiastics, monks, all pressed thither in crowds. The pilgrimages
to Rome were formerly very frequent and very famous. All that is
fallen away. We have seen provinces over-run with flagellants, and now
none of them remain except in the brotherhoods of penitents which are
still found in several parts.

We have seen in these countries jumpers and dancers, who every moment
jumped and danced in the streets, squares or market-places, and even
in the churches. The convulsionaries of our own days seem to have
revived them; posterity will be surprised at them, as we laugh at them
now. Towards the end of the sixteenth and at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, nothing was talked of in Lorraine but wizards and
witches. For a long time we have heard nothing of them. When the
philosophy of M. Descartes appeared, what a vogue it had! The ancient
philosophy was despised; nothing was talked of but experiments in
physics, new systems, new discoveries. M. Newton appears; all minds
turn to him. The system of M. Law, bank notes, the rage of the Rue
Quinquampoix, what movements did they not cause in the kingdom? A sort
of convulsion had seized on the French. In this age, a new scene
presents itself to our eyes, and has done for about sixty years in
Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, and Poland: they see, it is said, men who
have been dead for several months, come back to earth, talk, walk,
infest villages, ill use both men and beasts, suck the blood of their
near relations, make them ill, and finally cause their death; so that
people can only save themselves from their dangerous visits and their
hauntings by exhuming them, impaling them, cutting off their heads,
tearing out the heart, or burning them. These _revenans_ are called by
the name of oupires or vampires, that is to say, leeches; and such
particulars are related of them, so singular, so detailed, and
invested with such probable circumstances and such judicial
information, that one can hardly refuse to credit the belief which is
held in those countries, that these _revenans_ come out of their tombs
and produce those effects which are proclaimed of