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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions, by
+Charles Mackay
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions
+       Volume 3 (of 3)
+
+Author: Charles Mackay
+
+Release Date: April, 1997 [EBook #884]
+Last Updated: July 30, 2012
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POPULAR DELUSIONS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by An Anonymous Project Gutenberg Volunteer
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF EXTRAORDINARY POPULAR DELUSIONS
+
+Volume III
+
+By Charles Mackay
+
+
+Author Of The "Thames And Its Tributaries," "The Hope Of The World," Etc.
+
+
+"Il est bon de connaitre les delires de l'esprit humain. Chaque peuple a
+ses folies plus ou moins grossieres."
+
+Millot
+
+
+DETAILED CONTENTS OF THE THIRD VOLUME.
+
+BOOK I.
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+THE ALCHYMISTS; or, Searchers for the Philosopher's Stone and the Water
+of Life
+
+PART I.--History of Alchymy from the earliest periods to the
+Fifteenth Century.--Pretended Antiquity of the
+Art.--Geber.--Alfarabi.--Avicenna.--Albertus Magnus.--Thomas
+Aquinas.--Artephius.--Alain de Lisle.--Arnold de Villeneuve.--Pietro
+d'Apone.--Raymond Lulli.--Roger Bacon.--Pope John XXII.--Jean de
+Meung.--Nicholas Flamel.--George Ripley.--Basil Valentine.--Bernard of
+Treves.--Trithemius.--The Marechal de Rays.--Jacques Coeur.--Inferior
+Adepts.
+
+PART II.--Progress of the Infatuation during the Sixteenth
+and Seventeenth Centuries.--Augurello.--Cornelius
+Agrippa.--Paracelsus.--George Agricola.--Denys Zachaire.--Dr. Dee
+and Edward Kelly.--The Cosmopolite.--Sendivogius.--The
+Rosicrucians.--Michael Mayer.--Robert Fludd.--Jacob Bohmen.--John
+Heydn.--Joseph Francis Borri.--Alchymical Writers of the
+Seventeenth Century.--De Lisle.--Albert Aluys.--Count de St.
+Germains.--Cagliostro.--Present State of the Science.
+
+BOOK II. FORTUNE TELLING
+
+BOOK III. THE MAGNETISERS
+
+
+
+
+PHILOSOPHICAL DELUSIONS.
+
+Dissatisfaction with his lot seems to be the characteristic of man in
+all ages and climates. So far, however, from being an evil, as at first
+might be supposed, it has been the great civiliser of our race; and has
+tended, more than anything else, to raise us above the condition of
+the brutes. But the same discontent which has been the source of all
+improvement, has been the parent of no small progeny of follies and
+absurdities; to trace these latter is the object of the present volume.
+Vast as the subject appears, it is easily reducible within such limits
+as will make it comprehensive without being wearisome, and render its
+study both instructive and amusing.
+
+Three causes especially have excited our discontent; and, by impelling
+us to seek for remedies for the irremediable, have bewildered us in a
+maze of madness and error. These are death, toil, and ignorance of the
+future--the doom of man upon this sphere, and for which he shows his
+antipathy by his love of life, his longing for abundance, and his
+craving curiosity to pierce the secrets of the days to come. The first
+has led many to imagine that they might find means to avoid death, or,
+failing in this, that they might, nevertheless, so prolong existence as
+to reckon it by centuries instead of units. From this sprang the search,
+so long continued and still pursued, for the elixir vitae, or water of
+life, which has led thousands to pretend to it and millions to believe
+in it. From the second sprang the absurd search for the philosopher's
+stone, which was to create plenty by changing all metals into gold; and
+from the third, the false sciences of astrology, divination, and their
+divisions of necromancy, chiromancy, augury, with all their train of
+signs, portents, and omens.
+
+In tracing the career of the erring philosophers, or the wilful cheats,
+who have encouraged or preyed upon the credulity of mankind, it
+will simplify and elucidate the subject, if we divide it into three
+classes:--the first comprising alchymists, or those in general who have
+devoted themselves to the discovering of the philosopher's stone and
+the water of life; the second comprising astrologers, necromancers,
+sorcerers, geomancers, and all those who pretended to discover futurity;
+and the third consisting of the dealers in charms, amulets, philters,
+universal-panacea mongers, touchers for the evil, seventh sons of a
+seventh son, sympathetic powder compounders, homeopathists, animal
+magnetizers, and all the motley tribe of quacks, empirics, and
+charlatans.
+
+But, in narrating the career of such men, it will be found that many
+of them united several or all of the functions just mentioned; that the
+alchymist was a fortune-teller, or a necromancer--that he pretended to
+cure all maladies by touch or charm, and to work miracles of every kind.
+In the dark and early ages of European history, this is more especially
+the case. Even as we advance to more recent periods, we shall find great
+difficulty in separating the characters. The alchymist seldom confined
+himself strictly to his pretended science--the sorcerer and necromancer
+to theirs, or the medical charlatan to his. Beginning with alchymy, some
+confusion of these classes is unavoidable; but the ground will clear for
+us as we advance.
+
+Let us not, in the pride of our superior knowledge, turn with contempt
+from the follies of our predecessors. The study of the errors into
+which great minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be
+uninstructive. As the man looks back to the days of his childhood
+and his youth, and recalls to his mind the strange notions and false
+opinions that swayed his actions at that time, that he may wonder at
+them, so should society, for its edification, look back to the opinions
+which governed the ages fled. He is but a superficial thinker who would
+despise and refuse to hear of them merely because they are absurd. No
+man is so wise but that he may learn some wisdom from his past errors,
+either of thought or action, and no society has made such advances as to
+be capable of no improvement from the retrospect of its past folly and
+credulity. And not only is such a study instructive: he who reads for
+amusement only, will find no chapter in the annals of the human mind
+more amusing than this. It opens out the whole realm of fiction--the
+wild, the fantastic, and the wonderful, and all the immense variety of
+things "that are not, and cannot be; but that have been imagined and
+believed."
+
+
+
+
+BOOK I.--THE ALCHYMISTS
+
+OR, SEARCHERS FOR THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE AND THE WATER OF LIFE.
+
+"Mercury (loquitur).--The mischief a secret any of them know, above
+the consuming of coals and drawing of usquebaugh! Howsoever they may
+pretend, under the specious names of Geber, Arnold, Lulli, or bombast of
+Hohenheim, to commit miracles in art, and treason against nature! As if
+the title of philosopher, that creature of glory, were to be fetched out
+of a furnace! I am their crude, and their sublimate, their precipitate,
+and their unctions; their male and their female, sometimes their
+hermaphrodite--what they list to style me! They will calcine you a grave
+matron, as it might be a mother of the maids, and spring up a young
+virgin out of her ashes, as fresh as a phoenix; lay you an old courtier
+on the coals, like a sausage or a bloat-herring, and, after they have
+broiled him enough, blow a soul into him, with a pair of bellows! See!
+they begin to muster again, and draw their forces out against me! The
+genius of the place defend me!"--Ben Jonson's Masque "Mercury vindicated
+from the Alchymists."
+
+
+
+
+THE ALCHYMISTS.
+
+
+
+
+PART I.--HISTORY OF ALCHYMY FROM THE EARLIEST PERIODS TO THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+PRETENDED ANTIQUITY OF THE ART.--GEBER.--ALFARABI.--AVICENNA.--ALBERTUS
+MAGNUS.--THOMAS AQUINAS.--ARTEPHIUS.--ALAIN DE LISLE.--ARNOLD DE
+VILLENEUVE.--PIETRO D'APONE.--RAYMOND LULLI.--ROGER BACON.--POPE
+JOHN XXII.--JEAN DE MEUNG.--NICHOLAS FLAMEL.--GEORGE RIPLEY.--BASIL
+VALENTINE.--BERNARD OF TREVES.--TRITHEMIUS.--THE MARECHAL DE
+RAYS.--JACQUES COEUR.--INFERIOR ADEPTS.
+
+For more than a thousand years the art of alchymy captivated many noble
+spirits, and was believed in by millions. Its origin is involved in
+obscurity. Some of its devotees have claimed for it an antiquity coeval
+with the creation of man himself; others, again, would trace it no
+further back than the time of Noah. Vincent de Beauvais argues, indeed,
+that all the antediluvians must have possessed a knowledge of alchymy;
+and particularly cites Noah as having been acquainted with the elixir
+vitae, or he could not have lived to so prodigious an age, and have
+begotten children when upwards of five hundred. Lenglet du Fresnoy, in
+his "History of the Hermetic Philosophy," says, "Most of them pretended
+that Shem, or Chem, the son of Noah, was an adept in the art, and
+thought it highly probable that the words chemistry and alchymy were
+both derived from his name." Others say, the art was derived from the
+Egyptians, amongst whom it was first founded by Hermes Trismegistus.
+Moses, who is looked upon as a first-rate alchymist, gained his
+knowledge in Egypt; but he kept it all to himself, and would not
+instruct the children of Israel in its mysteries. All the writers upon
+alchymy triumphantly cite the story of the golden calf, in the 32nd
+chapter of Exodus, to prove that this great lawgiver was an adept, and
+could make or unmake gold at his pleasure. It is recorded, that Moses
+was so wroth with the Israelites for their idolatry, "that he took the
+calf which they had made, and burned it in the fire, and ground it to
+powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel
+drink of it." This, say the alchymists, he never could have done, had
+he not been in possession of the philosopher's stone; by no other means
+could he have made the powder of gold float upon the water. But we must
+leave this knotty point for the consideration of the adepts in the art,
+if any such there be, and come to more modern periods of its history.
+The Jesuit, Father Martini, in his "Historia Sinica," says, it was
+practised by the Chinese two thousand five hundred years before the
+birth of Christ; but his assertion, being unsupported, is worth nothing.
+It would appear, however, that pretenders to the art of making gold and
+silver existed in Rome in the first centuries after the Christian era,
+and that, when discovered, they were liable to punishment as knaves and
+impostors. At Constantinople, in the fourth century, the transmutation
+of metals was very generally believed in, and many of the Greek
+ecclesiastics wrote treatises upon the subject. Their names are
+preserved, and some notice of their works given, in the third volume of
+Lenglet du Fresnoy's "History of the Hermetic Philosophy." Their notion
+appears to have been, that all metals were composed of two substances;
+the one, metallic earth; and the other, a red inflammable matter, which
+they called sulphur. The pure union of these substances formed gold;
+but other metals were mixed with and contaminated by various foreign
+ingredients. The object of the philosopher's stone was to dissolve or
+neutralize all these ingredients, by which iron, lead, copper, and all
+metals would be transmuted into the original gold. Many learned and
+clever men wasted their time, their health, and their energies, in this
+vain pursuit; but for several centuries it took no great hold upon the
+imagination of the people. The history of the delusion appears, in a
+manner, lost from this time till the eighth century, when it appeared
+amongst the Arabians. From this period it becomes easier to trace its
+progress. A master then appeared, who was long looked upon as the father
+of the science, and whose name is indissolubly connected with it.
+
+
+GEBER.
+
+Of this philosopher, who devoted his life to the study of alchymy, but
+few particulars are known. He is thought to have lived in the year 730.
+His true name was Abou Moussah Djafar, to which was added Al Soft, or
+"The Wise," and he was born at Hauran, in Mesopotamia. ["Biographie
+Universelle."] Some have thought he was a Greek, others a Spaniard, and
+others, a prince of Hindostan: but, of all the mistakes which have been
+made respecting him, the most ludicrous was that made by the French
+translator of Sprenger's "History of Medicine," who thought, from
+the sound of his name, that he was a German, and rendered it as the
+"Donnateur," or Giver. No details of his life are known; but it
+is asserted, that he wrote more than five hundred works upon the
+philosopher's stone and the water of life. He was a great enthusiast in
+his art, and compared the incredulous to little children shut up in a
+narrow room, without windows or aperture, who, because they saw nothing
+beyond, denied the existence of the great globe itself. He thought that
+a preparation of gold would cure all maladies, not only in man, but in
+the inferior animals and plants. He also imagined that all the metals
+laboured under disease, with the exception of gold, which was the only
+one in perfect health. He affirmed, that the secret of the philosopher's
+stone had been more than once discovered; but that the ancient and wise
+men who had hit upon it, would never, by word or writing, communicate
+it to men, because of their unworthiness and incredulity. [His "sum of
+perfection," or instructions to students to aid them in the laborious
+search for the stone and elixir, has been translated into most of the
+languages of Europe. An English translation, by a great enthusiast
+in alchymy, one Richard Russell, was published in London in 1686.
+The preface is dated eight years previously, from the house of the
+alchymist, "at the Star, in Newmarket, in Wapping, near the Dock." His
+design in undertaking the translation was, as he informs us, to expose
+the false pretences of the many ignorant pretenders to the science who
+abounded in his day.] But the life of Geber, though spent in the pursuit
+of this vain chimera, was not altogether useless. He stumbled upon
+discoveries which he did not seek, and science is indebted to him for
+the first mention of corrosive sublimate, the red oxide of mercury,
+nitric acid, and the nitrate of silver. [Article, Geber, "Biographie
+Universelle."]
+
+For more than two hundred years after the death of Geber, the Arabian
+philosophers devoted themselves to the study of alchymy, joining with it
+that of astrology. Of these the most celebrated was
+
+
+ALFARABI.
+
+Alfarabi flourished at the commencement of the tenth century, and
+enjoyed the reputation of being one of the most learned men of his age.
+He spent his life in travelling from country to country, that he might
+gather the opinions of philosophers upon the great secrets of nature. No
+danger dismayed him; no toil wearied him of the pursuit. Many sovereigns
+endeavoured to retain him at their courts; but he refused to rest until
+he had discovered the great object of his life--the art of preserving it
+for centuries, and of making gold as much as he needed. This wandering
+mode of life at last proved fatal to him. He had been on a visit to
+Mecca, not so much for religious as for philosophical purposes,
+when, returning through Syria, he stopped at the court of the Sultan
+Seifeddoulet, who was renowned as the patron of learning. He presented
+himself in his travelling attire, in the presence of that monarch and
+his courtiers; and, without invitation, coolly sat himself down upon the
+sofa, beside the Prince. The courtiers and wise men were indignant;
+and the Sultan, who did not know the intruder, was at first inclined to
+follow their example. He turned to one of his officers, and ordered him
+to eject the presumptuous stranger from the room; but Alfarabi, without
+moving, dared them to lay hands upon him; and, turning himself calmly
+to the prince, remarked, that he did not know who was his guest, or he
+would treat him with honour, not with violence. The Sultan, instead
+of being still further incensed, as many potentates would have been,
+admired his coolness; and, requesting him to sit still closer to him
+on the sofa, entered into a long conversation with him upon science
+and divine philosophy. All the court were charmed with the stranger.
+Questions for discussion were propounded, on all of which he showed
+superior knowledge. He convinced every one that ventured to dispute with
+him; and spoke so eloquently upon the science of alchymy, that he was
+at once recognised as only second to the great Geber himself. One of
+the doctors present inquired whether a man who knew so many sciences was
+acquainted with music? Alfarabi made no reply, but merely requested that
+a lute should be brought him. The lute was brought; and he played such
+ravishing and tender melodies, that all the court were melted into
+tears. He then changed his theme, and played airs so sprightly, that
+he set the grave philosophers, Sultan and all, dancing as fast as their
+legs could carry them. He then sobered them again by a mournful strain,
+and made them sob and sigh as if broken-hearted. The Sultan, highly
+delighted with his powers, entreated him to stay, offering him every
+inducement that wealth, power, and dignity could supply; but the
+alchymist resolutely refused, it being decreed, he said, that he should
+never repose till he had discovered the philosopher's stone. He set out
+accordingly the same evening, and was murdered by some thieves in the
+deserts of Syria. His biographers give no further particulars of his
+life beyond mentioning, that he wrote several valuable treatises on his
+art, all of which, however, have been lost. His death happened in the
+year 954.
+
+
+AVICENNA.
+
+Avicenna, whose real name was Ebn Cinna, another great alchymist, was
+born at Bokhara, in 980. His reputation as a physician and a man skilled
+in all sciences was so great, that the Sultan Magdal Douleth resolved
+to try his powers in the great science of government. He was accordingly
+made Grand Vizier of that Prince, and ruled the state with some
+advantage: but, in a science still more difficult, he failed completely.
+He could not rule his own passions, but gave himself up to wine and
+women, and led a life of shameless debauchery. Amid the multifarious
+pursuits of business and pleasure, he nevertheless found time to write
+seven treatises upon the philosopher's stone, which were for many ages
+looked upon as of great value by pretenders to the art. It is rare that
+an eminent physician, as Avicenna appears to have been, abandons himself
+to sensual gratification; but so completely did he become enthralled in
+the course of a few years, that he was dismissed from his high office,
+and died shortly afterwards, of premature old age and a complication
+of maladies, brought on by debauchery. His death took place in the year
+1036. After his time, few philosophers of any note in Arabia are heard
+of as devoting themselves to the study of alchymy; but it began shortly
+afterwards to attract greater attention in Europe. Learned men in
+France, England, Spain, and Italy expressed their belief in the
+science, and many devoted their whole energies to it. In the twelfth and
+thirteenth centuries especially, it was extensively pursued, and some
+of the brightest names of that age are connected with it. Among the most
+eminent of them are
+
+
+ALBERTUS MAGNUS and THOMAS AQUINA.
+
+The first of these philosophers was born in the year 1193, of a noble
+family at Lawingen, in the duchy of Neuburg, on the Danube. For the
+first thirty years of his life, he appeared remarkably dull and stupid,
+and it was feared by every one that no good could come of him. He
+entered a Dominican monastery at an early age; but made so little
+progress in his studies, that he was more than once upon the point
+of abandoning them in despair; but he was endowed with extraordinary
+perseverance. As he advanced to middle age, his mind expanded, and
+he learned whatever he applied himself to with extreme facility. So
+remarkable a change was not, in that age, to be accounted for but by a
+miracle. It was asserted and believed that the Holy Virgin, touched
+with his great desire to become learned and famous, took pity upon his
+incapacity, and appeared to him in the cloister where he sat, almost
+despairing, and asked him whether he wished to excel in philosophy
+or divinity. He chose philosophy, to the chagrin of the Virgin, who
+reproached him in mild and sorrowful accents that he had not made a
+better choice. She, however, granted his request that he should become
+the most excellent philosopher of the age; but set this drawback to his
+pleasure, that he should relapse, when at the height of his fame, into
+his former incapacity and stupidity. Albertus never took the trouble to
+contradict the story, but prosecuted his studies with such unremitting
+zeal that his reputation speedily spread over all Europe. In the year
+1244, the celebrated Thomas Aquinas placed himself under his tuition.
+Many extraordinary stories are told of the master and his pupil. While
+they paid all due attention to other branches of science, they never
+neglected the pursuit of the philosopher's stone and the elixir vitae.
+Although they discovered neither, it was believed that Albert had seized
+some portion of the secret of life, and found means to animate a brazen
+statue, upon the formation of which, under proper conjunctions of the
+planets, he had been occupied many years of his life. He and Thomas
+Aquinas completed it together, endowed it with the faculty of speech,
+and made it perform the functions of a domestic servant. In this
+capacity it was exceedingly useful; but, through some defect in
+the machinery, it chattered much more than was agreeable to either
+philosopher. Various remedies were tried to cure it of its garrulity,
+but in vain; and one day Thomas Aquinas was so enraged at the noise it
+made, when he was in the midst of a mathematical problem, that he seized
+a ponderous hammer and smashed it to pieces. [Naude, "Apologie des
+Grands Hommes accuses de Magie;" chap. xviii.] He was sorry afterwards
+for what he had done, and was reproved by his master for giving way
+to his anger, so unbecoming in a philosopher. They made no attempt to
+re-animate the statue.
+
+Such stories as these show the spirit of the age. Every great man who
+attempted to study the secrets of nature was thought a magician; and it
+is not to be wondered at that, when philosophers themselves pretended to
+discover an elixir for conferring immortality, or a red stone which was
+to create boundless wealth, that popular opinion should have enhanced
+upon their pretensions, and have endowed them with powers still more
+miraculous. It was believed of Albertus Magnus that he could even change
+the course of the seasons; a feat which the many thought less difficult
+than the discovery of the grand elixir. Albertus was desirous of
+obtaining a piece of ground on which to build a monastery, in the
+neighbourhood of Cologne. The ground belonged to William, Count of
+Holland and King of the Romans, who, for some reason or other, did not
+wish to part with it. Albertus is reported to have gained it by the
+following extraordinary method:--He invited the Prince, as he was
+passing through Cologne, to a magnificent entertainment prepared for him
+and all his court. The Prince accepted it, and repaired with a lordly
+retinue to the residence of the sage. It was in the midst of winter; the
+Rhine was frozen over, and the cold was so bitter that the knights could
+not sit on horseback without running the risk of losing their toes by
+the frost. Great, therefore, was their surprise, on arriving at Albert's
+house, to find that the repast was spread in his garden, in which
+the snow had drifted to the depth of several feet. The Earl, in high
+dudgeon, remounted his steed; but Albert at last prevailed upon him
+to take his seat at the table. He had no sooner done so, than the dark
+clouds rolled away from the sky--a warm sun shone forth--the cold north
+wind veered suddenly round, and blew a mild breeze from the south--the
+snows melted away--the ice was unbound upon the streams, and the trees
+put forth their green leaves and their fruit--flowers sprang up beneath
+their feet, while larks, nightingales, blackbirds, cuckoos, thrushes,
+and every sweet song-bird, sang hymns from every tree. The Earl and
+his attendants wondered greatly; but they ate their dinner, and in
+recompence for it, Albert got his piece of ground to build a convent
+on. He had not, however, shown them all his power. Immediately that the
+repast was over, he gave the word, and dark clouds obscured the sun--the
+snow fell in large flakes--the singing-birds fell dead--the leaves
+dropped from the trees, and the winds blew so cold, and howled so
+mournfully, that the guests wrapped themselves up in their thick cloaks,
+and retreated into the house to warm themselves at the blazing fire in
+Albert's kitchen. [Lenglet, "Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique." See
+also, Godwin's "Lives of the Necromancers."]
+
+Thomas Aquinas also could work wonders as well as his master. It is
+related of him, that he lodged in a street at Cologne, where he was much
+annoyed by the incessant clatter made by the horses' hoofs, as they were
+led through it daily to exercise by their grooms. He had entreated
+the latter to select some other spot where they might not disturb a
+philosopher, but the grooms turned a deaf ear to all his solicitations.
+In this emergency he had recourse to the aid of magic. He constructed
+a small horse of bronze, upon which he inscribed certain cabalistic
+characters, and buried it at midnight in the midst of the highway. The
+next morning, a troop of grooms came riding along as usual; but the
+horses, as they arrived at the spot where the magic horse was
+buried, reared and plunged violently--their nostrils distended with
+terror--their manes grew erect, and the perspiration ran down their
+sides in streams. In vain the riders applied the spur--in vain they
+coaxed or threatened, the animals would not pass the spot. On the
+following day, their success was no better. They were at length
+compelled to seek another spot for their exercise, and Thomas Aquinas
+was left in peace. [Naude, "Apologie des Grands Hommes accuses de
+Magie;" chap. xvii.]
+
+Albertus Magnus was made Bishop of Ratisbon in 1259; but he occupied
+the See only four years, when he resigned, on the ground that its
+duties occupied too much of the time which he was anxious to devote
+to philosophy. He died in Cologne in 1280, at the advanced age of
+eighty-seven. The Dominican writers deny that he ever sought the
+philosopher's stone, but his treatise upon minerals sufficiently proves
+that he did.
+
+
+ARTEPHIUS.
+
+Artephius, a name noted in the annals of alchymy, was born in the early
+part of the twelfth century. He wrote two famous treatises; the one upon
+the philosopher's stone, and the other on the art of prolonging human
+life. In the latter he vaunts his great qualifications for instructing
+mankind on such a matter, as he was at that time in the thousand and
+twenty-fifth year of his age! He had many disciples who believed in his
+extreme age, and who attempted to prove that he was Apollonius of Tyana,
+who lived soon after the advent of Jesus Christ, and the particulars
+of whose life and pretended miracles have been so fully described by
+Philostratus. He took good care never to contradict a story, which
+so much increased the power he was desirous of wielding over his
+fellow-mortals. On all convenient occasions, he boasted of it; and
+having an excellent memory, a fertile imagination, and a thorough
+knowledge of all existing history, he was never at a loss for an answer
+when questioned as to the personal appearance, the manners, or the
+character of the great men of antiquity. He also pretended to have
+found the philosopher's stone; and said that, in search of it, he had
+descended to hell, and seen the devil sitting on a throne of gold, with
+a legion of imps and fiends around him. His works on alchymy have been
+translated into French, and were published in Paris in 1609 or 1610.
+
+
+ALAIN DE LISLE.
+
+Contemporary with Albertus Magnus was Alain de Lisle, of Flanders,
+who was named, from his great learning, the "universal doctor." He was
+thought to possess a knowledge of all the sciences, and, like Artephius,
+to have discovered the elixir vitae. He became one of the friars of
+the abbey of Citeaux, and died in 1298, aged about one hundred and ten
+years. It was said of him, that he was at the point of death when in his
+fiftieth year; but that the fortunate discovery of the elixir enabled
+him to add sixty years to his existence. He wrote a commentary on the
+prophecies of Merlin.
+
+
+ARNOLD DE VILLENEUVE.
+
+This philosopher has left a much greater reputation. He was born in the
+year 1245, and studied medicine with great success in the University of
+Paris. He afterwards travelled for twenty years in Italy and Germany,
+where he made acquaintance with Pietro d'Apone; a man of a character
+akin to his own, and addicted to the same pursuits. As a physician, he
+was thought, in his own lifetime, to be the most able the world had ever
+seen. Like all the learned men of that day, he dabbled in astrology and
+alchymy, and was thought to have made immense quantities of gold from
+lead and copper. When Pietro d'Apone was arrested in Italy, and brought
+to trial as a sorcerer, a similar accusation was made against Arnold;
+but he managed to leave the country in time and escape the fate of his
+unfortunate friend. He lost some credit by predicting the end of the
+world, but afterwards regained it. The time of his death is not exactly
+known; but it must have been prior to the year 1311, when Pope Clement
+V. wrote a circular letter to all the clergy of Europe who lived under
+his obedience, praying them to use their utmost efforts to discover the
+famous treatise of Arnold on "The Practice of Medicine." The author had
+promised, during his lifetime, to make a present of the work to the Holy
+See, but died without fulfilling it.
+
+In a very curious work by Monsieur Longeville Harcouet, entitled "The
+History of the Persons who have lived several centuries, and then grown
+young again," there is a receipt, said to have been given by Arnold de
+Villeneuve, by means of which any one might prolong his life for a
+few hundred years or so. In the first place, say Arnold and Monsieur
+Harcouet, "the person intending so to prolong his life must rub himself
+well, two or three times a week, with the juice or marrow of cassia
+(moelle de la casse). Every night, upon going to bed, he must put upon
+his heart a plaster, composed of a certain quantity of Oriental saffron,
+red rose-leaves, sandal-wood, aloes, and amber, liquified in oil of
+roses and the best white wax. In the morning, he must take it off, and
+enclose it carefully in a leaden box till the next night, when it must
+be again applied. If he be of a sanguine temperament, he shall take
+sixteen chickens--if phlegmatic, twenty-five--and if melancholy, thirty,
+which he shall put into a yard where the air and the water are pure.
+Upon these he is to feed, eating one a day; but previously the chickens
+are to be fattened by a peculiar method, which will impregnate their
+flesh with the qualities that are to produce longevity in the eater.
+Being deprived of all other nourishment till they are almost dying of
+hunger, they are to be fed upon broth made of serpents and vinegar,
+which broth is to be thickened with wheat and bran." Various ceremonies
+are to be performed in the cooking of this mess, which those may see in
+the book of M. Harcouet, who are at all interested in the matter; and
+the chickens are to be fed upon it for two months. They are then fit for
+table, and are to be washed down with moderate quantities of good white
+wine or claret. This regimen is to be followed regularly every seven
+years, and any one may live to be as old as Methuselah! It is right to
+state, that M. Harcouet has but little authority for attributing this
+precious composition to Arnold of Villeneuve. It is not to be found in
+the collected works of that philosopher; but was first brought to light
+by a M. Poirier, at the commencement of the sixteenth century, who
+asserted that he had discovered it in MS. in the undoubted writing of
+Arnold.
+
+
+PIETRO D'APONE.
+
+This unlucky sage was born at Apone, near Padua, in the year 1250. Like
+his friend Arnold de Villeneuve, he was an eminent physician, and a
+pretender to the arts of astrology and alchymy. He practised for many
+years in Paris, and made great wealth by killing and curing, and telling
+fortunes. In an evil day for him, he returned to his own country,
+with the reputation of being a magician of the first order. It was
+universally believed that he had drawn seven evil spirits from the
+infernal regions, whom he kept enclosed in seven crystal vases, until
+he required their services, when he sent them forth to the ends of the
+earth to execute his pleasure. One spirit excelled in philosophy; a
+second, in alchymy; a third, in astrology; a fourth, in physic; a fifth,
+in poetry; a sixth, in music; and the seventh, in painting: and whenever
+Pietro wished for information or instruction in any of these arts, he
+had only to go to his crystal vase, and liberate the presiding spirit.
+Immediately, all the secrets of the art were revealed to him; and he
+might, if it pleased him, excel Homer in poetry, Apelles in painting,
+or Pythagoras himself in philosophy. Although he could make gold out
+of brass, it was said of him, that he was very sparing of his powers in
+that respect, and kept himself constantly supplied with money by other
+and less creditable means. Whenever he disbursed gold, he muttered a
+certain charm, known only to himself; and next morning the gold was safe
+again in his own possession. The trader to whom he gave it, might lock
+it in his strong box, and have it guarded by a troop of soldiers; but
+the charmed metal flew back to its old master. Even if it were buried
+in the earth, or thrown into the sea, the dawn of the next morning would
+behold it in the pockets of Pietro. Few people, in consequence, liked to
+have dealings with such a personage, especially for gold. Some, bolder
+than the rest, thought that his power did not extend over silver; but,
+when they made the experiment, they found themselves mistaken. Bolts and
+bars could not restrain it, and it sometimes became invisible in
+their very hands, and was whisked through the air to the purse of the
+magician. He necessarily acquired a very bad character; and, having
+given utterance to some sentiments regarding religion which were the
+very reverse of orthodox, he was summoned before the tribunals of the
+Inquisition to answer for his crimes as a heretic and a sorcerer. He
+loudly protested his innocence, even upon the rack, where he suffered
+more torture than nature could support. He died in prison ere his trial
+was concluded, but was afterwards found guilty. His bones were ordered
+to be dug up, and publicly burned. He was also burned in effigy in the
+streets of Padua.
+
+
+RAYMOND LULLI.
+
+While Arnold de Villeneuve and Pietro d'Apone flourished in France and
+Italy, a more celebrated adept than either appeared in Spain. This
+was Raymond Lulli, a name which stands in the first rank among the
+alchymists. Unlike many of his predecessors, he made no pretensions
+to astrology or necromancy; but, taking Geber for his model, studied
+intently the nature and composition of metals, without reference to
+charms, incantations, or any foolish ceremonies. It was not, however,
+till late in life that he commenced his study of the art. His early and
+middle age were spent in a different manner, and his whole history
+is romantic in the extreme. He was born of an illustrious family, in
+Majorca, in the year 1235. When that island was taken from the Saracens
+by James I, King of Aragon, in 1230, the father of Raymond, who was
+originally of Catalonia, settled there, and received a considerable
+appointment from the Crown. Raymond married at an early age; and, being
+fond of pleasure, he left the solitudes of his native isle, and passed
+over with his bride into Spain. He was made Grand Seneschal at the court
+of King James, and led a gay life for several years. Faithless to his
+wife, he was always in the pursuit of some new beauty, till his heart
+was fixed at last by the lovely, but unkind Ambrosia de Castello. This
+lady, like her admirer, was married; but, unlike him, was faithful to
+her vows, and treated all his solicitations with disdain. Raymond was so
+enamoured, that repulse only increased his flame; he lingered all night
+under her windows, wrote passionate verses in her praise, neglected his
+affairs, and made himself the butt of all the courtiers. One day, while
+watching under her lattice, he by chance caught sight of her bosom, as
+her neckerchief was blown aside by the wind. The fit of inspiration
+came over him, and he sat down and composed some tender stanzas upon the
+subject, and sent them to the lady. The fair Ambrosia had never before
+condescended to answer his letters; but she replied to this. She told
+him, that she could never listen to his suit; that it was unbecoming in
+a wise man to fix his thoughts, as he had done, on any other than
+his God; and entreated him to devote himself to a religious life, and
+conquer the unworthy passion which he had suffered to consume him. She,
+however, offered, if he wished it, to show him the fair bosom which had
+so captivated him. Raymond was delighted. He thought the latter part of
+this epistle but ill corresponded with the former, and that Ambrosia, in
+spite of the good advice she gave him, had, at last, relented, and would
+make him as happy as he desired. He followed her about from place to
+place, entreating her to fulfil her promise: but still Ambrosia was
+cold, and implored him with tears to importune her no longer; for that
+she never could be his, and never would, if she were free to-morrow.
+"What means your letter, then?" said the despairing lover. "I will show
+you!" replied Ambrosia, who immediately uncovered her bosom, and exposed
+to the eyes of her horror-stricken admirer, a large cancer, which had
+extended to both breasts. She saw that he was shocked; and, extending
+her hand to him, she prayed him once more to lead a religious life, and
+set his heart upon the Creator, and not upon the creature. He went home
+an altered man. He threw up, on the morrow, his valuable appointment at
+the court, separated from his wife, and took a farewell of his children,
+after dividing one-half of his ample fortune among them. The other
+half he shared among the poor. He then threw himself at the foot of a
+crucifix, and devoted himself to the service of God, vowing, as the most
+acceptable atonement for his errors, that he would employ the remainder
+of his days in the task of converting the Mussulmans to the Christian
+religion. In his dreams he saw Jesus Christ, who said to him, "Raymond!
+Raymond! follow me!" The vision was three times repeated, and Raymond
+was convinced that it was an intimation direct from Heaven. Having put
+his affairs in order, he set out on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St.
+James of Compostello, and afterwards lived for ten years in solitude
+amid the mountains of Aranda. Here he learned the Arabic, to qualify
+himself for his mission of converting the Mahometans. He also studied
+various sciences, as taught in the works of the learned men of the
+East, and first made acquaintance with the writings of Geber, which were
+destined to exercise so much influence over his future life.
+
+At the end of this probation, and when he had entered his fortieth year,
+he emerged from his solitude into more active life. With some remains of
+his fortune, which had accumulated during his retirement, he founded a
+college for the study of Arabic, which was approved of by the Pope, with
+many commendations upon his zeal and piety. At this time he narrowly
+escaped assassination from an Arabian youth whom he had taken into
+his service. Raymond had prayed to God, in some of his accesses of
+fanaticism, that he might suffer martyrdom in his holy cause. His
+servant had overheard him; and, being as great a fanatic as his master,
+he resolved to gratify his wish, and punish him, at the same time, for
+the curses which he incessantly launched against Mahomet and all who
+believed in him, by stabbing him to the heart. He, therefore, aimed
+a blow at his master, as he sat one day at table; but the instinct of
+self-preservation being stronger than the desire of martyrdom, Raymond
+grappled with his antagonist, and overthrew him. He scorned to take his
+life himself; but handed him over to the authorities of the town, by
+whom he was afterwards found dead in his prison.
+
+After this adventure Raymond travelled to Paris, where he resided for
+some time, and made the acquaintance of Arnold de Villeneuve. From him
+he probably received some encouragement to search for the philosopher's
+stone, as he began from that time forth to devote less of his attention
+to religious matters, and more to the study of alchymy. Still he never
+lost sight of the great object for which he lived--the conversion of the
+Mahometans--and proceeded to Rome, to communicate personally with Pope
+John XXI, on the best measures to be adopted for that end. The Pope gave
+him encouragement in words, but failed to associate any other persons
+with him in the enterprise which he meditated. Raymond, therefore,
+set out for Tunis alone, and was kindly received by many Arabian
+philosophers, who had heard of his fame as a professor of alchymy. If he
+had stuck to alchymy while in their country, it would have been well for
+him; but he began cursing Mahomet, and got himself into trouble. While
+preaching the doctrines of Christianity in the great bazaar of Tunis, he
+was arrested and thrown into prison. He was shortly afterwards brought
+to trial, and sentenced to death. Some of his philosophic friends
+interceded hard for him, and he was pardoned, upon condition that he
+left Africa immediately, and never again set foot in it. If he was found
+there again, no matter what his object might be, or whatever length
+of time might intervene, his original sentence would be carried into
+execution. Raymond was not at all solicitous of martyrdom when it came
+to the point, whatever he might have been when there was no danger, and
+he gladly accepted his life upon these conditions, and left Tunis with
+the intention of proceeding to Rome. He afterwards changed his plan, and
+established himself at Milan, where, for a length of time, he practised
+alchymy, and some say astrology, with great success.
+
+Most writers who believed in the secrets of alchymy, and who have
+noticed the life of Raymond Lulli, assert, that while in Milan, he
+received letters from Edward King of England, inviting him to settle in
+his states. They add, that Lulli gladly accepted the invitation, and had
+apartments assigned for his use in the Tower of London, where he refined
+much gold; superintended the coinage of "rose-nobles;" and made gold out
+of iron, quicksilver, lead, and pewter, to the amount of six millions.
+The writers in the "Biographie Universelle," an excellent authority in
+general, deny that Raymond was ever in England, and say, that in all
+these stories of his wondrous powers as an alchymist, he has been
+mistaken for another Raymond, a Jew, of Tarragona. Naude, in his
+"Apologie," says, simply, "that six millions were given by Raymond Lulli
+to King Edward, to make war against the Turks and other infidels:" not
+that he transmuted so much metal into gold; but, as he afterwards adds,
+that he advised Edward to lay a tax upon wool, which produced that
+amount. To show that Raymond went to England, his admirers quote a work
+attributed to him, "De Transmutatione Animae Metallorum," in which he
+expressly says, that he was in England at the intercession of the King.
+[Vidimus omnia ista dum ad Angliam transiimus, propter intercessionem
+Domini Regis Edoardi illustrissimi.] The hermetic writers are not agreed
+whether it was Edward I, or Edward II, who invited him over; but, by
+fixing the date of his journey in 1312, they make it appear that it was
+Edward II. Edmond Dickenson, in his work on the "Quintessences of the
+Philosophers," says, that Raymond worked in Westminster Abbey, where, a
+long time after his departure, there was found in the cell which he had
+occupied, a great quantity of golden dust, of which the architects made
+a great profit. In the biographical sketch of John Cremer, Abbot of
+Westminster, given by Lenglet, it is said, that it was chiefly through
+his instrumentality that Raymond came to England. Cremer had
+been himself for thirty years occupied in the vain search for the
+philosopher's stone, when he accidentally met Raymond in Italy, and
+endeavoured to induce him to communicate his grand secret. Raymond told
+him that he must find it for himself, as all great alchymists had done
+before him. Cremer, on his return to England, spoke to King Edward in
+high terms of the wonderful attainments of the philosopher, and a
+letter of invitation was forthwith sent him. Robert Constantinus, in the
+"Nomenclatore Scriptorum Medicorum," published in 1515, says, that after
+a great deal of research, be found that Raymond Lulli resided for
+some time in London, and that he actually made gold, by means of the
+philosopher's stone, in the Tower; that he had seen the golden pieces of
+his coinage, which were still named in England the nobles of Raymond,
+or rose-nobles. Lulli himself appears to have boasted that he made gold;
+for, in his well-known "Testamentum," he states, that he converted no
+less than fifty thousand pounds weight of quicksilver, lead, and pewter
+into that metal. [Converti una vice in aurum ad L millia pondo argenti
+vivi, plumbi, et stanni.--Lullii Testamentum.] It seems highly probable
+that the English King, believing in the extraordinary powers of the
+alchymist, invited him to England to make test of them, and that he was
+employed in refining gold and in coining. Camden, who is not credulous
+in matters like these, affords his countenance to the story of his
+coinage of nobles; and there is nothing at all wonderful in the fact
+of a man famous for his knowledge of metals being employed in such a
+capacity. Raymond was, at this time, an old man, in his seventy-seventh
+year, and somewhat in his dotage. He was willing enough to have it
+believed that he had discovered the grand secret, and supported the
+rumour rather than contradicted it. He did not long remain in England;
+but returned to Rome, to carry out the projects which were nearer to his
+heart than the profession of alchymy. He had proposed them to several
+successive Popes with little or no success. The first was a plan for
+the introduction of the Oriental languages into all the monasteries
+of Europe; the second, for the reduction into one of all the military
+orders, that, being united, they might move more efficaciously against
+the Saracens; and, the third, that the Sovereign Pontiff should
+forbid the works of Averroes to be read in the schools, as being more
+favourable to Mahometanism than to Christianity. The Pope did not
+receive the old man with much cordiality; and, after remaining for
+about two years in Rome, he proceeded once more to Africa, alone and
+unprotected, to preach the Gospel of Jesus. He landed at Bona in 1314;
+and so irritated the Mahometans by cursing their prophet, that they
+stoned him, and left him for dead on the sea-shore. He was found some
+hours afterwards by a party of Genoese merchants, who conveyed him on
+board their vessel, and sailed towards Majorca. The unfortunate man
+still breathed, but could not articulate. He lingered in this state for
+some days, and expired just as the vessel arrived within sight of his
+native shores. His body was conveyed with great pomp to the church of
+St. Eulalia, at Palma, where a public funeral was instituted in his
+honour. Miracles were afterwards said to have been worked at his tomb.
+
+Thus ended the career of Raymond Lulli, one of the most extraordinary
+men of his age; and, with the exception of his last boast about the
+six millions of gold, the least inclined to quackery of any of the
+professors of alchymy. His writings were very numerous, and include
+nearly five hundred volumes, upon grammar, rhetoric, morals, theology,
+politics, civil and canon law, physics, metaphysics, astronomy,
+medicine, and chemistry.
+
+
+ROGER BACON.
+
+The powerful delusion of alchymy seized upon a mind still greater than
+that of Raymond Lulli. Roger Bacon firmly believed in the philosopher's
+stone, and spent much of his time in search of it. His example helped
+to render all the learned men of the time more convinced of its
+practicability, and more eager in the pursuit. He was born at Ilchester,
+in the county of Somerset, in the year 1214. He studied for some time in
+the university of Oxford, and afterwards in that of Paris, in which he
+received the degree of doctor of divinity. Returning to England in 1240,
+he became a monk of the order of St. Francis. He was by far the most
+learned man of his age; and his acquirements were so much above the
+comprehension of his contemporaries, that they could only account for
+them by supposing that he was indebted for them to the devil. Voltaire
+has not inaptly designated him "De l'or encroute de toutes les ordures
+de son siecle;" but the crust of superstition that enveloped his
+powerful mind, though it may have dimmed, could not obscure the
+brightness of his genius. To him, and apparently to him only, among
+all the inquiring spirits of the time, were known the properties of the
+concave and convex lens. He also invented the magic-lantern; that pretty
+plaything of modern days, which acquired for him a reputation that
+embittered his life. In a history of alchymy, the name of this great man
+cannot be omitted, although, unlike many others of whom we shall have
+occasion to speak, he only made it secondary to other pursuits. The
+love of universal knowledge that filled his mind, would not allow him to
+neglect one branch of science, of which neither he nor the world could
+yet see the absurdity. He made ample amends for his time lost in this
+pursuit by his knowledge in physics and his acquaintance with astronomy.
+The telescope, burning-glasses, and gunpowder, are discoveries which may
+well carry his fame to the remotest time, and make the world blind to
+the one spot of folly--the diagnosis of the age in which he lived,
+and the circumstances by which he was surrounded. His treatise on
+the "Admirable Power of Art and Nature in the Production of the
+Philosopher's Stone" was translated into French by Girard de Tormes, and
+published at Lyons in 1557. His "Mirror of Alchymy" was also published
+in French in the same year, and in Paris in 1612, with some additions
+from the works of Raymond Lulli. A complete list of all the published
+treatises upon the subject may be seen in Lenglet du Fresnoy.
+
+
+POPE JOHN XXII.
+
+This Prelate is said to have been the friend and pupil of Arnold de
+Villeneuve, by whom he was instructed in all the secrets of alchymy.
+Tradition asserts of him, that he made great quantities of gold, and
+died as rich as Croesus. He was born at Cahors, in the province of
+Guienne, in the year 1244. He was a very eloquent preacher, and soon
+reached high dignity in the Church. He wrote a work on the transmutation
+of metals, and had a famous laboratory at Avignon. He issued two Bulls
+against the numerous pretenders to the art, who had sprung up in every
+part of Christendom; from which it might be inferred that he was himself
+free from the delusion. The alchymists claim him, however, as one of the
+most distinguished and successful professors of their art, and say
+that his Bulls were not directed against the real adepts, but the false
+pretenders. They lay particular stress upon these words in his Bull,
+"Spondent, quas non exhibent, divitias, pauperes alchymistae." These, it
+is clear, they say, relate only to poor alchymists, and therefore false
+ones. He died in the year 1344, leaving in his coffers a sum of eighteen
+millions of florins. Popular belief alleged that he had made, and not
+amassed, this treasure; and alchymists complacently cite this as a proof
+that the philosopher's stone was not such a chimera as the incredulous
+pretended. They take it for granted that John really left this money,
+and ask by what possible means he could have accumulated it. Replying
+to their own question, they say triumphantly, "His book shows it was by
+alchymy, the secrets of which he learned from Arnold de Villeneuve and
+Raymond Lulli. But he was as prudent as all other hermetic philosophers.
+Whoever would read his book to find out his secret, would employ all his
+labour in vain; the Pope took good care not to divulge it." Unluckily
+for their own credit, all these gold-makers are in the same predicament;
+their great secret loses its worth most wonderfully in the telling, and
+therefore they keep it snugly to themselves. Perhaps they thought that,
+if everybody could transmute metals, gold would be so plentiful that it
+would be no longer valuable, and that some new art would be requisite
+to transmute it back again into steel and iron. If so, society is much
+indebted to them for their forbearance.
+
+
+JEAN DE MEUNG
+
+All classes of men dabbled in the art at this time; the last mentioned
+was a Pope, the one of whom we now speak was a poet. Jean de Meung, the
+celebrated author of the "Roman de la Rose," was born in the year 1279
+or 1280, and was a great personage at the courts of Louis X, Philip the
+Long, Charles IV, and Philip de Valois. His famous poem of the "Roman
+de la Rose," which treats of every subject in vogue at that day,
+necessarily makes great mention of alchymy. Jean was a firm believer
+in the art, and wrote, besides his, "Roman," two shorter poems, the one
+entitled, "The Remonstrance of Nature to the wandering Alchymist," and
+"The Reply of the Alchymist to Nature." Poetry and alchymy were his
+delight, and priests and women were his abomination. A pleasant story is
+related of him and the ladies of the court of Charles IV. He had written
+the following libellous couplet upon the fair sex:--
+
+     "Toutes etes, serez, ou futes
+     De fait ou de volonte, putains,
+     Et qui, tres bien vous chercherait
+     Toutes putains, vous trouverait."
+
+[These verses are but a coarser expression of the slanderous line of
+Pope, that "every woman is at heart a rake."]
+
+This naturally gave great offence; and being perceived one day, in the
+King's antechamber, by some ladies who were waiting for an audience,
+they resolved to punish him. To the number of ten or twelve, they armed
+themselves with canes and rods; and surrounding the unlucky poet, called
+upon the gentlemen present to strip him naked, that they might wreak
+just vengeance upon him, and lash him through the streets of the town.
+Some of the lords present were in no wise loth, and promised themselves
+great sport from his punishment. But Jean de Meung was unmoved by their
+threats, and stood up calmly in the midst of them, begging them to hear
+him first, and then, if not satisfied, they might do as they liked with
+him. Silence being restored, he stood upon a chair, and entered on his
+defence. He acknowledged that he was the author of the obnoxious verses,
+but denied that they bore reference to all womankind. He only meant to
+speak of the vicious and abandoned, whereas those whom he saw around
+him, were patterns of virtue, loveliness, and modesty. If, however, any
+lady present thought herself aggrieved, he would consent to be stripped,
+and she might lash him till her arms were wearied. It is added, that
+by this means Jean escaped his flogging, and that the wrath of the
+fair ones immediately subsided. The gentlemen present were, however, of
+opinion, that if every lady in the room, whose character corresponded
+with the verses, had taken him at his word, the poet would, in all
+probability, have been beaten to death. All his life long he evinced a
+great animosity towards the priesthood, and his famous poem abounds with
+passages reflecting upon their avarice, cruelty, and immorality. At his
+death he left a large box, filled with some weighty material, which he
+bequeathed to the Cordeliers, as a peace-offering, for the abuse he had
+lavished upon them. As his practice of alchymy was well-known, it was
+thought the box was filled with gold and silver, and the Cordeliers
+congratulated each other on their rich acquisition. When it came to be
+opened, they found to their horror that it was filled only with slates,
+scratched with hieroglyphic and cabalistic characters. Indignant at the
+insult, they determined to refuse him Christian burial, on pretence
+that he was a sorcerer. He was, however, honourably buried in Paris, the
+whole court attending his funeral.
+
+
+NICHOLAS FLAMEL.
+
+The story of this alchymist, as handed down by tradition, and enshrined
+in the pages of Lenglet du Fresnoy, is not a little marvellous. He was
+born at Pontoise of a poor but respectable family, at the end of
+the thirteenth, or beginning of the fourteenth, century. Having no
+patrimony, he set out for Paris at an early age, to try his fortune as a
+public scribe. He had received a good education, was well skilled in
+the learned languages, and was an excellent penman. He soon procured
+occupation as a letter-writer and copyist, and used to sit at the corner
+of the Rue de Marivaux, and practise his calling: but he hardly made
+profits enough to keep body and soul together. To mend his fortunes
+he tried poetry; but this was a more wretched occupation still. As a
+transcriber he had at least gained bread and cheese; but his rhymes were
+not worth a crust. He then tried painting with as little success; and as
+a last resource, began to search for the philosopher's stone, and tell
+fortunes. This was a happier idea; he soon increased in substance, and
+had wherewithal to live comfortably. He, therefore, took unto himself
+his wife Petronella, and began to save money; but continued to all
+outward appearance as poor and miserable as before. In the course of a
+few years, he became desperately addicted to the study of alchymy, and
+thought of nothing but the philosopher's stone, the elixir of life, and
+the universal alkahest. In the year 1257, he bought by chance an old
+book for two florins, which soon became the sole study and object of his
+life. It was written with a steel instrument upon the bark of trees, and
+contained twenty-one, or as he himself always expressed it, three times
+seven, leaves. The writing was very elegant and in the Latin language.
+Each seventh leaf contained a picture and no writing. On the first
+of these was a serpent swallowing rods; on the second, a cross with a
+serpent crucified; and on the third, the representation of a desert, in
+the midst of which was a fountain with serpents crawling from side to
+side. It purported to be written by no less a personage than "Abraham,
+patriarch, Jew, prince, philosopher, priest, Levite, and astrologer;"
+and invoked curses upon any one who should cast eyes upon it, without
+being a sacrificer or a scribe. Nicholas Flamel never thought it
+extraordinary that Abraham should have known Latin, and was convinced
+that the characters on his book had been traced by the hands of that
+great patriarch himself. He was at first afraid to read it, after he
+became aware of the curse it contained; but he got over that difficulty
+by recollecting that, although he was not a sacrificer, he had practised
+as a scribe. As he read he was filled with admiration, and found that it
+was a perfect treatise upon the transmutation of metals. All the process
+was clearly explained; the vessels, the retorts, the mixtures, and the
+proper times and seasons for the experiment. But as ill-luck would have
+it, the possession of the philosopher's stone or prime agent in the work
+was presupposed. This was a difficulty which was not to be got over.
+It was like telling a starving man how to cook a beefsteak, instead of
+giving him the money to buy one. But Nicholas did not despair; and set
+about studying the hieroglyphics and allegorical representations with
+which the book abounded. He soon convinced himself that it had been one
+of the sacred books of the Jews, and that it was taken from the temple
+of Jerusalem on its destruction by Titus. The process of reasoning by
+which he arrived at this conclusion is not stated.
+
+From some expression in the treatise, he learned that the allegorical
+drawings on the fourth and fifth leaves, enshrined the secret of the
+philosopher's stone, without which all the fine Latin of the directions
+was utterly unavailing. He invited all the alchymists and learned men
+of Paris to come and examine them, but they all departed as wise as they
+came. Nobody could make anything either of Nicholas or his pictures; and
+some even went so far as to say that his invaluable book was not worth
+a farthing. This was not to be borne; and Nicholas resolved to discover
+the great secret by himself, without troubling the philosophers. He
+found on the first page, of the fourth leaf, the picture of Mercury,
+attacked by an old man resembling Saturn or Time. The latter had an
+hourglass on his head, and in his hand a scythe, with which he aimed
+a blow at Mercury's feet. The reverse of the leaf represented a flower
+growing on a mountain top, shaken rudely by the wind, with a blue stalk,
+red and white blossoms, and leaves of pure gold. Around it were a great
+number of dragons and griffins. On the first page of the fifth leaf
+was a fine garden, in the midst of which was a rose tree in full bloom,
+supported against the trunk of a gigantic oak. At the foot of this there
+bubbled up a fountain of milk-white water, which forming a small stream,
+flowed through the garden, and was afterwards lost in the sands. On
+the second page was a King, with a sword in his hand, superintending
+a number of soldiers, who, in execution of his orders, were killing a
+great multitude of young children, spurning the prayers and tears of
+their mothers, who tried to save them from destruction. The blood of the
+children was carefully collected by another party of soldiers, and put
+into a large vessel, in which two allegorical figures of the Sun and
+Moon were bathing themselves.
+
+For twenty-one years poor Nicholas wearied himself with the study
+of these pictures, but still he could make nothing of them. His wife
+Petronella at last persuaded him to find out some learned Rabbi; but
+there was no Rabbi in Paris learned enough to be of any service to him.
+The Jews met but small encouragement to fix their abode in France,
+and all the chiefs of that people were located in Spain. To Spain
+accordingly Nicholas Flamel repaired. He left his book in Paris for
+fear, perhaps, that he might be robbed of it on the road; and telling
+his neighbours that he was going on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St.
+James of Compostello, he trudged on foot towards Madrid in search of a
+Rabbi. He was absent two years in that country, and made himself known
+to a great number of Jews, descendants of those who had been expelled
+from France in the reign of Philip Augustus. The believers in the
+philosopher's stone give the following account of his adventures:--They
+say that at Leon he made the acquaintance of a converted Jew, named
+Cauches, a very learned physician, to whom he explained the title and
+the nature of his little book. The Doctor was transported with joy
+as soon as he heard it named, and immediately resolved to accompany
+Nicholas to Paris, that he might have a sight of it. The two set out
+together; the Doctor on the way entertaining his companion with the
+history of his book, which, if the genuine book he thought it to be,
+from the description he had heard of it, was in the handwriting of
+Abraham himself, and had been in the possession of personages no less
+distinguished than Moses, Joshua, Solomon, and Esdras. It contained
+all the secrets of alchymy and of many other sciences, and was the
+most valuable book that had ever existed in this world. The Doctor was
+himself no mean adept, and Nicholas profited greatly by his discourse,
+as in the garb of poor pilgrims they wended their way to Paris,
+convinced of their power to turn every old shovel in that capital into
+pure gold. But, unfortunately, when they reached Orleans, the Doctor was
+taken dangerously ill. Nicholas watched by his bedside, and acted the
+double part of a physician and nurse to him; but he died after a few
+days, lamenting with his last breath that he had not lived long enough
+to see the precious volume. Nicholas rendered the last honours to
+his body; and with a sorrowful heart, and not one sous in his pocket,
+proceeded home to his wife Petronella. He immediately recommenced
+the study of his pictures; but for two whole years he was as far from
+understanding them as ever. At last, in the third year, a glimmer of
+light stole over his understanding. He recalled some expression of his
+friend, the Doctor, which had hitherto escaped his memory, and he found
+that all his previous experiments had been conducted on a wrong basis.
+He recommenced them now with renewed energy, and at the end of the year
+had the satisfaction to see all his toils rewarded. On the 13th January
+1382, says Lenglet, he made a projection on mercury, and had some very
+excellent silver. On the 25th April following, he converted a large
+quantity of mercury into gold, and the great secret was his.
+
+Nicholas was now about eighty years of age, and still a hale and stout
+old man. His friends say that, by the simultaneous discovery of the
+elixir of life, he found means to keep death at a distance for another
+quarter of a century; and that he died in 1415, at the age of 116. In
+this interval he had made immense quantities of gold, though to all
+outward appearance he was as poor as a mouse. At an early period of his
+changed fortune, he had, like a worthy man, taken counsel with his
+old wife Petronella, as to the best use he could make of his wealth.
+Petronella replied, that as unfortunately they had no children, the best
+thing he could do, was to build hospitals and endow churches. Nicholas
+thought so too, especially when he began to find that his elixir could
+not keep off death, and that the grim foe was making rapid advances upon
+him. He richly endowed the church of St. Jacques de la Boucherie, near
+the Rue de Marivaux, where he had all his life resided, besides seven
+others in different parts of the kingdom. He also endowed fourteen
+hospitals, and built three chapels.
+
+The fame of his great wealth and his munificent benefactions soon
+spread over all the country, and he was visited, among others, by the
+celebrated Doctors of that day, Jean Gerson, Jean de Courtecuisse, and
+Pierre d'Ailli. They found him in his humble apartment, meanly clad, and
+eating porridge out of an earthen vessel; and with regard to his secret,
+as impenetrable as all his predecessors in alchymy. His fame reached
+the ears of the King, Charles VI, who sent M. de Cramoisi, the Master
+of Requests, to find out whether Nicholas had indeed discovered the
+philosopher's stone. But M. de Cramoisi took nothing by his visit; all
+his attempts to sound the alchymist were unavailing, and he returned to
+his royal master no wiser than he came. It was in this year, 1414, that
+he lost his faithful Petronella. He did not long survive her; but died
+in the following year, and was buried with great pomp by the grateful
+priests of St. Jacques de la Boucherie.
+
+The great wealth of Nicholas Flamel is undoubted, as the records of
+several churches and hospitals in France can testify. That he practised
+alchymy is equally certain, as he left behind several works upon the
+subject.
+
+Those who knew him well, and who were incredulous about the
+philosopher's stone, give a very satisfactory solution of the secret of
+his wealth. They say that he was always a miser and a usurer; that his
+journey to Spain was undertaken with very different motives from those
+pretended by the alchymists; that, in fact, he went to collect debts
+due from Jews in that country to their brethren in Paris, and that he
+charged a commission of fully cent. per cent. in consideration of the
+difficulty of collecting and the dangers of the road; that when he
+possessed thousands, he lived upon almost nothing; and was the general
+money-lender, at enormous profits, of all the dissipated young men at
+the French court.
+
+Among the works written by Nicholas Flamel on the subject of alchymy, is
+"The Philosophic Summary," a poem, reprinted in 1735, as an appendix
+to the third volume of the "Roman de la Rose." He also wrote three
+treatises upon natural philosophy, and an alchymic allegory, entitled
+"Le Desir desire." Specimens of his writing, and a fac-simile of the
+drawings in his book of Abraham, may be seen in Salmon's "Bibliotheque
+des Philosophes Chimiques." The writer of the article, "Flamel," in the
+"Biographie Universelle," says that, for a hundred years after the death
+of Flamel, many of the adepts believed that he was still alive, and that
+he would live for upwards of six hundred years. The house he formerly
+occupied, at the corner of the Rue de Marivaux, has been often taken by
+credulous speculators, and ransacked from top to bottom, in the hopes
+that gold might be found. A report was current in Paris, not long
+previous to the year 1816, that some lodgers had found in the cellars
+several jars filled with a dark-coloured ponderous matter. Upon the
+strength of the rumour, a believer in all the wondrous tales told of
+Nicholas Flamel bought the house, and nearly pulled it to pieces in
+ransacking the walls and wainscotting for hidden gold. He got nothing
+for his pains, however, and had a heavy bill to pay to restore his
+dilapidations.
+
+
+GEORGE RIPLEY.
+
+While alchymy was thus cultivated on the continent of Europe, it was not
+neglected in the isles of Britain. Since the time of Roger Bacon, it had
+fascinated the imagination of many ardent men in England. In the year
+1404, an act of parliament was passed, declaring the making of gold
+and silver to be felony. Great alarm was felt at that time lest any
+alchymist should succeed in his projects, and perhaps bring ruin upon
+the state, by furnishing boundless wealth to some designing tyrant, who
+would make use of it to enslave his country. This alarm appears to have
+soon subsided; for, in the year 1455, King Henry VI, by advice of his
+council and parliament, granted four successive patents and commissions
+to several knights, citizens of London, chemists, monks, mass-priests,
+and others, to find out the philosopher's stone and elixir, "to the
+great benefit," said the patent, "of the realm, and the enabling of the
+King to pay all the debts of the Crown in real gold and silver." Prinn,
+in his "Aurum Reginae," observes, as a note to this passage, that the
+King's reason for granting this patent to ecclesiastics was, that they
+were such good artists in transubstantiating bread and wine in the
+Eucharist, and therefore the more likely to be able to effect the
+transmutation of baser metals into better. No gold, of course, was ever
+made; and, next year, the King, doubting very much of the practicability
+of the thing, took further advice, and appointed a commission of ten
+learned men, and persons of eminence, to judge and certify to him
+whether the transmutation of metals were a thing practicable or no. It
+does not appear whether the commission ever made any report upon the
+subject.
+
+In the succeeding reign, an alchymist appeared who pretended to have
+discovered the secret. This was George Ripley, the canon of Bridlington,
+in Yorkshire. He studied for twenty years in the universities of Italy,
+and was a great favourite with Pope Innocent VIII, who made him one of
+his domestic chaplains, and master of the ceremonies in his household.
+Returning to England in 1477, he dedicated to King Edward IV. his famous
+work, "The Compound of Alchymy; or, the Twelve Gates leading to the
+Discovery of the Philosopher's Stone." These gates he described to
+be calcination, solution, separation, conjunction, putrefaction,
+congelation, cibation, sublimation, fermentation, exaltation,
+multiplication, and projection! to which he might have added
+botheration, the most important process of all. He was very rich, and
+allowed it to be believed that he could make gold out of iron. Fuller,
+in his "Worthies of England," says that an English gentleman of good
+credit reported that, in his travels abroad, he saw a record in the
+island of Malta, which declared that Ripley gave yearly to the knights
+of that island, and of Rhodes, the enormous sum of one hundred thousand
+pounds sterling, to enable them to carry on the war against the
+Turks. In his old age, he became an anchorite near Boston, and wrote
+twenty-five volumes upon the subject of alchymy, the most important of
+which is the "Duodecim Portarum," already mentioned. Before he died, he
+seems to have acknowledged that he had misspent his life in this vain
+study, and requested that all men, when they met with any of his books,
+would burn them, or afford them no credit, as they had been written
+merely from his opinion, and not from proof; and that subsequent trial
+had made manifest to him that they were false and vain. [Fuller's
+"Worthies of England."]
+
+
+BASIL VALENTINE.
+
+Germany also produced many famous alchymists in the fifteenth century,
+the chief of whom are Basil Valentine, Bernard of Treves, and the Abbot
+Trithemius. Basil Valentine was born at Mayence, and was made prior of
+St. Peter's, at Erfurt, about the year 1414. It was known, during his
+life, that he diligently sought the philosopher's stone, and that he had
+written some works upon the process of transmutation. They were thought,
+for many years, to be lost; but were, after his death, discovered
+enclosed in the stone work of one of the pillars in the Abbey. They were
+twenty-one in number, and are fully set forth in the third volume of
+Lenglet's "History of the Hermetic Philosophy." The alchymists asserted,
+that Heaven itself conspired to bring to light these extraordinary
+works; and that the pillar in which they were enclosed was miraculously
+shattered by a thunderbolt; and that, as soon as the manuscripts were
+liberated, the pillar closed up again of its own accord!
+
+
+BERNARD of TREVES.
+
+The life of this philosopher is a remarkable instance of talent and
+perseverance misapplied. In the search of his chimera nothing could
+daunt him. Repeated disappointment never diminished his hopes; and, from
+the age of fourteen to that of eighty-five, he was incessantly employed
+among the drugs and furnaces of his laboratory, wasting his life with
+the view of prolonging it, and reducing himself to beggary in the hopes
+of growing rich.
+
+He was born at either Treves or Padua, in the year 1406. His father is
+said by some to have been a physician in the latter city; and by others,
+to have been Count of the Marches of Treves, and one of the most wealthy
+nobles of his country. At all events, whether noble or physician, he
+was a rich man, and left his son a magnificent estate. At the age of
+fourteen he first became enamoured of the science of alchymy, and read
+the Arabian authors in their own language. He himself has left a
+most interesting record of his labours and wanderings, from which the
+following particulars are chiefly extracted:--The first book which fell
+into his hands, was that of the Arabian philosopher, Rhazes, from
+the reading of which he imagined that he had discovered the means
+of augmenting gold a hundred fold. For four years he worked in his
+laboratory, with the book of Rhazes continually before him. At the end
+of that time, he found that he had spent no less than eight hundred
+crowns upon his experiment, and had got nothing but fire and smoke for
+his pains. He now began to lose confidence in Rhazes, and turned to the
+works of Geber. He studied him assiduously for two years; and, being
+young, rich, and credulous, was beset by all the chymists of the town,
+who kindly assisted him in spending his money. He did not lose his faith
+in Geber, or patience with his hungry assistants, until he had lost two
+thousand crowns--a very considerable sum in those days.
+
+Among all the crowd of pretended men of science who surrounded him,
+there was but one as enthusiastic and as disinterested as himself. With
+this man, who was a monk of the order of St. Francis, he contracted
+an intimate friendship, and spent nearly all his time. Some obscure
+treatises of Rupecissa and Sacrobosco having fallen into their hands,
+they were persuaded, from reading them, that highly rectified spirits
+of wine was the universal alkahest, or dissolvent, which would aid them
+greatly in the process of transmutation. They rectified the alcohol
+thirty times, till they made it so strong as to burst the vessels which
+contained it. After they had worked three years, and spent three hundred
+crowns in the liquor, they discovered that they were on the wrong track.
+They next tried alum and copperas; but the great secret still escaped
+them. They afterwards imagined that there was a marvellous virtue in
+all excrement, especially the human, and actually employed more than two
+years in experimentalizing upon it, with mercury, salt, and molten lead!
+Again the adepts flocked around him from far and near, to aid him with
+their counsels. He received them all hospitably, and divided his wealth
+among them so generously and unhesitatingly, that they gave him the name
+of the "good Trevisan," by which he is still often mentioned in works
+that treat on alchymy. For twelve years he led this life, making
+experiments every day upon some new substance, and praying to God night
+and morning that he might discover the secret of transmutation.
+
+In this interval he lost his friend the monk, and was joined by a
+magistrate of the city of Treves, as ardent as himself in the search.
+His new acquaintance imagined that the ocean was the mother of gold,
+and that sea-salt would change lead or iron into the precious metals.
+Bernard resolved to try; and, transporting his laboratory to a house
+on the coast of the Baltic, he worked upon salt for more than a year,
+melting it, sublimating it, crystalizing it, and occasionally drinking
+it, for the sake of other experiments. Still the strange enthusiast was
+not wholly discouraged, and his failure in one trial only made him the
+more anxious to attempt another.
+
+He was now approaching the age of fifty, and had as yet seen nothing of
+the world. He, therefore, determined to travel through Germany, Italy,
+France, and Spain. Wherever he stopped he made inquiries whether there
+were any alchymists in the neighbourhood. He invariably sought them out;
+and, if they were poor, relieved, and, if affluent, encouraged them. At
+Citeaux he became acquainted with one Geoffrey Leuvier, a monk of that
+place, who persuaded him that the essence of egg-shells was a valuable
+ingredient. He tried, therefore, what could be done; and was only
+prevented from wasting a year or two on the experiment by the opinions
+of an attorney, at Berghem, in Flanders, who said that the great secret
+resided in vinegar and copperas. He was not convinced of the absurdity
+of this idea until he had nearly poisoned himself. He resided in France
+for about five years, when, hearing accidentally that one Master Henry,
+confessor to the Emperor Frederic III, had discovered the philosopher's
+stone, he set out for Germany to pay him a visit. He had, as usual,
+surrounded himself with a set of hungry dependants, several of whom
+determined to accompany him. He had not heart to refuse them, and he
+arrived at Vienna with five of them. Bernard sent a polite invitation
+to the confessor, and gave him a sumptuous entertainment, at which
+were present nearly all the alchymists of Vienna. Master Henry frankly
+confessed that he had not discovered the philosopher's stone, but that
+he had all his life been employed in searching for it, and would so
+continue, till he found it;--or died. This was a man after Bernard's
+own heart, and they vowed with each other an eternal friendship. It was
+resolved, at supper, that each alchymist present should contribute a
+certain sum towards raising forty-two marks of gold, which, in five
+days, it was confidently asserted by Master Henry, would increase, in
+his furnace, five fold. Bernard, being the richest man, contributed the
+lion's share, ten marks of gold, Master Henry five, and the others one
+or two a piece, except the dependants of Bernard, who were obliged to
+borrow their quota from their patron. The grand experiment was duly
+made; the golden marks were put into a crucible, with a quantity of
+salt, copperas, aquafortis, egg-shells, mercury, lead, and dung. The
+alchymists watched this precious mess with intense interest, expecting
+that it would agglomerate into one lump of pure gold. At the end of
+three weeks they gave up the trial, upon some excuse that the crucible
+was not strong enough, or that some necessary ingredient was wanting.
+Whether any thief had put his hands into the crucible is not known, but
+it is certain that the gold found therein at the close of the experiment
+was worth only sixteen marks, instead of the forty-two, which were put
+there at the beginning.
+
+Bernard, though he made no gold at Vienna, made away with a very
+considerable quantity. He felt the loss so acutely, that he vowed to
+think no more of the philosopher's stone. This wise resolution he kept
+for two months; but he was miserable. He was in the condition of the
+gambler, who cannot resist the fascination of the game while he has a
+coin remaining, but plays on with the hope of retrieving former losses,
+till hope forsakes him, and he can live no longer. He returned once
+more to his beloved crucibles, and resolved to prosecute his journey
+in search of a philosopher who had discovered the secret, and would
+communicate it to so zealous and persevering an adept as himself. From
+Vienna he travelled to Rome, and from Rome to Madrid. Taking ship at
+Gibraltar, he proceeded to Messina; from Messina to Cyprus; from
+Cyprus to Greece; from Greece to Constantinople; and thence into Egypt,
+Palestine, and Persia. These wanderings occupied him about eight years.
+From Persia he made his way back to Messina, and from thence into
+France. He afterwards passed over into England, still in search of his
+great chimera; and this occupied four years more of his life. He was now
+growing both old and poor; for he was sixty-two years of age, and had
+been obliged to sell a great portion of his patrimony to provide for his
+expenses. His journey to Persia had cost upwards of thirteen thousand
+crowns, about one-half of which had been fairly melted in his
+all-devouring furnaces: the other half was lavished upon the sycophants
+that he made it his business to search out in every town he stopped at.
+
+On his return to Treves he found, to his sorrow, that, if not an actual
+beggar, he was not much better. His relatives looked upon him as a
+madman, and refused even to see him. Too proud to ask for favours from
+any one, and still confident that, some day or other, he would be the
+possessor of unbounded wealth, he made up his mind to retire to the
+island of Rhodes, where he might, in the mean time, hide his poverty
+from the eyes of all the world. Here he might have lived unknown and
+happy; but, as ill luck would have it, he fell in with a monk as mad as
+himself upon the subject of transmutation. They were, however, both
+so poor that they could not afford to buy the proper materials to work
+with. They kept up each other's spirits by learned discourses on the
+Hermetic Philosophy, and in the reading of all the great authors who had
+written upon the subject. Thus did they nurse their folly, as the good
+wife of Tam O'Shanter did her wrath, "to keep it warm." After Bernard
+had resided about a year in Rhodes, a merchant, who knew his family,
+advanced him the sum of eight thousand florins, upon the security of the
+last-remaining acres of his formerly large estate. Once more provided
+with funds, he recommenced his labours with all the zeal and enthusiasm
+of a young man. For three years he hardly stepped out of his laboratory:
+he ate there, and slept there, and did not even give himself time to
+wash his hands and clean his beard, so intense was his application. It
+is melancholy to think that such wonderful perseverance should have been
+wasted in so vain a pursuit, and that energies so unconquerable should
+have had no worthier field to strive in. Even when he had fumed away his
+last coin, and had nothing left in prospective to keep his old age
+from starvation, hope never forsook him. He still dreamed of ultimate
+success, and sat down a greyheaded man of eighty, to read over all the
+authors on the hermetic mysteries, from Geber to his own day, lest he
+should have misunderstood some process, which it was not yet too late
+to recommence. The alchymists say, that he succeeded at last, and
+discovered the secret of transmutation in his eighty-second year. They
+add, that he lived three years afterwards to enjoy his wealth. He lived,
+it is true, to this great age, and made a valuable discovery--more
+valuable than gold or gems. He learned, as he himself informs us, just
+before he had attained his eighty-third year, that the great secret of
+philosophy was contentment with our lot. Happy would it have been for
+him if he had discovered it sooner, and before he became decrepit, a
+beggar, and an exile!
+
+He died at Rhodes, in the year 1490, and all the alchymists of Europe
+sang elegies over him, and sounded his praise as the "good Trevisan."
+He wrote several treatises upon his chimera, the chief of which are,
+the "Book of Chemistry," the "Verbum dimissum," and an essay "De Natura
+Ovi."
+
+
+TRITHEMIUS.
+
+The name of this eminent man has become famous in the annals of alchymy,
+although he did but little to gain so questionable an honour. He was
+born in the year 1462, at the village of Trittheim, in the electorate
+of Treves. His father was John Heidenberg, a vine-grower, in easy
+circumstances, who, dying when his son was but seven years old, left
+him to the care of his mother. The latter married again very shortly
+afterwards, and neglected the poor boy, the offspring of her first
+marriage. At the age of fifteen he did not even know his letters,
+and was, besides, half starved, and otherwise ill-treated by his
+step-father; but the love of knowledge germinated in the breast of the
+unfortunate youth, and he learned to read at the house of a neighbour.
+His father-in-law set him to work in the vineyards, and thus occupied
+all his days; but the nights were his own. He often stole out unheeded,
+when all the household were fast asleep, poring over his studies in the
+fields, by the light of the moon; and thus taught himself Latin and the
+rudiments of Greek. He was subjected to so much ill-usage at home,
+in consequence of this love of study, that he determined to leave it.
+Demanding the patrimony which his father had left him, he proceeded to
+Treves; and, assuming the name of Trithemius, from that of his native
+village of Trittheim, lived there for some months, under the tuition of
+eminent masters, by whom he was prepared for the university. At the
+age of twenty, he took it into his head that he should like to see his
+mother once more; and he set out on foot from the distant university for
+that purpose. On his arrival near Spannheim, late in the evening of a
+gloomy winter's day, it came on to snow so thickly, that he could not
+proceed onwards to the town. He, therefore, took refuge for the night
+in a neighbouring monastery; but the storm continued several days, the
+roads became impassable, and the hospitable monks would not hear of his
+departure. He was so pleased with them and their manner of life, that he
+suddenly resolved to fix his abode among them, and renounce the world.
+They were no less pleased with him, and gladly received him as a
+brother. In the course of two years, although still so young, he
+was unanimously elected their Abbot. The financial affairs of the
+establishment had been greatly neglected, the walls of the building were
+falling into ruin, and everything was in disorder. Trithemius, by his
+good management and regularity, introduced a reform in every branch of
+expenditure. The monastery was repaired, and a yearly surplus, instead
+of a deficiency, rewarded him for his pains. He did not like to see the
+monks idle, or occupied solely between prayers for their business, and
+chess for their relaxation. He, therefore, set them to work to copy the
+writings of eminent authors. They laboured so assiduously, that, in the
+course of a few years, their library, which had contained only about
+forty volumes, was enriched with several hundred valuable manuscripts,
+comprising many of the classical Latin authors, besides the works of
+the early fathers, and the principal historians and philosophers of
+more modern date. He retained the dignity of Abbot of Spannheim for
+twenty-one years, when the monks, tired of the severe discipline he
+maintained, revolted against him, and chose another abbot in his place.
+He was afterwards made Abbot of St. James, in Wurtzburg, where he died
+in 1516.
+
+During his learned leisure at Spannheim, he wrote several works upon
+the occult sciences, the chief of which are an essay on geomancy, or
+divination by means of lines and circles on the ground; another upon
+sorcery; a third upon alchymy; and a fourth upon the government of the
+world by its presiding angels, which was translated into English, and
+published by the famous William Lilly in 1647.
+
+It has been alleged by the believers in the possibility of
+transmutation, that the prosperity of the abbey of Spannheim, while
+under his superintendence, was owing more to the philosopher's stone
+than to wise economy. Trithemius, in common with many other learned men,
+has been accused of magic; and a marvellous story is told of his having
+raised from the grave the form of Mary of Burgundy, at the intercession
+of her widowed husband, the Emperor Maximilian. His work on
+steganographia, or cabalistic writing, was denounced to the Count
+Palatine, Frederic II, as magical and devilish; and it was by him taken
+from the shelves of his library and thrown into the fire. Trithemius is
+said to be the first writer who makes mention of the wonderful story
+of the devil and Dr. Faustus, the truth of which he firmly believed. He
+also recounts the freaks of a spirit, named Hudekin, by whom he was at
+times tormented. [Biographie Universelle]
+
+
+THE MARECHAL DE RAYS.
+
+One of the greatest encouragers of alchymy in the fifteenth century
+was Gilles de Laval, Lord of Rays and a Marshal of France. His name and
+deeds are little known; but in the annals of crime and folly, they might
+claim the highest and worst pro-eminence. Fiction has never invented
+anything wilder or more horrible than his career; and were not the
+details but too well authenticated by legal and other documents which
+admit no doubt, the lover of romance might easily imagine they were
+drawn to please him from the stores of the prolific brain, and not from
+the page of history.
+
+He was born about the year 1420, of one of the noblest families of
+Brittany. His father dying when Gilles had attained his twentieth year,
+he came into uncontrolled possession, at that early age, of a fortune
+which the monarchs of France might have envied him. He was a near
+kinsman of the Montmorencys, the Roncys, and the Craons; possessed
+fifteen princely domains, and had an annual revenue of about three
+hundred thousand livres. Besides this, he was handsome, learned, and
+brave. He distinguished himself greatly in the wars of Charles VII, and
+was rewarded by that monarch with the dignity of a marshal of France.
+But he was extravagant and magnificent in his style of living, and
+accustomed from his earliest years to the gratification of every wish
+and passion; and this, at last, led him from vice to vice, and from
+crime to crime, till a blacker name than his is not to be found in any
+record of human iniquity.
+
+In his castle of Champtoce, he lived with all the splendour of an
+Eastern Caliph. He kept up a troop of two hundred horsemen to accompany
+him wherever he went; and his excursions for the purposes of hawking and
+hunting were the wonder of all the country around, so magnificent were
+the caparisons of his steeds and the dresses of his retainers. Day and
+night, his castle was open all the year round to comers of every degree.
+He made it a rule to regale even the poorest beggar with wine and
+hippocrass. Every day an ox was roasted whole in his spacious kitchens,
+besides sheep, pigs, and poultry sufficient to feed five hundred
+persons. He was equally magnificent in his devotions. His private chapel
+at Champtoce was the most beautiful in France, and far surpassed any
+of those in the richly-endowed cathedrals of Notre Dame in Paris, of
+Amiens, of Beauvais, or of Rouen. It was hung with cloth of gold and
+rich velvet. All the chandeliers were of pure gold, curiously inlaid
+with silver. The great crucifix over the altar was of solid silver, and
+the chalices and incense-burners were of pure gold. He had, besides, a
+fine organ, which he caused to be carried from one castle to another, on
+the shoulders of six men, whenever he changed his residence. He kept up
+a choir of twenty-five young children of both sexes, who were instructed
+in singing by the first musicians of the day. The master of his chapel
+he called a bishop, who had under him his deans, archdeacons, and
+vicars, each receiving great salaries; the bishop four hundred crowns a
+year, and the rest in proportion.
+
+He also maintained a whole troop of players, including ten dancing-girls
+and as many ballad-singers, besides morris-dancers, jugglers, and
+mountebanks of every description. The theatre on which they performed
+was fitted up without any regard to expense; and they played mysteries,
+or danced the morris-dance, every evening, for the amusement of
+himself and household, and such strangers as were sharing his prodigal
+hospitality.
+
+At the age of twenty-three, he married Catherine, the wealthy heiress of
+the house of Touars, for whom he refurnished his castle at an expense
+of a hundred thousand crowns. His marriage was the signal for new
+extravagance, and he launched out more madly than ever he had done
+before; sending for fine singers or celebrated dancers from foreign
+countries to amuse him and his spouse, and instituting tilts and
+tournaments in his great court-yard almost every week for all the
+knights and nobles of the province of Brittany. The Duke of Brittany's
+court was not half so splendid as that of the Marechal de Rays. His
+utter disregard of wealth was so well known that he was made to pay
+three times its value for everything he purchased. His castle was filled
+with needy parasites and panderers to his pleasures, amongst whom he
+lavished rewards with an unsparing hand. But the ordinary round of
+sensual gratification ceased at last to afford him delight: he was
+observed to be more abstemious in the pleasures of the table, and to
+neglect the beauteous dancing-girls who used formerly to occupy so much
+of his attention. He was sometimes gloomy and reserved; and there was
+an unnatural wildness in his eye which gave indications of incipient
+madness. Still, his discourse was as reasonable as ever; his urbanity
+to the guests that flocked from far and near to Champtoce suffered no
+diminution; and learned priests, when they conversed with him, thought
+to themselves that few of the nobles of France were so well-informed
+as Gilles de Laval. But dark rumours spread gradually over the country;
+murder, and, if possible, still more atrocious deeds were hinted at;
+and it was remarked that many young children, of both sexes, suddenly
+disappeared, and were never afterwards heard of. One or two had been
+traced to the castle of Champtoce, and had never been seen to leave it;
+but no one dared to accuse openly so powerful a man as the Marechal de
+Rays. Whenever the subject of the lost children was mentioned in his
+presence, he manifested the greatest astonishment at the mystery which
+involved their fate, and indignation against those who might be guilty
+of kidnapping them. Still the world was not wholly deceived; his name
+became as formidable to young children as that of the devouring ogre in
+fairy tales; and they were taught to go miles round, rather than pass
+under the turrets of Champtoce.
+
+In the course of a very few years, the reckless extravagance of the
+Marshal drained him of all his funds, and he was obliged to put up some
+of his estates for sale. The Duke of Brittany entered into a treaty
+with him for the valuable seignory of Ingrande; but the heirs of Gilles
+implored the interference of Charles VII. to stay the sale. Charles
+immediately issued an edict, which was confirmed by the Provincial
+Parliament of Brittany, forbidding him to alienate his paternal estates.
+Gilles had no alternative but to submit. He had nothing to support his
+extravagance but his allowance as a Marshal of France, which did not
+cover the one-tenth of his expenses. A man of his habits and character
+could not retrench his wasteful expenditure and live reasonably;
+he could not dismiss without a pang his horsemen, his jesters, his
+morris-dancers, his choristers, and his parasites, or confine his
+hospitality to those who really needed it. Notwithstanding his
+diminished resources, he resolved to live as he had lived before, and
+turn alchymist, that he might make gold out of iron, and be still the
+wealthiest and most magnificent among the nobles of Brittany.
+
+In pursuance of this determination he sent to Paris, Italy, Germany, and
+Spain, inviting all the adepts in the science to visit him at Champtoce.
+The messengers he despatched on this mission were two of his most needy
+and unprincipled dependants, Gilles de Sille and Roger de Bricqueville.
+The latter, the obsequious panderer to his most secret and abominable
+pleasures, he had intrusted with the education of his motherless
+daughter, a child but five years of age, with permission, that he might
+marry her at the proper time to any person he chose, or to himself if he
+liked it better. This man entered into the new plans of his master with
+great zeal, and introduced to him one Prelati, an alchymist of Padua,
+and a physician of Poitou, who was addicted to the same pursuits. The
+Marshal caused a splendid laboratory to be fitted up for them, and the
+three commenced the search for the philosopher's stone. They were soon
+afterwards joined by another pretended philosopher, named Anthony of
+Palermo, who aided in their operations for upwards of a year. They all
+fared sumptuously at the Marshal's expense, draining him of the ready
+money he possessed, and leading him on from day to day with the hope
+that they would succeed in the object of their search. From time to time
+new aspirants from the remotest parts of Europe arrived at his castle,
+and for months he had upwards of twenty alchymists at work--trying to
+transmute copper into gold, and wasting the gold, which was still his
+own, in drugs and elixirs.
+
+But the Lord of Rays was not a man to abide patiently their lingering
+processes. Pleased with their comfortable quarters, they jogged on from
+day to day, and would have done so for years, had they been permitted.
+But he suddenly dismissed them all, with the exception of the Italian
+Prelati, and the physician of Poitou. These he retained to aid him to
+discover the secret of the philosopher's stone by a bolder method. The
+Poitousan had persuaded him that the devil was the great depositary of
+that and all other secrets, and that he would raise him before Gilles,
+who might enter into any contract he pleased with him. Gilles expressed
+his readiness, and promised to give the devil anything but his soul, or
+do any deed that the arch-enemy might impose upon him. Attended solely
+by the physician, he proceeded at midnight to a wild-looking place in
+a neighbouring forest; the physician drew a magic circle around them
+on the sward, and muttered for half an hour an invocation to the Evil
+Spirit to arise at his bidding, and disclose the secrets of alchymy.
+Gilles looked on with intense interest, and expected every moment to see
+the earth open, and deliver to his gaze the great enemy of mankind. At
+last the eyes of the physician became fixed, his hair stood on end, and
+he spoke, as if addressing the fiend. But Gilles saw nothing except
+his companion. At last the physician fell down on the sward as if
+insensible. Gilles looked calmly on to see the end. After a few minutes
+the physician arose, and asked him if he had not seen how angry the
+devil looked? Gilles replied, that he had seen nothing; upon which his
+companion informed him that Beelzebub had appeared in the form of a wild
+leopard, growled at him savagely, and said nothing; and that the reason
+why the Marshal had neither seen nor heard him, was that he hesitated
+in his own mind as to devoting himself entirely to the service. De Rays
+owned that he had indeed misgivings, and inquired what was to be done to
+make the devil speak out, and unfold his secret? The physician replied,
+that some person must go to Spain and Africa to collect certain herbs
+which only grew in those countries, and offered to go himself, if De
+Rays would provide the necessary funds. De Rays at once consented; and
+the physician set out on the following day with all the gold that his
+dupe could spare him. The Marshal never saw his face again.
+
+But the eager Lord of Champtoce could not rest. Gold was necessary
+for his pleasures; and unless, by supernatural aid, he had no means of
+procuring many further supplies. The physician was hardly twenty leagues
+on his journey, before Gilles resolved to make another effort to force
+the devil to divulge the art of gold making. He went out alone for
+that purpose, but all his conjurations were of no effect. Beelzebub was
+obstinate, and would not appear. Determined to conquer him if he could,
+he unbosomed himself to the Italian alchymist, Prelati. The latter
+offered to undertake the business, upon condition that De Rays did not
+interfere in the conjurations, and consented besides to furnish him with
+all the charms and talismans that might be required. He was further to
+open a vein in his arm, and sign with his blood a contract that he would
+work the devil's will in all things, and offer up to him a sacrifice of
+the heart, lungs, hands, eyes, and blood of a young child. The grasping
+monomaniac made no hesitation; but agreed at once to the disgusting
+terms proposed to him. On the following night, Prelati went out alone;
+and after having been absent for three or four hours, returned to
+Gilles, who sat anxiously awaiting him. Prelati then informed him that
+he had seen the devil in the shape of a handsome youth of twenty. He
+further said, that the devil desired to be called Barron in all future
+invocations; and had shown him a great number of ingots of pure gold,
+buried under a large oak in the neighbouring forest, all of which, and
+as many more as he desired, should become the property of the Marechal
+de Rays if he remained firm, and broke no condition of the contract.
+Prelati further showed him a small casket of black dust, which would
+turn iron into gold; but as the process was very troublesome, he advised
+that they should be contented with the ingots they found under the
+oak tree, and which would more than supply all the wants that the most
+extravagant imagination could desire. They were not, however, to attempt
+to look for the gold till a period of seven times seven weeks, or
+they would find nothing but slates and stones for their pains. Gilles
+expressed the utmost chagrin and disappointment, and at once said that
+he could not wait for so long a period; if the devil were not more
+prompt, Prelati might tell him, that the Marechal de Rays was not to
+be trifled with, and would decline all further communication with him.
+Prelati at last persuaded him to wait seven times seven days. They then
+went at midnight with picks and shovels to dig up the ground under the
+oak, where they found nothing to reward them but a great quantity of
+slates, marked with hieroglyphics. It was now Prelati's turn to be
+angry; and he loudly swore that the devil was nothing but a liar and
+a cheat. The Marshal joined cordially in the opinion, but was easily
+persuaded by the cunning Italian to make one more trial. He promised
+at the same time that he would endeavour, on the following night, to
+discover the reason why the devil had broken his word. He went out alone
+accordingly, and on his return informed his patron that he had seen
+Barron, who was exceedingly angry that they had not waited the proper
+time ere they looked for the ingots. Barron had also said, that the
+Marechal de Rays could hardly expect any favours from him, at a time
+when he must know that he had been meditating a pilgrimage to the Holy
+Land, to make atonement for his sins. The Italian had doubtless surmised
+this, from some incautious expression of his patron, for De Rays frankly
+confessed that there were times when, sick of the world and all its
+pomps and vanities, he thought of devoting himself to the service of
+God.
+
+In this manner the Italian lured on from month to month his credulous
+and guilty patron, extracting from him all the valuables he possessed,
+and only waiting a favourable opportunity to decamp with his plunder.
+But the day of retribution was at hand for both. Young girls and boys
+continued to disappear in the most mysterious manner; and the rumours
+against the owner of Champtoce grew so loud and distinct, that the
+Church was compelled to interfere. Representations were made by the
+Bishop of Nantes to the Duke of Brittany, that it would be a public
+scandal if the accusations against the Marechal de Rays were not
+inquired into. He was arrested accordingly in his own castle, along with
+his accomplice Prelati, and thrown into a dungeon at Nantes to await his
+trial.
+
+The judges appointed to try him were the Bishop of Nantes Chancellor
+of Brittany, the Vicar of the Inquisition in France, and the celebrated
+Pierre l'Hopital, the President of the Provincial Parliament. The
+offences laid to his charge were sorcery, sodomy, and murder. Gilles, on
+the first day of his trial, conducted himself with the utmost insolence.
+He braved the judges on the judgment seat, calling them simoniacs and
+persons of impure life, and said he would rather be hanged by the neck
+like a dog without trial, than plead either guilty or not guilty to such
+contemptible miscreants. But his confidence forsook him as the trial
+proceeded, and he was found guilty on the clearest evidence of all the
+crimes laid to his charge. It was proved that he took insane pleasure
+in stabbing the victims of his lust, and in observing the quivering of
+their flesh, and the fading lustre of their eyes as they expired. The
+confession of Prelati first made the judges acquainted with this horrid
+madness, and Gilles himself confirmed it before his death. Nearly a
+hundred children of the villagers around his two castles of Champtoce
+and Machecoue, had been missed within three years the greater part,
+if not all, of whom were immolated to the lust or the cupidity of this
+monster. He imagined that he thus made the devil his friend, and that
+his recompence would be the secret of the philosopher's stone.
+
+Gilles and Prelati were both condemned to be burned alive. At the place
+of execution they assumed the air of penitence and religion. Gilles
+tenderly embraced Prelati, saying, "Farewell, friend Francis! In this
+world we shall never meet again; but let us place our hopes in God; we
+shall see each other in Paradise." Out of consideration for his
+high rank and connections, the punishment of the Marshal was so far
+mitigated, that he was not burned alive like Prelati. He was first
+strangled, and then thrown into the flames: his body, when half
+consumed, was given over to his relatives for interment; while that of
+the Italian was burned to ashes, and then scattered in the winds. [For
+full details of this extraordinary trial, see "Lobineau's Nouvelle
+Histoire de Bretagne;" and D'Argentre's work on the same subject.]
+
+
+JACQUES COEUR.
+
+This remarkable pretender to the secret of the philosopher's stone, was
+contemporary with the last mentioned. He was a great personage at the
+court of Charles VII, and in the events of his reign played a prominent
+part. From a very humble origin he rose to the highest honours of the
+state, and amassed enormous wealth, by peculation and the plunder of the
+country which he should have served. It was to hide his delinquencies
+in this respect, and to divert attention from the real source of his
+riches, that he boasted of having discovered the art of transmuting the
+inferior metals into gold and silver.
+
+His father was a goldsmith in the city of Bourges; but so reduced in
+circumstances towards the latter years of his life, that he was unable
+to pay the necessary fees to procure his son's admission into the guild.
+Young Jacques became, however, a workman in the Royal Mint of Bourges,
+in 1428, and behaved himself so well, and showed so much knowledge of
+metallurgy, that he attained rapid promotion in that establishment. He
+had also the good fortune to make the acquaintance of the fair Agnes
+Sorel, by whom he was patronized and much esteemed. Jacques had now
+three things in his favour--ability, perseverance, and the countenance
+of the King's mistress. Many a man succeeds with but one of these to
+help him forward: and it would have been strange indeed, if Jacques
+Coeur, who had them all, should have languished in obscurity. While
+still a young man he was made Master of the Mint, in which he had been
+a journeyman, and installed at the same time into the vacant office of
+Grand Treasurer of the royal household.
+
+He possessed an extensive knowledge of finance, and turned it
+wonderfully to his own advantage as soon as he became intrusted with
+extensive funds. He speculated in articles of the first necessity, and
+made himself very unpopular by buying up grain, honey, wines, and other
+produce, till there was a scarcity, when he sold it again at enormous
+profit. Strong in the royal favour, he did not hesitate to oppress the
+poor by continual acts of forestalling and monopoly. As there is no
+enemy so bitter as the estranged friend, so of all the tyrants and
+tramplers upon the poor, there is none so fierce and reckless as the
+upstart that sprang from their ranks. The offensive pride of Jacques
+Coeur to his inferiors was the theme of indignant reproach in his own
+city, and his cringing humility to those above him was as much an object
+of contempt to the aristocrats into whose society he thrust himself. But
+Jacques did not care for the former, and to the latter he was blind. He
+continued his career till he became the richest man in France, and so
+useful to the King that no important enterprise was set on foot until he
+had been consulted. He was sent in 1446 on an embassy to Genoa, and
+in the following year to Pope Nicholas V. In both these missions he
+acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his sovereign, and was rewarded
+with a lucrative appointment, in addition to those which he already
+held.
+
+In the year 1449, the English in Normandy, deprived of their great
+general, the Duke of Bedford, broke the truce with the French King, and
+took possession of a small town belonging to the Duke of Brittany. This
+was the signal for the recommencemerit of a war, in which the French
+regained possession of nearly the whole province. The money for this war
+was advanced, for the most part, by Jacques Coeur. When Rouen yielded
+to the French, and Charles made his triumphal entry into that city,
+accompanied by Dunois and his most famous generals, Jacques was among
+the most brilliant of his cortege. His chariot and horses vied with
+those of the King in the magnificence of their trappings; and his
+enemies said of him that he publicly boasted that he alone had driven
+out the English, and that the valour of the troops would would have been
+nothing without his gold.
+
+Dunois appears, also, to have been partly of the same opinion. Without
+disparaging the courage of the army, he acknowledged the utility of
+the able financier, by whose means they had been fed and paid, and
+constantly afforded him his powerful protection.
+
+When peace returned, Jacques again devoted himself to commerce, and
+fitted up several galleys to trade with the Genoese. He also bought
+large estates in various parts of France; the chief of which were the
+baronies of St. Fargeau, Meneton, Salone, Maubranche, Meaune, St. Gerant
+de Vaux, and St. Aon de Boissy; the earldoms or counties of La Palisse,
+Champignelle, Beaumont, and Villeneuve la Genet, and the marquisate
+of Toucy. He also procured for his son, Jean Coeur, who had chosen the
+Church for his profession, a post no less distinguished than that of
+Archbishop of Bourges.
+
+Everybody said that so much wealth could not have been honestly
+acquired; and both rich and poor longed for the day that should humble
+the pride of the man, whom the one class regarded as an upstart and the
+other as an oppressor. Jacques was somewhat alarmed at the rumours that
+were afloat respecting him, and of dark hints that he had debased the
+coin of the realm and forged the King's seal to an important document,
+by which he had defrauded the state of very considerable sums. To
+silence these rumours, he invited many alchymists from foreign countries
+to reside with him, and circulated a counter-rumour, that he had
+discovered the secret of the philosopher's stone. He also built a
+magnificent house in his native city, over the entrance of which
+he caused to be sculptured the emblems of that science. Some time
+afterwards, he built another, no less splendid, at Montpellier, which
+he inscribed in a similar manner. He also wrote a treatise upon the
+hermetic philosophy, in which he pretended that he knew the secret of
+transmuting metals.
+
+But all these attempts to disguise his numerous acts of peculation
+proved unavailing; and he was arrested in 1452, and brought to trial on
+several charges. Upon one only, which the malice of his enemies invented
+to ruin him, was he acquitted; which was, that he had been accessory
+to the death, by poison, of his kind patroness, Agnes Sorel. Upon the
+others, he was found guilty; and sentenced to be banished the kingdom,
+and to pay the enormous fine of four hundred thousand crowns. It was
+proved that he had forged the King's seal; that, in his capacity of
+Master of the Mint of Bourges, he had debased, to a very great extent,
+the gold and silver coin of the realm; and that he had not hesitated
+to supply the Turks with arms and money to enable them to carry on war
+against their Christian neighbours, for which service he had received
+the most munificent recompences. Charles VII. was deeply grieved at
+his condemnation, and believed to the last that he was innocent. By his
+means the fine was reduced within a sum which Jacques Coeur could pay.
+After remaining for some time in prison, he was liberated, and left
+France with a large sum of money, part of which, it was alleged, was
+secretly paid him by Charles out of the produce of his confiscated
+estates. He retired to Cyprus, where he died about 1460, the richest and
+most conspicuous personage of the island.
+
+The writers upon alchymy all claim Jacques Coeur as a member of
+their fraternity, and treat as false and libellous the more rational
+explanation of his wealth which the records of his trial afford. Pierre
+Borel, in his "Antiquites Gauloises," maintains the opinion that Jacques
+was an honest man, and that he made his gold out of lead and copper by
+means of the philosopher's stone. The alchymic adepts in general were
+of the same opinion; but they found it difficult to persuade even his
+contemporaries of the fact. Posterity is still less likely to believe
+it.
+
+
+INFERIOR ADEPTS OF THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH CENTURIES.
+
+Many other pretenders to the secrets of the philosopher's stone
+appeared in every country in Europe, during the fourteenth and fifteenth
+centuries. The possibility of transmutation was so generally admitted,
+that every chemist was more or less an alchymist. Germany, Holland,
+Italy, Spain, Poland, France, and England produced thousands of obscure
+adepts, who supported themselves, in the pursuit of their chimera, by
+the more profitable resources of astrology and divination. The monarchs
+of Europe were no less persuaded than their subjects of the possibility
+of discovering the philosopher's stone. Henry VI. and Edward IV.
+of England encouraged alchymy. In Germany, the Emperors Maximilian,
+Rodolph, and Frederic II. devoted much of their attention to it; and
+every inferior potentate within their dominions imitated their example.
+It was a common practice in Germany, among the nobles and petty
+sovereigns, to invite an alchymist to take up his residence among them,
+that they might confine him in a dungeon till he made gold enough to
+pay millions for his ransom. Many poor wretches suffered perpetual
+imprisonment in consequence. A similar fate appears to have been
+intended by Edward II. for Raymond Lulli, who, upon the pretence that he
+was thereby honoured, was accommodated with apartments in the Tower of
+London. He found out in time the trick that was about to be played him,
+and managed to make his escape, some of his biographers say, by jumping
+into the Thames, and swimming to a vessel that lay waiting to receive him.
+In the sixteenth century, the same system was pursued, as will be shown
+more fully in the life of Seton the Cosmopolite, in the succeeding
+chapter.
+
+The following is a catalogue of the chief authors upon alchymy, who
+flourished during this epoch, and whose lives and adventures are either
+unknown or are unworthy of more detailed notice. John Dowston, an
+Englishman, lived in 1315, and wrote two treatises on the philosopher's
+stone. Richard, or, as some call him, Robert, also an Englishman, lived
+in 1330, and wrote a work entitled "Correctorium Alchymiae," which was
+much esteemed till the time of Paracelsus. In the same year lived Peter
+of Lombardy, who wrote what he called a "Complete Treatise upon the
+Hermetic Science," an abridgement of which was afterwards published by
+Lacini, a monk of Calabria. In 1330 the most famous alchymist of Paris
+was one Odomare, whose work "De Practica Magistri" was, for a long time,
+a hand-book among the brethren of the science. John de Rupecissa,
+a French monk of the order of St. Francis, flourished in 1357,
+and pretended to be a prophet as well as an alchymist. Some of his
+prophecies were so disagreeable to Pope Innocent VI, that the Pontiff
+determined to put a stop to them, by locking up the prophet in the
+dungeons of the Vatican. It is generally believed that he died there,
+though there is no evidence of the fact. His chief works are the "Book
+of Light," the "Five Essences," the "Heaven of Philosophers," and his
+grand work "De Confectione Lapidis." He was not thought a shining light
+among the adepts. Ortholani was another pretender, of whom nothing is
+known, but that he exercised the arts of alchymy and astrology at Paris,
+shortly before the time of Nicholas Flamel. His work on the practice of
+alchymy was written in that city in 1358. Isaac of Holland wrote, it
+is supposed, about this time; and his son also devoted himself to the
+science. Nothing worth repeating is known of their lives. Boerhaave
+speaks with commendation of many passages in their works, and Paracelsus
+esteemed them highly: the chief are "De Triplici Ordine Elixiris et
+Lapidis Theoria," printed at Berne in 1608; and "Mineralia Opera, seu
+de Lapide Philosophico," printed at Middleburg in 1600. They also wrote
+eight other works upon the same subject. Koffstky, a Pole, wrote an
+alchymical treatise, entitled "The Tincture of Minerals," about the
+year 1488. In this list of authors a royal name must not be forgotten.
+Charles VI. of France, one of the most credulous princes of the day,
+whose court absolutely swarmed with alchymists, conjurers, astrologers,
+and quacks of every description, made several attempts to discover
+the philosopher's stone, and thought he knew so much about it, that
+he determined to enlighten the world with a treatise. It is called the
+"Royal Work of Charles VI. of France, and the Treasure of Philosophy."
+It is said to be the original from which Nicholas Flamel took the idea
+of his "Desir Desire." Lenglet du Fresnoy says it is very allegorical,
+and utterly incomprehensible. For a more complete list of the hermetic
+philosophers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, the reader is
+referred to the third volume of Lenglet's History already quoted.
+
+
+
+
+PART II.--PROGRESS OF THE INFATUATION DURING THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES.
+
+AUGURELLO.--CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.--PARACELSUS.--GEORGE
+AGRICOLA.--DENYS ZACHAIRE.--DR. DEE AND EDWARD KELLY.--THE
+COSMOPOLITE.--SENDIVOGIUS.--THE ROSICRUCIANS.--MICHAEL MAYER.--ROBERT
+FLUDD.--JACOB BOHMEN.--JOHN HEYDN.--JOSEPH FRANCIS BORRI.--ALCHYMICAL
+WRITERS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.--DE LISLE.--ALBERT ALUYS.--COUNT DE
+ST. GERMAINS.--CAGLIOSTRO.--PRESENT STATE OF THE SCIENCE.
+
+During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the search for the
+philosopher's stone was continued by thousands of the enthusiastic and
+the credulous; but a great change was introduced during this period.
+The eminent men who devoted themselves to the study, totally changed
+its aspect, and referred to the possession of their wondrous stone and
+elixir, not only the conversion of the base into the precious metals,
+but the solution of all the difficulties of other sciences. They
+pretended that by its means man would be brought into closer communion
+with his Maker; that disease and sorrow would be banished from the
+world; and that "the millions of spiritual beings who walk the earth
+unseen" would be rendered visible, and become the friends, companions,
+and instructors of mankind. In the seventeenth century more especially,
+these poetical and fantastic doctrines excited the notice of Europe;
+and from Germany, where they had been first disseminated by Rosencreutz,
+spread into France and England, and ran away with the sound judgment of
+many clever, but too enthusiastic, searchers for the truth. Paracelsus,
+Dee, and many others of less note, were captivated by the grace and
+beauty of the new mythology, which was arising to adorn the literature
+of Europe. Most of the alchymists of the sixteenth century, although
+ignorant of the Rosicrucians as a sect, were, in some degree, tinctured
+with their fanciful tenets: but before we speak more fully of these
+poetical visionaries, it will be necessary to resume the history of the
+hermetic folly where we left off in the former chapter, and trace the
+gradual change that stole over the dreams of the adepts. It will be seen
+that the infatuation increased rather than diminished as the world grew
+older.
+
+AUGURELLO.
+
+Among the alchymists who were born in the fifteenth, and distinguished
+themselves in the sixteenth century, the first, in point of date,
+is John Aurelio Augurello. He was born at Rimini in 1441, and became
+Professor of the belles lettres at Venice and Trevisa. He was early
+convinced of the truth of the hermetic science, and used to pray to God
+that he might be happy enough to discover the philosopher's stone.
+He was continually surrounded by the paraphernalia of chemistry, and
+expended all his wealth in the purchase of drugs and metals. He was also
+a poet, but of less merit than pretensions. His "Chrysopeia," in which
+lie pretended to teach the art of making gold, he dedicated to Pope
+Leo X, in the hope that the Pontiff would reward him handsomely for the
+compliment; but the Pope was too good a judge of poetry to be pleased
+with the worse than mediocrity of his poem, and too good a philosopher
+to approve of the strange doctrines which it inculcated: he was,
+therefore, far from gratified at the dedication. It is said, that when
+Augurello applied to him for a reward, the Pope, with great ceremony
+and much apparent kindness and cordiality, drew an empty purse from his
+pocket, and presented it to the alchymist, saying, that since he was
+able to make gold, the most appropriate present that could be made
+him, was a purse to put it in. This scurvy reward was all that the poor
+alchymist ever got either for his poetry or his alchymy. He died in a
+state of extreme poverty, in the eighty-third year of his age.
+
+CORNELIUS AGRIPPA.
+
+This alchymist has left a more distinguished reputation. The most
+extraordinary tales were told and believed of his powers. He could turn
+iron into gold by his mere word. All the spirits of the air, and
+demons of the earth, were under his command, and bound to obey him in
+everything. He could raise from the dead the forms of the great men of
+other days, and make them appear "in their habit as they lived," to the
+gaze of the curious who had courage enough to abide their presence.
+
+He was born at Cologne in 1486, and began, at an early age, the study of
+chemistry and philosophy. By some means or other which have never been
+very clearly explained, he managed to impress his contemporaries with a
+great idea of his wonderful attainments. At the early age of twenty, so
+great was his reputation as an alchymist, that the principal adepts of
+Paris wrote to Cologne, inviting him to settle in France, and aid them
+with his experience in discovering the philosopher's stone. Honours
+poured upon him in thick succession; and he was highly esteemed by all
+the learned men of his time. Melancthon speaks of him with respect
+and commendation. Erasmus also bears testimony in his favour; and the
+general voice of his age proclaimed him a light of literature and an
+ornament to philosophy. Some men, by dint of excessive egotism, manage
+to persuade their contemporaries that they are very great men indeed:
+they publish their acquirements so loudly in people's ears, and keep up
+their own praises so incessantly, that the world's applause is actually
+taken by storm. Such seems to have been the case with Agrippa. He
+called himself a sublime theologian, an excellent jurisconsult, an able
+physician, a great philosopher, and a successful alchymist. The world,
+at last, took him at his word; and thought that a man who talked so
+big, must have some merit to recommend him--that it was, indeed, a great
+trumpet which sounded so obstreperous a blast. He was made secretary to
+the Emperor Maximilian, who conferred upon him the title of Chevalier,
+and gave him the honorary command of a regiment. He afterwards became
+Professor of Hebrew and the belles lettres, at the University of Dole,
+in France; but quarrelling with the Franciscan monks upon some knotty
+point of divinity, he was obliged to quit the town. He took refuge in
+London, where he taught Hebrew and cast nativities, for about a year.
+From London he proceeded to Pavia, and gave lectures upon the writings,
+real or supposed, of Hermes Trismegistus; and might have lived there in
+peace and honour, had he not again quarrelled with the clergy. By their
+means his position became so disagreeable, that he was glad to accept
+an offer made him by the magistracy of Metz, to become their Syndic and
+Advocate-General. Here, again, his love of disputation made him enemies:
+the theological wiseacres of that city asserted, that St. Anne had three
+husbands, in which opinion they were confirmed by the popular belief of
+the day. Agrippa needlessly ran foul of this opinion, or prejudice as he
+called it, and thereby lost much of his influence. Another dispute, more
+creditable to his character, occurred soon after, and sank him for ever
+in the estimation of the Metzians. Humanely taking the part of a young
+girl who was accused of witchcraft, his enemies asserted, that he was
+himself a sorcerer, and raised such a storm over his head, that he was
+forced to fly the city. After this, he became physician to Louisa de
+Savoy, mother of King Francis I. This lady was curious to know the
+future, and required her physician to cast her nativity. Agrippa
+replied, that he would not encourage such idle curiosity. The result
+was, he lost her confidence, and was forthwith dismissed. If it had been
+through his belief in the worthlessness of astrology, that he had made
+his answer, we might admire his honest and fearless independence; but,
+when it is known that, at the very same time, he was in the constant
+habit of divination and fortunetelling; and that he was predicting
+splendid success, in all his undertakings, to the Constable of Bourbon,
+we can only wonder at his thus estranging a powerful friend through mere
+petulance and perversity.
+
+He was, about this time, invited both by Henry VIII. of England,
+and Margaret of Austria, Governess of the Low Countries, to fix his
+residence in their dominions. He chose the service of the latter, by
+whose influence he was made historiographer to the Emperor Charles V.
+Unfortunately for Agrippa, he never had stability enough to remain
+long in one position, and offended his patrons by his restlessness and
+presumption. After the death of Margaret, he was imprisoned at Brussels,
+on a charge of sorcery. He was released after a year; and, quitting
+the country, experienced many vicissitudes. He died in great poverty in
+1534, aged forty-eight years.
+
+While in the service of Margaret of Austria, he resided principally
+at Louvain, in which city he wrote his famous work on the Vanity and
+Nothingness of human Knowledge. He also wrote, to please his Royal
+Mistress, a treatise upon the Superiority of the Female Sex, which he
+dedicated to her, in token of his gratitude for the favours she had
+heaped upon him. The reputation he left behind him in these provinces
+was anything but favourable. A great number of the marvellous tales that
+are told of him, relate to this period of his life. It was said, that
+the gold which he paid to the traders with whom he dealt, always looked
+remarkably bright, but invariably turned into pieces of slate and stone
+in the course of four-and-twenty hours. Of this spurious gold he was
+believed to have made large quantities by the aid of the devil, who, it
+would appear from this, had but a very superficial knowledge of alchymy,
+and much less than the Marechal de Rays gave him credit for. The
+Jesuit Delrio, in his book on Magic and Sorcery, relates a still more
+extraordinary story of him. One day, Agrippa left his house, at Louvain;
+and, intending to be absent for some time, gave the key of his study
+to his wife, with strict orders that no one should enter it during his
+absence. The lady herself, strange as it may appear, had no curiosity to
+pry into her husband's secrets, and never once thought of entering the
+forbidden room: but a young student, who had been accommodated with an
+attic in the philosopher's house, burned with a fierce desire to
+examine the study; hoping, perchance, that he might purloin some book or
+implement which would instruct him in the art of transmuting metals. The
+youth, being handsome, eloquent, and, above all, highly complimentary to
+the charms of the lady, she was persuaded, without much difficulty, to
+lend him the key, but gave him strict orders not to remove anything. The
+student promised implicit obedience, and entered Agrippa's study. The
+first object that caught his attention, was a large grimoire, or book
+of spells, which lay open on the philosopher's desk. He sat himself down
+immediately, and began to read. At the first word he uttered, he fancied
+he heard a knock at the door. He listened; but all was silent. Thinking
+that his imagination had deceived him, he read on, when immediately a
+louder knock was heard, which so terrified him, that he started to his
+feet. He tried to say, "come in;" but his tongue refused its office, and
+he could not articulate a sound. He fixed his eyes upon the door, which,
+slowly opening, disclosed a stranger of majestic form, but scowling
+features, who demanded sternly, why he was summoned? "I did not
+summon you," said the trembling student. "You did!" said the stranger,
+advancing, angrily; "and the demons are not to be invoked in vain."
+The student could make no reply; and the demon, enraged that one of the
+uninitiated should have summoned him out of mere presumption, seized
+him by the throat and strangled him. When Agrippa returned, a few days
+afterwards, he found his house beset with devils. Some of them were
+sitting on the chimneypots, kicking up their legs in the air; while
+others were playing at leapfrog, on the very edge of the parapet. His
+study was so filled with them that he found it difficult to make his
+way to his desk. When, at last, he had elbowed his way through them, he
+found his book open, and the student lying dead upon the floor. He saw
+immediately how the mischief had been done; and, dismissing all the
+inferior imps, asked the principal demon how he could have been so rash
+as to kill the young man. The demon replied, that he had been needlessly
+invoked by an insulting youth, and could do no less than kill him for
+his presumption. Agrippa reprimanded him severely, and ordered him
+immediately to reanimate the dead body, and walk about with it in the
+market-place for the whole of the afternoon. The demon did so: the
+student revived; and, putting his arm through that of his unearthly
+murderer, walked very lovingly with him, in sight of all the people. At
+sunset, the body fell down again, cold and lifeless as before, and was
+carried by the crowd to the hospital, it being the general opinion
+that he had expired in a fit of apoplexy. His conductor immediately
+disappeared. When the body was examined, marks of strangulation were
+found on the neck, and prints of the long claws of the demon on various
+parts of it. These appearances, together with a story, which soon
+obtained currency, that the companion of the young man had vanished in
+a cloud of flame and smoke, opened people's eyes to the truth. The
+magistrates of Louvain instituted inquiries; and the result was, that
+Agrippa was obliged to quit the town.
+
+Other authors besides Delrio relate similar stories of this philosopher.
+The world in those days was always willing enough to believe in tales of
+magic and sorcery; and when, as in Agrippa's case, the alleged magician
+gave himself out for such, and claimed credit for the wonders he worked,
+it is not surprising that the age should have allowed his pretensions.
+It was dangerous boasting, which sometimes led to the stake or the
+gallows, and therefore was thought to be not without foundation. Paulus
+Jovius, in his "Eulogia Doctorum Virorum," says, that the devil, in the
+shape of a large black dog, attended Agrippa wherever he went. Thomas
+Nash, in his adventures of Jack Wilton, relates, that at the request of
+Lord Surrey, Erasmus, and some other learned men, Agrippa called up from
+the grave many of the great philosophers of antiquity; among others,
+Tully, whom he caused to re-deliver his celebrated oration for Roscius.
+He also showed Lord Surrey, when in Germany, an exact resemblance in
+a glass of his mistress the fair Geraldine. She was represented on her
+couch weeping for the absence of her lover. Lord Surrey made a note of
+the exact time at which he saw this vision, and ascertained afterwards
+that his mistress was actually so employed at the very minute. To Thomas
+Lord Cromwell, Agrippa represented King Henry VIII. hunting in Windsor
+Park, with the principal lords of his court; and to please the Emperor
+Charles V. he summoned King David and King Solomon from the tomb.
+
+Naude, in his "Apology for the Great Men who have been falsely suspected
+of Magic," takes a great deal of pains to clear Agrippa from the
+imputations cast upon him by Delrio, Paulus Jovius, and other such
+ignorant and prejudiced scribblers. Such stories demanded refutation in
+the days of Naude, but they may now be safely left to decay in their own
+absurdity. That they should have attached, however, to the memory of a
+man, who claimed the power of making iron obey him when he told it to
+become gold, and who wrote such a work as that upon magic, which goes by
+his name, is not at all surprising.
+
+PARACELSUS.
+
+This philosopher, called by Naude, "the zenith and rising sun of all the
+alchymists," was born at Einsiedeln, near Zurich, in the year 1493.
+His true name was Hohenheim; to which, as he himself informs us,
+were prefixed the baptismal names of Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastes
+Paracelsus. The last of these he chose for his common designation while
+he was yet a boy; and rendered it, before he died, one of the most
+famous in the annals of his time. His father, who was a physician,
+educated his son for the same pursuit. The latter was an apt scholar,
+and made great progress. By chance the work of Isaac Hollandus fell into
+his hands, and from that time he became smitten with the mania of
+the philosopher's stone. All his thoughts henceforth were devoted to
+metallurgy; and he travelled into Sweden that he might visit the mines
+of that country, and examine the ores while they yet lay in the bowels
+of the earth. He also visited Trithemius at the monastery of Spannheim,
+and obtained instructions from him in the science of alchymy. Continuing
+his travels, he proceeded through Prussia and Austria into Turkey,
+Egypt, and Tatary, and thence returning to Constantinople, learned, as
+he boasted, the art of transmutation, and became possessed of the
+elixir vitae. He then established himself as a physician in his native
+Switzerland at Zurich, and commenced writing works upon alchymy and
+medicine, which immediately fixed the attention of Europe. Their great
+obscurity was no impediment to their fame; for the less the author
+was understood, the more the demonologists, fanatics, and
+philosopher's-stone-hunters seemed to appreciate him. His fame as a
+physician kept pace with that which he enjoyed as an alchymist, owing
+to his having effected some happy cures by means of mercury and opium;
+drugs unceremoniously condemned by his professional brethren. In the
+year 1526, he was chosen Professor of Physics and Natural Philosophy in
+the University of Basle, where his lectures attracted vast numbers of
+students. He denounced the writings of all former physicians as tending
+to mislead; and publicly burned the works of Galen and Avicenna, as
+quacks and impostors. He exclaimed, in presence of the admiring and
+half-bewildered crowd, who assembled to witness the ceremony, that there
+was more knowledge in his shoestrings than in the writings of these
+physicians. Continuing in the same strain, he said all the universities
+in the world were full of ignorant quacks; but that he, Paracelsus, over
+flowed with wisdom. "You will all follow my new system," said he, with
+furious gesticulations, "Avicenna, Galen, Rhazis, Montagnana, Meme--you
+will all follow me, ye professors of Paris, Montpellier, Germany,
+Cologne, and Vienna! and all ye that dwell on the Rhine and the
+Danube--ye that inhabit the isles of the sea; and ye also, Italians,
+Dalmatians, Athenians, Arabians, Jews--ye will all follow my doctrines,
+for I am the monarch of medicine!"
+
+But he did not long enjoy the esteem of the good citizens of Basle. It
+is said that he indulged in wine so freely, as not unfrequently to be
+seen in the streets in a state of intoxication. This was ruinous for a
+physician, and his good fame decreased rapidly. His ill fame increased
+in still greater proportion, especially when he assumed the airs of a
+sorcerer. He boasted of the legions of spirits at his command; and
+of one especially, which he kept imprisoned in the hilt of his sword.
+Wetterus, who lived twenty-seven months in his service, relates that
+he often threatened to invoke a whole army of demons, and show him
+the great authority which he could exercise over them. He let it be
+believed, that the spirit in his sword had custody of the elixir of
+life, by means of which he could make any one live to be as old as the
+antediluvians. He also boasted that he had a spirit at his command,
+called "Azoth," whom he kept imprisoned in a jewel; and in many of the
+old portraits he is represented with a jewel, inscribed with the word
+"Azoth," in his hand.
+
+If a sober prophet has little honour in his own country, a drunken one
+has still less. Paracelsus found it at last convenient to quit Basle,
+and establish himself at Strasbourg. The immediate cause of this change
+of residence was as follows:--A citizen lay at the point of death, and
+was given over by all the physicians of the town. As a last resource
+Paracelsus was called in, to whom the sick man promised a magnificent
+recompence, if by his means he were cured. Paracelsus gave him two small
+pills, which the man took and rapidly recovered. When he was quite well,
+Paracelsus sent for his fee; but the citizen had no great opinion of the
+value of a cure which had been so speedily effected. He had no notion
+of paying a handful of gold for two pills, although they had saved his
+life, and he refused to pay more than the usual fee for a single visit.
+Paracelsus brought an action against him, and lost it. This result so
+exasperated him, that he left Basle in high dudgeon. He resumed his
+wandering life, and travelled in Germany and Hungary, supporting himself
+as he went on the credulity and infatuation of all classes of society.
+He cast nativities--told fortunes--aided those who had money to throw
+away upon the experiment, to find the philosopher's stone--prescribed
+remedies for cows and pigs, and aided in the recovery of stolen
+goods. After residing successively at Nuremburg, Augsburg, Vienna, and
+Mindelheim, he retired in the year 1541 to Saltzbourg, and died in a
+state of abject poverty in the hospital of that town.
+
+If this strange charlatan found hundreds of admirers during his life,
+he found thousands after his death. A sect of Paracelsists sprang up
+in France and Germany, to perpetuate the extravagant doctrines of their
+founder upon all the sciences, and upon alchymy in particular. The chief
+leaders were Bodenstein and Dorneus. The following is a summary of his
+doctrine, founded upon supposed existence of the philosopher's stone; it
+is worth preserving from its very absurdity, and altogether unparalleled
+in the history of philosophy:--
+
+First of all, he maintained that the contemplation of the perfection of
+the Deity sufficed to procure all wisdom and knowledge; that the Bible
+was the key to the theory of all diseases, and that it was necessary to
+search into the Apocalypse to know the signification of magic medicine.
+The man who blindly obeyed the will of God, and who succeeded in
+identifying himself with the celestial intelligences, possessed the
+philosopher's stone--he could cure all diseases, and prolong life to as
+many centuries as he pleased; it being by the very same means that Adam
+and the antediluvian patriarchs prolonged theirs. Life was an emanation
+from the stars--the sun governed the heart, and the moon the brain.
+Jupiter governed the liver, Saturn the gall, Mercury the lungs, Mars the
+bile, and Venus the loins. In the stomach of every human being there
+dwelt a demon, or intelligence, that was a sort of alchymist in his way,
+and mixed, in their due proportions, in his crucible, the various
+aliments that were sent into that grand laboratory the belly.[See the
+article "Paracelsus," by the learned Renaudin, in the "Biographie
+Universelle."] He was proud of the title of magician, and boasted that
+he kept up a regular correspondence with Galen from hell; and that he
+often summoned Avicenna from the same regions to dispute with him on the
+false notions he had promulgated respecting alchymy, and especially
+regarding potable gold and the elixir of life. He imagined that gold
+could cure ossification of the heart, and, in fact, all diseases, if it
+were gold which had been transmuted from an inferior metal by means of
+the philosopher's stone, and if it were applied under certain
+conjunctions of the planets. The mere list of the works in which he
+advances these frantic imaginings, which he called a doctrine, would
+occupy several pages.
+
+GEORGE AGRICOLA.
+
+This alchymist was born in the province of Misnia, in 1494. His real
+name was Bauer, meaning a husbandman, which, in accordance with the
+common fashion of his age, he Latinized into Agricola. From his early
+youth, he delighted in the visions of the hermetic science. Ere he was
+sixteen, he longed for the great elixir which was to make him live for
+seven hundred years, and for the stone which was to procure him wealth
+to cheer him in his multiplicity of days. He published a small treatise
+upon the subject at Cologne, in 1531, which obtained him the patronage
+of the celebrated Maurice, Duke of Saxony. After practising for some
+years as a physician at Joachimsthal, in Bohemia, he was employed by
+Maurice as superintendent of the silver mines of Chemnitz. He led a
+happy life among the miners, making various experiments in alchymy
+while deep in the bowels of the earth. He acquired a great knowledge
+of metals, and gradually got rid of his extravagant notions about
+the philosopher's stone. The miners had no faith in alchymy; and they
+converted him to their way of thinking, not only in that but in other
+respects. From their legends, he became firmly convinced that the bowels
+of the earth were inhabited by good and evil spirits, and that firedamp
+and other explosions sprang from no other causes than the mischievous
+propensities of the latter. He died in the year 1555, leaving behind him
+the reputation of a very able and intelligent man.
+
+DENIS ZACHAIRE.
+
+Autobiography, written by a wise man who was once a fool, is not
+only the most instructive, but the most delightful of reading. Denis
+Zachaire, an alchymist of the sixteenth century, has performed this
+task, and left a record of his folly and infatuation in pursuit of the
+philosopher's stone, which well repays perusal. He was born in the
+year 1510, of an ancient family in Guienne, and was early sent to the
+university of Bordeaux, under the care of a tutor to direct his studies.
+Unfortunately, his tutor was a searcher for the grand elixir, and
+soon rendered his pupil as mad as himself upon the subject. With this
+introduction, we will allow Denis Zachaire to speak for himself, and
+continue his narrative in his own words:--
+
+"I received from home," says he, "the sum of two hundred crowns for the
+expenses of myself and master; but before the end of the year, all our
+money went away in the smoke of our furnaces. My master, at the same
+time, died of a fever, brought on by the parching heat of our
+laboratory, from which he seldom or never stirred, and which was
+scarcely less hot than the arsenal of Venice. His death was the more
+unfortunate for me, as my parents took the opportunity of reducing my
+allowance, and sending me only sufficient for my board and lodging,
+instead of the sum I required to continue my operations in alchymy.
+
+"To meet this difficulty and get out of leading-strings, I returned home
+at the age of twenty-five, and mortgaged part of my property for four
+hundred crowns. This sum was necessary to perform an operation of the
+science, which had been communicated to me by an Italian at Toulouse,
+and who, as he said, had proved its efficacy. I retained this man in my
+service, that we might see the end of the experiment. I then, by means
+of strong distillations, tried to calcinate gold and silver; but all my
+labour was in vain. The weight of the gold I drew out of my furnace was
+diminished by one-half since I put it in, and my four hundred crowns
+were very soon reduced to two hundred and thirty. I gave twenty of these
+to my Italian, in order that he might travel to Milan, where the author
+of the receipt resided, and ask him the explanation of some passages
+which we thought obscure. I remained at Toulouse all the winter, in the
+hope of his return; but I might have remained there till this day if I
+had waited for him, for I never saw his face again.
+
+"In the succeeding summer there was a great plague, which forced me
+to quit the town. I did not, however, lose sight of my work. I went to
+Cahors, where I remained six months, and made the acquaintance of an old
+man, who was commonly known to the people as 'the Philosopher;' a name
+which, in country places, is often bestowed upon people whose only merit
+is, that they are less ignorant than their neighbours. I showed him my
+collection of alchymical receipts, and asked his opinion upon them. He
+picked out ten or twelve of them, merely saying that they were better
+than the others. When the plague ceased, I returned to Toulouse, and
+recommenced my experiments in search of the stone. I worked to such
+effect that my four hundred crowns were reduced to one hundred and
+seventy.
+
+"That I might continue my work on a safer method, I made acquaintance,
+in 1537, with a certain Abbe, who resided in the neighbourhood. He
+was smitten with the same mania as myself, and told me that one of
+his friends, who had followed to Rome in the retinue of the Cardinal
+d'Armagnac, had sent him from that city a new receipt, which could not
+fail to transmute iron and copper, but which would cost two hundred
+crowns. I provided half this money, and the Abbe the rest; and we began
+to operate at our joint expense. As we required spirits of wine for our
+experiment, I bought a tun of excellent vin de Gaillac. I extracted the
+spirit, and rectified it several times. We took a quantity of this,
+into which we put four marks of silver, and one of gold, that had been
+undergoing the process of calcination for a month. We put this mixture
+cleverly into a sort of horn-shaped vessel, with another to serve as
+a retort; and placed the whole apparatus upon our furnace, to produce
+congelation. This experiment lasted a year; but, not to remain idle,
+we amused ourselves with many other less important operations. We drew
+quite as much profit from these as from our great work.
+
+"The whole of the year 1537 passed over without producing any change
+whatever: in fact, we might have waited till doomsday for the
+congelation of our spirits of wine. However, we made a projection with
+it upon some heated quicksilver; but all was in vain. Judge of our
+chagrin, especially of that of the Abbe, who had already boasted to all
+the monks of his monastery, that they had only to bring the large pump
+which stood in a corner of the cloister, and he would convert it into
+gold; but this ill luck did not prevent us from persevering. I once more
+mortgaged my paternal lands for four hundred crowns, the whole of which
+I determined to devote to a renewal of my search for the great secret.
+The Abbe contributed the same sum; and, with these eight hundred crowns,
+I proceeded to Paris, a city more abounding with alchymists than any
+other in the world, resolved never to leave it until I had either found
+the philosopher's stone, or spent all my money. This journey gave the
+greatest offence to all my relations and friends, who, imagining that
+I was fitted to be a great lawyer, were anxious that I should establish
+myself in that profession. For the sake of quietness, I pretended, at
+last, that such was my object.
+
+"After travelling for fifteen days, I arrived in Paris, on the 9th
+of January 1539. I remained for a month, almost unknown; but I had no
+sooner begun to frequent the amateurs of the science, and visited the
+shops of the furnace-makers, than I had the acquaintance of more than a
+hundred operative alchymists, each of whom had a different theory and
+a different mode of working. Some of them preferred cementation; others
+sought the universal alkahest, or dissolvent; and some of them boasted
+the great efficacy of the essence of emery. Some of them endeavoured to
+extract mercury from other metals to fix it afterwards; and, in order
+that each of us should be thoroughly acquainted with the proceedings
+of the others, we agreed to meet somewhere every night, and report
+progress. We met sometimes at the house of one, and sometimes in the
+garret of another; not only on week days, but on Sundays, and the great
+festivals of the Church. 'Ah!' one used to say, 'if I had the means
+of recommencing this experiment, I should do something.' 'Yes,' said
+another, 'if my crucible had not cracked, I should have succeeded before
+now:' while a third exclaimed, with a sigh, 'If I had but had a round
+copper vessel of sufficient strength, I would have fixed mercury with
+silver.' There was not one among them who had not some excuse for his
+failure; but I was deaf to all their speeches. I did not want to part
+with my money to any of them, remembering how often I had been the dupe
+of such promises.
+
+"A Greek at last presented himself; and with him I worked a long
+time uselessly upon nails, made of cinabar, or vermilion. I was also
+acquainted with a foreign gentleman newly arrived in Paris, and often
+accompanied him to the shops of the goldsmiths, to sell pieces of gold
+and silver, the produce, as he said, of his experiments. I stuck closely
+to him for a long time, in the hope that he would impart his secret. He
+refused for a long time, but acceded, at last, on my earnest entreaty,
+and I found that it was nothing more than an ingenious trick. I did not
+fail to inform my friend, the Abbe, whom I had left at Toulouse, of
+all my adventures; and sent him, among other matters, a relation of the
+trick by which this gentleman pretended to turn lead into gold. The Abbe
+still imagined that I should succeed at last, and advised me to remain
+another year in Paris, where I had made so good a beginning. I remained
+there three years; but, notwithstanding all my efforts, I had no more
+success than I had had elsewhere.
+
+"I had just got to the end of my money, when I received a letter from
+the Abbe, telling me to leave everything, and join him immediately at
+Toulouse. I went accordingly, and found that he had received letters
+from the King of Navarre (grandfather of Henry IV). This Prince was a
+great lover of philosophy, full of curiosity, and had written to the
+Abbe, that I should visit him at Pau; and that he would give me three
+or four thousand crowns, if I would communicate the secret I had learned
+from the foreign gentleman. The Abbe's ears were so tickled with the
+four thousand crowns, that he let me have no peace, night or day, until
+he had fairly seen me on the road to Pau. I arrived at that place in
+the month of May 1542. I worked away, and succeeded, according to the
+receipt I had obtained. When I had finished, to the satisfaction of the
+King, he gave me the reward that I expected. Although he was willing
+enough to do me further service, he was dissuaded from it by the lords
+of his court; even by many of those who had been most anxious that
+I should come. He sent me then about my business, with many thanks;
+saying, that if there was anything in his kingdom which he could give
+me--such as the produce of confiscations, or the like--he should be
+most happy. I thought I might stay long enough for these prospective
+confiscations, and never get them at last; and I therefore determined to
+go back to my friend, the Abbe.
+
+"I learned, that on the road between Pau and Toulouse, there resided a
+monk, who was very skilful in all matters of natural philosophy. On my
+return, I paid him a visit. He pitied me very much, and advised me, with
+much warmth and kindness of expression, not to amuse myself any longer
+with such experiments as these, which were all false and sophistical;
+but that I should read the good books of the old philosophers, where I
+might not only find the true matter of the science of alchymy, but learn
+also the exact order of operations which ought to be followed. I very
+much approved of this wise advice; but, before I acted upon it, I
+went back to my Abbe, of Toulouse, to give him an account of the eight
+hundred crowns, which we had had in common; and, at the same time, share
+with him such reward as I had received from the King of Navarre. If he
+was little satisfied with the relation of my adventures since our first
+separation, he appeared still less satisfied when I told him I had
+formed a resolution to renounce the search for the philosopher's stone.
+The reason was, that he thought me a good artist. Of our eight hundred
+crowns, there remained but one hundred and seventy-six. When I quitted
+the Abbe, I went to my own house, with the intention of remaining there,
+till I had read all the old philosophers, and of then proceeding to
+Paris.
+
+"I arrived in Paris on the day after All Saints, of the year 1546, and
+devoted another year to the assiduous study of great authors. Among
+others, the 'Turba Philosophorum' of the 'Good Trevisan,' 'The
+Remonstance of Nature to the wandering Alchymist,' by Jean de Meung; and
+several others of the best books: but, as I had no right' principles, I
+did not well know what course to follow.
+
+"At last I left my solitude; not to see my former acquaintances, the
+adepts and operators, but to frequent the society of true philosophers.
+Among them I fell into still greater uncertainties; being, in fact,
+completely bewildered by the variety of operations which they showed me.
+Spurred on, nevertheless, by a sort of frenzy or inspiration, I threw
+myself into the works of Raymond Lulli and of Arnold de Villeneuve. The
+reading of these, and the reflections I made upon them, occupied me for
+another year, when I finally determined on the course I should adopt.
+I was obliged to wait, however, until I had mortgaged another very
+considerable portion of my patrimony. This business was not settled
+until the beginning of Lent, 1549, when I commenced my operations. I
+laid in a stock of all that was necessary, and began to work the
+day after Easter. It was not, however, without some disquietude and
+opposition from my friends who came about me; one asking me what I was
+going to do, and whether I had not already spent money enough upon such
+follies. Another assured me that, if I bought so much charcoal, I should
+strengthen the suspicion already existing, that I was a coiner of base
+money. Another advised me to purchase some place in the magistracy, as
+I was already a Doctor of Laws. My relations spoke in terms still more
+annoying to me, and even threatened that, if I continued to make such
+a fool of myself, they would send a posse of police-officers into my
+house, and break all my furnaces and crucibles into atoms. I was wearied
+almost to death by this continued persecution; but I found comfort in
+my work and in the progress of my experiment, to which I was very
+attentive, and which went on bravely from day to day. About this time,
+there was a dreadful plague in Paris, which interrupted all intercourse
+between man and man, and left me as much to myself as I could desire. I
+soon had the satisfaction to remark the progress and succession of the
+three colours which, according to the philosophers, always prognosticate
+the approaching perfection of the work. I observed them distinctly, one
+after the other; and next year, being Easter Sunday, 1550, I made the
+great trial. Some common quicksilver, which I put into a small crucible
+on the fire, was, in less than an hour, converted into very good gold.
+You may judge how great was my joy, but I took care not to boast of it.
+I returned thanks to God for the favour he had shown me, and prayed that
+I might only be permitted to make such use of it as would redound to his
+glory.
+
+"On the following day, I went towards Toulouse to find the Abbe,
+in accordance with a mutual promise that we should communicate our
+discoveries to each other. On my way, I called in to see the sage monk
+who had assisted me with his counsels; but I had the sorrow to learn
+that they were both dead. After this, I would not return to my own home,
+but retired to another place, to await one of my relations whom I had
+left in charge of my estate. I gave him orders to sell all that belonged
+to me, as well movable as immovable--to pay my debts with the proceeds,
+and divide all the rest among those in any way related to me who might
+stand in need of it, in order that they might enjoy some share of the
+good fortune which had befallen me. There was a great deal of talk
+in the neighbourhood about my precipitate retreat; the wisest of my
+acquaintance imagining that, broken down and ruined by my mad expenses,
+I sold my little remaining property that I might go and hide my shame in
+distant countries.
+
+"My relative already spoken of rejoined me on the 1st of July, after
+having performed all the business I had intrusted him with. We took
+our departure together, to seek a land of liberty. We first retired to
+Lausanne, in Switzerland, when, after remaining there for some time,
+we resolved to pass the remainder of our days in some of the most
+celebrated cities of Germany, living quietly and without splendour."
+
+Thus ends the story of Denis Zachaire, as written by himself. He has not
+been so candid at its conclusion as at its commencement, and has left
+the world in doubt as to his real motives for pretending that he had
+discovered the philosopher's stone. It seems probable that the sentence
+he puts into the months of his wisest acquaintances was the true reason
+of his retreat; that he was, in fact, reduced to poverty, and hid his
+shame in foreign countries. Nothing further is known of his life, and
+his real name has never yet been discovered. He wrote a work on alchymy,
+entitled "The true Natural Philosophy of Metals."
+
+DR. DEE and EDWARD KELLY.
+
+John Dee and Edward Kelly claim to be mentioned together, having been
+so long associated in the same pursuits, and undergone so many strange
+vicissitudes in each other's society. Dee was altogether a wonderful
+man, and had he lived in an age when folly and superstition were less
+rife, he would, with the same powers which he enjoyed, have left behind
+him a bright and enduring reputation. He was born in London, in the year
+1527, and very early manifested a love for study. At the age of fifteen
+he was sent to Cambridge, and delighted so much in his books, that he
+passed regularly eighteen hours every day among them. Of the other
+six, he devoted four to sleep and two for refreshment. Such intense
+application did not injure his health, and could not fail to make
+him one of the first scholars of his time. Unfortunately, however, he
+quitted the mathematics and the pursuits of true philosophy to indulge
+in the unprofitable reveries of the occult sciences. He studied alchymy,
+astrology, and magic, and thereby rendered himself obnoxious to the
+authorities at Cambridge. To avoid persecution, he was at last obliged
+to retire to the university of Louvain; the rumours of sorcery that
+were current respecting him rendering his longer stay in England not
+altogether without danger. He found at Louvain many kindred spirits who
+had known Cornelius Agrippa while he resided among them, and by whom he
+was constantly entertained with the wondrous deeds of that great master
+of the hermetic mysteries. From their conversation he received much
+encouragement to continue the search for the philosopher's stone, which
+soon began to occupy nearly all his thoughts.
+
+He did not long remain on the Continent, but returned to England in
+1551, being at that time in the twenty-fourth year of his age. By the
+influence of his friend, Sir John Cheek, he was kindly received at the
+court of King Edward VI, and rewarded (it is difficult to say for what)
+with a pension of one hundred crowns. He continued for several years
+to practise in London as an astrologer; casting nativities, telling
+fortunes, and pointing out lucky and unlucky days. During the reign of
+Queen Mary he got into trouble, being suspected of heresy, and charged
+with attempting Mary's life by means of enchantments. He was tried for
+the latter offence, and acquitted; but was retained in prison on the
+former charge, and left to the tender mercies of Bishop Bonner. He had
+a very narrow escape from being burned in Smithfield, but he, somehow
+or other, contrived to persuade that fierce bigot that his orthodoxy was
+unimpeachable, and was set at liberty in 1555.
+
+On the accession of Elizabeth, a brighter day dawned upon him. During
+her retirement at Woodstock, her servants appear to have consulted him
+as to the time of Mary's death, which Circumstance, no doubt, first gave
+rise to the serious charge for which he was brought to trial. They now
+came to consult him more openly as to the fortunes of their mistress;
+and Robert Dudley, the celebrated Earl of Leicester, was sent by command
+of the Queen herself to know the most auspicious day for her coronation.
+So great was the favour he enjoyed that, some years afterwards,
+Elizabeth condescended to pay him a visit at his house in Mortlake,
+to view his museum of curiosities, and, when he was ill, sent her own
+physician to attend upon him.
+
+Astrology was the means whereby he lived, and he continued to practise
+it with great assiduity; but his heart was in alchymy. The philosopher's
+stone and the elixir of life haunted his daily thoughts and his nightly
+dreams. The Talmudic mysteries, which he had also deeply studied,
+impressed him with the belief, that he might hold converse with spirits
+and angels, and learn from them all the mysteries of the universe.
+Holding the same idea as the then obscure sect of the Rosicrucians,
+some of whom he had perhaps encountered in his travels in Germany, he
+imagined that, by means of the philosopher's stone, he could summon
+these kindly spirits at his will. By dint of continually brooding
+upon the subject, his imagination became so diseased, that he at last
+persuaded himself that an angel appeared to him, and promised to be his
+friend and companion as long as he lived. He relates that, one day, in
+November 1582, while he was engaged in fervent prayer, the window of his
+museum looking towards the west suddenly glowed with a dazzling light,
+in the midst of which, in all his glory, stood the great angel Uriel.
+Awe and wonder rendered him speechless; but the angel smiling graciously
+upon him, gave him a crystal, of a convex form, and told him that,
+whenever he wished to hold converse with the beings of another sphere,
+he had only to gaze intently upon it, and they would appear in the
+crystal and unveil to him all the secrets of futurity. [The "crystal"
+alluded to appears to have been a black stone, or piece of polished
+coal. The following account of it is given in the Supplement to
+Granger's "Biographical History."--"The black stone into which Dee used
+to call his spirits was in the collection of the Earls of Peterborough,
+from whence it came to Lady Elizabeth Germaine. It was next the property
+of the late Duke of Argyle, and is now Mr. Walpole's. It appears upon
+examination to be nothing more than a polished piece of cannel coal; but
+this is what Butler means when he says, 'Kelly did all his feats
+upon The devil's looking-glass--a stone.'"] This saying, the angel
+disappeared. Dee found from experience of the crystal that it was
+necessary that all the faculties of the soul should be concentrated upon
+it, otherwise the spirits did not appear. He also found that he could
+never recollect the conversations he had with the angels. He therefore
+determined to communicate the secret to another person, who might
+converse with the spirits while he (Dee) sat in another part of the
+room, and took down in writing the revelations which they made.
+
+He had at this time in his service, as his assistant, one Edward Kelly,
+who, like himself, was crazy upon the subject of the philosopher's
+stone. There was this difference, however, between them, that, while
+Dee was more of an enthusiast than an impostor, Kelly was more of an
+impostor than an enthusiast. In early life he was a notary, and had the
+misfortune to lose both his ears for forgery. This mutilation, degrading
+enough in any man, was destructive to a philosopher; Kelly, therefore,
+lest his wisdom should suffer in the world's opinion, wore a black
+skull-cap, which, fitting close to his head, and descending over both
+his cheeks, not only concealed his loss, but gave him a very solemn and
+oracular appearance. So well did he keep his secret, that even Dee, with
+whom he lived so many years, appears never to have discovered it. Kelly,
+with this character, was just the man to carry on any piece of roguery
+for his own advantage, or to nurture the delusions of his master for the
+same purpose. No sooner did Dee inform him of the visit he had received
+from the glorious Uriel, than Kelly expressed such a fervour of belief
+that Dee's heart glowed with delight. He set about consulting his
+crystal forthwith, and on the 2nd of December 1581, the spirits
+appeared, and held a very extraordinary discourse with Kelly, which
+Dee took down in writing. The curious reader may see this farrago
+of nonsense among the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum. The later
+consultations were published in a folio volume, in 1659, by Dr. Meric
+Casaubon, under the title of "A True and Faithful Relation of what
+passed between Dr. John Dee and some Spirits; tending, had it succeeded,
+to a general Alteration of most States and Kingdoms in the World."
+[Lilly, the astrologer, in his Life written by himself, frequently tells
+of prophecies delivered by the angels in a manner similar to the angels
+of Dr. Dee. He says, "The prophecies were not given vocally by the
+angels, but by inspection of the crystal in types and figures, or by
+apparition the circular way; where, at some distance, the angels appear,
+representing by forms, shapes, and creatures what is demanded. It
+is very rare, yea, even in our days," quoth that wiseacre, "for any
+operator or master to hear the angels speak articulately: when they do
+speak, it is like the Irish, much in the throat!"]
+
+The fame of these wondrous colloquies soon spread over the country, and
+even reached the Continent. Dee, at the same time, pretended to be in
+possession of the elixir vitae, which he stated he had found among the
+ruins of Glastonbury Abbey, in Somersetshire. People flocked from far
+and near to his house at Mortlake to have their nativities cast, in
+preference to visiting astrologers of less renown. They also longed
+to see a man who, according to his own account, would never die.
+Altogether, he carried on a very profitable trade, but spent so much
+in drugs and metals to work out some peculiar process of transmutation,
+that he never became rich.
+
+About this time there came into England a wealthy polish nobleman, named
+Albert Laski, Count Palatine of Siradz. His object was principally, he
+said, to visit the court of Queen Elizabeth, the fame of whose glory and
+magnificence had reached him in distant Poland. Elizabeth received this
+flattering stranger with the most splendid hospitality, and appointed
+her favourite Leicester to show him all that was worth seeing in
+England. He visited all the curiosities of London and Westminster, and
+from thence proceeded to Oxford and Cambridge, that he might converse
+with some of the great scholars whose writings shed lustre upon the land
+of their birth. He was very much disappointed at not finding Dr. Dee
+among them, and told the Earl of Leicester that he would not have gone
+to Oxford if he had known that Dee was not there. The Earl promised to
+introduce him to the great alchymist on their return to London, and the
+Pole was satisfied. A few days afterwards, the Earl and Laski being in
+the antechamber of the Queen, awaiting an audience of her Majesty, Dr.
+Dee arrived on the same errand, and was introduced to the Pole. [Albert
+Laski, son of Jaroslav, was Palatine of Siradz, and afterwards of
+Sendomir, and chiefly contributed to the election of Henry of Valois,
+the Third of France, to the throne of Poland, and was one of the
+delegates who went to France in order to announce to the new monarch his
+elevation to the sovereignty of Poland. After the deposition of Henry,
+Albert Laski voted for Maximilian of Austria. In 1585 he visited
+England, when Queen Elizabeth received him with great distinction. The
+honours which were shown him during his visit to Oxford, by the especial
+command of the Queen, were equal to those rendered to sovereign princes.
+His extraordinary prodigality rendered his enormous wealth insufficient
+to defray his expenses, and he therefore became a zealous adept
+in alchymy, and took from England to Poland with him two known
+alchymists.--Count Valerian Krasinski's "Historical Sketch of the
+Reformation in Poland."] An interesting conversation ensued, which ended
+by the stranger inviting himself to dine with the astrologer at his
+house at Mortlake. Dee returned home in some tribulation, for he found
+he had not money enough, without pawning his plate, to entertain Count
+Laski and his retinue in a manner becoming their dignity. In this
+emergency he sent off an express to the Earl of Leicester, stating
+frankly the embarrassment he laboured under, and praying his good
+offices in representing the matter to her Majesty. Elizabeth immediately
+sent him a present of twenty pounds.
+
+On the appointed day, Count Laski came, attended by a numerous retinue,
+and expressed such open and warm admiration of the wonderful attainments
+of his host, that Dee turned over, in his own mind, how he could bind
+irretrievably to his interests a man who seemed so well inclined to
+become his friend. Long acquaintance with Kelly had imbued him with
+all the roguery of that personage; and he resolved to make the Pole pay
+dearly for his dinner. He found out, before many days, that he possessed
+great estates in his own country, as well as great influence; but that
+an extravagant disposition had reduced him to temporary embarrassment.
+He also discovered, that he was a firm believer in the philosopher's
+stone and the water of life. He was, therefore, just the man upon whom
+an adventurer might fasten himself. Kelly thought so too; and both of
+them set to work, to weave a web, in the meshes of which they might
+firmly entangle the rich and credulous stranger. They went very
+cautiously about it; first throwing out obscure hints of the stone and
+the elixir; and, finally, of the spirits, by means of whom they could
+turn over the pages of the Book of Futurity, and read the awful secrets
+inscribed therein. Laski eagerly implored that he might be admitted to
+one of their mysterious interviews with Uriel and the angels; but they
+knew human nature too well to accede at once to the request. To the
+Count's entreaties they only replied by hints of the difficulty or
+impropriety of summoning the spirits in the presence of a stranger; or
+of one who might, perchance, have no other motive than the gratification
+of a vain curiosity: but they only meant to whet the edge of his
+appetite by this delay, and would have been sorry indeed if the Count
+had been discouraged. To show how exclusively the thoughts both of Dee
+and Kelly were fixed upon their dupe, at this time, it is only necessary
+to read the introduction to their first interview with the spirits,
+related in the volume of Dr. Casaubon. The entry made by Dee, under the
+date of the 25th of May 1583, says, that when the spirit appeared to
+them, "I, [John Dee], and E. K. [Edward Kelly], sat together, conversing
+of that noble Polonian Albertus Laski, his great honour here with us
+obtained, and of his great liking among all sorts of the people." No
+doubt they were discussing how they might make the most of the "noble
+Polonian," and concocting the fine story with which they afterwards
+excited his curiosity, and drew him firmly within their toils.
+"Suddenly," says Dee, as they were thus employed, "there seemed to come
+out of the oratory, a spiritual creature, like a pretty girl, of seven
+or nine years of age, attired on her head, with her hair rolled up
+before, and hanging down behind; with a gown of silk, of changeable red
+and green, and with a train. She seemed to play up and down, and seemed
+to go in and out behind the books; and, as she seemed to go between
+them, the books displaced themselves, and made way for her."
+
+With such tales as these they lured on the Pole from day to day; and
+at last persuaded him to be a witness of their mysteries. Whether they
+played off any optical delusions upon him; or whether, by the force of a
+strong imagination, he deluded himself, does not appear; but certain it
+is, that he became a complete tool in their hands, and consented to do
+whatever they wished him. Kelly, at these interviews, placed himself at
+a certain distance from the wondrous crystal, and gazed intently upon
+it; while Dee took his place in corner, ready to set down the prophecies
+as they were uttered by the spirits. In this manner they prophesied
+to the Pole, that he should become the fortunate possessor of the
+philosopher's stone; that he should live for centuries, and be chosen
+King of Poland; in which capacity he should gain many great victories
+over the Saracens, and make his name illustrious over all the earth. For
+this pose it was necessary, however, that Laski should leave England,
+and take them with him, together with their wives and families; that he
+should treat them all sumptuously, and allow them to want for nothing.
+Laski at once consented; and very shortly afterwards they were all on
+the road to Poland.
+
+It took them upwards of four months to reach the Count's estates, in the
+neighbourhood of Cracow. In the mean time, they led a pleasant life, and
+spent money with an unsparing hand. When once established in the Count's
+palace, they commenced the great hermetic operation of transmuting iron
+into gold. Laski provided them with all necessary materials, and aided
+them himself with his knowledge of alchymy: but, somehow or other,
+the experiment always failed at the very moment that it ought to have
+succeeded; and they were obliged to recommence operations on a grander
+scale. But the hopes of Laski were not easily extinguished. Already, in
+idea, the possessor of countless millions, he was not to be cast down
+for fear of present expenses. He thus continued from day to day, and
+from month to month, till he was, at last, obliged to sell a portion of
+his deeply-mortgaged estates, to find aliment for the hungry crucibles
+of Dee and Kelly, and the no less hungry stomachs of their wives and
+families. It was not till ruin stared him in the face, that he awoke
+from his dream of infatuation--too happy, even then, to find that he had
+escaped utter beggary. Thus restored to his senses, his first thought
+was how to rid himself of his expensive visiters. Not wishing to
+quarrel with them, he proposed that they should proceed to Prague, well
+furnished with letters of recommendation to the Emperor Rudolph. Our
+alchymists too plainly saw that nothing more was to be made of the
+almost destitute Count Laski. Without hesitation, therefore, they
+accepted the proposal, and set out forthwith to the Imperial residence.
+They had no difficulty, on their arrival at Prague, in obtaining an
+audience of the Emperor. They found him willing enough to believe
+that such a thing as the philosopher's stone existed, and flattered
+themselves that they had made a favourable impression upon him; but,
+from some cause or other--perhaps the look of low cunning and quackery
+upon the face of Kelly--the Emperor conceived no very high opinion of
+their abilities. He allowed them, however, to remain for some months at
+Prague, feeding themselves upon the hope that he would employ them: but
+the more he saw of them, the less he liked them; and, when the Pope's
+Nuncio represented to him, that he ought not to countenance such heretic
+magicians, he gave orders that they should quit his dominions within
+four-and-twenty hours. It was fortunate for them that so little time
+was given them; for, had they remained six hours longer, the Nuncio had
+received orders to procure a perpetual dungeon, or the stake, for them.
+
+Not knowing well where to direct their steps, they resolved to return to
+Cracow, where they had still a few friends; but, by this time, the funds
+they had drawn from Laski were almost exhausted; and they were many days
+obliged to go dinnerless and supperless. They had great difficulty to
+keep their poverty a secret from the world; but they managed to bear
+privation without murmuring, from a conviction that if the fact were
+known, it would militate very much against their pretensions. Nobody
+would believe that they were possessors of the philosopher's stone, if
+it were once suspected that they did not know how to procure bread for
+their subsistence. They still gained a little by casting nativities, and
+kept starvation at arm's length, till a new dupe, rich enough for their
+purposes, dropped into their toils, in the shape of a royal personage.
+Having procured an introduction to Stephen, King of Poland,
+they predicted to him, that the Emperor Rudolph would shortly be
+assassinated, and that the Germans would look to Poland for his
+successor. As this prediction was not precise enough to satisfy the
+King, they tried their crystal again; and a spirit appeared, who told
+them that the new sovereign of Germany would be Stephen of Poland.
+Stephen was credulous enough to believe them, and was once present when
+Kelly held his mystic conversations with the shadows of his crystal.
+He also appears to have furnished them with money to carry on their
+experiments in alchymy: but he grew tired, at last, of their broken
+promises, and their constant drains upon his pocket; and was on the
+point of discarding them with disgrace, when they met with another
+dupe, to whom they eagerly transferred their services. This was Count
+Rosenberg, a nobleman of large estates, at Trebona, in Bohemia. So
+comfortable did they find themselves in the palace of this munificent
+patron, that they remained nearly four years with him, faring
+sumptuously, and having an almost unlimited command of his money. The
+Count was more ambitious than avaricious: he had wealth enough, and did
+not care for the philosopher's stone on account of the gold, but of
+the length of days it would bring him. They had their predictions,
+accordingly, all ready framed to suit his character. They prophesied
+that he should be chosen King of Poland; and promised, moreover, that
+he should live for five hundred years to enjoy his dignity; provided
+always, that he found them sufficient money to carry on their
+experiments.
+
+But now, while fortune smiled upon them; while they revelled in the
+rewards of successful villany, retributive justice came upon them in a
+shape they had not anticipated. Jealousy and mistrust sprang up between
+the two confederates, and led to such violent and frequent quarrels,
+that Dee was in constant fear of exposure. Kelly imagined himself a much
+greater personage than Dee; measuring, most likely, by the standard of
+impudent roguery; and was displeased that on all occasions, and from all
+persons, Dee received the greater share of honour and consideration. He
+often threatened to leave Dee to shift for himself; and the latter, who
+had degenerated into the mere tool of his more daring associate, was
+distressed beyond measure at the prospect of his desertion. His mind was
+so deeply imbued with superstition, that he believed the rhapsodies
+of Kelly to be, in a great measure, derived from his intercourse with
+angels; and he knew not where, in the whole world, to look for a man
+of depth and wisdom enough to succeed him. As their quarrels every day
+became more and more frequent, Dee wrote letters to Queen Elizabeth,
+to secure a favourable reception on his return to England; whither he
+intended to proceed, if Kelly forsook him. He also sent her a round
+piece of silver, which he pretended he had made of a portion of brass
+cut out of a warming-pan. He afterwards sent her the warming-pan also,
+that she might convince herself that the piece of silver corresponded
+exactly with the hole which was cut into the brass. While thus preparing
+for the worst, his chief desire was to remain in Bohemia with Count
+Rosenberg, who treated him well, and reposed much confidence in him.
+Neither had Kelly any great objection to remain; but a new passion
+had taken possession of his breast, and he was laying deep schemes to
+gratify it. His own wife was ill-favoured and ill-natured; Dee's was
+comely and agreeable: and he longed to make an exchange of partners,
+without exciting the jealousy or shocking the morality of Dee. This was
+a difficult matter; but, to a man like Kelly, who was as deficient in
+rectitude and right feeling as he was full of impudence and ingenuity,
+the difficulty was not insurmountable. He had also deeply studied the
+character and the foibles of Dee; and he took his measures accordingly.
+The next time they consulted the spirits, Kelly pretended to be shocked
+at their language, and refused to tell Dee what they had said. Dee
+insisted, and was informed that they were henceforth to have their wives
+in common. Dee, a little startled, inquired whether the spirits might
+not mean that they were to live in common harmony and good-will? Kelly
+tried again, with apparent reluctance, and said the spirits insisted
+upon the literal interpretation. The poor fanatic, Dee, resigned himself
+to their will; but it suited Kelly's purpose to appear coy a little
+longer. He declared that the spirits must be spirits, not of good, but
+of evil; and refused to consult them any more. He thereupon took his
+departure, saying that he would never return.
+
+Dee, thus left to himself, was in sore trouble and distress of mind.
+He knew not on whom to fix as the successor to Kelly for consulting the
+spirits; but at last chose his son Arthur, a boy of eight years of age.
+He consecrated him to this service with great ceremony, and impressed
+upon the child's mind the dignified and awful nature of the duties
+he was called upon to perform; but the poor boy had neither the
+imagination, the faith, nor the artifice of Kelly. He looked intently
+upon the crystal, as he was told; but could see nothing and hear
+nothing. At last, when his eyes ached, he said he could see a vague
+indistinct shadow; but nothing more. Dee was in despair. The deception
+had been carried on so long, that he was never so happy as when he
+fancied he was holding converse with superior beings; and he cursed the
+day that had put estrangement between him and his dear friend Kelly.
+This was exactly what Kelly had foreseen; and, when he thought
+the Doctor had grieved sufficiently for his absence, he returned
+unexpectedly, and entered the room where the little Arthur was in vain
+endeavouring to distinguish something in the crystal. Dee, in entering
+this circumstance in his journal, ascribes this sudden return to a
+"miraculous fortune," and a "divine fate;" and goes on to record that
+Kelly immediately saw the spirits, which had remained invisible to
+little Arthur. One of these spirits reiterated the previous command,
+that they should have their wives in common. Kelly bowed his head, and
+submitted; and Dee, in all humility, consented to the arrangement.
+
+This was the extreme depth of the wretched man's degradation. In this
+manner they continued to live for three or four months, when, new
+quarrels breaking out, they separated once more. This time their
+separation was final. Kelly, taking the elixir which he had found in
+Glastonbury Abbey, proceeded to Prague, forgetful of the abrupt mode in
+which he had previously been expelled from that city. Almost immediately
+after his arrival, he was seized by order of the Emperor Rudolph, and
+thrown into prison. He was released after some months' confinement, and
+continued for five years to lead a vagabond life in Germany, telling
+fortunes at one place, and pretending to make gold at another. He was a
+second time thrown into prison, on a charge of heresy and sorcery; and
+he then resolved, if ever he obtained his liberty, to return to England.
+He soon discovered that there was no prospect of this, and that his
+imprisonment was likely to be for life. He twisted his bed-clothes into
+a rope, one stormy night in February 1595, and let himself down from the
+window of his dungeon, situated at the top of a very high tower. Being a
+corpulent man, the rope gave way, and he was precipitated to the ground.
+He broke two of his ribs, and both his legs; and was otherwise so much
+injured, that he expired a few days afterwards.
+
+Dee, for a while, had more prosperous fortune. The warming-pan he had
+sent to Queen Elizabeth was not without effect. He was rewarded, soon
+after Kelly had left him, with an invitation to return to England. His
+pride, which had been sorely humbled, sprang up again to its pristine
+dimensions; and he set out for Bohemia with a train of attendants
+becoming an ambassador. How he procured the money does not appear,
+unless from the liberality of the rich Bohemian Rosenberg, or perhaps
+from his plunder. He travelled with three coaches for himself and
+family, and three waggons to carry his baggage. Each coach had four
+horses, and the whole train was protected by a guard of four and twenty
+soldiers. This statement may be doubted; but it is on the authority of
+Dee himself, who made it on oath before the commissioners appointed by
+Elizabeth to inquire into his circumstances. On his arrival in England
+he had an audience of the Queen, who received him kindly as far as words
+went, and gave orders that he should not be molested in his pursuits of
+chemistry and philosophy. A man who boasted of the power to turn baser
+metals into gold, could not, thought Elizabeth, be in want of money; and
+she, therefore, gave him no more substantial marks of her approbation
+than her countenance and protection.
+
+Thrown thus unexpectedly upon his own resources, Dee began in earnest
+the search for the philosopher's stone. He worked incessantly among
+his furnaces, retorts, and crucibles, and almost poisoned himself with
+deleterious fumes. He also consulted his miraculous crystal; but the
+spirits appeared not to him. He tried one Bartholomew to supply the
+place of the invaluable Kelly; but he being a man of some little
+probity, and of no imagination at all, the spirits would not hold any
+communication with him. Dee then tried another pretender to philosophy,
+of the name of Hickman; but had no better fortune. The crystal had
+lost its power since the departure of its great high-priest. From this
+quarter then Dee could get no information on the stone or elixir of the
+alchymists, and all his efforts to discover them by other means were not
+only fruitless but expensive. He was soon reduced to great distress, and
+wrote piteous letters to the Queen, praying relief. He represented that,
+after he left England with Count Laski, the mob had pillaged his house
+at Mortlake, accusing him of being a necromancer and a wizard; and
+had broken all his furniture, burned his library, consisting of four
+thousand rare volumes, and destroyed all the philosophical instruments
+and curiosities in his museum. For this damage he claimed compensation;
+and furthermore stated, that, as he had come to England by the Queen's
+command, she ought to pay the expenses of his journey. Elizabeth sent
+him small sums of money at various times; but, Dee still continuing
+his complaints, a commission was appointed to inquire into his
+circumstances. He finally obtained a small appointment as Chancellor of
+St. Paul's cathedral, which he exchanged, in 1595, for the wardenship
+of the college at Manchester. He remained in this capacity till 1602
+or 1603, when, his strength and intellect beginning to fail him, he was
+compelled to resign. He retired to his old dwelling at Mortlake, in a
+state not far removed from actual want, supporting himself as a common
+fortune-teller, and being often obliged to sell or pawn his books to
+procure a dinner. James I. was often applied to on his behalf, but he
+refused to do anything for him. It may be said to the discredit of this
+King, that the only reward he would grant the indefatigable Stowe, in
+his days of old age and want, was the royal permission to beg; but no
+one will blame him for neglecting such a quack as John Dee. He died in
+1608, in the eighty-first year of his age, and was buried at Mortlake.
+
+THE COSMOPOLITE.
+
+Many disputes have arisen as to the real name of the alchymist who wrote
+several works under the above designation. The general opinion is
+that he was a Scotsman, named Seton; and that by a fate very common to
+alchymists, who boasted too loudly of their powers of transmutation,
+he ended his days miserably in a dungeon, into which he was thrown by a
+German potentate until he made a million of gold to pay his ransom. By
+some he has been confounded with Michael Sendivog, or Sendivogius, a
+Pole, a professor of the same art, who made a great noise in Europe at
+the commencement of the seventeenth century. Lenglet du Fresnoy, who is
+in general well-informed with respect to the alchymists, inclines to
+the belief that these personages were distinct; and gives the following
+particulars of the Cosmopolite, extracted from George Morhoff, in his
+"Epistola ad Langelottum," and other writers.
+
+About the year 1600, one Jacob Haussen, a Dutch pilot, was shipwrecked
+on the coast of Scotland. A gentleman, named Alexander Seton, put off
+in a boat, and saved him from drowning, and afterwards entertained him
+hospitably for many weeks at his house on the shore. Haussen saw that
+he was addicted to the pursuits of chemistry, but no conversation on
+the subject passed between them at the time. About a year and a half
+afterwards, Haussen being then at home at Enkhuysen, in Holland,
+received a visit from his former host. He endeavoured to repay the
+kindness that had been shown him; and so great a friendship arose
+between them, that Seton, on his departure, offered to make him
+acquainted with the great secret of the philosopher's stone. In his
+presence the Scotsman transmuted a great quantity of base metal into
+pure gold, and gave it him as a mark of his esteem. Seton then took
+leave of his friend, and travelled into Germany. At Dresden he made
+no secret of his wonderful powers; having, it is said, performed
+transmutation successfully before a great assemblage of the learned men
+of that city. The circumstance coming to the ears of the Duke or Elector
+of Saxony, he gave orders for the arrest of the alchymist. He caused him
+to be imprisoned in a high tower, and set a guard of forty men to watch
+that he did not escape, and that no strangers were admitted to his
+presence. The unfortunate Seton received several visits from the
+Elector, who used every art of persuasion to make him divulge his
+secret. Seton obstinately refused either to communicate his secret,
+or to make any gold for the tyrant; on which he was stretched upon the
+rack, to see if the argument of torture would render him more tractable.
+The result was still the same,--neither hope of reward nor fear of
+anguish could shake him. For several months he remained in prison,
+subjected alternately to a sedative and a violent regimen, till his
+health broke, and he wasted away almost to a skeleton.
+
+There happened at that time to be in Dresden a learned Pole, named
+Michael Sendivogius, who had wasted a good deal of his time and
+substance in the unprofitable pursuits of alchymy. He was touched with
+pity for the hard fate, and admiration for the intrepidity of Seton; and
+determined, if possible, to aid him in escaping from the clutch of his
+oppressor. He requested the Elector's permission to see the alchymist,
+and obtained it with some difficulty. He found him in a state of great
+wretchedness,--shut up from the light of day in a noisome dungeon,
+and with no better couch or fare than those allotted to the worst
+of criminals. Seton listened eagerly to the proposal of escape, and
+promised the generous Pole that he would make him richer than an Eastern
+monarch if by his means he were liberated. Sendivogius immediately
+commenced operations. He sold some property which he possessed near
+Cracow, and with the proceeds led a merry life at Dresden. He gave the
+most elegant suppers, to which he regularly invited the officers of the
+guard, and especially those who did duty at the prison of the alchymist.
+He insinuated himself at last into their confidence, and obtained free
+ingress to his friend as often as he pleased; pretending that he was
+using his utmost endeavours to conquer his obstinacy and worm his secret
+out of him. When their project was ripe, a day was fixed upon for the
+grand attempt; and Sendivogius was ready with a postchariot to convey
+him with all speed into Poland. By drugging some wine which he presented
+to the guards of the prison, he rendered them so drowsy that he easily
+found means to scale a wall unobserved, with Seton, and effect his
+escape. Seton's wife was in the chariot awaiting him, having safely in
+her possession a small packet of a black powder, which was, in fact,
+the philosopher's stone, or ingredient for the transmutation of iron and
+copper into gold. They all arrived in safety at Cracow; but the frame of
+Seton was so wasted by torture of body and starvation, to say nothing
+of the anguish of mind he had endured, that he did not long survive.
+He died in Cracow in 1603 or 1604, and was buried under the cathedral
+church of that city. Such is the story related of the author of the
+various works which bear the name of the Cosmopolite. A list of them
+may be found in the third volume of the "History of the Hermetic
+Philosophy."
+
+SENDIVOGIUS.
+
+On the death of Seton, Sendivogius married his widow, hoping to
+learn from her some of the secrets of her deceased lord in the art of
+transmutation. The ounce of black powder stood him, however, in better
+service; for the alchymists say that, by its means, he converted great
+quantities of quicksilver into the purest gold. It is also said that he
+performed this experiment successfully before the Emperor Rudolph II, at
+Prague; and that the Emperor, to commemorate the circumstance, caused
+a marble tablet to be affixed to the wall of the room in which it was
+performed, bearing this inscription, "Faciat hoc quispiam alius, quod
+fecit Sendivogius Polonus." M. Desnoyers, secretary to the Princess Mary
+of Gonzaga, Queen of Poland, writing from Warsaw in 1651, says that he
+saw this tablet, which existed at that time, and was often visited by
+the curious.
+
+The after-life of Sendivogius is related in a Latin memoir of him by one
+Brodowski, his steward; and is inserted by Pierre Borel in his "Treasure
+of Gaulish Antiquities." The Emperor Rudolph, according to this
+authority, was so well pleased with his success, that he made him one of
+his counsellors of state, and invited him to fill a station in the royal
+household and inhabit the palace. But Sendivogius loved his liberty,
+and refused to become a courtier. He preferred to reside on his own
+patrimonial estate of Gravarna, where, for many years, he exercised a
+princely hospitality. His philosophic powder, which, his steward says,
+was red, and not black, he kept in a little box of gold; and with
+one grain of it he could make five hundred ducats, or a thousand
+rix-dollars. He generally made his projection upon quicksilver. When he
+travelled, he gave this box to his steward, who hung it round his neck
+by a gold chain next his skin. But the greatest part of the powder he
+used to hide in a secret place cut into the step of his chariot. He
+thought that, if attacked at any time by robbers, they would not search
+such a place as that. When he anticipated any danger, he would dress
+himself in his valet's clothes, and, mounting the coach-box, put the
+valet inside. He was induced to take these precautions, because it
+was no secret that he possessed the philosopher's stone; and many
+unprincipled adventurers were on the watch for an opportunity to plunder
+him. A German Prince, whose name Brodowski has not thought fit to
+chronicle, served him a scurvy trick, which ever afterwards put him on
+his guard. This prince went on his knees to Sendivogius, and entreated
+him in the most pressing terms to satisfy his curiosity by converting
+some quicksilver into gold before him. Sendivogius, wearied by his
+importunity, consented, upon a promise of inviolable secrecy. After his
+departure, the Prince called a German alchymist, named Muhlenfels, who
+resided in his house, and told him all that had been done. Muhlenfels
+entreated that he might have a dozen mounted horsemen at his command,
+that he might instantly ride after the philosopher, and either rob him
+of all his powder or force from him the secret of making it. The Prince
+desired nothing better; and Muhlenfels, being provided with twelve men
+well mounted and armed, pursued Sendivogius in hot haste. He came up
+with him at a lonely inn by the road-side, just as he was sitting
+down to dinner. He at first endeavoured to persuade him to divulge the
+secret; but, finding this of no avail, he caused his accomplices to
+strip the unfortunate Sendivogius and tie him naked to one of the
+pillars of the house. He then took from him his golden box, containing
+a small quantity of the powder; a manuscript book on the philosopher's
+stone; a golden medal with its chain, presented to him by the Emperor
+Rudolph; and a rich cap ornamented with diamonds, of the value of one
+hundred thousand rix-dollars. With this booty he decamped, leaving
+Sendivogius still naked and firmly bound to the pillar. His servants
+had been treated in a similar manner; but the people of the inn released
+them all as soon as the robbers were out of sight.
+
+Sendivogius proceeded to Prague, and made his complaint to the Emperor.
+An express was instantly sent off to the Prince, with orders that he
+should deliver up Muhlenfels and all his plunder. The Prince, fearful
+of the Emperor's wrath, caused three large gallows to be erected in his
+court-yard; on the highest of which he hanged Muhlenfels, with another
+thief on each side of him. He thus propitiated the Emperor, and got rid
+of an ugly witness against himself. He sent back, at the same time,
+the bejewelled hat, the medal and chain, and the treatise upon the
+philosopher's stone, which had been stolen from Sendivogius. As regarded
+the powder, he said he had not seen it, and knew nothing about it.
+
+This adventure made Sendivogius more prudent; he would no longer perform
+the process of transmutation before any strangers, however highly
+recommended. He pretended, also, to be very poor; and sometimes lay in
+bed for weeks together, that people might believe he was suffering from
+some dangerous malady, and could not therefore by any possibility be
+the owner of the philosopher's stone. He would occasionally coin false
+money, and pass it off as gold; preferring to be esteemed a cheat rather
+than a successful alchymist.
+
+Many other extraordinary tales are told of this personage by his steward
+Brodowski, but they are not worth repeating. He died in 1636, aged
+upwards of eighty, and was buried in his own chapel at Gravarna. Several
+works upon alchymy have been published under his name.
+
+THE ROSICRUCIANS.
+
+It was during the time of the last-mentioned author that the sect of the
+Rosicrucians first began to create a sensation in Europe. The influence
+which they exercised upon opinion during their brief career, and the
+permanent impression which they have left upon European literature,
+claim for them especial notice. Before their time, alchymy was but a
+grovelling delusion; and theirs is the merit of having spiritualised and
+refined it. They also enlarged its sphere, and supposed the possession
+of the philosopher's stone to be, not only the means of wealth, but of
+health and happiness; and the instrument by which man could command the
+services of superior beings, control the elements to his will, defy the
+obstructions of time and space, and acquire the most intimate knowledge
+of all the secrets of the universe. Wild and visionary as they were,
+they were not without their uses; if it were only for having purged the
+superstitions of Europe of the dark and disgusting forms with which the
+monks had peopled it, and substituted, in their stead, a race of mild,
+graceful, and beneficent beings.
+
+They are said to have derived their name from Christian Rosencreutz,
+or "Rose-cross," a German philosopher, who travelled in the Holy Land
+towards the close of the fourteenth century. While dangerously ill at a
+place called Damcar, he was visited by some learned Arabs, who claimed
+him as their brother in science, and unfolded to him, by inspiration,
+all the secrets of his past life, both of thought and of action.
+They restored him to health by means of the philosopher's stone, and
+afterwards instructed him in all their mysteries. He returned to Europe
+in 1401, being then only twenty-three years of age; and drew a chosen
+number of his friends around him, whom he initiated into the new
+science, and bound by solemn oaths to keep it secret for a century. He
+is said to have lived eighty-three years after this period, and to have
+died in 1484.
+
+Many have denied the existence of such a personage as Rosencreutz, and
+have fixed the origin of this sect at a much later epoch. The first
+dawning of it, they say, is to be found in the theories of Paracelsus,
+and the dreams of Dr. Dee, who, without intending it, became the actual,
+though never the recognised founders of the Rosicrucian philosophy. It
+is now difficult, and indeed impossible, to determine whether Dee
+and Paracelsus obtained their ideas from the then obscure and unknown
+Rosicrucians, or whether the Rosicrucians did but follow and improve
+upon them. Certain it is, that their existence was never suspected till
+the year 1605, when they began to excite attention in Germany. No
+sooner were their doctrines promulgated, than all the visionaries,
+Paracelsists, and alchymists, flocked around their standard, and vaunted
+Rosencreutz as the new regenerator of the human race. Michael Mayer, a
+celebrated physician of that day, and who had impaired his health and
+wasted his fortune in searching for the philosopher's stone, drew up
+a report of the tenets and ordinances of the new fraternity, which was
+published at Cologne, in the year 1615. They asserted, in the first
+place, "that the meditations of their founders surpassed everything that
+had ever been imagined since the creation of the world, without even
+excepting the revelations of the Deity; that they were destined to
+accomplish the general peace and regeneration of man before the end of
+the world arrived; that they possessed all wisdom and piety in a
+supreme degree; that they possessed all the graces of nature, and could
+distribute them among the rest of mankind according to their pleasure;
+that they were subject to neither hunger, nor thirst, nor disease, nor
+old age, nor to any other inconvenience of nature; that they knew by
+inspiration, and at the first glance, every one who was worthy to be
+admitted into their society; that they had the same knowledge then which
+they would have possessed if they had lived from the beginning of the
+world, and had been always acquiring it; that they had a volume in which
+they could read all that ever was or ever would be written in other
+books till the end of time; that they could force to, and retain in
+their service the most powerful spirits and demons; that, by the virtue
+of their songs, they could attract pearls and precious stones from the
+depths of the sea or the bowels of the earth; that God had covered them
+with a thick cloud, by means of which they could shelter themselves
+from the malignity of their enemies, and that they could thus render
+themselves invisible from all eyes; that the eight first brethren of
+the "Rose-cross had power to cure all maladies; that, by means of the
+fraternity, the triple diadem of the Pope would be reduced into dust;
+that they only admitted two sacraments, with the ceremonies of the
+primitive Church, renewed by them; that they recognised the Fourth
+Monarchy and the Emperor of the Romans as their chief and the chief
+of all Christians; that they would provide him with more gold, their
+treasures being inexhaustible, than the King of Spain had ever drawn
+from the golden regions of Eastern and Western Ind." This was their
+confession of faith. Their rules of conduct were six in number, and as
+follow:--
+
+First. That, in their travels, they should gratuitously cure all
+diseases.
+
+Secondly. That they should always dress in conformity to the fashion of
+the country in which they resided.
+
+Thirdly. That they should, once every year, meet together in the place
+appointed by the fraternity, or send in writing an available excuse.
+
+Fourthly. That every brother, whenever he felt inclined to die, should
+choose a person worthy to succeed him.
+
+Fifthly. That the words "Rose-cross" should be the marks by which they
+should recognise each other.
+
+Sixthly. That their fraternity should be kept secret for six times
+twenty years.
+
+They asserted that these laws had been found inscribed in a golden book
+in the tomb of Rosencreutz, and that the six times twenty years from
+his death expired in 1604. They were consequently called upon, from that
+time forth, to promulgate their doctrine for the welfare of mankind.
+[The following legend of the tomb of Rosencreutz, written by Eustace
+Budgell, appears in No. 379 of the Spectator:--"A certain person, having
+occasion to dig somewhat deep in the ground where this philosopher lay
+interred, met with a small door, having a wall on each side of it. His
+curiosity, and the hope of finding some hidden treasure, soon prompted
+him to force open the door. He was immediately surprised by a sudden
+blaze of light, and discovered a very fair vault. At the upper end of it
+was a statue of a man in armour, sitting by a table, and leaning on his
+left arm. He held a truncheon in his right hand, and had a lamp burning
+before him. The man had no sooner set one foot within the vault,
+than the statue, erecting itself from its leaning posture, stood bolt
+upright; and, upon the fellow's advancing another step, lifted up the
+truncheon in his right hand. The man still ventured a third step; when
+the statue, with a furious blow, broke the lamp into a thousand
+pieces, and left his guest in sudden darkness. Upon the report of this
+adventure, the country people came with lights to the sepulchre, and
+discovered that the statue, which was made of brass, was nothing more
+than a piece of clock-work; that the floor of the vault was all loose,
+and underlaid with several springs, which, upon any man's entering,
+naturally produced that which had happened. Rosicreucius, say his
+disciples, made use of this method to show the world that he had
+re-invented the ever-burning lamps of the ancients, though he was
+resolved no one should reap any advantage from the discovery."]
+
+
+For eight years these enthusiasts made converts in Germany; but they
+excited little or no attention in other parts of Europe. At last they
+made their appearance in Paris, and threw all the learned, all the
+credulous, and all the lovers of the marvellous into commotion. In the
+beginning of March 1623, the good folks of that city, when they arose
+one morning, were surprised to find all their walls placarded with
+the following singular manifesto:--
+
+"We, the deputies of the principal College of the Brethren of the
+Rose-cross, have taken up our abode, visible and invisible, in this
+city, by the grace of the Most High, towards whom are turned the hearts
+of the just. We show and teach without books or signs, and speak all
+sorts of languages in the countries where we dwell, to draw mankind, our
+fellows, from error and from death."
+
+For a long time this strange placard was the sole topic of conversation
+in all public places. Some few wondered; but the greater number only
+laughed at it. In the course of a few weeks two books were published,
+which raised the first alarm respecting this mysterious society, whose
+dwelling-place no one knew, and no members of which had ever been seen.
+The first was called a history of "The frightful Compacts entered into
+between the Devil and the pretended 'Invisibles;' with their damnable
+Instructions, the deplorable Ruin of their Disciples, and their
+miserable End." The other was called an "Examination of the new and
+unknown Cabala of the Brethren of the Rose-cross, who have lately
+inhabited the City of Paris; with the History of their Manners, the
+Wonders worked by them, and many other Particulars."
+
+These books sold rapidly. Every one was anxious to know something of
+this dreadful and secret brotherhood. The badauds of Paris were so
+alarmed that they daily expected to see the arch-enemy walking in
+propria persona among them. It was said in these volumes, that the
+Rosicrucian society consisted of six-and-thirty persons in all, who had
+renounced their baptism and hope of resurrection. That it was not
+by means of good angels, as they pretended, that they worked their
+prodigies; but that it was the devil who gave them power to transport
+themselves from one end of the world to the other with the rapidity of
+thought; to speak all languages; to have their purses always full of
+money, however much they might spend; to be invisible, and penetrate
+into the most secret places, in spite of fastenings of bolts and bars;
+and to be able to tell the past and future. These thirty-six brethren
+were divided into bands or companies:--
+
+Six of them only had been sent on the mission to Paris, six to Italy,
+six to Spain, six to Germany, four to Sweden, and two into Switzerland;
+two into Flanders, two into Lorraine, and two into Franche Comte. It was
+generally believed that the missionaries to France resided somewhere in
+the Marais du Temple. That quarter of Paris soon acquired a bad name;
+and people were afraid to take houses in it, lest they should be turned
+out by the six invisibles of the Rose-cross. It was believed by the
+populace, and by many others whose education should have taught them
+better, that persons of a mysterious aspect used to visit the inns and
+hotels of Paris, and eat of the best meats and drink of the best wines,
+and then suddenly melt away into thin air when the landlord came with
+the reckoning. That gentle maidens, who went to bed alone, often awoke
+in the night and found men in bed with them, of shape more beautiful
+than the Grecian Apollo, who immediately became invisible when an alarm
+was raised. It was also said that many persons found large heaps of pure
+gold in their houses, without knowing from whence they came. All Paris
+was in alarm. No man thought himself secure of his goods, no maiden of
+her virginity, or wife of her chastity, while these Rosicrucians were
+abroad. In the midst of the commotion, a second placard was issued to
+the following effect:--"If any one desires to see the brethren of the
+Rose-cross from curiosity only, he will never communicate with us. But
+if his will really induces him to inscribe his name in the register of
+our brotherhood, we, who can judge of the thoughts of all men, will
+convince him of the truth of our promises. For this reason we do not
+publish to the world the place of our abode. Thought alone, in unison
+with the sincere will of those who desire to know us, is sufficient to
+make us known to them, and them to us."
+
+Though the existence of such a society as that of the Rose-cross was
+problematical, it was quite evident that somebody or other was concerned
+in the promulgation of these placards, which were stuck up on every wall
+in Paris. The police endeavoured in vain to find out the offenders,
+and their want of success only served to increase the perplexity of
+the public. The church very soon took up the question; and the Abbe
+Gaultier, a Jesuit, wrote a book to prove that, by their enmity to
+the Pope, they could be no other than disciples of Luther, sent to
+promulgate his heresy. Their very name, he added, proved that they were
+heretics; a cross surmounted by a rose being the heraldic device of
+the arch-heretic Luther. One Garasse said they were a confraternity of
+drunken impostors; and that their name was derived from the garland
+of roses, in the form of a cross, hung over the tables of taverns in
+Germany as the emblem of secrecy, and from whence was derived the common
+saying, when one man communicated a secret to another, that it was said
+"under the rose." Others interpreted the letters F. R. C. to mean, not
+Brethren of the Rose-cross, but Fratres Roris Cocti, or Brothers
+of Boiled Dew; and explained this appellation by alleging that they
+collected large quantities of morning dew, and boiled it, in order
+to extract a very valuable ingredient in the composition of the
+philosopher's stone and the water of life.
+
+The fraternity thus attacked defended themselves as well as they
+were able. They denied that they used magic of any kind, or that they
+consulted the devil. They said they were all happy; that they had lived
+more than a century, and expected to live many centuries more; and
+that the intimate knowledge which they possessed of all nature was
+communicated to them by God himself as a reward for their piety and
+utter devotion to his service. Those were in error who derived their
+name from a cross of roses, or called them drunkards. To set the world
+right on the first point, they reiterated that they derived their name
+from Christian Rosencreutz, their founder; and, to answer the latter
+charge, they repeated that they knew not what thirst was, and had higher
+pleasures than those of the palate. They did not desire to meddle with
+the politics or religion of any man or set of men, although they could
+not help denying the supremacy of the Pope, and looking upon him as a
+tyrant. Many slanders, they said, had been repeated respecting them; the
+most unjust of which was, that they indulged in carnal appetites,
+and, under the cloak of their invisibility, crept into the chambers of
+beautiful maidens. They asserted, on the contrary, that the first vow
+they took on entering the society was a vow of chastity; and that any
+one among them who transgressed in that particular would immediately
+lose all the advantages he enjoyed, and be exposed once more to hunger,
+woe, disease, and death, like other men. So strongly did they feel on
+the subject of chastity, that they attributed the fall of Adam solely
+to his want of this virtue. Besides defending themselves in this manner,
+they entered into a further confession of their faith. They discarded
+for ever all the old tales of sorcery and witchcraft, and communion
+with the devil. They said there were no such horrid, unnatural, and
+disgusting beings as the incubi and succubi, and the innumerable
+grotesque imps that men had believed in for so many ages. Man was not
+surrounded with enemies like these, but with myriads of beautiful and
+beneficent beings, all anxious to do him service. The air was peopled
+with sylphs, the water with undines or naiads, the bowels of the earth
+with gnomes, and the fire with salamanders. All these beings were the
+friends of man, and desired nothing so much as that men should purge
+themselves of all uncleanness, and thus be enabled to see and converse
+with them. They possessed great power, and were unrestrained by the
+barriers of space or the obstructions of matter. But man was in one
+particular their superior. He had an immortal soul, and they had not.
+They might, however, become sharers in man's immortality, if they could
+inspire one of that race with the passion of love towards them. Hence
+it was the constant endeavour of the female spirits to captivate the
+admiration of men; and of the male gnomes, sylphs, salamanders, and
+undines, to be beloved by a woman. The object of this passion, in
+returning their love, imparted a portion of that celestial fire the
+soul; and from that time forth the beloved became equal to the lover,
+and both, when their allotted course was run, entered together into the
+mansions of felicity. These spirits, they said, watched constantly over
+mankind by night and day. Dreams, omens, and presentiments were all
+their works, and the means by which they gave warning of the approach
+of danger. But, though so well inclined to befriend man for their
+own sakes, the want of a soul rendered them at times capricious and
+revengeful: they took offence on slight causes, and heaped injuries
+instead of benefits on the heads of those who extinguished the light of
+reason that was in them, by gluttony, debauchery, and other appetites of
+the body.
+
+The excitement produced in Paris by the placards of the brotherhood,
+and the attacks of the clergy, wore itself away after a few months. The
+stories circulated about them became at last too absurd even for that
+age of absurdity, and men began to laugh once more at those invisible
+gentlemen and their fantastic doctrines. Gabriel Naude at that
+conjuncture brought out his "Avis a la France sur les Freres de la
+Rose-croix," in which he very successfully exposed the folly of the
+new sect. This work, though not well written, was well timed. It quite
+extinguished the Rosicrucians of France; and, after that year, little
+more was heard of them. Swindlers, in different parts of the country,
+assumed the name at times to cloak their depredations; and now and
+then one of them was caught, and hanged for his too great ingenuity in
+enticing pearls and precious stones from the pockets of other people
+into his own, or for passing off lumps of gilded brass for pure gold,
+made by the agency of the philosopher's stone. With these exceptions,
+oblivion shrouded them.
+
+The doctrine was not confined to a sphere so narrow as France alone;
+it still flourished in Germany, and drew many converts in England. The
+latter countries produced two great masters, in the persons of Jacob
+Bohmen and Robert Fludd; pretended philosophers, of whom it is difficult
+to say which was the more absurd and extravagant. It would appear that
+the sect was divided into two classes,--the brothers Roseae Crucis,
+who devoted themselves to the wonders of this sublunary sphere; and the
+brothers Aureae Crucis, who were wholly occupied in the contemplation
+of things Divine. Fludd belonged to the first class, and Bohmen to the
+second. Fludd may be called the father of the English Rosicrucians, and
+as such merits a conspicuous niche in the temple of Folly.
+
+He was born in the year 1574, at Milgate, in Kent; and was the son of
+Sir Thomas Fludd, Treasurer of War to Queen Elizabeth. He was
+originally intended for the army; but he was too fond of study, and of
+a disposition too quiet and retiring to shine in that sphere. His father
+would not, therefore, press him to adopt a course of life for which he
+was unsuited, and encouraged him in the study of medicine, for which he
+early manifested a partiality. At the age of twenty-five he proceeded to
+the Continent; and being fond of the abstruse, the marvellous, and
+the incomprehensible, he became an ardent disciple of the school
+of Paracelsus, whom he looked upon as the regenerator, not only of
+medicine, but of philosophy. He remained six years in Italy, France,
+and Germany; storing his mind with fantastic notions, and seeking the
+society of enthusiasts and visionaries. On his return to England, in
+1605, he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University
+of Oxford, and began to practice as a physician in London.
+
+He soon made himself conspicuous. He Latinized his name from Robert
+Fludd into Robertus a Fluctibus, and began the promulgation of many
+strange doctrines. He avowed his belief in the philosopher's stone, the
+water of life, and the universal alkahest; and maintained that there
+were but two principles of all things,--which were, condensation, the
+boreal or northern virtue; and rarefaction, the southern or austral
+virtue. A number of demons, he said, ruled over the human frame, whom he
+arranged in their places in a rhomboid. Every disease had its peculiar
+demon who produced it, which demon could only be combated by the aid
+of the demon whose place was directly opposite to his in the rhomboidal
+figure. Of his medical notions we shall have further occasion to speak
+in another part of this book, when we consider him in his character as
+one of the first founders of the magnetic delusion, and its offshoot,
+animal magnetism, which has created so much sensation in our own day.
+
+As if the doctrines already mentioned were not wild enough, he joined
+the Rosicrucians as soon as they began to make a sensation in Europe,
+and succeeded in raising himself to high consideration among them. The
+fraternity having been violently attacked by several German authors, and
+among others by Libavius, Fludd volunteered a reply, and published, in
+1616, his defence of the Rosicrucian philosophy, under the title of the
+"Apologia, compendiaria, Fraternitatem de Rosea-cruce, Suspicionis et
+Infamiae maculis aspersam, abluens." This work immediately procured him
+great renown upon the Continent, and he was henceforth looked upon
+as one of the high-priests of the sect. Of so much importance was he
+considered, that Keppler and Gassendi thought it necessary to refute
+him; and the latter wrote a complete examination of his doctrine.
+Mersenne also, the friend of Descartes, and who had defended that
+philosopher when accused of having joined the Rosicrucians, attacked Dr.
+a Fluctibus, as he preferred to be called, and showed the absurdity of
+the brothers of the Rose-cross in general, and of Dr. a Fluctibus in
+particular. Fluctibus wrote a long reply, in which he called Mersenne
+an ignorant calumniator, and reiterated that alchymy was a profitable
+science, and the Rosicrucians worthy to be the regenerators of the
+world. This book was published at Frankfort, and was entitled "Summum
+Bonum, quod est Magiae, Cabalae, Alchimiae, Fratrum Roseae-Crucis
+verorum, et adversus Mersenium Calumniatorem." Besides this, he wrote
+several other works upon alchymy, a second answer to Libavius upon the
+Rosicrucians, and many medical works. He died in London in 1637.
+
+After his time there was some diminution of the sect in England. They
+excited but little attention, and made no effort to bring themselves
+into notice. Occasionally, some obscure and almost incomprehensible
+work made its appearance, to show the world that the folly was not
+extinguished. Eugenius Philalethes, a noted alchymist, who has
+veiled his real name under this assumed one, translated "The Fame and
+Confession of the Brethren of the Rosie Cross," which was published in
+London in 1652. A few years afterwards, another enthusiast, named John
+Heydon, wrote two works on the subject: the one entitled "The Wise Man's
+Crown, or the Glory of the Rosie Cross;" and the other, "The Holy
+Guide, leading the way to unite Art and Nature, with the Rosie Crosse
+uncovered." Neither of these attracted much notice. A third book was
+somewhat more successful: it was called "A New Method of Rosicrucian
+Physic; by John Heydon, the servant of God and the secretary of Nature."
+A few extracts will show the ideas of the English Rosicrucians about
+this period. Its author was an attorney, "practising (to use his own
+words) at Westminster Hall all term times as long as he lived, and
+in the vacations devoting himself to alchymical and Rosicrucian
+meditation." In his preface, called by him an Apologue for an Epilogue,
+he enlightens the public upon the true history and tenets of his sect.
+Moses, Elias, and Ezekiel were, he says, the most ancient masters of the
+Rosicrucian philosophy. Those few then existing in England and the rest
+of Europe, were as the eyes and ears of the great King of the universe,
+seeing and hearing all things; seraphically illuminated; companions
+of the holy company of unbodied souls and immortal angels; turning
+themselves, Proteus-like, into any shape, and having the power of
+working miracles. The most pious and abstracted brethren could slack the
+plague in cities, silence the violent winds and tempests, calm the rage
+of the sea and rivers, walk in the air, frustrate the malicious aspect
+of witches, cure all diseases, and turn all metals into gold. He had
+known in his time two famous brethren of the Rosie Cross, named Walfourd
+and Williams, who had worked miracles in his sight, and taught him many
+excellent predictions of astrology and earthquakes. "I desired one of
+these to tell me," says he, "whether my complexion were capable of the
+society of my good genius. 'When I see you again,' said he, (which was
+when he pleased to come to me, for I knew not where to go to him,) 'I
+will tell you.' When I saw him afterwards, he said, 'You should pray
+to God; for a good and holy man can offer no greater or more acceptable
+service to God than the oblation of himself--his soul.' He said, also,
+that the good genii were the benign eyes of God, running to and fro in
+the world, and with love and pity beholding the innocent endeavours of
+harmless and single-hearted men, ever ready to do them good and to help
+them."
+
+Heydon held devoutly true that dogma of the Rosicrucians which said that
+neither eating nor drinking was necessary to men. He maintained that any
+one might exist in the same manner as that singular people dwelling near
+the source of the Ganges, of whom mention was made in the travels of his
+namesake, Sir Christopher Heydon, who had no mouths, and therefore could
+not eat, but lived by the breath of their nostrils; except when they
+took a far journey, and then they mended their diet with the smell
+of flowers. He said that in really pure air "there was a fine foreign
+fatness," with which it was sprinkled by the sunbeams, and which was
+quite sufficient for the nourishment of the generality of mankind. Those
+who had enormous appetites he had no objection to see take animal food,
+since they could not do without it; but he obstinately insisted that
+there was no necessity why they should eat it. If they put a plaster of
+nicely-cooked meat upon their epigastrium, it would be sufficient for
+the wants of the most robust and voracious! They would by that means let
+in no diseases, as they did at the broad and common gate, the mouth, as
+any one might see by example of drink; for, all the while a man sat in
+water, he was never athirst. He had known, he said, many Rosicrucians,
+who, by applying wine in this manner, had fasted for years together. In
+fact, quoth Heydon, we may easily fast all our life, though it be three
+hundred years, without any kind of meat, and so cut off all danger of
+disease.
+
+This "sage philosopher" further informed his wondering contemporaries
+that the chiefs of the doctrine always carried about with them to their
+place of meeting their symbol, called the R.C. which was an ebony cross,
+flourished and decked with roses of gold; the cross typifying Christ's
+sufferings upon the Cross for our sins, and the roses of gold the glory
+and beauty of his Resurrection. This symbol was carried alternately to
+Mecca, Mount Calvary, Mount Sinai, Haran, and to three other places,
+which must have been in mid-air, called Cascle, Apamia, and Chaulateau
+Virissa Caunuch, where the Rosicrucian brethren met when they pleased,
+and made resolution of all their actions. They always took their
+pleasures in one of these places, where they resolved all questions of
+whatsoever had been done, was done, or should be done, in the world,
+from the beginning to the end thereof. "And these," he concludes, "are
+the men called Rosicrucians."
+
+Towards the end of the seventeenth century, more rational ideas took
+possession of the sect, which still continued to boast of a few
+members. They appear to have considered that contentment was the true
+philosopher's stone, and to have abandoned the insane search for a
+mere phantom of the imagination. Addison, in "The Spectator," [No. 574.
+Friday, July 30th, 1714.] gives an account of his conversation with a
+Rosicrucian; from which it may be inferred that the sect had grown wiser
+in their deeds, though in their talk they were as foolish as ever. "I
+was once," says he, "engaged in discourse with a Rosicrucian about the
+great secret. He talked of the secret as of a spirit which lived within
+an emerald, and converted everything that was near it to the highest
+perfection that it was capable of. 'It gives a lustre,' says he, 'to the
+sun, and water to the diamond. It irradiates every metal, and enriches
+lead with all the properties of gold. It heightens smoke into flame,
+flame into light, and light into glory.' He further added 'that a single
+ray of it dissipates pain, and care, and melancholy from the person on
+whom it falls. In short,' says he, 'its presence naturally changes every
+place into a kind of heaven.' After he had gone on for some time in this
+unintelligible cant, I found that he jumbled natural and moral ideas
+together into the same discourse, and that his great secret was nothing
+else but content."
+
+JACOB BOHMEN.
+
+It is now time to speak of Jacob Bohmen, who thought he could discover
+the secret of the transmutation of metals in the Bible, and who invented
+a strange heterogeneous doctrine of mingled alchymy and religion, and
+founded upon it the sect of the Aurea-crucians. He was born at Gorlitz,
+in Upper Lusatia, in 1575; and followed, till his thirtieth year, the
+occupation of a shoemaker. In this obscurity he remained, with the
+character of a visionary and a man of unsettled mind, until the
+promulgation of the Rosicrucian philosophy in his part of Germany,
+toward the year 1607 or 1608. From that time he began to neglect his
+leather, and buried his brain under the rubbish of metaphysics. The
+works of Paracelsus fell into his hands; and these, with the reveries
+of the Rosicrucians, so completely engrossed his attention that be
+abandoned his trade altogether, sinking, at the same time, from a state
+of comparative independence into poverty and destitution. But he was
+nothing daunted by the miseries and privations of the flesh; his mind
+was fixed upon the beings of another sphere, and in thought he was
+already the new apostle of the human race. In the year 1612, after a
+meditation of four years, he published his first work, entitled
+"Aurora; or, The Rising of the Sun;" embodying the ridiculous notions
+of Paracelsus, and worse confounding the confusion of that writer. The
+philosopher's stone might, he contended, be discovered by a diligent
+search of the Old and New Testaments, and more especially of the
+Apocalypse, which alone contained all the secrets of alchymy. He
+contended that the Divine Grace operated by the same rules, and followed
+the same methods, that the Divine Providence observed in the natural
+world; and that the minds of men were purged from their vices and
+corruptions in the very same manner that metals were purified from their
+dross, namely, by fire.
+
+Besides the sylphs, gnomes, undines, and salamanders, he acknowledged
+various ranks and orders of demons. He pretended to invisibility and
+absolute chastity. He also said that, if it pleased him, he could
+abstain for years from meat and drink, and all the necessities of the
+body. It is needless, however, to pursue his follies any further. He
+was reprimanded for writing this work by the magistrates of Gorlitz, and
+commanded to leave the pen alone and stick to his wax, that his family
+might not become chargeable to the parish. He neglected this good
+advice, and continued his studies; burning minerals and purifying metals
+one day, and mystifying the Word of God on the next. He afterwards wrote
+three other works, as sublimely ridiculous as the first. The one was
+entitled "Metallurgia," and has the slight merit of being the least
+obscure of his compositions. Another was called "The Temporal Mirror of
+Eternity;" and the last his "Theosophy revealed," full of allegories and
+metaphors,
+
+"All strange and geason, Devoid of sense and ordinary reason."
+
+Bohmen died in 1624, leaving behind him a considerable number of
+admiring disciples. Many of them became, during the seventeenth century,
+as distinguished for absurdity as their master; amongst whom may be
+mentioned Gifftheil, Wendenhagen, John Jacob Zimmermann, and Abraham
+Frankenberg. Their heresy rendered them obnoxious to the Church of Rome;
+and many of them suffered long imprisonment and torture for their faith.
+One, named Kuhlmann, was burned alive at Moscow, in 1684, on a charge
+of sorcery. Bohmen's works were translated into English, and published,
+many years afterwards by an enthusiast, named William Law.
+
+MORMIUS.
+
+Peter Mormius, a notorious alchymist, and contemporary of Bohmen,
+endeavoured, in 1630, to introduce the Rosicrucian philosophy into
+Holland. He applied to the States-General to grant him a public
+audience, that he might explain the tenets of the sect, and disclose
+a plan for rendering Holland the happiest and richest country on the
+earth, by means of the philosopher's' stone and the service of the
+elementary spirits. The States-General wisely resolved to have nothing
+to do with him. He thereupon determined to shame them by printing his
+book, which he did at Leyden the same year. It was entitled "The Book
+of the most Hidden Secrets of Nature," and was divided into three
+parts; the first treating of "perpetual motion," the second of the
+"transmutation of metals," and the third of the "universal medicine."
+He also published some German works upon the Rosicrucian philosophy, at
+Frankfort, in 1617.
+
+Poetry and Romance are deeply indebted to the Rosicrucians for many
+a graceful creation. The literature of England, France, and Germany
+contains hundreds of sweet fictions, whose machinery has been borrowed
+from their day-dreams. The "delicate Ariel" of Shakspeare stands
+pre-eminent among the number. From the same source Pope drew the airy
+tenants of Belinda's dressing-room, in his charming "Rape of the Lock;"
+and La Motte Fouque, the beautiful and capricious water-nymph, Undine,
+around whom he has thrown more grace and loveliness, and for whose
+imaginary woes he has excited more sympathy, than ever were bestowed on
+a supernatural being. Sir Walter Scott also endowed the White Lady of
+Avenel with many of the attributes of the undines, or water-sprites.
+German romance and lyrical poetry teem with allusions to sylphs,
+gnomes, undines, and salamanders; and the French have not been behind in
+substituting them, in works of fiction, for the more cumbrous mythology
+of Greece and Rome. The sylphs, more especially, have been the
+favourites of the bards, and have become so familiar to the popular mind
+as to be, in a manner, confounded with that other race of ideal beings,
+the fairies, who can boast of an antiquity much more venerable in the
+annals of superstition. Having these obligations to the Rosicrucians, no
+lover of poetry can wish, however absurd they were, that such a sect of
+philosophers had never existed.
+
+BORRI.
+
+Just at the time that Michael Mayer was making known to the world the
+existence of such a body as the Rosicrucians, there was born in Italy a
+man who was afterwards destined to become the most conspicuous member of
+the fraternity. The alchymic mania never called forth the ingenuity of
+a more consummate or more successful impostor than Joseph Francis Borri.
+He was born in 1616 according to some authorities, and in 1627 according
+to others, at Milan; where his father, the Signor Branda Borri,
+practised as a physician. At the age of sixteen, Joseph was sent
+to finish his education at the Jesuits' College in Rome, where he
+distinguished himself by his extraordinary memory. He learned everything
+to which he applied himself with the utmost ease. In the most voluminous
+works no fact was too minute for his retention, and no study was so
+abstruse but that he could master it; but any advantages he might
+have derived from this facility, were neutralized by his ungovernable
+passions and his love of turmoil and debauchery. He was involved in
+continual difficulty, as well with the heads of the college as with the
+police of Rome, and acquired so bad a character that years could
+not remove it. By the aid of his friends he established himself as
+a physician in Rome, and also obtained some situation in the Pope's
+household. In one of his fits of studiousness he grew enamoured of
+alchymy, and determined to devote his energies to the discovery of
+the philosopher's stone. Of unfortunate propensities he had quite
+sufficient, besides this, to bring him to poverty. His pleasures were
+as expensive as his studies, and both were of a nature to destroy his
+health and ruin his fair fame. At the age of thirty-seven he found that
+he could not live by the practice of medicine, and began to look about
+for some other employment. He became, in 1653, private secretary to
+the Marquis di Mirogli, the minister of the Archduke of Innspruk at the
+court of Rome. He continued in this capacity for two years; leading,
+however, the same abandoned life as heretofore, frequenting the
+society of gamesters, debauchees, and loose women, involving himself
+in disgraceful street quarrels, and alienating the patrons who were
+desirous to befriend him.
+
+All at once a sudden change was observed in his conduct. The abandoned
+rake put on the outward sedateness of a philosopher; the scoffing
+sinner proclaimed that he had forsaken his evil ways, and would live
+thenceforth a model of virtue. To his friends this reformation was as
+pleasing as it was unexpected; and Borri gave obscure hints that it had
+been brought about by some miraculous manifestation of a superior power.
+He pretended that he held converse with beneficent spirits; that the
+secrets of God and nature were revealed to him; and that he had obtained
+possession of the philosopher's stone. Like his predecessor, Jacob
+Bohmen, he mixed up religious questions with his philosophical jargon,
+and took measures for declaring himself the founder of a new sect. This,
+at Rome itself, and in the very palace of the Pope, was a hazardous
+proceeding; and Borri just awoke to a sense of it in time to save
+himself from the dungeons of the Castle of St. Angelo. He fled to
+Innspruck, where he remained about a year, and then returned to his
+native city of Milan.
+
+The reputation of his great sanctity had gone before him; and he found
+many persons ready to attach themselves to his fortunes. All who were
+desirous of entering into the new communion took an oath of poverty, and
+relinquished their possessions for the general good of the fraternity.
+Borri told them that he had received from the archangel Michael a
+heavenly sword, upon the hilt of which were engraven the names of the
+seven celestial Intelligences. "Whoever shall refuse," said he, "to
+enter into my new sheepfold, shall be destroyed by the papal armies, of
+whom God has predestined me to be the chief. To those who follow me, all
+joy shall be granted. I shall soon bring my chemical studies to a happy
+conclusion by the discovery of the philosopher's stone, and by this
+means we shall all have as much gold as we desire. I am assured of
+the aid of the angelic hosts, and more especially of the archangel
+Michael's. When I began to walk in the way of the spirit, I had a vision
+of the night, and was assured by an angelic voice that I should become a
+prophet. In sign of it I saw a palm-tree, surrounded with all the glory
+of Paradise. The angels come to me whenever I call, and reveal to me all
+the secrets of the universe. The sylphs and elementary spirits obey me,
+and fly to the uttermost ends of the world to serve me, and those whom
+I delight to honour." By force of continually repeating such stories
+as these, Borri soon found himself at the head of a very considerable
+number of adherents. As he figures in these pages as an alchymist,
+and not as a religious sectarian, it will be unnecessary to repeat
+the doctrines which he taught with regard to some of the dogmas of the
+Church of Rome, and which exposed him to the fierce resentment of
+the papal authority. They were to the full as ridiculous as his
+philosophical pretensions. As the number of his followers increased, he
+appears to have cherished the idea of becoming one day a new Mahomet,
+and of founding, in his native city of Milan, a monarchy and religion of
+which he should be the king and the prophet. He had taken measures, in
+the year 1658, for seizing the guards at all the gates of that city,
+and formally declaring himself the monarch of the Milanese. Just as he
+thought the plan ripe for execution, it was discovered. Twenty of
+his followers were arrested, and he himself managed, with the utmost
+difficulty, to escape to the neutral territory of Switzerland, where the
+papal displeasure could not reach him.
+
+The trial of his followers commenced forthwith, and the whole of them
+were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. Borri's trial proceeded
+in his absence, and lasted for upwards of two years. He was condemned
+to death as a heretic and sorcerer in 1661, and was burned in effigy in
+Rome by the common hangman.
+
+Borri, in the mean time, lived quietly in Switzerland, indulging himself
+in railing at the Inquisition and its proceedings. He afterwards went to
+Strasbourg, intending to fix his residence in that town. He was received
+with great cordiality, as a man persecuted for his religious opinions,
+and withal a great alchymist. He found that sphere too narrow for his
+aspiring genius, and retired in the same year to the more wealthy
+city of Amsterdam. He there hired a magnificent house, established an
+equipage which eclipsed in brilliancy those of the richest merchants,
+and assumed the title of Excellency. Where he got the money to live in
+this expensive style was long a secret: the adepts in alchymy easily
+explained it, after their fashion. Sensible people were of opinion that
+he had come by it in a less wonderful manner; for it was remembered
+that, among his unfortunate disciples in Milan, there were many rich
+men, who, in conformity with one of the fundamental rules of the sect,
+had given up all their earthly wealth into the hands of their founder.
+In whatever manner the money was obtained, Borri spent it in Holland
+with an unsparing hand, and was looked up to by the people with no
+little respect and veneration. He performed several able cures, and
+increased his reputation so much that he was vaunted as a prodigy.
+He continued diligently the operations of alchymy, and was in daily
+expectation that he should succeed in turning the inferior metals into
+gold. This hope never abandoned him, even in the worst extremity of
+his fortunes; and in his prosperity it led him into the most foolish
+expenses: but he could not long continue to live so magnificently upon
+the funds he had brought from Italy; and the philosopher's stone, though
+it promised all for the wants of the morrow, never brought anything for
+the necessities of to-day. He was obliged in a few months to
+retrench, by giving up his large house, his gilded coach, and valuable
+blood-horses, his liveried domestics, and his luxurious entertainments.
+With this diminution of splendour came a diminution of renown. His cures
+did not appear so miraculous, when he went out on foot to perform them,
+as they had seemed when "his Excellency" had driven to a poor man's door
+in his carriage with six horses. He sank from a prodigy into an ordinary
+man. His great friends showed him the cold shoulder, and his humble
+flatterers carried their incense to some other shrine. Borri now thought
+it high time to change his quarters. With this view he borrowed money
+wherever he could get it, and succeeded in obtaining two hundred
+thousand florins from a merchant, named De Meer, to aid, as he said, in
+discovering the water of life. He also obtained six diamonds, of great
+value, on pretence that he could remove the flaws from them without
+diminishing their weight. With this booty he stole away secretly by
+night, and proceeded to Hamburgh.
+
+On his arrival in that city, he found the celebrated Christina, the
+ex-Queen of Sweden. He procured an introduction to her, and requested
+her patronage in his endeavour to discover the philosopher's stone. She
+gave him some encouragement; but Borri, fearing that the merchants
+of Amsterdam, who had connexions in Hamburgh, might expose his
+delinquencies if he remained in the latter city, passed over to
+Copenhagen, and sought the protection of Frederic III, the King of
+Denmark.
+
+This Prince was a firm believer in the transmutation of metals. Being in
+want of money, he readily listened to the plans of an adventurer who had
+both eloquence and ability to recommend him. He provided Borri with the
+means to make experiments, and took a great interest in the progress of
+his operations. He expected every month to possess riches that would buy
+Peru; and, when he was disappointed, accepted patiently the excuses
+of Borri who, upon every failure, was always ready with some plausible
+explanation. He became, in time, much attached to him; and defended him
+from the jealous attacks of his courtiers, and the indignation of those
+who were grieved to see their monarch the easy dupe of a charlatan.
+Borri endeavoured, by every means in his power, to find aliment for
+this good opinion. His knowledge of medicine was useful to him in this
+respect, and often stood between him and disgrace. He lived six years in
+this manner at the court of Frederic; but that monarch dying in 1670, he
+was left without a protector.
+
+As he had made more enemies than friends in Copenhagen, and had nothing
+to hope from the succeeding sovereign, he sought an asylum in another
+country. He went first to Saxony; but met so little encouragement, and
+encountered so much danger from the emissaries of the Inquisition,
+that he did not remain there many months. Anticipating nothing but
+persecution in every country that acknowledged the spiritual authority
+of the Pope, he appears to have taken the resolution to dwell in Turkey,
+and turn Mussulman. On his arrival at the Hungarian frontier, on his way
+to Constantinople, he was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in
+the conspiracy of the Counts Nadasdi and Frangipani, which had just been
+discovered. In vain he protested his innocence, and divulged his real
+name and profession. He was detained in prison, and a letter despatched
+to the Emperor Leopold to know what should be done with him. The star
+of his fortunes was on the decline. The letter reached Leopold at an
+unlucky moment. The Pope's Nuncio was closeted with his Majesty; and he
+no sooner heard the name of Joseph Francis Borri, than he demanded him
+as a prisoner of the Holy See. The request was complied with; and Borri,
+closely manacled, was sent under an escort of soldiers to the prison
+of the Inquisition at Rome. He was too much of an impostor to be
+deeply tinged with fanaticism, and was not unwilling to make a public
+recantation of his heresies if he could thereby save his life. When
+the proposition was made to him, he accepted it with eagerness. His
+punishment was to be commuted into the hardly less severe one of
+perpetual imprisonment; but he was too happy to escape the clutch of the
+executioner at any price, and he made the amende honorable in face of
+the assembled multitudes of Rome on the 27th of October 1672. He was
+then transferred to the prisons of the Castle of St. Angelo, where he
+remained till his death, twenty-three years afterwards. It is said that,
+towards the close of his life, considerable indulgence was granted him;
+that he was allowed to have a laboratory, and to cheer the solitude of
+his dungeon by searching for the philosopher's stone. Queen Christina,
+during her residence at Rome, frequently visited the old man, to
+converse with him upon chemistry and the doctrines of the Rosicrucians.
+She even obtained permission that he should leave his prison
+occasionally for a day or two, and reside in her palace, she being
+responsible for his return to captivity. She encouraged him to search
+for the great secret of the alchymists, and provided him with money for
+the purpose. It may well be supposed that Borri benefited most by this
+acquaintance, and that Christina got nothing but experience. It is
+not sure that she gained even that; for, until her dying day, she was
+convinced of the possibility of finding the philosopher's stone, and
+ready to assist any adventurer either zealous or impudent enough to
+pretend to it.
+
+After Borri had been about eleven years in confinement, a small volume
+was published at Cologne, entitled "The Key of the Cabinet of the
+Chevalier Joseph Francis Borri; in which are contained many curious
+Letters upon Chemistry and other Sciences, written by him; together with
+a Memoir of his Life." This book contained a complete exposition of the
+Rosicrucian philosophy, and afforded materials to the Abbe de Villars
+for his interesting "Count de Gabalis," which excited so much attention
+at the close of the seventeenth century.
+
+Borri lingered in the prison of St. Angelo till 1695, when he died in
+his eightieth year. Besides "The Key of the Cabinet," written originally
+in Copenhagen, in 1666, for the edification of King Frederic III, he
+published a work upon alchymy and the secret sciences, under the title
+of "The Mission of Romulus to the Romans."
+
+INFERIOR ALCHYMISTS OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.
+
+Besides the pretenders to the philosopher's stone whose lives have been
+already narrated, this and the preceding century produced a great number
+of writers, who inundated literature with their books upon the subject.
+In fact, most of the learned men of that age had some faith in it. Van
+Helmont, Borrichius, Kirchen, Boerhaave, and a score of others, though
+not professed alchymists, were fond of the science, and countenanced its
+professors. Helvetius, the grandfather of the celebrated philosopher of
+the same name, asserts that he saw an inferior metal turned into gold by
+a stranger, at the Hague, in 1666. He says that, sitting one day in his
+study, a man, who was dressed as a respectable burgher of North Holland,
+and very modest and simple in his appearance, called upon him, with the
+intention of dispelling his doubts relative to the philosopher's stone.
+He asked Helvetius if he thought he should know that rare gem if he
+saw it. To which Helvetius replied, that he certainly should not. The
+burgher immediately drew from his pocket a small ivory box, containing
+three pieces of metal, of the colour of brimstone, and extremely heavy;
+and assured Helvetius, that of them he could make as much as twenty tons
+of gold. Helvetius informs us, that he examined them very attentively;
+and seeing that they were very brittle, he took the opportunity to
+scrape off a very small portion with his thumb-nail. He then returned
+them to the stranger, with an entreaty that he would perform the process
+of transmutation before him. The stranger replied, that he was not
+allowed to do so, and went away. After his departure, Helvetius procured
+a crucible and a portion of lead, into which, when in a state of
+fusion, he threw the stolen grain from the philosopher's stone. He was
+disappointed to find that the grain evaporated altogether, leaving the
+lead in its original state.
+
+Some weeks afterwards, when he had almost forgotten the subject, he
+received another visit from the stranger. He again entreated him to
+explain the processes by which he pretended to transmute lead. The
+stranger at last consented, and informed him, that one grain was
+sufficient; but that it was necessary to envelope it in a ball of wax
+before throwing it on the molten metal; otherwise its extreme volatility
+would cause it to go off in vapour. They tried the experiment, and
+succeeded to their heart's content. Helvetius repeated the experiment
+alone, and converted six ounces of lead into very pure gold.
+
+The fame of this event spread all over the Hague, and all the notable
+persons of the town flocked to the study of Helvetius to convince
+themselves of the fact. Helvetius performed the experiment again, in the
+presence of the Prince of Orange, and several times afterwards, until
+he exhausted the whole of the powder he had received from the stranger,
+from whom, it is necessary to state, he never received another visit;
+nor did he ever discover his name or condition. In the following year
+Helvetius published his "Golden Calf," ["Vitulus Aureus quem Mundus
+adorat et orat, in quo tractatur de naturae miraculo transmutandi
+metalla."--Hagae, 1667.] in which he detailed the above circumstances.
+
+About the same time, the celebrated Father Kircher published his
+"Subterranean World," in which he called the alchymists a congregation
+of knaves and impostors, and their science a delusion. He admitted that
+he had himself been a diligent labourer in the field, and had only come
+to this conclusion after mature consideration and repeated fruitless
+experiments. All the alchymists were in arms immediately, to refute
+this formidable antagonist. One Solomon de Blauenstein was the first
+to grapple with him, and attempted to convict him of wilful
+misrepresentation, by recalling to his memory the transmutations
+by Sendivogius, before the Emperor Frederic III. and the Elector of
+Mayence; all performed within a recent period. Zwelfer and Glauber also
+entered into the dispute, and attributed the enmity of Father Kircher
+to spite and jealousy against adepts who had been more successful than
+himself.
+
+It was also pretended that Gustavus Adolphus transmuted a quantity of
+quicksilver into pure gold. The learned Borrichius relates, that he saw
+coins which had been struck of this gold; and Lenglet du Fresnoy deposes
+to the same circumstance. In the Travels of Monconis the story is told
+in the following manner:--"A merchant of Lubeck, who carried on but
+little trade, but who knew how to change lead into very good gold, gave
+the King of Sweden a lingot which he had made, weighing, at least, one
+hundred pounds. The King immediately caused it to be coined into ducats;
+and because he knew positively that its origin was such as had been
+stated to him, he had his own arms graven upon the one side, and
+emblematical figures of Mercury and Venus on the other." "I," continued
+Monconis, "have one of these ducats in my possession; and was credibly
+informed, that, after the death of the Lubeck merchant, who had never
+appeared very rich, a sum of no less than one million seven hundred
+thousand crowns was found in his coffers." [Voyages de Monconis, tome
+ii. p. 379.]
+
+Such stories as these, confidently related by men high in station,
+tended to keep up the infatuation of the alchymists in every country of
+Europe. It is astonishing to see the number of works which were written
+upon the subject during the seventeenth century alone, and the number
+of clever men who sacrificed themselves to the delusion. Gabriel de
+Castaigne, a monk of the order of St. Francis, attracted so much
+notice in the reign of Louis XIII, that that monarch secured him in
+his household, and made him his Grand Almoner. He pretended to find the
+elixir of life; and Louis expected, by his means, to have enjoyed the
+crown for a century. Van Helmont also pretended to have once performed
+with success the process of transmuting quicksilver; and was, in
+consequence, invited by the Emperor Rudolph II. to fix his residence at
+the court of Vienna. Glauber, the inventor of the salts which still bear
+his name, and who practised as a physician at Amsterdam about the middle
+of the seventeenth century, established a public school in that city for
+the study of alchymy, and gave lectures himself upon the science. John
+Joachim Becher, of Spire, acquired great reputation at the same period;
+and was convinced that much gold might be made out of flint stones by
+a peculiar process, and the aid of that grand and incomprehensible
+substance, the philosopher's stone. He made a proposition to the Emperor
+Leopold of Austria, to aid him in these experiments; but the hope of
+success was too remote, and the present expense too great to tempt that
+monarch; and he therefore gave Becher much of his praise, but none of
+his money. Becher afterwards tried the States-General of Holland, with
+no better success.
+
+With regard to the innumerable tricks by which impostors persuaded
+the world that they had succeeded in making gold, and of which so many
+stories were current about this period, a very satisfactory report was
+read by M. Geoffroy, the elder, at the sitting of the Royal Academy
+of Sciences, at Paris, on the 15th of April, 1722. As it relates
+principally to the alchymic cheats of the sixteenth and seventeenth
+centuries, the following abridgment of it may not be out of place in
+this portion of our history:--The instances of successful transmutation
+were so numerous, and apparently so well authenticated, that nothing
+short of so able an exposure as that of M. Geoffroy could disabuse the
+public mind. The trick to which they oftenest had recourse, was to use a
+double-bottomed crucible, the under surface being of iron or copper, and
+the upper one of wax, painted to resemble the same metal. Between the
+two they placed as much gold or silver dust as was necessary for their
+purpose. They then put in their lead, quicksilver, or other ingredients,
+and placed their pot upon the fire. Of course, when the experiment was
+concluded, they never failed to find a lump of gold at the bottom. The
+same result was produced in many other ways. Some of them used a hollow
+wand, filled with gold or silver dust, and stopped at the ends with wax
+or butter. With this they stirred the boiling metal in their crucibles,
+taking care to accompany the operation with many ceremonies, to divert
+attention from the real purpose of the manoeuvre. They also drilled
+holes in lumps of lead, into which they poured molten gold, and
+carefully closed the aperture with the original metal. Sometimes they
+washed a piece of gold with quicksilver. When in this state they found
+no difficulty in palming it off upon the uninitiated as an inferior
+metal, and very easily transmuted it into fine sonorous gold again, with
+the aid of a little aquafortis.
+
+Others imposed by means of nails, half iron and half gold or silver.
+They pretended that they really transmuted the precious half from iron,
+by dipping it in a strong alcohol. M. Geoffroy produced several of these
+nails to the Academy of Sciences, and showed how nicely the two parts
+were soldered together. The golden or silver half was painted black to
+resemble iron, and the colour immediately disappeared when the nail was
+dipped into aquafortis. A nail of this description was, for a long
+time, in the cabinet of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Such also, said
+M. Geoffroy, was the knife presented by a monk to Queen Elizabeth of
+England; the blade of which was half gold and half steel. Nothing at one
+time was more common than to see coins, half gold and half silver, which
+had been operated upon by alchymists, for the same purposes of trickery.
+In fact, says M. Geoffroy, in concluding his long report, there is every
+reason to believe that all the famous histories which have been handed
+down to us, about the transmutation of metals into gold or silver, by
+means of the powder of projection, or philosophical elixirs, are
+founded upon some successful deception of the kind above narrated. These
+pretended philosophers invariably disappeared after the first or second
+experiment, or their powders or elixirs have failed to produce their
+effect, either because attention being excited they have found no
+opportunity to renew the trick without being discovered, or because they
+have not had sufficient gold dust for more than one trial.
+
+The disinterestedness of these would-be philosopher looked, at first
+sight, extremely imposing. Instances were not rare, in which they
+generously abandoned all the profits of their transmutations--even the
+honour of the discovery! But this apparent disinterestedness was one of
+the most cunning of their manoeuvres. It served to keep up the popular
+expectation; it showed the possibility of discovering the philosopher's
+stone, and provided the means of future advantages, which they were
+never slow to lay hold of--such as entrances into royal households,
+maintenance at the public expense, and gifts from ambitious potentates,
+too greedy after the gold they so easily promised.
+
+It now only remains to trace the progress of the delusion from the
+commencement of the eighteenth century until the present day. It will be
+seen, that until a very recent period, there were but slight signs of a
+return to reason.
+
+JEAN DELISLE.
+
+In the year 1705, there was much talk in France of a blacksmith, named
+Delisle, who had discovered the philosopher's stone, and who went about
+the country turning lead into gold. He was a native of Provence, from
+which place his fame soon spread to the capital. His early life
+is involved in obscurity; but Longlet du Fresnoy has industriously
+collected some particulars of his later career, which possess
+considerable interest. He was a man without any education, and had been
+servant in his youth to an alchymist, from whom he learned many of
+the tricks of the fraternity. The name of his master has never been
+discovered; but it is pretended that he rendered himself in some
+manner obnoxious to the government of Louis XIV, and was obliged, in
+consequence, to take refuge in Switzerland. Delisle accompanied him
+as far as Savoy, and there, it is said, set upon him in a solitary
+mountain-pass, and murdered and robbed him. He then disguised himself
+as a pilgrim, and returned to France. At a lonely inn, by the road-side,
+where he stopped for the night, he became acquainted with a woman, named
+Aluys; and so sudden a passion was enkindled betwixt them, that she
+consented to leave all, follow him, and share his good or evil fortune
+wherever he went. They lived together for five or six years in Provence,
+without exciting any attention, apparently possessed of a decent
+independence. At last, in 1706, it was given out that he was the
+possessor of the philosopher's stone; and people, from far and near,
+came flocking to his residence, at the Chateau de la Palu, at Sylanez,
+near Barjaumont, to witness the wealth he could make out of pumps and
+fire shovels. The following account of his operations is given in a
+letter addressed by M. de Cerisy, the Prior of Chateauneuf, in the
+Diocese of Riez, in Provence, to the Vicar of St. Jacques du Hautpas,
+at Paris, and dated the 18th of November 1706:--
+
+"I have something to relate to you, my dear cousin, which will be
+interesting to you and your friends. The philosopher's stone, which so
+many persons have looked upon as a chimera, is at last found. It is a
+man named Delisle, of the parish of Sylanez, and residing within a
+quarter of a league of me, that has discovered this great secret. He
+turns lead into gold, and iron into silver, by merely heating these
+metals red hot, and pouring upon them, in that state, some oil and
+powder he is possessed of; so that it would not be impossible for any
+man to make a million a day, if he had sufficient of this wondrous
+mixture. Some of the pale gold which he had made in this manner, he sent
+to the jewellers of Lyons, to have their opinion on its quality. He also
+sold twenty pounds weight of it to a merchant of Digne, named Taxis. All
+the jewellers say they never saw such fine gold in their lives. He makes
+nails, part gold, part iron, and part silver. He promised to give me one
+of them, in a long conversation which I had with him the other day, by
+order of the Bishop of Sends, who saw his operations with his own eyes,
+and detailed all the circumstances to me.
+
+"The Baron and Baroness de Rheinwald showed me a lingot of gold made out
+of pewter before their eyes by M. Delisle. My brother-in-law Sauveur,
+who has wasted fifty years of his life in this great study, brought me
+the other day a nail which he had seen changed into gold by Delisle, and
+fully convinced me that all his previous experiments were founded on an
+erroneous principle. This excellent workman received, a short time ago,
+a very kind letter from the superintendent of the royal household,
+which I read. He offered to use all his influence with the ministers to
+prevent any attempts upon his liberty, which has twice been attacked by
+the agents of government. It is believed that the oil he makes use of,
+is gold or silver reduced to that state. He leaves it for a long time
+exposed to the rays of the sun. He told me that it generally took him
+six months to make all his preparations. I told him that, apparently,
+the King wanted to see him. He replied that he could not exercise his
+art in every place, as a certain climate and temperature were absolutely
+necessary to his success. The truth is, that this man appears to have
+no ambition. He only keeps two horses and two men-servants. Besides, he
+loves his liberty, has no politeness, and speaks very bad French;
+but his judgment seems to be solid. He was formerly no more than a
+blacksmith, but excelled in that trade without having been taught it.
+All the great lords and seigneurs from far and near come to visit
+him, and pay such court to him, that it seems more like idolatry than
+anything else. Happy would France be if this man would discover his
+secret to the King, to whom the superintendent has already sent some
+lingots! But the happiness is too great to be hoped for; for I fear that
+the workman and his secret will expire together. There is no doubt
+that this discovery will make a great noise in the kingdom, unless the
+character of the man, which I have just depicted to you, prevent it. At
+all events, posterity will hear of him."
+
+In another letter to the same person, dated the 27th of January 1707, M.
+de Cerisy says, "My dear cousin, I spoke to you in my last letter of the
+famous alchymist of Provence, M. Delisle. A good deal of that was only
+hearsay, but now I am enabled to speak from my own experience. I have
+in my possession a nail, half iron and half silver, which I made myself.
+That great and admirable workman also bestowed a still greater privilege
+upon me--he allowed me to turn a piece of lead which I had brought with
+me into pure gold, by means of his wonderful oil and powder. All the
+country have their eyes upon this gentleman: some deny loudly, others
+are incredulous; but those who have seen acknowledge the truth. I have
+read the passport that has been sent to him from Court, with orders that
+he should present himself at Paris early in the spring. He told me that
+he would go willingly, and that it was himself who fixed the spring for
+his departure; as he wanted to collect his materials, in order that,
+immediately on his introduction to the King, he might make an experiment
+worthy of his Majesty, by converting a large quantity of lead into the
+finest gold. I sincerely hope that he will not allow his secret to die
+with him, but that he will communicate it to the King. As I had the
+honour to dine with him on Thursday last, the 20th of this month, being
+seated at his side, I told him in a whisper that he could, if he liked,
+humble all the enemies of France. He did not deny it, but began to
+smile. In fact, this man is the miracle of art. Sometimes he employs
+the oil and powder mixed, sometimes the powder only, but in so small a
+quantity that, when the lingot which I made was rubbed all over with it,
+it did not show at all."
+
+This soft-headed priest was by no means the only person in the
+neighbourhood who lost his wits in hopes of the boundless wealth held
+out by this clever impostor. Another priest, named De Lions, a chanter
+in the cathedral of Grenoble, writing on the 30th January 1707,
+says,--"M. Mesnard, the curate of Montier, has written to me, stating
+that there is a man, about thirty-five years of age, named Delisle, who
+turns lead and iron into gold and silver; and that this transmutation is
+so veritable and so true, that the goldsmiths affirm that his gold and
+silver are the purest and finest they ever saw. For five years, this
+man was looked upon as a madman or a cheat; but the public mind is now
+disabused with respect to him. He now resides with M. de la Palu, at
+the chateau of the same name. M. de la Palu is not very easy in his
+circumstances, and wants money to portion his daughters, who have
+remained single till middle age, no man being willing to take them
+without a dowry. M. Delisle has promised to make them the richest girls
+in the province before he goes to Court, having been sent for by the
+King. He has asked for a little time before his departure, in order that
+he may collect powder enough to make several quintals of gold before the
+eyes of his Majesty, to whom he intends to present them. The principal
+matter of his wonderful powder is composed of simples, principally the
+herbs Lunaria major and minor. There is a good deal of the first
+planted by him in the gardens of La Palu; and he gets the other from the
+mountains, that stretch about two leagues from Montier. What I tell
+you now is not a mere story invented for your diversion: M. Mesnard can
+bring forward many witnesses to its truth; among others, the Bishop of
+Senes, who saw these surprising operations performed; and M. de Cerisy,
+whom you know well. Delisle transmutes his metals in public. He rubs the
+lead or iron with his powder, and puts it over burning charcoal. In a
+short time it changes colour; the lead becomes yellow, and is found to
+be converted into excellent gold: the iron becomes white, and is found
+to be pure silver. Delisle is altogether an illiterate person. M. de St.
+Auban endeavoured to teach him to read and write, but he profited very
+little by his lessons. He is unpolite, fantastic, and a dreamer, and
+acts by fits and starts."
+
+Delisle, it would appear, was afraid of venturing to Paris. He knew that
+his sleight of hand would be too narrowly watched in the royal presence;
+and upon some pretence or other, he delayed the journey for more than
+two years. Desmarets, the Minister of Finance to Louis XIV, thinking the
+"philosopher" dreaded foul play, twice sent him a safe conduct under the
+King's seal; but Delisle still refused. Upon this, Desmarets wrote
+to the Bishop of Sends for his real opinion as to these famous
+transmutations. The following was the answer of that prelate:--
+
+"Copy of a report addressed to M. Desmarets, Comptroller-General of the
+Finances to His Majesty Louis XIV, by the Bishop of Senes, dated March
+1709.
+
+"SIR,
+
+"A twelvemonth ago, or a little more, I expressed to you my joy at
+hearing of your elevation to the ministry; I have now the honour to
+write you my opinion of the Sieur Delisle, who has been working at
+the transmutation of metals in my diocese. I have, during the last
+two years, spoken of him several times to the Count de Pontchartrain,
+because he asked me; but I have not written to you, sir, or to M. de
+Chamillart, because you neither of you requested my opinion upon the
+subject. Now, however, that you have given me to understand that you
+wish to know my sentiments on the matter, I will unfold myself to you
+in all sincerity, for the interests of the King and the glory of your
+ministry.
+
+"There are two things about the Sieur Delisle which, in my opinion,
+should be examined without prejudice: the one relates to his secret;
+the other, to his person; that is to say, whether his transmutations are
+real, and whether his conduct has been regular. As regards the secret
+of the philosopher's stone, I deemed it impossible, for a long time; and
+for more than three years, I was more mistrustful of the pretensions
+of this Sieur Delisle than of any other person. During this period
+I afforded him no countenance; I even aided a person, who was highly
+recommended to me by an influential family of this province, to
+prosecute Delisle for some offence or other which it was alleged he had
+committed. But this person, in his anger against him, having told me
+that he had himself been several times the bearer of gold and silver to
+the goldsmiths of Nice, Aix, and Avignon, which had been transmuted by
+Delisle from lead and iron, I began to waver a little in my opinions
+respecting him. I afterwards met Delisle at the house of one of my
+friends. To please me, the family asked Delisle to operate before me, to
+which he immediately consented. I offered him some iron nails, which he
+changed into silver in the chimney-place before six or seven credible
+witnesses. I took the nails thus transmuted, and sent them by my almoner
+to Irabert, the jeweller of Aix, who, having subjected them to the
+necessary trial, returned them to me, saying they were very good silver.
+Still, however, I was not quite satisfied. M. de Pontchartrain having
+hinted to me, two years previously, that I should do a thing agreeable
+to his Majesty if I examined into this business of Delisle, I resolved
+to do so now. I therefore summoned the alchymist to come to me at
+Castellane. He came; and I had him escorted by eight or ten vigilant
+men, to whom I had given notice to watch his hands strictly. Before all
+of us he changed two pieces of lead into gold and silver. I sent them
+both to M. de Pontchartrain; and he afterwards informed me by a letter,
+now lying before me, that he had shown them to the most experienced
+goldsmiths of Paris, who unanimously pronounced them to be gold and
+silver of the very purest quality, and without alloy. My former bad
+opinion of Delisle was now indeed shaken. It was much more so when he
+performed transmutation five or six times before me at Senes, and
+made me perform it myself before him without his putting his hand to
+anything. You have seen, sir, the letter of my nephew, the Pere Berard,
+of the Oratoire at Paris, on the experiment that he performed at
+Castellane, and the truth of which I hereby attest. Another nephew of
+mine, the Sieur Bourget, who was here three weeks ago, performed the
+same experiment in my presence, and will detail all the circumstances
+to you personally at Paris. A hundred persons in my diocese have been
+witnesses of these things. I confess to you, sir, that, after the
+testimony of so many spectators and so many goldsmiths, and after
+the repeatedly successful experiments that I saw performed, all my
+prejudices vanished. My reason was convinced by my eyes; and the
+phantoms of impossibility which I had conjured up were dissipated by the
+work of my own hands.
+
+"It now only remains for me to speak to you on the subject of his person
+and conduct. Three suspicions have been excited against him: the first,
+That he was implicated in some criminal proceeding at Cisteron, and that
+he falsified the coin of the realm; the second, That the King sent him
+two safe-conducts without effect; and the third, That he still delays
+going to court to operate before the King. You may see, sir, that I do
+not hide or avoid anything. As regards the business at Cisteron, the
+Sieur Delisle has repeatedly assured me that there was nothing against
+him which could reasonably draw him within the pale of justice, and that
+he had never carried on any calling injurious to the King's service. It
+was true that, six or seven years ago, he had been to Cisteron to gather
+herbs necessary for his powder, and that he had lodged at the house
+of one Pelouse, whom he thought an honest man. Pelouse was accused of
+clipping Louis d'ors; and as he had lodged with him, he was suspected of
+being his accomplice. This mere suspicion, without any proof whatever,
+had caused him to be condemned for contumacy; a common case enough
+with judges, who always proceed with much rigour against those who are
+absent. During my own sojourn at Aix, it was well known that a man,
+named Andre Aluys, had spread about reports injurious to the character
+of Delisle, because he hoped thereby to avoid paying him a sum of forty
+Louis that he owed him. But permit me, sir, to go further, and to add
+that, even if there were well-founded suspicions against Delisle, we
+should look with some little indulgence on the faults of a man
+who possesses a secret so useful to the state. As regards the two
+safe-conducts sent him by the King, I think I can answer certainly that
+it was through no fault of his that he paid so little attention to them.
+His year, strictly speaking, consists only of the four summer months;
+and when by any means he is prevented from making the proper use of
+them, he loses a whole year. Thus the first safe-conduct became useless
+by the irruption of the Duke of Savoy in 1707; and the second had
+hardly been obtained, at the end of June 1708, when the said Delisle was
+insulted by a party of armed men, pretending to act under the authority
+of the Count de Grignan, to whom he wrote several letters of complaint,
+without receiving any answer, or promise that his safety would be
+attended to. What I have now told you, sir, removes the third objection,
+and is the reason why, at the present time, he cannot go to Paris to
+the King, in fulfilment of his promises made two years ago. Two, or even
+three, summers have been lost to him, owing to the continual inquietude
+he has laboured under. He has, in consequence, been unable to work,
+and has not collected a sufficient quantity of his oil and powder, or
+brought what he has got to the necessary degree of perfection. For
+this reason also he could not give the Sieur de Bourget the portion he
+promised him for your inspection. If the other day he changed some lead
+into gold with a few grains of his powder, they were assuredly all he
+had; for he told me that such was the fact long before he knew my nephew
+was coming. Even if he had preserved this small quantity to operate
+before the King, I am sure that, on second thoughts, he would never have
+adventured with so little; because the slightest obstacles in the
+metals (their being too hard or too soft, which is only discovered in
+operating) would have caused him to be looked upon as an impostor,
+if, in case his first powder had proved ineffectual, he had not been
+possessed of more to renew the experiment and surmount the difficulty.
+
+"Permit me, sir, in conclusion, to repeat that such an artist as this
+should not be driven to the last extremity, nor forced to seek an asylum
+offered to him in other countries, but which he has despised, as much
+from his own inclinations as from the advice I have given him. You risk
+nothing in giving him a little time, and in hurrying him you may lose a
+great deal. The genuineness of his gold can no longer be doubted, after
+the testimony of so many jewellers of Aix, Lyons, and Paris in its
+favour. As it is not his fault that the previous safe-conducts sent to
+him have been of no service, it will be necessary to send him another;
+for the success of which I will be answerable, if you will confide the
+matter to me, and trust to my zeal for the service of his Majesty, to
+whom I pray you to communicate this letter, that I may be spared the
+just reproaches he might one day heap upon me if he remained ignorant of
+the facts I have now written to you. Assure him, if you please, that,
+if you send me such a safe-conduct, I will oblige the Sieur Delisle to
+depose with me such precious pledges of his fidelity, as shall enable
+me to be responsible myself to the King. These are my sentiments, and I
+submit them to your superior knowledge; and have the honour to remain,
+with much respect, &c.
+
+"JOHN, Bishop of Senes."
+
+"To M. Desmarets, Minister of State, and
+
+"Comptroller-General of the Finances, at Paris."
+
+
+That Delisle was no ordinary impostor, but a man of consummate cunning
+and address, is very evident from this letter. The Bishop was fairly
+taken in by his clever legerdemain, and when once his first distrust was
+conquered, appeared as anxious to deceive himself as even Delisle could
+have wished. His faith was so abundant that he made the case of his
+protege his own, and would not suffer the breath of suspicion to be
+directed against him. Both Louis and his minister appear to have been
+dazzled by the brilliant hopes he had excited, and a third pass, or
+safe-conduct, was immediately sent to the alchymist, with a command from
+the King that he should forthwith present himself at Versailles, and
+make public trial of his oil and powder. But this did not suit the
+plans of Delisle: in the provinces he was regarded as a man of no small
+importance; the servile flattery that awaited him wherever he went was
+so grateful to his mind that he could not willingly relinquish it and
+run upon certain detection at the court of the Monarch. Upon one
+pretext or another he delayed his journey, notwithstanding the earnest
+solicitations of his good friend the Bishop. The latter had given
+his word to the minister, and pledged his honour that he would induce
+Delisle to go, and he began to be alarmed when he found he could not
+subdue the obstinacy of that individual. For more than two years he
+continued to remonstrate with him, and was always met by some excuse,
+that there was not sufficient powder, or that it had not been long
+enough exposed to the rays of the sun. At last his patience was
+exhausted; and fearful that he might suffer in the royal estimation by
+longer delay, he wrote to the King for a lettre de cachet, in virtue of
+which the alchymist was seized at the castle of La Palu, in the month of
+June 1711, and carried off to be imprisoned in the Bastille.
+
+The gendarmes were aware that their prisoner was supposed to be the
+lucky possessor of the philosopher's stone, and on the road they
+conspired to rob and murder him. One of them pretended to be touched
+with pity for the misfortunes of the philosopher, and offered to give
+him an opportunity of escape whenever he could divert the attention of
+his companions. Delisle was profuse in his thanks, little dreaming of
+the snare that was laid for him. His treacherous friend gave notice
+of the success of the stratagem so far; and it was agreed that Delisle
+should be allowed to struggle with and overthrow one of them while the
+rest were at some distance. They were then to pursue him and shoot him
+through the heart; and after robbing the corpse of the philosopher's
+stone, convey it to Paris on a cart, and tell M. Desmarets that the
+prisoner had attempted to escape, and would have succeeded, if they had
+not fired after him and shot him through the body. At a convenient place
+the scheme was executed. At a given signal from the friendly gendarme
+Delisle fled, while another gendarme took aim and shot him through the
+thigh. Some peasants arriving at the instant, they were prevented from
+killing him as they intended; and he was transported to Paris, maimed
+and bleeding. He was thrown into a dungeon in the Bastille, and
+obstinately tore away the bandages which the surgeons applied to his
+wound. He never afterwards rose from his bed.
+
+The Bishop of Senes visited him in prison, and promised him his liberty
+if he would transmute a certain quantity of lead into gold before
+the King. The unhappy man had no longer the means of carrying on the
+deception; he had no gold, and no double-bottomed crucible or hollow
+wand to conceal it in, even if he had. He would not, however, confess
+that he was an impostor; but merely said he did not know how to make
+the powder of projection, but had received a quantity from an Italian
+philosopher, and had used it all in his various transmutations in
+Provence. He lingered for seven or eight months in the Bastille, and
+died from the effects of his wound, in the forty-first year of his age.
+
+ALBERT ALUYS.
+
+This pretender to the philosopher's stone, was the son, by a former
+husband, of the woman Aluys, with whom Delisle became acquainted at the
+commencement of his career, in the cabaret by the road side, and whom he
+afterwards married. Delisle performed the part of a father towards
+him, and thought he could show no stronger proof of his regard, than by
+giving him the necessary instructions to carry on the deception which
+had raised himself to such a pitch of greatness. The young Aluys was
+an apt scholar, and soon mastered all the jargon of the alchymists. He
+discoursed learnedly upon projections, cimentations, sublimations, the
+elixir of life, and the universal alkahest; and on the death of Delisle
+gave out that the secret of that great adept had been communicated to
+him, and to him only. His mother aided in the fraud, with the hope they
+might both fasten themselves, in the true alchymical fashion, upon some
+rich dupe, who would entertain them magnificently while the operation
+was in progress. The fate of Delisle was no inducement for them to stop
+in France. The Provencals, it is true, entertained as high an opinion
+as ever of his skill, and were well inclined to believe the tales of
+the young adept on whom his mantle had fallen; but the dungeons of the
+Bastille were yawning for their prey, and Aluys and his mother decamped
+with all convenient expedition. They travelled about the Continent
+for several years, sponging upon credulous rich men, and now and then
+performing successful transmutations by the aid of double-bottomed
+crucibles and the like. In the year 1726, Aluys, without his mother, who
+appears to have died in the interval, was at Vienna, where he introduced
+himself to the Duke de Richelieu, at that time ambassador from the court
+of France. He completely deceived this nobleman; he turned lead into
+gold (apparently) on several occasions, and even made the ambassador
+himself turn an iron nail into a silver one. The Duke afterwards boasted
+to Lenglet du Fresnoy of his achievements as an alchymist, and regretted
+that he had not been able to discover the secret of the precious powder
+by which he performed them.
+
+Aluys soon found that, although he might make a dupe of the Duke de
+Richelieu, he could not get any money from him. On the contrary, the
+Duke expected all his pokers and fire shovels to be made silver, and all
+his pewter utensils gold; and thought the honour of his acquaintance
+was reward sufficient for a roturier, who could not want wealth since he
+possessed so invaluable a secret. Aluys seeing that so much was
+expected of him, bade adieu to his Excellency, and proceeded to Bohemia,
+accompanied by a pupil, and by a young girl who had fallen in love
+with him in Vienna. Some noblemen in Bohemia received him kindly, and
+entertained him at their houses for months at a time. It was his usual
+practice to pretend that he possessed only a few grains of his powder,
+with which he would operate in any house where he intended to fix his
+quarters for the season. He would make the proprietor a present of the
+piece of gold thus transmuted, and promise him millions, if he could
+only be provided with leisure to gather his lunaria major and minor on
+their mountain tops, and board, lodging, and loose cash for himself, his
+wife, and his pupil in the interval.
+
+He exhausted in this manner the patience of some dozen of people, when,
+thinking that there was less danger for him in France, under the young
+king Louis XV, than under his old and morose predecessor, he returned to
+Provence. On his arrival at Aix, he presented himself before M. le Bret,
+the President of the province, a gentleman who was much attached to the
+pursuits of alchymy, and had great hopes of being himself able to
+find the philosopher's stone. M. le Bret, contrary to his expectation,
+received him very coolly, in consequence of some rumours that were
+spread abroad respecting him; and told him to call upon him on the
+morrow. Aluys did not like the tone of the voice, or the expression of
+the eye of the learned President, as that functionary looked down upon
+him. Suspecting that all was not right, he left Aix secretly the same
+evening, and proceeded to Marseilles. But the police were on the watch
+for him; and he had not been there four-and-twenty hours, before he was
+arrested on a charge of coining, and thrown into prison.
+
+As the proofs against him were too convincing to leave him much hope of
+an acquittal, he planned an escape from durance. It so happened that
+the gaoler had a pretty daughter, and Aluys soon discovered that she was
+tender-hearted. He endeavoured to gain her in his favour, and succeeded.
+The damsel, unaware that he was a married man, conceived and encouraged
+a passion for him, and generously provided him with the means of escape.
+After he had been nearly a year in prison he succeeded in getting free,
+leaving the poor girl behind, to learn that he was already married,
+and to lament in solitude that she had given her heart to an ungrateful
+vagabond.
+
+When he left Marseilles, he had not a shoe to his foot, or a decent
+garment to his back, but was provided with some money and clothes by his
+wife in a neighbouring town. They then found their way to Brussels, and
+by dint of excessive impudence, brought themselves into notice. He took
+a house, fitted up a splendid laboratory, and gave out that he knew the
+secret of transmutation. In vain did M. Percel, the brother-in-law of
+Lenglet du Fresnoy, who resided in that city, expose his pretensions,
+and hold him up to contempt as an ignorant impostor: the world believed
+him not. They took the alchymist at his word, and besieged his doors, to
+see and wonder at the clever legerdemain by which he turned iron nails
+into gold and silver. A rich greffier paid him a large sum of money that
+he might be instructed in the art, and Aluys gave him several lessons on
+the most common principles of chemistry. The greffier studied hard for
+a twelvemonth, and then discovered that his master was a quack. He
+demanded his money back again; but Aluys was not inclined to give
+it him, and the affair was brought before the civil tribunal of the
+province. In the mean time, however, the greffier died suddenly;
+poisoned, according to the popular rumour, by his debtor, to avoid
+repayment. So great an outcry arose in the city, that Aluys, who may
+have been innocent of the crime, was nevertheless afraid to remain and
+brave it. He withdrew secretly in the night, and retired to Paris. Here
+all trace of him is lost. He was never heard of again; but Lenglet du
+Fresnoy conjectures, that he ended his days in some obscure dungeon,
+into which he was cast for coining, or other malpractices.
+
+THE COUNT DE ST. GERMAIN
+
+This adventurer was of a higher grade than the last, and played a
+distinguished part at the court of Louis XV. He pretended to have
+discovered the elixir of life, by means of which he could make any one
+live for centuries; and allowed it to be believed that his own age was
+upwards of two thousand years. He entertained many of the opinions
+of the Rosicrucians; boasted of his intercourse with sylphs and
+salamanders; and of his power of drawing diamonds from the earth, and
+pearls from the sea, by the force of his incantations. He did not lay
+claim to the merit of having discovered the philosopher's stone; but
+devoted so much of his time to the operations of alchymy, that it was
+very generally believed, that, if such a thing as the philosopher's
+stone had ever existed, or could be called into existence, he was the
+man to succeed in finding it.
+
+It has never yet been discovered what was his real name, or in what
+country he was born. Some believed, from the Jewish cast of his handsome
+countenance, that he was the "wandering Jew;" others asserted, that
+he was the issue of an Arabian princess, and that his father was a
+salamander; while others, more reasonable, affirmed him to be the son
+of a Portuguese Jew, established at Bourdeaux. He first carried on his
+imposture in Germany, where he made considerable sums by selling an
+elixir to arrest the progress of old age. The Marechal de Belle-Isle
+purchased a dose of it; and was so captivated with the wit, learning,
+and good manners of the charlatan, and so convinced of the justice
+of his most preposterous pretensions, that he induced him to fix his
+residence in Paris. Under the Marshal's patronage, he first appeared
+in the gay circles of that capital. Every one was delighted with the
+mysterious stranger; who, at this period of his life, appears to have
+been about seventy years of age, but did not look more than forty-five.
+His easy assurance imposed upon most people. His reading was extensive,
+and his memory extraordinarily tenacious of the slightest circumstances.
+His pretension to have lived for so many centuries naturally exposed him
+to some puzzling questions, as to the appearance, life, and conversation
+of the great men of former days; but he was never at a loss for an
+answer. Many who questioned him for the purpose of scoffing at him,
+refrained in perplexity, quite bewildered by his presence of mind, his
+ready replies, and his astonishing accuracy on every point mentioned
+in history. To increase the mystery by which he was surrounded, he
+permitted no person to know how he lived. He dressed in a style of the
+greatest magnificence; sported valuable diamonds in his hat, on his
+fingers, and in his shoe-buckles; and sometimes made the most costly
+presents to the ladies of the court. It was suspected by many that he
+was a spy, in the pay of the English ministry; but there never was a
+tittle of evidence to support the charge. The King looked upon him with
+marked favour, was often closeted with him for hours together, and would
+not suffer anybody to speak disparagingly of him. Voltaire constantly
+turned him into ridicule; and, in one of his letters to the King of
+Prussia, mentions him as "un comte pour fire;" and states, that he
+pretended to have dined with the holy fathers, at the Council of Trent!
+
+In the "Memoirs of Madame du Hausset," chamber-woman to Madame du
+Pompadour, there are some amusing anecdotes of this personage. Very soon
+after his arrival in Paris, he had the entree of her dressing-room; a
+favour only granted to the most powerful lords at the court of her royal
+lover. Madame was fond of conversing with him; and, in her presence,
+he thought fit to lower his pretensions very considerably: but he often
+allowed her to believe that he had lived two or three hundred years,
+at least. "One day," says Madame du Hausset, "Madame said to him, in my
+presence, 'What was the personal appearance of Francis I? He was a King
+I should have liked.' 'He was, indeed, very captivating,' replied St.
+Germain; and he proceeded to describe his face and person, as that of a
+man whom he had accurately observed. 'It is a pity he was too ardent. I
+could have given him some good advice, which would have saved him from
+all his misfortunes: but he would not have followed it; for it seems as
+if a fatality attended princes, forcing them to shut their ears to the
+wisest counsel.' 'Was his court very brilliant?' inquired Madame du
+Pompadour. 'Very,' replied the Count; 'but those of his grandsons
+surpassed it. In the time of Mary Stuart and Margaret of Valois, it
+was a land of enchantment--a temple sacred to pleasures of every kind.'
+Madame said, laughing, 'You seem to have seen all this.' 'I have an
+excellent memory,' said he, 'and have read the history of France with
+great care. I sometimes amuse myself, not by making, but by letting, it
+be believed that I lived in old times.'
+
+"'But you do not tell us your age,' said Madame du Pompadour to him on
+another occasion; 'and yet you pretend you are very old. The Countess de
+Gergy, who was, I believe, ambassadress at Vienna some fifty years ago,
+says she saw you there, exactly the same as you now appear.'
+
+"'It is true, Madam,' replied St. Germain; 'I knew Madame de Gergy many
+years ago.'
+
+"'But, according to her account, you must be more than a hundred years
+old?'
+
+"'That is not impossible,' said he, laughing; 'but it is much more
+possible that the good lady is in her dotage.'
+
+"'You gave her an elixir, surprising for the effects it produced;
+for she says, that during a length of time, she only appeared to be
+eighty-four; the age at which she took it. Why don't you give it to the
+King?'
+
+"'O Madam!' he exclaimed, 'the physicians would have me broken on the
+wheel, were I to think of drugging his Majesty.'"
+
+When the world begins to believe extraordinary things of an individual,
+there is no telling where its extravagance will stop. People, when once
+they have taken the start, vie with each other who shall believe most.
+At this period all Paris resounded with the wonderful adventures of
+the Count de St. Germain; and a company of waggish young men tried the
+following experiment upon its credulity:-A clever mimic, who, on account
+of the amusement he afforded, was admitted into good society, was taken
+by them, dressed as the Count de St. Germain, into several houses in
+the Rue du Marais. He imitated the Count's peculiarities admirably, and
+found his auditors open-mouthed to believe any absurdity he chose to
+utter. NO fiction was too monstrous for their all-devouring credulity.
+He spoke of the Saviour of the world in terms of the greatest
+familiarity; said he had supped with him at the marriage in Canaan of
+Galilee, where the water was miraculously turned into wine. In fact, he
+said he was an intimate friend of his, and had often warned him to be
+less romantic and imprudent, or he would finish his career miserably.
+This infamous blasphemy, strange to say, found believers; and, ere three
+days had elapsed, it was currently reported that St. Germain was born
+soon after the deluge, and that he would never die!
+
+St. Germain himself was too much a man of the world to assert anything
+so monstrous; but he took no pains to contradict the story. In all his
+conversations with persons of rank and education, he advanced his claims
+modestly, and as if by mere inadvertency; and seldom pretended to a
+longevity beyond three hundred years; except when he found he was in
+company with persons who would believe anything. He often spoke of Henry
+VIII, as if he had known him intimately; and of the Emperor Charles
+V, as if that monarch had delighted in his society. He would describe
+conversations which took place with such an apparent truthfulness, and
+be so exceedingly minute and particular as to the dress and appearance
+of the individuals, and even the weather at the time, and the furniture
+of the room, that three persons out of four were generally inclined
+to credit him. He had constant applications from rich old women for an
+elixir to make them young again; and, it would appear, gained large sums
+in this manner. To those whom he was pleased to call his friends, he
+said, his mode of living and plan of diet were far superior to any
+elixir; and that anybody might attain a patriarchal age, by refraining
+from drinking at meals, and very sparingly at any other time. The Baron
+de Gleichen followed this system, and took great quantities of senna
+leaves, expecting to live for two hundred years. He died, however, at
+seventy-three. The Duchess de Choiseul was desirous of following the
+same system; but the Duke her husband, in much wrath, forbade her to
+follow any system prescribed by a man who had so equivocal a reputation
+as M. de St. Germain.
+
+Madame du Hausset says, she saw St. Germain, and conversed with him
+several times. He appeared to her to be about fifty years of age, was of
+the middle size, and had fine expressive features. His dress was always
+simple, but displayed much taste. He usually wore diamond rings of great
+value; and his watch and snuff-box were ornamented with a profusion of
+precious stones. One day, at Madame du Pompadour's apartments, where the
+principal courtiers were assembled, St. Germain made his appearance in
+diamond knee and shoe buckles, of so fine a water, that Madame said, she
+did not think the King had any equal to them. He was entreated to pass
+into the antechamber, and undo them; which he did, and brought them
+to Madame, for closer inspection. M. de Gontant, who was present, said
+their value could not be less than two hundred thousand livres, or
+upwards of eight thousand pounds sterling. The Baron de Gleichen, in his
+"Memoirs," relates, that the Count one day showed him so many diamonds,
+that he thought he saw before him all the treasures of Aladdin's lamp;
+and adds, that he had had great experience in precious stones, and was
+convinced that all those possessed by the Count were genuine. On another
+occasion, St. Germain showed Madame du Pompadour a small box, containing
+topazes, emeralds, and diamonds, worth half a million of livres. He
+affected to despise all this wealth, to make the world more easily
+believe that he could, like the Rosicrucians, draw precious stones out
+of the earth by the magic of his song. He gave away a great number of
+these jewels to the ladies of the court; and Madame du Pompadour was
+so charmed with his generosity, that she gave him a richly-enamelled
+snuff-box, as a token of her regard; on the lid of which was beautifully
+painted a portrait of Socrates, or some other Greek sage, to whom she
+compared him. He was not only lavish to the mistresses, but to the
+maids. Madame du Hausset says,--"The Count came to see Madame du
+Pompadour, who was very ill, and lay on the sofa. He showed her diamonds
+enough to furnish a king's treasury. Madame sent for me to see all
+those beautiful things. I looked at them with an air of the utmost
+astonishment; but I made signs to her, that I thought them all false.
+The Count felt for something in a pocket-book about twice as large as
+a spectacle-case; and, at length, drew out two or three little paper
+packets, which he unfolded, and exhibited a superb ruby. He threw on
+the table, with a contumptuous air, a little cross of green and white
+stones. I looked at it, and said it was not to be despised. I then
+put it on, and admired it greatly. The Count begged me to accept it. I
+refused. He urged me to take it. At length, he pressed so warmly, that
+Madame, seeing it could not be worth more than a thousand livres, made
+me a sign to accept it. I took the cross, much pleased with the Count's
+politeness."
+
+How the adventurer obtained his wealth remains a secret. He could not
+have made it all by the sale of his elixir vitae in Germany; though,
+no doubt, some portion of it was derived from that source. Voltaire
+positively says, he was in the pay of foreign governments; and in his
+letter to the King of Prussia, dated the 5th of April 1758, says, that
+he was initiated in all the secrets of Choiseul, Kaunitz, and Pitt.
+Of what use he could be to any of those ministers, and to Choiseul
+especially, is a mystery of mysteries.
+
+There appears no doubt that he possessed the secret of removing spots
+from diamonds; and, in all probability, he gained considerable sums by
+buying, at inferior prices, such as had flaws in them, and afterwards
+disposing of them at a profit of cent. per cent. Madame du Hausset
+relates the following anecdote on this particular:--"The King," says
+she, "ordered a middling-sized diamond, which had a flaw in it, to be
+brought to him. After having it weighed, his Majesty said to the Count,
+'The value of this diamond, as it is, and with the flaw in it, is six
+thousand livres; without the flaw, it would be worth, at least, ten
+thousand. Will you undertake to make me a gainer of four thousand
+livres?' St. Germain examined it very attentively, and said, 'It is
+possible; it may be done. I will bring it you again in a month.' At the
+time appointed, the Count brought back the diamond, without a spot, and
+gave it to the King. It was wrapped in a cloth of amianthos, which he
+took off. The King had it weighed immediately, and found it very little
+diminished. His Majesty then sent it to his jeweller, by M. de Gonrant,
+without telling him of anything that had passed. The jeweller gave nine
+thousand six hundred livres for it. The King, however, sent for the
+diamond back again, and said he would keep it as a curiosity. He could
+not overcome his surprise; and said M. de St. Germain must be worth
+millions; especially if he possessed the secret of making large diamonds
+out of small ones. The Count neither said that he could, or could not;
+but positively asserted, that he knew how to make pearls grow, and give
+them the finest water. The King paid him great attention, and so did
+Madame du Pompadour. M. du Quesnoy once said, that St. Germain was
+a quack; but the King reprimanded him. In fact, his Majesty appears
+infatuated by him; and sometimes talks of him as if his descent were
+illustrious."
+
+St. Germain had a most amusing vagabond for a servant, to whom he would
+often appeal for corroboration, when relating some wonderful event that
+happened centuries before. The fellow, who was not without ability,
+generally corroborated him in a most satisfactory manner. Upon one
+occasion, his master was telling a party of ladies and gentlemen, at
+dinner, some conversation he had had in Palestine, with King Richard I.
+of England, whom he described as a very particular friend of his.
+Signs of astonishment and incredulity were visible on the faces of the
+company; upon which St. Germain very coolly turned to his servant, who
+stood behind his chair, and asked him if he had not spoken truth? "I
+really cannot say," replied the man, without moving a muscle; "you
+forget, sir, I have only been five hundred years in your service!" "Ah!
+true," said his master; "I remember now; it was a little before your
+time!" Occasionally, when with men whom he could not so easily dupe,
+he gave utterance to the contempt with which he could scarcely avoid
+regarding such gaping credulity. "These fools of Parisians," said he,
+to the Baron de Gleichen, "believe me to be more than five hundred years
+old; and, since they will have it so, I confirm them in their idea. Not
+but that I really am much older than I appear."
+
+Many other stories are related of this strange impostor; but enough have
+been quoted to show his character and pretensions. It appears that
+he endeavoured to find the philosopher's stone; but never boasted of
+possessing it. The Prince of Hesse Cassel, whom he had known years
+before, in Germany, wrote urgent letters to him, entreating him to
+quit Paris, and reside with him. St. Germain at last consented. Nothing
+further is known of his career. There were no gossipping memoir-writers
+at the court of Hesse Cassel to chronicle his sayings and doings. He
+died at Sleswig, under the roof of his friend the Prince, in the year
+1784.
+
+CAGLIOSTRO,
+
+This famous charlatan, the friend and successor of St. Germain, ran a
+career still more extraordinary. He was the arch-quack of his age, the
+last of the great pretenders to the philosopher's stone and the water
+of life, and during his brief season of prosperity one of the most
+conspicuous characters of Europe.
+
+His real name was Joseph Balsamo. He was born at Palermo about the year
+1743, of humble parentage. He had the misfortune to lose his father
+during his infancy, and his education was left in consequence to some
+relatives of his mother, the latter being too poor to afford him
+any instruction beyond mere reading and writing. He was sent in his
+fifteenth year to a monastery, to be taught the elements of chemistry
+and physic; but his temper was so impetuous, his indolence so
+invincible, and his vicious habits so deeply rooted, that he made no
+progress. After remaining some years, he left it with the character of
+an uninformed and dissipated young man, with good natural talents but a
+bad disposition. When he became of age, he abandoned himself to a
+life of riot and debauchery, and entered himself, in fact, into that
+celebrated fraternity, known in France and Italy as the "Knights of
+Industry," and in England as the "Swell Mob." He was far from being
+an idle or unwilling member of the corps. The first way in which
+he distinguished himself was by forging orders of admission to the
+theatres. He afterwards robbed his uncle, and counterfeited a will. For
+acts like these, he paid frequent compulsory visits to the prisons of
+Palermo. Somehow or other he acquired the character of a sorcerer--of a
+man who had failed in discovering the secrets of alchymy, and had sold
+his soul to the devil for the gold which he was not able to make by
+means of transmutation. He took no pains to disabuse the popular mind on
+this particular, but rather encouraged the belief than otherwise. He at
+last made use of it to cheat a silversmith, named Marano, of about sixty
+ounces of gold, and was in consequence obliged to leave Palermo. He
+persuaded this man that he could show him a treasure hidden in a cave,
+for which service he was to receive the sixty ounces of gold, while the
+silversmith was to have all the treasure for the mere trouble of digging
+it up. They went together at midnight to an excavation in the vicinity
+of Palermo, where Balsamo drew a magic circle, and invoked the devil to
+show his treasures. Suddenly there appeared half a dozen fellows, the
+accomplices of the swindler, dressed to represent devils, with horns
+on their heads, claws to their fingers, and vomiting apparently red and
+blue flame. They were armed with pitchforks, with which they belaboured
+poor Marano till he was almost dead, and robbed him of his sixty ounces
+of gold and all the valuables he carried about his person. They then
+made off, accompanied by Balsamo, leaving the unlucky silversmith to
+recover or die at his leisure. Nature chose the former course; and soon
+after daylight he was restored to his senses, smarting in body from his
+blows and in spirit for the deception of which he had been the victim.
+His first impulse was to denounce Balsamo to the magistrates of the
+town; but on further reflection he was afraid of the ridicule that a
+full exposure of all the circumstances would draw upon him: he therefore
+took the truly Italian resolution of being revenged on Balsamo by
+murdering him at the first convenient opportunity. Having given
+utterance to this threat in the hearing of a friend of Balsamo, it was
+reported to the latter, who immediately packed up his valuables and
+quitted Europe.
+
+He chose Medina, in Arabia, for his future dwelling-place, and there
+became acquainted with a Greek named Altotas, a man exceedingly well
+versed in all the languages of the East, and an indefatigable student of
+alchymy. He possessed an invaluable collection of Arabian manuscripts on
+his favourite science, and studied them with such unremitting industry
+that he found he had not sufficient time to attend to his crucibles
+and furnaces without neglecting his books. He was looking about for
+an assistant when Balsamo opportunely presented himself, and made so
+favourable an impression that he was at once engaged in that capacity.
+But the relation of master and servant did not long subsist between
+them; Balsamo was too ambitious and too clever to play a secondary part,
+and within fifteen days of their first acquaintance they were bound
+together as friends and partners. Altotas, in the course of a long
+life devoted to alchymy, had stumbled upon some valuable discoveries in
+chemistry, one of which was an ingredient for improving the manufacture
+of flax, and imparting to goods of that material a gloss and softness
+almost equal to silk. Balsamo gave him the good advice to leave the
+philosopher's stone for the present undiscovered, and make gold out
+of their flax. The advice was taken, and they proceeded together to
+Alexandria to trade, with a large stock of that article. They stayed
+forty days in Alexandria, and gained a considerable sum by their
+venture. They afterwards visited other cities in Egypt, and were equally
+successful. They also visited Turkey, where they sold drugs and amulets.
+On their return to Europe, they were driven by stress of weather into
+Malta, and were hospitably received by Pinto, the Grand Master of the
+Knights, and a famous alchymist. They worked in his laboratory for some
+months, and tried hard to change a pewter-platter into a silver one.
+Balsamo, having less faith than his companions, was sooner wearied; and
+obtaining from his host many letters of introduction to Rome and Naples,
+he left him and Altotas to find the philosopher's stone and transmute
+the pewter-platter without him.
+
+He had long since dropped the name of Balsamo on account of the many
+ugly associations that clung to it; and during his travels had assumed
+at least half a score others, with titles annexed to them. He called
+himself sometimes the Chevalier de Fischio, the Marquis de Melissa, the
+Baron de Belmonte, de Pelligrini, d'Anna, de Fenix, de Harat, but most
+commonly the Count de Cagliostro. Under the latter title he entered
+Rome, and never afterwards changed it. In this city he gave himself out
+as the restorer of the Rosicrucian philosophy; said he could transmute
+all metals into gold; that he could render himself invisible, cure
+all diseases, and administer an elixir against old age and decay. His
+letters from the Grand Master Pinto procured him an introduction into
+the best families. He made money rapidly by the sale of his elixir
+vitae; and, like other quacks, performed many remarkable cures by
+inspiring his patients with the most complete faith and reliance upon
+his powers; an advantage which the most impudent charlatans often
+possess over the regular practitioner.
+
+While thus in a fair way of making his fortune he became acquainted
+with the beautiful Lorenza Feliciana, a young lady of noble birth,
+but without fortune. Cagliostro soon discovered that she possessed
+accomplishments that were invaluable. Besides her ravishing beauty,
+she had the readiest wit, the most engaging manners, the most fertile
+imagination, and the least principle of any of the maidens of Rome. She
+was just the wife for Cagliostro, who proposed himself to her, and was
+accepted. After their marriage, he instructed his fair Lorenza in all
+the secrets of his calling--taught her pretty lips to invoke angels, and
+genii, sylphs, salamanders, and undines, and, when need required, devils
+and evil spirits. Lorenza was an apt scholar: she soon learned all the
+jargon of the alchymists and all the spells of the enchanters; and
+thus accomplished the hopeful pair set out on their travels, to levy
+contributions on the superstitious and the credulous.
+
+They first went to Sleswig on a visit to the Count de St. Germain, their
+great predecessor in the art of making dupes, and were received by him
+in the most magnificent manner. They no doubt fortified their minds for
+the career they had chosen, by the sage discourse of that worshipful
+gentleman; for immediately after they left him, they began their
+operations. They travelled for three or four years in Russia, Poland,
+and Germany, transmuting metals, telling fortunes, raising spirits, and
+selling the elixir vitae wherever they went; but there is no record of
+their doings from whence to draw a more particular detail. It was not
+until they made their appearance in England in 1776, that the names
+of the Count and Countess di Cagliostro began to acquire a European
+reputation. They arrived in London in the July of that year, possessed
+of property in plate, jewels, and specie to the amount of about three
+thousand pounds. They hired apartments in Whitcombe-street, and lived
+for some months quietly. In the same house there lodged a Portuguese
+woman named Blavary, who, being in necessitous circumstances, was
+engaged by the Count as interpreter. She was constantly admitted
+into his laboratory, where he spent much of his time in search of the
+philosopher's stone. She spread abroad the fame of her entertainer in
+return for his hospitality, and laboured hard to impress everybody with
+as full a belief in his extraordinary powers as she felt herself. But
+as a female interpreter of the rank and appearance of Madame Blavary
+did not exactly correspond with the Count's notions either of dignity or
+decorum, he hired a person named Vitellini, a teacher of languages, to
+act in that capacity. Vitellini was a desperate gambler; a man who had
+tried almost every resource to repair his ruined fortunes, including
+among the rest the search for the philosopher's stone. Immediately that
+he saw the Count's operations, he was convinced that the great secret
+was his, and that the golden gates of the palace of fortune were open
+to let him in. With still more enthusiasm than Madame Blavary, he held
+forth to his acquaintance, and in all public places, that the Count was
+an extraordinary man, a true adept, whose fortune was immense, and who
+could transmute into pure and solid gold, as much lead, iron, and copper
+as he pleased. The consequence was, that the house of Cagliostro was
+besieged by crowds of the idle, the credulous, and the avaricious,
+all eager to obtain a sight of the "philosopher," or to share in the
+boundless wealth which he could call into existence.
+
+Unfortunately for Cagliostro, he had fallen into evil hands; instead of
+duping the people of England as he might have done, he became himself
+the victim of a gang of swindlers, who, with the fullest reliance on his
+occult powers, only sought to make money of him. Vitellini introduced to
+him a ruined gambler like himself, named Scot, whom he represented as a
+Scottish nobleman, attracted to London solely by his desire to see and
+converse with the extraordinary man whose fame had spread to the distant
+mountains of the north. Cagliostro received him with great kindness and
+cordiality; and "Lord" Scot thereupon introduced a woman named Fry, as
+Lady Scot, who was to act as chaperone to the Countess di Cagliostro,
+and make her acquainted with all the noble families of Britain. Thus
+things went swimmingly. "His lordship," whose effects had not arrived
+from Scotland, and who had no banker in London, borrowed two hundred
+pounds of the Count; they were lent without scruple, so flattered was
+Cagliostro by the attentions they paid him, the respect, nay, veneration
+they pretended to feel for him, and the complete deference with which
+they listened to every word that fell from his lips.
+
+Superstitious, like all desperate gamesters, Scot had often tried
+magical and cabalistic numbers, in the hope of discovering lucky numbers
+in the lottery, or at the roulette tables. He had in his possession a
+cabalistic manuscript, containing various arithmetical combinations of
+the kind, which he submitted to Cagliostro, with an urgent request that
+he would select a number. Cagliostro took the manuscript and studied
+it; but, as he himself informs us, with no confidence in its truth.
+He however predicted twenty as the successful number for the 6th of
+November following. Scot ventured a small sum upon this number, out of
+the two hundred pounds he had borrowed, and won. Cagliostro, incited by
+this success, prognosticated number twenty-five for the next drawing.
+Scot tried again, and won a hundred guineas. The numbers fifty-five and
+fifty-seven were announced with equal success for the 18th of the same
+month, to the no small astonishment and delight of Cagliostro, who
+thereupon resolved to try fortune for himself, and not for others.
+To all the entreaties of Scot and his lady that he would predict more
+numbers for them, he turned a deaf ear, even while he still thought him
+a lord and a man of honour. But when he discovered that he was a mere
+swindler, and the pretended Lady Scot an artful woman of the town, he
+closed his door upon them and on all their gang.
+
+Having complete faith in the supernatural powers of the Count, they were
+in the deepest distress at having lost his countenance. They tried by
+every means their ingenuity could suggest, to propitiate him again; they
+implored, they threatened, and endeavoured to bribe him. But all was
+vain. Cagliostro would neither see nor correspond with them. In the mean
+time they lived extravagantly; and in the hope of future, exhausted all
+their present gains. They were reduced to the last extremity, when Miss
+Fry obtained access to the Countess, and received a guinea from her on
+the representation that she was starving. Miss Fry, not contented with
+this, begged her to intercede with her husband, that for the last time
+he would point out a lucky number in the lottery. The Countess promised
+to exert her influence, and Cagliostro thus entreated, named the number
+eight, at the same time reiterating his determination to have no more to
+do with any of them. By an extraordinary hazard, which filled Cagliostro
+with surprise and pleasure, number eight was the greatest prize in the
+lottery. Miss Fry and her associates cleared fifteen hundred guineas by
+the adventure; and became more than ever convinced of the occult powers
+of Cagliostro, and strengthened in their determination never to quit him
+until they had made their fortunes. Out of the proceeds, Miss Fry
+bought a handsome necklace at a pawnbrokers for ninety guineas. She then
+ordered a richly chased gold box, having two compartments, to be made at
+a jeweller's, and putting the necklace in the one, filled the other with
+a fine aromatic snuff. She then sought another interview with Madame
+di Cagliostro, and urged her to accept the box as a small token of her
+esteem and gratitude, without mentioning the valuable necklace that was
+concealed in it. Madame di Cagliostro accepted the present, and was
+from that hour exposed to the most incessant persecution from all the
+confederates, Blavary, Vitellini, and the pretended Lord and Lady Scot.
+They flattered themselves they had regained their lost footing in the
+house, and came day after day to know lucky numbers in the lottery;
+sometimes forcing themselves up the stairs, and into the Count's
+laboratory, in spite of the efforts of the servants to prevent them.
+Cagliostro, exasperated at their pertinacity, threatened to call in the
+assistance of the magistrates; and taking Miss Fry by the shoulders,
+pushed her into the street.
+
+From that time may be dated the misfortunes of Cagliostro. Miss Fry, at
+the instigation of her paramour, determined on vengeance. Her first act
+was to swear a debt of two hundred pounds against Cagliostro, and to
+cause him to be arrested for that sum. While he was in custody in a
+sponging house, Scot, accompanied by a low attorney, broke into his
+laboratory, and carried off a small box, containing, as they believed,
+the powder of transmutation, and a number of cabalistic manuscripts and
+treatises upon alchymy. They also brought an action against him for the
+recovery of the necklace; and Miss Fry accused both him and his Countess
+of sorcery and witchcraft, and of foretelling numbers in the lottery by
+the aid of the devil. This latter charge was actually heard before Mr.
+Justice Miller. The action of trover for the necklace was tried before
+the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, who recommended the parties
+to submit to arbitration. In the mean time Cagliostro remained in prison
+for several weeks, till having procured bail, he was liberated. He was
+soon after waited upon by an attorney named Reynolds, also deep in the
+plot, who offered to compromise all the actions upon certain conditions.
+Scot, who had accompanied him, concealed himself behind the door, and
+suddenly rushing out, presented a pistol at the heart of Cagliostro,
+swearing he would shoot him instantly, if he would not tell him truly
+the art of predicting lucky numbers, and of transmuting metals. Reynolds
+pretending to be very angry, disarmed his accomplice, and entreated the
+Count to satisfy them by fair means, and disclose his secrets, promising
+that if he would do so, they would discharge all the actions, and
+offer him no further molestation. Cagliostro replied, that threats and
+entreaties were alike useless; that he knew no secrets; and that the
+powder of transmutation of which they had robbed him, was of no value
+to anybody but himself. He offered, however, if they would discharge
+the actions, and return the powder and the manuscripts, he would forgive
+them all the money they had swindled him out of. These conditions were
+refused; and Scot and Reynolds departed, swearing vengeance against him.
+
+Cagliostro appears to have been quite ignorant of the forms of law in
+England, and to have been without a friend to advise him as to the best
+course he should pursue. While he was conversing with his Countess on
+the difficulties that beset them, one of his bail called, and invited
+him to ride in a hackney coach to the house of a person who would see
+him righted. Cagliostro consented, and was driven to the King's Bench
+prison, where his friend left him. He did not discover for several
+hours that he was a prisoner, or in fact understand the process of being
+surrendered by one's bail.
+
+He regained his liberty in a few weeks; and the arbitrators between him
+and Miss Fry, made their award against him. He was ordered to pay
+the two hundred pounds she had sworn against him, and to restore
+the necklace and gold box which had been presented to the Countess.
+Cagliostro was so disgusted, that he determined to quit England. His
+pretensions, besides, had been unmercifully exposed by a Frenchman,
+named Morande, the Editor of the Courier de l'Europe, published in
+London. To add to his distress, he was recognised in Westminster Hall,
+as Joseph Balsamo, the swindler of Palermo. Such a complication of
+disgrace was not to be borne. He and his Countess packed up their small
+effects, and left England with no more than fifty pounds, out of the
+three thousand they had brought with them.
+
+They first proceeded to Brussels, where fortune was more auspicious.
+They sold considerable quantities of the elixir of life, performed many
+cures, and recruited their finances. They then took their course through
+Germany to Russia, and always with the same success. Gold flowed into
+their coffers faster than they could count it. They quite forgot all the
+woes they had endured in England, and learned to be more circumspect in
+the choice of their acquaintance.
+
+In the year 1780, they made their appearance in Strasbourg. Their fame
+had reached that city before them. They took a magnificent hotel, and
+invited all the principal persons of the place to their table. Their
+wealth appeared to be boundless, and their hospitality equal to it. Both
+the Count and Countess acted as physicians, and gave money, advice, and
+medicine to all the necessitous and suffering of the town. Many of the
+cures they performed, astonished those regular practitioners who did not
+make sufficient allowance for the wonderful influence of imagination
+in certain cases. The Countess, who at this time was not more than
+five-and-twenty, and all radiant with grace, beauty, and cheerfulness,
+spoke openly of her eldest son as a fine young man of eight-and-twenty,
+who had been for some years a captain in the Dutch service. The trick
+succeeded to admiration. All the ugly old women in Strasbourg, and for
+miles around, thronged the saloon of the Countess to purchase the liquid
+which was to make them as blooming as their daughters; the young women
+came in equal abundance that they might preserve their charms, and when
+twice as old as Ninon de L'Enclos, be more captivating than she; while
+men were not wanting fools enough to imagine, that they might keep
+off the inevitable stroke of the grim foe, by a few drops of the
+same incomparable elixir. The Countess, sooth to say, looked like an
+incarnation of immortal loveliness, a very goddess of youth and beauty;
+and it is possible that the crowds of young men and old, who at all
+convenient seasons haunted the perfumed chambers of this enchantress,
+were attracted less by their belief in her occult powers than from
+admiration of her languishing bright eyes and sparkling conversation.
+But amid all the incense that was offered at her shrine, Madame di
+Cagliostro was ever faithful to her spouse. She encouraged hopes, it is
+true, but she never realised them; she excited admiration, yet kept it
+within bounds; and made men her slaves, without ever granting a favour
+of which the vainest might boast.
+
+In this city they made the acquaintance of many eminent persons,
+and among others, of the Cardinal Prince de Rohan, who was destined
+afterwards to exercise so untoward an influence over their fate. The
+Cardinal, who seems to have had great faith in him as a philosopher,
+persuaded him to visit Paris in his company, which he did, but remained
+only thirteen days. He preferred the society of Strasbourg, and returned
+thither, with the intention of fixing his residence far from the
+capital. But he soon found that the first excitement of his arrival had
+passed away. People began to reason with themselves, and to be ashamed
+of their own admiration. The populace, among whom he had lavished his
+charity with a bountiful hand, accused him of being the Antichrist,
+the Wandering Jew, the man of fourteen hundred years of age, a demon in
+human shape, sent to lure the ignorant to their destruction; while the
+more opulent and better informed called him a spy in the pay of foreign
+governments, an agent of the police, a swindler, and a man of evil life.
+The outcry grew at last so strong, that he deemed it prudent to try his
+fortune elsewhere.
+
+He went first to Naples, but that city was too near Palermo; he dreaded
+recognition from some of his early friends, and after a short stay,
+returned to France. He chose Bordeaux as his next dwelling-place, and
+created as great a sensation there as he had done in Strasbourg.
+He announced himself as the founder of a new school of medicine and
+philosophy, boasted of his ability to cure all diseases, and invited the
+poor and suffering to visit him, and he would relieve the distress
+of the one class, and cure the ailings of the other. All day long the
+street opposite his magnificent hotel was crowded by the populace; the
+halt and the blind, women with sick babes in their arms, and persons
+suffering under every species of human infirmity flocked to
+this wonderful doctor. The relief he afforded in money more than
+counterbalanced the failure of his nostrums; and the affluence of people
+from all the surrounding country became so great, that the jurats of the
+city granted him a military guard, to be stationed day and night before
+his door, to keep order. The anticipations of Cagliostro were realised.
+The rich were struck with admiration of his charity and benevolence, and
+impressed with a full conviction of his marvellous powers. The sale of
+the elixir went on admirably. His saloons were thronged with wealthy
+dupes who came to purchase immortality. Beauty, that would endure for
+centuries, was the attraction for the fair sex; health and strength
+for the same period were the baits held out to the other. His charming
+Countess in the meantime brought grist to the mill, by telling fortunes
+and casting nativities, or granting attendant sylphs to any ladies who
+would pay sufficiently for their services. What was still better,
+as tending to keep up the credit of her husband, she gave the most
+magnificent parties in Bordeaux.
+
+But as at Strasbourg the popular delusion lasted for a few months
+only, and burned itself out; Cagliostro forgot, in the intoxication of
+success, that there was a limit to quackery, which once passed, inspired
+distrust. When he pretended to call spirits from the tomb, people became
+incredulous. He was accused of being an enemy to religion--of denying
+Christ, and of being the Wandering Jew. He despised these rumours as
+long as they were confined to a few; but when they spread over the
+town--when he received no more fees--when his parties were abandoned,
+and his acquaintance turned away when they met him in the street, he
+thought it high time to shift his quarters.
+
+He was by this time wearied of the provinces, and turned his thoughts
+to the capital. On his arrival, he announced himself as the restorer of
+Egyptian Freemasonry and the founder of a new philosophy. He immediately
+made his way into the best society by means of his friend the Cardinal
+de Rohan. His success as a magician was quite extraordinary: the most
+considerable persons of the time visited him. He boasted of being able,
+like the Rosicrucians, to converse with the elementary spirits; to
+invoke the mighty dead from the grave, to transmute metals, and to
+discover occult things, by means of the special protection of God
+towards him. Like Dr. Dee, he summoned the angels to reveal the future;
+and they appeared, and conversed with him in crystals and under glass
+bells. [See the Abbe Fiard, and "Anecdotes of the Reign of Louis XVI."
+p. 400.] "There was hardly," says the Biographie des Contemporains, "a
+fine lady in Paris who would not sup with the shade of Lucretius in the
+apartments of Cagliostro--a military officer who would not discuss
+the art of war with Cesar, Hannibal, or Alexander; or an advocate or
+counsellor who would not argue legal points with the ghost of Cicero."
+These interviews with the departed were very expensive; for, as
+Cagliostro said, the dead would not rise for nothing. The Countess, as
+usual, exercised all her ingenuity to support her husband's credit.
+She was a great favourite with her own sex; to many a delighted and
+wondering auditory of whom she detailed the marvellous powers of
+Cagliostro. She said he could render himself invisible, traverse the
+world with the rapidity of thought, and be in several places at the same
+time. ["Biographie des Contemporains," article "Cagliostro." See also
+"Histoire de la Magie en France," par M. Jules Garinet, p. 284.]
+
+He had not been long at Paris before he became involved in the
+celebrated affair of the Queen's necklace. His friend, the Cardinal de
+Rohan, enamoured of the charms of Marie Antoinette, was in sore distress
+at her coldness, and the displeasure she had so often manifested against
+him. There was at that time a lady, named La Motte, in the service of
+the Queen, of whom the Cardinal was foolish enough to make a confidant.
+Madame de la Motte, in return, endeavoured to make a tool of the
+Cardinal, and succeeded but too well in her projects. In her capacity
+of chamber-woman, or lady of honour to the Queen, she was present at
+an interview between her Majesty and M. Boehmer, a wealthy jeweller of
+Paris, when the latter offered for sale a magnificent diamond necklace,
+valued at 1,600,000 francs, or about 64,000 pounds sterling. The Queen
+admired it greatly, but dismissed the jeweller, with the expression
+of her regret that she was too poor to purchase it. Madame de la Motte
+formed a plan to get this costly ornament into her own possession, and
+determined to make the Cardinal de Rohan the instrument by which to
+effect it. She therefore sought an interview with him, and pretending to
+sympathise in his grief for the Queen's displeasure, told him she knew
+a way by which he might be restored to favour. She then mentioned the
+necklace, and the sorrow of the Queen that she could not afford to buy
+it. The Cardinal, who was as wealthy as he was foolish, immediately
+offered to purchase the necklace, and make a present of it to the Queen.
+Madame de la Motte told him by no means to do so, as he would thereby
+offend her Majesty. His plan would be to induce the jeweller to give
+her Majesty credit, and accept her promissory note for the amount at a
+certain date, to be hereafter agreed upon. The Cardinal readily agreed
+to the proposal, and instructed the jeweller to draw up an agreement,
+and he would procure the Queen's signature. He placed this in the hands
+of Madame de la Motte, who returned it shortly afterwards, with the
+words, "Bon, bon--approuve--Marie Antoinette," written in the margin.
+She told him at the same time that the Queen was highly pleased with
+his conduct in the matter, and would appoint a meeting with him in the
+gardens of Versailles, when she would present him with a flower, as
+a token of her regard. The Cardinal showed the forged document to the
+jeweller, obtained the necklace, and delivered it into the hands of
+Madame de la Motte. So far all was well. Her next object was to satisfy
+the Cardinal, who awaited impatiently the promised interview with his
+royal mistress. There was at that time in Paris a young woman named
+D'Oliva, noted for her resemblance to the Queen; and Madame de la Motte,
+on the promise of a handsome reward, found no difficulty in persuading
+her to personate Marie Antoinette, and meet the Cardinal de Rohan at the
+evening twilight in the gardens of Versailles. The meeting took place
+accordingly. The Cardinal was deceived by the uncertain light, the great
+resemblance of the counterfeit, and his own hopes; and having received
+the flower from Mademoiselle D'Oliva, went home with a lighter
+heart than had beat in his bosom for many a day. [The enemies of
+the unfortunate Queen of France, when the progress of the Revolution
+embittered their animosity against her, maintained that she was really
+a party in this transaction; that she, and not Mademoiselle D'Oliva, met
+the Cardinal and rewarded him with the flower; and that the story above
+related was merely concocted between her, La Motte, and others to cheat
+the jeweller of his 1,600,000 francs.]
+
+In the course of time the forgery of the Queen's signature was
+discovered. Boehmer the jeweller immediately named the Cardinal de Rohan
+and Madame de la Motte as the persons with whom he had negotiated,
+and they were both arrested and thrown into the Bastille. La Motte
+was subjected to a rigorous examination, and the disclosures she made
+implicating Cagliostro, he was seized, along with his wife, and also
+sent to the Bastille, A story involving so much scandal necessarily
+excited great curiosity. Nothing was to be heard of in Paris but the
+Queen's necklace, with surmises of the guilt or innocence of the
+several parties implicated. The husband of Madame de la Motte escaped
+to England, and in the opinion of many took the necklace with him, and
+there disposed of it to different jewellers in small quantities at
+a time. But Madame de la Motte insisted that she had entrusted it
+to Cagliostro, who had seized and taken it to pieces, to "swell the
+treasures of his immense unequalled fortune." She spoke of him as "an
+empiric, a mean alchymist, a dreamer on the philosopher's stone, a
+false prophet, a profaner of the true worship, the self-dubbed Count
+Cagliostro!" She further said that he originally conceived the project
+of ruining the Cardinal de Rohan; that he persuaded her, by the exercise
+of some magic influence over her mind, to aid and abet the scheme; and
+that he was a robber, a swindler, and a sorcerer!
+
+After all the accused parties had remained for upwards of six months
+in the Bastille, the trial commenced. The depositions of the witnesses
+having been heard, Cagliostro, as the principal culprit, was first
+called upon for his defence. He was listened to with the most breathless
+attention. He put himself into a theatrical attitude, and thus
+began:--"I am oppressed!--I am accused!--I am calumniated! Have I
+deserved this fate? I descend into my conscience, and I there find the
+peace that men refuse me! I have travelled a great deal--I am known over
+all Europe, and a great part of Asia and Africa. I have everywhere shown
+myself the friend of my fellow-creatures. My knowledge, my time, my
+fortune have ever been employed in the relief of distress! I have
+studied and practised medicine, but I have never degraded that most
+noble and most consoling of arts by mercenary speculations of any
+kind. Though always giving, and never receiving, I have preserved my
+independence. I have even carried my delicacy so far as to refuse the
+favours of kings. I have given gratuitously my remedies and my advice to
+the rich: the poor have received from me both remedies and money. I have
+never contracted any debts, and my manners are pure and uncorrupted."
+After much more self-laudation of the same kind, he went on to complain
+of the great hardships he had endured in being separated for so many
+months from his innocent and loving wife, who, as he was given to
+understand, had been detained in the Bastille, and perhaps chained in an
+unwholesome dungeon. He denied unequivocally that he had the necklace,
+or that he had ever seen it; and to silence the rumours and accusations
+against him, which his own secrecy with regard to the events of his
+life had perhaps originated, he expressed himself ready to satisfy the
+curiosity of the public, and to give a plain and full account of his
+career. He then told a romantic and incredible tale, which imposed upon
+no one. He said he neither knew the place of his birth nor the name of
+his parents, but that he spent his infancy in Medina in Arabia, and
+was brought up under the name of Acharat. He lived in the palace of the
+Great Muphti in that city, and always had three servants to wait upon
+him, besides his preceptor, named Althotas. This Althotas was very fond
+of him, and told him that his father and mother, who were Christians and
+nobles, died when he was three months old, and left him in the care of
+the Muphti. He could never, he said, ascertain their names, for whenever
+he asked Althotas the question, he was told that it would be dangerous
+for him to know. Some incautious expressions dropped by his preceptor
+gave him reason to think they were from Malta. At the age of twelve he
+began his travels, and learned the various languages of the East. He
+remained three years in Mecca, where the Cherif, or governor, showed him
+so much kindness, and spoke to him so tenderly and affectionately, that
+he sometimes thought that personage was his father. He quitted this good
+man with tears in his eyes, and never saw him afterwards; but he was
+convinced that he was, even at that moment, indebted to his care for all
+the advantages he enjoyed. Whenever he arrived in any city, either of
+Europe or Asia, he found an account opened for him at the principal
+bankers' or merchants'. He could draw upon them to the amount of
+thousands and hundreds of thousands; and no questions were ever asked
+beyond his name. He had only to mention the word Acharat, and all his
+wants were supplied. He firmly believed that the Cherif of Mecca was the
+friend to whom all was owing. This was the secret of his wealth, and
+he had no occasion to resort to swindling for a livelihood. It was not
+worth his while to steal a diamond necklace when he had wealth enough to
+purchase as many as he pleased, and more magnificent ones than had ever
+been worn by a Queen of France. As to the other charges brought against
+him by Madame de la Motte, he had but a short answer to give. She had
+called him an empiric. He was not unfamiliar with the word. If it meant
+a man who, without being a physician, had some knowledge of medicine,
+and took no fees--who cured both rich and poor, and took no money from
+either, he confessed that he was such a man, that he was an empiric. She
+had also called him a mean alchymist. Whether he were an alchymist or
+not, the epithet mean could only be applied to those who begged and
+cringed, and he had never done either. As regarded his being a dreamer
+about the philosopher's stone, whatever his opinions upon that subject
+might be, he had been silent, and had never troubled the public with his
+dreams. Then, as to his being a false prophet, he had not always been
+so; for he had prophesied to the Cardinal de Rohan that Madame de la
+Motte would prove a dangerous woman, and the result had verified the
+prediction. He denied that he was a profaner of the true worship,
+or that he had ever striven to bring religion into contempt; on the
+contrary, he respected every man's religion, and never meddled with it.
+He also denied that he was a Rosicrucian, or that he had ever pretended
+to be three hundred years of age, or to have had one man in his service
+for a hundred and fifty years. In conclusion, he said every statement
+that Madame de la Motte had made regarding him was false, and that she
+was mentiris impudentissime, which two words he begged her counsel to
+translate for her, as it was not polite to tell her so in French.
+
+Such was the substance of his extraordinary answer to the charges
+against him; an answer which convinced those who were before doubtful
+that he was one of the most impudent impostors that had ever run the
+career of deception. Counsel were then heard on behalf of the Cardinal
+de Rohan and Madame de la Motte. It appearing clearly that the Cardinal
+was himself the dupe of a vile conspiracy; and there being no evidence
+against Cagliostro, they were both acquitted. Madame de la Motte was
+found guilty, and sentenced to be publicly whipped, and branded with a
+hot iron on the back.
+
+Cagliostro and his wife were then discharged from custody. On applying
+to the officers of the Bastille for the papers and effects which
+had been seized at his lodgings, he found that many of them had been
+abstracted. He thereupon brought an action against them for the recovery
+of his MSS. and a small portion of the powder of transmutation. Before
+the affair could be decided, he received orders to quit Paris within
+four-and-twenty hours. Fearing that if he were once more inclosed in the
+dungeons of the Bastille he should never see daylight again, he took his
+departure immediately and proceeded to England. On his arrival in
+London he made the acquaintance of the notorious Lord George Gordon, who
+espoused his cause warmly, and inserted a letter in the public papers,
+animadverting upon the conduct of the Queen of France in the affair of
+the necklace, and asserting that she was really the guilty party. For
+this letter Lord George was exposed to a prosecution at the instance of
+the French Ambassador--found guilty of libel, and sentenced to fine and
+a long imprisonment.
+
+Cagliostro and the Countess afterwards travelled in Italy, where they
+were arrested by the Papal Government in 1789, and condemned to death.
+The charges against him were, that he was a freemason, a heretic, and a
+sorcerer. This unjustifiable sentence was afterwards commuted into one
+of perpetual imprisonment in the Castle of St. Angelo. His wife was
+allowed to escape severer punishment by immuring herself in a nunnery.
+Cagliostro did not long survive. The loss of liberty preyed upon his
+mind--accumulated misfortunes had injured his health and broken his
+spirit, and he died early in 1790. His fate may have been no better than
+he deserved, but it is impossible not to feel that his sentence for
+the crimes assigned was utterly disgraceful to the government that
+pronounced it.
+
+PRESENT STATE OF ALCHYMY.
+
+We have now finished the list of the persons who have most distinguished
+themselves in this foolish and unprofitable pursuit. Among them are men
+of all ranks, characters, and conditions; the truthseeking, but erring
+philosopher; the ambitious prince and the needy noble, who have believed
+in it; as well as the designing charlatan, who has not believed in
+it, but has merely made the pretension to it the means of cheating
+his fellows, and living upon their credulity. One or more of all these
+classes will be found in the foregoing pages. It will be seen, from the
+record of their lives, that the delusion, humiliating as it was to human
+intellect, was not altogether without its uses. Men, in striving to gain
+too much, do not always overreach themselves: if they cannot arrive at
+the inaccessible mountain-top, they may, perhaps, get half way towards
+it, and pick up some scraps of wisdom and knowledge on the road. The
+useful science of chemistry is not a little indebted to its spurious
+brother of alchymy. Many valuable discoveries have been made in that
+search for the impossible, which might otherwise have been hidden for
+centuries yet to come. Roger Bacon, in searching for the philosopher's
+stone, discovered gunpowder, a still more extraordinary substance. Van
+Helmont, in the same pursuit, discovered the properties of gas;
+Geber made discoveries in chemistry which were equally important; and
+Paracelsus, amidst his perpetual visions of the transmutation of
+metals, found that mercury was a remedy for one of the most odious and
+excruciating of all the diseases that afflict humanity.
+
+In our day, no mention is made in Europe of any new devotees of the
+science. The belief in witchcraft, which is scarcely more absurd, still
+lingers in the popular mind: but none are so credulous as to believe
+that any elixir could make man live for centuries, or turn all our
+iron and pewter into gold. Alchymy, in Europe, may be said to be wholly
+exploded; but in the East it still flourishes in as great repute as
+ever. Recent travellers make constant mention of it, especially in
+China, Hindostan, Persia, Tartary, Egypt, and Arabia.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK II.--FORTUNE TELLING.
+
+     And men still grope t' anticipate
+     The cabinet designs of Fate;
+     Apply to wizards to foresee
+     What shall and what shall never be.
+     Hudibras, part iii. canto 3.
+
+In accordance with the plan laid down in the introduction to this
+volume, we proceed to the consideration of the follies into which men
+have been led by their eager desire to pierce the thick darkness of
+futurity. God himself, for his own wise purposes, has more than once
+undrawn the impenetrable veil which shrouds those awful secrets;
+and, for purposes just as wise, he has decreed that, except in these
+instances, ignorance shall be our lot for ever. It is happy for man that
+he does not know what the morrow is to bring forth; but, unaware of
+this great blessing, he has, in all ages of the world, presumptuously
+endeavoured to trace the events of unborn centuries, and anticipate
+the march of time. He has reduced this presumption into a study. He has
+divided it into sciences and systems without number, employing his whole
+life in the vain pursuit. Upon no subject has it been so easy to deceive
+the world as upon this. In every breast the curiosity exists in a
+greater or less degree, and can only be conquered by a long course
+of self-examination, and a firm reliance that the future would not be
+hidden from our sight, if it were right that we should be acquainted
+with it.
+
+An undue opinion of our own importance in the scale of creation is
+at the bottom of all our unwarrantable notions in this respect. How
+flattering to the pride of man to think that the stars in their courses
+watch over him, and typify, by their movements and aspects, the joys or
+the sorrows that await him! He, less in proportion to the universe than
+the all but invisible insects that feed in myriads on a summer's leaf,
+are to this great globe itself, fondly imagines that eternal worlds
+were chiefly created to prognosticate his fate. How we should pity the
+arrogance of the worm that crawls at our feet, if we knew that it also
+desired to know the secrets of futurity, and imagined that meteors shot
+athwart the sky to warn it that a tom-tit was hovering near to gobble it
+up; that storms and earthquakes, the revolutions of empires, or the fall
+of mighty monarchs, only happened to, predict its birth, its progress,
+and its decay! Not a whit less presuming has man shown himself; not a
+whit less arrogant are the sciences, so called, of astrology, augury,
+necromancy, geomancy, palmistry, and divination of every kind.
+
+Leaving out of view the oracles of pagan antiquity and religious
+predictions in general, and confining ourselves solely to the persons
+who, in modern times, have made themselves most conspicuous in
+foretelling the future, we shall find that the sixteenth and seventeenth
+centuries were the golden age of these impostors. Many of them have been
+already mentioned in their character of alchymists. The union of the two
+pretensions is not at all surprising. It was to be expected that those
+who assumed a power so preposterous as that of prolonging the life of
+man for several centuries, should pretend, at the same time, to foretell
+the events which were to mark that preternatural span of existence. The
+world would as readily believe that they had discovered all secrets, as
+that they had only discovered one. The most celebrated astrologers of
+Europe, three centuries ago, were alchymists. Agrippa, Paracelsus, Dr.
+Dee, and the Rosicrucians, all laid as much stress upon their knowledge
+of the days to come, as upon their pretended possession of the
+philosopher's stone and the elixir of life. In their time, ideas of the
+wonderful, the diabolical, and the supernatural, were rifer than ever
+they were before. The devil or the stars were universally believed to
+meddle constantly in the affairs of men; and both were to be consulted
+with proper ceremonies. Those who were of a melancholy and gloomy
+temperament betook themselves to necromancy and sorcery; those more
+cheerful and aspiring, devoted themselves to astrology. The latter
+science was encouraged by all the monarchs and governments of that age.
+In England, from the time of Elizabeth to that of William and Mary,
+judicial astrology was in high repute. During that period flourished
+Drs. Dee, Lamb, and Forman; with Lilly, Booker, Gadbury, Evans, and
+scores of nameless impostors in every considerable town and village in
+the country, who made it their business to cast nativities, aid in the
+recovery of stolen goods, prognosticate happy or unhappy marriages,
+predict whether journeys would be prosperous, and note lucky moments for
+the commencement of any enterprise, from the setting up of a cobler's
+shop to the marching of an army. Men who, to use the words of Butler,
+did
+
+     "Deal in Destiny's dark counsel,
+     And sage opinion of the moon sell;
+     To whom all people far and near
+     On deep importance did repair,
+     When brass and pewter pots did stray,
+     And linen slunk out of the way."
+
+In Lilly's Memoirs of his Life and Times, there are many notices of the
+inferior quacks who then abounded, and upon whom he pretended to look
+down with supreme contempt; not because they were astrologers, but
+because they debased that noble art by taking fees for the recovery of
+stolen property. From Butler's Hudibras and its curious notes, we may
+learn what immense numbers of these fellows lived upon the credulity
+of mankind in that age of witchcraft and diablerie. Even in our day how
+great is the reputation enjoyed by the almanac-makers, who assume
+the name of Francis Moore. But in the time of Charles I. and the
+Commonwealth, the most learned, the most noble, and the most conspicuous
+characters did not hesitate to consult astrologers in the most open
+manner. Lilly, whom Butler has immortalized under the name of Sydrophel,
+relates, that he proposed to write a work called "An Introduction
+to Astrology," in which he would satisfy the whole kingdom of the
+lawfulness of that art. Many of the soldiers were for it, he says, and
+many of the Independent party, and abundance of worthy men in the House
+of Commons, his assured friends, and able to take his part against the
+Presbyterians, who would have silenced his predictions if they could.
+He afterwards carried his plan into execution, and when his book was
+published, went with another astrologer named Booker to the headquarters
+of the parliamentary army at Windsor, where they were welcomed and
+feasted in the garden where General Fairfax lodged. They were afterwards
+introduced to the general, who received them very kindly, and made
+allusion to some of their predictions. He hoped their art was lawful and
+agreeable to God's word; but he did not understand it himself. He did
+not doubt, however, that the two astrologers feared God, and therefore
+he had a good opinion of them. Lilly assured him that the art of
+astrology was quite consonant to the Scriptures; and confidently
+predicted from his knowledge of the stars, that the parliamentary army
+would overthrow all its enemies. In Oliver's Protectorate, this quack
+informs us that he wrote freely enough. He became an Independent, and
+all the soldiery were his friends. When he went to Scotland, he saw a
+soldier standing in front of the army, with a book of prophecies in his
+hand, exclaiming to the several companies as they passed by him, "Lo!
+hear what Lilly saith: you are in this month promised victory! Fight it
+out, brave boys! and then read that month's prediction!"
+
+After the great fire of London, which Lilly said he had foretold, he was
+sent for by the committee of the House of Commons appointed to inquire
+into the causes of the calamity. In his "Monarchy or no Monarchy,"
+published in 1651, he had inserted an hieroglyphical plate, representing
+on one side persons in winding sheets digging graves; and on the other
+a large city in flames. After the great fire some sapient member of the
+legislature bethought him of Lilly's book, and having mentioned it in
+the house, it was agreed that the astrologer should be summoned. Lilly
+attended accordingly, when Sir Robert Brooke told him the reason of his
+summons, and called upon him to declare what he knew. This was a rare
+opportunity for the vain-glorious Lilly to vaunt his abilities; and he
+began a long speech in praise of himself and his pretended science. He
+said, that after the execution of Charles I, he was extremely desirous
+to know what might from that time forth happen to the parliament and to
+the nation in general. He, therefore, consulted the stars and
+satisfied himself. The result of his judgment he put into emblems and
+hieroglyphics, without any commentary, so that the true meaning might be
+concealed from the vulgar, and made manifest only to the wise; imitating
+in this the example of many wise philosophers who had done the like.
+
+"Did you foresee the year of the fire?" said a member. "No!" quoth
+Lilly, "nor was I desirous: of that I made no scrutiny." After
+some further parley the house found they could make nothing of the
+astrologer, and dismissed him with great civility.
+
+One specimen of the explanation of a prophecy given by Lilly, and
+related by him with much complacency, will be sufficient to show the
+sort of trash by which he imposed upon the million. "In the year 1588,"
+says he, "there was a prophecy printed in Greek characters, exactly
+deciphering the long troubles of the English nation from 1641 to 1660;"
+and it ended thus:--"And after him shall come a dreadful dead man, and
+with him a royal G, of the best blood in the world, and he shall have
+the crown, and shall set England on the right way, and put out
+all heresies." The following is the explanation of this oracular
+absurdity:--
+
+"Monkery being extinguished above eighty or ninety years, and the Lord
+General's name being Monk, is the dead man. The royal G. or C, [it is
+gamma in the Greek, intending C. in the Latin, being the third letter in
+the Alphabet] is Charles II, who for his extraction may be said to be of
+the best blood of the world."
+
+In France and Germany astrologers met even more encouragement than they
+received in England. In very early ages, Charlemagne and his successors
+fulminated their wrath against them in common with sorcerers. Louis XI,
+that most superstitious of men, entertained great numbers of them at
+his court; and Catherine de Medicis, that most superstitious of women,
+hardly ever took any affair of importance without consulting them. She
+chiefly favoured her own countrymen; and during the time she governed
+France, the land was overrun by Italian conjurors, necromancers, and
+fortune-tellers of every kind. But the chief astrologer of that day,
+beyond all doubt, was the celebrated Nostradamus, physician to her
+husband, King Henry II. He was born in 1503, at the town of St. Remi,
+in Provence, where his father was a notary. He did not acquire much
+fame till he was past his fiftieth year, when his famous "Centuries,"
+a collection of verses, written in obscure and almost unintelligible
+language, began to excite attention. They were so much spoken of in
+1556, that Henry II. resolved to attach so skilful a man to his service,
+and appointed him his physician. In a biographical notice of him
+prefixed to the edition of his "Vraies Centuries," published at
+Amsterdam in 1668, we are informed that he often discoursed with
+his royal master on the secrets of futurity, and received many great
+presents as his reward, besides his usual allowance for medical
+attendance. After the death of Henry, he retired to his native place,
+where Charles IX. paid him a visit in 1564, and was so impressed with
+veneration for his wondrous knowledge of the things that were to be, not
+in France only, but in the whole world for hundreds of years to come,
+that he made him a counsellor of state, and his own physician, besides
+treating him in other matters with a royal liberality. "In fine,"
+continues his biographer, "I should be too prolix were I to tell all
+the honours conferred upon him, and all the great nobles and learned men
+that arrived at his house, from the very ends of the earth, to see and
+converse with him as if he had been an oracle. Many strangers, in fact,
+came to France for no other purpose than to consult him."
+
+The prophecies of Nostradamus consist of upwards of a thousand stanzas,
+each of four lines, and are to the full as obscure as the oracles of
+They take so great a latitude, both as to time and space, that they are
+almost sure to be fulfilled somewhere or other in the course of a
+few centuries; A little ingenuity like that evinced by Lilly, in his
+explanation about General Monk and the dreadful dead man, might easily
+make events to fit some of them.
+
+Let us try. In his second century, prediction 66, he says,--'
+
+"From great dangers the captive is escaped. A little time, great fortune
+changed. In the palace the people are caught. By good augury the city is
+besieged."
+
+"What is this," a believer might exclaim, "but the escape of Napoleon
+from Elba--his changed fortune, and the occupation of Paris by the
+allied armies?"--Let us try again. In his third century, prediction 98,
+he says,-- "Two royal brothers will make fierce war on each other; So
+mortal shall be the strife between them, That each one shall occupy a
+fort against the other; For their reign and life shall be the quarrel."
+
+Some Lillius Redivivus would find no difficulty in this prediction.
+To use a vulgar phrase, it is as clear as a pikestaff. Had not the
+astrologer in view Don Miguel and Don Pedro when he penned this stanza,
+so much less obscure and oracular than the rest?
+
+He is to this day extremely popular in France and the Walloon country
+of Belgium, where old farmer-wives consult him with great confidence and
+assiduity.
+
+Catherine di Medicis was not the only member of her illustrious house
+who entertained astrologers. At the beginning of the fifteenth century,
+there was a man named Basil, residing in Florence, who was noted over
+all Italy for his skill in piercing the darkness of futurity. It is said
+that he foretold to Cosmo di Medicis, then a private citizen, that he
+would attain high dignity, inasmuch as the ascendant of his nativity was
+adorned with the same propitious aspects as those of Augustus Caesar and
+the Emperor Charles V. [Hermippus Redivivus, p. 142.] Another astrologer
+foretold the death of Prince Alexander di Medicis; and so very minute
+and particular was he in all the circumstances, that he was suspected of
+being chiefly instrumental in fulfilling his own prophecy; a very
+common resource with these fellows, to keep up their credit. He foretold
+confidently that the Prince should die by the hand of his own familiar
+friend, a person of a slender habit of body, a small face, a swarthy
+complexion, and of most remarkable taciturnity. So it afterwards
+happened; Alexander having been murdered in his chamber by his cousin
+Lorenzo, who corresponded exactly with the above description. [Jovii
+Elog. p. 320.] The author of Hermippus Redivivus, in relating this
+story, inclines to the belief that the astrologer was guiltless of any
+participation in the crime, but was employed by some friend of Prince
+Alexander, to warn him of his danger.
+
+A much more remarkable story is told of an astrologer, who lived
+in Romagna, in the fifteenth century, and whose name was Antiochus
+Tibertus. [Les Anecdotes de Florence ou l'Histoire secrete de la Maison
+di Medicis, p. 318.] At that time nearly all the petty sovereigns of
+Italy retained such men in their service; and Tibertus having studied
+the mathematics with great success at Paris, and delivered many
+predictions, some of which, for guesses, were not deficient in
+shrewdness, was taken into the household of Pandolfo di Malatesta, the
+sovereign of Rimini. His reputation was so great, that his study
+was continually thronged, either with visitors who were persons of
+distinction, or with clients who came to him for advice, and in a short
+time he acquired a considerable fortune. Notwithstanding all these
+advantages he passed his life miserably, and ended it on the scaffold.
+The following story afterwards got into circulation, and has been often
+triumphantly cited by succeeding astrologers as an irrefragable proof
+of the truth of their science. It was said, that long before he died he
+uttered three remarkable prophecies; one relating to himself, another
+to his friend, and the third to his patron, Pandolfo di Malatesta. The
+first delivered was that relating to his friend, Guido di Bogni, one
+of the greatest captains of the time. Guido was exceedingly desirous to
+know his fortune, and so importuned Tibertus, that the latter consulted
+the stars, and the lines on his palm, to satisfy him. He afterwards told
+him with a sorrowful face, that according to all the rules of astrology
+and palmistry, he should be falsely suspected by his best friend, and
+should lose his life in consequence. Guido then asked the astrologer if
+he could foretell his own fate; upon which Tibertus again consulted the
+stars, and found that it was decreed from all eternity that he
+should end his days on the scaffold. Malatesta, when he heard these
+predictions, so unlikely, to all present appearance, to prove true,
+desired his astrologer to predict his fate also; and to hide nothing
+from him, however unfavourable it might be. Tibertus complied, and
+told his patron, at that time one of the most flourishing and powerful
+princes of Italy, that he should suffer great want, and die at last,
+like a beggar, in the common hospital of Bologna: and so it happened in
+all three cases. Guido di Bogni was accused by his own father-in-law,
+the Count di Bentivoglio, of a treasonable design to deliver up the city
+of Rimini to the papal forces, and was assassinated afterwards, by order
+of the tyrant Malatesta, as he sat at the supper-table, to which he had
+been invited in all apparent friendship. The astrologer was, at the
+same time, thrown into prison, as being concerned in the treason of his
+friend. He attempted to escape, and had succeeded in letting himself
+down from his dungeon window into a moat, when he was discovered by
+the sentinels. This being reported to Malatesta, he gave orders for his
+execution on the following morning.
+
+Malatesta had, at this time, no remembrance of the prophecy; and his
+own fate gave him no uneasiness: but events were silently working its
+fulfilment. A conspiracy had been formed, though Guido di Bogni was
+innocent of it, to deliver up Rimini to the Pope; and all the necessary
+measures having been taken, the city was seized by the Count de
+Valentinois. In the confusion, Malatesta had barely time to escape
+from his palace in disguise. He was pursued from place to place by his
+enemies, abandoned by all his former friends, and, finally, by his own
+children. He at last fell ill of a languishing disease, at Bologna; and,
+nobody caring to afford him shelter, he was carried to the hospital,
+where he died. The only thing that detracts from the interest of this
+remarkable story is the fact, that the prophecy was made after the
+event.
+
+For some weeks before the birth of Louis XIV, an astrologer from
+Germany, who had been sent for by the Marshal de Bassompierre and other
+noblemen of the court, had taken up his residence in the palace, to
+be ready, at a moment's notice, to draw the horoscope of the future
+sovereign of France. When the Queen was taken in labour, he was ushered
+into a contiguous apartment, that he might receive notice of the very
+instant the child was born. The result of his observations were the
+three words, diu, dure, feliciter; meaning, that the new-born Prince
+should live and reign long, with much labour, and with great glory. No
+prediction less favourable could have been expected from an astrologer,
+who had his bread to get, and who was at the same time a courtier. A
+medal was afterwards struck in commemoration of the event; upon one side
+of which was figured the nativity of the Prince, representing him
+as driving the chariot of Apollo, with the inscription "Ortus solis
+Gallici,"--the rising of the Gallic sun.
+
+The best excuse ever made for astrology was that offered by the great
+astronomer, Keppler, himself an unwilling practiser of the art. He had
+many applications from his friends to cast nativities for them, and
+generally gave a positive refusal to such as he was not afraid of
+offending by his frankness. In other cases he accommodated himself
+to the prevailing delusion. In sending a copy of his "Ephemerides"
+to Professor Gerlach, he wrote that they were nothing but worthless
+conjectures; but he was obliged to devote himself to them, or he would
+have starved. "Ye overwise philosophers," he exclaimed, in his "Tertius
+Interveniens;" "ye censure this daughter of astronomy beyond her
+deserts! Know ye not that she must support her mother by her charms? The
+scanty reward of an astronomer would not provide him with bread, if men
+did not entertain hopes of reading the future in the heavens."
+
+NECROMANCY was, next to astrology, the pretended science most resorted
+to, by those who wished to pry into the future. The earliest instance
+upon record is that of the Witch of Endor and the spirit of Samuel.
+Nearly all the nations of antiquity believed in the possibility of
+summoning departed ghosts to disclose the awful secrets that God made
+clear to the disembodied. Many passages in allusion to this subject,
+will at once suggest themselves to the classical reader; but this art
+was never carried on openly in any country. All governments looked upon
+it as a crime of the deepest dye. While astrology was encouraged, and
+its professors courted and rewarded, necromancers were universally
+condemned to the stake or the gallows. Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus,
+Arnold of Villeneuve, and many others, were accused, by the public
+opinion of many centuries, of meddling in these unhallowed matters.
+So deep-rooted has always been the popular delusion with respect to
+accusations of this kind, that no crime was ever disproved with such
+toil and difficulty. That it met great encouragement, nevertheless, is
+evident from the vast numbers of pretenders to it; who, in spite of the
+danger, have existed in all ages and countries.
+
+GEOMANCY, or the art of foretelling the future by means of lines and
+circles, and other mathematical figures drawn on the earth, is still
+extensively practised in Asiatic countries, but is almost unknown in
+Europe.
+
+AUGURY, from the flight or entrails of birds, so favourite a study among
+the Romans, is, in like manner, exploded in Europe. Its most assiduous
+professors, at the present day, are the abominable Thugs of India.
+
+DIVINATION, of which there are many kinds, boasts a more enduring
+reputation. It has held an empire over the minds of men from the
+earliest periods of recorded history, and is, in all probability, coeval
+with time itself. It was practised alike by the Jews, the Egyptians, the
+Chaldeans, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans; is equally known to
+all modern nations, in every part of the world; and is not unfamiliar
+to the untutored tribes that roam in the wilds of Africa and America.
+Divination, as practised in civilized Europe at the present day, is
+chiefly from cards, the tea-cup, and the lines on the palm of the hand.
+Gipsies alone make a profession of it; but there are thousands and tens
+of thousands of humble families in which the good-wife, and even the
+good-man, resort to the grounds at the bottom of their teacups, to know
+whether the next harvest will be abundant, or their sow bring forth a
+numerous litter; and in which the young maidens look to the same place
+to know when they are to be married, and whether the man of their choice
+is to be dark or fair, rich or poor, kind or cruel. Divination by cards,
+so great a favourite among the moderns, is, of course, a modern science;
+as cards do not yet boast an antiquity of much more than four hundred
+years. Divination by the palm, so confidently believed in by half the
+village lasses in Europe, is of older date, and seems to have been known
+to the Egyptians in the time of the patriarchs; as well as divination by
+the cup, which, as we are informed in Genesis, was practised by
+Joseph. Divination by the rod was also practised by the Egyptians. In
+comparatively recent times, it was pretended that by this means hidden
+treasures could be discovered. It now appears to be altogether exploded
+in Europe. Onomancy, or the foretelling a man's fate by the letters of
+his name, and the various transpositions of which they are capable, is
+a more modern sort of divination; but it reckons comparatively few
+believers.
+
+The following list of the various species of Divination formerly in use,
+is given by Gaule, in his "Magastromancer," and quoted in Hone's "Year
+Book," p. 1517.
+
+Stareomancy, or divining by the elements. Aeromancy, or divining by
+the air. Pyromancy, by fire. Hydromancy, by water. Geomancy, by earth.
+Theomancy, pretending to divine by the revelation of the Spirit, and by
+the Scriptures, or word of God. Demonomancy, by the aid of devils and
+evil spirits. Idolomancy, by idols, images, and figures. Psychomancy,
+by the soul, affections, or dispositions of men. Antinopomancy, by
+the entrails of human beings. Theriomancy, by beasts. Ornithomancy, by
+birds. Icthyomancy, by fishes. Botanomancy, by herbs. Lithomancy, by
+stones. Kleromancy, by lots. Oneiromancy, by dreams. Onomancy, by names.
+Arithmancy, by numbers. Logarithmancy, by logarithms. Sternomancy, by
+the marks from the breast to the belly. Gastromancy, by the sound of,
+or marks upon, the belly. Omphelomancy, by the navel. Chiromancy, by
+the hands. Paedomancy, by thee feet. Onchyomancy, by the nails.
+Cephaleonomancy, by asses' heads. Tuphramancy, by ashes. Kapnomancy, by
+smoke. Livanomancy, by the burning of incense. Keromancy, by the
+melting of wax. Lecanomancy, by basins of water. Katoxtromancy, by
+looking-glasses. Chartomancy, by writing in papers, and by Valentines.
+Macharomancy, by knives and swords. Crystallomancy, by crystals.
+Dactylomancy, by rings. Koseinomancy, by sieves. Axinomancy, by saws.
+Kaltabomancy, by vessels of brass, or other metal. Spatalamancy,
+by skins, bones, &c. Roadomancy, by stars. Sciomancy, by shadows.
+Astragalomancy, by dice. Oinomancy, by the lees of wine. Sycomancy,
+by figs. Tyromancy, by cheese. Alphitomancy, by meal, flour, or bran.
+Krithomancy, by corn or grain. Alectromancy, by cocks. Gyromancy, by
+circles. Lampadomancy, by candles and lamps.
+
+ONEIRO-CRITICISM, or the art of interpreting dreams, is a relic of the
+most remote ages, which has subsisted through all the changes that moral
+or physical revolutions have operated in the world. The records of five
+thousand years bear abundant testimony to the universal diffusion of the
+belief, that the skilful could read the future in dreams. The rules of
+the art, if any existed in ancient times, are not known; but in our day,
+one simple rule opens the whole secret. Dreams, say all the wiseacres in
+Christendom, are to be interpreted by contraries. Thus, if you dream of
+filth, you will acquire something valuable; if you dream of the dead,
+you will hear news of the living; if you dream of gold and silver,
+you run a risk of being without either; and if you dream you have many
+friends, you will be persecuted by many enemies. The rule, however, does
+not hold good in all cases. It is fortunate to dream of little pigs,
+but unfortunate to dream of big bullocks. If you dream you have lost a
+tooth, you may be sure that you will shortly lose a friend; and if
+you dream that your house is on fire, you will receive news from a
+far country. If you dream of vermin, it is a sign that there will be
+sickness in your family; and if you dream of serpents, you will have
+friends who, in the course of time, will prove your bitterest enemies;
+but, of all dreams, it is most fortunate if you dream that you are
+wallowing up to your neck in mud and mire. Clear water is a sign of
+grief; and great troubles, distress, and perplexity are predicted, if
+you dream that you stand naked in the public streets, and know not where
+to find a garment to shield you from the gaze of the multitude.
+
+In many parts of Great Britain, and the continents of Europe and
+America, there are to be found elderly women in the villages and
+country-places whose interpretations of dreams are looked upon with as
+much reverence as if they were oracles. In districts remote from towns
+it is not uncommon to find the members of a family regularly every
+morning narrating their dreams at the breakfast-table, and becoming
+happy or miserable for the day according to their interpretation. There
+is not a flower that blossoms, or fruit that ripens, that, dreamed of,
+is not ominous of either good or evil to such people. Every tree of the
+field or the forest is endowed with a similar influence over the fate of
+mortals, if seen in the night-visions. To dream of the ash, is the
+sign of a long journey; and of an oak, prognosticates long life and
+prosperity. To dream you strip the bark off any tree, is a sign to a
+maiden of an approaching loss of a character; to a married woman, of a
+family bereavement; and to a man, of an accession of fortune. To dream
+of a leafless tree, is a sign of great sorrow; and of a branchless
+trunk, a sign of despair and suicide. The elder-tree is more auspicious
+to the sleeper; while the fir-tree, better still, betokens all manner
+of comfort and prosperity. The lime-tree predicts a voyage across the
+ocean; while the yew and the alder are ominous of sickness to the young
+and of death to the old.
+
+It is quite astonishing to see the great demand there is, both in
+England and France, for dream-books, and other trash of the same kind.
+Two books in England enjoy an extraordinary popularity, and have run
+through upwards of fifty editions in as many years in London alone,
+besides being reprinted in Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Dublin.
+One is "Mother Bridget's Dream-book and Oracle of Fate;" the other
+is the "Norwood Gipsy." It is stated on the authority of one who, is
+curious in these matters, that there is a demand for these works,
+which are sold at sums varying from a penny to sixpence, chiefly to
+servant-girls and imperfectly-educated people, all over the country, of
+upwards of eleven thousand annually; and that at no period during the
+last thirty years has the average number sold been less than this. The
+total number during this period would thus amount to 330,000.
+
+Among the flowers and fruits charged with messages for the future,
+the following is a list of the most important, arranged from approved
+sources, in alphabetical order:--
+
+Asparagus, gathered and tied up in bundles, is an omen of tears. If you
+see it growing in your dreams, it is a sign of good fortune.
+
+Aloes, without a flower, betoken long life: in flower, betoken a legacy.
+
+Artichokes. This vegetable is a sign that you will receive, in a short
+time, a favour from the hands of those from whom you would least expect
+it.
+
+Agrimony. This herb denotes that there will be sickness in your house.
+
+Anemone, predicts love.
+
+Auriculas, in beds, denote luck; in pots, marriage: while to gather
+them, foretells widowhood.
+
+Bilberries, predict a pleasant excursion.
+
+Broom-flowers, an increase of family.
+
+Cauliflowers, predict that all your friends will slight you, or that you
+will fall into poverty and find no one to pity you.
+
+Dock-leaves, a present from the country.
+
+Daffodils. Any maiden who dreams of daffodils is warned by her good
+angel to avoid going into a wood with her lover, or into any dark or
+retired place where she might not be able to make people hear her if
+she cried out. Alas! for her if she pay no attention to the warning!
+She shall be rifled of the precious flower of chastity, and shall never
+again have right to wear the garland of virginity.
+
+"Never again shall she put garland on; Instead of it, she'll wear sad
+cypress now, And bitter elder broken from the bough."
+
+Figs, if green, betoken embarrassment; if dried, money to the poor and
+mirth to the rich.
+
+Heart's-ease, betokens heart's pain.
+
+Lilies, predict joy; water-lilies, danger from the sea.
+
+Lemons, betoken a separation.
+
+Pomegranates, predict happy wedlock to those who are single, and
+reconciliation to those who are married and have disagreed.
+
+Quinces, prognosticate pleasant company.
+
+Roses, denote happy love, not unmixed with sorrow from other sources.
+
+Sorrel, To dream of this herb is a sign that you will shortly have
+occasion to exert all your prudence to overcome some great calamity.
+
+Sunflowers, show that your pride will be deeply wounded.
+
+Violets, predict evil to the single and joy to the married.
+
+Yellow-flowers of any kind predict jealousy.
+
+Yew-berries, predict loss of character to both sexes.
+
+It should be observed that the rules for the interpretation of dreams
+are far from being universal. The cheeks of the peasant girl of England
+glow with pleasure in the morning after she has dreamed of a rose, while
+the paysanne of Normandy dreads disappointment and vexation for the very
+same reason. The Switzer who dreams of an oaktree does not share in the
+Englishman's joy; for he imagines that the vision was a warning to him
+that, from some trifling cause, an overwhelming calamity will burst over
+him. Thus do the ignorant and the credulous torment themselves; thus do
+they spread their nets to catch vexation, and pass their lives between
+hopes which are of no value and fears which are a positive evil.
+
+OMENS.--Among the other means of self-annoyance upon which men have
+stumbled, in their vain hope of discovering the future, signs and omens
+hold a conspicuous place. There is scarcely an occurrence in nature
+which, happening at a certain time, is not looked upon by some persons
+as a prognosticator either of good or evil. The latter are in the
+greatest number, so much more ingenious are we in tormenting ourselves
+than in discovering reasons for enjoyment in the things that surround
+us. We go out of our course to make ourselves uncomfortable; the cup
+of life is not bitter enough to our palate, and we distil superfluous
+poison to put into it, or conjure up hideous things to frighten
+ourselves at, which would never exist if we did not make them. "We
+suffer," says Addison, ["Spectator," No. 7, March 8th, 1710-11.] "as
+much from trifling accidents as from real evils. I have known the
+shooting of a star spoil a night's rest, and have seen a man in love
+grow pale and lose his appetite upon the plucking of a merrythought.
+A screech-owl at midnight has alarmed a family more than a band of
+robbers; nay, the voice of a cricket has struck more terror than the
+roaring of a lion. There is nothing so inconsiderable which may
+not appear dreadful to an imagination that is filled with omens and
+prognostics. A rusty nail or a crooked pin shoot up into prodigies."
+
+The century and a quarter that has passed away since Addison wrote has
+seen the fall of many errors. Many fallacies and delusions have been
+crushed under the foot of time since then; but this has been left
+unscathed, to frighten the weakminded and embitter their existence. A
+belief in omens is not confined to the humble and uninformed. A general,
+who led an army with credit, has been known to feel alarmed at a
+winding-sheet in the candle; and learned men, who had honourably and
+fairly earned the highest honours of literature, have been seen to
+gather their little ones around them, and fear that one would be
+snatched away, because,
+
+     "When stole upon the time the dead of night,
+     And heavy sleep had closed up mortal eyes,"
+
+a dog in the street was howling at the moon. Persons who would
+acknowledge freely that the belief in omens was unworthy of a man of
+sense, have yet confessed at the same time that, in spite of their
+reason, they have been unable to conquer their fears of death when they
+heard the harmless insect called the death-watch ticking in the wall, or
+saw an oblong hollow coal fly out of the fire.
+
+Many other evil omens besides those mentioned above alarm the vulgar
+and the weak. If a sudden shivering comes over such people, they believe
+that, at that instant, an enemy is treading over the spot that will one
+day be their grave. If they meet a sow when they first walk abroad in
+the morning, it is an omen of evil for that day. To meet an ass, is in
+like manner unlucky. It is also very unfortunate to walk under a ladder;
+to forget to eat goose on the festival of St. Michael; to tread upon a
+beetle, or to eat the twin nuts that are sometimes found in one shell.
+Woe, in like manner, is predicted to that wight who inadvertently upsets
+the salt; each grain that is overthrown will bring to him a day of
+sorrow. If thirteen persons sit at table, one of them will die within
+the year; and all of them will be unhappy. Of all evil omens, this is
+the worst. The facetious Dr. Kitchener used to observe that there was
+one case in which he believed that it was really unlucky for thirteen
+persons to sit down to dinner, and that was when there was only dinner
+enough for twelve. Unfortunately for their peace of mind, the great
+majority of people do not take this wise view of the matter. In almost
+every country of Europe the same superstition prevails, and some carry
+it so far as to look upon the number thirteen as in every way ominous of
+evil; and if they find thirteen coins in their purse, cast away the odd
+one like a polluted thing. The philosophic Beranger, in his exquisite
+song, "Thirteen at Table," has taken a poetical view of this humiliating
+superstition, and mingled, as is his wont, a lesson of genuine wisdom in
+his lay. Being at dinner, he overthrows the salt, and, looking round the
+room, discovers that he is the thirteenth guest. While he is mourning
+his unhappy fate, and conjuring up visions of disease and suffering, and
+the grave, he is suddenly startled by the apparition of Death herself,
+not in the shape of a grim foe, with skeleton ribs and menacing dart,
+but of an angel of light, who shows the folly of tormenting ourselves
+with the dread of her approach, when she is the friend, rather than the
+enemy, of man, and frees us from the fetters which bind us to the dust.
+
+If men could bring themselves to look upon Death in this manner, living
+well and wisely till her inevitable approach, how vast a store of grief
+and vexation would they spare themselves!
+
+Among good omens, one of the most conspicuous is to meet a piebald
+horse. To meet two of these animals is still more fortunate; and if on
+such an occasion you spit thrice, and form any reasonable wish, it will
+be gratified within three days. It is also a sign of good fortune if you
+inadvertently put on your stocking wrong side out. If you wilfully wear
+your stocking in this fashion, no good will come of it. It is very lucky
+to sneeze twice; but if you sneeze a third time, the omen loses its
+power, and your good fortune will be nipped in the bud. If a strange dog
+follow you, and fawn on you, and wish to attach itself to you, it is a
+sign of very great prosperity. Just as fortunate is it if a strange male
+cat comes to your house and manifests friendly intentions towards your
+family. If a she eat, it is an omen, on the contrary, of very great
+misfortune. If a swarm of bees alight in your garden, some very high
+honour and great joys await you.
+
+Besides these glimpses of the future, you may know something of your
+fate by a diligent attention to every itching that you may feel in your
+body. Thus, if the eye or the nose itches, it is a sign you will be
+shortly vexed; if the foot itches you will tread upon strange ground;
+and if the elbow itches, you will change your bedfellow. Itching of the
+right-hand prognosticates that you will soon have a sum of money; and of
+the left, that you will be called upon to disburse it.
+
+These are but a few of the omens which are generally credited in modern
+Europe. A complete list of them would fatigue from its length, and
+sicken from its absurdity. It would be still more unprofitable to
+attempt to specify the various delusions of the same kind which
+are believed among Oriental nations. Every reader will remember the
+comprehensive formula of cursing preserved in "Tristram Shandy:"--curse
+a man after any fashion you remember or can invent, you will be sure to
+find it there. The Oriental creed of omens is not less comprehensive.
+Every movement of the body, every emotion of the mind, is at certain
+times an omen. Every form and object in nature, even the shape of
+the clouds and the changes of the weather; every colour, every sound,
+whether of men or animals, or birds or insects, or inanimate things,
+is an omen. Nothing is too trifling or inconsiderable to inspire a hope
+which is not worth cherishing, or a fear which is sufficient to embitter
+existence.
+
+From the belief in omens springs the superstition that has, from very
+early ages, set apart certain days, as more favourable than others, for
+prying into the secrets of futurity. The following, copied verbatim
+from the popular "Dream and Omen Book" of Mother Bridget, will show
+the belief of the people of England at the present day. Those who
+are curious as to the ancient history of these observances, will find
+abundant aliment in the "Every-day Book."
+
+"The 1st of January.--If a young maiden drink, on going to bed, a pint
+of cold spring-water, in which is beat up an amulet, composed of the
+yolk of a pullet's egg, the legs of a spider, and the skin of an eel
+pounded, her future destiny will be revealed to her in a dream. This
+charm fails of its effect if tried any other day of the year.
+
+"Valentine Day.--Let a single woman go out of her own door very early in
+the morning, and if the first person she meets be a woman, she will
+not be married that year: if she meet a man, she will be married within
+three months.
+
+"Lady Day.--The following charm may be tried this day with certain
+success:--String thirty-one nuts on a string, composed of red worsted
+mixed with blue silk, and tie it round your neck on going to bed,
+repeating these lines--
+
+     'Oh, I wish! oh, I wish to see
+     Who my true love is to be!'
+
+Shortly after midnight, you will see your lover in a dream, and be
+informed at the same time of all the principal events of your future
+life.
+
+"St. Swithin's Eve.--Select three things you most wish to know; write
+them down with a new pen and red ink on a sheet of fine-wove paper, from
+which you must previously cut off all the corners and burn them. Fold
+the paper into a true-lover's knot, and wrap round it three hairs
+from your head. Place the paper under your pillow for three successive
+nights, and your curiosity to know the future will be satisfied.
+
+"St. Mark's Eve.--Repair to the nearest churchyard as the clock strikes
+twelve, and take from a grave on the south-side of the church three
+tufts of grass (the longer and ranker the better), and on going to bed
+place them under your pillow, repeating earnestly three several times,
+
+'The Eve of St. Mark by prediction is blest, Set therefore my hopes and
+my fears all to rest: Let me know my fate, whether weal or woe; Whether
+my rank's to be high or low; Whether to live single, or be a bride, And
+the destiny my star doth provide.'
+
+Should you have no dream that night, you will be single and miserable
+all your life. If you dream of thunder and lightning, your life will be
+one of great difficulty and sorrow.
+
+"Candlemas Eve.--On this night (which is the purification of the Virgin
+Mary), let three, five, seven, or nine, young maidens assemble together
+in a square chamber. Hang in each corner a bundle of sweet herbs, mixed
+with rue and rosemary. Then mix a cake of flour, olive-oil, and white
+sugar; every maiden having an equal share in the making and the expense
+of it. Afterwards, it must be cut into equal pieces, each one marking
+the piece as she cuts it with the initials of her name. It is then to be
+baked one hour before the fire, not a word being spoken the whole time,
+and the maidens sitting with their arms and knees across. Each piece of
+cake is then to be wrapped up in a sheet of paper, on which each maiden
+shall write the love part of Solomon's Songs. If she put this under her
+pillow, she will dream true. She will see her future husband and every
+one of her children, and will know, besides, whether her family will be
+poor or prosperous--a comfort to her, or the contrary.
+
+"Midsummer.--Take three roses, smoke them with sulphur, and exactly at
+three in the day, bury one of the roses under a yew tree; the second
+in a newly-made grave, and put the third under your pillow for three
+nights, and at the end of that period burn it in a fire of charcoal.
+Your dreams during that time will be prophetic of your future destiny,
+and, what is still more curious and valuable (Mother Bridget loquitur),
+the man whom you are to wed, will know no peace till he comes and visits
+you. Besides this, you will perpetually haunt his dreams.
+
+"St. John's Eve.--Make a new pincushion of the very best black velvet
+(no inferior quality will answer the purpose), and on one side stick
+your name in full length with the very smallest pins that can be bought
+(none other will do). On the other side, make a cross with some very
+large pins, and surround it with a circle. Put this into your stocking
+when you take it off at night, and hang it up at the foot of the bed.
+All your future life will pass before you in a dream.
+
+"First New Moon of the Year.--On the first new moon in the year, take a
+pint of clear springwater and infuse into it the white of an egg laid
+by a white hen, a glass of white wine, three almonds peeled white, and
+a tablespoonful of white rose-water. Drink this on going to bed, not
+making more nor less than three draughts of it; repeating the following
+verses three several times in a clear distinct voice, but not so loud
+as to be overheard by anybody:--
+
+
+'If I dream of water pure
+Before the coming morn,
+'Tis a sign I shall be poor,
+And unto wealth not born.
+
+If I dream of tasting beer,
+Middling then will be my cheer--
+Chequer'd with the good and bad,
+Sometimes joyful, sometimes sad;
+But should I dream of drinking wine,
+Wealth and pleasure will be mine.
+
+The stronger the drink, the better the cheer--
+Dreams of my destiny, appear, appear!'
+
+
+"Twenty-ninth of February.--This day, as it only occurs once in four
+years, is peculiarly auspicious to those who desire to have a glance at
+futurity, especially to young maidens burning with anxiety to know the
+appearance and complexion of their future lords. The charm to be adopted
+is the following: Stick twenty-seven of the smallest pins that are made,
+three by three, into a tallow candle. Light it up at the wrong end, and
+then place it in a candlestick made out of clay, which must be drawn
+from a virgin's grave. Place this on the chimney-place, in the left-hand
+corner, exactly as the clock strikes twelve, and go to bed immediately.
+When the candle is burnt out, take the pins and put them into your
+left-shoe; and before nine nights have elapsed your fate will be
+revealed to you."
+
+We have now taken a hasty review of the various modes of seeking to
+discover the future, especially as practised in modern times. The main
+features of the folly appear essentially the same in all countries.
+National character and peculiarities operate some difference of
+interpretation. The mountaineer makes the natural phenomena which he
+most frequently witnesses prognosticative of the future. The dweller in
+the plains, in a similar manner, seeks to know his fate among the signs
+of the things that surround him, and tints his superstition with the
+hues of his own clime. The same spirit animates them all--the same
+desire to know that which Infinite Mercy has concealed. There is but
+little probability that the curiosity of mankind in this respect will
+ever be wholly eradicated. Death and ill-fortune are continual bugbears
+to the weak-minded, the irreligious, and the ignorant; and while
+such exist in the world, divines will preach upon its impiety and
+philosophers discourse upon its absurdity in vain. Still, it is evident
+that these follies have greatly diminished. Soothsayers and prophets
+have lost the credit they formerly enjoyed, and skulk in secret now
+where they once showed their faces in the blaze of day. So far there is
+manifest improvement.
+
+
+
+
+BOOK III.--THE MAGNETISERS.
+
+     Some deemed them wondrous wise, and some believed them mad.
+    --Beattie's Minstrel.
+
+The wonderful influence of imagination in the cure of diseases is well
+known. A motion of the hand, or a glance of the eye, will throw a weak
+and credulous patient into a fit; and a pill made of bread, if taken
+with sufficient faith, will operate a cure better than all the drugs in
+the pharmacopoeia. The Prince of Orange, at the siege of Breda, in 1625,
+cured all his soldiers who were dying of the scurvy, by a philanthropic
+piece of quackery, which he played upon them with the knowledge of the
+physicians, when all other means had failed. [See Van der Mye's account
+of the siege of Breda. The garrison, being afflicted with scurvy,
+the Prince of Orange sent the physicians two or three small phials,
+containing a decoction of camomile, wormwood, and camphor, telling them
+to pretend that it was a medicine of the greatest value and extremest
+rarity, which had been procured with very much danger and difficulty
+from the East; and so strong, that two or three drops would impart a
+healing virtue to a gallon of water. The soldiers had faith in their
+commander; they took the medicine with cheerful faces, and grew well
+rapidly. They afterwards thronged about the Prince in groups of
+twenty and thirty at a time, praising his skill, and loading him with
+protestations of gratitude.] Many hundreds of instances, of a similar
+kind, might be related, especially from the history of witchcraft. The
+mummeries, strange gesticulations, and barbarous jargon of witches and
+sorcerers, which frightened credulous and nervous women, brought on
+all those symptoms of hysteria and other similar diseases, so well
+understood now, but which were then supposed to be the work of the
+devil, not only by the victims and the public in general, but by the
+operators themselves.
+
+In the age when alchymy began to fall into some disrepute, and learning
+to lift up its voice against it, a new delusion, based upon this
+power of imagination, suddenly arose, and found apostles among all
+the alchymists. Numbers of them, forsaking their old pursuits, made
+themselves magnetisers. It appeared first in the shape of mineral, and
+afterwards of animal, magnetism, under which latter name it survives to
+this day, and numbers its dupes by thousands.
+
+The mineral magnetisers claim the first notice, as the worthy
+predecessors of the quacks of the present day. The honour claimed for
+Paracelsus of being the first of the Rosicrucians has been disputed; but
+his claim to be considered the first of the magnetisers can scarcely be
+challenged. It has been already mentioned of him, in the part of this
+work which treats of alchymy, that, like nearly all the distinguished
+adepts, he was a physician; and pretended, not only to make gold and
+confer immortality, but to cure all diseases. He was the first who, with
+the latter view, attributed occult and miraculous powers to the magnet.
+Animated apparently by a sincere conviction that the magnet was the
+philosopher's stone, which, if it could not transmute metals, could
+soothe all human suffering and arrest the progress of decay, he
+travelled for many years in Persia and Arabia, in search of the
+mountain of adamant, so famed in oriental fables. When he practised as
+a physician at Basle, he called one of his nostrums by the name
+of azoth--a stone or crystal, which, he said, contained magnetic
+properties, and cured epilepsy, hysteria, and spasmodic affections. He
+soon found imitators. His fame spread far and near; and thus were sown
+the first seeds of that error which has since taken root and flourished
+so widely. In spite of the denial of modern practitioners, this must
+be considered the origin of magnetism; for we find that, beginning with
+Paracelsus, there was a regular succession of mineral magnetisers until
+Mesmer appeared, and gave a new feature to the delusion.
+
+Paracelsus boasted of being able to transplant diseases from the human
+frame into the earth, by means of the magnet. He said there were
+six ways by which this might be effected. One of them will be quite
+sufficient, as a specimen. "If a person suffer from disease, either
+local or general, let the following remedy be tried. Take a magnet,
+impregnated with mummy [Mummies were of several kinds, and were all
+of great use in magnetic medicines. Paracelsus enumerates six kinds
+of mummies; the first four only differing in the composition used by
+different people for preserving their dead, are the Egyptian, Arabian,
+Pisasphaltos, and Lybian. The fifth mummy of peculiar power was made
+from criminals that had been hanged; "for from such there is a gentle
+siccation, that expungeth the watery humour, without destroying the
+oil and spirituall, which is cherished by the heavenly luminaries, and
+strengthened continually by the affluence and impulses of the celestial
+spirits; whence it may be properly called by the name of constellated
+or celestial mummie." The sixth kind of mummy was made of corpuscles,
+or spiritual effluences, radiated from the living body; though we cannot
+get very clear ideas on this head, or respecting the manner in which
+they were caught.--"Medicina Diatastica; or, Sympathetical Mummie,
+abstracted from the Works of Paracelsus, and translated out of the
+Latin, by Fernando Parkhurst, Gent." London, 1653. pp. 2.7. Quoted by
+the "Foreign Quarterly Review," vol. xii. p. 415.] and mixed with rich
+earth. In this earth sow some seeds that have a congruity or homogeneity
+with the disease: then let this earth, well sifted and mixed with mummy,
+be laid in an earthen vessel; and let the seeds committed to it be
+watered daily with a lotion in which the diseased limb or body has been
+washed. Thus will the disease be transplanted from the human body to
+the seeds which are in the earth. Having done this, transplant the
+seeds from the earthen vessel to the ground, and wait till they begin to
+sprout into herbs: as they increase, the disease will diminish; and when
+they have arrived at their full growth, it will disappear altogether."
+
+Kircher the Jesuit, whose quarrel with the alchymists was the means of
+exposing many of their impostures, was a firm believer in the efficacy
+of the magnet. Having been applied to by a patient afflicted with
+hernia, he directed the man to swallow a small magnet reduced to powder,
+while he applied, at the same time, to the external swelling a poultice,
+made of filings of iron. He expected that by this means the magnet, when
+it got to the corresponding place inside, would draw in the iron,
+and with it the tumour; which would thus, he said, be safely and
+expeditiously reduced.
+
+As this new doctrine of magnetism spread, it was found that wounds
+inflicted with any metallic substance could be cured by the magnet. In
+process of time the delusion so increased, that it was deemed sufficient
+to magnetise a sword, to cure any hurt which that sword might have
+inflicted! This was the origin of the celebrated "weapon-salve," which
+excited so much attention about the middle of the seventeenth century.
+The following was the recipe given by Paracelsus for the cure of any
+wounds inflicted by a sharp weapon, except such as had penetrated the
+heart, the brain, or the arteries. "Take of moss growing on the head of
+a thief who has been hanged and left in the air; of real mummy; of human
+blood, still warm--of each, one ounce; of human suet, two ounces; of
+linseed oil, turpentine, and Armenian bole--of each, two drachms. Mix
+all well in a mortar, and keep the salve in an oblong, narrow urn." With
+this salve the weapon, after being dipped in the blood from the wound,
+was to be carefully anointed, and then laid by in a cool place. In
+the mean time, the wound was to be duly washed with fair clean water,
+covered with a clean, soft, linen rag, and opened once a day to cleanse
+off purulent or other matter. Of the success of this treatment, says the
+writer of the able article on Animal Magnetism, in the twelfth volume
+of the "Foreign Quarterly Review," there cannot be the least doubt; "for
+surgeons at this moment follow exactly the same method, except anointing
+the weapon!
+
+The weapon salve continued to be much spoken of on the Continent, and
+many eager claimants appeared for the honour of the invention. Dr.
+Fludd, or A Fluctibus, the Rosicrucian, who has been already mentioned
+in a previous part of this volume, was very zealous in introducing it
+into England. He tried it with great success in several cases; and no
+wonder; for, while he kept up the spirits of his patients by boasting
+of the great efficacy of the salve, he never neglected those common,
+but much more important remedies, of washing, bandaging, &c. which the
+experience of all ages had declared sufficient for the purpose. Fludd,
+moreover, declared, that the magnet was a remedy for all diseases, if
+properly applied; but that man having, like the earth, a north and
+a south pole, magnetism could only take place when his body was in a
+boreal position! In the midst of his popularity, an attack was made upon
+him and his favourite remedy, the salve; which, however, did little
+or nothing to diminish the belief in its efficacy. One "Parson Foster"
+wrote a pamphlet, entitled "Hyplocrisma Spongus; or, a Spunge to wipe
+away the Weapon-Salve;" in which he declared, that it was as bad as
+witchcraft to use or recommend such an unguent; that it was invented by
+the devil, who, at the last day, would seize upon every person who had
+given it the slightest encouragement. "In fact," said Parson Foster,
+"the devil himself gave it to Paracelsus; Paracelsus to the Emperor; the
+Emperor to the courtier; the courtier to Baptista Porta; and Baptista
+Porta to Dr. Fludd, a doctor of physic, yet living and practising in the
+famous city of London, who now stands tooth and nail for it." Dr. Fludd,
+thus assailed, took up the pen in defence of his unguent, in a
+reply called "The Squeezing of Parson Foster's Spunge; wherein the
+Spunge-Bearer's immodest Carriage and Behaviour towards his Brethren is
+detected; the bitter Flames of his slanderous Reports are, by the sharp
+Vinegar of Truth, corrected and quite extinguished; and, lastly, the
+virtuous Validity of his Spunge in wiping away the Weapon-Salve, is
+crushed out and clean abolished."
+
+Shortly after this dispute a more distinguished believer in the
+weapon-salve made his appearance, in the person of Sir Kenelm Digby, the
+son of Sir Everard Digby, who was executed for his participation in
+the Gunpowder Plot. This gentleman, who, in other respects, was
+an accomplished scholar and an able man, was imbued with all the
+extravagant notions of the alchymists. He believed in the philosopher's
+stone, and wished to engage Descartes to devote his energies to the
+discovery of the elixir of life, or some other means by which the
+existence of man might be prolonged to an indefinite period. He gave
+his wife, the beautiful Venetia Anastasia Stanley, a dish of capons, fed
+upon vipers, according to the plan supposed to have been laid down by
+Arnold of Villeneuve, in the hope that she might thereby preserve her
+loveliness for a century. If such a man once took up the idea of the
+weapon-salve, it was to be expected that he would make the most of it.
+In his hands, however, it was changed from an unguent into a powder, and
+was called the powder of sympathy. He pretended that he had acquired the
+knowledge of it from a Carmelite friar, who had learned it in Persia or
+Armenia, from an oriental philosopher of great renown. King James,
+the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Buckingham, and many other noble
+personages, believed in its efficacy. The following remarkable instance
+of his mode of cure was read by Sir Kenelm to a society of learned
+men at Montpellier. Mr. James Howell, the well-known author of the
+"Dendrologia," and of various letters, coming by chance as two of his
+best friends were fighting a duel, rushed between them, and endeavoured
+to part them. He seized the sword of one of the combatants by the
+hilt, while, at the same time, he grasped the other by the blade. Being
+transported with fury one against the other, they struggled to rid
+themselves of the hindrance caused by their friend; and in so doing,
+the one whose sword was held by the blade by Mr. Howell, drew it away
+roughly, and nearly cut his hand off, severing the nerves and muscles,
+and penetrating to the bone. The other, almost at the same instant,
+disengaged his sword, and aimed a blow at the head of his antagonist,
+which Mr. Howell observing, raised his wounded hand with the rapidity of
+thought, to prevent the blow. The sword fell on the back of his already
+wounded hand, and cut it severely. "It seemed," said Sir Kenelm Digby,
+"as if some unlucky star raged over them, that they should have both
+shed the blood of that dear friend, for whose life they would have given
+their own, if they had been in their proper mind at the time." Seeing
+Mr. Howell's face all besmeared with blood from his wounded hand, they
+both threw down their swords and embraced him, and bound up his hand
+with a garter, to close the veins, which were cut, and bled profusely.
+They then conveyed him home, and sent for a surgeon. King James, who was
+much attached to Mr. Howell, afterwards sent his own surgeon to attend
+him. We must continue the narrative in the words of Sir Kenelm Digby:--
+
+"It was my chance," says he, "to be lodged hard by him: and, four or
+five days after, as I was making myself ready, he came to my house, and
+prayed me to view his wounds; 'for I understand,' said he, 'that you
+have extraordinary remedies on such occasions; and my surgeons apprehend
+some fear, that it may grow to a gangrene, and so the hand must be cut
+off.' In effect, his countenance discovered that he was in much
+pain, which, he said, was insupportable, in regard of the extreme
+inflammation. I told him I would willingly serve him; but if, haply, he
+knew the manner how I could cure him, without touching or seeing him,
+it might be that he would not expose himself to my manner of curing;
+because he would think it, peradventure, either ineffectual or
+superstitious. He replied, 'The many wonderful things which people have
+related unto me of your way of medicinement, makes me nothing doubt at
+all of its efficacy; and all that I have to say unto you is comprehended
+in the Spanish proverb, Hagase el milagro y hagalo Mahoma--Let the
+miracle be done, though Mahomet do it.'
+
+"I asked him then for anything that had the blood upon it: so he
+presently sent for his garter, wherewith his hand was first bound; and,
+as I called for a basin of water, as if I would wash my hands, I took
+a handful of powder of vitriol, which I had in my study, and presently
+dissolved it. As soon as the bloody garter was brought me, I put it in
+the basin, observing, in the interim, what Mr. Howell did, who stood
+talking with a gentleman in a corner of my chamber, not regarding at all
+what I was doing. He started suddenly, as if he had found some strange
+alteration in himself. I asked him what he ailed? 'I know not what ails
+me; but I find that I feel no more pain. Methinks that a pleasing kind
+of freshness, as it were a wet cold napkin, did spread over my hand,
+which hath taken away the inflammation that tormented me before.' I
+replied, 'Since, then, you feel already so much good of my medicament,
+I advise you to cast away all your plasters; only keep the wound clean,
+and in a moderate temper, betwixt heat and cold.' This was presently
+reported to the Duke of Buckingham, and a little after, to the King, who
+were both very curious to know the circumstances of the business; which
+was, that after dinner, I took the garter out of the water, and put
+it to dry before a great fire. It was scarce dry before Mr. Howell's
+servant came running, and saying that his master felt as much burning as
+ever he had done, if not more; for the heat was such as if his hand were
+betwixt coals of fire. I answered, that although that had happened at
+present, yet he should find ease in a short time; for I knew the reason
+of this new accident, and would provide accordingly; for his master
+should be free from that inflammation, it might be, before he could
+possibly return to him: but, in case he found no ease, I wished him to
+come presently back again; if not, he might forbear coming. Thereupon
+he went; and, at the instant, I did put the garter again into the water;
+thereupon he found his master without any pain at all. To be brief,
+there was no sense of pain afterwards; but within five or six days, the
+wounds were cicatrised and entirely healed."
+
+Such is the marvellous story of Sir Kenelm Digby. Other practitioners of
+that age were not behind him in absurdity. It was not always necessary
+to use either the powder of sympathy, or the weapon-salve, to effect a
+cure. It was sufficient to magnetise the sword with the hand (the first
+faint dawn of the animal theory), to relieve any pain the same weapon
+had caused. They pretended, that if they stroked the sword upwards with
+their fingers, the wounded person would feel immediate relief; but if
+they stroked it downwards, he would feel intolerable pain.[Reginald
+Scott, quoted by Sir Walter Scott, in the notes to the "Lay of the Last
+Minstrel," c. iii. v. xxiii.]
+
+Another very strange notion of the power and capabilities of magnetism
+was entertained at the same time. It was believed that a sympathetic
+alphabet could be made on the flesh, by means of which persons could
+correspond with each other, and communicate all their ideas with the
+rapidity of volition, although thousands of miles apart. From the arms
+of two persons a piece of flesh was cut, and mutually transplanted,
+while still warm and bleeding. The piece so severed grew to the new arm
+on which it was placed; but still retained so close a sympathy with its
+native limb, that its old possessor was always sensible of any injury
+done to it. Upon these transplanted pieces were tattooed the letters of
+the alphabet; so that, when a communication was to be made, either of
+the persons, though the wide Atlantic rolled between them, had only
+to prick his arm with a magnetic needle, and straightway his friend
+received intimation that the telegraph was at work. Whatever letter
+he pricked on his own arm pained the same letter on the arm of his
+correspondent. ["Foreign Quarterly Review," vol. xii. p. 417.] Who knows
+but this system, if it had received proper encouragement, might not
+have rendered the Post-Office unnecessary, and even obviated much of
+the necessity for railroads? Let modern magnetisers try and bring it
+to perfection. It is not more preposterous than many of their present
+notions; and, if carried into effect, with the improvement of some
+stenographical expedient for diminishing the number of punctures, would
+be much more useful than their plan of causing persons to read with
+their great toes, [Wirth's "Theorie des Somnambulismes," p. 79.] or
+seeing, with their eyes shut, into other people's bodies, and counting
+the number of arteries therein. ["Report of the Academic Royale de
+Medicine,"--case of Mademoiselle Celine Sauvage, p. 186.]
+
+Contemporary with Sir Kenelm Digby, was the no less famous Mr. Valentine
+Greatraks who, without mentioning magnetism, or laying claim to any
+theory, practised upon himself and others a deception much more akin to
+the animal magnetism of the present day, than the mineral magnetism
+it was then so much the fashion to study. He was the son of an Irish
+gentleman, of good education and property, in the county of Cork. He
+fell, at an early age, into a sort of melancholy derangement. After
+some time, he had an impulse, or strange persuasion in his mind, which
+continued to present itself, whether he were sleeping or waking, that
+God had given him the power of curing the king's evil. He mentioned this
+persuasion to his wife, who very candidly told him that he was a fool!
+He was not quite sure of this, notwithstanding the high authority from
+which it came, and determined to make trial of the power that was
+in him. A few days afterwards, he went to one William Maher, of
+Saltersbridge, in the parish of Lismore, who was grievously afflicted
+with the king's evil in his eyes, cheek, and throat. Upon this man,
+who was of abundant faith, he laid his hands, stroked him, and prayed
+fervently. He had the satisfaction to see him heal considerably in the
+course of a few days; and, finally, with the aid of other remedies, to
+be quite cured. This success encouraged him in the belief that he had a
+divine mission. Day after day he had further impulses from on high,
+that he was called upon to cure the ague also. In the course of time
+he extended his powers to the curing of epilepsy, ulcers, aches,
+and lameness. All the county of Cork was in a commotion to see this
+extraordinary physician, who certainly operated some very great benefit
+in cases where the disease was heightened by hypochondria and depression
+of spirits. According to his own account, [Greatraks' Account of
+himself, in a letter to the Honourable Robert Boyle.] such great
+multitudes resorted to him from divers places, that he had no time to
+follow his own business, or enjoy the company of his family and friends.
+He was obliged to set aside three days in the week, from six in the
+morning till six at night, during which time only he laid hands upon
+all that came. Still the crowds which thronged around him were so
+great, that the neighbouring towns were not able to accommodate them. He
+thereupon left his house in the country, and went to Youghal, where
+the resort of sick people, not only from all parts of Ireland, but from
+England, continued so great, that the magistrates were afraid they would
+infect the place by their diseases. Several of these poor credulous
+people no sooner saw him than they fell into fits, and he restored
+them by waving his hand in their faces, and praying over them. Nay, he
+affirmed, that the touch of his glove had driven pains away, and, on
+one occasion, cast out from a woman several devils, or evil spirits,
+who tormented her day and night. "Every one of these devils," says
+Greatraks, "was like to choke her, when it came up into her throat."
+It is evident, from this, that the woman's complaint was nothing but
+hysteria.
+
+The clergy of the diocese of Lismore, who seem to have had much clearer
+notions of Greatraks' pretensions than their parishioners, set their
+faces against the new prophet and worker of miracles. He was cited to
+appear in the Dean's Court, and prohibited from laying on his hands for
+the future: but he cared nothing for the church. He imagined that he
+derived his powers direct from Heaven, and continued to throw people
+into fits, and bring them to their senses again, as usual, almost
+exactly after the fashion of modern magnetisers. His reputation
+became, at last, so great, that Lord Conway sent to him from London,
+begging-that he would come over immediately, to cure a grievous
+head-ache which his lady had suffered for several years, and which the
+principal physicians of England had been unable to relieve.
+
+Greatraks accepted the invitation, and tried his manipulations and
+prayers upon Lady Conway. He failed, however, in affording any relief.
+The poor lady's head-ache was excited by causes too serious to allow her
+any help, even from faith and a lively imagination. He lived for some
+months in Lord Conway's house, at Ragley, in Warwickshire, operating
+cures similar to those he had performed in Ireland. He afterwards
+removed to London, and took a house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, which soon
+became the daily resort of all the nervous and credulous women of the
+metropolis. A very amusing account of Greatraks at this time (1665), is
+given in the second volume of the "Miscellanies of St. Evremond," under
+the title of the Irish prophet. It is the most graphic sketch ever made
+of this early magnetiser. Whether his pretensions were more or less
+absurd than those of some of his successors, who have lately made their
+appearance among us, would be hard to say.
+
+"When M. de Comminges," says St. Evremond, "was ambassador from his most
+Christian Majesty to the King of Great Britain, there came to London
+an Irish prophet, who passed himself off as a great worker of miracles.
+Some persons of quality having begged M. de Comminges to invite him to
+his house, that they might be witnesses of some of his miracles, the
+ambassador promised to satisfy them, as much from his own curiosity as
+from courtesy to his friends; and gave notice to Greatraks that he would
+be glad to see him.
+
+"A rumour of the prophet's coming soon spread all over the town, and the
+hotel of M. de Comminges was crowded by sick persons, who came full
+of confidence in their speedy cure. The Irishman made them wait a
+considerable time for him, but came at last, in the midst of their
+impatience, with a grave and simple countenance, that showed no signs
+of his being a cheat. Monsieur de Comminges prepared to question him
+strictly, hoping to discourse with him on the matters that he had read
+of in Van Helmont and Bodinus; but he was not able to do so, much to his
+regret, for the crowd became so great, and cripples and others pressed
+around so impatiently to be the first cured, that the servants were
+obliged to use threats, and even force, before they could establish
+order among them, or place them in proper ranks.
+
+"The prophet affirmed that all diseases were caused by evil spirits.
+Every infirmity was with him a case of diabolical possession. The first
+that was presented to him was a man suffering from gout and rheumatism,
+and so severely that the physicians had been unable to cure him. 'Ah,'
+said the miracle-worker, 'I have seen a good deal of this sort of
+spirits when I was in Ireland. They are watery spirits, who bring on
+cold shivering, and excite an overflow of aqueous humours in our poor
+bodies.' Then addressing the man, he said, 'Evil spirit, who hast
+quitted thy dwelling in the waters to come and afflict this miserable
+body, I command thee to quit thy new abode, and to return to thine
+ancient habitation!' This said, the sick man was ordered to withdraw,
+and another was brought forward in his place. This new comer said he
+was tormented by the melancholy vapours. In fact, he looked like a
+hypochondriac; one of those persons diseased in imagination, and who
+but too often become so in reality. 'Aerial spirit,' said the Irishman,
+'return, I command thee, into the air!--exercise thy natural vocation
+of raising tempests, and do not excite any more wind in this sad unlucky
+body!' This man was immediately turned away to make room for a third
+patient, who, in the Irishman's opinion, was only tormented by a little
+bit of a sprite, who could not withstand his command for an instant.
+He Pretended that he recognized this sprite by some marks which were
+invisible to the company, to whom he turned with a smile, and said,
+'This sort of spirit does not often do much harm, and is always very
+diverting.' To hear him talk, one would have imagined that he knew all
+about spirits--their names, their rank, their numbers, their employment,
+and all the functions they were destined to; and he boasted of being
+much better acquainted with the intrigues of demons than he was with the
+affairs of men. You can hardly imagine what a reputation he gained in a
+short time. Catholics and Protestants visited him from every part, all
+believing that power from Heaven was in his hands."
+
+After relating a rather equivocal adventure of a husband and wife, who
+implored Greatraks to cast out the devil of dissension which had crept
+in between them, St. Evremond thus sums up the effect he produced on
+the popular mind:--"So great was the confidence in him, that the blind
+fancied they saw the light which they did not see--the deaf imagined
+that they heard--the lame that they walked straight, and the paralytic
+that they had recovered the use of their limbs. An idea of health made
+the sick forget for a while their maladies; and imagination, which was
+not less active in those merely drawn by curiosity than in the sick,
+gave a false view to the one class, from the desire of seeing, as it
+operated a false cure on the other from the strong desire of being
+healed. Such was the power of the Irishman over the mind, and such was
+the influence of the mind upon the body. Nothing was spoken of in London
+but his prodigies; and these prodigies were supported by such great
+authorities, that the bewildered multitude believed them almost without
+examination, while more enlightened people did not dare to reject
+them from their own knowledge. The public opinion, timid and enslaved,
+respected this imperious and, apparently, well-authenticated error.
+Those who saw through the delusion kept their opinion to themselves,
+knowing how useless it was to declare their disbelief to a people filled
+with prejudice and admiration."
+
+About the same time that Valentine Greatraks was thus magnetising the
+people of London, an Italian enthusiast, named Francisco Bagnone, was
+performing the same tricks in Italy, and with as great success. He had
+only to touch weak women with his hands, or sometimes (for the sake of
+working more effectively upon their fanaticism) with a relic, to make
+them fall into fits and manifest all the symptoms of magnetism.
+
+Besides these, several learned men, in different parts of Europe,
+directed their attention to the study of the magnet, believing it might
+be rendered efficacious in many diseases. Van Helmont, in particular,
+published a work on the effects of magnetism on the human frame; and
+Balthazar Gracian, a Spaniard, rendered himself famous for the boldness
+of his views on the subject. "The magnet," said the latter, "attracts
+iron; iron is found everywhere; everything, therefore, is under the
+influence of magnetism. It is only a modification of the general
+principle, which establishes harmony or foments divisions among men.
+It is the same agent which gives rise to sympathy, antipathy, and the
+passions." ["Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism," by Baron
+Dupotet de Sennevoy, p. 315.]
+
+Baptista Porta, who, in the whimsical genealogy of the weapon-salve,
+given by Parson Foster in his attack upon Dr. a Fluctibus, is mentioned
+as one of its fathers, had also great faith in the efficacy of the
+magnet, and operated upon the imagination of his patients in a manner
+which was then considered so extraordinary that he was accused of being
+a magician, and prohibited from practising by the Court of Rome.
+Among others who distinguished themselves by their faith in magnetism,
+Sebastian Wirdig and William Maxwell claim especial notice. Wirdig was
+professor of medicine at the University of Rostock in Mecklenburgh,
+and wrote a treatise called "The New Medicine of the Spirits," which he
+presented to the Royal Society of London. An edition of this work
+was printed in 1673, in which the author maintained that a magnetic
+influence took place, not only between the celestial and terrestrial
+bodies, but between all living things. The whole world, he said, was
+under the influence of magnetism: life was preserved by magnetism; death
+was the consequence of magnetism!
+
+Maxwell, the other enthusiast, was an admiring disciple of Paracelsus,
+and boasted that he had irradiated the obscurity in which too many of
+the wonder-working recipes of that great philosopher were enveloped.
+His works were printed at Frankfort, in 1679. It would seem, from
+the following passage, that he was aware of the great influence of
+imagination, as well in the production as in the cure of diseases. "If
+you wish to work prodigies," says he, "abstract from the materiality
+of beings--increase the sum of spirituality in bodies--rouse the spirit
+from its slumbers. Unless you do one or other of these things--unless
+you can bind the idea, you can never perform anything good or great."
+Here, in fact, lies the whole secret of magnetism, and all delusions
+of a similar kind: increase the spirituality--rouse the spirit from its
+slumbers, or in other words, work upon the imagination--induce belief
+and blind confidence, and you may do anything. This passage, which is
+quoted with approbation by M. Dupotet in a recent work ["Introduction
+to the Study of Animal Magnetism," p. 318.] as strongly corroborative of
+the theory now advanced by the animal-magnetists, is just the reverse.
+If they believe they can work all their wonders by the means so dimly
+shadowed forth by Maxwell, what becomes of the universal fluid pervading
+all nature, and which they pretend to pour into weak and diseased bodies
+from the tips of their fingers?
+
+Early in the eighteenth century, the attention of Europe was directed to
+a very remarkable instance of fanaticism, which has been claimed by the
+animal magnetists, as a proof of their science. The convulsionaries of
+St. Medard, as they were called, assembled in great numbers round the
+tomb of their favourite saint, the Jansenist priest Paris, and taught
+one another how to fall into convulsions. They believed that St. Paris
+would cure all their infirmities; and the number of hysterical women and
+weak-minded persons of all descriptions that flocked to the tomb from
+far and near was so great, as daily to block up all the avenues leading
+to the spot. Working themselves up to a pitch of excitement, they went
+off one after the other into fits, while some of them, still in apparent
+possession of all their faculties, voluntarily exposed themselves to
+sufferings, which on ordinary occasions would have been sufficient
+to deprive them of life. The scenes that occurred were a scandal to
+civilization and to religion--a strange mixture of obscenity, absurdity,
+and superstition. While some were praying on bended knees at the shrine
+of St. Paris, others were shrieking and making the most hideous noises.
+The women especially exerted themselves. On one side of the chapel there
+might be seen a score of them, all in convulsions, while at another as
+many more, excited to a sort of frenzy, yielded themselves up to gross
+indecencies. Some of them took an insane delight in being beaten and
+trampled upon. One in particular, according to Montegre, whose
+account we quote [Dictionnaire des Sciences Medicales--Article
+"Convulsionnaires," par Montegre.] was so enraptured with this ill
+usage, that nothing but the hardest blows would satisfy her. While a
+fellow of herculean strength was beating her with all his might with a
+heavy bar of iron, she kept continually urging him to renewed exertion.
+The harder he struck the better she liked it, exclaiming all the while,
+"Well done, brother; well done; oh, how pleasant it is! what good you
+are doing me! courage, my brother, courage; strike harder; strike harder
+still!" Another of these fanatics had, if possible, a still greater love
+for a beating. Carre de Montgeron, who relates the circumstance, was
+unable to satisfy her with sixty blows of a large sledge hammer. He
+afterwards used the same weapon, with the same degree of strength, for
+the sake of experiment, and succeeded in battering a hole in a stone
+wall at the twenty-fifth stroke. Another woman, named Sonnet, laid
+herself down on a red-hot brazier without flinching, and acquired for
+herself the nickname of the salamander; while others, desirous of a more
+illustrious martyrdom, attempted to crucify themselves. M. Deleuze, in
+his critical history of Animal Magnetism, attempts to prove that
+this fanatical frenzy was produced by magnetism, and that these mad
+enthusiasts magnetised each other without being aware of it. As well
+might he insist that the fanaticism which tempts the Hindoo bigot to
+keep his arms stretched in a horizontal position till the sinews wither,
+or his fingers closed upon his palms till the nails grow out of the
+backs of his hands, is also an effect of magnetism!
+
+For a period of sixty or seventy years, magnetism was almost wholly
+confined to Germany. Men of sense and learning devoted their attention
+to the properties of the loadstone; and one Father Hell, a jesuit, and
+professor of astronomy at the University of Vienna, rendered himself
+famous by his magnetic cures. About the year 1771 or 1772, he invented
+steel plates of a peculiar form, which he applied to the naked body,
+as a cure for several diseases. In the year 1774, he communicated his
+system to Anthony Mesmer. The latter improved upon the ideas of Father
+Hell, constructed a new theory of his own, and became the founder of
+ANIMAL MAGNETISM.
+
+It has been the fashion among the enemies of the new delusion to decry
+Mesmer as an unprincipled adventurer, while his disciples have extolled
+him to the skies as a regenerator of the human race. In nearly the same
+words, as the Rosicrucians applied to their founders, he has been
+called the discoverer of the secret which brings man into more intimate
+connexion with his Creator; the deliverer of the soul from the debasing
+trammels of the flesh; the man who enables us to set time at defiance,
+and conquer the obstructions of space. A careful sifting of his
+pretensions--and examination of the evidence brought forward to sustain
+them, will soon show which opinion is the more correct. That the
+writer of these pages considers him in the light of a man, who deluding
+himself, was the means of deluding others, may be inferred from his
+finding a place in these volumes, and figuring among the Flamels, the
+Agrippas, the Borris, the Boehmens, and the Cagliostros.
+
+He was born in May 1734, at Mersburg, in Swabia, and studied medicine
+at the University of Vienna. He took his degrees in 1766, and chose
+the influence of the planets on the human body as the subject of his
+inaugural dissertation. Having treated the matter quite in the style of
+the old astrological physicians, he was exposed to some ridicule both
+then and afterwards. Even at this early period some faint ideas of
+his great theory were germinating in his mind. He maintained in his
+dissertation, "that the sun, moon, and fixed stars mutually affect each
+other in their orbits; that they cause and direct in our earth a flux
+and reflux not only in the sea, but in the atmosphere, and affect in a
+similar manner all organized bodies through the medium of a subtile
+and mobile fluid, which pervades the universe and associates all things
+together in mutual intercourse and harmony." This influence, he said,
+was particularly exercised on the nervous system, and produced two
+states which he called intension and remission, which seemed to him to
+account for the different periodical revolutions observable in several
+maladies. When in after-life he met with Father Hell, he was confirmed
+by that person's observations in the truth of many of his own ideas.
+Having caused Hell to make him some magnetic plates, he determined to
+try experiments with them himself for his further satisfaction.
+
+He tried accordingly, and was astonished at his success. The faith of
+their wearers operated wonders with the metallic plates. Mesmer made due
+reports to Father Hell of all he had done, and the latter published them
+as the results of his own happy invention, and speaking of Mesmer as a
+physician whom he had employed to work under him. Mesmer took offence
+at being thus treated, considering himself a far greater personage than
+Father Hell. He claimed the invention as his own, accused Hell of a
+breach of confidence, and stigmatized him as a mean person, anxious to
+turn the discoveries of others to his own account. Hell replied, and a
+very pretty quarrel was the result, which afforded small talk for months
+to the literati of Vienna. Hell ultimately gained the victory. Mesmer,
+nothing daunted, continued to promulgate his views, till he stumbled at
+last upon the animal theory.
+
+One of his patients was a young lady named Oesterline, who suffered
+under a convulsive malady. Her attacks were periodical, and attended
+by a rush of blood to the head, followed by delirium and syncope. These
+symptoms he soon succeeded in reducing under his system of planetary
+influence, and imagined he could foretell the periods of accession
+and remission. Having thus accounted satisfactorily to himself for
+the origin of the disease, the idea struck him that he could operate
+a certain cure, if he could ascertain beyond doubt what he had long
+believed, that there existed between the bodies which compose our globe,
+an action equally reciprocal and similar to that of the heavenly
+bodies, by means of which he could imitate artificially the periodical
+revolutions of the flux and reflux beforementioned. He soon convinced
+himself that this action did exist. When trying the metallic plates of
+Father Hell, he thought their efficacy depended on their form; but he
+found afterwards that he could produce the same effects without using
+them at all, merely by passing his hands downwards towards the feet of
+the patient--even when at a considerable distance.
+
+This completed the theory of Mesmer. He wrote an account of his
+discovery to all the learned societies of Europe, soliciting their
+investigation. The Academy of Sciences at Berlin was the only one that
+answered him, and their answer was anything but favourable to his system
+or flattering to himself. Still he was not discouraged. He maintained to
+all who would listen to him that the magnetic matter, or fluid,
+pervaded all the universe--that every human body contained it, and could
+communicate the superabundance of it to another by an exertion of the
+will. Writing to a friend from Vienna, he said, "I have observed that
+the magnetic is almost the same thing as the electric fluid, and that it
+may be propagated in the same manner, by means of intermediate bodies.
+Steel is not the only substance adapted to this purpose. I have rendered
+paper, bread, wool, silk, stones, leather, glass, wood, men, and
+dogs--in short, everything I touched, magnetic to such a degree that
+these substances produced the same effects as the loadstone on diseased
+persons. I have charged jars with magnetic matter in the same way as is
+done with electricity."
+
+Mesmer did not long find his residence at Vienna as agreeable as he
+wished. His pretensions were looked upon with contempt or indifference,
+and the case of Mademoiselle Oesterline brought him less fame than
+notoriety. He determined to change his sphere of action, and travelled
+into Swabia and Switzerland. In the latter country he met with the
+celebrated Father Gassner, who, like Valentine Greatraks, amused himself
+by casting out devils, and healing the sick by merely laying hands
+upon them. At his approach puling girls fell into convulsions, and the
+hypochondriac fancied themselves cured. His house was daily besieged by
+the lame, the blind, and the hysteric. Mesmer at once acknowledged the
+efficacy of his cures, and declared that they were the obvious result
+of his own newly-discovered power of magnetism. A few of the Father's
+patients were forthwith subjected to the manipulations of Mesmer, and
+the same symptoms were induced. He then tried his hand upon some paupers
+in the hospitals of Berne and Zurich, and succeeded, according to his
+own account, but no other person's, in curing an opththalmia and a gutta
+serena. With memorials of these achievements he returned to Vienna, in
+the hope of silencing his enemies, or at least forcing them to
+respect his newly-acquired reputation, and to examine his system more
+attentively.
+
+His second appearance in that capital was not more auspicious than the
+first. He undertook to cure a Mademoiselle Paradis, who was quite blind,
+and subject to convulsions. He magnetised her several times, and then
+declared that she was cured; at least, if she was not, it was her fault,
+and not his. An eminent oculist of that day, named Birth, went to visit
+her, and declared that she was as blind as ever; while her family said
+she was as much subject to convulsions as before. Mesmer persisted that
+she was cured. Like the French philosopher, he would not allow facts to
+interfere with his theory. [An enthusiastic philosopher, of whose name
+we are not informed, had constructed a very satisfactory theory on some
+subject or other, and was not a little proud of it. "But the facts,
+my dear fellow," said his friend, "the facts do not agree with
+your theory."--"Don't they," replied the philosopher, shrugging his
+shoulders, "then, taut pis pour les faits;"--so much the worse for the
+facts.] He declared that there was a conspiracy against him; and
+that Mademoiselle Paradis, at the instigation of her family, feigned
+blindness in order to injure his reputation!
+
+The consequences of this pretended cure taught Mesmer that Vienna
+was not the sphere for him. Paris, the idle, the debauched, the
+pleasure-hunting, the novelty-loving, was the scene for a philosopher
+like him, and thither he repaired accordingly. He arrived at Paris in
+1778, and began modestly, by making himself and his theory known to the
+principal physicians. At first, his encouragement was but slight; he
+found people more inclined to laugh at than to patronise him. But he was
+a man who had great confidence in himself, and of a perseverance which
+no difficulties could overcome. He hired a sumptuous apartment, which he
+opened to all comers who chose to make trial of the new power of nature.
+M. D'Eslon, a physician of great reputation, became a convert; and from
+that time, Animal Magnetism, or, as some called it, Mesmerism, became
+the fashion in Paris. The women were quite enthusiastic about it, and
+their admiring tattle wafted its fame through every grade of society.
+Mesmer was the rage; and high and low, rich and poor, credulous and
+unbelieving, all hastened to convince themselves of the power of this
+mighty magician, who made such magnificent promises. Mesmer, who knew
+as well as any man living the influence of the imagination, determined
+that, on that score, nothing should be wanting to heighten the effect
+of the magnetic charm. In all Paris, there was not a house so charmingly
+furnished as Monsieur Mesmer's. Richly-stained glass shed a dim
+religious light on his spacious saloons, which were almost covered with
+mirrors. Orange blossoms scented all the air of his corridors;
+incense of the most expensive kinds burned in antique vases on his
+chimney-pieces; aeolian harps sighed melodious music from distant
+chambers; while sometimes a sweet female voice, from above or below,
+stole softly upon the mysterious silence that was kept in the house,
+and insisted upon from all visitors. "Was ever anything so delightful?"
+cried all the Mrs. Wittitterley's of Paris, as they thronged to his
+house in search of pleasant excitement; "so wonderful!" said the
+pseudo-philosophers, who would believe anything if it were the fashion;
+"so amusing!" said the worn-out debauchees, who had drained the cup
+of sensuality to its dregs, and who longed to see lovely women in
+convulsions, with the hope that they might gain some new emotions from
+the sight.
+
+The following was the mode of operation:--In the centre of the saloon
+was placed an oval vessel, about four feet in its longest diameter, and
+one foot deep. In this were laid a number of wine-bottles, filled with
+magnetised water, well corked-up, and disposed in radii, with their
+necks outwards. Water was then poured into the vessel so as just to
+cover the bottles, and filings of iron were thrown in occasionally to
+heighten the magnetic effect. The vessel was then covered with an iron
+cover, pierced through with many holes, and was called the baquet. From
+each hole issued a long moveable rod of iron, which the patients were
+to apply to such parts of their bodies as were afflicted. Around this
+baquet the patients were directed to sit, holding each other by the
+hand, and pressing their knees together as closely as possible to
+facilitate the passage of the magnetic fluid from one to the other.
+
+Then came in the assistant magnetisers, generally strong, handsome young
+men, to pour into the patient from their finger-tips fresh streams of
+the wondrous fluid. They embraced the patients between the knees, rubbed
+them gently down the spine and the course of the nerves, using gentle
+pressure upon the breasts of the ladies, and staring them out of
+countenance to magnetise them by the eye! All this time the most
+rigorous silence was maintained, with the exception of a few wild notes
+on the harmonica or the piano-forte, or the melodious voice of a hidden
+opera-singer swelling softly at long intervals. Gradually the cheeks of
+the ladies began to glow, their imaginations to become inflamed; and off
+they went, one after the other, in convulsive fits. Some of them sobbed
+and tore their hair, others laughed till the tears ran from their
+eyes, while others shrieked and screamed and yelled till they became
+insensible altogether.
+
+This was the crisis of the delirium. In the midst of it, the chief
+actor made his appearance, waving his wand, like Prospero, to work
+new wonders. Dressed in a long robe of lilac-coloured silk, richly
+embroidered with gold flowers, bearing in his hand a white magnetic
+rod; and, with a look of dignity which would have sat well on an eastern
+caliph, he marched with solemn strides into the room. He awed the still
+sensible by his eye, and the violence of their symptoms diminished. He
+stroked the insensible with his hands upon the eyebrows and down the
+spine; traced figures upon their breast and abdomen with his long
+white wand, and they were restored to consciousness. They became calm,
+acknowledged his power, and said they felt streams of cold or burning
+vapour passing through their frames, according as he waved his wand or
+his fingers before them.
+
+"It is impossible," says M. Dupotet, "to conceive the sensation which
+Mesmer's experiments created in Paris. No theological controversy, in
+the earlier ages of the Catholic Church, was ever conducted with greater
+bitterness." His adversaries denied the discovery; some calling him a
+quack, others a fool, and others, again, like the Abbe Fiard, a man who
+had sold himself to the devil! His friends were as extravagant in their
+praise, as his foes were in their censure. Paris was inundated with
+pamphlets upon the subject, as many defending as attacking the doctrine.
+At court, the Queen expressed herself in favour of it, and nothing else
+was to be heard of in society.
+
+By the advice of M. D'Eslon, Mesmer challenged an examination of his
+doctrine by the Faculty of Medicine. He proposed to select twenty-four
+patients, twelve of whom he would treat magnetically, leaving the other
+twelve to be treated by the faculty according to the old and approved
+methods. He also stipulated, that to prevent disputes, the government
+should nominate certain persons who were not physicians, to be present
+at the experiments; and that the object of the inquiry should be,
+not how these effects were produced, but whether they were really
+efficacious in the cure of any disease. The faculty objected to limit
+the inquiry in this manner, and the proposition fell to the ground.
+
+Mesmer now wrote to Marie Antoinette, with the view of securing her
+influence in obtaining for him the protection of government. He wished
+to have a chateau and its lands given to him, with a handsome yearly
+income, that he might be enabled to continue his experiments at leisure,
+untroubled by the persecution of his enemies. He hinted the duty of
+governments to support men of science, and expressed his fear, that if
+he met no more encouragement, he should be compelled to carry his great
+discovery to some other land more willing to appreciate him. "In the
+eyes of your Majesty," said he, "four or five hundred thousand francs,
+applied to a good purpose, are of no account. The welfare and happiness
+of your people are everything. My discovery ought to be received and
+rewarded with a munificence worthy of the monarch to whom I shall attach
+myself." The government at last offered him a pension of twenty thousand
+francs, and the cross of the order of St. Michael, if he had made any
+discovery in medicine, and would communicate it to physicians nominated
+by the King. The latter part of the proposition was not agreeable to
+Mesmer. He feared the unfavourable report of the King's physicians; and,
+breaking off the negotiation, spoke of his disregard of money, and his
+wish to have his discovery at once recognised by the government. He
+then retired to Spa, in a fit of disgust, upon pretence of drinking the
+waters for the benefit of his health.
+
+After he had left Paris, the Faculty of Medicine called upon M.
+D'Eslon, for the third and last time, to renounce the doctrine of animal
+magnetism, or be expelled from their body. M. D'Eslon, so far from doing
+this, declared that he had discovered new secrets, and solicited further
+examination. A royal commission of the Faculty of Medicine was, in
+consequence, appointed on the 12th of March 1784, seconded by another
+commission of the Academie des Sciences, to investigate the phenomena
+and report upon them. The first commission was composed of the principal
+physicians of Paris; while, among the eminent men comprised in the
+latter, were Benjamin Franklin, Lavoisier, and Bailly, the historian of
+astronomy. Mesmer was formally invited to appear before this body,
+but absented himself from day to day, upon one pretence or another.
+M. D'Eslon was more honest, because he thoroughly believed in the
+phenomena, which it is to be questioned if Mesmer ever did, and
+regularly attended the sittings and performed experiments.
+
+Bailly has thus described the scenes of which he was a witness in the
+course of this investigation. "The sick persons, arranged in great
+numbers and in several rows around the baquet, receive the magnetism
+by all these means: by the iron rods which convey it to them from the
+baquet--by the cords wound round their bodies--by the connection of the
+thumb, which conveys to them the magnetism of their neighbours--and
+by the sounds of a pianoforte, or of an agreeable voice, diffusing the
+magnetism in the air. The patients were also directly magnetised by
+means of the finger and wand of the magnetiser moved slowly before their
+faces, above or behind their heads, and on the diseased parts, always
+observing the direction of the holes. The magnetiser acts by fixing his
+eyes on them. But above all, they are magnetised by the application of
+his hands and the pressure of his fingers on the hypochondres and on
+the regions of the abdomen; an application often continued for a long
+time-sometimes for several hours.
+
+"Meanwhile the patients in their different conditions present a very
+varied picture. Some are calm, tranquil, and experience no effect.
+Others cough, spit, feel slight pains, local or general heat, and have
+sweatings. Others again are agitated and tormented with convulsions.
+These convulsions are remarkable in regard to the number affected
+with them, to their duration and force. As soon as one begins to be
+convulsed, several others are affected. The commissioners have
+observed some of these convulsions last more than three hours. They are
+accompanied with expectorations of a muddy viscous water, brought away
+by violent efforts. Sometimes streaks of blood have been observed in
+this fluid. These convulsions are characterized by the precipitous,
+involuntary motion of all the limbs, and of the whole body: by the
+construction of the throat--by the leaping motions of the hypochondria
+and the epigastrium--by the dimness and wandering of the eyes--by
+piercing shrieks, tears, sobbing, and immoderate laughter. They are
+preceded or followed by a state of languor or reverie, a kind of
+depression, and sometimes drowsiness. The smallest sudden noise
+occasions a shuddering; and it was remarked, that the change of measure
+in the airs played on the piano-forte had a great influence on the
+patients. A quicker motion, a livelier melody, agitated them more, and
+renewed the vivacity of their convulsions.
+
+"Nothing is more astonishing than the spectacle of these convulsions.
+One who has not seen them can form no idea of them. The spectator is as
+much astonished at the profound repose of one portion of the patients
+as at the agitation of the rest--at the various accidents which are
+repeated, and at the sympathies which are exhibited. Some of the
+patients may be seen devoting their attention exclusively to one
+another, rushing towards each other with open arms, smiling, soothing,
+and manifesting every symptom of attachment and affection. All are under
+the power of the magnetiser; it matters not in what state of
+drowsiness they may be, the sound of his voice--a look, a motion of his
+hand--brings them out of it. Among the patients in convulsions there
+are always observed a great many women, and very few men." [Rapport des
+Commissaires, redige par M. Bailly.--Paris, 1784.]
+
+These experiments lasted for about five months. They had hardly
+commenced, before Mesmer, alarmed at the loss both of fame and profit,
+determined to return to Paris. Some patients of rank and fortune,
+enthusiastic believers in his doctrine, had followed him to Spa. One
+of them named Bergasse, proposed to open a subscription for him, of one
+hundred shares, at one hundred louis each, on condition that he would
+disclose his secret to the subscribers, who were to be permitted to make
+whatever use they pleased of it. Mesmer readily embraced the proposal;
+and such was the infatuation, that the subscription was not only filled
+in a few days, but exceeded by no less a sum than one hundred and forty
+thousand francs.
+
+With this fortune he returned to Paris, and recommenced his experiments,
+while the royal commission continued theirs. His admiring pupils, who
+had paid him so handsomely for his instructions, spread the delusion
+over the country, and established in all the principal towns of France,
+"Societies of Harmony," for trying experiments and curing all diseases
+by means of magnetism. Some of these societies were a scandal to
+morality, being joined by profligate men of depraved appetites, who took
+a disgusting delight in witnessing young girls in convulsions. Many
+of the pretended magnetisers were notorious libertines, who took that
+opportunity of gratifying their passions. An illegal increase of
+the number of French citizens was anything but a rare consequence
+in Strasburg, Nantes, Bourdeaux, Lyons, and other towns, where these
+societies were established.
+
+At last the Commissioners published their report, which was drawn up by
+the illustrious and unfortunate Bailly. For clearness of reasoning and
+strict impartiality it has never been surpassed. After detailing the
+various experiments made, and their results, they came to the conclusion
+that the only proof advanced in support of Animal Magnetism was the
+effects it produced on the human body--that those effects could be
+produced without passes or other magnetic manipulations--that all these
+manipulations, and passes, and ceremonies never produce any effect at
+all if employed without the patient's knowledge; and that therefore
+imagination did, and animal magnetism did not, account for the
+phenomena.
+
+This report was the ruin of Mesmer's reputation in France. He quitted
+Paris shortly after, with the three hundred and forty thousand francs
+which had been subscribed by his admirers, and retired to his own
+country, where he died in 1815, at the advanced age of eighty-one. But
+the seeds he had sown fructified of themselves, nourished and brought to
+maturity by the kindly warmth of popular credulity. Imitators sprang up
+in France, Germany, and England, more extravagant than their master, and
+claiming powers for the new science which its founder had never dreamt
+of. Among others, Cagliostro made good use of the delusion in extending
+his claims to be considered a master of the occult sciences. But he made
+no discoveries worthy to be compared to those of the Marquis de
+Puysegur and the Chevalier Barbarin, honest men, who began by deceiving
+themselves before they deceived others.
+
+The Marquis de Puysegur, the owner of a considerable estate at Busancy,
+was one of those who had entered into the subscription for Mesmer.
+After that individual had quitted France, he retired to Busancy with his
+brother to try Animal Magnetism upon his tenants, and cure the country
+people of all manner of diseases. He was a man of great simplicity and
+much benevolence, and not only magnetised but fed the sick that flocked
+around him. In all the neighbourhood, and indeed within a circumference
+of twenty miles, he was looked upon as endowed with a power almost
+Divine. His great discovery, as he called it, was made by chance. One
+day he had magnetised his gardener; and observing him to fall into a
+deep sleep, it occurred to him that he would address a question to him,
+as he would have done to a natural somnambulist. He did so, and the man
+replied with much clearness and precision. M. de Puysegur was agreeably
+surprised: he continued his experiments, and found that, in this state
+of magnetic somnambulism, the soul of the sleeper was enlarged,
+and brought into more intimate communion with all nature, and more
+especially with him, M. de Puysegur. He found that all further
+manipulations were unnecessary; that, without speaking or making any
+sign, he could convey his will to the patient; that he could, in fact,
+converse with him, soul to soul, without the employment of any physical
+operation whatever!
+
+Simultaneously with this marvellous discovery he made another, which
+reflects equal credit upon his understanding. Like Valentine Greatraks,
+he found it hard work to magnetise all that came--that he had not even
+time to take the repose and relaxation which were necessary for his
+health. In this emergency he hit upon a clever expedient. He had heard
+Mesmer say that he could magnetise bits of wood--why should he not be
+able to magnetise a whole tree? It was no sooner thought than done.
+There was a large elm on the village green at Busancy, under which the
+peasant girls used to dance on festive occasions, and the old men to
+sit, drinking their vin du pays on the fine summer evenings. M. de
+Puysegur proceeded to this tree and magnetised it, by first touching
+it with his hands and then retiring a few steps from it; all the while
+directing streams of the magnetic fluid from the branches toward the
+trunk, and from the trunk toward the root. This done, he caused circular
+seats to be erected round it, and cords suspended from it in all
+directions. When the patients had seated themselves, they twisted the
+cords round the diseased parts of their bodies, and held one another
+firmly by their thumbs to form a direct channel of communication for the
+passage of the fluid.
+
+M. de Puysegur had now two hobbies--the man with the enlarged soul, and
+the magnetic elm. The infatuation of himself and his patients cannot be
+better expressed than in his own words. Writing to his brother, on the
+17th of May 1784, he says, "If you do not come, my dear friend, you
+will not see my extraordinary man, for his health is now almost quite
+restored. I continue to make use of the happy power for which I am
+indebted to M. Mesmer. Every day I bless his name; for I am very
+useful, and produce many salutary effects on all the sick poor in the
+neighbourhood. They flock around my tree; there were more than one
+hundred and thirty of them this morning. It is the best baquet possible;
+not a leaf of it but communicates health! all feel, more or less, the
+good effects of it. You will be delighted to see the charming picture
+of humanity which this presents. I have only one regret--it is, that I
+cannot touch all who come. But my magnetised man--my intelligence--sets
+me at ease. He teaches me what conduct I should adopt. According to
+him, it is not at all necessary that I should touch every one; a look, a
+gesture, even a wish, is sufficient. And it is one of the most ignorant
+peasants of the country that teaches me this! When he is in a crisis,
+I know of nothing more profound, more prudent, more clearsighted
+(clairvoyant) than he is."
+
+In another letter, describing his first experiment with the magnetic
+tree, he says, "Yester evening I brought my first patient to it. As soon
+as I had put the cord round him he gazed at the tree; and, with an air
+of astonishment which I cannot describe, exclaimed, 'What is it that I
+see there?' His head then sunk down, and he fell into a perfect fit of
+somnambulism. At the end of an hour, I took him home to his house again,
+when I restored him to his senses. Several men and women came to tell
+him what he had been doing. He maintained it was not true; that, weak as
+he was, and scarcely able to walk, it would have been scarcely possible
+for him to have gone down stairs and walked to the tree. To-day I have
+repeated the experiment on him, and with the same success. I own to you
+that my head turns round with pleasure to think of the good I do. Madame
+de Puysegur, the friends she has with her, my servants, and, in fact,
+all who are near me, feel an amazement, mingled with admiration,
+which cannot be described; but they do not experience the half of my
+sensations. Without my tree, which gives me rest, and which will give
+me still more, I should be in a state of agitation, inconsistent, I
+believe, with my health. I exist too much, if I may be allowed to use
+the expression."
+
+In another letter, he descants still more poetically upon his gardener
+with the enlarged soul. He says, "It is from this simple man, this tall
+and stout rustic, twenty-three years of age, enfeebled by disease, or
+rather by sorrow, and therefore the more predisposed to be affected by
+any great natural agent,--it is from this man, I repeat, that I derive
+instruction and knowledge. When in the magnetic state, he is no longer
+a peasant who can hardly utter a single sentence; he is a being, to
+describe whom I cannot find a name. I need not speak; I have only to
+think before him, when he instantly understands and answers me. Should
+anybody come into the room, he sees him, if I desire it (but not else),
+and addresses him, and says what I wish him to say; not indeed exactly
+as I dictate to him, but as truth requires. When he wants to add more
+than I deem it prudent strangers should hear, I stop the flow of his
+ideas, and of his conversation in the middle of a word, and give it
+quite a different turn!"
+
+Among other persons attracted to Busancy by the report of these
+extraordinary occurrences was M. Cloquet, the Receiver of Finance.
+His appetite for the marvellous being somewhat insatiable, he readily
+believed all that was told him by M. de Puysegur. He also has left
+a record of what he saw, and what he credited, which throws a still
+clearer light upon the progress of the delusion. ["Introduction to the
+Study of Animal Magnetism," by Baron Dupotet, p. 73.] He says that the
+patients he saw in the magnetic state had an appearance of deep sleep,
+during which all the physical faculties were suspended, to the advantage
+of the intellectual faculties. The eyes of the patients were closed;
+the sense of hearing was abolished, and they awoke only at the voice of
+their magnetiser. "If any one touched a patient during a crisis, or even
+the chair on which he was seated," says M. Cloquet, "it would cause
+him much pain and suffering, and throw him into convulsions. During the
+crisis, they possess an extraordinary and supernatural power, by which,
+on touching a patient presented to them, they can feel what part of his
+body is diseased, even by merely passing their hand over the clothes."
+Another singularity was, that these sleepers who could thus discover
+diseases--see into the interior of other men's stomachs, and point out
+remedies, remembered absolutely nothing after the magnetiser thought
+proper to disenchant them. The time that elapsed between their entering
+the crisis and their coming out of it was obliterated. Not only had the
+magnetiser the power of making himself heard by the somnambulists, but
+he could make them follow him by merely pointing his finger at them from
+a distance, though they had their eyes the whole time completely closed.
+
+Such was Animal Magnetism under the auspices of the Marquis de Puysegur.
+While he was hibiting these fooleries around his elm-tree, a magnetiser
+of another class appeared in Lyons, in the person of the Chevalier de
+Barbarin. This person thought the effort of the will, without any of the
+paraphernalia of wands or baquets, was sufficient to throw patients into
+the magnetic sleep. He tried it and succeeded. By sitting at the bedside
+of his patients, and praying that they might be magnetised, they went
+off into a state very similar to that of the persons who fell under the
+notice of M. de Puysegur. In the course of time, a very considerable
+number of magnetisers, acknowledging Barbarin for their model, and
+called after him Barbarinists, appeared in different parts, and were
+believed to have effected some remarkable cures. In Sweden and Germany,
+this sect of fanatics increased rapidly, and were called spiritualists,
+to distinguish them from the followers of M. de Puysegur, who were
+called experimentalists. They maintained that all the effects of Animal
+Magnetism, which Mesmer believed to be producible by a magnetic fluid
+dispersed through nature, were produced by the mere effort of one
+human soul acting upon another; that when a connexion had once been
+established between a magnetiser and his patient, the former could
+communicate his influence to the latter from any distance, even hundreds
+of miles, by the will! One of them thus described the blessed state of a
+magnetic patient:--"In such a man animal instinct ascends to the highest
+degree admissible in this world. The clairvoyant is then a pure animal,
+without any admixture of matter. His observations are those of a spirit.
+He is similar to God. His eye penetrates all the secrets of nature.
+When his attention is fixed on any of the objects of this world--on his
+disease, his death, his well-beloved, his friends, his relations, his
+enemies,--in spirit he sees them acting; he penetrates into the causes
+and the consequences of their actions; he becomes a physician, a
+prophet, a divine!" [See "Foreign Review, Continental Miscellany," vol.
+v. 113.]
+
+Let us now see what progress these mysteries made in England. In the
+year 1788, Dr. Mainauduc, who had been a pupil, first of Mesmer, and
+afterwards of D'Eslon, arrived in Bristol, and gave public lectures
+upon magnetism. His success was quite extraordinary. People of rank and
+fortune hastened from London to Bristol to be magnetised, or to place
+themselves under his tuition. Dr. George Winter, in his History of
+Animal Magnetism, gives the following list of them:--"They amounted
+to one hundred and twenty-seven, among whom there were one duke, one
+duchess, one marchioness, two countesses, one earl, one baron, three
+baronesses, one bishop, five right honourable gentlemen and ladies, two
+baronets, seven members of parliament, one clergyman, two physicians,
+seven surgeons, besides ninety-two gentlemen and ladies of
+respectability." He afterwards established himself in London, where he
+performed with equal success.
+
+He began by publishing proposals to the ladies for the formation of a
+Hygeian Society. In this paper he vaunted highly the curative effects of
+Animal Magnetism, and took great credit to himself for being the first
+person to introduce it into England, and thus concluded:--"As this
+method of cure is not confined to sex, or college education, and the
+fair sex being in general the most sympathising part of the creation,
+and most immediately concerned in the health and care of its offspring,
+I think myself bound in gratitude to you, ladies, for the partiality you
+have shown me in midwifery, to contribute, as far as lies in my power,
+to render you additionally useful and valuable to the community. With
+this view, I propose forming my Hygeian Society, to be incorporated with
+that of Paris. As soon as twenty ladies have given in their names, the
+day shall be appointed for the first meeting at my house, when they are
+to pay fifteen guineas, which will include the whole expense."
+
+Hannah More, in a letter addressed to Horace Walpole, in September 1788,
+speaks of the "demoniacal mummeries" of Dr. Mainauduc, and says he was
+in a fair way of gaining a hundred thousand pounds by them, as Mesmer
+had done by his exhibitions in Paris.
+
+So much curiosity was excited by the subject that, about the same time,
+a man, named Holloway, gave a course of lectures on Animal Magnetism
+in London, at the rate of five guineas for each pupil, and realised a
+considerable fortune. Loutherbourg, the painter, and his wife followed
+the same profitable trade; and such was the infatuation of the people to
+be witnesses of their strange manipulations, that, at times, upwards of
+three thousand persons crowded around their house at Hammersmith, unable
+to gain admission. The tickets sold at prices varying from one to three
+guineas. Loutherbourg performed his cures by the touch, after the manner
+of Valentine Greatraks, and finally pretended to a Divine mission. An
+account of his miracles, as they were called, was published in 1789,
+entitled "A List of New Cures performed by Mr. and Mrs. de Loutherbourg
+of Hammersmith Terrace, without Medicine; by a Lover of the Lamb of God.
+Dedicated to his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury."
+
+This "Lover of the Lamb of God" was a half-crazy old woman, named Mary
+Pratt, who conceived for Mr. and Mrs. de Loutherbourg a veneration which
+almost prompted her to worship them. She chose for the motto of her
+pamphlet a verse in the thirteenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles:
+"Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish! for I will work a work in
+your days which ye shall not believe though a man declare it unto you."
+Attempting to give a religious character to the cures of the painter,
+she thought a woman was the proper person to make them known, since
+the apostle had declared that a man should not be able to conquer the
+incredulity of the people. She stated that, from Christmas 1788 to
+July 1789, De Loutherbourg and his wife had cured two thousand people,
+"having been made proper recipients to receive Divine manuductions;
+which heavenly and Divine influx, coming from the radix God, his Divine
+Majesty had most graciously bestowed upon them to diffuse healing to
+all, be they deaf, dumb, blind, lame, or halt."
+
+In her dedication to the Archbishop of Canterbury, she implored him to
+compose a new form of prayer to be used in all churches and chapels,
+that nothing might impede this inestimable gift from having its due
+course. She further entreated all the magistrates and men of authority
+in the land to wait on Mr. and Mrs. de Loutherbourg, to consult with
+them on the immediate erection of a large hospital, with a pool of
+Bethesda attached to it. All the magnetisers were scandalised at the
+preposterous jabber of this old woman, and De Loutherbourg appears to
+have left London to avoid her; continuing, however, in conjunction with
+his wife, the fantastic tricks which had turned the brain of this poor
+fanatic, and deluded many others who pretended to more sense than she
+had.
+
+From this period until 1798, magnetism excited little or no attention in
+England. An attempt to revive the doctrine was made in that year, but
+it was in the shape of mineral rather than of animal magnetism. One
+Benjamin Douglas Perkins, an American, practising as a surgeon in
+Leicestersquare, invented and took out a patent for the celebrated
+"Metallic Tractors." He pretended that these tractors, which were two
+small pieces of metal strongly magnetised, something resembling the
+steel plates which were first brought into notice by Father Hell, would
+cure gout, rheumatism, palsy, and in fact, almost every disease the
+human frame was subject to, if applied externally to the afflicted part,
+and moved about gently, touching the surface only. The most wonderful
+stories soon obtained general circulation, and the press groaned with
+pamphlets, all vaunting the curative effects of the tractors, which
+were sold at five guineas the pair. Perkins gained money rapidly. Gouty
+subjects forgot their pains in the presence of this new remedy; the
+rheumatism fled at its approach; and toothache, which is often cured by
+the mere sight of a dentist, vanished before Perkins and his marvellous
+steel plates. The benevolent Quakers, of whose body he was a member,
+warmly patronised the invention. Desirous that the poor, who could not
+afford to pay Mr. Perkins five guineas, or even five shillings, for his
+tractors, should also share in the benefits of that sublime discovery,
+they subscribed a large sum, and built an hospital, called the
+"Perkinean Institution," in which all comers might be magnetised free of
+cost. In the course of a few months they were in very general use, and
+their lucky inventor in possession of five thousand pounds.
+
+Dr. Haygarth, an eminent physician at Bath, recollecting the influence
+of imagination in the cure of disease, hit upon an expedient to try the
+real value of the tractors. Perkins's cures were too well established to
+be doubted; and Dr. Haygarth, without gainsaying them, quietly, but in
+the face of numerous witnesses, exposed the delusion under which people
+laboured with respect to the curative medium. He suggested to Dr.
+Falconer that they should make wooden tractors, paint them to resemble
+the steel ones, and see if the very same effects would not be produced.
+Five patients were chosen from the hospital in Bath, upon whom to
+operate. Four of them suffered severely from chronic rheumatism in
+the ankle, knee, wrist, and hip; and the fifth had been afflicted for
+several months with the gout. On the day appointed for the experiments,
+Dr. Haygarth and his friends assembled at the hospital, and with much
+solemnity brought forth the fictitious tractors. Four out of the five
+patients said their pains were immediately relieved; and three of them
+said they were not only relieved, but very much benefited. One felt
+his knee warmer, and said he could walk across the room. He tried and
+succeeded, although on the previous day he had not been able to stir.
+The gouty man felt his pains diminish rapidly, and was quite easy for
+nine hours, until he went to bed, when the twitching began again. On the
+following day the real tractors were applied to all the patients, when
+they described their symptoms in nearly the same terms.
+
+To make still more sure, the experiment was tried in the Bristol
+Infirmary, a few weeks afterwards, on a man who had a rheumatic
+affection in the shoulder, so severe as to incapacitate him from lifting
+his hand from his knee. The fictitious tractors were brought and applied
+to the afflicted part, one of the physicians, to add solemnity to
+the scene, drawing a stop-watch from his pocket to calculate the time
+exactly, while another, with a pen in his hand, sat down to write the
+change of symptoms from minute to minute as they occurred. In less than
+four minutes the man felt so much relieved, that he lifted his hand
+several inches without any pain in the shoulder!
+
+An account of these matters was published by Dr. Haygarth, in a small
+volume entitled, "Of the Imagination, as a Cause and Cure of Disorders,
+exemplified by fictitious Tractors." The exposure was a coup de grace to
+the system of Mr. Perkins. His friends and patrons, still unwilling
+to confess that they had been deceived, tried the tractors upon sheep,
+cows, and horses, alleging that the animals received benefit from the
+metallic plates, but none at all from the wooden ones. But they found
+nobody to believe them; the Perkinean Institution fell into neglect; and
+Perkins made his exit from England, carrying with him about ten thousand
+pounds, to soothe his declining years in the good city of Pennsylvania.
+
+Thus was magnetism laughed out of England for a time. In France, the
+revolution left men no leisure for such puerilities. The "Societes de
+l'Harmonie," of Strasburg, and other great towns, lingered for a while,
+till sterner matters occupying men's attention, they were one after the
+other abandoned, both by pupils and professors. The system thus driven
+from the first two nations of Europe, took refuge among the dreamy
+philosophers of Germany. There the wonders of the magnetic sleep grew
+more and more wonderful every day; the patients acquired the gift of
+prophecy--their vision extended over all the surface of the globe--they
+could hear and see with their toes and fingers, and read unknown
+languages, and understand them too, by merely having the book placed
+on their bellies. Ignorant clodpoles, when once entranced by the grand
+Mesmeric fluid, could spout philosophy diviner than Plato ever wrote,
+descant upon the mysteries of the mind with more eloquence and truth
+than the profoundest metaphysicians the world ever saw, and solve knotty
+points of divinity with as much ease as waking men could undo their
+shoe-buckles!
+
+During the first twelve years of the present century, little was heard
+of Animal Magnetism in any country of Europe. Even the Germans forgot
+their airy fancies; recalled to the knowledge of this every-day world
+by the roar of Napoleon's cannon and the fall or the establishment
+of kingdoms. During this period, a cloud of obscurity hung over the
+science, which was not dispersed until M. Deleuze published, in 1813,
+his "Histoire Critique du Magnetisme Animal." This work gave a new
+impulse to the half-forgotten delusion; newspapers, pamphlets, and
+books again waged war upon each other on the question of its truth
+or falsehood; and many eminent men in the profession of medicine
+recommenced inquiry, with an earnest design to discover the truth.
+
+The assertions made in the celebrated treatise of Deleuze are thus
+summed up: [See the very calm, clear, and dispassionate article upon the
+subject in the fifth volume (1830) of "The Foreign Review," page 96, et
+seq.]--"There is a fluid continually escaping from the human body,"
+and "forming an atmosphere around us," which, as "it has no determined
+current," produces no sensible effects on surrounding individuals.
+It is, however, "capable of being directed by the will;" and, when so
+directed, "is sent forth in currents," with a force corresponding to
+the energy we possess. Its motion is "similar to that of the rays
+from burning bodies;" "it possesses different qualities in different
+individuals." It is capable of a high degree of concentration, "and
+exists also in trees." The will of the magnetiser, "guided by a motion
+of the hand, several times repeated in the same direction," can fill a
+tree with this fluid. Most persons, when this fluid is poured into them,
+from the body and by the will of the magnetiser, "feel a sensation of
+heat or cold" when he passes his hand before them, without even touching
+them. Some persons, when sufficiently charged with this fluid, fall into
+a state of somnambulism, or magnetic ecstasy; and, when in this state,
+"they see the fluid encircling the magnetiser like a halo of light, and
+issuing in luminous streams from his mouth and nostrils, his head, and
+hands; possessing a very agreeable smell, and communicating a particular
+taste to food and water."
+
+One would think that these absurdities were quite enough to be insisted
+upon by any physician who wished to be considered sane, but they only
+form a small portion of the wondrous things related by M. Deleuze. He
+further said, "When magnetism produces somnambulism, the person who
+is in this state acquires a prodigious extension of all his faculties.
+Several of his external organs, especially those of sight and hearing,
+become inactive; but the sensations which depend upon them take place
+internally. Seeing and hearing are carried on by the magnetic
+fluid, which transmits the impressions immediately, and without the
+intervention of any nerves or organs directly to the brain. Thus the
+somnambulist, though his eyes and ears are closed, not only sees and
+hears, but sees and hears much better than he does when awake. In all
+things he feels the will of the magnetiser, although that will be not
+expressed. He sees into the interior of his own body, and the most
+secret organization of the bodies of all those who may be put en
+rapport, or in magnetic connexion, with him. Most commonly, he only
+sees those parts which are diseased and disordered, and intuitively
+prescribes a remedy for them. He has prophetic visions and sensations,
+which are generally true, but sometimes erroneous. He expresses himself
+with astonishing eloquence and facility. He is not free from vanity. He
+becomes a more perfect being of his own accord for a certain time, if
+guided wisely by the magnetiser, but wanders if he is ill-directed."
+
+According to M. Deleuze, any person could become a magnetiser and
+produce these effects, by conforming to the following conditions, and
+acting upon the following rules:--
+
+Forget for a while all your knowledge of physics and metaphysics.
+
+Remove from your mind all objections that may occur.
+
+Imagine that it is in your power to take the malady in hand, and throw
+it on one side.
+
+Never reason for six weeks after you have commenced the study.
+
+Have an active desire to do good; a firm belief in the power of
+magnetism, and an entire confidence in employing it. In short, repel all
+doubts; desire success, and act with simplicity and attention.
+
+That is to say, "be very credulous; be very persevering; reject all past
+experience, and do not listen to reason," and you are a magnetiser after
+M. Deleuze's own heart.
+
+Having brought yourself into this edifying state of fanaticism, "remove
+from the patient all persons who might be troublesome to you: keep with
+you only the necessary witnesses--a single person, if need be; desire
+them not to occupy themselves in any way with the processes you employ
+and the effects which result from them, but to join with you in the
+desire of doing good to your patient. Arrange yourself so as neither to
+be too hot nor too cold, and in such a manner that nothing may
+obstruct the freedom of your motions; and take precautions to prevent
+interruption during the sitting. Make your patient then sit as
+commodiously as possible, and place yourself opposite to him, on a seat
+a little more elevated, in such a manner that his knees may be betwixt
+yours, and your feet at the side of his. First, request him to resign
+himself; to think of nothing; not to perplex himself by examining the
+effects which may be produced; to banish all fear; to surrender himself
+to hope, and not to be disturbed or discouraged if the action of
+magnetism should cause in him momentary pains. After having collected
+yourself, take his thumbs between your fingers in such a way that the
+internal part of your thumbs may be in contact with the internal part of
+his, and then fix your eyes upon him! You must remain from two to five
+minutes in this situation, or until you feel an equal heat between your
+thumbs and his. This done, you will withdraw your hands, removing them
+to the right and left; and at the same time turning them till their
+internal surface be outwards, and you will raise them to the height of
+the head. You will now place them upon the two shoulders, and let them
+remain there about a minute; afterwards drawing them gently along the
+arms to the extremities of the fingers, touching very slightly as you
+go. You will renew this pass five or six times, always turning your
+hands, and removing them a little from the body before you lift them.
+You will then place them above the head; and, after holding them
+there for an instant, lower them, passing them before the face, at the
+distance of one or two inches, down to the pit of the stomach. There you
+will stop them two minutes also, putting your thumbs upon the pit of
+the stomach and the rest of your fingers below the ribs. You will then
+descend slowly along the body to the knees, or rather, if you can do
+so without deranging yourself, to the extremity of the feet. You will
+repeat the same processes several times during the remainder of the
+sitting. You will also occasionally approach your patient, so as to
+place your hands behind his shoulders, in order to descend slowly along
+the spine of the back and the thighs, down to the knees or the feet.
+After the first passes, you may dispense with putting your hands upon
+the head, and may make the subsequent passes upon the arms, beginning at
+the shoulders, and upon the body, beginning at the stomach."
+
+Such was the process of magnetising recommended by Deleuze. That
+delicate, fanciful, and nervous women, when subjected to it, should
+have worked themselves into convulsions will be readily believed by
+the sturdiest opponent of Animal Magnetism. To sit in a constrained
+posture--be stared out of countenance by a fellow who enclosed her knees
+between his, while he made passes upon different parts of her body, was
+quite enough to throw any weak woman into a fit, especially if she were
+predisposed to hysteria, and believed in the efficacy of the treatment.
+It is just as evident that those of stronger minds and healthier bodies
+should be sent to sleep by the process. That these effects have been
+produced by these means there are thousands of instances to show. But
+are they testimony in favour of Animal Magnetism?--do they prove the
+existence of the magnetic fluid? Every unprejudiced person must answer
+in the negative. It needs neither magnetism, nor ghost from the grave,
+to tell us that silence, monotony, and long recumbency in one position
+must produce sleep, or that excitement, imitation, and a strong
+imagination, acting upon a weak body, will bring on convulsions. It will
+be seen hereafter that magnetism produces no effects but these two;
+that the gift of prophecy--supernatural eloquence--the transfer of the
+senses, and the power of seeing through opaque substances, are pure
+fictions, that cannot be substantiated by anything like proof.
+
+M. Deleuze's book produced quite a sensation in France; the study was
+resumed with redoubled vigour. In the following year, a journal was
+established devoted exclusively to the science, under the title of
+"Annales du Magnetisme Animal;" and shortly afterwards appeared the
+"Bibliotheque du Magnetisme Animal," and many others. About the same
+time, the Abbe Faria, "the man of wonders," began to magnetise; and the
+belief being that he had more of the Mesmeric fluid about him, and a
+stronger will, than most men, he was very successful in his treatment.
+His experiments afford a convincing proof that imagination can operate
+all, and the supposed fluid none, of the resuits so confidently claimed
+as evidence of the new science. He placed his patients in an arm-chair;
+told them to shut their eyes; and then, in a loud commanding voice,
+pronounced the single word, "Sleep!" He used no manipulations
+whatever--had no baquet, or conductor of the fluid; but he nevertheless
+succeeded in causing sleep in hundreds of patients. He boasted of having
+in his time produced five thousand somnambulists by this method. It was
+often necessary to repeat the command three or four times; and if the
+patient still remained awake, the Abbe got out of the difficulty by
+dismissing him from the chair, and declaring that he was incapable of
+being acted on. And here it should be remarked that the magnetisers do
+not lay claim to a universal efficacy for their fluid; the strong and
+the healthy cannot be magnetised; the incredulous cannot be magnetised;
+those who reason upon it cannot be magnetised; those who firmly believe
+in it can be magnetised; the weak in body can be magnetised, and the
+weak in mind can be magnetised. And lest, from some cause or other,
+individuals of the latter classes should resist the magnetic charm,
+the apostles of the science declare that there are times when even they
+cannot be acted upon; the presence of one scorner or unbeliever
+may weaken the potency of the fluid and destroy its efficacy. In M.
+Deleuze's instructions to a magnetiser, he expressly says, "Never
+magnetise before inquisitive persons!" ["Histoire Critique du Magnetisme
+Animal," p. 60.] Yet the followers of this delusion claim for it the
+rank of a science!
+
+The numerous writings that appeared between the years 1813 and 1825 show
+how much attention was excited in France. With every succeeding year
+some new discovery was put forth, until at last the magnetisers seemed
+to be very generally agreed that there were six separate and distinct
+degrees of magnetisation. They have been classed as follow:--
+
+In the first stage, the skin of the patient becomes slightly reddened;
+and there is a feeling of heat, comfort, and lightness all over the
+body; but there is no visible action on the senses.
+
+In the second stage, the eye is gradually abstracted from the dominion
+of the will (or, in other words, the patient becomes sleepy). The
+drooping eyelids cannot be raised; the senses of hearing, smelling,
+feeling, and tasting are more than usually excited. In addition, a
+variety of nervous sensations are felt, such as spasms of the muscles
+and prickings of the skin, and involuntary twitchings in various parts
+of the body.
+
+In the third stage, which is that of magnetic sleep, all the senses are
+closed to external impressions; and sometimes fainting, and cataleptic
+or apoplectic attacks may occur.
+
+In the fourth stage, the patient is asleep to all the world; but he
+is awake within his own body, and consciousness returns. While in this
+state, all his senses are transferred to the skin. He is in the perfect
+crisis, or magnetic somnambulism; a being of soul and mind--seeing
+without eyes--hearing without ears, and deadened in body to all sense of
+feeling.
+
+In the fifth stage, which is that of lucid vision, the patient can see
+his own internal organisation, or that of others placed in magnetic
+communication with him. He becomes, at the same time, possessed of the
+instinct of remedies. The magnetic fluid, in this stage, unites him
+by powerful attraction to others, and establishes between them an
+impenetration of thought and feeling so intense as to blend their
+different natures into one.
+
+In the sixth stage, which is at the same time the rarest and the most
+perfect of all, the lucid vision is not obstructed by opaque matter, or
+subject to any barriers interposed by time or space. The magnetic fluid,
+which is universally spread in nature, unites the individual with all
+nature, and gives him cognizance of coming events by its universal
+lucidity.
+
+So much was said and written between the years 1820 and 1825, and so
+many converts were made, that the magnetisers became clamorous for a new
+investigation. M. de Foissac, a young physician, wrote to the Academie
+Royale du Medicine a letter, calling for inquiry, in which he complained
+of the unfairness of the report of Messrs. Bailly and Franklin in 1784,
+and stating that, since that time, the science had wholly changed by the
+important discovery of magnetic somnambulism. He informed the Academy
+that he had under his care a young woman, whose powers of divination
+when in the somnambulic state were of the most extraordinary character.
+He invited the members of that body to go into any hospital, and
+choose persons afflicted with any diseases, acute or chronic, simple or
+complex, and his somnambulist, on being put en rapport, or in magnetic
+connexion, with them, would infallibly point out their ailings and name
+the remedies. She, and other somnambulists, he said, could, by merely
+laying the hand successively on the head, the chest, and the abdomen
+of a stranger, immediately discover his maladies, with, the pains and
+different alterations thereby occasioned. They could indicate, besides,
+whether the cure were possible, and, if so, whether it were easy or
+difficult, near or remote, and what means should be employed to attain
+this result by the surest and readiest way. In this examination they
+never departed from the sound principles of medicine. "In fact," added
+M. de Foissac, "I go further, and assert that their inspirations are
+allied to the genius which animated Hippocrates!"
+
+In the mean time experiments were carried on in various hospitals of
+Paris. The epileptic patients at the Salpetriere were magnetised by
+permission of M. Esquirol. At the Bicetre also the same resuits were
+obtained. M. de Foissac busied himself with the invalids at the Hospice
+de la Charite, and M. Dupotet was equally successful in producing sleep
+or convulsions at Val de Grace. Many members of the Chamber of Deputies
+became converts, and M. Chardel, the Comte de Gestas, M. de Laseases,
+and others, opened their saloons to those who were desirous of being
+instructed in animal magnetism. [Dupotet's Introduction to the Study of
+Animal Magnetism, page 23.] Other physicians united with M. de Foissac
+in calling for an inquiry; and ultimately the Academy nominated a
+preliminary committee of five of its members, namely, Messrs Adelon,
+Burdin, Marc, Pariset, and Husson, to investigate the alleged facts, and
+to report whether the Academy, without any compromise of its dignity,
+could appoint a new commission.
+
+Before this committee, M. de Foissac produced his famous somnambulist;
+but she failed in exhibiting any one of the phenomena her physician had
+so confidently predicted: she was easily thrown into the state of sleep,
+by long habit and the monotony of the passes and manipulations of
+her magnetiser; but she could not tell the diseases of persons put en
+rapport with her. The committee of five framed excuses for this failure,
+by saying, that probably the magnetic fluid was obstructed, because they
+were "inexperienced, distrustful, and perhaps impatient." After
+this, what can be said for the judgment or the impartiality of such a
+committee? They gave at last their opinion, that it would be advisable
+to appoint a new commission. On the 13th of December 1825, they
+presented themselves to the Academie to deliver their report. A
+debate ensued, which occupied three days, and in which all the most
+distinguished members took part. It was finally decided by a majority
+of ten, that the commission should be appointed, and the following
+physicians were chosen its members:--They were eleven in number,
+viz. Bourdois de la Motte, the President; Fouquier, Gueneau de Mussy,
+Guersent, Husson, Itard, Marc, J. J. Leroux, Thillay, Double, and
+Majendie.
+
+These gentlemen began their labours by publishing an address to all
+magnetisers, inviting them to come forward and exhibit in their presence
+the wonders of animal magnetism. M. Dupotet says that very few answered
+this amicable appeal, because they were afraid of being ridiculed when
+the report should be published. Four magnetisers, however, answered
+their appeal readily, and for five years were busily engaged in bringing
+proofs of the new science before the commission. These were M. de
+Foissac, M. Dupotet, M. Chapelain, and M. de Geslin. It would be but
+an unprofitable, and by no means a pleasant task to follow the
+commissioners in their erratic career, as they were led hither and
+thither by the four lights of magnetism above mentioned; the four
+"Wills-o'-the-Wisp" which dazzled the benighted and bewildered doctors
+on that wide and shadowy region of metaphysical inquiry--the influence
+of mind over matter. It will be better to state at once the conclusion
+they came to after so long and laborious an investigation, and then
+examine whether they were warranted in it by the evidence brought before
+them.
+
+The report, which is exceedingly voluminous, is classed under thirty
+different heads, and its general tenor is favourable to magnetism. The
+reporters expressly state their belief in the existence of the magnetic
+fluid, and sum up the result of their inquiries in the four assertions
+which follow:--
+
+1. Magnetism has no effect upon persons in a sound state of health, nor
+upon some diseased persons.
+
+2. In others its effects are slight.
+
+3. These effects are sometimes produced by weariness or ennui, by
+monotony, and by the imagination.
+
+4. We have seen these effects developed independently of the last
+causes, most probably as the effects of magnetism alone.
+
+It will be seen that the first and second of these sentences presuppose
+the existence of that magnetic power, which it is the object of the
+inquiry to discover. The reporters begin, by saying, that magnetism
+exists, when after detailing their proofs, they should have ended by
+affirming it. For the sake of lucidity, a favourite expression of their
+own, let us put the propositions into a new form and new words, without
+altering the sense.
+
+1. Certain effects, such as convulsions, somnambulism, &c. are
+producible in the human frame, by the will of others, by the will of the
+patient himself, or by both combined, or by some unknown means, we wish
+to discover, perhaps by magnetism.
+
+2. These effects are not producible upon all bodies. They cannot be
+produced upon persons in a sound state of health, nor upon some diseased
+persons; while in other eases, the effects are very slight.
+
+3. These effects were produced in many cases that fell under our notice,
+in which the persons operated on were in a weak state of health, by
+weariness or ennui, by monotony, and by the power of imagination.
+
+4. But in many other eases these effects were produced, and were clearly
+not the result of weariness or ennui, of monotony, or of the power
+of the imagination. They were, therefore, produced by the magnetic
+processes we employed:--ergo--Animal Magnetism exists.
+
+Every one, whether a believer or disbeliever in the doctrine, must see
+that the whole gist of the argument will be destroyed, if it be proved
+that the effects which the reporters claimed as resulting from a power
+independent of weariness, monotony, and the imagination, did, in fact,
+result from them, and from nothing else. The following are among the
+proofs brought forward to support the existence of the magnetic fluid,
+as producing those phenomena:--
+
+"A child, twenty-eight months old, was magnetised by M. Foissac, at the
+house of M. Bourdois. The child, as well as its father, was subject to
+attacks of epilepsy. Almost immediately after M. Foissac had begun his
+manipulations and passes, the child rubbed its eyes, bent its head to
+one side, supported it on one of the cushions of the sofa where it was
+sitting, yawned, moved itself about, scratched its head and its ears,
+appeared to strive against the approach of sleep, and then rose, if we
+may be allowed the expression, grumbling. Being taken away to satisfy a
+necessity of nature, it was again placed on the sofa, and magnetised for
+a few moments. But as there appeared no decided symptoms of somnolency
+this time, we terminated the experiment."
+
+And this in all seriousness and sobriety was called a proof of the
+existence of the magnetic fluid! That these effects were not produced
+by the imagination may be granted; but that they were not produced by
+weariness and monotony is not so clear. A child is seated upon a sofa,
+a solemn looking gentleman, surrounded by several others equally grave,
+begins to play various strange antics before it, moving his hands
+mysteriously, pointing at his head, all the while preserving a most
+provoking silence. And what does the child? It rubs its eyes, appears
+restless, yawns, scratches its head, grumbles, and makes an excuse to
+get away. Magnetism, forsooth! 'Twas a decided case of botheration!
+
+The next proof (so called), though not so amusing, is equally decisive
+of the mystification of the Commissioners. A deaf and dumb lad, eighteen
+years of age, and subject to attacks of epilepsy, was magnetised fifteen
+times by M. Foissac. The phenomena exhibited during the treatment were
+a heaviness of the eyelids, a general numbness, a desire to sleep, and
+sometimes vertigo:--the epileptic attacks were entirely suspended, and
+did not return till eight months afterwards. Upon this case and the
+first mentioned, the Committee reasoned thus:--"These cases appear to us
+altogether worthy of remark. The two individuals who formed the subject
+of the experiment, were ignorant of what was done to them. The one,
+indeed, was not in a state capable of knowing it; and the other never
+had the slightest idea of magnetism. Both, however, were insensible of
+its influence; and most certainly it is impossible in either case to
+attribute this sensibility to the imagination." The first case has been
+already disposed of. With regard to the second, it is very possible to
+attribute all the results to imagination. It cannot be contended, that
+because the lad was deaf and dumb he had no understanding, that he could
+not see the strange manipulations of the magnetiser, and that he was
+unaware that his cure was the object of the experiments that were thus
+made upon him. Had he no fancy merely because he was dumb? and could
+he, for the same reason, avoid feeling a heaviness in his eyelids, a
+numbness, and a sleepiness, when he was forced to sit for two or
+three hours while M. Foissac pointed his fingers at him? As for the
+amelioration in his health, no argument can be adduced to prove that he
+was devoid of faith in the remedy; and that, having faith, he should
+not feel the benefit of it as well as thousands of others who have been
+cured by means wholly as imaginary.
+
+The third case is brought forward with a still greater show of
+authority. Having magnetised the child and the dumb youth with results
+so extraordinary, M. Foissac next tried his hand upon a Commissioner. M.
+Itard was subjected to a course of manipulations; the consequences were
+a flow of saliva, a metallic savour in the mouth, and a severe headach.
+These symptoms, say the reporters, cannot be accounted for by the
+influence of imagination. M. Itard, it should be remarked, was a
+confirmed valetudinarian; and a believer, before the investigation
+commenced, in the truth of magnetism. He was a man, therefore, whose
+testimony cannot be received with implicit credence upon this subject.
+He may have repeated, and so may his brother Commissioners, that the
+results above stated were not produced by the power of the imagination.
+The patients of Perkins, of Valentine Greatraks, of Sir Kenelm Digby,
+of Father Gassner, were all equally positive: but what availed their
+assertions? Experience soon made it manifest, that no other power than
+that of imagination worked the wonders in their case. M. Itard's is not
+half so extraordinary; the only wonder is, that it should ever have been
+insisted upon.
+
+The Commissioners having, as they thought, established beyond doubt the
+existence of the magnetic fluid, (and these are all their proofs,) next
+proceeded to investigate the more marvellous phenomena of the science;
+such as the transfer of the senses; the capability of seeing into one's
+own or other people's insides, and of divining remedies; and the power
+of prophecy. A few examples will suffice.
+
+M. Petit was magnetised by M. Dupotet, who asserted that the
+somnambulist would be able to choose, with his eyes shut, a mesmerised
+coin out of twelve others. The experiment was tried, and the
+somnambulist chose the wrong one. [Report of the Commissioners, p. 153.]
+
+Baptiste Chamet was also magnetised by M. Dupotet, and fell into the
+somnambulic state after eight minutes. As he appeared to be suffering
+great pain, he was asked what ailed him, when he pointed to his breast,
+and said he felt pain there. Being asked what part of his body that was,
+he said his liver. [Ibid, p. 137.]
+
+Mademoiselle Martineau was magnetised by M. Dupotet, and it was expected
+that her case would prove not only the transfer of the senses, but the
+power of divining remedies. Her eyes having been bandaged, she was asked
+if she could not see all the persons present? She replied, no; but she
+could hear them talking. No one was speaking at the time. She said
+she would awake after five or ten minutes sleep. She did not awake for
+sixteen or seventeen minutes. She announced that on a certain day she
+would be able to tell exactly the nature of her complaint, and prescribe
+the proper remedies. On the appointed day she was asked the question,
+and could not answer. [Report of the Commissioners, p. 139.]
+
+Mademoiselle Couturier, a patient of M. de Geslin, was thrown into
+the state of somnambulism, and M. de Geslin said she would execute his
+mental orders. One of the Committee then wrote on a slip of paper the
+words "Go and sit down on the stool in front of the piano." He handed
+the paper to M. de Geslin, who having conceived the words mentally,
+turned to his patient, and told her to do as he required of her. She
+rose up, went to the clock, and said it was twenty minutes past nine.
+She was tried nine times more, and made as many mistakes. [Idem, p.
+139.]
+
+Pierre Cazot was an epileptic patient, and was said to have the power
+of prophecy. Being magnetised on the 22nd of April, he said that in nine
+weeks he should have a fit, in three weeks afterwards go mad, abuse his
+wife, murder some one, and finally recover in the month of August. After
+which he should never have an attack again. [Idem, p. 180] In two days
+after uttering this prophecy, he was run over by a cabriolet and killed.
+[Foreign Quarterly Review, vol. xii. p. 439] A post mortem examination
+was made of his body, when it was ascertained beyond doubt, that even
+had he not met with this accident, he could never have recovered. [At
+the extremity of the plexus choroides was found a substance, yellow
+within, and white without, containing small hydatids.--Report oltre
+Commissioners, p. 186.]
+
+The inquest which had been the means of eliciting these, along with
+many other facts, having sat for upwards of five years, the magnetisers
+became anxious that the report should be received by the solemn conclave
+of the Academie. At length a day (the 20th of June 1831) was fixed for
+the reading. All the doctors of Paris thronged around the hall to learn
+the result; the street in front of the building was crowded with medical
+students; the passages were obstructed by philosophers. "So great was
+the sensation," says M. Dupotet, "that it might have been supposed the
+fate of the nation depended on the result." M. Husson, the reporter,
+appeared at the bar and read the report, the substance of which we have
+just extracted. He was heard at first with great attention, but as he
+proceeded signs of impatience and dissent were manifested on all
+sides. The unreasonable inferences of the Commissioners--their false
+conclusions--their too positive assertions, were received with repeated
+marks of disapprobation. Some of the academicians started from their
+seats, and apostrophising the Commissioners, accused them of partiality
+or stolidity. The Commissioners replied; until, at last, the uproar
+became so violent that an adjournment of the sitting was moved and
+carried. On the following day the report was concluded. A stormy
+discussion immediately ensued, which certainly reflected no credit
+upon the opponents of Animal Magnetism. Both sides lost temper--the
+anti-magnetists declaring that the whole was a fraud and a delusion; the
+pro-magnetists reminding the Academy that it was too often the fate of
+truth to be scorned and disregarded for a while, but that eventually
+her cause would triumph. "We do not care for your disbelief," cried one,
+"for in this very hall your predecessors denied the circulation of the
+blood!"--"Yes," cried another, "and they denied the falling of meteoric
+stones!" while a third exclaimed "Grande est veritas et praevalebit!"
+Some degree of order being at last restored, the question whether the
+report should be received and published was decided in the negative.
+It was afterwards agreed that a limited number of copies should be
+lithographed, for the private use of such members as wished to make
+further examination.
+
+As might have been expected, magnetism did not suffer from a discussion
+which its opponents had conducted with so much intemperance. The
+followers of magnetism were as loud as ever in vaunting its efficacy
+as a cure, and its value, not only to the science of medicine, but
+to philosophy in general. By force of repeated outcries against the
+decision of the Academie, and assertions that new facts were discovered
+day after day, its friends, six years afterwards, prevailed upon that
+learned and influential body to institute another inquiry. The Academie,
+in thus consenting to renew the investigation after it had twice
+solemnly decided (once in conjunction with, and once in opposition to a
+committee of its own appointment) that Animal Magnetism was a fraud or
+a chimera, gave the most striking proof of its own impartiality and
+sincere desire to arrive at the truth.
+
+The new Commission was composed of M. Roux, the President; and Messieurs
+Bouillard, Cloquet, Emery, Pelletier, Caventon, Oudet, Cornac, and
+Dubois d'Amiens. The chief magnetiser upon the occasion was M. Berna,
+who had written to the Academie on the 12th of February 1837, offering
+to bring forward the most convincing proofs of the truth of the new
+"science." The Commissioners met for the first time on the 27th of
+February, and delivered their report, which was drawn up by M. Dubois
+d'Amiens, on the 22nd of August following. After a careful examination
+of all the evidence, they decided, as Messieurs Bailly and Franklin
+had done in 1784, that the touchings, imagination, and the force of
+imitation would account satisfactorily for all the phenomena; that
+the supposed Mesmeric fluid would not; that M. Berna, the magnetiser,
+laboured under a delusion; and that the facts brought under their
+notice were anything but conclusive in favour of the doctrine of Animal
+Magnetism, and could have no relation either with physiology or with
+therapeutics.
+
+The following abridgment of the report will show that the Commissioners
+did not thus decide without abundant reason. On the 3rd of March they
+met at the house of M. Roux, the President, when M. Berna introduced his
+patient, a young girl of seventeen, of a constitution apparently nervous
+and delicate, but with an air sufficiently cool and self-sufficient. M.
+Berna offered eight proofs of Animal Magnetism, which he would elicit in
+her case, and which he classed as follow:--
+
+1. He would throw her into the state of somnambulism.
+
+2. He would render her quite insensible to bodily pain.
+
+3. He would restore her to sensibility by his mere will, without any
+visible or audible manifestation of it.
+
+4. His mental order should deprive her of motion.
+
+5. He would cause her, by a mental order, to cease answering in the
+midst of a conversation, and by a second mental order would make her
+begin again.
+
+6. He would repeat the same experiment, separated from his patient by a
+door.
+
+7. He would awake her.
+
+8. He would throw her again into the somnambulic state, and by his will
+successively cause her to lose and recover the sensibility of any part
+of her body.
+
+Before any attempt at magnetisation was made by M. Berna, the
+Commissioners determined to ascertain how far, in her ordinary state,
+she was sensible to pricking. Needles of a moderate size were stuck into
+her hands and neck, to the depth of half a line, and she was asked by
+Messieurs Roux and Caventon whether she felt any pain. She replied that
+she felt nothing; neither did her countenance express any pain. The
+Commissioners, somewhat surprised at this, repeated their question, and
+inquired whether she was absolutely insensible. Being thus pressed, she
+acknowledged that she felt a little pain.
+
+These preliminaries having been completed, M. Berna made her sit close
+by him. He looked steadfastly at her, but made no movements or passes
+whatever. After the lapse of about two minutes she fell back asleep,
+and M. Berna told the Commissioners that she was now in the state of
+magnetic somnambulism. He then arose, and again looking steadfastly at
+her from a short distance, declared, after another minute, that she was
+struck with general insensibility.
+
+To ascertain this, the girl's eyes having been previously bandaged,
+Messieurs Bouillard, Emery, and Dubois pricked her one after the other
+with needles. By word she complained of no pain; and her features, where
+the bandage allowed them to be seen, appeared calm and unmoved. But
+M. Dubois having stuck his needle rather deep under her chin, she
+immediately made with much vivacity a movement of deglutition.
+
+This experiment having failed, M. Berna tried another, saying that he
+would, by the sole and tacit intervention of his will, paralyze any
+part of the girl's body the Commissioners might mention. To avoid the
+possibility of collusion, M. Dubois drew up the following conditions:--
+
+"That M. Berna should maintain the most perfect silence, and should
+receive from the hands of the Commissioners papers, on which should be
+written the parts to be deprived of motion and sensibility, and that
+M. Berna should let them know when he had done it by closing one of his
+eyes, that they might verify it. The parts to be deprived of sensibility
+were the chin, the right thumb, the region of the left deltoid, and
+that of the right patella." M. Berna would not accept these conditions,
+giving for his reason that the parts pointed out by the Commissioners
+were too limited; that, besides, all this was out of his programme, and
+he did not understand why such precautions should be taken against him.
+
+M. Berna had written in his programme that he would deprive the whole
+body of sensibility, and then a part only. He would afterwards deprive
+the two arms of motion--then the two legs--then a leg and an arm--then
+the neck, and lastly the tongue. All the evidence he wished the
+Commissioners to have was after a very unsatisfactory fashion. He would
+tell the somnambulist to raise her arm, and if she did not raise it,
+the limb was to be considered paralyzed. Besides this, the Commissioners
+were to make haste with their observations. If the first trials did not
+succeed, they were to be repeated till paralysis was produced. "These,"
+as the Commissioners very justly remarked, "were not such conditions as
+men of science, who were to give an account of their commission, could
+exactly comply with." After some time spent in a friendly discussion
+of the point, M. Berna said he could do no more at that meeting. Then
+placing himself opposite the girl, he twice exclaimed, "Wake!" She
+awakened accordingly, and the sitting terminated.
+
+At the second meeting, M. Berna was requested to paralyze the right
+arm only of the girl by the tacit intervention of his will, as he had
+confidently assured the Commissioners he could. M. Berna, after a few
+moments, made a sign with his eye that he had done so, when M. Bouillard
+proceeded to verify the fact. Being requested to move her left arm, she
+did so. Being then requested to move her right leg, she said the whole
+of her right side was paralyzed--she could neither move arm nor leg. On
+this experiment the Commissioners remark: "M. Berna's programme stated
+that he had the power of paralyzing either a single limb or two limbs at
+once, we chose a single limb, and there resulted, in spite of his
+will, a paralysis of two limbs." Some other experiments, equally
+unsatisfactory, were tried with the same girl. M. Berna was soon
+convinced that she had not studied her part well, or was not clever
+enough to reflect any honour upon the science, and he therefore
+dismissed her. Her place was filled by a woman, aged about thirty, also
+of very delicate health; and the following conclusive experiments were
+tried upon her:--
+
+The patient was thrown into the somnambulic state, and her eyes covered
+with a bandage. At the invitation of the magnetiser, M. Dubois d'Amiens
+wrote several words upon a card, that the somnambule might read them
+through her bandages, or through her occiput. M. Dubois wrote the word
+Pantagruel, in perfectly distinct roman characters; then placing himself
+behind the somnambule, he presented the card close to her occiput. The
+magnetiser was seated in front of the woman and of M. Dubois, and could
+not see the writing upon the card. Being asked by her magnetiser what
+was behind her head, she answered, after some hesitation, that she saw
+something white--something resembling a card--a visiting-card. It should
+be remembered that M. Berna had requested M. Dubois aloud to take a card
+and write upon it, and that the patient must have heard it, as it was
+said in her presence. She was next asked if she could distinguish what
+there was on this card. She replied "Yes; there was writing on it."--"Is
+it small or large, this writing?" inquired the magnetiser. "Pretty
+large," replied she. "What is written on it?" continued the magnetiser.
+"Wait a little-I cannot see very plain. Ah! there is first an M. Yes, it
+is a word beginning with an M." [The woman thought it was a
+visiting-card, and guessed that doubtless it would begin with the words
+Monsieur or Madame.] M. Cornac, unknown to the magnetiser, who alone put
+the questions, passed a perfectly blank card to M. Dubois, who
+substituted it quietly for the one on which he had written the word
+Pantagruel. The somnambule still persisted that she saw a word beginning
+with an M. At last, after some efforts, she added doubtingly that she
+thought she could see two lines of writing. She was still thinking of
+the visiting-card, with a name in one line and the address on the other.
+
+Many other experiments of the same kind, and with a similar result,
+were tried with blank cards; and it was then determined to try her with
+playing-cards. M. Berna had a pack of them on his table, and addressing
+M. Dubois aloud, he asked him to take one of them and place it at the
+occiput of the somnambule. M. Dubois asked him aloud whether he should
+take a court card. "As you please," replied the magnetiser. As M. Dubois
+went towards the table, the idea struck him that he would not take
+either a court or a common card, but a perfectly blank card of the same
+size. Neither M. Berna nor the somnambule was aware of the substitution.
+He then placed himself behind her as before, and held the card to
+her occiput so that M. Berna could not see it. M. Berna then began to
+magnetise her with all his force, that he might sublimate her into the
+stage of extreme lucidity, and effectually transfer the power of vision
+to her occiput. She was interrogated as to what she could see. She
+hesitated; appeared to struggle with herself, and at last said she saw a
+card. "But what do you see on the card?" After a little hesitation, she
+said she could see black and red (thinking of the court card).
+
+The Commissioners allowed M. Berna to continue the examination in his
+own way. After some fruitless efforts to get a more satisfactory answer
+from the somnambule, he invited M. Dubois to pass his card before her
+head, close against the bandage covering her eyes. This having been
+done, the somnambule said she could see better. M. Berna then began to
+put some leading questions, and she replied that she could see a
+figure. Hereupon, there were renewed solicitations from M. Berna. The
+somnambule, on her part, appeared to be making great efforts to glean
+some information from her magnetiser, and at last said that she could
+distinguish the Knave. But this was not all; it remained for her to say
+which of the four knaves. In answer to further inquiries, she said there
+was black by the side of it. Not being contradicted at all, she imagined
+that she was in the right track; and made, after much pressing, her
+final guess, that it was the Knave of Clubs.
+
+M. Berna, thinking the experiment finished, took the card from the hands
+of M. Dubois, and in presence of all the Commissioners saw that it was
+entirely blank. Blank was his own dismay.
+
+As a last experiment, she was tried with a silver medal. It was with
+very great difficulty that any answers could be elicited from her.
+M. Cornac held the object firmly closed in his hand close before the
+bandage over her eyes. She first said she saw something round; she then
+said it was flesh-coloured--then yellow--then the colour of gold. It was
+as thick as an onion: and, in answer to incessant questions, she said it
+was yellow on one side, white on the other, and had black above it. She
+was thinking, apparently, of a gold watch, with its white dial and black
+figures for the hours. Solicited, for the last time, to explain herself
+clearly--to say, at least, the use of the object and its name, she
+appeared to be anxious to collect all her energies, and then uttered
+only the word "hour." Then, at last, as if suddenly illumined, she cried
+out that "it was to tell the hour."
+
+Thus ended the sitting. Some difficulties afterwards arose between the
+Commissioners and M. Berna, who wished that a copy of the proces verbal
+should be given him. The Commissioners would not agree; and M. Berna, in
+his turn, refused to make any fresh experiments. It was impossible that
+any investigation could have been conducted more satisfactorily than
+this. The report of the Commissioners was quite conclusive; and Animal
+Magnetism since that day lost much of its repute in France. M. Dupotet,
+with a perseverance and ingenuity worthy a better cause, has found a
+satisfactory excuse for the failure of M. Berna. Having taken care in
+his work not to publish the particulars, he merely mentions, in three
+lines, that M. Berna failed before a committee of the Royal Academy
+of Medicine in an endeavour to produce some of the higher magnetic
+phenomena. "There are a variety of incidental circumstances," says that
+shining light of magnetism, "which it is difficult even to enumerate. An
+over-anxiety to produce the effects, or any incidental suggestions that
+may disturb the attention of the magnetiser, will often be sufficient to
+mar the successful issue of the experiment." ["Introduction to the Study
+of Animal Magnetism," by Baron Dupotet de Sennevoy, London, 1838, p.
+159.] Such are the miserable shifts to which error reduces its votaries!
+
+While Dupotet thus conveniently forbears to dwell upon the unfavourable
+decision of the committee of 1837, let us hear how he dilates upon the
+favourable report of the previous committee of 1835, and how he praises
+the judgment and the impartiality of its members. "The Academie Royale
+de Medicine," says he, "put upon record clear and authenticated
+evidence in favour of Animal Magnetism. The Commissioners detailed
+circumstantially the facts which they witnessed, and the methods they
+adopted to detect every possible source of deception. Many of the
+Commissioners, when they entered on the investigation, were not only
+unfavourable to magnetism, but avowedly unbelievers; so that
+their evidence in any court of justice would be esteemed the most
+unexceptionable that could possibly be desired. They were inquiring too,
+not into any speculative or occult theory, upon which there might be a
+chance of their being led away by sophistical representations, but they
+were inquiring into the existence of facts only--plain demonstrable
+facts, which were in their own nature palpable to every observer."
+["Introduction to the Study of Animal Magnetism," p. 27.] M. Dupotet
+might not unreasonably be asked whether the very same arguments ought
+not to be applied to the unfavourable report drawn up by the able M.
+Dubois d'Amiens and his coadjutors in the last inquiry. If the question
+were asked, we should, in all probability, meet some such a reply as
+this:--"True, they might; but then you must consider the variety of
+incidental circumstances, too numerous to mention! M. Berna may have
+been over anxious; in fact, the experiments must have been spoiled by an
+incidental suggestion!"
+
+A man with a faith so lively as M. Dupotet was just the person to
+undertake the difficult mission of converting the English to a belief
+in magnetism. Accordingly we find that, very shortly after the last
+decision of the Academie, M. Dupotet turned his back upon his native
+soil and arrived in England, loaded with the magnetic fluid, and ready
+to re-enact all the fooleries of his great predecessors, Mesmer and
+Puysegur. Since the days of Perkinism and metallic tractors, until 1833,
+magnetism had made no progress, and excited no attention in England. Mr.
+Colquhoun, an advocate at the Scottish bar, published in that year the,
+till then, inedited report of the French commission of 1831, together
+with a history of the science, under the title of "Isis Revelata; or,
+an Inquiry into the Origin, Progress, and present State of Animal
+Magnetism." Mr. Colquhoun was a devout believer, and his work was full
+of enthusiasm. It succeeded in awakening some interest upon a subject
+certainly very curious, but it made few or no converts. An interesting
+article, exposing the delusion, appeared in the same year in the
+"Foreign Quarterly Review;" and one or two medical works noticed the
+subject afterwards, to scout it and turn it into ridicule. The arrival
+of M. Dupotet, in 1837, worked quite a revolution, and raised Animal
+Magnetism to a height of favour, as great as it had ever attained even
+in France.
+
+He began by addressing letters of invitation to the principal
+philosophers and men of science, physicians, editors of newspapers, and
+others, to witness the experiments, which were at first carried on at
+his own residence, in Wigmore-street, Cavendish-square. Many of them
+accepted the invitation; and, though not convinced, were surprised
+and confounded at the singular influence which he exercised over the
+imagination of his patients. Still, at first, his success was not
+flattering. To quote his own words, in the dedication of his work to
+Earl Stanhope, "he spent several months in fruitless attempts to induce
+the wise men of the country to study the phenomena of magnetism. His
+incessant appeals for an examination of these novel facts remained
+unanswered, and the press began to declare against him." With a saddened
+heart, he was about to renounce the design he had formed of spreading
+magnetism in England, and carry to some more credulous people the
+important doctrines of which he had made himself the apostle. Earl
+Stanhope, however, encouraged him to remain; telling him to hope for a
+favourable change in public opinion, and the eventual triumph of that
+truth of which he was the defender. M. Dupotet remained. He was not so
+cruel as to refuse the English people a sight of his wonders. Although
+they might be ungrateful, his kindness and patience should be long
+enduring.
+
+In the course of time his perseverance met its reward. Ladies in
+search of emotions--the hysteric, the idle, the puling, and the
+ultra-sentimental crowded to his saloons, as ladies similarly
+predisposed had crowded to Mesmer's sixty years before. Peers, members
+of the House of Commons, philosophers, men of letters, and physicians
+came in great numbers--some to believe, some to doubt, and a few to
+scoff. M. Dupotet continued his experiments, and at last made several
+important converts. Most important of all for a second Mesmer, he found
+a second D'Eslon.
+
+Dr. Elliotson, the most conspicuous among the converts of Dupotet, was,
+like D'Eslon, a physician in extensive practice--a thoroughly honest
+man, but with a little too much enthusiasm. The parallel holds good
+between them in every particular; for, as D'Eslon had done before him,
+Dr. Elliotson soon threw his master into the shade, and attracted all
+the notice of the public upon himself. He was at that time professor
+of the principles and practice of medicine at the University College,
+London, and physician to the hospital. In conjunction with M. Dupotet,
+he commenced a course of experiments upon some of the patients in that
+institution. The reports which were published from time to time, partook
+so largely of the marvellous, and were corroborated by the evidence of
+men whose learning, judgment, and integrity it was impossible to call
+in question, that the public opinion was staggered. Men were ashamed
+to believe, and yet afraid to doubt; and the subject at last became so
+engrossing that a committee of some of the most distinguished members
+of the medical profession undertook to investigate the phenomena, and
+report upon them.
+
+In the mean time, Dr. Elliotson and M. Dupotet continued the public
+exhibition at the hospital; while the credulous gaped with wonder, and
+only some few daring spirits had temerity enough to hint about quackery
+and delusion on the part of the doctors, and imposture on the part of
+the patients. The phenomena induced in two young women, sisters, named
+Elizabeth and Jane Okey, were so extraordinary that they became at last
+the chief, if not the only proofs of the science in London. We have not
+been able to meet with any reports of these experiments from the pen
+of an unbeliever, and are therefore compelled to rely solely upon the
+reports published under the authority of the magnetisers themselves, and
+given to the world in "The Lancet" and other medical journals.
+
+Elizabeth Okey was an intelligent girl, aged about seventeen, and was
+admitted into the University College hospital, suffering under attacks
+of epilepsy. She was magnetised repeatedly by M. Dupotet in the autumn
+of 1837, and afterwards by Dr. Elliotson at the hospital, during the
+spring and summer of 1838. By the usual process, she was very easily
+thrown into a state of deep unconscious sleep, from which she was
+aroused into somnambulism and delirium. In her waking state she was
+a modest well-behaved girl, and spoke but little. In the somnambulic
+state, she appeared quite another being; evinced considerable powers
+of mimicry; sang comic songs; was obedient to every motion of her
+magnetiser; and was believed to have the power of prophesying the return
+of her illness--the means of cure, and even the death or recovery of
+other patients in the ward.
+
+Mesmer had often pretended in his day that he could impart the magnetic
+power to pieces of metal or wood, strings of silk or cord, &c. The
+reader will remember his famous battery, and the no less famous tree of
+M. de Puysegur. During the experiments upon Okey, it was soon discovered
+that all the phenomena could be produced in her, if she touched any
+object that had been previously mesmerised by the will or the touch of
+her magnetiser. At a sitting, on the 5th of July 1838, it was mentioned
+that Okey, some short time previously, and while in the state of
+magnetic lucidity, had prophesied that, if mesmerised tea were placed in
+each of her hands, no power in nature would be able to awake her until
+after the lapse of a quarter of an hour. The experiment was tried
+accordingly. Tea which had been touched by the magnetiser was placed
+in each hand, and she immediately fell asleep. After ten minutes, the
+customary means to awaken her were tried, but without effect. She was
+quite insensible to all external impressions. In a quarter of an hour,
+they were tried with redoubled energy, but still in vain. She was left
+alone for six minutes longer; but she still slept, and it was found
+quite impossible to wake her. At last some one present remarked that
+this wonderful sleep would, in all probability, last till the tea was
+removed from her bands. The suggestion was acted upon, the tea was taken
+away, and she awoke in a few seconds. ["Lancet," vol. ii. 1837-8, p.
+585.]
+
+On the 12th of July, just a week afterwards, numerous experiments as
+to the capability of different substances for conveying the magnetic
+influence were tried upon her. A slip of crumpled paper, magnetised by
+being held in the hand, produced no effect. A penknife magnetised her
+immediately. A piece of oilskin had no influence. A watch placed on her
+palm sent her to sleep immediately, if the metal part were first placed
+in contact with her; the glass did not affect her so quickly. As she was
+leaving the room, a sleeve-cuff made of brown-holland, which had been
+accidentally magnetised by a spectator, stopped her in mid career, and
+sent her fast to sleep. It was also found that, on placing the point of
+her finger on a sovereign which had been magnetised, she was immediately
+stupified. A pile of sovereigns produced sleep; but if they were so
+placed that she could touch the surface of each coin, the sleep became
+intense and protracted.
+
+Still more extraordinary circumstances were related of this patient. In
+her state of magnetic sleep, she said that a tall black man, or negro,
+attended her, and prompted the answers she was to give to the various
+perplexing questions that were put to her. It was also asserted that
+she could use the back of her hand as an organ of vision. The first time
+this remarkable phenomenon was said to have been exhibited was a few
+days prior to the 5th of July. On the latter day, being in what
+was called a state of loquacious somnambulism, she was asked by Dr.
+Elliotson's assistant whether she had an eye in her hand. She replied
+that "it was a light there, and not an eye." "Have you got a light
+anywhere else?"--"No, none anywhere else."--"Can you see with the inside
+as well as the out?"--"Yes; but very little with the inside."
+
+On the 9th of July bread with butter was given to her, and while eating
+it she drank some magnetised water, and falling into a stupor dropped
+her food from her hand and frowned. The eyes, partially closed, had the
+abstracted aspect that always accompanies stupefaction. The right-hand
+was open, the palm upwards; the left, with its back presented
+anteriorly, was relaxed and curved. The bread being lost, she moved her
+left-hand about convulsively until right over the bread, when a clear
+view being obtained, the hand turned suddenly round and clutched it
+eagerly. Her hand was afterwards wrapped in a handkerchief; but then
+she could not see with it, and laid it on her lap with an expression of
+despair.
+
+These are a few only of the wonderful feats of Elizabeth Okey. Jane
+was not quite so clever; but she nevertheless managed to bewilder the
+learned men almost as much as her sister. A magnetised sovereign having
+been placed on the floor, Jane, then in the state of delirium, was
+directed to stoop and pick it up. She stooped, and having raised it
+about three inches, was fixed in a sound sleep in that constrained
+position. Dr. Elliotson pointed his finger at her, to discharge some
+more of the mesmeric fluid into her, when her hand immediately relaxed
+its grasp of the coin, and she re-awoke into the state of delirium,
+exclaiming, "God bless my soul!"
+
+It is now time to mention the famous gold-chain experiment which was
+performed at the hospital upon Elizabeth Okey, in the presence of Count
+Flahault, Dr. Lardner, Mr. Knatchbull the professor of Arabic in the
+University of Oxford, and many other gentlemen. The object of the
+experiment was to demonstrate that, when Okey held one end of a gold
+chain, and Dr. Elliotson, or any other magnetiser, the other, the
+magnetic fluid would travel through the chain, and, after the lapse of a
+minute, stupify the patient. A long gold chain having been twice placed
+around her neck, Dr. Elliotson at once threw her into a state of stupor.
+It was then found that, if the intermediate part of the chain were
+twisted around a piece of wood, or a roll of paper, the passage of the
+fluid would be checked, and stupor would not so speedily ensue. If
+the chain were removed, she might be easily thrown into the state of
+delirium; when she would sing at the request of her magnetiser; and, if
+the chain were then unrolled, her voice would be arrested in the most
+gradual manner; its loudness first diminishing--the tune then becoming
+confused, and finally lost altogether. The operations of her intellect
+could be checked, while the organs of sound would still continue to
+exert themselves. For instance, while her thoughts were occupied on the
+poetry and air of Lord Byron's song, "The Maid of Athens," the chain was
+unrolled; and when she had reached the line, "My life, I love you!" the
+stupor had increased; a cold statue-like aspect crept over the face--the
+voice sank--the limbs became rigid--the memory was gone--the faculty of
+forecasting the thoughts had departed, and but one portion of capacity
+remained--that of repeating again and again, perhaps twenty times, the
+line and music which had last issued from her lips, without pause, and
+in the proper time, until the magnetiser stopped her voice altogether,
+by further unrolling the chain and stupifying her. On another trial, she
+was stopped in the comic song, "Sir Frog he would a wooing go," when she
+came to the line,
+
+     "Whether his mother would let him or no;"
+
+while her left hand outstretched, with the chain in it, was moving up
+and down, and the right toe was tapping the time on the floor; and with
+these words and actions she persevered for fifty repetitions, until
+the winding of the chain re-opened her faculties, when she finished the
+song. ["Lancet," vol. ii. 1837-8, p.617.]
+
+The report from which we have extracted the above passage further
+informed the public and the medical profession, and expected them to
+believe, that, when this species of stupefaction was produced while
+she was employed in any action, the action was repeated as long as the
+mesmeric influence lasted. For instance, it was asserted that she was
+once deprived of the motion of every part of her body, except the right
+forefinger, with which she was rubbing her chin; and that, when thrown
+into the trance, she continued rubbing her chin for several minutes,
+until she was unmagnetised, when she ceased. A similar result was
+obtained when she was smoothing down her hair; and at another time when
+she was imitating the laughter of the spectators, excited beyond control
+by her clever mimicry. At another time she was suddenly thrown into the
+state of delirious stupor while pronouncing the word "you," of which she
+kept prolonging the sound for several minutes, with a sort of vibrating
+noise, until she was awakened. At another time, when a magnetised
+sovereign was given to her, wrapped up in paper, she caught it in her
+hand, and turned it round flatwise between her fingers, saying that it
+was wrapped up "very neatly indeed." The mesmeric influence caught her
+in the remark, which she kept repeating over and over again, all the
+while twirling the sovereign round and round until the influence in the
+coin had evaporated.
+
+We are also told of a remarkable instance of the force of the magnetic
+power. While Elizabeth Okey was one day employed in writing, a sovereign
+which had been imbued with the fluid was placed upon her boot. In half
+a minute her leg was paralyzed--rooted to the floor--perfectly immovable
+at the joints, and visited, apparently, with pain so intense that the
+girl writhed in agony. "The muscles of the leg were found," says the
+report, "as rigid and stiff as if they had been carved in wood. When the
+sovereign was removed, the pain left her in a quarter of a minute. On a
+subsequent day, a mesmerised sovereign was placed in her left hand as it
+hung at her side, with the palm turned slightly outwards. The hand and
+arm were immediately paralyzed--fixed with marble-like firmness." No
+general stupor having occurred, she was requested to move her arm;
+but she could not lift it a hair's-breadth from her side. On another
+occasion, when in a state of delirium, in which she had remained three
+hours, she was asked to describe her feelings when she handled any
+magnetised object and went off into the stupor. She had never before,
+although several times asked, given any information upon the subject.
+She now replied that, at the moment of losing her senses through any
+manipulations, she experienced a sensation of opening in the crown of
+her head; that she never knew when it closed again; but that her eyes
+seemed to become exceedingly large;--three times as big as before. On
+recovering from this state, she remembered nothing that had taken place
+in the interval, whether that interval were hours or days; her only
+sensation was that of awakening, and of something being lifted from her
+eyes.
+
+The regular publication of these marvellous experiments, authenticated
+as they were by many eminent names, naturally excited the public
+attention in an extreme degree. Animal Magnetism became the topic of
+discussion in every circle--politics and literature were for a time
+thrown into the shade, so strange were the facts, or so wonderful was
+the delusion. The public journals contented themselves in many instances
+with a mere relation of the results, without giving any opinion as to
+the cause. One of them which gave a series of reports upon the subject,
+thus described the girl, and avowed its readiness to believe all that
+was related of her. [Morning Post, March 2, 1838.] "Her appearance as
+she sits, as pale and almost as still as a corpse, is strangely awful.
+She whistles to oblige Dr. Elliotson: an incredulous bystander presses
+his fingers upon her lips; she does not appear conscious of the nature
+of the interruption; but when asked to continue, replies in childish
+surprise, 'it can't.' This state of magnetic semi-existence will
+continue we know not how long. She has continued in it for twelve days
+at a time, and when awakened to real life forgets all that has occurred
+in the magnetic one. Can this be deception? We have conversed with
+the poor child her ordinary state as she sat by the fire in her ward,
+suffering from the headach, which persecutes her almost continually when
+not under the soothing fluence of the magnetic operation, and we confess
+we never beheld anybody less likely to prove an impostor. We have seen
+Professor Faraday exerting his acute and sagacious powers for an hour
+together, in the endeavour to detect some physical discrepancy in her
+performance, or elicit some blush of mental confusion by his naive and
+startling remarks. But there was nothing which could be detected,
+and the professor candidly confessed that the matter was beyond his
+philosophy to unravel."
+
+Notwithstanding this sincere, and on the point of integrity,
+unimpeachable evidence in her favour; notwithstanding that she appeared
+to have no motives for carrying on so extraordinary and long-continued
+a deception, the girl was an impostor, and all these wise, learned, and
+contemplative men her dupes. It was some time, however, before this fact
+was clearly established, and the delusion dissipated by the clear light
+of truth. In the mean time various other experiments on the efficacy of
+the supposed magnetic power were tried in various parts of England;
+but the country did not furnish another epileptic girl so clever as
+Elizabeth Okey. An exhibition of the kind was performed on a girl
+named Sarah Overton, at the workhouse of the parish of St.
+Martin's-in-the-Fields. The magnetiser on this occasion was Mr.
+Bainbridge, the parish surgeon. It is but justice to him to state,
+that he conducted the experiments with the utmost fairness, and did not
+pretend to produce any of the wondrous and incredible phenomena of other
+practitioners. This girl, whose age was about twenty, had long been
+subject to epileptic fits, and appeared remarkably simple and modest in
+her manners and appearance. She was brought into the room and placed in
+a chair. About twenty gentlemen were present. Mr. Bainbridge stationed
+himself behind, and pointed his fingers at her brain, while his
+assistant in front made the magnetic passes before her eyes, and over
+her body. It cannot be said that her imagination was not at work; for
+she had been previously magnetised, and was brought in with her eyes
+open, and in complete possession of all her faculties. No means had
+been taken to prevent interruption during the sitting; new visiters
+continually arrived, and the noise of the opening and shutting of the
+door repeatedly called from Mr. Bainbridge a request that all should be
+kept silent. The girl herself constantly raised her head to see who
+was coming in; but still, in direct contradiction to M. Dupotet, and,
+indeed, all the magnetisers, who have repeated over and over again, that
+interruption destroys the magnetic power, she fell into a deep sleep
+at the end of about twelve minutes. In this state, which is that called
+"Mesmeric Coma," she was quite insensible. Though pulled violently by
+the hair, and pricked on the arm with a pin, she showed no signs of
+consciousness or feeling. In a short time afterwards, she was awakened
+into the somnambulic or delirious state, when she began to converse
+freely with the persons around her, but more especially with her
+magnetiser. She would sing if required, and even dance in obedience to
+his command, and pretended to see him although her eyes were closely
+blindfolded with a handkerchief. She seemed to have a constant tendency
+to fall back into the state of coma, and had to be aroused with violence
+every two or three minutes to prevent a relapse. A motion of the hand
+before her face was sufficient to throw her, in the middle of a song,
+into this insensible state; but it was observed particularly that she
+fell at regular intervals, whether any magnetic passes were made at her
+or not. It was hinted aloud to a person present that he should merely
+bend his body before her, and she would become insensible, and fall to
+the ground. The pass was made, and she fell accordingly into the arms
+of a medical gentleman, who stood behind ready to receive her. The girl
+having been again aroused into the state of delirium, another person,
+still audibly, was requested to do the same. He did not; but the girl
+fell as before. The experiments were sufficient to convince the author
+that one human being could indubitably exercise a very wonderful
+influence over another; but that imagination only, and not the mesmeric
+fluid, was the great agent by which these phenomena could be produced in
+persons of strong faith and weak bodies.
+
+Some gentlemen present were desirous of trying whether any of the higher
+mesmeric states, such as that of lucidity and clairvoyance could be
+produced. Mr. Bainbridge was willing to allow the experiment to be made,
+but previously expressed his own doubts upon the subject. A watch was
+then put into her bosom, the dial plate and glass against her skin, to
+ascertain whether she could see without the intervention of the organs
+of sight. She was asked what hour it was; and was promised a shilling if
+she would tell by the watch which had been placed in her bosom. She held
+out her hand for the shilling, and received it with great delight. She
+was then asked if she could see the watch? She said "no--not a watch;
+she could see something--something that was very pretty indeed." "Come,
+come, Sally," said Mr. Bainbridge, "you must not be so stupid; rouse
+up, girl, and tell us what o'clock it is, and I'll give you another
+shilling!" The girl at this time seemed to be relapsing into a deep
+sleep; but on being shaken, aroused herself with a convulsive start.
+In reply to further questions, she said, "she could see a clock, a very
+pretty clock, indeed!" She was again asked, five or six times, what
+the hour was: she at last replied that "it was ten minutes to two."
+The watch being then taken out of her bosom, it was found to be on the
+stroke of two. Every one present, including the magnetiser, confessed
+that there was nothing wonderful in the conjecture she had hazarded.
+She knew perfectly well what hour it was before she was brought into the
+ward, as there was a large clock in the workhouse, and a bell which
+rang at dinner time; she calculated mentally the interval that had since
+elapsed, and guessed accordingly. The same watch was afterwards advanced
+four or five hours, and put into her bosom without a word being said in
+her hearing. On being again asked what o'clock it was by that watch, and
+promised another shilling if she would tell, she still replied that it
+was near two--the actual time. Thus, as Mr. Bainbridge had predicted,
+the experiment came to nothing. The whole case of this girl offered a
+striking instance of the power of imagination, but no proof whatever of
+the supposed existence of the magnetic fluid.
+
+The Medical Committee of the University College Hospital took alarm at a
+very early period at the injury which might be done to that Institution,
+by the exhibitions of Okey and her magnetisers. A meeting was held
+in June 1838, at which Dr. Elliotson was not present, to take into
+consideration the reports of the experiments that had been published in
+the Medical Journals. Resolutions were then passed to the effect,
+that Dr. Elliotson should be requested to refrain from further public
+exhibitions of mesmerism; and, at the same time, stating the wish of
+the Committee not to interfere with its private employment as a remedial
+agent, if he thought it would be efficacious upon any of the patients
+of the Institution. Dr. Elliotson replied, that no consideration should
+prevent him from pursuing the investigation of Animal Magnetism; but
+that he had no desire to make a public exhibition of it. He had only
+given lectures and demonstrations when numbers of scientific gentlemen
+were present; he still continued to receive numerous letters from
+learned and eminent men, entreating permission to witness the phenomena;
+but if the Committee willed it, he should admit no person without their
+sanction. He shortly afterwards sent a list of the names of individuals
+who were anxious to witness the experiments. The Committee returned
+it to him unread, with the reply that they could not sanction any
+exhibition that was so entirely foreign to the objects of the Hospital.
+In answer to this, Dr. Elliotson reiterated his full belief in the
+doctrines of Animal Magnetism, and his conviction that his experiments
+would ultimately throw a light upon the operations of nature, which
+would equal, if not exceed, that elicited by the greatest discoveries
+of by-gone ages. The correspondence dropped here; and the experiments
+continued as usual.
+
+The scene, however, was drawing to a close. On the 25th of August, a
+notice was published in the Lancet, to the effect, that some experiments
+had been performed on the girls Elizabeth and Jane Okey, at the house
+of Mr. Wakley, a report of which was only withheld in the hope that
+the Committee of Members of the Medical Profession, then sitting to
+investigate the phenomena of mesmerism, would publish their report
+of what they had witnessed. It was further stated, that whether that
+Committee did or did not publish their report, the result of the
+experiments at Mr. Wakley's house should certainly be made known in
+the next number of that journal. Accordingly, on the 1st of September
+appeared a statement, which overthrew, in the most complete manner, the
+delusion of mesmerism. Nothing could have been better conducted than
+these experiments; nothing could be more decisive of the fact, that all
+the phenomena were purely the results of the excited imaginations of the
+girls, aided in no slight degree by their wilful deception.
+
+The first experiments were performed on the 16th of August, in the
+presence of Mr. Wakley, M. Dupotet, Dr. Elliotson, Dr. Richardson,
+Mr. Herring, Mr. Clarke, and Mr. G. Mills the writer of the published
+reports of the experiments at the University College Hospital.
+Dr. Elliotson had said, that nickel was capable of retaining and
+transmitting the magnetic fluid in an extraordinary degree; but that
+lead possessed no such virtues. The effects of the nickel, he was
+confident, would be quite astounding; but that lead might always be
+applied with impunity. A piece of nickel was produced by the Doctor,
+about three quarters of an ounce in weight, together with a piece of
+lead of the same shape and smoothness, but somewhat larger. Elizabeth
+Okey was seated in a chair; and, by a few passes and manipulations,
+was thrown into the state of "ecstatic delirium." A piece of thick
+pasteboard was then placed in front of her face, and held in that
+situation by two of the spectators, so that she could not see what was
+passing either below or in front of her. Mr. Wakley having received both
+the nickel and the lead, seated himself opposite the girl, and applied
+the lead to each hand alternately, but in such a manner as to lead her
+to believe that both metals had been used. No effect was produced. The
+nickel magnetised by Dr. Elliotson was, after a pause, applied in a
+similar manner. No results followed. After another pause, the lead
+was several times applied, and then again the nickel. After the last
+application of the nickel, the face of the patient became violently
+flushed, the eyes were convulsed into a startling squint, she fell back
+in the chair, her breathing was hurried, her limbs rigid, and her back
+bent in the form of a bow. She remained in this state for a quarter of
+an hour.
+
+This experiment was not considered a satisfactory proof of the magnetic
+powers of the nickel; and Dr. Elliotson suggested that, in the second
+experiment, that metal should alone be tried. Mr. Wakley was again the
+operator; but, before commencing, he stated privately to Mr. Clarke,
+that instead of using nickel only, he would not employ the nickel at
+all. Mr. Clarke, unseen by any person present, took the piece of nickel;
+put it into his waistcoat pocket; and walked to the window, where he
+remained during the whole of the experiment. Mr. Wakley again sat down,
+employing both hands, but placing his fingers in such a manner, that it
+was impossible for any person to see what substance he held. Presently,
+on applying his left hand, the girl's vision being still obstructed by
+the pasteboard, Mr. Herring, who was standing near, said in a whisper,
+and with much sincerity, "Take care, don't apply the nickel too
+strongly." Immediately the face of the girl became violently red, her
+eyes were fixed in an intense squint, she fell back convulsively in her
+chair, and all the previous symptoms were produced more powerfully than
+before. Dr. Elliotson observed that the effects were most extraordinary;
+that no other metal than nickel could produce them, and that they
+presented a beautiful series of phenomena. This paroxysm lasted half an
+hour. Mr. Wakley retired with Dr. Elliotson and the other gentlemen into
+an adjoining room, and convinced them that he had used no nickel at all,
+but a piece of lead and a farthing.
+
+This experiment was twice repeated with the same results. A third trial
+was made with the nickel, but no effect was produced.
+
+On the succeeding day the experiments were repeated upon both the
+sisters, chiefly with mesmerised water and sovereigns. The investigation
+occupied about five hours, and the following were the results:--
+
+1. Six wine glasses, filled with water unmesmerised, were placed on a
+table, and Jane Okey being called in, was requested to drink from each
+of them successively. She did so, and no effect was produced.
+
+2. The same six glasses stood on the table, the water in the fourth
+having been subjected for a long time to the supposed magnetic
+influence. She was requested in like manner to drink of these. She
+did so, and again no effect was produced, although, according to the
+doctrine of the magnetisers, she ought to have been immediately fixed on
+drinking of the fourth.
+
+3. In this experiment the position of the glasses was changed. There was
+no result.
+
+4. Was a repetition of the foregoing. No result.
+
+5. The water in all the glasses was subjected to the supposed magnetic
+influence from the fingers of Dr. Elliotson, until, in his opinion, it
+was strongly magnetised. Still no result.
+
+6. The glasses were filled up with fresh water unmesmerised. No result.
+
+7. The water was strongly magnetised in each glass, and the girl emptied
+them all. No result.
+
+It would be needless to go through the whole series of experiments. The
+results may be briefly stated. Sovereigns unmesmerised threw the girls
+into convulsions, or fixed them. Mesmerised sovereigns sometimes did
+and sometimes did not produce these symptoms. Elizabeth Okey became
+repeatedly fixed when drinking unmagnetised water; while that which had
+been subjected to the powers of a supposed magnetic battery, produced no
+results. Altogether twenty-nine experiments were tried, which convinced
+every one present, except Dr. Elliotson, that Animal Magnetism was
+a delusion, that the girls were of very exciteable imaginations, and
+arrant impostors.
+
+Their motives for carrying on so extraordinary a deception have often
+been asked. The question is easily answered. Poor girls, unknown and
+unnoticed, or, if noticed, perhaps despised, they found themselves all
+at once the observed of all observers, by the really remarkable symptoms
+of their disease, which it required no aid from magnetism to produce.
+Flattered by the oft-repeated experiments and constant attentions of
+doctors and learned men, who had begun by deluding themselves, they
+imagined themselves persons of vast importance, and encouraged by
+degrees the whims of their physicians, as the means of prolonging the
+consideration they so unexpectedly enjoyed. Constant practice made them
+at last all but perfect in the parts they were performing; and they
+failed at last, not from a want of ingenuity, or of a most wonderful
+power over their own minds, and by their minds upon their bodies, but
+from the physical impossibility of seeing through a thick pasteboard,
+or into the closed hands of Mr. Wakley. The exposure that was made was
+complete and decisive. From that day forth, magnetism in England has
+hid its diminished head, and affronted no longer the common sense of
+the age. M. Dupotet is no more heard of, the girls Okey afford no
+more either wonder or amusement by their clever acting, and reason has
+resumed her sway in the public mind.
+
+A few more circumstances remain to be stated. Elizabeth Okey left the
+hospital; but was re-admitted some weeks afterwards, labouring under
+ischuria, a fresh complaint, unconnected with her former malady.
+As experiments in magnetism were still tried upon her privately,
+notwithstanding the recent exposure and the all but universal derision
+of the public, the House Committee of the hospital, early in December,
+met to consider the expediency of expelling the girl. Dr. Elliotson, on
+that occasion, expressed his opinion that it was necessary to retain
+her in the hospital, as she was too ill to be discharged. It was then
+elicited from the nurse, who was examined by the Committee, that
+Okey, when in the state of "magnetic delirium," was in the habit of
+prophesying the death or recovery of the patients in the ward; that,
+with the consent of Dr. Elliotson, she had been led in the twilight into
+the men's ward, and had prophesied in a similar manner; her predictions
+being taken down in writing, and given in a sealed paper to the
+apothecary, to be opened after a certain time, that it might be seen
+whether they were verified. Dr. Elliotson did not deny the fact. The
+nurse also stated more particularly the manner in which the prophecies
+were delivered. She said that, on approaching the bed of a certain
+patient, Okey gave a convulsive shudder, exclaiming that "Great Jacky
+was sitting on the bedclothes!" On being asked to explain herself, she
+said that Great Jacky was the angel of death. At the bedside of another
+patient she shuddered slightly, and said "Little Jacky was there!" Dr.
+Elliotson did not altogether discredit the predictions; but imagined
+they might ultimately be verified by the death or recovery of the
+patient. Upon the minds of the patients themselves, enfeebled as they
+were by disease and suffering, the worst effects were produced. One
+man's death was accelerated by the despondency it occasioned, and the
+recovery of others was seriously impeded.
+
+When these facts became known, the Council of the College requested the
+Medical Committee to discharge Okey and prevent any further exhibitions
+of Animal Magnetism in the wards. The latter part of this request
+having been communicated to Dr. Elliotson, he immediately sent in his
+resignation. A successor was afterwards appointed in the person of Dr.
+Copland. At his inaugural lecture the students of the college manifested
+a riotous disposition, called repeatedly for their old instructor, and
+refused to allow the lecture to proceed; but it appears the
+disturbance was caused by their respect and affection for Dr. Elliotson
+individually, and not from any participation in his ideas about
+magnetism.
+
+Extravagant as the vagaries of the English professors of magnetism may
+appear, they are actual common sense in comparison with the aberrations
+of the Germans. The latter have revived all the exploded doctrines
+of the Rosicrucians; and in an age which is called enlightened, have
+disinterred from the rubbish of antiquity, the wildest superstitions of
+their predecessors, and built upon them theories more wild and startling
+than anything before attempted or witnessed among mankind. Paracelsus
+and Bohmen, Borri and Meyer, with their strange heterogeneous mixture of
+alchymy and religion, but paved the way for the stranger, and even
+more extravagant mixture of magnetism and religion, as now practised
+in Germany. Magnetism, it is believed, is the key of all knowledge, and
+opens the door to those forbidden regions where all the wonders of
+God's works are made clear to the mind of man. The magnetic patient is
+possessed of all gifts--can converse with myriads of spirits, and
+even with God himself--be transported with greater rapidity than the
+lightning's flash to the moon or the stars, and see their inhabitants,
+and hold converse with them on the wonders and beauties of their
+separate spheres, and the power and goodness of the God who made them.
+Time and space are to them as if annihilated--nothing is hidden from
+them--past, present, or future. They divine the laws by which the
+universe is upheld, and snatch the secrets of the Creator from the
+darkness in which, to all other men, it is enveloped. For the last
+twenty or thirty years these daring and blasphemous notions have
+flourished in rank luxuriance; and men of station in society, learning,
+and apparent good sense in all the usual affairs of life, have publicly
+given in their adhesion, and encouraged the doctrine by their example,
+or spread it abroad by their precepts. That the above summary of their
+tenets may not be deemed an exaggeration we enter into particulars, and
+refer the incredulous that human folly in the present age could ever be
+pushed so far, to chapter and verse for every allegation.
+
+In a work published in Germany in 1817, by J. A. L. Richter, entitled
+"Considerations on Animal Magnetism," the author states that in
+magnetism is to be found the solution of the enigmas of human existence,
+and particularly the enigmas of Christianity, on the mystic and obscure
+parts of which it throws a light which permits us to gaze clearly on the
+secrets of the mystery. Wolfart's "Annals of Animal Magnetism" abound
+with similar passages; and Kluge's celebrated work is written in the
+same spirit. "Such is the wonderful sympathy," says the latter, "between
+the magnetiser and the somnambulist that he has known the latter to
+vomit and be purged in consequence of medicine which the former had
+taken. Whenever he put pepper on his tongue, or drank wine, the patient
+could taste these things distinctly on her palate." But Kerner's history
+of the case of Madame Hauffe, the famous magnetic woman, "Seer" or
+"Prophetess of Prevorst," Will give a more complete and melancholy proof
+of the sad wanderings of these German "men of science," than any random
+selections we might make from their voluminous works. This work was
+published in two volumes, and the authenticity of its details supported
+by Gorres, Eschenmeyer, and other men of character and reputation in
+Germany: it is said to have had an immense sale. She resided in the
+house of Kerner, at Weinsberg; and being weak and sickly, was very
+easily thrown into a state of somnambulism. "She belonged," says Kerner,
+"to a world of spirits; she was half spirit herself; she belonged to the
+region beyond death, in which she already half existed. * * * Her body
+clothed her spirit like a thin veil. * * * She was small and slightly
+made, had an Oriental expression of countenance, and the piercing eyes
+of a prophet, the gleams of which were increased in their power and
+beauty by her long dark eyebrows and eyelashes. She was a flower
+of light, living upon sunbeams. * * * Her spirit often seemed to be
+separated from her frame. The spirits of all things, of which mankind in
+general have no perception, were perceptible to and operated upon her,
+more particularly the spirits of metals, herbs, men, and animals. All
+imponderable matters, even the rays of light, had an effect upon her
+when she was magnetised." The smell of flint was very agreeable to her.
+Salt laid on her hand caused a flow of saliva: rock crystal laid on
+the pit of her stomach produced rigidity of the whole body. Red grapes
+produced certain effects, if placed in her hands; white grapes produced
+different effects. The bone of an elk would throw her into an epileptic
+fit. The tooth of a mammoth produced a feeling of sluggishness. A
+spider's web rolled into a ball produced a prickly feeling in the hands,
+and a restlessness in the whole body. Glow-worms threw her into the
+magnetic sleep. Music somnambulised her. When she wanted to be cheerful,
+she requested Kerner to magnetise the water she drank, by playing the
+Jew's-harp. She used to say in her sleep, "Magnetise the water by seven
+vibrations of the harp." If she drank water magnetised in this manner,
+she was constrained involuntarily to pour forth her soul in song. The
+eyes of many men threw her into the state of somnambulism. She said that
+in those eyes there was a spiritual spark, which was the mirror of the
+soul. If a magnetised rod were laid on her right eye, every object on
+which she gazed appeared magnified.
+
+It was by this means that she was enabled to see the inhabitants of the
+moon. She said, that on the left side of the moon, the inhabitants were
+great builders, and much happier than those on the right side. "I often
+see," said she to her magnetiser, "many spirits with whom I do not come
+into contact. Others come to me, and I speak to them; and they often
+spend months in my company. I hear and see other things at the same
+time; but I cannot turn my eyes from the spirits; they are in magnetic
+rapport with me. They look like clouds, thin, but not transparent;
+though, at first, they seem so. Still, I never saw one which cast a
+shadow. Their form is similar to that which they possessed when alive;
+but colourless, or grey. They wear clothing; and it appears as if made
+of clouds, also colourless and misty grey. The brighter and better
+spirits wear long garments, which hang in graceful folds, with belts
+around their waists. The expression of their features is sad and solemn.
+Their eyes are bright, like fire; but none of them that I ever saw had
+hair upon their heads. They make noises when they wish to excite the
+attention of those who have not the gift of seeing them. These noises
+consist of sounds in the air, sometimes sudden and sharp, and causing
+a shock. Sometimes the sounds are plaintive and musical; at other times
+they resemble the rustling of silk, the falling of sand, or the rolling
+of a ball. The better spirits are brighter than the bad ones, and their
+voice is not so strong. Many, particularly the dark, sad spirits, when I
+uttered words of religious consolation, sucked them in, as it were;
+and I saw them become brighter and quite glorious in consequence: but
+I became weaker. Most of the spirits who come to me are of the lowest
+regions of the spiritual world, which are situated just above our
+atmosphere. They were, in their life, grovelling and low-minded people,
+or such as did not die in the faith of Jesus; or else such as, in
+expiring, clung to some earthly thought or affection, which now presses
+upon them, and prevents them from soaring up to heaven. I once asked a
+spirit whether children grew after death? 'Yes,' replied the spirit,'
+the soul gradually expands, until it becomes as large as it would have
+been on earth. I cannot effect the salvation of these spirits; I am only
+their mediator. I pray ardently with them, and so lead them by degrees
+to the great Saviour of the world. It costs an infinity of trouble
+before such a soul turns again to the Lord.'"
+
+It would, however, serve no good purpose to extend to greater length the
+reveries of this mad woman, or to set down one after the other the names
+of the magnetisers who encouraged her in her delusions--being themselves
+deluded. To wade through these volumes of German mysticism is a task
+both painful and disgusting--and happily not necessary. Enough has been
+stated to show how gross is the superstition even of the learned; and
+that errors, like comets, run in one eternal cycle--at their apogee in
+one age, at their perigee in the next, but returning in one phase or
+another for men to wonder at.
+
+In England the delusion of magnetism may for the present be considered
+as fairly exploded. Taking its history from the commencement, and
+tracing it to our own day, it can hardly be said, delusion though it
+was, that it has been wholly without its uses. To quote the words of
+Bailly, in 1784, "Magnetism has not been altogether unavailing to the
+philosophy which condemns it: it is an additional fact to record among
+the errors of the human mind, and a great experiment on the strength of
+the imagination." Over that vast inquiry of the influence of mind over
+matter,--an inquiry which the embodied intellect of mankind will never
+be able to fathom completely,--it will, at least, have thrown a feeble
+and imperfect light. It will have afforded an additional proof of
+the strength of the unconquerable will, and the weakness of matter as
+compared with it; another illustration of the words of the inspired
+Psalmist, that "we are fearfully and wonderfully made." If it serve no
+other purpose than this, its history will prove useful. Truth ere now
+has been elicited by means of error; and Animal Magnetism, like other
+errors, may yet contribute its quota towards the instruction and
+improvement of mankind.
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular
+Delusions, by Charles Mackay
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