There are some denominations of English Methodists which surpass, if possible, the French Convulsionnaires; and we may here mention, in particular, the Jumpers, among whom it is still more difficult, than in the example given above, to draw the line between religious ecstacy and a perfect disorder of the nerves; sympathy, however, operates perhaps more perniciously on them than on other fanatical assemblies. The sect of Jumpers was founded in the year 1760, in the county of Cornwall, by two fanatics[340], who were, even at that time, able to collect together a considerable party. Their general doctrine is that of the Methodists, and claims our consideration here, only in so far as it enjoins them, during their devotional exercises, to fall into convulsions, which they are able to effect in the strangest manner imaginable. By the use of certain unmeaning words, they work themselves up into a state of religious frenzy, in which they seem to have scarcely any control over their senses. They then begin to jump with strange gestures, repeating this exercise with all their might, until they are exhausted, so that it not unfrequently happens that women, who, like the Mænades, practise these religious exercises, are carried away from the midst of them in a state of syncope, whilst the remaining members of the congregations, for miles together, on their way home, terrify those whom they meet by the sight of such demoniacal ravings. There are never more than a few ecstatics, who, by their example, excite the rest to jump, and these are followed by the greatest part of the meeting, so that these assemblages of the Jumpers resemble, for hours together, the wildest orgies, rather than congregations met for Christian edification[341].