Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1868-11-25
LITERARY Fools,

n writer IN the LONDON 81, James
Magazine, under the above head, de-
seribes the literary efforts of number
Of foolish and demented writers in ell
branches Of literature and science.
Among them was Paoletti, Jesuit,
who endeRvOred to prove that God
used the symbolieal instruments Of the
Jewish rites to determine who should
or who should not receive the divine
favor. He formed a diagram purport-
ing to show the manner in which the
holy vessels employed in the Taber-
nacle were made use Of in order to in
dieate the future Of the children Of
Adam relatively to predestinatiOn.
In an engraving which accompanies
the work, the Almighty is shown sur
rounded by angels, and presiding at
the manipulation of the symbOlical
vessels. The divine and human will
are represented as two balls moving
in a circle, but in different directions,
and in the end finishing by meeting
in a common center: Paoletti wrote
another treatise during his madness.
In this work he arg1ed that the abO-
rigines of America were the direct de-
scendants Of the devil and one Of the
daughters Of Noah; consequently
that it was impossible for them to OBJ
tain either safety or grace.
About the same period lived GeOf-
frey Vallee, who became q monOman-
lac when young. He is said to have
had as many shirts as there are days in
the year, and he used to send them to
BE washed in Flanders, at spring IA
nous for the purity Of its waters. In
Paris he gave way 10 dissipation his
reason became impaired, and he was
placed under restraint by his family.
He wrote book, tissue Of nonsense,
but for which he was condemned as
an atheist, and he and his book tOgeth-
er were burnt at the stake on the 9Th
Of February, 1874.
In the seventeenth century we find
Mat Lee, and in the eighteenth Alex
ander Cruden, the author Of the well
known Concordance of the Holy
Scriptures" He was frequently in
confinement. His insanity is thought
to have been produced by disappOint-
ed affection, and exhibited itself in
extraordinary attempts to do good in
ridiculous ways.
When released from the Bethnal
Green Asylum, he retaliated on his
keepers in a wild pamphlet, with the
rather lengthy title Of 1.-THE London
Citizen Exceedingly Injured, giving
an account Of his Adventures during
the time Of his severe and long Cam
paign at Bethnal Green, for nine
Weeks and six Days, the Citizen be-
ing sent thither in March, 1873, by
Robert Wightman, o nOtOriOusly con-
ceited, whimsical man, where he was
chained, handcufFed, straight-waist-
coated ands imprisoned, etc. After q
subsequent confinement he wrote an
other singular and fantastic work
called 1.-The Adventures of Alexander
the COrreetOr Or"-another name for the
author himself, whose principal en-
plOyment at the time was that Of 8
eorrectOr for the press.
In 1929 appeared at Florence THE
Anatomy of Language" 1t was
written by a physician named Joseph
Bernardo, during his confinement in
an asylum. Among other strange
opinions, he held that the whole race
OF monkeys had the faculty of speech,
but that they kept it carefully con-
cealed. On the walls of his cell he
drew diagram of monkeys throat.
and sought TO prove that the eonstruc-
ton plainly indicated the gift Of
speech, and even of song. Ber-
nardi asserted that in the first editions
of the voyages of Marco Polo it had
been well established that monkeys
could sing.
What added 10 the curiosity of all
this was, that one Cremoni, Jesuit
father, wrote a serious refutatiOn Of
Bernardi's treatise, and maintained
that the work, though well written,
contained theories not in accordance
with Holy Writ, and which conse-
Quently could not be true.
Wirgman. who addressed a letter to
George ", in which he declared that
unless the principles set out in his book,
''The Devarication of the New Testa-
ment, were adopted, neither the King
nor his subjects would be saved in the
other world, had his paper made of
such fashion that each leaf Of his
books was of divers eOlOrs, and did
not the eolOrs happen to please him,
he would have other colOrs prepared.
He was great hand, too, at correct
ngprOofs; to such degree, indeed,
that his "Devarieation" though if
consisted only Of 400 pages, cost him
e, 276 sterling.