the Almighty would provide for them-and that if they had no other supplies, food enough might be found among the roots and herbs of the woods. It was their duty to go upon a mission for the conversion of the world, and their wants would all be supplied.

Mrs. Matthews had of course too much sense to listen to these vagaries of fanaticism, and refused to go. He for a time yet continued his street-preaching, urging to repentance, temperance, and abstinence from meats, and growing daily more and more loud and boisterous, and more savage in his looks. He denounced all who refused to follow his doctrines, though his ravings were so disjointed and heterogeneous that nobody could understand them, and vented curses upon those who scoffed and derided him. He read his Bible much, particularly the Old Testament, and poured forth quotations in the greatest profusion, but without method, fitness, or adaptation-rendering its sublimest passages but a confused and incoherent jumble of words, and odds and ends of sentences; and yet there was often a shrewdness in some of his own sayings, particularly in reply to questions, or in an occasional repartee, which raised a laugh, and convinced his miscellaneous auditors that he was less of a fool than a knave. But from the wild screams and piercing exclamations which he indulged in his incomprehensible orations, he became a nuisance of which the people had great cause of complaint.

It was now that he assumed the name of Matthias, and gave out that he was a Jew. He then

departed upon his mission for the conversion of the world, taking a western course, for the purpose of visiting his brother in Rochester, and everywhere attracting attention, from the length of his beard and the novelty of his behaviour. This brother, as has already been remarked, was a rare mechanic-inventive and curious. Before his death, he had obtained between thirty and forty patents for as many different mechanical discoveries. The itinerant preacher soon quarrelled with his brother, however, and his stay in Rochester was but a fortnight; and it was then, and from thence, that he commenced his first grand apostolic tour. While in the antimasonic region of New-York, he declaimed against free-masonry, as against what he considered other abominations of the land. Directing his face towards the setting sun, he traversed the Western States, through the deep forests, and over the prairies, until he had proclaimed his mission amid the wilds of the Arkansas. From thence he turned his steps to the south-east-recrossed the Father of Rivers, traversed the States of Mississippi and Tennessee, and penetrated the Cherokee country, in Georgia, and commenced preaching to the Indians. Here he was seized by the authorities of Georgia, and imprisoned ;--but he was an overmatch for them.、 They knew not what to make of his conduct, or what to do with him. His appearance was eccentric; his kindling eye flashed with fury as he poured forth his maledictions upon them; and they were at length constrained to unbar the prison-doors, and bid him depart. From thence he bent his footsteps

to the North, and passing through Washington, came to the city of New-York. He immediately

visited the brother-in-law heretofore mentioned, and was at first very mild and agreeable in his manners and conversation, though of course forbidding in his aspect, since his temporal affairs did not then enable him to array himself in broadcloth and gold, and fine linen, and his beard presented a most unchristian appearance. On being asked why he had assumed such a disguise-why he had abandoned his family, and conducted himself so strangely, he soon became greatly excited, grew furious, and uttered a shower of bitter curses. Foaming with rage, his eyes kindled with passion, and he denounced his relative as a devil, with great violence-declaring that he had burnt his fingers by coming into the devil's house. He thereupon departed in a towering passion.

Little is known with certainty either of his proceedings or his tenets and pretensions at this period. He remained for some time in the city of New-York, exhibiting himself frequently in various parts of the city, grotesquely but meanly clad, and sometimes mounted upon an old and half-starved horse-wandering from place to place-preaching whenever he could find listeners-and attracting little attention, except from the younger members of the population, who used to gather round him with wondering eyes, and an evident disposition to make themselves merry at his expense, which was kept within bounds by his fierce looks, and his apparent activity and strength of body. As yet his

proceedings were seldom, if ever, mentioned in the public prints, and although some curiosity existed respecting him, it was confined to a narrow circle of observers. By one of these the writer has been favoured with the following memorandum, containing the most explicit account of the man's pretensions at this epoch which he has been able to obtain.

"I should think it was about three years ago, that I was acquainted with a lodger in the same house with Matthias, near the Battery. My friend was desirous that I should have a conversation with the prophet, as they called him, and managed that an interview should take place at the tea-table. I treated him with great respect, and used no small degree of delicacy in my questions; this deference seemed to win his confidence, and he gave me something of his creed. I followed up my inquiries in

a second interview, but found that he had in some measure changed his ground; but taking all that he said together, as far as such incongruities could be put together, it was this:-That from time to time God had sent his messenger on earth to enlighten mankind, from Moses to Jesus Christ, and from him to Matthia" himself. Of his own nature he spoke freely he acknowledged that he belonged to the human race, but had been set apart as a chosen vessel to be filled with inspiration of a lesser or greater degree, as the Father directed his services; and that sometimes he was ordered

to speak in the first person. He did not appear to have a very extensive knowledge of the Bible in

general; his recollection of the prophecies was good. He was particularly fond of quoting from Isaiah, and more than insinuated that the prophecies concerning the Messiah, which he quoted, were said of him and his mission. He seemed vain of his person, and quite charmed with his beard. On my pushing a few questions a little closer on my next visit, he became quite cautious of committing himself, and I found it would be useless for me to spend any more time on him and his creed. I thought him to be more of a knave than a fool; but still, I believe, at that time, he was a dupe to his own fraud, as the actor made himself crazy by so often repeating the character of the madman."

Thus much, of Matthews himself, must suffice for the present before his further progress can be intelligibly developed, it is necessary to take up a different chain of events, and show how perfectly and strangely withal the way had been prepared for his reception by others, who knew nothing of him, and of whom, at that time, he had never heard.