I am currently doing research for an essay on mass hysteria. One quote about the subject that has been familiar to me, written by Charles Mackay in his 1841 book Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions:
Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.
Charles Mackay (27 March 1814 – 24 December 1889) was a Scottish poet, journalist, author, anthologist, novelist, and songwriter.
I was delighted to discover he was a poet and delighted with this Mackay poem/hymn:
Tell Me, Ye Winged Winds*
By Charles Mackay
Tell me, ye winged winds,
That round my pathway roar,
Do ye not know some spot
Where mortals weep no more?
Some lone and pleasant dell,
Some valley in the west,
Where, free from toil and pain,
The weary soul may rest?
The loud wind dwindled to a whisper low,
And sigh’d for pity as it answer’d, “No.”
Tell me, thou mighty deep,
Whose billows round me play,
Knowst thou some favor’d spot,
Some island far away,
Where weary man may find
The bliss for which he sighs,
Where sorrow never lives,
And friendship never dies?
The loud waves, rolling in perpetual flow,
Stopp’d for a while, and sigh’d to answer, “No.”
And thou, serenest moon,
That, with such lovely face,
Dost look upon the earth
Asleep in night’s embrace;
Tell me, in all thy round
Hast thou not seen some spot
Where miserable man
May find a happier lot?
Behind a cloud the moon withdrew in woe,
And a voice, sweet but sad, responded, “No.”
Tell me, my secret soul,
Oh! tell me, Hope and Faith,
Is there no resting-place
From sorrow, sin, and death?
Is there no happy spot
Where mortals may be blest,
Where grief may find a balm,
And weariness a rest?
Faith, Hope, and Love, best boons to mortals given,
Wav’d their bright wings, and whisper’d, “Yes, in heaven.”
*as published in A Victorian Anthology, edited by Edmund Clarence Stedman, Cambridge Riverside Press, 1895.
On a side note, apparently the hymn was favored by Abraham Lincoln. “Abraham Lincoln and Music”:
https://www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/abraham-lincoln-in-depth/abraham-lincoln-and-music/index.html
You may read more about Charles Mackay at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Mackay_(author)