The National Register.
London, England, 1814-08-21 00:00:00

540

'LITE NATIoNATi REGISTER.

SOME

ADDITIONAL PARTICULARS

JOANNA St )CTEICOTT.

Whnerefshad earefoliv pelThe the writinas of Joanna Sionthcott,
41"P:0111g hrr hp.tory. witio her maturer 3/4 kions, gill perceive
that I,t r feeht:::,. have !.0.tai:441 nn common contest between love
2.1.! re !Lf‘jolt. fist iit:aehloci.t to Noah who may be coii•i-
tiurei a.; La% i.,;::..i)et•tt the %,ovettign of her heart, aceorcline to her

own eo%t Ili r mlity nor does she appear to
Lave easilv, if i.":er, s!iymoltnted it. IVl:vi;ever She met with

liowe% cr. ‘ve find her " drterinined to give
Ler liv.trt it:!A .{till to Go l." to 64 WI;11) her heart fioin thi4 world,"
that " p:ndence %void(' wear off love, by keening
her liton,„::ct,. in love to her Creat !" She %rac (hiring thi. period 14
I;re %Ole cal1:.(1 44 fiVin2; for lovc," thou.!' slit confirmed to

Tf it et tt a %ITN, :min or hut. Ise.) t.
J,11,111, thi•: ;;Slair,

'' but reliaion," declares

" ems!!! kru•l) me M my aen•('s "

. ,
10. w4i.e ;it Ca.% serviceably In her,

ie!inf: her earthly love, it is now imma•erial to learn :
eert.lii.l% it is :natter of 14-.114, considering the turn of her cha.
,t Ite hive, iihtead of i.eing got under by should
1.1..1 been tiansferied with her heart, and, pet haps to her insensibly,
thus breoine wOh her operative sensations of faith.
fanti:li is in rvquired as to feclins in womei:,
" The prof;Lneness of eallantry," observ( s Gilbert Stuart, in hi!,
View of !lie Provi,:s of Society in Europe, " diqurbed and tie
forint() the nicdoalions nt CIC 11“14 pintlS. ligion." he adds, " a •
Vlllll.oyl'd to gi%e a poi,:ininey to the disorders of prostitution and
Fst " the devotee was to look tip to the Virgin with the t' CS
of a Inv( r, and to eonteinpLte the beaniivs of her person, and the
grate► of her earriiet:,e." But this " profaneness ofgallantry" is hap.
actirable to mankind under the reformed faith, and Call be
indulged only by the weaker sex

traL;rteions and offensive as some or the assailants of rectal ism too
arc., thewbre, there is reason to fear that the delirium of
is sometimes seen combined with " the tienzy of finati-
el -111," and that carnality may he gratified under the imnination fat'
vit;tuality. Who can p' ruse the flaming vision, fur example,
d by ;Miss Toalaili y n; the pamphlet entitled Letters and Corn
ssmaieatiens of Joanna Southeott, and not he sta,gered at the di,•
flosure of s::eh scenes ?--Moniiity evening, Jn!y the ‘2d, 1814, it
T,ctan:, th,,t Joanna tried to compose herself, atter an hard contest
the Devil, %vile'', " at last, she fell asleep; and whether awake
i;;;:cep,” continues Miss Townley, " she does not know, but she
yt wemhCr., rile Was quite awake when she felt the hand of the Lord
npun her,, but in that heavenly and beautiful manner that she felt joy
unspeakable andfull of glory. She felt herself laying as it were in
Heavtn, in the hands of the Lord, and was at raid to move, fear. nu she
should remove his heavenly hand, which she felt as perfect as ever
woman felt the hand of her husband !" Here 'P the Lamb's IVife''
bersell takes up the tale. "In this happy manner." affirms Jitanna
" I fell asleep ; and in my sleep I was surprized with seeing a most
beautiful and heavenly figure, that arose from the bed, between
Townley and me. lie arose, and turned himselfbackwards towards
the tiet of the bed, and his head almost reached the tester of the
bed ; hut his f ice %yds toward. me, which appeared with beauty and
vaie.tv, hat pale as death. His hair was a flaxen colour, all in diss

AUG. 21

order around his filet*. His race was covered with strong perspira.
tion ; and his locks were wet like the dew ot *tight, as though they
had hcen taken out ot a river. The collar of his shirt appeared un-
Inv toned, and the skin of W.,: bosom appeared white as the driven
snow. Such was the beauty of the heavenly figure, that appeared
before me in a disordered state ; but the robe he bad nn was like a
sin pliee, down to his knees. He put out one of his legs to me,
that was perfectly like mine, no larger; but with purple spots at the
top, as mine are with heating my.elf, Townley, Underwood,
and Taylor are witnesses of. Metlionght; In my dream. he got km.
sell into that peispiration by being pressed to sleep between Town-
ley and ine. I to him, ' Are yon my dear dylog Saviour that
is to come to d. troy all the works of the Devil ?' He answered me,
l'es I' I thought I called Underwood, and waked Townley, to look
at him, which they with wonder and amaze. I then thought
co out of my bed, and fall down on my knees before him, to
retain him thanks for his mercy and goodness : but, as soon as the:e
thoirlas entered my head, he disappeared, and a Woman appeared
in I.is stead, which gave me pain to see he was gone. But the
human told me many wonderflil things, that were coining upon the
earth, and what vvag coining uponthe Devil ; yet I grieved at the
loss of my de:ir lied enter, fOr I saw no beauty in the woman, ant),
though the woman would reasOristrong with me, her reasons I did
not like. In this confusion I awoke, and heard the bell tolling for
. •
the dead, and the drums beating at the same time ; which I remark-
ed to Townl-y."

Now; what must the generality of men think of such an inter-
com-6e as this in • deep ? Joanna has likewise told us, when she was
codified to her bed, that " she was very poweifully visited by the
Devil, many times a day. He asked Ler, once, if this was the
love of Christ, to her, to keep her there in her bed Joanna aw-
swered, ' yes ;' and assured him that she could lay down .upon her
:led, NV hen .he was minded to do so, with pleasure. Then, she sap,
the Devil would aggravate her another way, by telling her that ' she
svis an idle and ought to get rip Joanna, in turn, told the
Devil she never would, till the Lord called her aloud ; but those
provoking speeches of the Devil made her eager and desirous, in
her heArt, that the Lord would call her aloud, to stop the conten-
tions ton.vie of the Devil." Still nothing called her. Joanna tlicu
.ecd that Satan might be chained down ; after which she telt a
,winuoing round her head, and she was emancipated from the
powers of &illness. What manner of COMITHIN kat 1011 S are these io
Joanna still prefers to live secluded from the world, never ap-
pealing in public, as was customary with prophets. " This," says
ohe, " the world has
.been a wonder to sue all the days of my life.'
Joanna has it entirely in her own power to make this " wonder to
cease," since she may become known to the world whenever she

phases.
Though she appears no longer to be what is commonly esteemed
as handsome in person, yet both her fotm and face aro very far
from being unpleasing, her eye still retaining something of that
animation which gave her attraction at first. During her youth,
silo must have been judged to be pretty at least, or she never would
have obtained the admiration of her crowd of suitors. She is de—
scribed as rather short of stature, and lusty ; but, says Mr. Hann,
so arc many other ladies, who, notwithstanding, do great mischief
among our sex.
Literature she has no pretensions to; and she is unable to write
even inte:ligibly. Her mum/ iv tenacious of the little she bas