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You can search through the full text of this book on the web \n\nat |http : //books . google . com/| \n\n\n\nWITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\n\n\n\u25a0\\ \n\n\n\nWITCH, WARLOCK, AND \nMAGICIAN \n\n\n\ntifstacfcal Stetcbes o( Aagfc mi Mltcbcrat \nin \u00a3nelanB mi ScoHanii \n\n\n\nyip \n\n\n\nW. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n%Dn]lon \nCHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY \n\n\n\n137- 3 \n\n\n\n\u25a0-78 \n\n\n\n\u2022 \u2022 _\u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u00ab \n\u2666\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022\u2022 \u2022 \n\n\u2022 \u2022 \u2022\u2022 * \u2022 \u2022, \n\n\u2022 \u2022 \u00bb \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \n\n\u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \u2022 \n\n\n\n\u2022 \u00bb w \n\nW % \u2022\u2022 r \n\n\n\nPREFACE. \n\n\n\nThe following pages may be regarded as a contribu- \ntion towards that * History of Human Error ' which \nwas undertaken by Mr. Augustine Caxton. I fear \nthat many minds will have to devote all their energies \nto the work, if it is ever to be brought to completion ; \nand, indeed, it may plausibly be argued that its \ncompletion would be an impossibility, since every \ngeneration adds something to the melancholy record \u2014 \n' pulveris exigui parva munera.' However this may \nbe, little more remains to be said on the subjects \nwhich I have here considered from the standpoint of \na sympathetic though incredulous observer. Alchemy, \nMagic, Witchcraft \u2014 how exhaustively they have been \ninvestigated will appear from the list of authorities \nwhich I have drawn up for the reader's convenience. \nThey have been studied by ' adepts/ and by critics, \nas realities and as delusions ; and almost the last \nword would seem to have been said by Science \u2014 \nthough not on the side of the adepts, who still con- \ntinue to dream of the Hermetic philosophy, to lose \nthemselves in fanciful pictures, theurgic and occult, \nand to write about the mysteries of magic with a \n\n\n\nVI PREFACE. \n\nsimplicity of fiiith which we may wonder at, but are \nbound to respect. \n\nIt has not been my purpose, in the present volume, \nto attempt a general history of magic and alchemy, or \na scientific inquiry into their psychological aspects. I \nhave confined myself to a sketch of their progress in \nEngland, and to a narrative of the lives of our prin- \ncipal magicians. This occupies the first part. The \nsecond is devoted to an historical review of witchcraft \nin Great Britain, and an examination into the most \nremarkable Witch- Trials, in which I have endeavoured \nto bring out their peculiar features, presenting much \nof the evidence adduced, and in some cases the so- \ncalled confessions of the victims, in the original \nlanguage. I believe that the details, notwithstanding \nthe reticence imposed upon me by considerations of \ndelicacy and decorum, will surprise the reader, and \nthat he will readily admit the profound interest \nattaching to them, morally and intellectually. I \nhave added a chapter on the ' Literature of Witchcraft,' \nwhich, I hope, is tolerably exhaustive, and now oflfer \nthe whole as an effort to present, in a popular and \nreadable form, the result of careful and conscientious \nstudy extending over many years. \n\nW. H. D. A. \n\n\n\nCONTENTS. \n\n\n\nINTEODUCTION. \n\n\n\nPAUE \n\nPROGRESS OF ALCHEMY IN EUROPE - - - 1 \n\n\n\nBOOK I. \n\nTEE ENGLISH MAGICIANS, \n\nCHAPTER \n\nL ROGER BACON : THE TRUE AND THE LEGENDARY - 27 \nIL THE STORY OF DR. JOHN DEE - - - 59 \n\nin. DR. dee's diary - - - - - 93 \n\nIV. MAGIC AND IMPOSTURE: A COUPLE OF KNAVES - 102 \nV. THE LAST OF THE ENGLISH MAGICIANS: WILLIAM \n\nLILLY -..-.. 128 \n\nVL ENGLISH ROSICRUCIANS - - - - 181 \n\nBOOK II. \n\nWITCHES AND WITCHCRAFT, \n\nI. EARLY HISTORY OF WITCHCRAFT IN ENGLAND - 203 \nII. WITCHCRAFT IN ENGLAND IN THE SEVENTEENTH \n\nCENTURY ------ 244 \n\nIIL THE DECLINE OF WITCHCRAFT IN ENGLAND - - 292 \n\nIV. THE WITCHES OF SCOTLAND - - - - 303 \n\nV. THE LITERATURE OF WITCHCRAFT - - - 378 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\u25a0 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. \n\nPROGRESS OF ALCHEMY IN EUROPE. \n\nThe word yjii^ua \u2014 ^from which we derive our English \nword * chemistry * \u2014 first occurs, it is said, in the \nLexicon of Suidas, a Greek writer who flourished in \nthe eleventh century. Here is his definition of it : \n\n* Chemistry is the art of preparing gold and silver. The books \nconcerning it were sought out and burnt by Diocletian, on account \nof the new plots directed against him by the Egyptians. He \nbehaved towards them with great cruelty in his search after the \ntreatises written by the ancients, his purpose being to prevent \nthem from growing rich by a knowledge of this art, lest, em- \nboldened by measureless wealth, they should be induced to resist \nthe Eoman supremacy.' \n\nSome authorities assert, however, that this art, or \npretended art, is of much greater antiquity than \nSuidas knew of ; and Scaliger refers to a Greek \nmanuscript by Zozomen, of the fifth century, which \nis entitled ' A Faithful Description of the Secret and \nDivine Art of Making Gold and Silver.' We may \nassume that as soon as mankind had begun to set an \nartificial value upon these metals, and had acquired \n\n1 \n\n\n\n\u2022 e \n\n\n\n\n\n\n.. \u2022\u2022;. WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\n\n\n\u2022 \u2022 \n\n\n\n\n\n\n^YDfi knowledge of chemical elements, their combina- \n\u2022\u2022\u2022tjLOhs and permutations, they would entertain a desire \n'to multiply them in measureless quantities. Dr, \nShaw speaks of no fewer than eighty-nine ancient \nmanuscripts, scattered through the European libraries, \nwhich are all occupied with ' the chemical art,' or \n' the holy art,' or, as it is sometimes called, ' the \nphilosopher's stone ' ; and a fair conclusion seems to \nbe that ' between the fifth century and the taking of \nConstantinople in the fifteenth, the Greeks believed in \nthe possibility of making gold and silver,' and called \nthe supposed process, or processes, chemistry. \n\nThe delusion was taken up by the Arabians when, \nunder their Abasside Khalifs, they entered upon the \ncultivation of scientific knowledge. The Arabians con- \nveyed it into Spain, whence its diffusion over Chris- \ntendom was a simple work of time, sure if gradual. \nFrom the eleventh to the sixteenth century, alchemy \nwas more or less eagerly studied by the scholars of \nGermany, Italy, France, and England ; and the \nvolumes in which they recorded both their learning \nand their ignorance, the little they knew and the \nmore they did not know, compose quite a considerable \nlibrary. One hundred and twenty-two are enumerated \nin the ' Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa,' of Mangetus, a \ndry-as-dust kind of compilation, in two huge volumes, \nprinted at Geneva in 1702. Any individual who \nhas time and patience to expend ad libitum^ cannot \ndesire a fairer field of exercise than the * Bibliotheca.' \nOne very natural result of all this vain research and \nprofitless inquiry was a keen anxiety on the part of \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. 3 \n\nvictims to dignify their labours by claiming for their \n' sciences, falsely so-called,' a venerable and mys* \nterious origin. They accordingly asserted that the \nfounder or creator was Hermes Trismegistus, whom \nsome of them professed to identify with Chanaan, the \nson of Ham, whose son Mizraim first occupied and \npeopled Egypt. Now, it is clear that any person \nmight legitimately devote his nights and days to the \npursuit of a science invented, or originally taught, \nby no less illustrious an ancient than Hermes \nTrismegistus. But to clothe it with the awe of a \nstill greater antiquity, they affirmed that its principles \nhad been discovered, engraved in Phoenician char- \nacters, on an emerald tablet which Alexander the \nGreat exhumed from the philosopher s tomb. Un- \nfortunately, as is always the case, the tablet was lost ; \nbut we are expected to believe that two Latin versions \nof the inscription had happily been preserved. One \nof these may be Englished as hereinunder : \n\n1. I speak no frivolous things, but only what is \ntrue and most certain. \n\n2. What is below resembles that which is above, \nand what is above resembles that which is below, \nto accomplish the one thing of all things most \nwonderfiil. \n\n3. And as all things proceeded from the medita- \ntion of the One God, so were all things generated \nfi-om this one thing by the disposition of Nature. \n\n4. Its father is Sol^ its mother Luna; it was \nengendered in the womb by the air, and nourished by \nthe earth. \n\n1\u20142 \n\n\n\n4 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\n5. It is the cause of all the perfection of things \nthroughout the whole world. \n\n6. It arrives at the highest perfection of powers if \nit be reduced into earth. \n\n7. Separate the earth from the fire, the subtle from \nthe gross, acting with great caution. \n\n8. Ascend with the highest wisdom from earth \nto heaven, and thence descend again to earth, and \nbind together the powers of things superior and \nthings inferior. So shall you compass the glory of \nthe whole world, and divest yourself of the abjectness \nof humanity. \n\n9. This thing has more fortitude than fortitude \nitself, since it will overcome everything subtle and \npenetrate everything solid. \n\n10. AH that the world contains was created by it. \n11; Hence proceed things wonderful which in this \n\nwise were established. \n\n12. For this reason the name of Hermes Tris- \nmegistus was bestowed upon me, because I am master \nof three parts of the philosophy of the whole world. \n\n13. This is what I had to say concerning the most \nadmirable process of the chemical art. \n\nThese oracular utterances are so vague and obscure \nthat an enthusiast may read into them almost any mean- \ning he chooses ; but there seems a general consensus of \nopinion that they refer to the * universal medicine ' \nof the earlier alchemists. This, however, is of no \ngreat importance, since it is certain they were \ninvented by some ingenious hand as late as the \nfifteenth century. Another forgery of a similar kind \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. 5 \n\nis the ' Tractatus Aureus de Lapidis Physici Secretis/ \nalso attributed to Hermes; it professes to describe \nthe process of making this ' universal Inedicine/ or \n^ philosopher's stone/ and the formulary is thus \ntranslated by Thomson : \n\n* Take of moisture an ounce and a half ; of meridional redness \u2014 \nthat is, the soul of the sun \u2014 a fourth part, that is, half an ounce ; \nof yellow sage likewise half an ounce ; and of auripigmentum \nhalf an ounce ; making in all three ounces.' \n\nSuch a recipe does not seem to help forward an \nenthusiastic student to any material extent. \n\nTHE EARLIER ALCHEMISTS. \n\nIt is in the erudite writings of the great Arabian \nphysician, Gebir \u2014 that is, Abu Moussah Djafar, sur- \nnamed Al Soji, or The Wise-^that the science of \nalchemy, or chemistry (at first the two were identi- \ncal), first assumes a definite shape. Gebir flourished \nin the early part of the eighth century, and wrote, it \nis said, upwards of five hundred treatises on the \nphilosopher's stone and the elixir of life. In reference \nto the latter mysterious potion, which possessed the \nwonderful power of conferring immortal youth on \nthose who drank of it, one may remark that it was \nthe necessary complement of the philosopher's stone, \nfor what would be the use of an unlimited faculty of \nmaking gold and silver unless one could be sure of \nan immortality in which to enjoy its exercise ? \nGebir's principal work, the * Summse Perfectionis,' \ncontaining instructions for students in search of the \ntwo great secrets, has been translated into several \n\n\n\n6 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\nEuropean languages ; and an English version, by \nRichard Russell, the alchemist, was published in \n1686. \n\nGrebir lays down, as a primary principle, that all \nmetals are compounds of mercury and sulphur. They \nall labour under disease, he says, except gold, which is \nthe one metal gifted with perfect health. Therefore, a \npreparation of it would dispel every ill which flesh is \nheir to, as well as the maladies of plants. We may \nexcuse his extravagances, however, in consideration \nof the services he rendered to science by his discovery \nof corrosive sublimate, red oxide of mercury, white \noxide of arsenic, nitric acid, oxide of copper, and \nnitrate of silver, all of which originally issued from \nGebir's laboratory. \n\nBriefly speaking, the hypothesis assumed by the \nalchemists was this : all the metals are compounds, \nand the baser contain the same elements as gold, \ncontaminated, indeed, with various impurities, but \ncapable, when these have been purged away, of assum- \ning all its properties and characters. The substance \nwhich was to effect this purifying process they \ncalled the philosopher's stone (lapis philosopharum), \nthough, as a matter of fact, it is always described \nas a powder \u2014 a powder red-coloured, and smelling \nstrongly. Few of the alchemists, however, venture \non a distinct statement that they had discovered or \npossessed this substance. \n\nThe arch-quack Paracelsus makes the assertion, of \ncourse ; unblushing mendacity was part of his stock- \nin-trade ; and he pretends even to define the methods \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. 7 \n\nby which it may be realizecL Unfortunately, to \nordinary mortals his description is absolutely un- \nintelligible. Others Hi&re are who affirm that they \nhad seen it, and seen it in operation, transmuting \nlead, quicksilver, and other of the inferior metals into \nruddy gold. One wonders that they did not claim a \nshare in a process which involved such boundless \npotentialities of wealth ! \n\nHelvetius, the physician, though no believer in the \nmagical art, tells the following wild story in his \n' Vitulus Aureus ' : \n\nOn December 26, 1666, a stranger called upon him, \nand, after discussing the supposed properties of the \nuniversal medicine, showed him a yellow powder, \nwhich he declared to be the lapis, and also five large \nplates of gold, which, he said, were the product of its \naction. Naturally enough, Helvetius begged for a \nfew grains of this marvellous powder, or that the \nstranger would at least exhibit its potency in his \npresence. He refused, however, but promised that he \nwould return in six weeks. He kept his promise, \nand then, after much entreaty, gave Helvetius a pinch \nof the powder \u2014 about as much as a rape-seed. The \nphysician expressed his fear that so minute a quantity \nwould not convert as much as four grains of lead ; \nwhereupon the stranger broke off one-half, and \ndeclared that the remainder was more than sufficient \nfor the purpose. During their first conference, \nHelvetius had contrived to conceal a little of the \npowder beneath his thumb-naiL This he dropped into \nsome molten lead, but it was nearly all exhaled in \n\n\n\nJB WITCH, WAKLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\nsmoke, and the residue was simply of a vitreous \ncharacter. \n\nOn mentioning this circumstance to his visitor, he \nexplained that the powder should have been enclosed \nin wax before it was thrown into the molten lead, \nto prevent the fumes of the lead from aflfecting it. \nHe added that he would come back next day, and \nshow him how to make the projection ; but as he \nfailed to appear, Helvetius, in the presence of his wife \nand son, put six drachms of lead into a crucible, and \nas soon as the lead was melted, flung into it the \natoms of powder given to him by his mysterious \nvisitor, having first rolled them up in a little ball of \nwax. At the end of a quarter of an hour he found \nthe lead transmuted (so he avers) into gold. Its \ncolour at first was a deep green; but the mixture, \nwhen poured into a conical vessel, turned blood-red, \nand, after cooling, acquired the true tint of gold. A \ngoldsmith who examined it pronounced it to be \ngenuine. Helvetius requested Purelius, the keeper \nof the Dutch Mint, to test its value ; and two \ndrachms, after being exposed to aquafortis, were \nfound to have increased a couple of scruples in weight \u2014 \nan increase doubtlessly owing to the silver, which still \nremained enveloped in the gold, despite the action of \nthe aquafortis. \n\nIt is obvious that this narrative is a complete \nmystification, and that either the^ stranger was a \nmyth or Helvetius was the victim of a decep- \ntion. \n\nThe recipes that the alchemists formulate \u2014 ^those, \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. 9 \n\nthat is, who profess to have discovered the stone, \nor to have known somebody who enjoyed so rare a \nfortune \u2014 are always unintelligible or impracticable. \nWhat is to be understood, for example, of the follow- \ning elaborate process, or series of processes, which \nare recorded by Mangetus, in his preface to the \nponderous ' Bibliotheca Chemica ' (to which reference \nhas already been made) ? \n\n1. Prepare a quantity of spirits of wine, so free \nfrom water as to be wholly combustible, and so \nvolatile that a drop of it, if let fall, will evaporate \nbefore it reaches the ground. This constitutes the \nfirst menstruum. \n\n2. Take pure mercury, revived in the usual \nmanner from cinnabar ; put it into a glass vessel \nwith common salt and distilled vinegar ; shake \nviolently, and when the vinegar turns black, pour it \noff, and add fresh vinegar. Shake again, and con- \ntinue these repeated shakings and additions until \nthe mercury no longer turns the vinegar blax;k ; \nthe mercury will then be quite pure and very \nbrilUant. \n\n3. Take of this mercury four parts ; of sublimed \nmercury {mercurii meteor esati \u2014 probably corrosive \nsublimate), prepared with your own hands, eight \nparts ; triturate them together in a wooden mortar \nwith a wooden pestle, till all the grains of running \nmercury disappear. (This process is truly described \nas * tedious and rather difficult.') \n\n4. The mixture thus prepared is to be put into a \nsand-bath, and exposed to a subliming heat, which \n\n\n\n10 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\nis to be gradually increased until the whole sublimes. \nCollect the sublimed matter, put it again into the \nsand-bath, and sublime a second time ; this process \nmust be repeated five times. The product is a very \nsweet crystallized sublimate, constituting the sal \nsapientuTrij or wise men's salt (probably calomel), and \npossessing wonderful properties. \n\n5. Grind it in a wooden mortar, reducing it to \npowder ; put this powder into a glass retort, and \npour upon it the spirit of wine (see No. 1) till it \nstands about three finger-breadths above the powder. \nSeal the retort hermetically, and expose it to a very \ngentle heat for seventy -four hours, shaking it several \ntimes a day ; then distil with a gentle heat, and the \nspirit of wine will pass over, together with spirit of \nmercury. Keep this liquid in a well-stoppered bottle, \nlest it should evaporate. More spirit of wine is to \nbe poured upon the residual salt, and after digestion \nmust be distilled off, as before ; and this operation \nmust be repeated until all the salt is dissolved and \ngiven off with the spirit of wine. A great work \nwill then have been accomplished ! For the mercury, \nhaving to some extent been rendered volatile, will \ngradually become fit to receive the tincture of gold \nand silver. Now return thanks to God, who has \nhitherto crowned your wonderful work with success. \nNor is this wonderful work enveloped in Cimmerian \ndarkness ; it is clearer than the sun, though preceding \nwriters have sought to impose upon us with parables, \nhieroglyphs, fables, and enigmas. \n\n6. Take this mercurial spirit, which contains our \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. 1 1 \n\nmagical steel in its belly (sic), and put it into a glass \nretort, to which a receiver must be well and care- \nfully adjusted j draw off the spirit by a very gentle \nheat, and in the bottom of the retort will remain \nthe quintessence or soul of mercury. This is to be \nsublimed by applying a stronger heat to the retort \nthat it may become volatile, as all the philosophers \naffirm : \n\n' Si fixum solvas faciesque volare solutum, \nEt volucrum figas faciet te vivere tutum.' \n\nThis is our luna, our fountain, in which * the king ' \nand * the queen ' may bathe. Preserve this precious \nquintessence of mercury, which is exceedingly volatile, \nin a well-closed vessel for further use. \n\n8. Let us now proceed to the production of common \ngold, which we shall communicate clearly and dis- \ntinctly, without digression or obscurity, in order \nthat from this common gold we may obtain our \nphilosophical gold, just as from common mercury we \nhave obtained, by the foregoing processes, philo- \nsophical mercury. In the name of God, then, take \ncommon gold, purified in the usual way by antimony, \nand reduce it into small grains, which must be \nwashed with salt and vinegar until they are quite \npure. Take one part of this gold, and pour on it \nthree parts of the quintessence of mercury : as philo* \nsophers reckon from seven to ten, so do we also \nreckon our number as philosophical, and begin with \nthree and one. Let them be married together, like \nhusband and wife, to produce children of their own \nkind, and you will see the common gold sink and \n\n\n\n12 ' WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\nplainly dissolve. Now the marriage is consum- \nmated ; and two things are converted into one. \nThus the philosophical sulphur is at hand, as the \nphilosophers say : ' The sulphur being dissolved, the \nstone is at hand.' Take then, in the name of Grod, \nour philosophical vessel, in which the king and \nqueen embrace each other as in a bedchamber, and \nleave it till the water is converted into earth ; then \npeace is concluded between the water and the fire \u2014 \nthen the elements no longer possess anything con- \ntrary to each other\u2014 because, when the elements are \nconverted into earth, they cease to be antagonistic ; \nfor in earth all elements are at rest. The philosophers \nsay : ' When you shall see the water coagulate, believe \nthat your knowledge is true, and that all your opera- \ntions are truly philosophical.* Our gold is no longer \ncommon, but philosophical, through the processes it \nhas undergone : ^t first, it was exceedingly ' fixed ' \n{Jixuni) ; then exceedingly volatile ; and again, ex- \nceedingly fixed : the entire science depends upon the \nchange of the elements. The gold, at first a metal, \nis now a sulphur, capable of converting all metals \ninto its own sulphur. And our tincture is wholly \nconverted into sulphur, which possesses the energy \nof curing every disease ; this is our universal \nmedicine against all the most deplorable ills of the \nhuman body. Therefore, return infinite thanks to \nAlmighty God for all the good things which He hath \nbestowed upon us. \n\n9. In this great work of ours, two methods of \nfermentation and projection are wanting, without \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. 13 \n\nwhich the uninitiated will not readily follow out our \nprocess. The mode of fermentation : Of the sulphur \nalready described take one part, and project it upon \nthree parts of very pure gold fused in a furnace. \nIn a moment you will see the gold, by the force of \nthe sulphur, converted into a red sulphur of an \ninferior quality to the primary sulphur. Take one \npart of this, and project it upon three parts of fused \ngold ; the whole will again be converted into a \nsulphur or a fixable mass ; mixing one part of this \nwith three parts of gold, you will have a malleable \nand extensible metal. If you find it so, it is well ; if \nnot, add more sulphur, and it will again pass into a state \nof sulphur. Now our sulphur will sufficiently be fer- \nmented, or our medicine brought into a metallic nature. \n\n10. The method of projection is this : Take of \nthe fermented sulphur one part, and project it upon \ntwo parts of mercury, heated in a crucible, and you \nwill have a perfect metal ; if its colour be not suffi- \nciently deep, fuse it again, and add more fermented \nsulphur, and thus it will gain colour. If it become \nfrangible, add a sufficient quantity of mercury, and it \nwill be perfect. \n\n, Thus, friend, you have a description of the \nxmiversal medicine, not only for curing diseases and \nprolonging life, but also for transmuting all metals \ninto gold. Give thanks, therefore, to Almighty \nGod, who, taking pity on human calamities, hath at \nlast revealed this inestimable treasure, and made it \nknown for the common benefit of all. \n\nSuch is the jargon with which these so-called \n\n\n\n14 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\nphilosophers imposed upon their dupes, and, to some \nextent perhaps, upon themselves. As Dr. Thomson \npoints out, the philosopher's stone prepared by this \nelaborate process could hardly have been anj^hing \nelse than an amalgam of gold. Chloride of gold it \ncould not have contained, because such a prepara- \ntion, instead of acting medicinally, would have \nproved a most virulent poison. Of course, amalgam \nof gold, if projected into melted lead or tin, and \nafterwards cupellated, would leave a portion of gold \n\u2014 that is, exactly the amount which existed previously \nin the amalgam. Impostors may, therefore, have \navailed themselves of it to persuade the credulous \nthat it was really the philosopher's stone ; but the \nalchemists who prepared the amalgam must have \nknown that it contained gold.* \n\nIt is well known that the mediaeval magicians, \nnecromancers, conjurers \u2014 call them by what name you \nwill \u2014 who adopted alchemy as an instrument of im- \nposition, and by no means in the spirit of philosophical \ninquiry and research which had characterized their \npredecessors, resorted to various ingenious devices in \norder to maintain their hold upon their victims. \nSometimes they made use of crucibles with false \nbottoms \u2014 at the real bottom they concealed a portion \nof oxide of gold of silver covered with powdered \nsulphur, which had been rendered adhesive by a little \ngummed water or wax. When heat was applied the \nfalse bottom melted away, and the oxide of gold or \n\n* Cf. Stahl, * Fundamenta ChimiaB,' cap. * De Lapide Philoso- \nphorum 'j and Kircher, * Mundus Subterraneus.' \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. 1 5 \n\nsilver eventually appeared as the product of the \noperation at the bottom of the crucible. Some- \ntimes they made a hole in a lump of charcoal, and \nfilling it with oxide of gold or silver, stopped up \nthe orifice with wax ; or they soaked charcoal in \na solution of these metals ; or they stirred the mixture \nin the crucible with hollow rods, containing oxide of \ngold or silver, closed up at the bottom with wax. A \nfaithful representation of the stratagems to which the \npseudo-alchemist resorted, that his dupes might not \nrecover too soon from their delusion, is furnished by \nBen Jonson in his comedy of ^ The Alchemist,' and his \nmasque of ' Mercury vindicated from the Alchemists.' \nThe dramatist was thoroughly conversant with the \ntechnicalities of the pretended science, and also with \nthe deceptions of its professors. In the masque he \nputs into the mouth of Mercury an indignant protest : \n\n'The mischief a secret any of them knows, above the con- \nsuming of coals and drawing of usquebagh ; howsoever they may \npretend, under the specious names of Gebir, Arnold, LuUy, or \nBombast of Hohenheim, to commit miracles in art, and treason \nagainst nature ! As if the title of philosopher, that creature of \nglory, were to be fetched out of a furnace !' \n\nBut while the world is full of fools, it is too much \nto expect there shall be any lack of knaves to prey \nupon them ! \n\nIN THE MIDDLE AGES. \n\nThe first of the great European alchemists I take \nto have been \n\nAlbei'ius Magnus or Albertits Teutonicus (^Frater \nAlbertus de Colonia and Albertus Grotus^ as he is also \n\n\n\n16 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\ncalled), a man of remarkable intellectual energy and \nexceptional force of character, who has sometimes, \nand not without justice, been termed the founder of \nthe Schoolmen. Neither the place nor the date of his \nbirth is authentically known, but he was still in his \nyoung manhood when, about 1222, he was appointed \nto the chair of theology at Padua, and became a \nmember of the Dominican Order. He did not long \nretain the professorship, and, departing from Padua, \ntaught with great success in Ratisbon, Koln, Strass- \nburg, and Paris, residing in the last-named city for \nthree years, together with his illustrious disciple, \nThomas Aquinas. In 1260 he was appointed to the \nSee of Ratisbon, though he had not previously held \nany ecclesiastical dignity, but soon resigned, on the \nground that its duties interfered vexatiously with his \nstudies. Twenty years later, at a ripe old age, he \ndied, leaving behind him, as monuments of his per- \nsistent industry and intellectual subtlety, one-and- \ntwenty ponderous folios, which include commentaries \non Aristotle, on the Scriptures, and on Dionysius the \nAreopagite. Among his minor works occurs a treatise \non alchemy, which seems to show that he was a \ndevout believer in the science. \n\nFrom the marvellous stories of his thaumaturgic \nexploits which have come down to us, we may infer \nthat he had attained a considerable amount of skill in \nexperimental chemistry. The brazen statue which he \nanimated, and the garrulity of which was so offensive \nthat Thomas Aquinas one day seized a hammer, and, \nprovoked beyond all endurance, smashed it to pieces, \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. 17 \n\nmay be a reminiscence of his powers as a ventriloquist. \nAnd the following story may hint at an effective mani- \npulation of the camera obscura : Count William of \nHolland and King of the Romans happening to pass \nthrough Koln, Albertus invited him and his courtiers \nto his house to partake of refreshment. It was mid- \nwinter ; but on arriving at the philosopher's resi- \ndence they found the tables spread in the open \ngarden, where snowdrifts lay several feet in depth. \nIndignant at so frugal a reception, they were on the \npoint of leaving, when Albertus appeared, and by his \ncourtesies induced them to remain. Immediately the \nscene was lighted up with the sunshine of summer, a \nwarm and balmy air stole through the whispering \nboughs, the frost and snow vanished, the melodies of \nthe lark dropped from the sky like golden rain. But \nas soon as the feast came to an end the sunshine \n&ded, the birds ceased their song, clouds gathered \ndarkling over the firmament, an icy blast shrieked \nthrough the gibbering branches, and the snow fell in \nblinding showers, so that the philosopher's guests \nwere glad to fold their cloaks about them and retreat \ninto the kitchen to grow warm before its blazing fire. \nWas this some clever scenic deception, or is the \nwhole a fiction ? \n\nA knowledge of the secret of the Elixir Vitce was \npossessed (it is said) by Alain de VIsle, or Alanus de \nInsulis ; but either he did not avail himself of it, or \n&iled to compound a sufficient quantity of the magic \npotion, for he died under the sacred roof of Citeaux, \nin 1298, at the advanced age of 110. \n\n2 \n\n\n\n18 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\nArnold de Villeneuve^ who attained, in the thir- \nteenth century, some distinction as a physician, an \nastronomer, an astrologer, and an alchemist \u2014 and was \nreally a capable man of science, as science was then \nunderstood \u2014 formulates an elaborate recipe for rejuve- \nnating one's self, which, however, does not seem to \nhave been very successful in his own case, since he \ndied before he was 70. Perhaps he was as disgusted \nwith the compound as (in the well-known epitaph) \nthe infant was with this mundane sphere \u2014 ^he ' liked \nit not|and died.' I think there are many who would \nforfeit longevity rather than partake of it. \n\n* Twice or thrice a week you must anoint your \nbody thoroughly with the manna of cassia ; and every \nnight, before going to bed, you must place over your \nheart a plaster, composed of a certain quantity (or, \nrather, uncertain, for definite and precise proportions \nare never particularized) of Oriental saffron, red rose- \nleaves, sandal-wood, aloes, and amber, liquefied in oil \nof roses and the best white wax. During the day \nthis must be kept in a leaden casket. You must next \npen up in a court, where the water is sweet and the \nair pure, sixteen chickens, if you are of a sanguine \ntemperament ; twenty-five, if phlegmatic ; and thirty, \nif melancholic. Of these you are to eat one a day, \nafter they have been fattened in such a manner as to \nhave absorbed into their system the qualities which \nwill ensure your longevity ; for which purpose they \nare first to be kept without food until almost starved, \nand then gorged with a broth of serpents and vinegar, \nthickened with wheat and beans, for at least two \n\n\n\nINTKODUCTION. 19 \n\nmonths. When they are served at your table you \nwill drink a moderate quantity of white wine or claret \nto assist digestion.' \n\nI should think it would be needed ! \n\nAmong the alchemists must be included Pietro \n^d'Apono, He was an emment physician ; but, being \naccused of heresy, was thrown into prison and died \nthere. His ecclesiastical persecutors, however, burned \nhis bones rather than be entirely disappointed of their \nauto da f6. Like most of the mediaeval physicij^s, he \nindulged in alchemical and astrological speculations ; \nbut they proved to Pietro d' Apono neither pleasurable \nnor profitable. It was reputed of him that he had \nsummoned a number of evil spirits; and, on their \nobeying his call, had shut them up in seven crystal \nvases, where he detained them until he had occasion \nfor their services. In his selection of them he seems \nto have displayed a commendably catholic taste and \nlove of knowledge ; for one was an expert in poetry, \nanother in painting, a third in philosophy, a fourth in \nphysic, a fifth in astrology, a sixth in music, and a \nseventh in alchemy. So that when he required in- \nstruction in either of these arts or sciences, he simply \ntapped the proper crystal vase and laid on a spirit. \n\nThe story seems to be a fanciful allusion to the \nvarious acquirements of Pietro d'Apono; but if in- \ntended at first as a kind of allegory, it came in due \ntime to be accepted literally. \n\nI pass on to the great Spanish alchemist and magi- \ncian, Raymond Lully^ or Lulli, who was scarcely inferior \n\n2\u20142 \n\n\n\n20 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\nin fame, or the qualities which merited fame, even to \nAlbertus Magnus. He was a man, not only of wide, but \nof accurate scholarship : and the two or three hundred \ntreatises which proceeded from his pen traversed the \nentire circle of the learning of his age, dealing with \nalmost every conceivable subject from medicine to \nmorals, from astronomy to theology, and from alchemy \nto civil and canon law. His life had its romantic \naspects, and his death (in 1315 ?) was invested with \nsomething of the glory of martyrdom ; for while he was \npreaching to the Moslems at Bona, the mob fell upon \nhim with a storm of stones, and though he was still \nalive when rescued by some Genoese merchants, and \nconveyed on board their vessel, he died of the injuries \nhe had received before it arrived in a Spanish port. \n\nThere seems little reason to believe that Lulli \nvisited England about 1312, on the invitation of \nEdward II. Dickenson, in his work on ' The Quint- \nessences of the Philosophers,' asserts that his \nlaboratory was established in Westminster Abbey \u2014 \nthat is, in the cloisters \u2014 and that some time after his \nreturn to the Continent a large quantity of gold-dust \nwas found in the cell he had occupied. Langlet du \nFresnoy contends that it was through the interven- \ntion of John Cremer, Abbot of Westminster, a perse- \nvering seeker after the lapis philosophorum.^ that he \ncame to England, Cremer having described him to \nKing Edward as a man of extraordinary powers. \nRobert Constantine, in his ' Nomenclator Scriptorum \nMedicorum ' (1515), professes to have discovered \nthat Lulli resided for some time in London, and \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. 21 \n\nmade gold in the Tower, and that he had seen some gold \npieces of his making, which were known in England \nas the nobles of Raymond, or rose-nobles. But the \ngreat objections to these very precise statements rests \non two facts pointed out by Mr. Waite, that the rose- \nnoble, so called because a rose w^as stamped on each \nside of it, was first coined in 1465, in the reign of \nEdward IV., and that there never was an Abbot \nCremer of Westminster* \n\nJean de Meung is also included among the alche- \nmists ; but he bequeathed to posterity in his glorious \npoem of the 'Roman de la Rose' something very \nmuch more precious than would have been any \nformula for making gold. In one sense he was in- \ndeed an alchemist, and possessed the secret of the \nUniversal medicine ; for in his poem his genius has \ntransmuted into purest gold the base ore of popular \ntraditions ai;id legends. \n\nSome of the stories which Langlet du Fresnoy tells \nof Nicholas Flamel were probably invented long after \nhis death, or else we should have to brand him as a \nmost audacious knave. One of those amazing narra- \ntives pretends that he bought for a couple of florins \nan old and curious volume, the leaves of which \u2014 three \ntimes seven (this sounds better than twenty-one) in \nnumber \u2014 ^were made from the bark of trees. Each \nseventh leaf bore an allegorical picture \u2014 the first re- \npresenting a serpeilt swallowing rods, the second a \ncross with a serpent crucified upon it, and the third a \nfountain in a desert, surrounded by creeping serpents. \n\n\n\n22 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\nWho, think you, was the author of this mysterious \nvolume ? No less illustrious a person than Abraham \nthe patriarch, Hebrew, prince, philosopher, priest, \nLevite, and magian, who, as it was written in Latin, \nmust have miraculously acquired his foreknowledge \nof a tongue which, in his time, had no existence. A \nperusal of its mystic pages convinced Flamel that \nhe had had the good fortune to discover a complete \nmanual on the art of transmutation of metals, in \nwhich all the necessary vessels were indicated, and \nthe processes described. But there was one serious \ndifficulty to be overcome: the book assumed, as a \nmatter of course, that the student was already in \npossession of that all-important agent of transmuta- \ntion, the philosopher's stone. \n\nCareful study led Flamel to the conclusion that the \nsecret of the stone was hidden in certain allegorical \ndrawings on the fourth and fifth leaves ; but, then, to \ndecipher these was beyond his powers. He sub- \nmitted them to all the learned savants and alchemical \nadepts he could get hold of : they proved to be no \nwiser than himself, while some of them actually \nlaughed at Abraham's posthumous publication as \nworthless gibberish. Flamel, however, clung fast to \nhis conviction of the inestimable value of his ' find,' \nand daily pondered over the two cryptic illustrations, \nwhich may thus be described : On the first page of \nthe fourth leaf Mercury was contending with a figure, \nwhich might be either Saturn or Time \u2014 ^probably the \nlatter, as he carried on his head the emblema-tical \nhour-glass, and in his hand the not less emblematical \n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION. 23 \n\nscythe. On the second stage a flower upon a moun- \ntain-top presented the unusual combination of a blue \nstalk, with red and white blossoms, and leaves of \npure gold The wind appeared to blow it about very \nharshly, and a gruesome company of dragons and \ngriffins encompassed it. \n\nUpon the study of these provokingly obscure \ndesigns Flamel fruitlessly expended the leisure time \nof thrice seven years : after which, on the advice of \nhis wife, he repaired to Spain to seek the assistance of \nsome erudite Jewish rabbi. He had been wandering \nfrom place to place for a couple of years, when he \nmet, somewhere in Leon, a learned Hebrew physician, \nnamed Canches, who agreed to return with him to \nParis, and there examine Abraham's volume, \nCanches was deeply versed in all the lore of the \nCabala, and Flamel hung with delight on the words \nof wisdom that dropped from his eloquent lips. But \nat Orleans Canches was taken ill with a malady of \nwhich he died, and Flamel'\" found his way home, a \nsadder, if not a wiser, man. He resumed his study \nof the book, but for two more years could get no clue \nto its meaning. In the third year, recalling some \ndeliverance of his departed friend, the rabbi, he per- \nceived that all his experiments had hitherto proceeded \nupon erroneous principles. He repeated them upon \na difi^erent basis, and in a few months brought them \nto a successful issue. On January 13, 1382, he con- \nverted mercury into silver, and on April 25 into \ngold. Well might he cry in triumph, ' Eureka 1' \nThe great secret, the sublime magistery was his: he \n\n\n\n24 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. \n\nhad discovered the art of transmuting metals into \ngold and silver, and, so long as he kept it to himself, \nhad at his command the source of inexhaustible \nwealth. \n\nAt this time Nicholas Flamel, it is said, was about \neighty years old. His admirers assert that he also \ndiscovered the elixir of immortal life ; but, as he died \nin 1419, at the age (it is alleged) of 116, he must \nhave been content with the merest sip of it 1 Why \ndid he not reveal its ingredients for the general benefit \nof our afflicted humanity ? His immense wealth he \nbequeathed to churches and hospitals, thus making a \nbetter use of it after death than he had made of it in \nhis lifetime. For it is said that Flamel was a usurer, \nand that his philosopher's stone was ' cent per cent.' \nIt is true enough that he dabbled in alchemy, and pro- \nbably he made his alchemical experiments useful in \nconnection with his usurious transactions. \n\n\n\nBOOK I. \n\n\n\nTHE ENGLISH MAGICIANS \n\n\n\ni \n\n\n\nCHAP. I.] ROGER BACON, 27 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER I. \n\nROGER bacon: THE TRUE AND THE LEGENDARY. \n\nIt was in the early years of the fourteenth century \nthat the two pseudo- sciences of alchemy and astrology, \nthe supposititious sisters of chemistry and astronomy, \nmade their way into England. At first their pro- \ngress was by no means so rapid as it had been on the \nContinent; for in England, as yet, there was no \neducated class prepared to give their leisure to the \nwork of experimental investigation. A solitary \nscholar here and there lighted his torch at the altar- \nfire which the Continental philosophers kept burning \nwith so much diligence and curiosity, and was \ngenerally rewarded for his heterodox enthusiasm by \nthe persecution of the Church and the prejudice of \nthe vulgar. But by degrees the new sciences in- \ncreased the number of their adherents, and the more \nactive intellects of the time embraced the theory \nof astral influences, and were fascinated by the delu- \nsion of the philosopher's stone. Many a secret \nfurnace blazed day and night ^with the charmed \nflames which were to resolve the metals into their \noriginal elements, and place the pale student in \n\n\n\nV* \n\n\n\n\u2022;\u25a0 :. \n\n\n\n28 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK I. \n\npossession of the coveted magisterium, or * universal \nmedicine/ At length the alchemists became a suffi- \nciently numerous and important body to draw the \nattention of the Government, which regarded their \nproceedings with suspicion, from a fear that the \nresult might injuriously affect the coinage. Tn 1434 \nthe Legislature enacted that the making of gold or \nsilver should be treated as a felony. But the Parlia- \nment was influenced by a very different motive from \nthat of the King and his Council, its patriotic fears \nbeing awakened lest the Executive, enabled by the \nnew science to increase without limit the pecuniary \nresources of the Crown, should be rendered inde- \npendent of Parliamentary control. \n\nIn the course of a few years, however, broader and \ntnore enlightened views prevailed ; and it came to \nbe acknowledged that scientific research ought to \nbe relieved from legislative interference. Tn 1455 \nHenry VI. issued four patents in succession to certain \nknights, London citizens, chemists, monks, mass- \npriests, and others, granting them leave and license \nto undertake the discovery of the philosopher's stone, \n' to the great benefit of the realm, and the enabling \nthe King to pay all the debts of the Crown in real \ngold and silver.* On the remarkable fact that these \npatents were issued to ecclesiastics as well as laymen, \nPrynne afterwards remarked, with true theological \nacridity, that they were so included because they \nwere ' such good artists in transubstantiating bread \nand wine in the Eucharist, and were, therefore, the \nmore likely to be able to effect the transmutation of \n\n\n\nCHAP, l] ROGER BACON. 29 \n\nbase metals into better.' Nothing came of the \npatents. The practical common-sense of Englishmen \nnever took very kindly to the alchemical delusion, \nand Chaucer very fidthfully describes the contempt \nwith which it was generally regarded. Enthusiasts \nthere were, no doubt, who firmly believed in it, and \nknaves who made a profit out of it, and dupes who \nwere preyed upon by the knaves ; and so it languished \non through the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. \nIt seems at one time to have amused the shrewd \nintellect of Queen Elizabeth, and at another to have \ncaught the volatile fancy of the second Villiers, Duke \nof Buckingham. But alchemy was, in the main, the \nmodus Vivendi of quacks and cheats, of such im- \npostors as Ben Jonson has drawn so powerfully in his \ngreat comedy \u2014 a Subtle, a Face, and a Doll Common, \nwho, in the Sir Epicure Mammons of the time, found \ntheir appropriate victims. These creatures played \non the greed and credulity of their dupes with suc- \ncessful audacity, and excited their imaginations by \nextravagant promises. Thus, Ben Jonson's hero runs \nriot with glowing anticipations of what the alchemical \nmagisterium can efifect. \n\n* Do you think I fable with you 1 I assure you, \nHe that has once the flower of the sun, \nThe perfect ruby, which we call Elixir^ \nNot only can do that, but, by its virtue, \nCan confer honour, love, respect, long life ; \nGive safety, valour, yes, and victory, \nTo whom he will. In eight-and-twenty days \nI'll make an old man of fourscore a child. . . . \n\n'Tis the secret \nOf nature naturized 'gainst all infections. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n30 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK L \n\nCures all diseases coming of all causes ; \n\nA month's grief in a day, a year's in twelve, \n\nAnd of what age soever in a month.' \n\nThe English alchemists, however, with a few ex- \nceptions, depended for a livelihood chiefly on their \nsale of magic charms, love-philters, and even more \ndangerous potions, and on horoscope-casting, and \nfortune-telling by the hand or by cards. They acted, \nalso, as agents in many a dark intrigue and unlawful \nproject, being generally at the disposal of the highest \nbidder, and seldom shrinking from any crime. \n\nThe earliest name of note on the roll of the English \nmagicians, necromancers and alchemists is that of \n\nROGER BACON. \n\nThis great man has some claim to be considered the \nfather of experimental philosophy, since it was he \nwho first laid down the principles upon which phy- \nsical investigation should be conducted. Speaking \nof science, he says, in language far in advance of his \ntimes : ' There are two modes of knowing \u2014 by argu- \nment and by experiment. Argument winds up a \nquestion, but does not lead us to acquiesce in, or feel \ncertain of, the contemplation of truth, unless the \ntruth be proved and confirmed by experience.' To \nExperimental Science he ascribed three differentiating \ncharacters : ' First, she tests by experiment the grand \nconclusions of all other sciences. Next, she discovers, \nwith reference to the ideas connected with other \nsciences, splendid truths, to which these sciences \nwithout assistance are unable to attain. Her third \nprerogative is, that, unaided by the other sciences, \n\n\n\nCHAP, l] ROGER BACON. 31 \n\nand of herself, she can investigate the secrets of \nnature.* These truths, now accepted as trite and \nself-evident, ranked, in Roger Bacon's day, as novel \nand important discoveries. \n\nHe was born at Ilchester, in Somersetshire, in 1214. \nOf his lineage, parentage, and early education we \nknow nothing, except that he must have been very \nyoung when he went to Oxford, for he took orders \nthere before he was twenty. Joining the Franciscan \nbrotherhood, he applied himself to the study of \nGreek, Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic ; but his genius \nchiefly inclined towards the pursuit of the natural \nsciences, in which he obtained such a mastery that \nhis contemporaries accorded to him the flattering \ntitle of * The Admirable Doctor.' His lectures \ngathered round him a crowd of admiring disciples ; \nuntil the boldness of their speculations aroused the \nsuspicion of the ecclesiastical authorities, and in 1257 \nthey were prohibited by the General of his Order. \nThen Pope Innocent IV. interfered, interdicting him \nfrom the publication of his writings, and placing him \nunder close supervision. He remained in this state \nof tutelage until Clement IV., a man of more liberal \nviews, assumed the triple tiara, who not only released \nhim from his irksome restraints, but desired him to \ncompose a treatise on the sciences. This was the origin \nof Bacon's ' Opus Majus,' ' Opus Minus ' and ' Opus \nTertius,' which he completed in a year and a half, and \ndespatched to Rome. In 1267 he was allowed to \nreturn to Oxford, where he wrote his * Compendium \nStudii Philosophiae.* His vigorous advocacy of new \n\n\n\n32 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK L \n\nmethods of scientific investigation, or, perhaps, his \nunsparing exposure of the ignorance and vices of the \nmonks and the clergy, again brought down upon him \nthe heavy arm of the ecclesiastical tyranny. His \nworks were condemned by the Greneral of his Order, \nand in 1278, during the pontificate of Nicholas III., \nhe was thrown into prison, where he was detained for \nseveral years. It is said that he was not released \nuntil 1292, the year in which he published his latest \nproduction, the ' Compendium Studii TheologiaB.' \nTwo years afterwards he died. \n\nIn many respects Bacon was greatly in advance of \nhis contemporaries, but his general repute ignores his \nreal and important services to philosophy, and builds \nup a glittering fabric upon mechanical discoveries and \ninventions to which, it is to be feared, he cannot lay \nclaim. As Professor Adamson puts it, he certainly \ndescribes a method of constructing a telescope, but \nnot so as to justify the conclusion that he himself \nwas in possession of that instrument. The invention \nof gunpowder has been attributed to him on the \nstrength of a passage in one of his works, which, if \nfairly interpreted, disposes at once of the pretension ; \nbesides, it was already known to the Arabs. Burning- \nglasses were in common use ; and there is no proof \nthat he made spectacles, although he was probably \nacquainted with the principle of their construction. \nIt is not to be denied, however, that in his interesting \ntreatise on ' The Secrets of Nature and Art,'^ he ex- \n\n* Epistola Fratris Kogerii Baconis de Secretis Operibus Artis et \nNaturae et de Nullitate Magise. \n\n\n\nCHAP, l] ROGER BACON. 33 \n\nhibits every sign of a far-seeing and lively intelligence, \nand foreshadows the possibility of some of our great \nmodern inventions. But, like so many master-minds \nof the Middle Ages, he was unable wholly to resist \nthe fascinations of alchemy and astrology. He believed \nthat various parts of the human body were influenced \nby the stars, and that the mind was thus stimulated \nto particular acts, without any relaxation or inter- \nruption of free will. His ' Mirror of Alchemy,* of \nwhich a translation into French was executed by ' a \nGentleman of Dauphin^,' and printed in 1507, abso- \nlutely bristles with crude and unfounded theories \u2014 as, \nfor instance, that Nature, in the formation of metallic \nveins, tends constantly to the production of gold, but \nis impeded by various accidents, and in this way \ncreates metals in which impurities mingle with the \nfundamental substances. The main elements, he says, \nare quicksilver and sulphur ; and from these all \nmetals and minerals are compounded. Gold he de- \nscribes as a perfect metal, produced from a pure, \nfixed, clear, and red quicksilver ; and from a sulphur \nalso pure, fixed, and red, not incandescent and un- \nalloyed. Iron is unclean and imperfect, because \nengendered of a quicksilver which is impure, too \nmuch congealed, earthy, incandescent, white and red, \nand of a similar variety of sulphur. The ' stone,' or \nsubstance, by which the transmutation of the imper- \nfect into the perfect metals was to be effected must be \nmade, in the main, he said, of sulphur and mercury. \nIt is not easy to determine how soon an atmosphere \n\nof legend gathered around the figure of *the Admirable \n\n3 \n\n\n\n34 WITCH, WABLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOk I. \n\nDoctor \\ but undoubtedly it originated quite as much \nin his astrological errors as in his scientific experi*^ \nments. Some of the myths of which he is the tradi-' \ntional hero belong-to a very much earlier period, as, for \ninstance, that of his Brazen Head, which appears in the \nold romance of ' Valentine and Orson,' as well as in \nthe history of Albertus Magnus. Gower, too, in his \n' Confessio Amantis,' relates how a Brazen Head was \nfabricated by Bishop Grosseteste. It was customary \nin those days f o ascribe all kinds of marvels to men \nwho obtained a repute for exceptional learning, and \nBishop Grosseteste's Brazen Head was as purely a \nfiction as Roger Bacon's. This is Gower's account : \n\n* For of the gret^ clerk Grostest \nI rede how busy that he was \nUpon the clergie an head of brass \nTo forg^ ; and make it fortelle \nOf siich^ thing^s as befelle. \nAnd seven yer^s besinesse \nHe laid^, but for the lach^sse* \nOf half a minute of an hour . . . \nHe lost^ all that he hadde do.' \n\nStow tells a story of a Head of Clay, made at \nOxford in the reign of Edward 11. , which, at an \nappointed time, spoke the mysterious words, 'Caput \ndecidetur \u2014 caput elevabitur. Pedes elevabuntur supra \ncaput.' Returning to Roger Bacon's supposed in- \nvention, we find an ingenious though improbable \nexplanation suggested by Sir Thomas Browne, in his \n* Vulgar Errors ' : \n\n* Every one,* he says, * is filled with the story of Friar Bacon, \nthat made a Brazen Head to speak these words, \" Time is.*' \n\n* Laches, oversight. \n\n\n\n\u20226^oi, fear ; <^oj8>jrf>a, bugbears. \n\nt Bad puns were evidently common on the stage before the \ndays of Victorian burlesque. \n\nt So Shakespeare, * 1 Hen. IV.,' iii. FalstaflF says : *I make as \ngood use of it as many a man doth of a death's head, or a memento \nhousa' \n\n\n\nCHAP. I.] Greene's comedy. 49 \n\nof it anon : well, 1*11 watch you as narrowly as ever you were \nwatched, and 111 play with you as the nightingale with the glow- \nworm; FU set a prick against my breast* Now rest there, \nMiles. Lord have mercy upon me, I have almost killed myself. \n{A great nmse,) Up, Miles ; list how they rumble. \n\nThe Brazen Head {loquitur). Time was. \n\nMiles. Well, Friar Bacon, you have spent your seven years' \nstudy well, that can make your Head speak but two words at \nonce, ' Time was.' Yea, marry, time was when my master was a \nwise man; but that was before he began to make the Brazen \nHead. You shall lie while you ache, an your head speak no \nbetter. Well, I will watch, and walk up and down, and be a \nperipatetiant and a philosopher of Aristotle's stamp. {A great \nnoise.) What, a fresh noise ? Take thy pistols in hand. Miles. \n{A lightning flashes forth, and a Hand appears that breaks down the \nHead with a hammer.) Master, master, up ! Hell's broken loose ! \nYour Head speaks ; and there's such a thunder and lightning, \nthat I warrant all Oxford is up in arms. Out of your bed, and \ntake a brownbill in your hand ; the latter day is come. \n\nBacon. Miles, I come. {Rises amd corner forward.) \n\n0, passing warily watched ! \nBacon will make thee next himself in love. \nWhen spake the Head ? \n\nMiles. When spake the Head] Did you not say that he \nshould tell strange principles of philosophy ] Why, sir, it speaks \nbut two words at a time. \n\nBacon. Why, villain, hath it spoken oft % \n\nMiles. Oft ! ay, marry hath it, thrice ; but in all those three \ntimes it hath uttered but seven words. \n\nBacon. As how ? \n\nMiles. Marry, sir, the first time he said, * Time is,' as if Fabius \nCommentatorl should have pronounced a sentence ; then he said, \n\n* So in the * Passionate Pilgrim ': \n\n' Save the nightingale alone : \nShe, poor bird, as all forlorn. \nLeaned her breast uptill a thorn. ' \nt A peripatetic, or walking philosopher. Observe the facetious- \nness in 'Aristotle's damp? Aristotle was the founder of the \nPeripatetics. \n\nt Fabius Gunctator, or the Delayer, so called from the policy of \ndelay which he opposed to the vigorous movements of Hannibal. \n\n4 \n\n\n\n50 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK I. \n\n' Time was ;' and the third time, with thunder and lightning, as \nin great choler, he said, * Time is past' \n\nBacon. 'Tis past, indeed. Ah, villain ! Time is past ; \nMy life, my fame, my glory, are all past. \nBacon, \n\nThe turrets of thy hope are ruined down, \nThy seven years* study lieth in the dust : \nThy Brazen Head lies broken through a slave \nThat watched, and would not when the Head did will. \nWhat said the Head first ? \n\nMiles. Even, sir, *Time is.' \n\nBacon. Villain, if thou hadst called to Bacon then, \nIf thou hadst watched, and waked the sleepy friar. \nThe Brazen Head had uttered aphorisms, \nAnd England had been circled round with brass : \nBut proud Asmenoth,* ruler of the North, \nAnd Demogorgon,t master of the Fates, \nGrudge that a mortal man should work so mucL \nHell trembled at my deep-commanding spells. \nFiends frowned to see a man their over-match ; \nBacon might boast more than a man might boast ; \nBut now the bravesj of Bacon have an end. \n\n\n\nOne would suppose that the humour here, such as it is, would \nhardly be perceptible to a theatrical audience. \n\n* In the old German * Faustbuch,' the title of * Prince of the \nNorth * is given to Beelzebub. \n\nt Demogorgon, or Demiourgos \u2014 the creative principle of evil \u2014 \n\nfigures largely in literature. He is first mentioned by Lactantius, \n\nin the fourth century ; then by Boccaccio, Boiardo, Tasso (* Gieru- \n\nsalemme Liberata '), and Ariosto (* Orlando Furioso '). Marlowe \n\nspeaks, in * Tamburlaine,' of * Gorgon, prince of Hell.' Spenser, \n\nin * The Faery Queen,' refers to \u2014 \n\n* Great Gorgon, prince of darkness and dead night. \nAt which Cocytus quakes, and Styx is put to flight.' \n\nMilton, in 'Paradise Lost,' alludes to 'the dreaded name of \n\nDemogorgon.' Dryden says : * When the moon arises, and \n\nDemogorgon walks his round.' And he is one of the dramatis \n\npersonce of Shelley's 'Prometheus Unbound': 'Demogorgon, a \n\ntremendous gloom. ... A mighty Darkness, filling the seat of \n\npower.' \n\nI Boasts. So in Peele's 'Edward I.': 'As thou to England \n\nbrought'st thy Scottish braves.' \n\n\n\nCHAP. I.] Greene's comedy. 5 J \n\nEurope's conceit of Bacon hath an end, \nHis seven years' practice sorteth to ill end : \nAnd, villain, sith my glory hath an end, \nI will appoint thee to some fatal end.^ \nVillain, avoid ! get thee from Bacon's sight ! \nVagrant, go, roam and range about the world. \nAnd perish as a vagabond on earth ! \n\nMiles. Why, then, sir, you forbid me your service ? \n\nBacon. My service, villain, with a fatal curse, \nThat direful plagues and mischief fall on thee. \n\nMiles. 'Tis no matter, I am against you with the old proverb, \n* The more the fox is cursed, the better he fares.' God be with \nyou, sir : I'll take but a book in my hand, a wide-sleeved gown \non my back, and a crowned capf on my head, and see if I can \nmerit promotion. \n\nBacon. Some fiend or ghost haunt on thy weary steps. \nUntil they do transport thee quick to Hell I \nFor Bacon shall have never any day, \n\nTo lose the fame and honour of his Head. \n\n[ExmrU, \n\nScene XII. passes in King Henry's Court, and the \nroyal consent is given to Earl Lacy's marriage with \nthe Fair Maid, which is fixed to take place on the \nsame day as Prince Edward's marriage to the Princess \nElinor. In Scene XIII. we again go back to Bacon's \ncell. The friar is bewailing the destruction of his \nBrazen Head to Friar Bungay, when two young gentle- \nmen, named Lambert and Sealsby, enter, in order to \nlook into the ' glass prospective,' and see how their \nfiithers are faring. Unhappily, at this very moment, \nthe elder Lambert and Sealsby, having quarrelled, are \nengaged ' in combat hard by Fressingfield,' and stab \neach other to the death, whereupon their sons imme- \n\n* This reiteration of the same final word, for the sake of \nemphasis, is found in Shakespeare, \nt A comer or college cap. \n\n4\u20142 \n\n\n\n52 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK I. \n\ndiately come to blows, with a like fatal result. Bacon, \ndeeply affected, breaks the magic crystal which has \nbeen the unwitting cause of so sad a catastrophe, \nexpresses his regret that he ever dabbled in the un- \nholy science, and announces his resolve to spend the \nremainder of his life 'in pure devotion.' \n\nAt Fressingfield, in Scene XIV., the opportune \narrival of Lacy and his friends prevents Margaret \nfrom carrying out her intention of retiring to the \nnunnery at Framlingham, and with obliging readiness \nshe consents to marry the Earl. Scene XV. shifts to \nBacon's cell, where a devil complains that the friar \nhath raised him from the darkest deep to search about \nthe world for Miles, his man, and torment him in \npunishment for his neglect of orders. \n\nMiles makes his appearance, and after some comic \ndialogue, intended to tickle the ears of the ground- \nlings, mounts astride the demon's back, and goes off \n\nto ! In Scene XVL, and last, we return to the \n\nCourt, where royalty makes a splendid show, and the \ntwo brides \u2014 the Princess Elinor and the Countess \nMargaret \u2014 display their rival charms. Of course the \nredoubtable friar is present, and in his concluding \nspeech leaps over a couple of centuries to make a \nglowing compliment to Queen Elizabeth, which seems \nworth quotation : \n\n* I find by deep prescience of mine art. \nWhich once I tempered in my secret cell, \nThat here where Brute did build his Troynovant,* \n\n* An allusion to the old legend that Brut, or Brutus, great- \ngrandson of ^neas, founded New Troy (Troynovant), or \nLondon. \n\n\n\nCHAP, l] Greene's comedy. 53 \n\nFrom forth the royal garden of a King \n\nShall flourish out so rich and fair a bud, \n\nWhose brightness shall deface proud Phoebus' flower, \n\nAnd overshadow Albion with her leaves. \n\nTill then Mars shall be master of the field, \n\nBut then the stormy threats of war shall cease : \n\nThe horse shall stamp as careless of the pike, \n\nDrums shall be turned to timbrels of delight ; \n\nWith wealthy favours Plenty shall enrich \n\nThe strand that gladded wandering Brute to see. \n\nAnd peace from heaven shall harbour in these leaves \n\nThat gorgeous beautify this matchless flower : \n\nApollo's heliotropian* then shall stoop, \n\nAnd Venus' hyacinthf shall vail her top ; \n\nJuno shall shut her gilliflowers up, \n\nAnd Pallas' bay shall 'bash her brightest green ; \n\nCeres' carnation, in consort with those, \n\nShall stoop and wonder at Diana's rose.| \n\nSo much for Greene's comedy of 'Friar Bacon and \nFriar Bungay' \u2014 not, on the whole, a bad piece of \nwork. \n\nAmong the earlier English alchemists I may next \nname, in chronological order, George Ripley, canon \nof Bridlington, who, in 1471, dedicated to King Ed- \nward III. his once celebrated ' Compound of Alchemy ; \nor. The Twelve Gates leading to the Discovery of the \nPhilosopher's Stone.' These 'gates,' each of which \nhe describes in detail, but with little enlightenment to \nthe uninitiated reader, are: \u2014 1. Calcination; 2. Solu- \ntion ; 3. Separation ; 4. Conjunction ; 5. Putre&c- \n\n* Probably the reference is to the sunflower. \n\nt The classic writers usually identify the hyacinth with \nApollo. \n\nX The rose, that is, of the Virgin Queen \u2014 an English Diana \u2014 \nElizabeth. In Shakespeare's * Midsummer Night's Dream' (Act iv., \nscene 1) we read of * Diana's bud.' \n\n\n\n54 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK I. \n\ntion; 6. Congelation; 7. Cibation; 8. Sublimation: \n9. Fermentation; 10. Exaltation; 11. Multiplication; \nand 12. Projection. In his old age Ripley learned \nwisdom, and frankly acknowledged that he had wasted \nhis life upon an empty pursuit. He requested all \nmen, if they met with any of the tive-and-twenty \ntreatises of which he was the author, to consign them \nto the flames as absolutely vain and worthless. \n\nYet there is a wild story that he actually discovered \nthe * magisterium/ and was thereby enabled to send a \ngift of \u00a3100,000 to the Knights of St. John, to assist \nthem in their defence of Rhodes against the Turks. \n\nThomas Norton, of Bristol, was the author of ' The \nOrdinall of Alchemy ' (printed in London in 1662). \nHe is said to have been a pupil of Ripley, under \nwhom (at the age of 28) he studied for forty days, \nand in that short time acquired a thorough know- \nledge of * the perfection of chemistry.' Ripley, how- \never, refused to instruct so young a man in the \nmaster-secret of the great science, and the process \nfrom ^ the white ' to * the red powder,' so that Norton \nwas compelled to rely on his own skill and industry. \nTwice in his labours a sad disappointment overtook \nhim. On one occasion he had almost completed the \ntincture, when the servant whom he employed to \nlook after the furnace decamped with it, supposing \nthat it was fit for use. On another it was stolen by \nthe wife of William Canning, Mayor of Bristol, who \nimmediately sprang into immense wealth, and as some \namends, I suppose, for his ill-gotten gains, built the \n\n\n\nCHAP. I.] THOMAS DALTON. 55 \n\nbeautifiil steeple of the church of St. Mary, Redcliflfe \n\u2014 ^the church afterwards connected with the sad story \nof Chatterton. As for Norton, he seems to have lived \nin poverty and died in poverty (1477). \n\nThe ' Ordinall of Alchemy ' is a tedious panegyric \nof the science, interspersed with a good deal of the \nvague talk about white and red stones and the philo- \nsophical magnesia in which ' the adepts ' delighted. \n\nTo Norton we owe our scanty knowledge of Thomas \nDalton, who flourished about the middle of the \nfifteenth century. He had the reputation of being a \ndevout Churchman until he was accused by a certain \nDebois of possessing the powder of projection. Debois \nroundlv asserted that Norton had made him a thousand \npounds of gold (lucky man !) in less than twelve hours. \nWhereupon Dalton simply said, ' Sir, you are for- \nsworn.' His explanation was that he had received \nthe powder from a canon of Lichfield, on undertaking \nnot to use it until after the canon's death; and that \nsince he had been so troubled by his possession of it, \nthat he had secretly destroyed it. One Thomas Her- \nbert, a squire of King Edward, waylaid the unfortu- \nnate man, and shut him up in the castle of Gloucester, \nputting heavy pressure upon him to make the coveted \ntincture. But this Dalton would not and could not \ndo ; and after a captivity of four years, Herbert \nordered him to be brought out and executed in his \npresence. He obeyed the harsh summons with great \ndelight, exclaiming, ' Blessed art Thou, Lord Jesus ! \nI have been too long absent from Thee. The science \n\n\n\n56 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK L \n\nThou gavest me I have kept without ever abusing it ; \nI have found no one fit to be my heir ; wherefore, \nsweet Lord, I will restore Thy gift to Thee again.' \n\n* Then, after some devout prayer, with a smiling \ncountenance he desired the executioner to proceed. \nTears gushed firom the eyes of Herbert when he \nbeheld him so willing to die, and saw that no \ningenuity could wrest his secret fi*om him. He gave \norders for his release. His imprisonment and threat- \nened execution were contrived without the King's \nknowledge to intimidate him into compliance. The \niniquitous devices having failed, Herbert did not dare \nto take away his life. Dalton rose firom the block \nwith a heavy countenance, and returned to his abbey, \nmuch grieved at the further prolongation of his \nearthly sojourn. Herbert died shortly after this \natrocious act of tyranny, and Debois also came to an \nuntimely end. His father. Sir John Debois, was slain \nat the battle of Tewkesbury, May 4, 147.1 ; and two \ndays after, as recorded in Stow's \"Annales,\" he himself \n(James Debois) was taken, with severd others of the \nLancastrian party, fi'om a church where they had fled \nfor sanctuary, and was beheaded on the spot.' \n\nAPPENDIX TO CHAPTER I. \n\nThe ancient magic included various kinds of divination, of \nwhich the principal may here be catalogued : \n\nAeromancy, or divination from the air. If the wind blew from \nthe east, it signified good fortune (which is certainly not the \ngeneral opinion !) ; from the west, evil ; from the south, calamity ; \nfrom the north, disclosure of what was secret ; from all quarters \nsimultaneously (!), hail and rain. \n\n\n\nCHAP, l] appendix to CHAPTER I. 57 \n\nAodnomancyj practised by the Greeks, more particularly for the \npurpose of discovering criminals. An axe poised upon a stake, or \nan agate on a red-hot axe, was supposed by its movement to \nindicate the offender. Or the names of suspected persons were \ncalled out, and the movement of the axe at a particular name was \nunderstood to certify guilt. \n\nBdomancy, in use among the Arabs, was practised by means of \narrows, which were shot off, with written labels attached to them; \nand the inscription on the arrow first picked up was accepted as \nprophetic. \n\nBibliomaTuyy^ divining by means of the Bible, survived to a \ncomparatively recent period. The passage which first caught the \neye, on a Bible being opened haphazard, was supposed to indi- \ncate the future. This was identical with the Sortes FirgUimicey \nthe only difference being that in the latter, Virgil took the \nplace of the Bible. Everybody knows in connection with the \nSortes the story of Charles L and Lord Falkland. \n\nBotanomancy, divining by means of plants and flowers, can \nhardly be said to be extinct even now. In Goethe's * Faust,' \nGretchen seeks to discover whether Faust returns her affection \nby plucking, one after another, the petals of a star-flower {stem- \nblume, perhaps the china-aster), while she utters the alternate \nrefrains, * He loves me !' * He loves me not !' as she plucks the \nlast petal, exclaiming rapturously, * He loves me !' According to \nTheocritus, the Greeks used the poppy-flower for this purpose. \n\nCajmomancy, divination by smoke, the ancients practised in two \nways : they threw seeds of jasmine or poppy in the fire, watching \nthe motion and density of the smoke they emitted, or they \nobserved the sacrificial smoke. If the smoke was thin, and shot \nup in a straight line, it was a good omen. \n\nCheiromancy (or Palmistry), divination by the hand, was worked \nup into an elaborate system by Paracelsus, Cardan, and others. \nIt has long been practised by the gipsies, by itinerant fortune-tellers, \nand other cheats; and recently an attempt has been made to \ngive it a fashionable character. \n\nCoscinomancy was practised by means of a sieve and a pair of \nshears or forceps. The forceps or shears were used to suspend a \nsieve, which moved (like the axe in axinomancy) when the name \nof a guilty person was mentioned. \n\nCrystallomancyj divining by means of a crystal globe, mirror, or \nberyl. Of this science of prediction, Dr. Dee was the great \n\n\n\n58 WITCH, WABLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK L \n\nEnglish professor ; but the reader will doubtless remember the \nstory of the Earl of Surrey and his fair * Geraldina' \n\nGeomancy, divination by casting pebbles on the ground. \n\nHydromancy^ divination by water, in which the diviner showed \nthe figure of an absent person. * In this you conjure the spirits \ninto water; there they are constrained to show themselves, as \nMarcus Varro testifieth, when he writeth how he had seen a boy \nin the water, who announced to him in a hundred and fifty verses \nthe end of the Mithridatic war.' \n\nOndromarusy, divination by dreams, is still credited by old \nwomen of both sexes. Absurdly baseless as it is, it found be- \nlievers in the old time among men of culture and intellectual \nforce. Archbishop Laud attached so much importance to his \ndreams that he frequently recorded them in his diary ; and even \nLord Bacon seems to have thought that a prophetic meaning \nwas occasionally concealed in them. \n\nOnychomancy, or Onymcmcyy divination by means of the nails of \nan unpolluted boy. \n\nPyromancyy divination by fire. *The wife of Cicero is said, \nwhen, after performing sacrifice, she saw a flame suddenly leap \nforth from the ashes, to have prophesied the consulship to her \nhusband for the same year.' Others resorted to the blaze of a \ntorch of pitch, which was painted with certain colours. It was a \ngood omen if the flame ran into a point ; bad when it divided. \nA thin-tongued flame announced glory ; if it went out, it signified \ndanger ; if it hissed, misfortune. \n\nBabdomancy, divination by the rod or wand, is mentioned by \nEzekiel. The use of a hazel-rod to trace the existence of water \nor of a seam of coal seems a survival of this practice. But \nenough of these follies : \n\n* Necro-, pyro-, geo-, hydro-, cheiro-, coscinomancy. \nWith otier vain and superstitious sciences.* \n\nTomkis, * Albumazar,' ii. 3. \n\n\n\nCHAP. II.] THE STORY OF DR. JOHN DEB. 59 \n\n\n\nCHAPTER 11. \n\nTHE STORY OF DR. JOHN DEE. \n\nThe world must always feel carious to know the \nexact moment when its great men first drew the \nbreath of life ; and it is satisfactory, therefore, to be \nable to state, on the weighty authority of Dr. Thomas \nSmith, that Dr. John Dee, the famous magician and \n* philosopher/ was bom at forty minutes past four \no'clock on the morning of July 13, 1627. Accord- \ning to the picturesque practice of latter-day biographers, \nhere I ought to describe a glorious summer sunrise, \nthe golden light spreading over hill and pasture, the \nbland warm air stealing into the chamber where lay \nthe mother and her infant ; but I forbear, as, for all I \nknow, this particular July morning may have been \ncloudy, cold, and wet ; besides, John, the son of \nKowland Dee, was bom in London. From like want \nof information I refrain from comments on Master \nDee's early bringing-up and education. But it is re- \nported that he gave proof of so exceptional a capacity, \nand of such a love of letters, that, at the early age of \nfifteen, he was sent to the University of Cambridge, to \nstudy the classics and the old scholastic philosophy. \n\n\n\n60 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAOTCIAN. [BOOK L \n\nThere, for three years, he was so vehemently bent, he \nsays, on the acquisition of learning, that he spent \neighteen hours a day on his books, reserving two only \nfor his meals and recreation, and four for sleep \u2014 an \nunhealthy division of time, which probably over- \nstimulated his cerebral system and predisposed him to \ndelusions and caprices of the imagination. Having \ntaken his degree of B.A., he crossed the seas in 1547 \n' to speak and confer ' with certain learned men, chiefly \nmathematicians, such as Gemma Frisius, Grerardus \nMercator, Gaspar a Morica, and Antonius Gogara ; of \nwhom the only one now remembered is Mercator, as \nthe inventor of a method of laying down hydro- \ngraphical charts, in which the parallels and meridians \nintersect each other at right angles. After spending \nsome months in the Low Countries he returned home, \nbringing with him 'the first astronomer's staff of \nbrass that was made of Gemma Frisius' devising, the \ntwo great globes of G^rardus Mercator' s making, and \nthe astronomer's ring of brass (as Gemma Frisius had \nnewly framed it).' \n\nReturning to the classic shades of Granta, he began \nto record his observations of ' the heavenly influences \nin this elemental portion of the world :' and I suppose \nit was in recognition of his scientific scholarship that \nHenry VIII. appointed him to a fellowship at Trinity \nCollege, and Greek under-reader. In the latter \ncapacity he superintended, in 1548, the performance \nof the 'Etpi?vi? of Aristophanes, introducing among \n' the effects ' an artificial scarabaBus, which ascended, \nwith a man and his wallet of provisions on its back. \n\n\n\nCHAP. IL] the story OP DR. JOHN DEE. 61 \n\nto Jupiter's palace. This ingenious bit of mechanism \ndelighted the spectators, but, after the manner of the \ntime, was ascribed to Dee's occultism, and he found it \nconvenient to retire to the Continent (1548), residing \nfor awhile at Louvain, and devoting himself to hermetic \nresearches, and afterwards at Paris (1580), where he \ndelivered scientific lectures to large and distinguished \naudiences. * My auditory in Rhemes Colledge,' he \nsays, ' was so great, and the most part older than my \nselfe, that the mathematicall schooles could not hold \nthem ; for many were faine, without the schooles, at \nthe windowes, to be auditors and spectators, as they \nbest could help themselves thereto. I did also dictate \nupon every proposition, beside the first exposition. \nAnd by the first foure principall definitions represent- \ning to the eyes (which by imagination onely are \nexactly to be conceived), a greater wonder arose among \nthe beholders, than of my Aristophanes Scarabseus \nmounting up to the top of Trinity-hall in Cambridge.' \nThe accomplishments of this brilliant scientific \nmountebank being noised abroad over all Europe, the \nwonderful story reached the remote Court of the \nMuscovite, who ofifered him, if he would take up his \nresidence at Moscow, a stipend of \u00a32,000 per annum, \nhis diet also to be allowed to him fi:ee out of ' the \nEmperor's own kitchen, and his place to be ranked \namongst the highest sort of the nobility there, and of \nhis privy councillors.' Was ever scholar so tempted \nbefore or since ? In those times, the Russian Court \nseems to have held savants and scholars in as \nmuch esteem as nowadays it holds prima-donnas and \n\n\n\n62 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK I. \n\nballerines. Dee also received advantageous proposals \nfrom four successive Emperors of Grermany (Charles V., \nFerdinand, Maximilian IL, and Rudolph 11. ), but the \nMuscovite's outbade them all. A residence in the \nheart of Russia had no attraction, however, for the \nOxford scholar, who, in 1551, returned to England \nwith a halo of fame playing round his head (to speak \nfiguratively, as Dee himself loved to do), which \nrecommended him to the celebrated Greek professor \nat Cambridge, Sir John Cheke. Cheke introduced \nhim to Mr. Secretary Cecil, as well as to Edward VI., \nwho bestowed upon him a pension of 100 crowns per \nannum (speedily exchanged, in 1553, for the Rectory \nof Upton-upon-Sevem). At first be met with favour \nfrom Queen Mary ; but the close correspondence he \nmaintained with the Princess Elizabeth, who ap- \npreciated his multifarious scholarship, exposed him \nto suspicion, and he was accused of practising against \nthe Queen's life by divers enchantments. Arrested \nand imprisoned (at Hampton Court), he was subjected \nto rigorous examinations, and as no charge of treason \ncould be proved against him, was remitted to Bishop \nBonner as a possible heretic. But his enemies failed \nagain in their malicious intent, and in 1555 he received \nhis liberty. Imprisonment and suffering had not \nquenched his activity of temper, and almost imme- \ndiately upon his release he solicited the Queen's assent \nto a plan for the restoration and preservation of \ncertain precious manuscripts of classical antiquity. \nHe solicited in vain. \n\nWhen Elizabeth came to the throne, Dee, as a \n\n\n\nCHAP. II.] THE STORY OF DR. JOHN DEE. 63 \n\nproficient in the occult arts, was consulted by Dudley \n(afterwards Earl of Leicester) as to the most suit- \nable and auspicious day for her coronation. She \ntestified to her own belief in his skill by employing \nhim, when her image in wax had been discovered in \nLincoln's Inn Fields, to counteract the evil charm. \nBut he owed her favour, we may assume, much \nmore to his learning, which was really extensive, \nthan to his supposed magical powers. He tells us \nthat, shortly before her coronation, she summoned \nhim to Whitehall, remarking to his patrons, Dudley \nand the Earl of Pembroke, ' Where my brother hath \ngiven him a crown, I will give him a noble.' She \nwas certainly more liberal to Dee than to many of \nher servants who were much more deserving. In \nDecember, 1564, she granted him the reversion of \nthe Deanery of Gloucester. Not long afterwards \nhis friends recommended him for the Provostship of \nEton College. ' Favourable answers ' were returned, \nbut he never received the Provostship. He ob- \ntained permission, however, to hold for ten years the \ntwo rectories of Upton and Long Ledenham. Later \nin her reign (July, 1583), when two great nobles \ninvited themselves to dine with him, he was com- \npelled to decline the honour on account of his poverty. \nThe Queen, on being apprised of this incident, sent \nhim a present of forty angels of gold. We shall come \nupon other proofs of her generosity. \n\nDee was travelling on the Continent in 1571, and \non his way through Lorraine was seized with a \ndangerous sickness ; whereupon the Queen not only \n\n\n\n64 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK L \n\nsent ' carefully and with great speed ' two of her \nphysicians, but also the honourable Lord Sidney \n' in a manner to tend on him/ and ' to discern how \nhis health bettered, and to comfort him from her \nMajesty with divers very pithy speeches and gracious, \nand also with divers rarities to eat, to increase his \nhealth and strength.' Philosophers and men of letters, \nwhen they are ailing, meet with no such pleasant \nattentions nowadays ! But the list of Elizabeth's \nbounties is not yet ended. The much-travelling \nscholar, who saw almost as much of cities and men \nand manners as Odysseus himself, had wandered \ninto the farthest parts of the kingdom of Bohemia ; \nand that no evil might come to him, or his com- \npanion, or their families, she sent them her most \nprincely and royal letters of safe-conduct. After \nhis return home, a little before Christmas, 1589, \nhearing that he was unable to keep house as liberally \nas became his position and repute, she promised to \nassist him with the gift of a hundred pounds, and \nonce or twice repeated the promise on his coming \ninto her presence. Fifty pounds he did receive, \nwith which to keep his Christmas merrily, but what \nbecame of the other moiety he was never able to \ndiscover. A malignant influence frequently inter- \nposed, it would seem, between the Queen's benevolence \nin intention and her charity in action ; and the un- \nfortunate doctor was sometimes tantalized with \npromises of good things which failed to be realized. \nOn the whole, however, I do not think he had much \nto complain of; and the reproach of parsimony so \n\n\n\nCHAP. II.] THE STORY OP DR. JOHN DEE. 65 \n\noften levelled at great Gloriana would certainly not \napply to her treatment of Dr. Dee. \n\nShe honoured him with several visits at Mortlake, \nwhere he had a pleasant house close by the river- \nside, ^ and a little to the westward of the church \u2014 \nsurrounded by gardens and green fields, with bright \nprospects of the shining river. Elizabeth always \ncame down from Whitehall on horseback, attended \nby a brave retinue of courtiers ; and as she passed \nalong, her loyal subjects stood at their doors, or \nlined the roadside, making respectful bows and \ncurtseys, and crying, ^ God save the Queen !' One \nof these royal visits was made on March 10, 1675, \nthe Queen desiring to see the doctor's femous \nlibrary ; but. learning that he had buried his wife \nonly four hours before, she refused to enter the \nhouse. Dee, however, submitted to her inspection \nhis magic crystal, or 'black stone,' and exhibited \nsome of its marvellous properties ; her Majesty, for \nthe better examination of the same, being taken down \nfrom her horse ' by the Earl of Leicester, by the \nChurch wall of Mortlack.' \n\nShe was at Dr. Dee's again on September 17, \n1580. This time she came from Richmond in her \ncoach, a wonderfully cumbrous vehicle, drawn by \nsix horses ; ^ and when she was against my garden \nin the fielde,' says the doctor, 'her Majestic staide \nthere a good while, and then came into the street at \nthe great gate of the field, where her Majestic \nespied me at my dore, making reverent and dutifuU \nobeysance unto her, and with her hand her Majestic \n\n5 \n\n\n\n66 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK L \n\nbeckoned for me to come to her, and I came to her \ncoach side ; her Majestic then very speedily pulled \noff her glove, and gave me her hand to kiss ; and \nto be short, her Majestic wished me to resort \noftener to her Court, and by some of her Privy \nChamber to give her Majestic to wete (know) when I \ncame there.' \n\nAnother visit took place on October 10, 1580 : \u2014 \n* The Queenes Majestic to my great comfort {hord \nquintd) came with her train from the Court, and at \nmy dore graciously calling me unto her, on horseback \nexhorted me briefly to take my mother's death \npatiently ; and withal told me, that the Lord \nTreasurer had greatly commended my doings for her \ntitle rovall, which he had to examine. The which \ntitle in two rolls of velome parchment his Honour \nhad some houres before brought home, and delivered \nto Mr. Hudson for me to receive at my coming from \nmy mother's buriall at church. Her Majestic re- \nmembered also then, how at my wives buriall it was \nher fortune likewise to call upon me at my house, as \nbefore is noted.' \n\nDee's library \u2014 as libraries went then \u2014 was not \nunworthy of royal inspection. Its proud possessor \ncomputed it to be worth \u00a32,000, which, at the \npresent value of money, would be equal, I suppose, \nto \u00a310,000. It consisted of about 4,000 volumes, \nbound and unbound, a fourth part being MSS. He \nspeaks of four ' written books ' \u2014 one in Greek, two \nin French, and one in High Dutch \u2014 as having cost \nhim \u00a3533, and inquires triumphantly what must \n\n\n\nCHAP. II.] THE STORY OP DR, JOHN DEB. 67 \n\nhave been the value of some hundred of the best of \n\nall the other written books, some of which were the \n\nj autograpkia of excellent and seldom -heard-of authors 1 \n\n^ He adds that he spent upwards of forty years in \n\ncollecting this library from divers places beyond \n\n\\ the seas, and with much research and labour in \n\nEngland. \n\nOf the ' precious books * thus collected, Dee does \nnot mention the titles ; but he has recorded the rare \nand exquisitely made ' instruments mathematical ' \nwhich belonged to him : An excellent, strong, and \nfair quadrant, first made by that famous Richard \n. ^ Chancellor who boldly carried his discovery- ships \n1 past the Icy Cape, and anchored them in the White \n\u2022^ Sea. There was also an excellent radius astro- \nnomicusj of ten feet in length, the staff and cross \n^ very curiously divided into equal parts, after Richard \n^^Chancellor's quadrant manner. Item, two globes of \n^Mercator's best making : on the celestial sphere Dee, \nI with his own hand, had set down divers comets, \nheir places and motions, according to his individual \nobservation. Item, divers other instruments, as \n;he theorie of the eighth sphere, the ninth and \ninth, with an horizon and meridian of copper, made \nby Mercator specially for Dr. Dee. Item, sea-com- \npasses of different kinds. Item, a magnet-stone, \ncommonly called a loadstone, of great virtue. \nAlso an excellent watch-clock, made by one Dibbley, \n* a notable workman, long since dead,' by which the \ntime might sensibly be measured in the seconds of \nan hour \u2014 that is, not to fail the 360th part of an \n\n5\u20142 \n\n\n\n68 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK I. \n\nhour. We need not dwell upon his store of docu- \nments relating to Irish and Welsh estates, and of \nancient seals of arms ; but my curiosity, I confess, \nis somewhat stirred by his reference to ' a great \nbladder,' with about four pounds weight of * a very \nsweetish thing,' like a brownish gum, in it, arti- \nficially prepared by thirty times purifying, which the \ndoctor valued at upwards of a hundred crowns. \n\nWhile engaged in learned studies and corre- \nspondence with learned men, Dee found time to \nindulge in those wild semi-mystical, transcendental \nvisions which engaged the imagination of so many \nmediaeval students. The secret of ' the philosopher's \nstone ' led him into fascinating regions of specula- \ntion, and the ecstasies of Rosicrucianism dazzled him \nwith the idea of holding communication with the \ninhabitants of the other world. How far he was \nsincere in these pursuits, how far he imparted into \nthem a spirit of charlatanry, I think it is impossible \nto determine. Perhaps one may venture to say \nthat, if to some small extent an impostor, he was, to \na much larger extent, a dupe ; that if he deceived \nothers, he also deceived himself; nor is he, as \nbiography teaches, the only striking example of the \ncredulous enthusiast who mingles with his enthu- \nsiasm, more or less unconsciously, a leaven of \nhypocrisy. As early as 1571 he complains, in the \npreface to his ^English Euclid,' that he is jeered at \nby the populace as a conjurer. By degrees, it is \nevident, he begins to feel a pride in his magical \n\n\n\nCHAP. II.] THE STORY OF DR. JOHN DEE. 69 \n\nattainments. He records with the utmost gravity \nhis remarkable dreams, and endeavours to read the \nfuture by them. He insists, moreover, on strange \nnoises which he hears in his chamber. In those \ndays a favourite method of summoning the spirits \nwas to bring them into a glass or stone which had \nbeen prepared for the purpose ; and in his diary, \nunder the date of May 25, 1581, he records \u2014 for the \nfirst time \u2014 that he had held intercourse in this way \nwith supra-mundane beings. \n\nCombining with his hermetico-magical speculations \nreligious exercises of great fervour, he was thus en- \ngaged, one day in November, 1582, when suddenly \nupon his startled vision rose the angel Uriel ' at the \nwest window of his laboratory,' and presented him \nwith a translucent stone, or crystal, of convex shape, \npossessing the wonderful property of introducing its \nowner to the closest possible communication with the \nworld of spirits. It was necessary at times that this \nso-called mirror should be turned in difierent posi- \ntions before the observer could secure the right focus ; \nand then the spirits appeared on its surface, or in \ndifferent parts of the room by reason of its action. \nFurther, only one person, whom Dee calls the skryer^ \nor seer, could discover the spirits, or hear and inter- \npret their voices, just as there can be but one medium, \nI believe, at a spiritualistic seance of the present day. \nBut, of course, it was requisite that, while the medium \nwas absorbed in his all-important task, some person \nshould be at hand to describe what he saw, or pro- \nfessed to see, and commit to paper what he heard, or \n\n\n\n70 WITCH, WARLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK I. \n\nprofessed to hear ; and a seer with a lively imagina- \ntion and a fluent tongue could go very far in both \ndirections. This humbler, secondary position Dee re- \nserved for himself. Probably his invention was not \nsufliciently fertile for the part of a medium, or else he \nwas too much in earnest to practise an intentional \ndeception. As the crystal showed him nothing, he \nhimself said so, and looked about for someone more \nsympathetic, or less conscientious. His choice fell at \nfirst on a man named Barnabas Saul, and he records \nin his diary how, on October 9, 1581, this man *was \nstrangely troubled by a spiritual creature about mid- \nnight.' In a MS. preserved in the British Museum, \nhe relates some practices which took place on \nDecember 2, beginning his account with this state- \nment : * I willed the skryer, named Saul, to looke into \nmy great crystalline globe, if God had sent his holy \nangel Azrael, or no.' But Saul was a fellow of small \naccount, with a very limited inventive faculty, and on \nMarch 6, 1582, he was obliged to confess 'that he neither \nheard nor saw any spiritual creature any more.* Dee \nand his inefficient, unintelligent skryer then quarrelled, \nand the latter was dismissed, leaving behind him an \nunsavoury reputation. \n\nEDWARD KELLY. \n\nSoon afterwards our magician made the acquaint- \nance of a certain Edward Kelly (or Talbot), who was \nin every way fitted for the mediumistic rdle. He was \nclever, plausible, impudent, unscrupulous, and a \nmost accomplished liar. A native of Worcester, \n\n\n\nCHAP. II.] EDWARD KELLY. 71 \n\nwhere he was born in 1555, he was bred up, accord- \ning to one account, as a druggist, according to \nanother as a lawyer ; but all accounts agree that he \nbecame an adept in every kind of knavery. He was \npilloried, and lost his ears (or at least was condemned \nto lose them) at Lancaster, for the offence of coining, \nor for forgery ; afterwards retired to Wales, assumed \nthe name of Kelly, and practised as a conjurer and \nalchemist, A story is told of him which illustrates the \nman's unhesitating audacity, or, at all events, the \nnotoriety of his character : that he carried with him \none night into the park of Walton-le-Dale, near \nPreston, a man who thirsted after a knowledge of the \nfuture, and, when certain incantations had been com- \npleted, caused his servants to dig up a corpse, in- \nterred only the day before, that he might compel it to \nanswer his questions. \n\nHow he got introduced to Dr. Dee I do not profess \nto know ; but I am certainly disinclined to accept the \nwonderful narrative which Mr. Waite renders in so \nagreeable a style \u2014 ^that Kelly, during his Welsh \nsojourn, was shown an old manuscript which his \nlandlord, an iDukeeper, had obtained under peculiar \ncircumstances. ' It had been discovered in the tomb \nof a bishop who had been buried in a neighbouring \nchurch, and whose tomb had been sacrilegiously up- \ntorn by some fanatics/ in the hope of securing the \ntreasures reported to be concealed within it. They \nfound nothing, however, but the aforesaid manuscript, \nand two small ivory bottles, respectively containing a \nponderous white and red powder. * These pearls \n\n\n\n72 WITCH, WABLOCK, AND MAGICIAN. [BOOK L \n\nbeyond price were rejected by the pigs of apostasy : \none of them was shattered on the spot, and its \nruddy, celestine contents for the most part lost. The \nrenmant, together with the remaining bottle and the \nunintelligible manuscript, were speedily disposed of \nto the innkeeper in exchange for a skinful of wine.' \nThe innkeeper, in his turn, parted with them for one \npound sterling to Master Edward Kelly, who, be- \nlieving he had obtained a hermetic treasurCj hastened \nto London to submit it to Dr. Dee. \n\nThis accomplished and daring knave was engaged \nby the credulous doctor as his skryer, at a salary of \n\u00a350 per annum, with * board and lodging,' and all ex- \npenses paid. These were liberal terms ; but it must be \nadmitted that Kelly earned them. Now, indeed, the \ncrystal began to justify its reputation ! Spirits \ncame as thick as blackberries, and voices as numerous \nas those of rumour ! Kelly's amazing fertility of \nfancy never failed his employer, upon whose confi- \ndence he established an extraordinary hold, by judici- \nously hinting doubts as to the propriety of the work \nhe had undertaken. How could a man be other than \ntrustworthy, when he frankly expressed his sus- \npicions of the mala fides of the spirits who responded \nto the summons of the crystal ? It was impossible \u2014 \nso the doctor argued \u2014 that so candid a medium \ncould be an impostor, and while resenting the impu- \ntations cast upon the ' spiritual creatures,' he came to \nbelieve all the more strongly in the man who \nslandered them. The difference of opinion gave rise, \nof course, to an occasional quarrel. On one occasion \n\n\n\nCHAP. II.] EDWARD KELLY. 73 \n\n(in April, 1582) Kelly specially provoked his em- \nployer by roundly asserting that the spirits were \ndemons sent to lure them to their destruction; and \nby complaining that he was confined in Dee's house \nas in a prison, and that it would be better for him to \nbe near Cotsall Plain, where he might walk abroad \nwithout danger. \n\nSome time in 1583 a certain ^ Lord Lasky,' that is, \nAlbert Laski or Alasco, prince or waiwode of Siradia \nin Poland, and a guest at Elizabeth's Court, made \nfrequent visits to Dee's house, and was admitted to \nthe spirit exhibitions of the crystal. It has been sug- \ngested that Kelly had conceived some ambitious pro- \njects, which he hoped to realize through the agency \nof this Polish noble, and that he made use of the \ncrystal to work upon his imagination. Thence- \nforward the spirits were continually hinting at great \nEuropean revolutions, and uttering vague predictions \n