THE SEER. 



217 



men are pure impostors. It would be, indeed, a 

 subtle task to trace bow far tbose wbo deal in tbe 

 various mysteries called supernaturalisms are de- 

 ceived or are deceivers, impostors or believers. 

 Pools and knaves tbere are, of course, in abund- 

 ance ; but tbere is a residue, a tertium quid, wbicb 

 is neitber one nor tbe otber, and yet wbicb custom 

 and education condemn to act like botb. Mental 

 reservation and pious frauds are certainly not 

 monopoHzed by civilization, nor by any stage of 

 society. Tbere is no folly conceivable by tbe 

 mind of man in wbicb man bas not bonestly, 

 firmly, and piously placed bis trust. And wben 

 man lays down bis life, or gives up everytbing 

 wbicb makes life wortb living for, in testimony 

 to bis belief, be proves conclusively, not tbe trutb 

 of bis tenets, but tbat be bebeved tbem to be 

 true : be compels us to wonder at tbe obstinacy, 

 ratber tban to admire tbe fortitude, of tbe martyr. 



Tbe word Bassar, a seer, forms, I may bere re- 

 mark, a connecting link between tbe mental sigbt 

 of tbe Arabs, tbe second-sigbt of Scotland, and, 

 to mention no otbers, tbe clanvoyance of modern 

 mesmerism. It alludes to tbat abnormal ex- 

 ertion of tbe will, sometimes verging upon tbe 

 ecstatic state, wbicb enables tbe brain to bebold 

 before it, and witbout external sigbt, a panorama 



