_Prosper Enfantin._--Prosper Enfantin, though an engineer, a railway director, and otherwise connected with such rational and prosaic subjects as mathematics, nevertheless, in 1850, believed himself to be, and in fact was, the head of a new religion, a variation of that of Saint Simon. He had a handsome face and large forehead of an Olympian cast; he was very kind-hearted, but profoundly convinced of his own infallibility on all subjects--on industrial and philosophical questions--on painting as well as on cooking. He had what, in the peculiar language of monomaniacs, he called _circumferential_ ideas, in which every new fact found, in its pre-established place, the proper solution. The new religion was to equalize men and women, and to make the language of finance and industry poetical. He himself represented the Father, and was always hoping to find the Mother, the free woman, the Eve,--a woman, reasoning like man, who, knowing the needs and capabilities of women, would make the confession of her sex without restriction, so as to furnish the elements for a declaration of the rights and duties of women. But the right woman was never found, for Madame de Staël and George Sand, to whom he and his friends first turned, laughed at them; they sought her in the East, at Constantinople, and found, instead, a prison! But for all that, he never lost his illusion. He used to say that only great men could found a new religion. His goodness was exquisite; he constantly sacrificed himself for his followers--his sons, as he called them. These wore at one time, like certain monomaniacs, a symbolical uniform--white trousers to represent _love_, red waist-coat for _work_, and blue coat for _faith_. This signified that his religion was founded on love, strengthened the heart with work, and was wholly encompassed by faith. Every one was to have his name written on his shirt-front, and to wear, in addition, a collar adorned with triangles, and a semi-circle which was to become a circle as soon as the Mother, the Eve aforesaid, had been found. These are the symbols usual with the monomaniac and the mattoid. This is seen in their programmes, in which they announced--in type of various sizes--that: “Man recalls the Past, Woman represents the Future,--the two united see the present.” Yet, in spite of all this, he foresaw--and even tried to undertake--the Suez Canal, and counted among his followers such men as Chevalier, Lambert, and Jourdan.[420] _Lazzaretti._--An example the more curious as well as authentic, as it has manifested itself in recent years, under the eyes of all, and has arrived at the dignity of an historic event, is the case of David Lazzaretti.[421] [Illustration: David Lazzaretti]