,illustration3 ,,the ,,mississippi ,,scheme3 ,,gardens ,,of ,,the ,,hotel ,,de ,,soissons1 #agbj4 ,,memoirs ,,of ,,extraordinary ,,popular ,,delusions4 ,,volume ,i4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,bubblers' ,,arms--,,prosperity4 ,,london3 ,,office ,,of ,,the ,,national ,,illustrated ,,library1 #bbg ,,strand4 #aheb4 ,,memoirs ,,of ,,extraordinary ,,popular ,,delusions ,,and ,,the ,,madness ,,of ,,crowds4 ,,by ,,charles ,,mackay1 ,,ll4,d4 ,,author ,,of ,,egeria1 ,,the ,,salamandrine1 ,,etc4 ,,illustrated ,,with ,,numerous ,,engravings4 ,,vol4 ,i4 ,n'en dplaise ces fous nomms sages de ,grce1 ,en ce monde il n'est point de parfaite sagesse2 ,tous les hommes sont fous1 et malgr tous leurs sons ,ne diffrent entre eux que du plus ou du moins4 ,,boileau4 ,,london3 ,,office ,,of ,,the ,,national ,,illustrated ,,library1 #bbg ,,strand4 #aheb4 ,,london3 ,,printed ,,by ,,robson1 ,,levey1 ,,and ,,franklyn1 ,great ,new ,street1 ,fetter ,lane4 ,,contents4 ,,the ,,mississippi ,,scheme4 ,john ,law2 his birth and youthful career--,duel between ,law and ,wilson--,law's escape from the ,king's ,bench--,the ,land-bank--,law's gambling propensities on the continent1 and acquaintance with the ,duke of ,orleans--,state of ,france after the reign of ,louis ,,xiv4--,paper money instituted in that country by ,law--,enthusiasm of the ,french people at the ,mississippi ,scheme--,marshal ,villars--,stratagems employed and bribes given for an interview with ,law--,great fluctuations in ,mississippi stock--,dreadful murders--,law created comptroller-general of finances--,great sale for all kinds of ornaments in ,paris--,financial difficulties commence--,men sent out to work the mines on the ,mississippi1 as a blind--,payment stopped at the bank--,law dismissed from the ministry--,payments made in specie--,law and the ,regent satirised in song--,dreadful crisis of the ,mississippi ,scheme--,law1 almost a ruined man1 flies to ,venice--,death of the ,regent--,law obliged to resort again to gambling--,his death at ,venice ,,the ,,south-,,sea ,,bubble4 ,originated by ,harley ,earl of ,oxford--,exchange ,alley a scene of great excitement--,mr4 ,walpole--,sir ,john ,blunt--,great demand for shares--,innumerable ,bubbles--,list of nefarious projects and bubbles--,great rise in ,south-sea stock--,sudden fall--,general meeting of the directors--,fearful climax of the ,south-sea expedition--,its effects on society--,uproar in the ,house of ,commons--,escape of ,knight--,apprehension of ,sir ,john ,blunt--,recapture of ,knight at ,tirlemont--,his second escape--,persons connected with the scheme examined--,their respective punishments--,concluding remarks ,,the ,,tulipomania4 ,conrad ,gesner--,tulips brought from ,vienna to ,england--,rage for the tulip among the ,dutch--,its great value--,curious anecdote of a sailor and a tulip--,regular marts for tulips--,tulips employed as a means of speculation--,great depreciation in their value--,end of the mania ,,the ,,alchymists4 ,introductory remarks--,pretended antiquity of the art--,geber--,alfarabi--,avicenna--,albe rtus ,magnus--,thomas ,aquinas--,artephius--,alain de ,lisle--,arnold de ,villeneuve--,pietro d',apone--,raymond ,lulli--,roger ,bacon--,pope ,john ,,xxii4--,jean de ,meung--,nicholas ,flamel--,george ,ripley--,basil ,valentine--,bernard of ,trves--,trithemius--,the ,marchal de ,rays--,jacques ,coeur--,inferior adepts--,progress of the infatuation during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries--,augurello--,cornelius ,agrippa--,paracelsus--,george ,agricola--,denys ,zachaire--,dr4 ,dee and ,edward ,kelly--,the ,cosmopolite--,sendivogius--,the ,rosicrucians--,michael ,mayer--,robert ,fludd--,jacob ,bhmen--,john ,heydon--,joseph ,francis ,borri--,alchymical writers of the seventeenth century--,delisle--,albert ,aluys--,count de ,st4 ,germain--,cagliostro--,present state of the science ,,modern ,,prophecies4 ,terror of the approaching day of judgment--,a comet the signal of that day--,the prophecy of ,whiston--,the people of ,leeds greatly alarmed at that event--,the plague in ,milan--,fortune-tellers and ,astrologers--,prophecy concerning the overflow of the ,thames--,mother ,shipton--,merlin--,heywood--,peter of ,pontefract--,robert ,nixon--,almanac-makers ,,fortune-,,telling4 ,presumption and weakness of man--,union of ,fortune-tellers and ,alchymists--,judicial astrology encouraged in ,england from the time of ,elizabeth to ,william and ,mary--,lilly the astrologer consulted by the ,house of ,commons as to the cause of the ,fire of ,london--,encouragement of the art in ,france and ,germany--,nostradamus--,basil of ,florence--,antiochus ,tibertus--,kepler--,necromancy--,roger ,bacon1 ,albertus ,magnus1 ,arnold ,villeneuve--,geomancy--,augury--,divina tion3 list of various species of divination--,oneiro-criticism 7interpretation of dreams7--,omens ,,the ,,magnetisers4 ,the influence of imagination in curing diseases--,mineral magnetisers--,paracelsus--,kircher the ,jesuit--,sebastian ,wirdig--,william ,maxwell--,the ,convulsionaries of ,st4 ,medard--,father ,hell--,mesmer1 the founder of ,animal ,magnetism--,d',eslon1 his disciple--,m4 de ,puysegur--,dr4 ,mainauduc's success in ,london--,holloway1 ,loutherbourg1 ,mary ,pratt1 c4--,perkins's ,metallic ,tractors--,decline of the science ,,influence ,,of ,,politics ,,and ,,religion ,,on ,,the ,,hair ,,and ,,beard4 ,early modes of wearing the hair and beard--,excommunication and outlawry decreed against curls--,louis ,,vii4's submission thereto the cause of the long wars between ,england and ,france--,charles ,v4 of ,spain and his courtiers--,peter the ,great--,his tax upon beards--,revival of beards and moustaches after the ,french ,revolution of #ahcj--,the ,king of ,bavaria 7#ahch7 orders all civilians wearing moustaches to be arrested and shaved--,examples from ,bayeux tapestry ,,list ,,of ,,engravings ,,in ,,vol4 ,i4 ,frontispiece--,gardens of the ,hotel de ,soissons4 7,from a print in ,mr4 ,hawkins' collection47 ,vignette--,the ,bubblers' ,arms1 ,prosperity4 7,bubblers' ,mirror1 or ,england's ,folly47 ,john ,law4 7,from a rare print by ,leon ,schenk4 #agbj7 ,the ,regent ,d',orleans ,old ,palais ,royal from the ,garden4 7,from a scarce print1 circa #agbj7 ,law's ,house2 ,rue de ,quincampoix4 7,from ,nodier's ,paris7 ,humpbacked ,man hiring himself as a ,table ,htel de ,soissons4 7,from ,nodier's ,paris7 ,the ,coach upset ,murder of a ,broker by ,count ,d',horn ,john ,law as ,atlas4 7,from ,england under the ,house of ,hanover7 ,caricature--,lucifer's new ,row ,barge ,procession of ,miners for the ,mississippi ,the ,chancellor ,d',aguesseau ,caricature--,law in a ,car drawn by ,cocks ,m4 ,d',argenson ,caricature--,neck or ,nothing1 or ,downfall of the ,mississippi ,company ,the ,south-,sea ,house4 7,from a print1 circa #agej7 ,harley ,earl of ,oxford ,sir ,robert ,walpole ,cornhill4 7,print1 circa #agbj7 ,stock-jobbing ,card1 or the ,humours of ,change ,alley4 #agbj4 7,from the ,bubblers' ,medley7 ,caricature--,people climbing the ,tree of ,fortune4 7,from the ,bubblers' ,medley7 ,the ,gateway to ,merchant ,tailors' ,hall4 7,gateway from old print7 ,mr4 ,secretary ,craggs ,caricature--,beggars on ,horseback4 7,from the ,bubblers' ,medley7 ,caricature--,britannia stript by a ,south-,sea ,director ,caricature--,the ,brabant ,screen4 7,copied from a rare print of the time1 in the collection of ,e4 ,hawkins1 ,esq41 ,f4,s4,a47 ,bonfires on ,tower ,hill ,the ,earl of ,sunderland ,caricature--,emblematic ,print of the ,south-,sea ,scheme4 7,from a print by ,hogarth7 ,caricature--,bubblers' ,arms3 ,despair4 7,from ,bubblers' ,mirror1 or ,england's ,glory7 ,conrad ,gesner ,the ,alchymist4 7,from print after ,teniers7 ,albertus ,magnus ,arnold de ,villeneuve ,raymond ,lulli ,house of ,jacques ,coeur at ,bourges4 7,from ,sommerard's ,album7 ,cornelius ,agrippa ,paracelsus ,dr4 ,dee ,dr4 ,dee's ,show-stone and ,magic ,crystal4 7,originals in the possession of ,lord ,londesborough and ,british ,museum7 ,innspruck4 7,from ,nodier's ,paris7 ,house of ,cagliostro 7,rue de ,clery1 ,no4 #bgh71 ,paris ,mother ,shipton's ,house ,henry ,andrews1 the original ,francis ,moore1 physician ,nostradamus4 7,from the frontispiece to a collection of his ,prophecies1 published at ,amsterdam ,a4,d4 #afff7 ,serlo clipping ,henry ,i4's hair ,peter the ,great ,bayeux ,tapestry ,,preface4 ,in reading the history of nations1 we find that1 like individuals1 they have their whims and their peculiarities2 their seasons of excitement and recklessness1 when they care not what they do4 ,we find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object1 and go mad in its pursuit2 that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion1 and run after it1 till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first4 ,we see one nation suddenly seized1 from its highest to its lowest members1 with a fierce desire of military glory2 another as suddenly becoming crazed upon a religious scruple2 and neither of them recovering its senses until it has shed rivers of blood and sowed a harvest of groans and tears1 to be reaped by its posterity4 ,at an early age in the annals of ,europe its population lost their wits about the sepulchre of ,jesus1 and crowded in frenzied multitudes to the ,holy ,land2 another age went mad for fear of the devil1 and offered up hundreds of thousands of victims to the delusion of witchcraft4 ,at another time1 the many became crazed on the subject of the philosopher's stone1 and committed follies till then unheard of in the pursuit4 ,it was once thought a venial offence1 in very many countries of ,europe1 to destroy an enemy by slow poison4 ,persons who would have revolted at the idea of stabbing a man to the heart1 drugged his pottage without scruple4 ,ladies of gentle birth and manners caught the contagion of murder1 until poisoning1 under their auspices1 became quite fashionable4 ,some delusions1 though notorious to all the world1 have subsisted for ages1 flourishing as widely among civilised and polished nations as among the early barbarians with whom they originated1--that of duelling1 for instance1 and the belief in omens and divination of the future1 which seem to defy the progress of knowledge to eradicate them entirely from the popular mind4 ,money1 again1 has often been a cause of the delusion of multitudes4 ,sober nations have all at once become desperate gamblers1 and risked almost their existence upon the turn of a piece of paper4 ,to trace the history of the most prominent of these delusions is the object of the present pages4 ,men1 it has been well said1 think in herds2 it will be seen that they go mad in herds1 while they only recover their senses slowly1 and one by one4 ,some of the subjects introduced may be familiar to the reader2 but the ,author hopes that sufficient novelty of detail will be found even in these1 to render them acceptable1 while they could not be wholly omitted in justice to the subject of which it was proposed to treat4 ,the memoirs of the ,south-,sea madness and the ,mississippi delusion are more complete and copious than are to be found elsewhere2 and the same may be said of the history of the ,witch ,mania1 which contains an account of its terrific progress in ,germany1 a part of the subject which has been left comparatively untouched by ,sir ,walter ,scott in his ,letters on ,demonology and ,witchcraft1 the most important that have yet appeared on this fearful but most interesting subject4 ,popular delusions began so early1 spread so widely1 and have lasted so long1 that instead of two or three volumes1 fifty would scarcely suffice to detail their history4 ,the present may be considered more of a miscellany of delusions than a history--a chapter only in the great and awful book of human folly which yet remains to be written1 and which ,porson once jestingly said he would write in five hundred volumes6 ,interspersed are sketches of some lighter matters1--amusing instances of the imitativeness and wrongheadedness of the people1 rather than examples of folly and delusion4 ,religious matters have been purposely excluded as incompatible with the limits prescribed to the present work2 a mere list of them would alone be sufficient to occupy a volume4 ,illustration3 ,,john ,,law4 ,,money ,,mania4--,,the ,,mississippi ,,scheme4 ,some in clandestine companies combine2 ,erect new stocks to trade beyond the line2 ,with air and empty names beguile the town1 ,and raise new credits first1 then cry 'em down2 ,divide the empty nothing into shares1 ,and set the crowd together by the ears4--,defoe4 ,the personal character and career of one man are so intimately connected with the great scheme of the years #agai and #agbj1 that a history of the ,mississippi madness can have no fitter introduction than a sketch of the life of its great author ,john ,law4 ,historians are divided in opinion as to whether they should designate him a knave or a madman4 ,both epithets were unsparingly applied to him in his lifetime1 and while the unhappy consequences of his projects were still deeply felt4 ,posterity1 however1 has found reason to doubt the justice of the accusation1 and to confess that ,john ,law was neither knave nor madman1 but one more deceived than deceiving1 more sinned against than sinning4 ,he was thoroughly acquainted with the philosophy and true principles of credit4 ,he understood the monetary question better than any man of his day2 and if his system fell with a crash so tremendous1 it was not so much his fault as that of the people amongst whom he had erected it4 ,he did not calculate upon the avaricious frenzy of a whole nation2 he did not see that confidence1 like mistrust1 could be increased almost ad infinitum1 and that hope was as extravagant as fear4 ,how was he to foretell that the ,french people1 like the man in the fable1 would kill1 in their frantic eagerness1 the fine goose he had brought to lay them so many golden eggs8 ,his fate was like that which may be supposed to have overtaken the first adventurous boatman who rowed from ,erie to ,ontario4 ,broad and smooth was the river on which he embarked2 rapid and pleasant was his progress2 and who was to stay him in his career8 ,alas for him6 the cataract was nigh4 ,he saw1 when it was too late1 that the tide which wafted him so joyously along was a tide of destruction2 and when he endeavoured to retrace his way1 he found that the current was too strong for his weak efforts to stem1 and that he drew nearer every instant to the tremendous falls4 ,down he went over the sharp rocks1 and the waters with him4 ,he was dashed to pieces with his bark1 but the waters1 maddened and turned to foam by the rough descent1 only boiled and bubbled for a time1 and then flowed on again as smoothly as ever4 ,just so it was with ,law and the ,french people4 ,he was the boatman1 and they were the waters4 ,john ,law was born at ,edinburgh in the year #afga4 ,his father was the younger son of an ancient family in ,fife1 and carried on the business of a goldsmith and banker4 ,he amassed considerable wealth in his trade1 sufficient to enable him to gratify the wish1 so common among his countrymen1 of adding a territorial designation to his name4 ,he purchased with this view the estates of ,lauriston and ,randleston1 on the ,firth of ,forth1 on the borders of ,west and ,mid ,lothian1 and was thenceforth known as ,law of ,lauriston4 ,the subject of our memoir1 being the eldest son1 was received into his father's counting-house at the age of fourteen1 and for three years laboured hard to acquire an insight into the principles of banking as then carried on in ,scotland4 ,he had always manifested great love for the study of numbers1 and his proficiency in the mathematics was considered extraordinary in one of his tender years4 ,at the age of seventeen he was tall1 strong1 and well made2 and his face1 although deeply scarred with the small-pox1 was agreeable in its expression1 and full of intelligence4 ,at this time he began to neglect his business1 and becoming vain of his person1 indulged in considerable extravagance of attire4 ,he was a great favourite with the ladies1 by whom he was called ,beau ,law2 while the other sex1 despising his foppery1 nicknamed him ,jessamy ,john4 ,at the death of his father1 which happened in #afhh1 he withdrew entirely from the desk1 which had become so irksome1 and being possessed of the revenues of the paternal estate of ,lauriston1 he proceeded to ,london1 to see the world4 ,he was now very young1 very vain1 good-looking1 tolerably rich1 and quite uncontrolled4 ,it is no wonder that1 on his arrival in the capital1 he should launch out into extravagance4 ,he soon became a regular frequenter of the gaming-houses1 and by pursuing a certain plan1 based upon some abstruse calculation of chances1 he contrived to gain considerable sums4 ,all the gamblers envied him his luck1 and many made it a point to watch his play1 and stake their money on the same chances4 ,in affairs of gallantry he was equally fortunate2 ladies of the first rank smiled graciously upon the handsome ,scotchman--the young1 the rich1 the witty1 and the obliging4 ,but all these successes only paved the way for reverses4 ,after he had been for nine years exposed to the dangerous attractions of the gay life he was leading1 he became an irrecoverable gambler4 ,as his love of play increased in violence1 it diminished in prudence4 ,great losses were only to be repaired by still greater ventures1 and one unhappy day he lost more than he could repay without mortgaging his family estate4 ,to that step he was driven at last4 ,at the same time his gallantry brought him into trouble4 ,a love affair1 or slight flirtation1 with a lady of the name of ,villiers1#a exposed him to the resentment of a ,mr4 ,wilson1 by whom he was challenged to fight a duel4 ,law accepted1 and had the ill fortune to shoot his antagonist dead upon the spot4 ,he was arrested the same day1 and brought to trial for murder by the relatives of ,mr4 ,wilson4 ,he was afterwards found guilty1 and sentenced to death4 ,the sentence was commuted to a fine1 upon the ground that the offence only amounted to manslaughter4 ,an appeal being lodged by a brother of the deceased1 ,law was detained in the ,king's ,bench1 whence1 by some means or other1 which he never explained1 he contrived to escape2 and an action being instituted against the sheriffs1 he was advertised in the ,gazette1 and a reward offered for his apprehension4 ,he was described as ,captain ,john ,law1 a ,scotchman1 aged twenty-six2 a very tall1 black1 lean man2 well shaped1 above six feet high1 with large pock-holes in his face2 big nosed1 and speaking broad and loud4 ,as this was rather a caricature than a description of him1 it has been supposed that it was drawn up with a view to favour his escape4 ,he succeeded in reaching the ,continent1 where he travelled for three years1 and devoted much of his attention to the monetary and banking affairs of the countries through which he passed4 ,he stayed a few months in ,amsterdam1 and speculated to some extent in the funds4 ,his mornings were devoted to the study of finance and the principles of trade1 and his evenings to the gaming-house4 ,it is generally believed that he returned to ,edinburgh in the year #agjj4 ,it is certain that he published in that city his ,proposals and ,reasons for constituting a ,council of ,trade4 ,this pamphlet did not excite much attention4 #a ,miss ,elizabeth ,villiers1 afterwards ,countess of ,orkney4 ,in a short time afterwards he published a project for establishing what he called a ,land-bank1#b the notes issued by which were never to exceed the value of the entire lands of the state1 upon ordinary interest1 or were to be equal in value to the land1 with the right to enter into possession at a certain time4 ,the project excited a good deal of discussion in the ,scottish ,parliament1 and a motion for the establishment of such a bank was brought forward by a neutral party1 called the ,squadrone1 whom ,law had interested in his favour4 ,the ,parliament ultimately passed a resolution to the effect1 that1 to establish any kind of paper credit1 so as to force it to pass1 was an improper expedient for the nation4 #b ,the wits of the day called it a sand-bank1 which would wreck the vessel of the state4 ,upon the failure of this project1 and of his efforts to procure a pardon for the murder of ,mr4 ,wilson1 ,law withdrew to the ,continent1 and resumed his old habits of gaming4 ,for fourteen years he continued to roam about1 in ,flanders1 ,holland1 ,germany1 ,hungary1 ,italy1 and ,france4 ,he soon became intimately acquainted with the extent of the trade and resources of each1 and daily more confirmed in his opinion that no country could prosper without a paper currency4 ,during the whole of this time he appears to have chiefly supported himself by successful play4 ,at every gambling-house of note in the capitals of ,europe he was known and appreciated as one better skilled in the intricacies of chance than any other man of the day4 ,it is stated in the ,biographie ,universelle that he was expelled1 first from ,venice1 and afterwards from ,genoa1 by the magistrates1 who thought him a visitor too dangerous for the youth of those cities4 ,during his residence in ,paris he rendered himself obnoxious to ,d',argenson1 the lieutenant-general of the police1 by whom he was ordered to quit the capital4 ,this did not take place1 however1 before he had made the acquaintance1 in the saloons1 of the ,duke de ,vendme1 the ,prince de ,conti1 and of the gay ,duke of ,orleans1 the latter of whom was destined afterwards to exercise so much influence over his fate4 ,the ,duke of ,orleans was pleased with the vivacity and good sense of the ,scottish adventurer1 while the latter was no less pleased with the wit and amiability of a prince who promised to become his patron4 ,they were often thrown into each other's society1 and ,law seized every opportunity to instil his financial doctrines into the mind of one whose proximity to the throne pointed him out as destined1 at no very distant date1 to play an important part in the government4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,regent ,,of ,,france4 ,shortly before the death of ,louis ,,xiv41 or1 as some say1 in #agjh1 ,law proposed a scheme of finance to ,desmarets1 the comptroller4 ,louis is reported to have inquired whether the projector were a ,catholic1 and on being answered in the negative1 to have declined having any thing to do with him4#c #c ,this anecdote1 which is related in the correspondence of ,madame de ,bavire1 ,duchess of ,orleans and mother of the ,regent1 is discredited by ,lord ,john ,russell in his ,history of the principal ,states of ,europe from the ,peace of ,utrecht2 for what reason he does not inform us4 ,there is no doubt that ,law proposed his scheme to ,desmarets1 and that ,louis refused to hear of it4 ,the reason given for the refusal is quite consistent with the character of that bigoted and tyrannical monarch4 ,it was after this repulse that he visited ,italy4 ,his mind being still occupied with schemes of finance1 he proposed to ,victor ,amadeus1 duke of ,savoy1 to establish his land-bank in that country4 ,the duke replied that his dominions were too circumscribed for the execution of so great a project1 and that he was by far too poor a potentate to be ruined4 ,he advised him1 however1 to try the king of ,france once more2 for he was sure1 if he knew any thing of the ,french character1 that the people would be delighted with a plan1 not only so new1 but so plausible4 ,louis ,,xiv4 died in #agae1 and the heir to the throne being an infant only seven years of age1 the ,duke of ,orleans assumed the reins of government1 as regent1 during his minority4 ,law now found himself in a more favourable position4 ,the tide in his affairs had come1 which1 taken at the flood1 was to waft him on to fortune4 ,the regent was his friend1 already acquainted with his theory and pretensions1 and inclined1 moreover1 to aid him in any efforts to restore the wounded credit of ,france1 bowed down to the earth by the extravagance of the long reign of ,louis ,,xiv4 ,hardly was that monarch laid in his grave ere the popular hatred1 suppressed so long1 burst forth against his memory4 ,he who1 during his life1 had been flattered with an excess of adulation1 to which history scarcely offers a parallel1 was now cursed as a tyrant1 a bigot1 and a plunderer4 ,his statues were pelted and disfigured2 his effigies torn down1 amid the execrations of the populace1 and his name rendered synonymous with selfishness and oppression4 ,the glory of his arms was forgotten1 and nothing was remembered but his reverses1 his extravagance1 and his cruelty4 ,the finances of the country were in a state of the utmost disorder4 ,a profuse and corrupt monarch1 whose profuseness and corruption were imitated by almost every functionary1 from the highest to the lowest grade1 had brought ,france to the verge of ruin4 ,the national debt amounted to #cjjj millions of livres1 the revenue to #ade millions1 and the expenses of government to #adb millions per annum2 leaving only three millions to pay the interest upon #cjjj millions4 ,the first care of the regent was to discover a remedy for an evil of such magnitude1 and a council was early summoned to take the matter into consideration4 ,the ,duke de ,st4 ,simon was of opinion that nothing could save the country from revolution but a remedy at once bold and dangerous4 ,he advised the regent to convoke the states-general1 and declare a national bankruptcy4 ,the ,duke de ,noailles1 a man of accommodating principles1 an accomplished courtier1 and totally averse from giving himself any trouble or annoyance that ingenuity could escape from1 opposed the project of ,st4 ,simon with all his influence4 ,he represented the expedient as alike dishonest and ruinous4 ,the regent was of the same opinion1 and this desperate remedy fell to the ground4 ,the measures ultimately adopted1 though they promised fair1 only aggravated the evil4 ,the first1 and most dishonest measure was of no advantage to the state4 ,a recoinage was ordered1 by which the currency was depreciated one-fifth2 those who took a thousand pieces of gold or silver to the mint received back an amount of coin of the same nominal value1 but only four-fifths of the weight of metal4 ,by this contrivance the treasury gained seventy-two millions of livres1 and all the commercial operations of the country were disordered4 ,a trifling diminution of the taxes silenced the clamours of the people1 and for the slight present advantage the great prospective evil was forgotten4 ,a ,chamber of ,justice was next instituted to inquire into the malversations of the loan-contractors and the farmers of the revenues4 ,tax-collectors are never very popular in any country1 but those of ,france at this period deserved all the odium with which they were loaded4 ,as soon as these farmers-general1 with all their hosts of subordinate agents1 called malttiers1#d were called to account for their misdeeds1 the most extravagant joy took possession of the nation4 ,the ,chamber of ,justice1 instituted chiefly for this purpose1 was endowed with very extensive powers4 ,it was composed of the presidents and councils of the parliament1 the judges of the ,courts of ,aid and of ,requests1 and the officers of the ,chamber of ,account1 under the general presidence of the minister of finance4 ,informers were encouraged to give evidence against the offenders by the promise of one-fifth part of the fines and confiscations4 ,a tenth of all concealed effects belonging to the guilty was promised to such as should furnish the means of discovering them4 #d ,from maltte1 an oppressive tax4 ,the promulgation of the edict constituting this court caused a degree of consternation among those principally concerned1 which can only be accounted for on the supposition that their peculation had been enormous4 ,but they met with no sympathy4 ,the proceedings against them justified their terror4 ,the ,bastille was soon unable to contain the prisoners that were sent to it1 and the gaols all over the country teemed with guilty or suspected persons4 ,an order was issued to all innkeepers and postmasters to refuse horses to such as endeavoured to seek safety in flight2 and all persons were forbidden1 under heavy fines1 to harbour them or favour their evasion4 ,some were condemned to the pillory1 others to the galleys1 and the least guilty to fine and imprisonment4 ,one only1 ,samuel ,bernard1 a rich banker and farmer-general of a province remote from the capital1 was sentenced to death4 ,so great had been the illegal profits of this man1--looked upon as the tyrant and oppressor of his district1--that he offered six millions of livres1 or #bej1jjjl4 sterling1 to be allowed to escape4 ,his bribe was refused1 and he suffered the penalty of death4 ,others1 perhaps more guilty1 were more fortunate4 ,confiscation1 owing to the concealment of their treasures by the delinquents1 often produced less money than a fine4 ,the severity of the government relaxed1 and fines1 under the denomination of taxes1 were indiscriminately levied upon all offenders2 but so corrupt was every department of the administration1 that the country benefited but little by the sums which thus flowed into the treasury4 ,courtiers and courtiers' wives and mistresses came in for the chief share of the spoils4 ,one contractor had been taxed1 in proportion to his wealth and guilt1 at the sum of twelve millions of livres4 ,the ,count ----1 a man of some weight in the government1 called upon him1 and offered to procure a remission of the fine if he would give him a hundred thousand crowns4 ,vous tes trop tard1 mon ami1 replied the financier2 ,i have already made a bargain with your wife for fifty thousand4#e #e ,this anecdote is related by ,m4 de la ,hode1 in his ,life of ,philippe of ,orleans4 ,it would have looked more authentic if he had given the names of the dishonest contractor and the still more dishonest minister4 ,but ,m4 de la ,hode's book is liable to the same objection as most of the ,french memoirs of that and of subsequent periods4 ,it is sufficient with most of them that an anecdote be ben trovato2 the vero is but matter of secondary consideration4 ,about a hundred and eighty millions of livres were levied in this manner1 of which eighty were applied in payment of the debts contracted by the government4 ,the remainder found its way into the pockets of the courtiers4 ,madame de ,maintenon1 writing on this subject1 says1--,we hear every day of some new grant of the regent4 ,the people murmur very much at this mode of employing the money taken from the peculators4 ,the people1 who1 after the first burst of their resentment is over1 generally express a sympathy for the weak1 were indignant that so much severity should be used to so little purpose4 ,they did not see the justice of robbing one set of rogues to fatten another4 ,in a few months all the more guilty had been brought to punishment1 and the ,chamber of ,justice looked for victims in humbler walks of life4 ,charges of fraud and extortion were brought against tradesmen of good character in consequence of the great inducements held out to common informers4 ,they were compelled to lay open their affairs before this tribunal in order to establish their innocence4 ,the voice of complaint resounded from every side2 and at the expiration of a year the government found it advisable to discontinue further proceedings4 ,the ,chamber of ,justice was suppressed1 and a general amnesty granted to all against whom no charges had yet been preferred4 ,in the midst of this financial confusion ,law appeared upon the scene4 ,no man felt more deeply than the regent the deplorable state of the country1 but no man could be more averse from putting his shoulders manfully to the wheel4 ,he disliked business2 he signed official documents without proper examination1 and trusted to others what he should have undertaken himself4 ,the cares inseparable from his high office were burdensome to him4 ,he saw that something was necessary to be done2 but he lacked the energy to do it1 and had not virtue enough to sacrifice his ease and his pleasures in the attempt4 ,no wonder that1 with this character1 he listened favourably to the mighty projects1 so easy of execution1 of the clever adventurer whom he had formerly known1 and whose talents he appreciated4 ,when ,law presented himself at court he was most cordially received4 ,he offered two memorials to the regent1 in which he set forth the evils that had befallen ,france1 owing to an insufficient currency1 at different times depreciated4 ,he asserted that a metallic currency1 unaided by a paper money1 was wholly inadequate to the wants of a commercial country1 and particularly cited the examples of ,great ,britain and ,holland to shew the advantages of paper4 ,he used many sound arguments on the subject of credit1 and proposed as a means of restoring that of ,france1 then at so low an ebb among the nations1 that he should be allowed to set up a bank1 which should have the management of the royal revenues1 and issue notes both on that and on landed security4 ,he further proposed that this bank should be administered in the king's name1 but subject to the control of commissioners to be named by the ,states-,general4 ,while these memorials were under consideration1 ,law translated into ,french his essay on money and trade1 and used every means to extend through the nation his renown as a financier4 ,he soon became talked of4 ,the confidants of the regent spread abroad his praise1 and every one expected great things of ,monsieur ,lass4#f #f ,the ,french pronounced his name in this manner to avoid the ungallic sound1 aw4 ,after the failure of his scheme1 the wags said the nation was lasse de lui1 and proposed that he should in future be known by the name of ,monsieur ,helas6 ,on the #eth of ,may1 #agaf1 a royal edict was published1 by which ,law was authorised1 in conjunction with his brother1 to establish a bank under the name of ,law and ,company1 the notes of which should be received in payment of the taxes4 ,the capital was fixed at six millions of livres1 in twelve thousand shares of five hundred livres each1 purchasable one fourth in specie1 and the remainder in billets d'tat4 ,it was not thought expedient to grant him the whole of the privileges prayed for in his memorials until experience should have shewn their safety and advantage4 ,law was now on the high road to fortune4 ,the study of thirty years was brought to guide him in the management of his bank4 ,he made all his notes payable at sight1 and in the coin current at the time they were issued4 ,this last was a master-stroke of policy1 and immediately rendered his notes more valuable than the precious metals4 ,the latter were constantly liable to depreciation by the unwise tampering of the government4 ,a thousand livres of silver might be worth their nominal value one day1 and be reduced one-sixth the next1 but a note of ,law's bank retained its original value4 ,he publicly declared at the same time1 that a banker deserved death if he made issues without having sufficient security to answer all demands4 ,the consequence was1 that his notes advanced rapidly in public estimation1 and were received at one per cent more than specie4 ,it was not long before the trade of the country felt the benefit4 ,languishing commerce began to lift up her head2 the taxes were paid with greater regularity and less murmuring2 and a degree of confidence was established that could not fail1 if it continued1 to become still more advantageous4 ,in the course of a year1 ,law's notes rose to fifteen per cent premium1 while the billets d'tat1 or notes issued by the government as security for the debts contracted by the extravagant ,louis ,,xiv41 were at a discount of no less than seventy-eight and a half per cent4 ,the comparison was too great in favour of ,law not to attract the attention of the whole kingdom1 and his credit extended itself day by day4 ,branches of his bank were almost simultaneously established at ,lyons1 ,rochelle1 ,tours1 ,amiens1 and ,orleans4 ,the regent appears to have been utterly astonished at his success1 and gradually to have conceived the idea that paper1 which could so aid a metallic currency1 could entirely supersede it4 ,upon this fundamental error he afterwards acted4 ,in the mean time1 ,law commenced the famous project which has handed his name down to posterity4 ,he proposed to the regent 7who could refuse him nothing7 to establish a company that should have the exclusive privilege of trading to the great river ,mississippi and the province of ,louisiana1 on its western bank4 ,the country was supposed to abound in the precious metals2 and the company1 supported by the profits of their exclusive commerce1 were to be the sole farmers of the taxes and sole coiners of money4 ,letters patent were issued1 incorporating the company1 in ,august #agag4 ,the capital was divided into two hundred thousand shares of five hundred livres each1 the whole of which might be paid in billets d'tat1 at their nominal value1 although worth no more than a hundred and sixty livres in the market4 ,it was now that the frenzy of speculating began to seize upon the nation4 ,law's bank had effected so much good1 that any promises for the future which he thought proper to make were readily believed4 ,the regent every day conferred new privileges upon the fortunate projector4 ,the bank obtained the monopoly of the sale of tobacco1 the sole right of refinage of gold and silver1 and was finally erected into the ,royal ,bank of ,france4 ,amid the intoxication of success1 both ,law and the regent forgot the maxim so loudly proclaimed by the former1 that a banker deserved death who made issues of paper without the necessary funds to provide for them4 ,as soon as the bank1 from a private1 became a public institution1 the regent caused a fabrication of notes to the amount of one thousand millions of livres4 ,this was the first departure from sound principles1 and one for which ,law is not justly blameable4 ,while the affairs of the bank were under his control1 the issues had never exceeded sixty millions4 ,whether ,law opposed the inordinate increase is not known2 but as it took place as soon as the bank was made a royal establishment1 it is but fair to lay the blame of the change of system upon the regent4 ,law found that he lived under a despotic government2 but he was not yet aware of the pernicious influence which such a government could exercise upon so delicate a framework as that of credit4 ,he discovered it afterwards to his cost1 but in the meantime suffered himself to be impelled by the regent into courses which his own reason must have disapproved4 ,with a weakness most culpable1 he lent his aid in inundating the country with paper money1 which1 based upon no solid foundation1 was sure to fall1 sooner or later4 ,the extraordinary present fortune dazzled his eyes1 and prevented him from seeing the evil day that would burst over his head1 when once1 from any cause or other1 the alarm was sounded4 ,the parliament were from the first jealous of his influence as a foreigner1 and had1 besides1 their misgivings as to the safety of his projects4 ,as his influence extended1 their animosity increased4 ,d',aguesseau1 the chancellor1 was unceremoniously dismissed by the regent for his opposition to the vast increase of paper money1 and the constant depreciation of the gold and silver coin of the realm4 ,this only served to augment the enmity of the parliament1 and when ,d',argenson1 a man devoted to the interests of the regent1 was appointed to the vacant chancellorship1 and made at the same time minister of finance1 they became more violent than ever4 ,the first measure of the new minister caused a further depreciation of the coin4 ,in order to extinguish the billets d'tat1 it was ordered that persons bringing to the mint four thousand livres in specie and one thousand livres in billets d'tat1 should receive back coin to the amount of five thousand livres4 ,d',argenson plumed himself mightily upon thus creating five thousand new and smaller livres out of the four thousand old and larger ones1 being too ignorant of the true principles of trade and credit to be aware of the immense injury he was inflicting upon both4 ,the parliament saw at once the impolicy and danger of such a system1 and made repeated remonstrances to the regent4 ,the latter refused to entertain their petitions1 when the parliament1 by a bold and very unusual stretch of authority1 commanded that no money should be received in payment but that of the old standard4 ,the regent summoned a lit de justice1 and annulled the decree4 ,the parliament resisted1 and issued another4 ,again the regent exercised his privilege1 and annulled it1 till the parliament1 stung to fiercer opposition1 passed another decree1 dated ,august #abth1 #agah1 by which they forbade the bank of ,law to have any concern1 either direct or indirect1 in the administration of the revenue2 and prohibited all foreigners1 under heavy penalties1 from interfering1 either in their own names1 or in that of others1 in the management of the finances of the state4 ,the parliament considered ,law to be the author of all the evil1 and some of the councillors1 in the virulence of their enmity1 proposed that he should be brought to trial1 and1 if found guilty1 be hung at the gates of the ,palais de ,justice4 ,illustration3 ,,palais ,,royal ,,from ,,the ,,garden4 ,law1 in great alarm1 fled to the ,palais ,royal1 and threw himself on the protection of the regent1 praying that measures might be taken to reduce the parliament to obedience4 ,the regent had nothing so much at heart1 both on that account and because of the disputes that had arisen relative to the legitimation of the ,duke of ,maine and the ,count of ,thoulouse1 the sons of the late king4 ,the parliament was ultimately overawed by the arrest of their president and two of the councillors1 who were sent to distant prisons4 ,thus the first cloud upon ,law's prospects blew over3 freed from apprehension of personal danger1 he devoted his attention to his famous ,mississippi project1 the shares of which were rapidly rising1 in spite of the parliament4 ,at the commencement of the year #agai1 an edict was published1 granting to the ,mississippi ,company the exclusive privilege of trading to the ,east ,indies1 ,china1 and the ,south ,seas1 and to all the possessions of the ,french ,east ,india ,company1 established by ,colbert4 ,the ,company1 in consequence of this great increase of their business1 assumed1 as more appropriate1 the title of ,company of the ,indies1 and created fifty thousand new shares4 ,the prospects now held out by ,law were most magnificent4 ,he promised a yearly dividend of two hundred livres upon each share of five hundred1 which1 as the shares were paid for in billets d'tat at their nominal value1 but worth only #ajj livres1 was at the rate of about #abj per cent profit4 ,illustration3 ,,law',s ,,house2 ,,rue ,,de ,,quincampoix4 ,the public enthusiasm1 which had been so long rising1 could not resist a vision so splendid4 ,at least three hundred thousand applications were made for the fifty thousand new shares1 and ,law's house in the ,rue de ,quincampoix was beset from morning to night by the eager applicants4 ,as it was impossible to satisfy them all1 it was several weeks before a list of the fortunate new stockholders could be made out1 during which time the public impatience rose to a pitch of frenzy4 ,dukes1 marquises1 counts1 with their duchesses1 marchionesses1 and countesses1 waited in the streets for hours every day before ,mr4 ,law's door to know the result4 ,at last1 to avoid the jostling of the plebeian crowd1 which1 to the number of thousands1 filled the whole thoroughfare1 they took apartments in the adjoining houses1 that they might be continually near the temple whence the new ,plutus was diffusing wealth4 ,every day the value of the old shares increased1 and the fresh applications1 induced by the golden dreams of the whole nation1 became so numerous that it was deemed advisable to create no less than three hundred thousand new shares1 at five thousand livres each1 in order that the regent might take advantage of the popular enthusiasm to pay off the national debt4 ,for this purpose1 the sum of fifteen hundred millions of livres was necessary4 ,such was the eagerness of the nation1 that thrice the sum would have been subscribed if the government had authorised it4 ,law was now at the zenith of his prosperity1 and the people were rapidly approaching the zenith of their infatuation4 ,the highest and the lowest classes were alike filled with a vision of boundless wealth4 ,there was not a person of note among the aristocracy1 with the exception of the ,duke of ,st4 ,simon and ,marshal ,villars1 who was not engaged in buying or selling stock4 ,people of every age and sex and condition in life speculated in the rise and fall of the ,mississippi bonds4 ,the ,rue de ,quincampoix was the grand resort of the jobbers1 and it being a narrow1 inconvenient street1 accidents continually occurred in it1 from the tremendous pressure of the crowd4 ,houses in it1 worth1 in ordinary times1 a thousand livres of yearly rent1 yielded as much as twelve or sixteen thousand4 ,a cobbler1 who had a stall in it1 gained about two hundred livres a day by letting it out1 and furnishing writing materials to brokers and their clients4 ,the story goes1 that a hunchbacked man who stood in the street gained considerable sums by lending his hump as a writing-desk to the eager speculators6 ,the great concourse of persons who assembled to do business brought a still greater concourse of spectators4 ,these again drew all the thieves and immoral characters of ,paris to the spot1 and constant riots and disturbances took place4 ,at nightfall1 it was often found necessary to send a troop of soldiers to clear the street4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,hunchback4 ,law1 finding the inconvenience of his residence1 removed to the ,place ,vendme1 whither the crowd of agioteurs followed him4 ,that spacious square soon became as thronged as the ,rue de ,quincampoix3 from morning to night it presented the appearance of a fair4 ,booths and tents were erected for the transaction of business and the sale of refreshments1 and gamblers with their roulette tables stationed themselves in the very middle of the place1 and reaped a golden1 or rather a paper1 harvest from the throng4 ,the boulevards and public gardens were forsaken2 parties of pleasure took their walks in preference in the ,place ,vendme1 which became the fashionable lounge of the idle1 as well as the general rendezvous of the busy4 ,the noise was so great all day1 that the chancellor1 whose court was situated in the square1 complained to the regent and the municipality1 that he could not hear the advocates4 ,law1 when applied to1 expressed his willingness to aid in the removal of the nuisance1 and for this purpose entered into a treaty with the ,prince de ,carignan for the ,htel de ,soissons1 which had a garden of several acres in the rear4 ,a bargain was concluded1 by which ,law became the purchaser of the hotel at an enormous price1 the prince reserving to himself the magnificent gardens as a new source of profit4 ,they contained some fine statues and several fountains1 and were altogether laid out with much taste4 ,as soon as ,law was installed in his new abode1 an edict was published1 forbidding all persons to buy or sell stock any where but in the gardens of the ,htel de ,soissons4 ,in the midst1 among the trees1 about five hundred small tents and pavilions were erected1 for the convenience of the stock-jobbers4 ,their various colours1 the gay ribands and banners which floated from them1 the busy crowds which passed continually in and out--the incessant hum of voices1 the noise1 the music1 and the strange mixture of business and pleasure on the countenances of the throng1 all combined to give the place an air of enchantment that quite enraptured the ,parisians4 ,the ,prince de ,carignan made enormous profits while the delusion lasted4 ,each tent was let at the rate of five hundred livres a month2 and1 as there were at least five hundred of them1 his monthly revenue from this source alone must have amounted to #bej1jjj livres1 or upwards of #aj1jjjl4 sterling4 ,illustration3 ,,hotel ,,de ,,soissons4 ,the honest old soldier1 ,marshal ,villars1 was so vexed to see the folly which had smitten his countrymen1 that he never could speak with temper on the subject4 ,passing one day through the ,place ,vendme in his carriage1 the choleric gentleman was so annoyed at the infatuation of the people1 that he abruptly ordered his coachman to stop1 and1 putting his head out of the carriage window1 harangued them for full half an hour on their disgusting avarice4 ,this was not a very wise proceeding on his part4 ,hisses and shouts of laughter resounded from every side1 and jokes without number were aimed at him4 ,there being at last strong symptoms that something more tangible was flying through the air in the direction of his head1 the marshal was glad to drive on4 ,he never again repeated the experiment4 ,two sober1 quiet1 and philosophic men of letters1 ,m4 de la ,motte and the ,abb ,terrason1 congratulated each other1 that they1 at least1 were free from this strange infatuation4 ,a few days afterwards1 as the worthy abb was coming out of the ,htel de ,soissons1 whither he had gone to buy shares in the ,mississippi1 whom should he see but his friend ,la ,motte entering for the same purpose4 ,ha6 said the abb smiling1 is that you8 ,yes1 said ,la ,motte1 pushing past him as fast as he was able2 and can that be you8 ,the next time the two scholars met1 they talked of philosophy1 of science1 and of religion1 but neither had courage for a long time to breathe one syllable about the ,mississippi4 ,at last1 when it was mentioned1 they agreed that a man ought never to swear against his doing any one thing1 and that there was no sort of extravagance of which even a wise man was not capable4 ,during this time1 ,law1 the new ,plutus1 had become all at once the most important personage of the state4 ,the ante-chambers of the regent were forsaken by the courtiers1 ,peers1 judges1 and bishops thronged to the ,htel de ,soissons2 officers of the army and navy1 ladies of title and fashion1 and every one to whom hereditary rank or public employ gave a claim to precedence1 were to be found waiting in his ante-chambers to beg for a portion of his ,india stock4 ,law was so pestered that he was unable to see one-tenth part of the applicants1 and every manoeuvre that ingenuity could suggest was employed to gain access to him4 ,peers1 whose dignity would have been outraged if the regent had made them wait half an hour for an interview1 were content to wait six hours for the chance of seeing ,monsieur ,law4 ,enormous fees were paid to his servants1 if they would merely announce their names4 ,ladies of rank employed the blandishments of their smiles for the same object2 but many of them came day after day for a fortnight before they could obtain an audience4 ,when ,law accepted an invitation1 he was sometimes so surrounded by ladies1 all asking to have their names put down in his lists as shareholders in the new stock1 that1 in spite of his well-known and habitual gallantry1 he was obliged to tear himself away par force4 ,the most ludicrous stratagems were employed to have an opportunity of speaking to him4 ,one lady1 who had striven in vain during several days1 gave up in despair all attempts to see him at his own house1 but ordered her coachman to keep a strict watch whenever she was out in her carriage1 and if he saw ,mr4 ,law coming1 to drive against a post and upset her4 ,the coachman promised obedience1 and for three days the lady was driven incessantly through the town1 praying inwardly for the opportunity to be overturned4 ,at last she espied ,mr4 ,law1 and1 pulling the string1 called out to the coachman1 ,upset us now6 for ,god's sake1 upset us now6 ,the coachman drove against a post1 the lady screamed1 the coach was overturned1 and ,law1 who had seen the accident1 hastened to the spot to render assistance4 ,the cunning dame was led into the ,htel de ,soissons1 where she soon thought it advisable to recover from her fright1 and1 after apologising to ,mr4 ,law1 confessed her stratagem4 ,law smiled1 and entered the lady in his books as the purchaser of a quantity of ,india stock4 ,another story is told of a ,madame de ,boucha1 who1 knowing that ,mr4 ,law was at dinner at a certain house1 proceeded thither in her carriage1 and gave the alarm of fire4 ,the company started from table1 and ,law among the rest2 but1 seeing one lady making all haste into the house towards him1 while every body else was scampering away1 he suspected the trick1 and ran off in another direction4 ,illustration ,many other anecdotes are related1 which even though they may be a little exaggerated1 are nevertheless worth preserving1 as shewing the spirit of that singular period4#g ,the regent was one day mentioning1 in the presence of ,d',argenson1 the ,abb ,dubois1 and some other persons1 that he was desirous of deputing some lady1 of the rank at least of a duchess1 to attend upon his daughter at ,modena2 but1 added he1 ,i do not exactly know where to find one4 ,no6 replied one1 in affected surprise2 ,i can tell you where to find every duchess in ,france3 you have only to go to ,mr4 ,law's2 you will see them every one in his ante-chamber4 #g ,the curious reader may find an anecdote of the eagerness of the ,french ladies to retain ,law in their company1 which will make him blush or smile according as he happens to be very modest or the reverse4 ,it is related in the ,letters of ,madame ,charlotte ,elizabeth de ,bavire1 ,duchess of ,orleans1 vol4 ii4 p4 #bgd4 ,m4 de ,chirac1 a celebrated physician1 had bought stock at an unlucky period1 and was very anxious to sell out4 ,stock1 however1 continued to fall for two or three days1 much to his alarm4 ,his mind was filled with the subject1 when he was suddenly called upon to attend a lady who imagined herself unwell4 ,he arrived1 was shewn up stairs1 and felt the lady's pulse4 ,it falls6 it falls6 good ,god6 it falls continually6 said he musingly1 while the lady looked up in his face all anxiety for his opinion4 ,oh1 ,m4 de ,chirac1 said she1 starting to her feet and ringing the bell for assistance2 ,i am dying6 ,i am dying6 it falls6 it falls6 it falls6 ,what falls8 inquired the doctor in amazement4 ,my pulse6 my pulse6 said the lady2 ,i must be dying4 ,calm your apprehensions1 my dear madam1 said ,m4 de ,chirac2 ,i was speaking of the stocks4 ,the truth is1 ,i have been a great loser1 and my mind is so disturbed1 ,i hardly know what ,i have been saying4 ,the price of shares sometimes rose ten or twenty per cent in the course of a few hours1 and many persons in the humbler walks of life1 who had risen poor in the morning1 went to bed in affluence4 ,an extensive holder of stock1 being taken ill1 sent his servant to sell two hundred and fifty shares1 at eight thousand livres each1 the price at which they were then quoted4 ,the servant went1 and1 on his arrival in the ,jardin de ,soissons1 found that in the interval the price had risen to ten thousand livres4 ,the difference of two thousand livres on the two hundred and fifty shares1 amounting to #ejj1jjj livres1 or #bj1jjjl4 sterling1 he very coolly transferred to his own use1 and giving the remainder to his master1 set out the same evening for another country4 ,law's coachman in a very short time made money enough to set up a carriage of his own1 and requested permission to leave his service4 ,law1 who esteemed the man1 begged of him as a favour1 that he would endeavour1 before he went1 to find a substitute as good as himself4 ,the coachman consented1 and in the evening brought two of his former comrades1 telling ,mr4 ,law to choose between them1 and he would take the other4 ,cookmaids and footmen were now and then as lucky1 and1 in the full-blown pride of their easily-acquired wealth1 made the most ridiculous mistakes4 ,preserving the language and manners of their old1 with the finery of their new station1 they afforded continual subjects for the pity of the sensible1 the contempt of the sober1 and the laughter of every body4 ,but the folly and meanness of the higher ranks of society were still more disgusting4 ,one instance alone1 related by the ,duke de ,st4 ,simon1 will shew the unworthy avarice which infected the whole of society4 ,a man of the name of ,andr1 without character or education1 had1 by a series of well-timed speculations in ,mississippi bonds1 gained enormous wealth in an incredibly short space of time4 ,as ,st4 ,simon expresses it1 he had amassed mountains of gold4 ,as he became rich1 he grew ashamed of the lowness of his birth1 and anxious above all things to be allied to nobility4 ,he had a daughter1 an infant only three years of age1 and he opened a negotiation with the aristocratic and needy family of ,d',oyse1 that this child should1 upon certain conditions1 marry a member of that house4 ,the ,marquis ,d',oyse1 to his shame1 consented1 and promised to marry her himself on her attaining the age of twelve1 if the father would pay him down the sum of a hundred thousand crowns1 and twenty thousand livres every year until the celebration of the marriage4 ,the marquis was himself in his thirty-third year4 ,this scandalous bargain was duly signed and sealed1 the stockjobber furthermore agreeing to settle upon his daughter1 on the marriage-day1 a fortune of several millions4 ,the ,duke of ,brancas1 the head of the family1 was present throughout the negotiation1 and shared in all the profits4 ,st4 ,simon1 who treats the matter with the levity becoming what he thought so good a joke1 adds1 that people did not spare their animadversions on this beautiful marriage1 and further informs us1 that the project fell to the ground some months afterwards by the overthrow of ,law1 and the ruin of the ambitious ,monsieur ,andr4 ,it would appear1 however1 that the noble family never had the honesty to return the hundred thousand crowns4 ,amid events like these1 which1 humiliating though they be1 partake largely of the ludicrous1 others occurred of a more serious nature4 ,robberies in the streets were of daily occurrence1 in consequence of the immense sums1 in paper1 which people carried about with them4 ,assassinations were also frequent4 ,one case in particular fixed the attention of the whole of ,france1 not only on account of the enormity of the offence1 but of the rank and high connexions of the criminal4 ,illustration ,the ,count d',horn1 a younger brother of the ,prince d',horn1 and related to the noble families of ,d',aremberg1 ,de ,ligne1 and ,de ,montmorency1 was a young man of dissipated character1 extravagant to a degree1 and unprincipled as he was extravagant4 ,in connexion with two other young men as reckless as himself1 named ,mille1 a ,piedmontese captain1 and one ,destampes1 or ,lestang1 a ,fleming1 he formed a design to rob a very rich broker1 who was known1 unfortunately for himself1 to carry great sums about his person4 ,the count pretended a desire to purchase of him a number of shares in the ,company of the ,indies1 and for that purpose appointed to meet him in a cabaret1 or low public-house1 in the neighbourhood of the ,place ,vendme4 ,the unsuspecting broker was punctual to his appointment2 so were the ,count d',horn and his two associates1 whom he introduced as his particular friends4 ,after a few moments' conversation1 the ,count d',horn suddenly sprang upon his victim1 and stabbed him three times in the breast with a poniard4 ,the man fell heavily to the ground1 and1 while the count was employed in rifling his portfolio of bonds in the ,mississippi and ,indian schemes to the amount of one hundred thousand crowns1 ,mille1 the ,piedmontese1 stabbed the unfortunate broker again and again1 to make sure of his death1 ,but the broker did not fall without a struggle1 and his cries brought the people of the cabaret to his assistance4 ,lestang1 the other assassin1 who had been set to keep watch at a staircase1 sprang from a window and escaped2 but ,mille and the ,count d',horn were seized in the very act4 ,this crime1 committed in open day1 and in so public a place as a cabaret1 filled ,paris with consternation4 ,the trial of the assassins commenced on the following day2 and the evidence being so clear1 they were both found guilty1 and condemned1 to be broken alive on the wheel4 ,the noble relatives of the ,count d',horn absolutely blocked up the ante-chambers of the regent1 praying for mercy on the misguided youth1 and alleging that he was insane4 ,the regent avoided them as long as possible1 being determined that1 in a case so atrocious1 justice should take its course4 ,but the importunity of these influential suitors was not to be overcome so silently2 and they at last forced themselves into the presence of the regent1 and prayed him to save their house the shame of a public execution4 ,they hinted that the ,princes d',horn were allied to the illustrious family of ,orleans2 and added1 that the regent himself would be disgraced if a kinsman of his should die by the hands of a common executioner4 ,the regent1 to his credit1 was proof against all their solicitations1 and replied to their last argument in the words of ,corneille3 ,le crime fait la honte1 et non pas l'chafaud3 adding1 that whatever shame there might be in the punishment he would very willingly share with the other relatives4 ,day after day they renewed their entreaties1 but always with the same result4 ,at last they thought1 that if they could interest the ,duke de ,st4 ,simon in their favour--a man1 for whom the regent felt sincere esteem--they might succeed in their object4 ,the duke1 a thorough aristocrat1 was as shocked as they were that a noble assassin should die by the same death as a plebeian felon1 and represented to the regent the impolicy of making enemies of so numerous1 wealthy1 and powerful a family4 ,he urged1 too1 that in ,germany1 where the family of ,d',aremberg had large possessions1 it was the law1 that no relative of a person broken on the wheel could succeed to any public office or employ until a whole generation had passed away4 ,for this reason1 he thought the punishment of the guilty count might be transmuted into beheading1 which was considered all over ,europe as much less infamous4 ,the regent was moved by this argument1 and was about to consent1 when ,law1 who felt peculiarly interested in the fate of the murdered man1 confirmed him in his former resolution to let the law take its course4 ,the relatives of ,d',horn were now reduced to the last extremity4 ,the ,prince de ,robec ,montmorency1 despairing of other methods1 found means to penetrate into the dungeon of the criminal1 and offering him a cup of poison1 implored him to save them from disgrace4 ,the ,count d',horn turned away his head1 and refused to take it4 ,montmorency pressed him once more2 and losing all patience at his continued refusal1 turned on his heel1 and exclaiming1 ,die1 then1 as thou wilt1 mean-spirited wretch6 thou art fit only to perish by the hands of the hangman6 left him to his fate4 ,d',horn himself petitioned the regent that he might be beheaded2 but ,law1 who exercised more influence over his mind than any other person1 with the exception of the notorious ,abb ,dubois1 his tutor1 insisted that he could not in justice succumb to the self-interested views of the ,d',horns4 ,the regent had from the first been of the same opinion2 and within six days after the commission of their crime1 ,d',horn and ,mille were broken on the wheel in the ,place de ,grve4 ,the other assassin1 ,lestang1 was never apprehended4 ,this prompt and severe justice was highly pleasing to the populace of ,paris4 ,even ,m4 de ,quincampoix1 as they called ,law1 came in for a share of their approbation for having induced the regent to shew no favour to a patrician4 ,but the number of robberies and assassinations did not diminish2 no sympathy was shewn for rich jobbers when they were plundered4 ,the general laxity of public morals1 conspicuous enough before1 was rendered still more so by its rapid pervasion of the middle classes1 who had hitherto remained comparatively pure between the open vices of the class above and the hidden crimes of the class below them4 ,the pernicious love of gambling diffused itself through society1 and bore all public and nearly all private virtue before it4 ,for a time1 while confidence lasted1 an impetus was given to trade which could not fail to be beneficial4 ,in ,paris especially the good results were felt4 ,strangers flocked into the capital from every part1 bent not only upon making money1 but on spending it4 ,the ,duchess of ,orleans1 mother of the regent1 computes the increase of the population during this time1 from the great influx of strangers from all parts of the world1 at #cje1jjj souls4 ,the housekeepers were obliged to make up beds in garrets1 kitchens1 and even stables1 for the accommodation of lodgers2 and the town was so full of carriages and vehicles of every description1 that they were obliged1 in the principal streets1 to drive at a foot-pace for fear of accidents4 ,the looms of the country worked with unusual activity to supply rich laces1 silks1 broad-cloth1 and velvets1 which being paid for in abundant paper1 increased in price four-fold4 ,provisions shared the general advance4 ,bread1 meat1 and vegetables were sold at prices greater than had ever before been known2 while the wages of labour rose in exactly the same proportion4 ,the artisan who formerly gained fifteen sous per diem now gained sixty4 ,new houses were built in every direction2 an illusory prosperity shone over the land1 and so dazzled the eyes of the whole nation1 that none could see the dark cloud on the horizon announcing the storm that was too rapidly approaching4 ,law himself1 the magician whose wand had wrought so surprising a change1 shared1 of course1 in the general prosperity4 ,his wife and daughter were courted by the highest nobility1 and their alliance sought by the heirs of ducal and princely houses4 ,he bought two splendid estates in different parts of ,france1 and entered into a negotiation with the family of the ,duke de ,sully for the purchase of the marquisate of ,rosny4 ,his religion being an obstacle to his advancement1 the regent promised1 if he would publicly conform to the ,catholic faith1 to make him comptroller-general of the finances4 ,law1 who had no more real religion than any other professed gambler1 readily agreed1 and was confirmed by the ,abb de ,tencin in the cathedral of ,melun1 in presence of a great crowd of spectators#h4 ,on the following day he was elected honorary churchwarden of the parish of ,st4 ,roch1 upon which occasion he made it a present of the sum of five hundred thousand livres4 ,his charities1 always magnificent1 were not always so ostentatious4 ,he gave away great sums privately1 and no tale of real distress ever reached his ears in vain4 #h ,the following squib was circulated on the occasion3 ,foin de ton zle sraphique1 ,malheureux ,abb de ,tencin1 ,depuis que ,law est ,catholique1 ,tout le royaume est ,capucin6 ,thus somewhat weakly and paraphrastically rendered by ,justandsond1 in his translation of the ,memoirs of ,louis ,,xv43 ,tencin1 a curse on thy seraphic zeal1 ,which by persuasion hath contrived the means ,to make the ,scotchman at our altars kneel1 ,since which we all are poor as ,capucines6 ,at this time he was by far the most influential person of the state4 ,the ,duke of ,orleans had so much confidence in his sagacity and the success of his plans1 that he always consulted him upon every matter of moment4 ,he was by no means unduly elevated by his prosperity1 but remained the same simple1 affable1 sensible man that he had shewn himself in adversity4 ,his gallantry1 which was always delightful to the fair objects of it1 was of a nature so kind1 so gentlemanly1 and so respectful1 that not even a lover could have taken offence at it4 ,if upon any occasion he shewed any symptoms of haughtiness1 it was to the cringing nobles who lavished their adulation upon him till it became fulsome4 ,he often took pleasure in seeing how long he could make them dance attendance upon him for a single favour4 ,to such of his own countrymen as by chance visited ,paris1 and sought an interview with him1 he was1 on the contrary1 all politeness and attention4 ,when ,archibald ,campbell1 ,earl of ,islay1 and afterwards ,duke of ,argyle1 called upon him in the ,place ,vendme1 he had to pass through an ante-chamber crowded with persons of the first distinction1 all anxious to see the great financier1 and have their names put down as first on the list of some new subscription4 ,law himself was quietly sitting in his library1 writing a letter to the gardener at his paternal estate of ,lauriston about the planting of some cabbages6 ,the earl stayed for a considerable time1 played a game of piquet with his countryman1 and left him1 charmed with his ease1 good sense1 and good breeding4 ,illustration3 ,,law ,,as ,,atlas4#i #i ,from a print in a ,dutch collection of satirical prints relating to the ,mississippi ,mania1 entitled ,het groote ,tafereel der ,dwaasheid2 or1 ,the great picture of ,folly4 ,the print of ,atlas is styled1 ,l',atlas actieux de ,papier4 ,law is calling in ,hercules to aid him in supporting the globe4 ,quoted in ,wright's ,england under the ,house of ,hanover4 ,among the nobles who1 by means of the public credulity at this time1 gained sums sufficient to repair their ruined fortunes1 may be mentioned the names of the ,dukes de ,bourbon1 de ,guiche1 de la ,force1#aj de ,chaulnes1 and d',antin2 the ,marechal d',estres2 the ,princes de ,rohan1 de ,poix1 and de ,lon4 ,the ,duke de ,bourbon1 son of ,louis ,,xiv4 by ,madame de ,montespan1 was peculiarly fortunate in his speculations in ,mississippi paper4 ,he rebuilt the royal residence of ,chantilly in a style of unwonted magnificence2 and being passionately fond of horses1 he erected a range of stables1 which were long renowned throughout ,europe1 and imported a hundred and fifty of the finest racers from ,england to improve the breed in ,france4 ,he bought a large extent of country in ,picardy1 and became possessed of nearly all the valuable lands lying between the ,oise and the ,somme4 #aj ,the ,duke de la ,force gained considerable sums1 not only by jobbing in the stocks1 but in dealing in porcelain1 spices1 c4 ,it was debated for a length of time in the parliament of ,paris whether he had not1 in his quality of spice-merchant1 forfeited his rank in the peerage4 ,it was decided in the negative4 ,a caricature of him was made1 dressed as a street-porter1 carrying a large bale of spices on his back1 with the inscription1 ,admirez ,,la ,,force4 ,when fortunes such as these were gained1 it is no wonder that ,law should have been almost worshipped by the mercurial population4 ,never was monarch more flattered than he was4 ,all the small poets and littrateurs of the day poured floods of adulation upon him4 ,according to them1 he was the saviour of the country1 the tutelary divinity of ,france2 wit was in all his words1 goodness in all his looks1 and wisdom in all his actions4 ,so great a crowd followed his carriage whenever he went abroad1 that the regent sent him a troop of horse as his permanent escort to clear the streets before him4 ,it was remarked at this time that ,paris had never before been so full of objects of elegance and luxury4 ,statues1 pictures1 and tapestries were imported in great quantities from foreign countries1 and found a ready market4 ,all those pretty trifles in the way of furniture and ornament which the ,french excel in manufacturing were no longer the exclusive playthings of the aristocracy1 but were to be found in abundance in the houses of traders and the middle classes in general4 ,jewellery of the most costly description was brought to ,paris as the most favourable mart2 among the rest1 the famous diamond bought by the regent1 and called by his name1 and which long adorned the crown of ,france4 ,it was purchased for the sum of two millions of livres1 under circumstances which shew that the regent was not so great a gainer as some of his subjects by the impetus which trade had received4 ,when the diamond was first offered to him1 he refused to buy it1 although he desired above all things to possess it1 alleging as his reason1 that his duty to the country he governed would not allow him to spend so large a sum of the public money for a mere jewel4 ,this valid and honourable excuse threw all the ladies of the court into alarm1 and nothing was heard for some days but expressions of regret that so rare a gem should be allowed to go out of ,france1 no private individual being rich enough to buy it4 ,the regent was continually importuned about it1 but all in vain1 until the ,duke de ,st4 ,simon1 who with all his ability was something of a twaddler1 undertook the weighty business4 ,his entreaties being seconded by ,law1 the good-natured regent gave his consent1 leaving to ,law's ingenuity to find the means to pay for it4 ,the owner took security for the payment of the sum of two millions of livres within a stated period1 receiving in the mean time the interest of five per cent upon that amount1 and being allowed1 besides1 all the valuable clippings of the gem4 ,st4 ,simon1 in his ,memoirs1 relates with no little complacency his share in this transaction4 ,after describing the diamond to be as large as a greengage1 of a form nearly round1 perfectly white1 and without flaw1 and weighing more than five hundred grains1 he concludes with a chuckle1 by telling the world that he takes great credit to himself for having induced the regent to make so illustrious a purchase4 ,in other words1 he was proud that he had induced him to sacrifice his duty1 and buy a bauble for himself at an extravagant price out of the public money4 ,thus the system continued to flourish till the commencement of the year #agbj4 ,the warnings of the parliament1 that too great a creation of paper money would1 sooner or later1 bring the country to bankruptcy1 were disregarded4 ,the regent1 who knew nothing whatever of the philosophy of finance1 thought that a system which had produced such good effects could never be carried to excess4 ,if five hundred millions of paper had been of such advantage1 five hundred millions additional would be of still greater advantage4 ,this was the grand error of the regent1 and which ,law did not attempt to dispel4 ,the extraordinary avidity of the people kept up the delusion2 and the higher the price of ,indian and ,mississippi stock1 the more billets de banque were issued to keep pace with it4 ,the edifice thus reared might not unaptly be compared to the gorgeous palace erected by ,potemkin1 that princely barbarian of ,russia1 to surprise and please his imperial mistress3 huge blocks of ice were piled one upon another2 ionic pillars1 of chastest workmanship1 in ice1 formed a noble portico2 and a dome1 of the same material1 shone in the sun1 which had just strength enough to gild1 but not to melt it4 ,it glittered afar1 like a palace of crystals and diamonds2 but there came one warm breeze from the south1 and the stately building dissolved away1 till none were able even to gather up the fragments4 ,so with ,law and his paper system4 ,no sooner did the breath of popular mistrust blow steadily upon it1 than it fell to ruins1 and none could raise it up again4 ,the first slight alarm that was occasioned was early in #agbj4 ,the ,prince de ,conti1 offended that ,law should have denied him fresh shares in ,india stock1 at his own price1 sent to his bank to demand payment in specie of so enormous a quantity of notes1 that three wagons were required for its transport4 ,law complained to the regent1 and urged on his attention the mischief that would be done1 if such an example found many imitators4 ,the regent was but too well aware of it1 and1 sending for the ,prince de ,conti1 ordered him1 under penalty of his high displeasure1 to refund to the bank two-thirds of the specie which he had withdrawn from it4 ,the prince was forced to obey the despotic mandate4 ,happily for ,law's credit1 ,de ,conti was an unpopular man3 every body condemned his meanness and cupidity1 and agreed that ,law had been hardly treated4 ,it is strange1 however1 that so narrow an escape should not have made both ,law and the regent more anxious to restrict their issues4 ,others were soon found who imitated1 from motives of distrust1 the example which had been set by ,de ,conti in revenge4 ,the more acute stockjobbers imagined justly that prices could not continue to rise for ever4 ,bourdon and ,la ,richardire1 renowned for their extensive operations in the funds1 quietly and in small quantities at a time1 converted their notes into specie1 and sent it away to foreign countries4 ,they also bought as much as they could conveniently carry of plate and expensive jewellery1 and sent it secretly away to ,england or to ,holland4 ,vermalet1 a jobber1 who sniffed the coming storm1 procured gold and silver coin to the amount of nearly a million of livres1 which he packed in a farmer's cart1 and covered over with hay and cow-dung4 ,he then disguised himself in the dirty smock-frock1 or blouse1 of a peasant1 and drove his precious load in safety into ,belgium4 ,from thence he soon found means to transport it to ,amsterdam4 ,hitherto no difficulty had been experienced by any class in procuring specie for their wants4 ,but this system could not long be carried on without causing a scarcity4 ,the voice of complaint was heard on every side1 and inquiries being instituted1 the cause was soon discovered4 ,the council debated long on the remedies to be taken1 and ,law1 being called on for his advice1 was of opinion1 that an edict should be published1 depreciating the value of coin five per cent below that of paper4 ,the edict was published accordingly2 but failing of its intended effect1 was followed by another1 in which the depreciation was increased to ten per cent4 ,the payments of the bank were at the same time restricted to one hundred livres in gold1 and ten in silver4 ,all these measures were nugatory to restore confidence in the paper1 though the restriction of cash payments within limits so extremely narrow kept up the credit of the bank4 ,illustration3 ,,lucifer',s ,,new ,,row-,,barge4#aa #aa ,lucifer's ,new ,row-,barge exhibits ,law in a barge1 with a host of emblematic figures representing the ,mississippi follies4--,from a ,print in ,mr4 ,hawkins' ,collection4 ,notwithstanding every effort to the contrary1 the precious metals continued to be conveyed to ,england and ,holland4 ,the little coin that was left in the country was carefully treasured1 or hidden until the scarcity became so great1 that the operations of trade could no longer be carried on4 ,in this emergency1 ,law hazarded the bold experiment of forbidding the use of specie altogether4 ,in ,february #agbj an edict was published1 which1 instead of restoring the credit of the paper1 as was intended1 destroyed it irrecoverably1 and drove the country to the very brink of revolution4 ,by this famous edict it was forbidden to any person whatever to have more than five hundred livres 7#bjl47 of coin in his possession1 under pain of a heavy fine1 and confiscation of the sums found4 ,it was also forbidden to buy up jewellery1 plate1 and precious stones1 and informers were encouraged to make search for offenders1 by the promise of one-half the amount they might discover4 ,the whole country sent up a cry of distress at this unheard-of tyranny4 ,the most odious persecution daily took place4 ,the privacy of families was violated by the intrusion of informers and their agents4 ,the most virtuous and honest were denounced for the crime of having been seen with a louis d'or in their possession4 ,servants betrayed their masters1 one citizen became a spy upon his neighbour1 and arrests and confiscations so multiplied1 that the courts found a difficulty in getting through the immense increase of business thus occasioned4 ,it was sufficient for an informer to say that he suspected any person of concealing money in his house1 and immediately a search-warrant was granted4 ,lord ,stair1 the ,english ambassador1 said1 that it was now impossible to doubt of the sincerity of ,law's conversion to the ,catholic religion2 he had established the inquisition1 after having given abundant evidence of his faith in transubstantiation1 by turning so much gold into paper4 ,every epithet that popular hatred could suggest was showered upon the regent and the unhappy ,law4 ,coin1 to any amount above five hundred livres1 was an illegal tender1 and nobody would take paper if he could help it4 ,no one knew to-day what his notes would be worth to-morrow4 ,never1 says ,duclos1 in his ,secret ,memoirs of the ,regency1 was seen a more capricious government--never was a more frantic tyranny exercised by hands less firm4 ,it is inconceivable to those who were witnesses of the horrors of those times1 and who look back upon them now as on a dream1 that a sudden revolution did not break out--that ,law and the regent did not perish by a tragical death4 ,they were both held in horror1 but the people confined themselves to complaints2 a sombre and timid despair1 a stupid consternation1 had seized upon all1 and men's minds were too vile even to be capable of a courageous crime4 ,it would appear that1 a one time1 a movement of the people was organised4 ,seditious writings were posted up against the walls1 and were sent1 in hand-bills1 to the houses of the most conspicuous people4 ,one of them1 given in the ,mmoires de la ,rgence1 was to the following effect3--,sir and madam1--,this is to give you notice that a ,st4 ,bartholomew's ,day will be enacted again on ,saturday and ,sunday1 if affairs do not alter4 ,you are desired not to stir out1 nor you1 nor your servants4 ,god preserve you from the flames6 ,give notice to your neighbours4 ,dated1 ,saturday1 ,may #beth1 #agbj4 ,the immense number of spies with which the city was infested rendered the people mistrustful of one another1 and beyond some trifling disturbances made in the evening by an insignificant group1 which was soon dispersed1 the peace of the capital was not compromised4 ,illustration ,the value of shares in the ,louisiana1 or ,mississippi stock1 had fallen very rapidly1 and few indeed were found to believe the tales that had once been told of the immense wealth of that region4 ,a last effort was therefore tried to restore the public confidence in the ,mississippi project4 ,for this purpose1 a general conscription of all the poor wretches in ,paris was made by order of government4 ,upwards of six thousand of the very refuse of the population were impressed1 as if in time of war1 and were provided with clothes and tools to be embarked for ,new ,orleans1 to work in the gold mines alleged to abound there4 ,they were paraded day after day through the streets with their pikes and shovels1 and then sent off in small detachments to the out-ports to be shipped for ,america4 ,two-thirds of them never reached their destination1 but dispersed themselves over the country1 sold their tools for what they could get1 and returned to their old course of life4 ,in less than three weeks afterwards1 one-half of them were to be found again in ,paris4 ,the manoeuvre1 however1 caused a trifling advance in ,mississippi stock4 ,many persons of superabundant gullibility believed that operations had begun in earnest in the new ,golconda1 and that gold and silver ingots would again be found in ,france4 ,in a constitutional monarchy some surer means would have been found for the restoration of public credit4 ,in ,england1 at a subsequent period1 when a similar delusion had brought on similar distress1 how different were the measures taken to repair the evil2 but in ,france1 unfortunately1 the remedy was left to the authors of the mischief4 ,the arbitrary will of the regent1 which endeavoured to extricate the country1 only plunged it deeper into the mire4 ,all payments were ordered to be made in paper1 and between the #ast of ,february and the end of ,may1 notes were fabricated to the amount of upwards of #aejj millions of livres1 or #fj1jjj1jjjl4 sterling4 ,but the alarm once sounded1 no art could make the people feel the slightest confidence in paper which was not exchangeable into metal4 ,m4 ,lambert1 the president of the parliament of ,paris1 told the regent to his face that he would rather have a hundred thousand livres in gold or silver than five millions in the notes of his bank4 ,when such was the general feeling1 the superabundant issues of paper but increased the evil1 by rendering still more enormous the disparity between the amount of specie and notes in circulation4 ,coin1 which it was the object of the regent to depreciate1 rose in value on every fresh attempt to diminish it4 ,in ,february1 it was judged advisable that the ,royal ,bank should be incorporated with the ,company of the ,indies4 ,an edict to that effect was published and registered by the parliament4 ,the state remained the guarantee for the notes of the bank1 and no more were to be issued without an order in council4 ,all the profits of the bank1 since the time it had been taken out of ,law's hands and made a national institution1 were given over by the regent to the ,company of the ,indies4 ,this measure had the effect of raising for a short time the value of the ,louisiana and other shares of the company1 but it failed in placing public credit on any permanent basis4 ,a council of state was held in the beginning of ,may1 at which ,law1 ,d',argenson 7his colleague in the administration of the finances71 and all the ministers were present4 ,it was then computed that the total amount of notes in circulation was #bfjj millions of livres1 while the coin in the country was not quite equal to half that amount4 ,it was evident to the majority of the council that some plan must be adopted to equalise the currency4 ,some proposed that the notes should be reduced to the value of the specie1 while others proposed that the nominal value of the specie should be raised till it was on an equality with the paper4 ,law is said to have opposed both these projects1 but failing in suggesting any other1 it was agreed that the notes should be depreciated one half4 ,on the #bast of ,may1 an edict was accordingly issued1 by which it was decreed that the shares of the ,company of the ,indies1 and the notes of the bank1 should gradually diminish in value1 till at the end of a year they should only pass current for one-half of their nominal worth4 ,the parliament refused to register the edict--the greatest outcry was excited1 and the state of the country became so alarming1 that1 as the only means of preserving tranquillity1 the council of the regency was obliged to stultify its own proceedings1 by publishing within seven days another edict1 restoring the notes to their original value4 ,on the same day 7the #bgth of ,may7 the bank stopped payment in specie4 ,law and ,d',argenson were both dismissed from the ministry4 ,the weak1 vacillating1 and cowardly regent threw the blame of all the mischief upon ,law1 who1 upon presenting himself at the ,palais ,royal1 was refused admittance4 ,at nightfall1 however1 he was sent for1 and admitted into the palace by a secret door1#ab when the regent endeavoured to console him1 and made all manner of excuses for the severity with which in public he had been compelled to treat him4 ,so capricious was his conduct1 that1 two days afterwards1 he took him publicly to the opera1 where he sat in the royal box alongside of the regent1 who treated him with marked consideration in face of all the people4 ,but such was the hatred against ,law that the experiment had well nigh proved fatal to him4 ,the mob assailed his carriage with stones just as he was entering his own door2 and if the coachman had not made a sudden jerk into the court-yard1 and the domestics closed the gate immediately1 he would1 in all probability1 have been dragged out and torn to pieces4 ,on the following day1 his wife and daughter were also assailed by the mob as they were returning in their carriage from the races4 ,when the regent was informed of these occurrences he sent ,law a strong detachment of ,swiss guards1 who were stationed night and day in the court of his residence4 ,the public indignation at last increased so much1 that ,law1 finding his own house1 even with this guard1 insecure1 took refuge in the ,palais ,royal1 in the apartments of the regent4 #ab ,duclos1 ,memoires ,secrets de la ,rgence4 ,the ,chancellor1 ,d',aguesseau1 who had been dismissed in #agah for his opposition to the projects of ,law1 was now recalled to aid in the restoration of credit4 ,the regent acknowledged too late1 that he had treated with unjustifiable harshness and mistrust one of the ablest1 and perhaps the sole honest public man of that corrupt period4 ,he had retired ever since his disgrace to his country house at ,fresnes1 where1 in the midst of severe but delightful philosophic studies1 he had forgotten the intrigues of an unworthy court4 ,law himself1 and the ,chevalier de ,conflans1 a gentleman of the regent's household1 were despatched in a post-chaise with orders to bring the ex-chancellor to ,paris along with them4 ,d',aguesseau consented to render what assistance he could1 contrary to the advice of his friends1 who did not approve that he should accept any recal to office of which ,law was the bearer4 ,on his arrival in ,paris1 five counsellors of the parliament were admitted to confer with the ,commissary of ,finance2 and on the #ast of ,june an order was published abolishing the law which made it criminal to amass coin to the amount of more than five hundred livres4 ,every one was permitted to have as much specie as he pleased4 ,in order that the bank-notes might be withdrawn1 twenty-five millions of new notes were created1 on the security of the revenues of the city of ,paris1 at two-and-a-half per cent4 ,the bank-notes withdrawn were publicly burned in front of the ,htel de ,ville4 ,the new notes were principally of the value of ten livres each2 and on the #ajth of ,june the bank was re-opened1 with a sufficiency of silver coin to give in change for them4 ,illustration3 ,d',,aguesseau4 ,these measures were productive of considerable advantage4 ,all the population of ,paris hastened to the bank to get coin for their small notes2 and silver becoming scarce1 they were paid in copper4 ,very few complained that this was too heavy1 although poor fellows might be continually seen toiling and sweating along the streets1 laden with more than they could comfortably carry1 in the shape of change for fifty livres4 ,the crowds around the bank were so great1 that hardly a day passed that some one was not pressed to death4 ,on the #ith of ,july1 the multitude was so dense and clamorous that the guards stationed at the entrance of the ,mazarin ,gardens closed the gate and refused to admit any more4 ,the crowd became incensed1 and flung stones through the railings upon the soldiers4 ,the latter1 incensed in their turn1 threatened to fire upon the people4 ,at that instant one of them was hit by a stone1 and1 taking up his piece1 he fired into the crowd4 ,one man fell dead immediately1 and another was severely wounded4 ,it was every instant expected that a general attack would have been commenced upon the bank2 but the gates of the ,mazarin ,gardens being opened to the crowd1 who saw a whole troop of soldiers1 with their bayonets fixed ready to receive them1 they contented themselves by giving vent to their indignation in groans and hisses4 ,eight days afterwards the concourse of people was so tremendous that fifteen persons were squeezed to death at the doors of the bank4 ,the people were so indignant that they took three of the bodies on stretchers before them1 and proceeded1 to the number of seven or eight thousand1 to the gardens of the ,palais ,royal1 that they might shew the regent the misfortunes that he and ,law had brought upon the country4 ,law's coachman1 who was sitting at the box of his master's carriage1 in the court-yard of the palace1 happened to have more zeal than discretion1 and1 not liking that the mob should abuse his master1 he said1 loud enough to be overheard by several persons1 that they were all blackguards1 and deserved to be hanged4 ,the mob immediately set upon him1 and thinking that ,law was in the carriage1 broke it to pieces4 ,the imprudent coachman narrowly escaped with his life4 ,no further mischief was done2 a body of troops making their appearance1 the crowd quietly dispersed1 after an assurance had been given by the regent that the three bodies they had brought to shew him should be decently buried at his own expense4 ,the parliament was sitting at the time of this uproar1 and the president took upon himself to go out and see what was the matter4 ,on his return he informed the councillors that ,law's carriage had been broken by the mob4 ,all the members rose simultaneously1 and expressed their joy by a loud shout1 while one man1 more zealous in his hatred than the rest1 exclaimed1 ,and ,law himself1 is he torn to pieces8#ac #ac ,the ,duchess of ,orleans gives a different version of this story2 but whichever be the true one1 the manifestation of such feeling in a legislative assembly was not very creditable4 ,she says that the president was so transported with joy1 that he was seized with a rhyming fit1 and1 returning into the hall1 exclaimed to the members3 ,messieurs6 ,messieurs6 bonne nouvelle6 ,le carrosse de ,lass est reduit en cannelle6 ,much1 undoubtedly1 depended on the credit of the ,company of the ,indies1 which was answerable for so great a sum to the nation4 ,it was therefore suggested in the council of the ministry1 that any privileges which could be granted to enable it to fulfil its engagements1 would be productive of the best results4 ,with this end in view1 it was proposed that the exclusive privilege of all maritime commerce should be secured to it1 and an edict to that effect was published4 ,but it was unfortunately forgotten that by such a measure all the merchants of the country would be ruined4 ,the idea of such an immense privilege was generally scouted by the nation1 and petition on petition was presented to the parliament that they would refuse to register the decree4 ,they refused accordingly1 and the regent1 remarking that they did nothing but fan the flame of sedition1 exiled them to ,blois4 ,at the intercession of ,d',aguesseau1 the place of banishment was changed to ,pontoise1 and thither accordingly the councillors repaired1 determined to set the regent at defiance4 ,they made every arrangement for rendering their temporary exile as agreeable as possible4 ,the president gave the most elegant suppers1 to which he invited all the gayest and wittiest company of ,paris4 ,every night there was a concert and ball for the ladies4 ,the usually grave and solemn judges and councillors joined in cards and other diversions1 leading for several weeks a life of the most extravagant pleasure1 for no other purpose than to shew the regent of how little consequence they deemed their banishment1 and that1 when they willed it1 they could make ,pontoise a pleasanter residence than ,paris4 ,of all the nations in the world the ,french are the most renowned for singing over their grievances4 ,of that country it has been remarked with some truth1 that its whole history may be traced in its songs4 ,when ,law1 by the utter failure of his best-laid plans1 rendered himself obnoxious1 satire of course seized hold upon him2 and while caricatures of his person appeared in all the shops1 the streets resounded with songs1 in which neither he nor the regent was spared4 ,many of these songs were far from decent2 and one of them in particular counselled the application of all his notes to the most ignoble use to which paper can be applied4 ,but the following1 preserved in the letters of the ,duchess of ,orleans1 was the best and the most popular1 and was to be heard for months in all the carrefours in ,paris4 ,the application of the chorus is happy enough3 ,aussitt que ,lass arriva ,dans notre bonne ville1 ,monsieur le ,rgent publia ,que ,lass serait utile ,pour rtablir la nation4 ,la faridondaine6 la faridondon6 ,mais il nous a tous enrichi1 ,biribi6 ,a la faon de ,barbari1 ,mon ami6 ,ce parpaillot1 pour attirer ,tout l'argent de la ,france1 ,songea d'abord s'assurer ,de notre confiance4 ,il fit son abjuration1 ,la faridondaine6 la faridondon6 ,mais le fourbe s'est converti1 ,biribi6 ,a la faon de ,barbari1 ,mon ami6 ,lass1 le fils an de ,satan ,nous met tous l'aumne1 ,il nous a pris tout notre argent ,et n'en rend personne4 ,mais le ,rgent1 humain et bon1 ,la faridondaine6 la faridondon6 ,nous rendra ce qu'on nous a pris1 ,biribi6 ,a la faon de ,barbari1 ,mon ami6 ,the following epigram is of the same date3 ,lundi1 j'achetai des actions2 ,mardi1 je gagnai des millions2 ,mercredi1 j'arrangeai mon mnage1 ,jeudi1 je pris un quipage1 ,vendredi1 je m'en fus au bal1 ,et ,samedi1 l'hpital4 ,among the caricatures that were abundantly published1 and that shewed as plainly as graver matters1 that the nation had awakened to a sense of its folly1 was one1 a fac-simile of which is preserved in the ,mmoires de la ,rgence4 ,it was thus described by its author3 ,the ',goddess of ,shares1' in her triumphal car1 driven by the ,goddess of ,folly4 ,those who are drawing the car are impersonations of the ,mississippi1 with his wooden leg1 the ,south ,sea1 the ,bank of ,england1 the ,company of the ,west of ,senegal1 and of various assurances4 ,lest the car should not roll fast enough1 the agents of these companies1 known by their long fox-tails and their cunning looks1 turn round the spokes of the wheels1 upon which are marked the names of the several stocks and their value1 sometimes high and sometimes low1 according to the turns of the wheel4 ,upon the ground are the merchandise1 day-books and ledgers of legitimate commerce1 crushed under the chariot of ,folly4 ,behind is an immense crowd of persons1 of all ages1 sexes1 and conditions1 clamoring after ,fortune1 and fighting with each other to get a portion of the shares which she distributes so bountifully among them4 ,in the clouds sits a demon1 blowing bubbles of soap1 which are also the objects of the admiration and cupidity of the crowd1 who jump upon one another's backs to reach them ere they burst4 ,right in the pathway of the car1 and blocking up the passage1 stands a large building1 with three doors1 through one of which it must pass1 if it proceeds farther1 and all the crowd along with it4 ,over the first door are the words1 ',hpital des ,foux1' over the second1 ',hpital des ,malades1' and over the third1 ',hpital des ,gueux4' ,another caricature represented ,law sitting in a large cauldron1 boiling over the flames of popular madness1 surrounded by an impetuous multitude1 who were pouring all their gold and silver into it1 and receiving gladly in exchange the bits of paper which he distributed among them by handfuls4 ,while this excitement lasted1 ,law took good care not to expose himself unguarded in the streets4 ,shut up in the apartments of the regent1 he was secure from all attack2 and whenever he ventured abroad1 it was either incognito1 or in one of the royal carriages1 with a powerful escort4 ,an amusing anecdote is recorded of the detestation in which he was held by the people1 and the ill-treatment he would have met had he fallen into their hands4 ,a gentleman of the name of ,boursel was passing in his carriage down the ,rue ,st4 ,antoine1 when his farther progress was stayed by a hackney-coach that had blocked up the road4 ,m4 ,boursel's servant called impatiently to the hackney-coachman to get out of the way1 and1 on his refusal1 struck him a blow on the face4 ,a crowd was soon drawn together by the disturbance1 and ,m4 ,boursel got out of the carriage to restore order4 ,the hackney-coachman1 imagining that he had now another assailant1 bethought him of an expedient to rid himself of both1 and called out as loudly as he was able1 ,help6 help6 murder6 murder6 ,here are ,law and his servant going to kill me6 ,help6 help6 ,at this cry the people came out of their shops1 armed with sticks and other weapons1 while the mob gathered stones to inflict summary vengeance upon the supposed financier4 ,happily for ,m4 ,boursel and his servant1 the door of the church of the ,jesuits stood wide open1 and1 seeing the fearful odds against them1 they rushed towards it with all speed4 ,they reached the altar1 pursued by the people1 and would have been ill-treated even there1 if1 finding the door open leading to the sacristy1 they had not sprang through1 and closed it after them4 ,the mob were then persuaded to leave the church by the alarmed and indignant priests1 and finding ,m4 ,boursel's carriage still in the streets1 they vented their ill-will against it1 and did it considerable damage4 ,the twenty-five millions secured on the municipal revenues of the city of ,paris1 bearing so low an interest as two and a half per cent1 were not very popular among the large holders of ,mississippi stock4 ,the conversion of the securities was1 therefore1 a work of considerable difficulty2 for many preferred to retain the falling paper of ,law's ,company1 in the hope that a favourable turn might take place4 ,on the #aeth of ,august1 with a view to hasten the conversion1 an edict was passed1 declaring that all notes for sums between one thousand and ten thousand livres1 should not pass current1 except for the purchase of annuities and bank accounts1 or for the payment of instalments still due on the shares of the company4 ,in ,october following another edict was passed1 depriving these notes of all value whatever after the month of ,november next ensuing4 ,the management of the mint1 the farming of the revenue1 and all the other advantages and privileges of the ,india1 or ,mississippi ,company1 were taken from them1 and they were reduced to a mere private company4 ,this was the death-blow to the whole system1 which had now got into the hands of its enemies4 ,law had lost all influence in the ,council of ,finance1 and the company1 being despoiled of its immunities1 could no longer hold out the shadow of a prospect of being able to fulfil its engagements4 ,all those suspected of illegal profits at the time the public delusion was at its height1 were sought out and amerced in heavy fines4 ,it was previously ordered that a list of the original proprietors should be made out1 and that such persons as still retained their shares should place them in deposit with the company1 and that those who had neglected to complete the shares for which they had put down their names1 should now purchase them of the company1 at the rate of #ac1ejj livres for each share of #ejj livres4 ,rather than submit to pay this enormous sum for stock which was actually at a discount1 the shareholders packed up all their portable effects1 and endeavoured to find a refuge in foreign countries4 ,orders were immediately issued to the authorities at the ports and frontiers1 to apprehend all travellers who sought to leave the kingdom1 and keep them in custody1 until it was ascertained whether they had any plate or jewellery with them1 or were concerned in the late stock-jobbing4 ,against such few as escaped1 the punishment of death was recorded1 while the most arbitrary proceedings were instituted against those who remained4 ,law himself1 in a moment of despair1 determined to leave a country where his life was no longer secure4 ,he at first only demanded permission to retire from ,paris to one of his country-seats--a permission which the regent cheerfully granted4 ,the latter was much affected at the unhappy turn affairs had taken1 but his faith continued unmoved in the truth and efficacy of ,law's financial system4 ,his eyes were opened to his own errors2 and during the few remaining years of his life he constantly longed for an opportunity of again establishing the system upon a securer basis4 ,at ,law's last interview with the prince1 he is reported to have said1--,i confess that ,i have committed many faults4 ,i committed them because ,i am a man1 and all men are liable to error2 but ,i declare to you most solemnly that none of them proceeded from wicked or dishonest motives1 and that nothing of the kind will be found in the whole course of my conduct4 ,illustration3 ,,law ,,in ,a ,,car ,,drawn ,,by ,,cocks4#ad #ad ,law in a car drawn by cocks2 from ,het groote ,tofereel der ,dwaasheid4 ,two or three days after his departure the regent sent him a very kind letter1 permitting him to leave the kingdom whenever he pleased1 and stating that he had ordered his passports to be made ready4 ,he at the same time offered him any sum of money he might require4 ,law respectfully declined the money1 and set out for ,brussels in a post-chaise belonging to ,madame de ,prie1 the mistress of the ,duke of ,bourbon1 escorted by six horse-guards4 ,from thence he proceeded to ,venice1 where he remained for some months1 the object of the greatest curiosity to the people1 who believed him to be the possessor of enormous wealth4 ,no opinion1 however1 could be more erroneous4 ,with more generosity than could have been expected from a man who during the greatest part of his life had been a professed gambler1 he had refused to enrich himself at the expense of a ruined nation4 ,during the height of the popular frenzy for ,mississippi stock1 he had never doubted of the final success of his projects in making ,france the richest and most powerful nation of ,europe4 ,he invested all his gains in the purchase of landed property in ,france--a sure proof of his own belief in the stability of his schemes4 ,he had hoarded no plate or jewellery1 and sent no money1 like the dishonest jobbers1 to foreign countries4 ,his all1 with the exception of one diamond1 worth about five or six thousand pounds sterling1 was invested in the ,french soil2 and when he left that country1 he left it almost a beggar4 ,this fact alone ought to rescue his memory from the charge of knavery1 so often and so unjustly brought against him4 ,as soon as his departure was known1 all his estates and his valuable library were confiscated4 ,among the rest1 an annuity of #bjj1jjj livres 7#hjjjl4 sterling7 on the lives of his wife and children1 which had been purchased for five millions of livres1 was forfeited1 notwithstanding that a special edict1 drawn up for the purpose in the days of his prosperity1 had expressly declared that it should never be confiscated for any cause whatever4 ,great discontent existed among the people that ,law had been suffered to escape4 ,the mob and the parliament would have been pleased to have seen him hanged4 ,the few who had not suffered by the commercial revolution rejoiced that the quack had left the country2 but all those 7and they were by far the most numerous class7 whose fortunes were implicated regretted that his intimate knowledge of the distress of the country1 and of the causes that had led to it1 had not been rendered more available in discovering a remedy4 ,at a meeting of the ,council of ,finance and the ,general ,council of the ,regency1 documents were laid upon the table1 from which it appeared that the amount of notes in circulation was #bgjj millions4 ,the regent was called upon to explain how it happened that there was a discrepancy between the dates at which these issues were made and those of the edicts by which they were authorised4 ,he might have safely taken the whole blame upon himself1 but he preferred that an absent man should bear a share of it2 and he therefore stated that ,law1 upon his own authority1 had issued #abjj millions of notes at different times1 and that he 7the regent71 seeing that the thing had been irrevocably done1 had screened ,law by antedating the decrees of the council which authorised the augmentation4 ,it would have been more to his credit if he had told the whole truth while he was about it1 and acknowledged that it was mainly through his extravagance and impatience that ,law had been induced to overstep the bounds of safe speculation4 ,it was also ascertained that the national debt1 on the #ast of ,january #agba1 amounted to upwards of #cajj millions of livres1 or more than #abd1jjj1jjjl4 sterling1 the interest upon which was #c1aif1jjjl4 ,a commission1 or visa1 was forthwith appointed to examine into all the securities of the state creditors1 who were to be divided into five classes2 the first four comprising those who had purchased their securities with real effects1 and1 the latter comprising those who could give no proofs that the transactions they had entered into were real and bon fide4 ,the securities of the latter were ordered to be destroyed1 while those of the first four classes were subjected to a most rigid and jealous scrutiny4 ,the result of the labours of the visa1 was a report1 in which they counselled the reduction of the interest upon these securities to fifty-six millions of livres4 ,they justified1 this1 advice by a statement of the various acts of peculation and extortion which they had discovered2 and an edict to that effect was accordingly published and duly registered by the parliaments of the kingdom4 ,illustration3 ,d',,argenson4 ,another tribunal was afterwards established1 under the title of the ,chambre de l',arsenal1 which took cognisance of all the malversations committed in the financial departments of the government1 during the late unhappy period4 ,a ,master of ,requests1 named ,falhonet1 together with the ,abb ,clement1 and two clerks in their employ1 had been concerned in divers acts of peculation to the amount of upwards of a million of livres4 ,the first two were sentenced to be beheaded1 and the latter to be hanged2 but their punishment was afterwards commuted into imprisonment for life in the ,bastille4 ,numerous other acts of dishonesty were discovered1 and punished1 by fine and imprisonment4 ,d',argenson shared with ,law and the regent the unpopularity which had alighted upon all those concerned in the ,mississippi madness4 ,he was dismissed from his post of ,chancellor to make room for ,d',aguesseau2 but he retained the title of ,keeper of the ,seals1 and was allowed to attend the councils whenever he pleased4 ,he thought it better1 however1 to withdraw from ,paris1 and live for a time a life of seclusion at his country-seat4 ,but he was not formed for retirement2 and becoming moody and discontented1 he aggravated a disease under which he had long laboured1 and died in less than a twelve-month4 ,the populace of ,paris so detested him1 that they carried their hatred even to his grave4 ,as his funeral procession passed to the church of ,st4 ,nicholas du ,chardonneret1 the burying-place of his family1 it was beset by a riotous mob1 and his two sons1 who were following as chief mourners1 were obliged to drive as fast as they were able down a by-street to escape personal violence4 ,as regards ,law1 he for some time entertained a hope that he should be recalled to ,france1 to aid in establishing its credit upon a firmer basis4 ,the death of the regent in #agbc1 who expired suddenly as he was sitting by the fireside conversing with his mistress1 the ,duchess de ,phalaris1 deprived him of that hope1 and he was reduced to lead his former life of gambling4 ,he was more than once obliged to pawn his diamond1 the sole remnant of his vast wealth1 but successful play generally enabled him to redeem it4 ,being persecuted by his creditors at ,rome1 he proceeded to ,copenhagen1 where he received permission from the ,english ministry to reside in his native country1 his pardon for the murder of ,mr4 ,wilson having been sent over to him in #agai4 ,he was brought over in the admiral's ship--a circumstance which gave occasion for a short debate in the ,house of ,lords4 ,earl ,coningsby complained that a man who had renounced both his country and his religion1 should have been treated with such honour1 and expressed his belief that his presence in ,england1 at a time when the people were so bewildered by the nefarious practices of the ,south-,sea directors1 would be attended with no little danger4 ,he gave notice of a motion on the subject2 but it was allowed to drop1 no other member of the ,house having the slightest participation in his lordship's fears4 ,law remained for about four years in ,england1 and then proceeded to ,venice1 where he died in #agbi1 in very embarrassed circumstances4 ,the following epitaph was written at the time3 ,ci gt cet ,ecossais clbre1 ,ce calculateur sans gal1 ,qui1 par les rgles de l'algbre1 ,a mis la ,france l'hpital4 ,his brother1 ,william ,law1 who had been concerned with him in the administration both of the bank and the ,louisiana ,company1 was imprisoned in the ,bastille for alleged malversation1 but no guilt was ever proved against him4 ,he was liberated after fifteen months1 and became the founder of a family1 which is still known in ,france under the title of ,marquises of ,lauriston4 ,illustration3 ,,neck ,,or ,,nothing4#ae #ae ,neck or nothing1 or downfall of the ,mississippi ,company4--,from a ,print in ,mr4 ,hawkins' ,collection4 ,in the next chapter will be found an account of the madness which infected the people of ,england at the same time1 and under very similar circumstances1 but which1 thanks to the energies and good sense of a constitutional government1 was attended with results far less disastrous than those which were seen in ,france4 ,illustration3 ,,south-,,sea ,,house4 ,,the ,,south-,,sea ,,bubble4 ,at length corruption1 like a general flood1 ,did deluge all2 and avarice creeping on1 ,spread1 like a low-born mist1 and hid the sun4 ,statesmen and patriots plied alike the stocks1 ,peeress and butler shared alike the box2 ,and judges jobbed1 and bishops bit the town1 ,and mighty dukes packed cards for half-a-crown3 ,britain was sunk in lucre's sordid charms4--,pope4 ,the ,south-,sea ,company was originated by the celebrated ,harley ,earl of ,oxford1 in the year #agaa1 with the view of restoring public credit1 which had suffered by the dismissal of the ,whig ministry1 and of providing for the discharge of the army and navy debentures1 and other parts of the floating debt1 amounting to nearly ten millions sterling4 ,a company of merchants1 at that time without a name1 took this debt upon themselves1 and the government agreed to secure them for a certain period the interest of six per cent4 ,to provide for this interest1 amounting to #fjj1jjjl4 per annum1 the duties upon wines1 vinegar1 ,india goods1 wrought silks1 tobacco1 whale-fins1 and some other articles1 were rendered permanent4 ,the monopoly of the trade to the ,south ,seas was granted1 and the company1 being incorporated by act of parliament1 assumed the title by which it has ever since been known4 ,the minister took great credit to himself for his share in this transaction1 and the scheme was always called by his flatterers the ,earl of ,oxford's masterpiece4 ,illustration3 ,,harley ,,earl ,,of ,,oxford ,even at this early period of its history the most visionary ideas were formed by the company and the public of the immense riches of the eastern coast of ,south ,america4 ,every body had heard of the gold and silver mines of ,peru and ,mexico2 every one believed them to be inexhaustible1 and that it was only necessary to send the manufactures of ,england to the coast to be repaid a hundred fold in gold and silver ingots by the natives4 ,a report1 industriously spread1 that ,spain was willing to concede four ports on the coasts of ,chili and ,peru for the purposes of traffic1 increased the general confidence1 and for many years the ,south-,sea ,company's stock was in high favour4 ,philip ,v4 of ,spain1 however1 never had any intention of admitting the ,english to a free trade in the ports of ,spanish ,america4 ,negotiations were set on foot1 but their only result was the assiento contract1 or the privilege of supplying the colonies with negroes for thirty years1 and of sending once a year a vessel1 limited both as to tonnage and value of cargo1 to trade with ,mexico1 ,peru1 or ,chili4 ,the latter permission was only granted upon the hard condition1 that the ,king of ,spain should enjoy one-fourth of the profits1 and a tax of five per cent on the remainder4 ,this was a great disappointment to the ,earl of ,oxford and his party1 who were reminded much oftener than they found agreeable of the ,parturiunt montes1 nascitur ridiculus mus4 ,but the public confidence in the ,south-,sea ,company was not shaken4 ,the ,earl of ,oxford declared that ,spain would permit two ships1 in addition to the annual ship1 to carry out merchandise during the first year2 and a list was published1 in which all the ports and harbours of these coasts were pompously set forth as open to the trade of ,great ,britain4 ,the first voyage of the annual ship was not made till the year #agag1 and in the following year the trade was suppressed by the rupture with ,spain4 ,the king's speech1 at the opening of the session of #agag1 made pointed allusion to the state of public credit1 and recommended that proper measures should be taken to reduce the national debt4 ,the two great monetary corporations1 the ,south-,sea ,company and the ,bank of ,england1 made proposals to parliament on the #bjth of ,may ensuing4 ,the ,south-,sea ,company prayed that their capital stock of ten millions might be increased to twelve1 by subscription or otherwise1 and offered to accept five per cent instead of six upon the whole amount4 ,the bank made proposals equally advantageous4 ,the house debated for some time1 and finally three acts were passed1 called the ,south-,sea ,act1 the ,bank ,act1 and the ,general ,fund ,act4 ,by the first1 the proposals of the ,south-,sea ,company were accepted1 and that body held itself ready to advance the sum of two millions towards discharging the principal and interest of the debt due by the state for the four lottery funds1 of the ninth and tenth years of ,queen ,anne4 ,by the second act1 the bank received a lower rate of interest for the sum of #a1gge1jbgl4 #aes4 due to it by the state1 and agreed to deliver up to be cancelled as many exchequer bills as amounted to two millions sterling1 and to accept of an annuity of one hundred thousand pounds1 being after the rate of five per cent1 the whole redeemable at one year's notice4 ,they were further required to be ready to advance1 in case of need1 a sum not exceeding #b1ejj1jjjl4 upon the same terms of five per cent interest1 redeemable by parliament4 ,the ,general ,fund ,act recited the various deficiencies1 which were to be made good by the aids derived from the foregoing sources4 ,the name of the ,south-,sea ,company was thus continually before the public4 ,though their trade with the ,south ,american ,states produced little or no augmentation of their revenues1 they continued to flourish as a monetary corporation4 ,their stock was in high request1 and the directors1 buoyed up with success1 began to think of new means for extending their influence4 ,the ,mississippi scheme of ,john ,law1 which so dazzled and captivated the ,french people1 inspired them with an idea that they could carry on the same game in ,england4 ,the anticipated failure of his plans did not divert them from their intention4 ,wise in their own conceit1 they imagined they could avoid his faults1 carry on their schemes for ever1 and stretch the cord of credit to its extremest tension1 without causing it to snap asunder4 ,it was while ,law's plan was at its greatest height of popularity1 while people were crowding in thousands to the ,rue ,quincampoix1 and ruining themselves with frantic eagerness1 that the ,south-,sea directors laid before parliament their famous plan for paying off the national debt4 ,visions of boundless wealth floated before the fascinated eyes of the people in the two most celebrated countries of ,europe4 ,the ,english commenced their career of extravagance somewhat later than the ,french2 but as soon as the delirium seized them1 they were determined not to be outdone4 ,upon the #bb;d of ,january1 #agbj1 the ,house of ,commons resolved itself into a committee of the whole house1 to take into consideration that part of the king's speech at the opening of the session which related to the public debts1 and the proposal of the ,south-,sea ,company towards the redemption and sinking of the same4 ,the proposal set forth at great length1 and under several heads1 the debts of the state1 amounting to #cj1iha1gabl41 which the company were anxious to take upon themselves1 upon consideration of five per cent per annum1 secured to them until ,midsummer #agbg2 after which time1 the whole was to become redeemable at the pleasure of the legislature1 and the interest to be reduced to four per cent4 ,the proposal was received with great favour2 but the ,bank of ,england had many friends in the ,house of ,commons1 who were desirous that that body should share in the advantages that were likely to accrue4 ,on behalf of this corporation it was represented1 that they had performed great and eminent services to the state in the most difficult times1 and deserved1 at least1 that if any advantage was to be made by public bargains of this nature1 they should be preferred before a company that had never done any thing for the nation4 ,the further consideration of the matter was accordingly postponed for five days4 ,in the mean time1 a plan was drawn up by the governors of the bank4 ,the ,south-,sea ,company1 afraid that the bank might offer still more advantageous terms to the government than themselves1 reconsidered their former proposal1 and made some alterations in it1 which they hoped would render it more acceptable4 ,the principal change was a stipulation that the government might redeem these debts at the expiration of four years1 instead of seven1 as at first suggested4 ,the bank resolved not to be outbidden in this singular auction1 and the governors also reconsidered their first proposal1 and sent in a new one4 ,thus1 each corporation having made two proposals1 the house began to deliberate4 ,mr4 ,robert ,walpole was the chief speaker in favour of the bank1 and ,mr4 ,aislabie1 the ,chancellor of the ,exchequer1 the principal advocate on behalf of the ,south-,sea ,company4 ,it was resolved1 on the #b;d of ,february1 that the proposals of the latter were most advantageous to the country4 ,they were accordingly received1 and leave was given to bring in a bill to that effect4 ,exchange ,alley was in a fever of excitement4 ,the company's stock1 which had been at a hundred and thirty the previous day1 gradually rose to three hundred1 and continued to rise with the most astonishing rapidity during the whole time that the bill in its several stages was under discussion4 ,mr4 ,walpole was almost the only statesman in the ,house who spoke out boldly against it4 ,he warned them1 in eloquent and solemn language1 of the evils that would ensue4 ,it countenanced1 he said1 the dangerous practice of stock-jobbing1 and would divert the genius of the nation from trade and industry4 ,it would hold out a dangerous lure to decoy the unwary to their ruin1 by making them part with the earnings of their labour for a prospect of imaginary wealth4 ,the great principle of the project was an evil of first-rate magnitude2 it was to raise artificially the value of the stock1 by exciting and keeping up a general infatuation1 and by promising dividends out of funds which could never be adequate to the purpose4 ,in a prophetic spirit he added1 that if the plan succeeded1 the directors would become masters of the government1 form a new and absolute aristocracy in the kingdom1 and control the resolutions of the legislature4 ,if it failed1 which he was convinced it would1 the result would bring general discontent and ruin upon the country4 ,such would be the delusion1 that when the evil day came1 as come it would1 the people would start up1 as from a dream1 and ask themselves if these things could have been true4 ,all his eloquence was in vain4 ,he was looked upon as a false prophet1 or compared to the hoarse raven1 croaking omens of evil4 ,his friends1 however1 compared him to ,cassandra1 predicting evils which would only be believed when they came home to men's hearths1 and stared them in the face at their own boards4 ,although1 in former times1 the house had listened with the utmost attention to every word that fell from his lips1 the benches became deserted when it was known that he would speak on the ,south-,sea question4 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,robert ,,walpole ,the bill was two months in its progress through the ,house of ,commons4 ,during this time every exertion was made by the directors and their friends1 and more especially by the chairman1 the noted ,sir ,john ,blunt1 to raise the price of the stock4 ,the most extravagant rumours were in circulation4 ,treaties between ,england and ,spain were spoken of1 whereby the latter was to grant a free trade to all her colonies2 and the rich produce of the mines of ,potosi-la-,paz was to be brought to ,england until silver should become almost as plentiful as iron4 ,for cotton and woollen goods1 with which we could supply them in abundance1 the dwellers in ,mexico were to empty their golden mines4 ,the company of merchants trading to the ,south ,seas would be the richest the world ever saw1 and every hundred pounds invested in it would produce hundreds per annum to the stockholder4 ,at last the stock was raised by these means to near four hundred2 but1 after fluctuating a good deal1 settled at three hundred and thirty1 at which price it remained when the bill passed the ,commons by a majority of #agb against #ee4 ,in the ,house of ,lords the bill was hurried through all its stages with unexampled rapidity4 ,on the #dth of ,april it was read a first time2 on the #eth1 it was read a second time2 on the #fth1 it was committed2 and on the #gth1 was read a third time and passed4 ,several peers spoke warmly against the scheme2 but their warnings fell upon dull1 cold ears4 ,a speculating frenzy had seized them as well as the plebeians4 ,lord ,north and ,grey said the bill was unjust in its nature1 and might prove fatal in its consequences1 being calculated to enrich the few and impoverish the many4 ,the ,duke of ,wharton followed2 but1 as he only retailed at second-hand the arguments so eloquently stated by ,walpole in the ,lower ,house1 he was not listened to with even the same attention that had been bestowed upon ,lord ,north and ,grey4 ,earl ,cowper followed on the same side1 and compared the bill to the famous horse of the siege of ,troy4 ,like that1 it was ushered in and received with great pomp and acclamations of joy1 but bore within it treachery and destruction4 ,the ,earl of ,sunderland endeavoured to answer all objections2 and on the question being put1 there appeared only seventeen peers against1 and eighty-three in favour of the project4 ,the very same day on which it passed the ,lords1 it received the royal assent1 and became the law of the land4 ,it seemed at that time as if the whole nation had turned stockjobbers4 ,exchange ,alley was every day blocked up by crowds1 and ,cornhill was impassable for the number of carriages4 ,every body came to purchase stock4 ,every fool aspired to be a knave4 ,in the words of a ballad published at the time1 and sung about the streets1#af ,then stars and garters did appear ,among the meaner rabble2 ,to buy and sell1 to see and hear ,the ,jews and ,gentiles squabble4 ,the greatest ladies thither came1 ,and plied in chariots daily1 ,or pawned their jewels for a sum ,to venture in the ,alley4 #af ,a ,south-,sea ,ballad2 or1 ,merry ,remarks upon ,exchange-,alley ,bubbles4 ,to a new ,tune called ,the ,grand ,elixir2 or1 the ,philosopher's ,stone discovered4 ,the inordinate thirst of gain that had afflicted all ranks of society was not to be slaked even in the ,south ,sea4 ,other schemes1 of the most extravagant kind1 were started4 ,the share-lists were speedily filled up1 and an enormous traffic carried on in shares1 while1 of course1 every means were resorted to to raise them to an artificial value in the market4 ,illustration3 ,,cornhill1 #agbj4 ,contrary to all expectation1 ,south-,sea stock fell when the bill received the royal assent4 ,on the #gth of ,april the shares were quoted at three hundred and ten1 and on the following day at two hundred and ninety4 ,already the directors had tasted the profits of their scheme1 and it was not likely that they should quietly allow the stock to find its natural level without an effort to raise it4 ,immediately their busy emissaries were set to work4 ,every person interested in the success of the project endeavoured to draw a knot of listeners around him1 to whom he expatiated on the treasures of the ,south ,american seas4 ,exchange ,alley was crowded with attentive groups4 ,one rumour alone1 asserted with the utmost confidence1 had an immediate effect upon the stock4 ,it was said that ,earl ,stanhope had received overtures in ,france from the ,spanish government to exchange ,gibraltar and ,port ,mahon for some places on the coast of ,peru1 for the security and enlargement of the trade in the ,south ,seas4 ,instead of one annual ship trading to those ports1 and allowing the king of ,spain twenty-five per cent out of the profits1 the company might build and charter as many ships as they pleased1 and pay no per centage whatever to any foreign potentate4 ,visions of ingots danced before their eyes1 and stock rose rapidly4 ,on the #abth of ,april1 five days after the bill had become law1 the directors opened their books for a subscription of a million1 at the rate of #cjjl4 for every #ajjl4 capital4 ,such was the concourse of persons of all ranks1 that this first subscription was found to amount to above two millions of original stock4 ,it was to be paid at five payments1 of #fjl4 each for every #ajjl4 ,in a few days the stock advanced to three hundred and forty1 and the subscriptions were sold for double the price of the first payment4 ,to raise the stock still higher1 it was declared1 in a general court of directors1 on the #bast of ,april1 that the midsummer dividend should be ten per cent1 and that all subscriptions should be entitled to the same4 ,these resolutions answering the end designed1 the directors1 to improve the infatuation of the monied men1 opened their books for a second subscription of a million1 at four hundred per cent4 ,such was the frantic eagerness of people of every class to speculate in these funds1 that in the course of a few hours no less than a million and a half was subscribed at that rate4 ,in the mean time1 innumerable joint-stock companies started up every where4 ,they soon received the name of ,bubbles1 the most appropriate that imagination could devise4 ,the populace are often most happy in the nicknames they employ4 ,none could be more apt than that of ,bubbles4 ,some of them lasted for a week or a fortnight1 and were no more heard of1 while others could not even live out that short span of existence4 ,every evening produced new schemes1 and every morning new projects4 ,the highest of the aristocracy were as eager in this hot pursuit of gain as the most plodding jobber in ,cornhill4 ,the ,prince of ,wales became governor of one company1 and is said to have cleared #dj1jjjl4 by his speculations4#ag ,the ,duke of ,bridgewater started a scheme for the improvement of ,london and ,westminster1 and the ,duke of ,chandos another4 ,there were nearly a hundred different projects1 each more extravagant and deceptive than the other1 ,to use the words of the ,political ,state1 they were set on foot and promoted by crafty knaves1 then pursued by multitudes of covetous fools1 and at last appeared to be1 in effect1 what their vulgar appellation denoted them to be--bubbles and mere cheats4 ,it was computed that near one million and a half sterling was won and lost by these unwarrantable practices1 to the impoverishment of many a fool1 and the enriching of many a rogue4 #ag ,coxe's ,walpole1 ,correspondence between ,mr4 ,secretary ,craggs and ,earl ,stanhope4 ,some of these schemes were plausible enough1 and1 had they been undertaken at a time when the public mind was unexcited1 might have been pursued with advantage to all concerned4 ,but they were established merely with the view of raising the shares in the market4 ,the projectors took the first opportunity of a rise to sell out1 and next morning the scheme was at an end4 ,maitland1 in his ,history of ,london1 gravely informs us1 that one of the projects which received great encouragement1 was for the establishment of a company to make deal boards out of saw-dust4 ,this is no doubt intended as a joke2 but there is abundance of evidence to shew that dozens of schemes1 hardly a whit more reasonable1 lived their little day1 ruining hundreds ere they fell4 ,one of them was for a wheel for perpetual motion--capital one million2 another was for encouraging the breed of horses in ,england1 and improving of glebe and church lands1 and repairing and rebuilding parsonage and vicarage houses4 ,why the clergy1 who were so mainly interested in the latter clause1 should have taken so much interest in the first1 is only to be explained on the supposition that the scheme was projected by a knot of the fox-hunting parsons1 once so common in ,england4 ,the shares of this company were rapidly subscribed for4 ,but the most absurd and preposterous of all1 and which shewed1 more completely than any other1 the utter madness of the people1 was one started by an unknown adventurer1 entitled ,a company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage1 but nobody to know what it is4 ,were not the fact stated by scores of credible witnesses1 it would be impossible to believe that any person could have been duped by such a project4 ,the man of genius who essayed this bold and successful inroad upon public credulity1 merely stated in his prospectus that the required capital was half a million1 in five thousand shares of #ajjl4 each1 deposit #bl4 per share4 ,each subscriber1 paying his deposit1 would be entitled to #ajjl4 per annum per share4 ,how this immense profit was to be obtained1 he did not condescend to inform them at that time1 but promised that in a month full particulars should be duly announced1 and a call made for the remaining #ihl4 of the subscription4 ,next morning1 at nine o'clock1 this great man opened an office in ,cornhill4 ,crowds of people beset his door1 and when he shut up at three o'clock1 he found that no less than one thousand shares had been subscribed for1 and the deposits paid4 ,he was thus1 in five hours1 the winner of #bjjjl4 ,he was philosopher enough to be contented with his venture1 and set off the same evening for the ,continent4 ,he was never heard of again4 ,well might ,swift exclaim1 comparing ,change ,alley to a gulf in the ,south ,sea3 ,subscribers here by thousands float1 ,and jostle one another down1 ,each paddling in his leaky boat1 ,and here they fish for gold and drown4 ,now buried in the depths below1 ,now mounted up to heaven again1 ,they reel and stagger to and fro1 ,at their wit's end1 like drunken men4 ,meantime1 secure on ,garraway cliffs1 ,a savage race1 by shipwrecks fed1 ,lie waiting for the foundered skiffs1 ,and strip the bodies of the dead4 ,another fraud that was very successful was that of the ,globe ,permits1 as they were called4 ,they were nothing more than square pieces of playing-cards1 on which was the impression of a seal1 in wax1 bearing the sign of the ,globe ,tavern1 in the neighbourhood of ,exchange ,alley1 with the inscription of ,sail-,cloth ,permits4 ,the possessors enjoyed no other advantage from them than permission to subscribe at some future time to a new sail-cloth manufactory1 projected by one who was then known to be a man of fortune1 but who was afterwards involved in the peculation and punishment of the ,south-,sea directors4 ,these permits sold for as much as sixty guineas in the ,alley4 ,persons of distinction1 of both sexes1 were deeply engaged in all these bubbles2 those of the male sex going to taverns and coffee-houses to meet their brokers1 and the ladies resorting for the same purpose to the shops of milliners and haberdashers4 ,but it did not follow that all these people believed in the feasibility of the schemes to which they subscribed2 it was enough for their purpose that their shares would1 by stock-jobbing arts1 be soon raised to a premium1 when they got rid of them with all expedition to the really credulous4 ,so great was the confusion of the crowd in the alley1 that shares in the same bubble were known to have been sold at the same instant ten per cent higher at one end of the alley than at the other4 ,sensible men beheld the extraordinary infatuation of the people with sorrow and alarm4 ,there were some both in and out of parliament who foresaw clearly the ruin that was impending4 ,mr4 ,walpole did not cease his gloomy forebodings4 ,his fears were shared by all the thinking few1 and impressed most forcibly upon the government4 ,on the #aath of ,june1 the day the parliament rose1 the king published a proclamation1 declaring that all these unlawful projects should be deemed public nuisances1 and prosecuted accordingly1 and forbidding any broker1 under a penalty of five hundred pounds1 from buying or selling any shares in them4 ,notwithstanding this proclamation1 roguish speculators still carried them on1 and the deluded people still encouraged them4 ,on the #abth of ,july1 an order of the ,lords ,justices assembled in privy council was published1 dismissing all the petitions that had been presented for patents and charters1 and dissolving all the bubble companies4 ,the following copy of their lordships' order1 containing a list of all these nefarious projects1 will not be deemed uninteresting at the present time1 when1 at periodic intervals1 there is but too much tendency in the public mind to indulge in similar practices3 ,at the ,council ,chamber1 ,whitehall1 the #abth day of ,july1 #agbj4 ,present1 their ,excellencies the ,lords ,justices in ,council4 ,their ,excellencies the ,lords ,justices1 in council1 taking into consideration the many inconveniences arising to the public from several projects set on foot for raising of joint-stock for various purposes1 and that a great many of his majesty's subjects have been drawn in to part with their money on pretence of assurances that their petitions for patents and charters to enable them to carry on the same would be granted3 to prevent such impositions1 their excellencies this day ordered the said several petitions1 together with such reports from the ,board of ,trade1 and from his majesty's attorney and solicitor-general1 as had been obtained thereon1 to be laid before them2 and after mature consideration thereof1 were pleased1 by advice of his majesty's privy council1 to order that the said petitions be dismissed1 which are as follow3 #a4 ,petition of several persons1 praying letters patent for carrying on a fishing trade by the name of the ,grand ,fishery of ,great ,britain4 #b4 ,petition of the ,company of the ,royal ,fishery of ,england1 praying letters patent for such further powers as will effectually contribute to carry on the said fishery4 #c4 ,petition of ,george ,james1 on behalf of himself and divers persons of distinction concerned in a national fishery1 praying letters patent of incorporation1 to enable them to carry on the same4 #d4 ,petition of several merchants1 traders1 and others1 whose names are thereunto subscribed1 praying to be incorporated for reviving and carrying on a whale fishery to ,greenland and elsewhere4 #e4 ,petition of ,sir ,john ,lambert and others thereto subscribing1 on behalf of themselves and a great number of merchants1 praying to be incorporated for carrying on a ,greenland trade1 and particularly a whale fishery in ,davis's ,straits4 #f4 ,another petition for a ,greenland trade4 #g4 ,petition of several merchants1 gentlemen1 and citizens1 praying to be incorporated for buying and building of ships to let or freight4 #h4 ,petition of ,samuel ,antrim and others1 praying for letters patent for sowing hemp and flax4 #i4 ,petition of several merchants1 masters of ships1 sail-makers1 and manufacturers of sail-cloth1 praying a charter of incorporation1 to enable them to carry on and promote the said manufactory by a joint-stock4 #aj4 ,petition of ,thomas ,boyd and several hundred merchants1 owners and masters of ships1 sail-makers1 weavers1 and other traders1 praying a charter of incorporation1 empowering them to borrow money for purchasing lands1 in order to the manufacturing sail-cloth and fine holland4 #aa4 ,petition on behalf of several persons interested in a patent granted by the late ,king ,william and ,queen ,mary for the making of linen and sail-cloth1 praying that no charter may be granted to any persons whatsoever for making sail-cloth1 but that the privilege now enjoyed by them may be confirmed1 and likewise an additional power to carry on the cotton and cotton-silk manufactures4 #ab4 ,petition of several citizens1 merchants1 and traders in ,london1 and others1 subscribers to a ,british stock for a general insurance from fire in any part of ,england1 praying to be incorporated for carrying on the said undertaking4 #ac4 ,petition of several of his majesty's loyal subjects of the city of ,london and other parts of ,great ,britain1 praying to be incorporated for carrying on a general insurance from losses by fire within the kingdom of ,england4 #ad4 ,petition of ,thomas ,surges and others his majesty's subjects thereto subscribing1 in behalf of themselves and others1 subscribers to a fund of #a1bjj1jjjl4 for carrying on a trade to his majesty's ,german dominions1 praying to be incorporated by the name of the ,harburg ,company4 #ae4 ,petition of ,edward ,jones1 a dealer in timber1 on behalf of himself and others1 praying to be incorporated for the importation of timber from ,germany4 #af4 ,petition of several merchants of ,london1 praying a charter of incorporation for carrying on a salt-work4 #ag4 ,petition of ,captain ,macphedris of ,london1 merchant1 on behalf of himself and several merchants1 clothiers1 hatters1 dyers1 and other traders1 praying a charter of incorporation empowering them to raise a sufficient sum of money to purchase lands for planting and rearing a wood called madder1 for the use of dyers4 #ah4 ,petition of ,joseph ,galendo of ,london1 snuff-maker1 praying a patent for his invention to prepare and cure ,virginia tobacco for snuff in ,virginia1 and making it into the same in all his majesty's dominions4 ,,list ,,of ,,bubbles4 ,the following ,bubble-,companies were by the same order declared to be illegal1 and abolished accordingly3 #a4 ,for the importation of ,swedish iron4 #b4 ,for supplying ,london with sea-coal4 ,capital1 three millions4 #c4 ,for building and rebuilding houses throughout all ,england ,capital1 three millions4 #d4 ,for making of muslin4 #e4 ,for carrying on and improving the ,british alum-works4 #f4 ,for effectually settling the island of ,blanco and ,sal ,tartagus4 #g4 ,for supplying the town of ,deal with fresh water4 #h4 ,for the importation of ,flanders lace4 #i4 ,for improvement of lands in ,great ,britain4 ,capital1 four millions4 #aj4 ,for encouraging the breed of horses in ,england1 and improving of glebe and church lands1 and for repairing and rebuilding parsonage and vicarage houses4 #aa4 ,for making of iron and steel in ,great ,britain1 #ab4 ,for improving the land in the county of ,flint4 ,capital1 one million4 #ac4 ,for purchasing lands to build on4 ,capital1 two millions4 #ad4 ,for trading in hair4 #ae4 ,for erecting salt-works in ,holy ,island4 ,capital1 two millions4 #af4 ,for buying and selling estates1 and lending money on mortgage4 #ag4 ,for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage2 but nobody to know what it is4 #ah4 ,for paving the streets of ,london4 ,capital1 two millions4 #ai4 ,for furnishing funerals to any part of ,great ,britain4 #bj4 ,for buying and selling lands and lending money at interest4 ,capital1 five millions4 #ba4 ,for carrying on the royal fishery of ,great ,britain4 ,capital1 ten millions4 #bb4 ,for assuring of seamen's wages4 #bc4 ,for erecting loan-offices for the assistance and encouragement of the industrious4 ,capital1 two millions4 #bd4 ,for purchasing and improving leaseable lands4 ,capital1 four millions4 #be4 ,for importing pitch and tar1 and other naval stores1 from ,north ,britain and ,america4 #bf4 ,for the clothing1 felt1 and pantile trade4 #bg4 ,for purchasing and improving a manor and royalty in ,essex4 #bh4 ,for insuring of horses4 ,capital1 two millions4 #bi4 ,for exporting the woollen manufacture1 and importing copper1 brass1 and iron4 ,capital1 four millions4 #cj4 ,for a grand dispensary4 ,capital1 three millions4 #ca4 ,for erecting mills and purchasing lead-mines4 ,capital1 two millions4 #cb4 ,for improving the art of making soap4 #cc4 ,for a settlement on the island of ,santa ,cruz4 #cd4 ,for sinking pits and smelting lead ore in ,derbyshire4 #ce4 ,for making glass bottles and other glass4 #cf4 ,for a wheel for perpetual motion4 ,capital1 one million4 #cg4 ,for improving of gardens4 #ch4 ,for insuring and increasing children's fortunes4 #ci4 ,for entering and loading goods at the ,custom-house1 and for negotiating business for merchants4 #dj4 ,for carrying on a woollen manufacture in the ,north of ,england4 #da4 ,for importing walnut-trees from ,virginia1 ,capital1 two millions4 #db4 ,for making ,manchester stuffs of thread and cotton4 #dc4 ,for making ,joppa and ,castile soap4 #dd4 ,for improving the wrought-iron and steel manufactures of this kingdom4 ,capital four millions4 #de4 ,for dealing in lace1 hollands1 cambrics1 lawns1 c4 ,capital1 two millions4 #df4 ,for trading in and improving certain commodities of the produce of this kingdom1 c4 ,capital three millions4 #dg4 ,for supplying the ,london markets with cattle4 #dh4 ,for making looking-glasses1 coach-glasses1 c4 ,capital1 two millions4 #di4 ,for working the tin and lead mines in ,cornwall and ,derbyshire4 #ej4 ,for making rape-oil4 #ea4 ,for importing beaver fur4 ,capital1 two millions4 #eb4 ,for making pasteboard and packing-paper4 #ec4 ,for importing of oils and other materials used in the woollen manufacture4 #ed4 ,for improving and increasing the silk manufactures4 #ee4 ,for lending money on stock1 annuities1 tallies1 c4 #ef4 ,for paying pensions to widows and others1 at a small discount4 ,capital1 two millions4 #eg4 ,for improving malt liquors4 ,capital1 four millions4 #eh4 ,for a grand ,american fishery4 #ei4 ,for purchasing and improving the fenny lands in ,lincolnshire4 ,capital1 two millions4 #fj4 ,for improving the paper manufacture of ,great ,britain4 #fa4 ,the ,bottomry ,company4 #fb4 ,for drying malt by hot air4 #fc4 ,for carrying on a trade in the river ,oronooko4 #fd4 ,for the more effectual making of baize1 in ,colchester and other parts of ,great ,britain4 #fe4 ,for buying of naval stores1 supplying the victualling1 and paying the wages of the workmen4 #ff4 ,for employing poor artificers1 and furnishing merchants and others with watches4 #fg4 ,for improvement of tillage and the breed of cattle4 #fh4 ,another for the improvement of our breed in horses4 #fi4 ,another for a horse-insurance4 #gj4 ,for carrying on the corn trade of ,great ,britain4 #ga4 ,for insuring to all masters and mistresses the losses they may sustain by servants4 ,capital1 three millions4 #gb4 ,for erecting houses or hospitals for taking in and maintaining illegitimate children4 ,capital1 two millions4 #gc4 ,for bleaching coarse sugars1 without the use of fire or loss of substance4 #gd4 ,for building turnpikes and wharfs in ,great ,britain4 #ge4 ,for insuring from thefts and robberies4 #gf4 ,for extracting silver from lead4 #gg4 ,for making china and delft ware4 ,capital1 one million4 #gh4 ,for importing tobacco1 and exporting it again to ,sweden and the north of ,europe4 ,capital1 four millions4 #gi4 ,for making iron with pit coal4 #hj4 ,for furnishing the cities of ,london and ,westminster with hay and straw4 ,capital1 three millions4 #ha4 ,for a sail and packing-cloth manufactory in ,ireland4 #hb4 ,for taking up ballast4 #hc4 ,for buying and fitting out ships to suppress pirates4 #hd4 ,for the importation of timber from ,wales4 ,capital1 two millions4 #he4 ,for rock-salt4 #hf4 ,for the transmutation of quicksilver into a malleable fine metal4 ,illustration3 ,,change-,,alley4#ah #ah ,stock-jobbing ,card1 or the humours of ,change ,alley4 ,copied from a print called ,bubblers' ,medley1 published by ,carrington ,bowles4 ,besides these bubbles1 many others sprang up daily1 in-spite of the condemnation of the government and the ridicule of the still sane portion of the public4 ,the print-shops teemed with caricatures1 and the newspapers with epigrams and satires1 upon the prevalent folly4 ,an ingenious cardmaker published a pack of ,south-,sea playing-cards1 which are now extremely rare1 each card containing1 besides the usual figures1 of a very small size1 in one corner1 a caricature of a bubble-company1 with appropriate verses underneath4 ,one of the most famous bubbles was ,puckle's ,machine ,company1 for discharging round and square cannon-balls and bullets1 and making a total revolution in the art of war4 ,its pretensions to public favour were thus summed up on the eight of spades3 ,a rare invention to destroy the crowd ,of fools at home instead of fools abroad4 ,fear not1 my friends1 this terrible machine1 ,they're only wounded who have shares therein4 ,illustration3 ,,tree ,,caricature#ai #ai ,tree1 surrounded by water2 people climbing up the tree4 ,one of a series of bubble cards1 copied from the ,bubblers' ,medley1 published by ,carrington ,bowles4 ,the nine of hearts was a caricature of the ,english ,copper and ,brass ,company1 with the following epigram3 ,the headlong-fool that wants to be a swopper ,of gold and silver coin for ,english copper1 ,may1 in ,change ,alley1 prove himself an ass1 ,and give rich metal for adultrate brass4 ,the eight of diamonds celebrated the company for the colonisation of ,acadia1 with this doggrel3 ,he that is rich and wants to fool away ,a good round sum in ,north ,america1 ,let him subscribe himself a headlong sharer1 ,and asses' ears shall honour him or bearer4 ,and in a similar style every card of the pack exposed some knavish scheme1 and ridiculed the persons who were its dupes4 ,it was computed that the total amount of the sums proposed for carrying on these projects was upwards of three hundred millions sterling4 ,illustration3 ,,merchant',s ,,gateway ,it is time1 however1 to return to the great ,south-,sea gulf1 that swallowed the fortunes of so many thousands of the avaricious and the credulous4 ,on the #bith of ,may1 the stock had risen as high as five hundred1 and about two-thirds of the government annuitants had exchanged the securities of the state for those of the ,south-,sea company4 ,during the whole of the month of ,may the stock continued to rise1 and on the #bhth it was quoted at five hundred and fifty4 ,in four days after this it took a prodigious leap1 rising suddenly from five hundred and fifty to eight hundred and ninety4 ,it was now the general opinion that the stock could rise no higher1 and many persons took that opportunity of selling out1 with a view of realising their profits4 ,many noblemen and persons in the train of the king1 and about to accompany him to ,hanover1 were also anxious to sell out4 ,so many sellers1 and so few buyers1 appeared in the ,alley on the #c;d of ,june1 that the stock fell at once from eight hundred and ninety to six hundred and forty4 ,the directors were alarmed1 and gave their agents orders to buy4 ,their efforts succeeded4 ,towards evening1 confidence was restored1 and the stock advanced to seven hundred and fifty4 ,it continued at this price1 with some slight fluctuation1 until the company closed their books on the #bb;d of ,june4 ,it would be needless and uninteresting to detail the various arts employed by the directors to keep up the price of stock4 ,it will be sufficient to state that it finally rose to one thousand per cent4 ,it was quoted at this price in1 the commencement of ,august4 ,the bubble was then full-blown1 and began to quiver and shake preparatory to its bursting4 ,many of the government annuitants expressed dissatisfaction against the directors4 ,they accused them of partiality in making out the lists for shares in each subscription4 ,further uneasiness was occasioned by its being generally known that ,sir ,john ,blunt the chairman1 and some others1 had sold out4 ,during the whole of the month of ,august the stock fell1 and on the #b;d of ,september it was quoted at seven hundred only4 ,the state of things now became alarming4 ,to prevent1 if possible1 the utter extinction of public confidence in their proceedings1 the directors summoned a general court of the whole corporation1 to meet in ,merchant ,tailors' ,hall on the #hth of ,september4 ,by nine o'clock in the morning1 the room was filled to suffocation2 ,cheapside was blocked up by a crowd unable to gain admittance1 and the greatest excitement prevailed4 ,the directors and their friends mustered in great numbers4 ,sir ,john ,fellowes1 the sub-governor1 was called to the chair4 ,he acquainted the assembly with the cause of their meeting2 read to them the several resolutions of the court of directors1 and gave them an account of their proceedings2 of the taking in the redeemable and unredeemable funds1 and of the subscriptions in money4 ,mr4 ,secretary ,craggs then made a short speech1 wherein he commended the conduct of the directors1 and urged that nothing could more effectually contribute to the bringing this scheme to perfection than union among themselves4 ,he concluded with a motion for thanking the court of directors for their prudent and skilful management1 and for desiring them to proceed in such manner as they should think most proper for the interest and advantage of the corporation4 ,mr4 ,hungerford1 who had rendered himself very conspicuous in the ,house of ,commons for his zeal in behalf of the ,south-,sea company1 and who was shrewdly suspected to have been a considerable gainer by knowing the right time to sell out1 was very magniloquent on this occasion4 ,he said that he had seen the rise and fall1 the decay and resurrection of many communities of this nature1 but that1 in his opinion1 none had ever performed such wonderful things in so short a time as the ,south-,sea company4 ,they had done more than the crown1 the pulpit1 or the bench could do4 ,they had reconciled all parties in one common interest2 they had laid asleep1 if not wholly extinguished1 all the domestic jars and animosities of the nation4 ,by the rise of their stock1 monied men had vastly increased their fortunes2 country gentlemen had seen the value of their lands doubled and trebled in their hands4 ,they had at the same time done good to the ,church1 not a few of the reverend clergy having got great sums by the project4 ,in short1 they had enriched the whole nation1 and he hoped they had not forgotten themselves4 ,there was some hissing at the latter part of this speech1 which for the extravagance of its eulogy was not far removed from satire2 but the directors and their friends1 and all the winners in the room1 applauded vehemently4 ,the ,duke of ,portland spoke in a similar strain1 and expressed his great wonder why any body should be dissatisfied2 of course1 he was a winner by his speculations1 and in a condition similar to that of the fat alderman in ,joe ,miller's ,jests1 who1 whenever he had eaten a good dinner1 folded his hands upon his paunch1 and expressed his doubts whether there could be a hungry man in the world4 ,illustration3 ,,mr4 ,,secretary ,,craggs4 ,several resolutions were passed at this meeting1 but they had no effect upon the public4 ,upon the very same evening the stock fell to six hundred and forty1 and on the morrow to five hundred and forty4 ,day after day it continued to fall1 until it was as low as four hundred4 ,in a letter dated ,september #acth1 from ,mr4 ,broderick1 ,m4,p41 to ,lord ,chancellor ,middleton1 and published in ,coxe's ,walpole1 the former says3 ,various are the conjectures why the ,south-,sea directors have suffered the cloud to break so early4 ,i made no doubt but they would do so when they found it to their advantage4 ,they have stretched credit so far beyond what it would bear1 that specie proves insufficient to support it4 ,their most considerable men have drawn out1 securing themselves by the losses of the deluded1 thoughtless numbers1 whose understandings have been overruled by avarice and the hope of making mountains out of mole-hills4 ,thousands of families will be reduced to beggary4 ,the consternation is inexpressible--the rage beyond description1 and the case altogether so desperate1 that ,i do not see any plan or scheme so much as thought of for averting the blow1 so that ,i cannot pretend to guess what is next to be done4 ,ten days afterwards1 the stock still falling1 he writes3 ,the company have yet come to no determination1 for they are in such a wood that they know not which way to turn4 ,by several gentlemen lately come to town1 ,i perceive the very name of a ,south-,sea-man grows abominable in every country4 ,a great many goldsmiths are already run off1 and more will daily4 ,i question whether one-third1 nay1 one-fourth of them can stand it4 ,from the very beginning1 ,i founded my judgment of the whole affair upon the unquestionable maxim1 that ten millions 7which is more than our running cash7 could not circulate two hundred millions1 beyond which our paper credit extended4 ,that1 therefore1 whenever that should become doubtful1 be the cause what it would1 our noble state machine must inevitably fall to the ground4 ,on the #abth of ,september1 at the earnest solicitation of ,mr4 ,secretary ,craggs1 several conferences were held between the directors of the ,south ,sea and the directors of the ,bank4 ,a report which was circulated1 that the latter had agreed to circulate six millions of the ,south-,sea company's bonds1 caused the stock to rise to six hundred and seventy2 but in the afternoon1 as soon as the report was known to be groundless1 the stock fell again to five hundred and eighty2 the next day to five hundred and seventy1 and so gradually to four hundred4#bj #bj ,gay 7the poet71 in that disastrous year1 had a present from young ,craggs of some ,south-,sea stock1 and once supposed himself to be master of twenty thousand pounds4 ,his friends persuaded him to sell his share1 but he dreamed of dignity and splendour1 and could not hear to obstruct his own fortune4 ,he was then importuned to sell as much as would purchase a hundred a year for life1 which1 says ,fenton1 will make you sure of a clean shirt and a shoulder of mutton every day4 ,this counsel was rejected2 the profit and principal were lost1 and ,gay sunk under the calamity so low that his life became in danger4--,johnson's ,lives of the ,poets ,the ministry were seriously alarmed at the aspect of affairs4 ,the directors could not appear in the streets without being insulted2 dangerous riots were every moment apprehended4 ,despatches were sent off to the king at ,hanover1 praying his immediate return4 ,mr4 ,walpole1 who was staying at his country seat1 was sent for1 that he might employ his known influence with the directors of the ,bank of ,england to induce them to accept the proposal made by the ,south-,sea company for circulating a number of their bonds4 ,the ,bank was very unwilling to mix itself up with the affairs of the company2 it dreaded being involved in calamities which it could not relieve1 and received all overtures with visible reluctance4 ,but the universal voice of the nation called upon it to come to the rescue4 ,every person of note in commercial politics was called in to advise in the emergency4 ,a rough draft of a contract drawn up by ,mr4 ,walpole was ultimately adopted as the basis of further negotiations1 and the public alarm abated a little4 ,on the following day1 the #bjth of ,september1 a general court of the ,south-,sea company was held at ,merchant ,tailors' ,hall1 in which resolutions were carried1 empowering the directors to agree with the ,bank of ,england1 or any other persons1 to circulate the company's bonds1 or make any other agreement with the ,bank which they should think proper4 ,one of the speakers1 a ,mr4 ,pulteney1 said it was most surprising to see the extraordinary panic which had seized upon the people4 ,men were running to and fro in alarm and terror1 their imaginations filled with some great calamity1 the form and dimensions of which nobody knew3 ,black it stood as night-- ,fierce as ten furies--terrible as hell4 ,at a general court of the ,bank of ,england held two days afterwards1 the governor informed them of the several meetings that had been held on the affairs of the ,south-,sea company1 adding that the directors had not yet thought fit to come to any decision upon the matter4 ,a resolution was then proposed1 and carried without a dissentient voice1 empowering the directors to agree with those of the ,south ,sea to circulate their bonds1 to what sum1 and upon what terms1 and for what time1 they might think proper4 ,thus both parties were at liberty to act as they might judge best for the public interest4 ,books were opened at the ,bank for a subscription of three millions for the support of public credit1 on the usual terms of #ael4 per cent deposit1 #cl4 per cent premium1 and #el4 per cent interest4 ,so great was the concourse of people in the early part of the morning1 all eagerly bringing their money1 that it was thought the subscription would be filled that day2 but before noon1 the tide turned4 ,in spite of all that could be done to prevent it1 the ,south-,sea company's stock fell rapidly4 ,their bonds were in such discredit1 that a run commenced upon the most eminent goldsmiths and bankers1 some of whom1 having lent out great sums upon ,south-,sea stock1 were obliged to shut up their shops and abscond4 ,the ,sword-blade company1 who had hitherto been the chief cashiers of the ,south-,sea company1 stopped payment4 ,this being looked upon as but the beginning of evil1 occasioned a great run upon the ,bank1 who were now obliged to pay out money much faster than they had received it upon the subscription in the morning4 ,the day succeeding was a holiday 7the #bith of ,september71 and the ,bank had a little breathing time4 ,they bore up against the storm2 but their former rivals1 the ,south-,sea company1 were wrecked upon it4 ,their stock fell to one hundred and fifty1 and gradually1 after various fluctuations1 to one hundred and thirty-five4 ,the ,bank1 finding they were not able to restore public confidence1 and stem the tide of ruin1 without running the risk of being swept away with those they intended to save1 declined to carry out the agreement into which they had partially entered4 ,they were under no obligation whatever to continue2 for the so-called ,bank contract was nothing more than the rough draught of an agreement1 in which blanks had been left for several important particulars1 and which contained no penalty for their secession4 ,and thus1 to use the words of the ,parliamentary ,history1 were seen1 in the space of eight months1 the rise1 progress1 and fall of that mighty fabric1 which1 being wound up by mysterious springs to a wonderful height1 had fixed the eyes and expectations of all ,europe1 but whose foundation1 being fraud1 illusion1 credulity1 and infatuation1 fell to the ground as soon as the artful management of its directors was discovered4 ,in the hey-day of its blood1 during the progress of this dangerous delusion1 the manners of the nation became sensibly corrupted4 ,the parliamentary inquiry1 set on foot to discover the delinquents1 disclosed scenes of infamy1 disgraceful alike to the morals of the offenders and the intellects of the people among whom they had arisen4 ,it is a deeply interesting study to investigate all the evils that were the result4 ,nations1 like individuals1 cannot become desperate gamblers with impunity4 ,punishment is sure to overtake them sooner or later4 ,a celebrated writer#ba is quite wrong when he says1 that such an era as this is the most unfavourable for a historian2 that no reader of sentiment and imagination can be entertained or interested by a detail of transactions such as these1 which admit of no warmth1 no colouring1 no embellishment2 a detail of which only serves to exhibit an inanimate picture of tasteless vice and mean degeneracy4 ,on the contrary1--and ,smollett might have discovered it1 if he had been in the humour1--the subject is capable of inspiring as much interest as even a novellist can desire4 ,is there no warmth in the despair of a plundered people8--no life and animation in the picture which might be drawn of the woes of hundreds of impoverished and ruined families8 of the wealthy of yesterday become the beggars of to-day8 of the powerful and influential changed into exiles and outcasts1 and the voice of self-reproach and imprecation resounding from every corner of the land8 ,is it a dull or uninstructive picture to see a whole people shaking suddenly off the trammels of reason1 and running wild after a golden vision1 refusing obstinately to believe that it is not real1 till1 like a deluded hind running after an ignis fatuus1 they are plunged into a quagmire8 ,but in this false spirit has history too often been written4 ,the intrigues of unworthy courtiers to gain the favour of still more unworthy kings1 or the records of murderous battles and sieges1 have been dilated on1 and told over and over again1 with all the eloquence of style and all the charms of fancy2 while the circumstances which have most deeply affected the morals and welfare of the people have been passed over with but slight notice1 as dry and dull1 and capable of neither warmth nor colouring4 #ba ,smollett4 ,illustration3 ,,caricature4#bb #bb ,caricature1 copied from ,bubblers' ,medley1 published by ,carrington ,bowles4 ,during the progress of this famous bubble1 ,england presented a singular spectacle4 ,the public mind was in a state of unwholesome fermentation4 ,men were no longer satisfied with the slow but sure profits of cautious industry4 ,the hope of boundless wealth for the morrow made them heedless and extravagant for to-day4 ,a luxury1 till then unheard-of1 was introduced1 bringing in its train a corresponding laxity of morals4 ,the over-bearing insolence of ignorant men1 who had arisen to sudden wealth by successful gambling1 made men of true gentility of mind and manners blush that gold should have power to raise the unworthy in the scale of society4 ,the haughtiness of some of these cyphering cits1 as they were termed by ,sir ,richard ,steele1 was remembered against them in the day of their adversity4 ,in the parliamentary inquiry1 many of the directors suffered more for their insolence than for their peculation4 ,one of them1 who1 in the full-blown pride of an ignorant rich man1 had said that he would feed his horse upon gold1 was reduced almost to bread and water for himself2 every haughty look1 every overbearing speech1 was set down1 and repaid them a hundredfold in poverty and humiliation4 ,the state of matters all over the country was so alarming1 that ,george ,i4 shortened his intended stay in ,hanover1 and returned in all haste to ,england4 ,he arrived on the #aath of ,november1 and parliament was summoned to meet on the #hth of ,december4 ,in the mean time1 public meetings were held in every considerable town of the empire1 at which petitions were adopted1 praying the vengeance of the legislature upon the ,south-,sea directors1 who1 by their fraudulent practices1 had brought the nation to the brink of ruin4 ,nobody seemed to imagine that the nation itself was as culpable as the ,south-,sea company4 ,nobody blamed the credulity and avarice of the people1--the degrading lust of gain1 which had swallowed up every nobler quality in the national character1 or the infatuation which had made the multitude run their heads with such frantic eagerness into the net held out for them by scheming projectors4 ,these things were never mentioned4 ,the people were a simple1 honest1 hard-working people1 ruined by a gang of robbers1 who were to be hanged1 drawn1 and quartered without mercy4 ,this was the almost unanimous feeling of the country4 ,the two ,houses of ,parliament were not more reasonable4 ,before the guilt of the ,south-,sea directors was known1 punishment was the only cry4 ,the king1 in his speech from the throne1 expressed his hope that they would remember that all their prudence1 temper1 and resolution were necessary to find out and apply the proper remedy for their misfortunes4 ,in the debate on the answer to the address1 several speakers indulged in the most violent invectives against the directors of the ,south-,sea project4 ,the ,lord ,molesworth was particularly vehement4 ,it had been said by some1 that there was no law to punish the directors of the ,south-,sea company1 who were justly looked upon as the authors of the present misfortunes of the state4 ,in his opinion1 they ought upon this occasion to follow the example of the ancient ,romans1 who1 having no law against parricide1 because their legislators supposed no son could be so unnaturally wicked as to embrue his hands in his father's blood1 made a law to punish this heinous crime as soon as it was committed4 ,they adjudged the guilty wretch to be sown in a sack1 and thrown alive into the ,tiber4 ,he looked upon the contrivers and executors of the villanous ,south-,sea scheme as the parricides of their country1 and should be satisfied to see them tied in like manner in sacks1 and thrown into the ,thames4 ,other members spoke with as much want of temper and discretion4 ,mr4 ,walpole was more moderate4 ,he recommended that their first care should be to restore public credit4 ,if the city of ,london were on fire1 all wise men would aid in extinguishing the flames1 and preventing the spread of the conflagration1 before they inquired after the incendiaries4 ,public credit had received a dangerous wound1 and lay bleeding1 and they ought to apply a speedy remedy to it4 ,it was time enough to punish the assassin afterwards4 ,on the #ith of ,december an address1 in answer to his majesty's speech1 was agreed upon1 after an amendment1 which was carried without a division1 that words should be added expressive of the determination of the house not only to seek a remedy for the national distresses1 but to punish the authors of them4 ,illustration3 ,,britannia ,,stript ,,by ,a ,,south-,,sea ,,director4#bc #bc ,britannia stript by a ,south-,sea ,director4 ,from ,het groote ,tafereel der ,dwaasheid4 ,the inquiry proceeded rapidly4 ,the directors were ordered to lay before the house a full account of all their proceedings4 ,resolutions were passed to the effect that the calamity was mainly owing to the vile arts of stock-jobbers1 and that nothing could tend more to the reestablishment of public credit than a law to prevent this infamous practice4 ,mr4 ,walpole then rose1 and said1 that as he had previously hinted1 he had spent some time upon a scheme for restoring public credit1 but that the execution of it depending upon a position which had been laid down as fundamental1 he thought it proper1 before he opened out his scheme1 to be informed whether he might rely upon that foundation4 ,it was1 whether the subscription of public debts and encumbrances1 money subscriptions1 and other contracts1 made with the ,south-,sea company1 should remain in the present state8 ,this question occasioned an animated debate4 ,it was finally agreed1 by a majority of #bei against #aag1 that all these contracts should remain in their present state1 unless altered for the relief of the proprietors by a general court of the ,south-,sea company1 or set aside by due course of law4 ,on the following day1 ,mr4 ,walpole laid before a committee of the whole house his scheme for the restoration of public credit1 which was1 in substance1 to engraft nine millions of ,south-,sea stock into the ,bank of ,england1 and the same sum into the ,east ,india company1 upon certain conditions4 ,the plan was favourably received by the house4 ,after some few objections1 it was ordered that proposals should be received from the two great corporations4 ,they were both unwilling to lend their aid1 and the plan met with a warm but fruitless opposition at the general courts summoned for the purpose of deliberating upon it4 ,they1 however1 ultimately agreed upon the terms on which they would consent to circulate the ,south-,sea bonds1 and their report being presented to the committee1 a bill was brought in under the superintendence of ,mr4 ,walpole1 and safely carried through both ,houses of ,parliament4 ,a bill was at the same time brought in for restraining the ,south-,sea directors1 governor1 sub-governor1 treasurer1 cashier1 and clerks from leaving the kingdom for a twelvemonth1 and for discovering their estates and effects1 and preventing them from transporting or alienating the same4 ,all the most influential members of the ,house supported the bill4 ,mr4 ,shippen1 seeing ,mr4 ,secretary ,craggs in his place1 and believing the injurious rumours that were afloat of that minister's conduct in the ,south-,sea business1 determined to touch him to the quick4 ,he said1 he was glad to see a ,british ,house of ,commons resuming its pristine vigour and spirit1 and acting with so much unanimity for the public good4 ,it was necessary to secure the persons and estates of the ,south-,sea directors and their officers2 but1 he added1 looking fixedly at ,mr4 ,craggs as he spoke1 there were other men in high station1 whom1 in time1 he would not be afraid to name1 who were no less guilty than the directors4 ,mr4 ,craggs arose in great wrath1 and said1 that if the innuendo were directed against him1 he was ready to give satisfaction to any man who questioned him1 either in the ,house or out of it4 ,loud cries of order immediately arose on every side4 ,in the midst of the uproar1 ,lord ,molesworth got up1 and expressed his wonder at the boldness of ,mr4 ,craggs in challenging the whole ,house of ,commons4 ,he1 ,lord ,molesworth1 though somewhat old1 past sixty1 would answer ,mr4 ,craggs whatever he had to say in the ,house1 and he trusted there were plenty of young men beside him1 who would not be afraid to look ,mr4 ,craggs in the face out of the ,house4 ,the cries of order again resounded from every side2 the members arose simultaneously2 every body seemed to be vociferating at once4 ,the speaker in vain called order4 ,the confusion lasted several minutes1 during which ,lord ,molesworth and ,mr4 ,craggs were almost the only members who kept their seats4 ,at last1 the call for ,mr4 ,craggs became so violent1 that he thought proper to submit to the universal feeling of the ,house1 and explain his unparliamentary expression4 ,he said1 that by giving satisfaction to the impugners of his conduct in that ,house1 he did not mean that he would fight1 but that he would explain his conduct4 ,here the matter ended1 and the ,house proceeded to debate in what manner they should conduct their inquiry into the affairs of the ,south-,sea company1 whether in a grand or a select committee4 ,ultimately1 a secret committee of thirteen was appointed1 with power to send for persons1 papers1 and records4 ,the ,lords were as zealous and as hasty as the ,commons4 ,the ,bishop of ,rochester said the scheme had been like a pestilence4 ,the ,duke of ,wharton said the ,house ought to shew no respect of persons2 that1 for his part1 he would give up the dearest friend he had1 if he had been engaged in the project4 ,the nation had been plundered in a most shameful and flagrant manner1 and he would go as far as any body in the punishment of the offenders4 ,lord ,stanhope said1 that every farthing possessed by the criminals1 whether directors or not directors1 ought to be confiscated1 to make good the public losses4 ,during all this time the public excitement was extreme4 ,we learn from ,coxe's ,walpole1 that the very name of a ,south-,sea director was thought to be synonymous with every species of fraud and villany4 ,petitions from counties1 cities1 and boroughs1 in all parts of the kingdom1 were presented1 crying for the justice due to an injured nation and the punishment of the villanous peculators4 ,those moderate men1 who would not go to extreme lengths1 even in the punishment of the guilty1 were accused of being accomplices1 were exposed to repeated insults and virulent invectives1 and devoted1 both in anonymous letters and public writings1 to the speedy vengeance of an injured people4 ,the accusations against ,mr4 ,aislabie1 ,chancellor of the ,exchequer1 and ,mr4 ,craggs1 another member of the ministry1 were so loud1 that the ,house of ,lords resolved to proceed at once into the investigation concerning them4 ,it was ordered1 on the #bast of ,january1 that all brokers concerned in the ,south-,sea scheme should lay before the ,house an account of the stock or subscriptions bought or sold by them for any of the officers of the ,treasury or ,exchequer1 or in trust for any of them1 since ,michaelmas #agai4 ,when this account was delivered1 it appeared that large quantities of stock had been transferred to the use of ,mr4 ,aislabie4 ,five of the ,south-,sea directors1 including ,mr4 ,edward ,gibbon1 the grandfather of the celebrated historian1 were ordered into the custody of the black rod4 ,upon a motion made by ,earl ,stanhope1 it was unanimously resolved1 that the taking in or giving credit for stock without a valuable consideration actually paid or sufficiently secured2 or the purchasing stock by any director or agent of the ,south-,sea company1 for the use or benefit of any member of the administration1 or any member of either ,house of ,parliament1 during such time as the ,south-,sea bill was yet pending in parliament1 was a notorious and dangerous corruption4 ,another resolution was passed a few days afterwards1 to the effect that several of the directors and officers of the company having1 in a clandestine manner1 sold their own stock to the company1 had been guilty of a notorious fraud and breach of trust1 and had thereby mainly caused the unhappy turn of affairs that had so much affected public credit4 ,mr4 ,aislabie resigned his office as ,chancellor of the ,exchequer1 and absented himself from parliament1 until the formal inquiry into his individual guilt was brought under the consideration of the legislature4 ,in the mean time1 ,knight1 the treasurer of the company1 and who was entrusted with all the dangerous secrets of the dishonest directors1 packed up his books and documents1 and made his escape from the country4 ,he embarked in disguise1 in a small boat on the river1 and proceeding to a vessel hired for the purpose1 was safely conveyed to ,calais4 ,the ,committee of ,secrecy informed the ,house of the circumstance1 when it was resolved unanimously that two addresses should be presented to the king2 the first praying that he would issue a proclamation offering a reward for the apprehension of ,knight2 and the second1 that he would give immediate orders to stop the ports1 and to take effectual care of the coasts1 to prevent the said ,knight1 or any other officers of the ,south-,sea company1 from escaping out of the kingdom4 ,the ink was hardly dry upon these addresses before they were carried to the king by ,mr4 ,methuen1 deputed by the ,house for that purpose4 ,the same evening a royal proclamation was issued1 offering a reward of two thousand pounds for the apprehension of ,knight4 ,the ,commons ordered the doors of the ,house to be locked1 and the keys to be placed on the table4 ,general ,ross1 one of the members of the ,committee of ,secrecy1 acquainted them that they had already discovered a train of the deepest villany and fraud that hell had ever contrived to ruin a nation1 which in due time they would lay before the ,house4 ,in the mean time1 in order to a further discovery1 the ,committee thought it highly necessary to secure the persons of some of the directors and principal ,south-,sea officers1 and to seize their papers4 ,a motion to this effect having been made1 was carried unanimously4 ,sir ,robert ,chaplin1 ,sir ,theodore ,janssen1 ,mr4 ,sawbridge1 and ,mr4 ,f4 ,eyles1 members of the ,house1 and directors of the ,south-,sea company1 were summoned to appear in their places1 and answer for their corrupt practices4 ,sir ,theodore ,janssen and ,mr4 ,sawbridge answered to their names1 and endeavoured to exculpate themselves4 ,the ,house heard them patiently1 and then ordered them to withdraw4 ,a motion was then made1 and carried nemine contradicente1 that they had been guilty of a notorious breach of trust--had occasioned much loss to great numbers of his majesty's subjects1 and had highly prejudiced the public credit4 ,it was then ordered that1 for their offence1 they should be expelled the ,house1 and taken into the custody of the sergeant-at-arms4 ,sir ,robert ,chaplin and ,mr4 ,eyles1 attending in their places four days afterwards1 were also expelled the ,house4 ,it was resolved at the same time to address the king to give directions to his ministers at foreign courts to make application for ,knight1 that he might be delivered up to the ,english authorities1 in case he took refuge in any of their dominions4 ,the king at once agreed1 and messengers were despatched to all parts of the continent the same night4 ,among the directors taken into custody was ,sir ,john ,blunt1 the man whom popular opinion has generally accused of having been the original author and father of the scheme4 ,this man1 we are informed by ,pope1 in his epistle to ,allen ,lord ,bathurst1 was a dissenter1 of a most religious deportment1 and professed to be a great believer4#bd ,he constantly declaimed against the luxury and corruption of the age1 the partiality of parliaments1 and the misery of party spirit4 ,he was particularly eloquent against avarice in great and noble persons4 ,he was originally a scrivener1 and afterwards became1 not only a director1 but the most active manager of the ,south-,sea company4 ,whether it was during his career in this capacity that he first began to declaim against the avarice of the great1 we are not informed4 ,he certainly must have seen enough of it to justify his severest anathema2 but if the preacher had himself been free from the vice he condemned1 his declamations would have had a better effect4 ,he was brought up in custody to the bar of the ,house of ,lords1 and underwent a long examination4 ,he refused to answer several important questions4 ,he said he had been examined already by a committee of the ,house of ,commons1 and as he did not remember his answers1 and might contradict himself1 he refused to answer before another tribunal4 ,this declaration1 in itself an indirect proof of guilt1 occasioned some commotion in the ,house4 ,he was again asked peremptorily whether he had ever sold any portion of the stock to any member of the administration1 or any member of either ,house of ,parliament1 to facilitate the passing of the bill4 ,he again declined to answer4 ,he was anxious1 he said1 to treat the ,house with all possible respect1 but he thought it hard to be compelled to accuse himself4 ,after several ineffectual attempts to refresh his memory1 he was directed to withdraw4 ,a violent discussion ensued between the friends and opponents of the ministry4 ,it was asserted that the administration were no strangers to the convenient taciturnity of ,sir ,john ,blunt4 ,the ,duke of ,wharton made a reflection upon the ,earl ,stanhope1 which the latter warmly resented4 ,he spoke under great excitement1 and with such vehemence as to cause a sudden determination of blood to the head4 ,he felt himself so ill that he was obliged to leave the ,house and retire to his chamber4 ,he was cupped immediately1 and also let blood on the following morning1 but with slight relief4 ,the fatal result was not anticipated4 ,towards evening he became drowsy1 and turning himself on his face1 expired4 ,the sudden death of this statesman caused great grief to the nation4 ,george ,i4 was exceedingly affected1 and shut himself up for some hours in his closet1 inconsolable for his loss4 #bd ',god cannot love1' says ,blunt1 with tearless eyes1 ',the wretch he starves1 and piously denies4' 4 4 4 ,much-injur'd ,blunt6 why bears he ,britain's hate8 ,a wizard told him in these words our fate3 ',at length corruption1 like a gen'ral flood1 ,so long by watchful ministers withstood1 ,shall deluge all2 and av'rice1 creeping on1 ,spread like a low-born mist1 and blot the sun2 ,statesman and patriot ply alike the stocks1 ,peeress and butler share alike the box1 ,and judges job1 and bishops bite the ,town1 ,and mighty dukes pack cards for half-a-crown3 ,see ,britain sunk in ,lucre's forbid charms1 ,and ,france reveng'd of ,ann's and ,edward's arms6' ',twas no court-badge1 great ,scriv'ner6 fir'd thy brain1 ,nor lordly luxury1 nor city gain3 ,no1 'twas thy righteous end1 asham'd to see ,senates degen'rate1 patriots disagree1 ,and nobly wishing party-rage to cease1 ,to buy both sides1 and give thy country peace4 ,pope's ,epistle to ,allen ,lord ,bathurst4 ,knight1 the treasurer of the company1 was apprehended at ,tirlemont1 near ,liege1 by one of the secretaries of ,mr4 ,leathes1 the ,british resident at ,brussels1 and lodged in the citadel of ,antwerp4 ,repeated applications were made to the court of ,austria to deliver him up1 but in vain4 ,knight threw himself upon the protection of the states of ,brabant1 and demanded to be tried in that country4 ,it was a privilege granted to the states of ,brabant by one of the articles of the ,joyeuse ,entre1 that every criminal apprehended in that country should be tried in that country4 ,the states insisted on their privilege1 and refused to deliver ,knight to the ,british authorities4 ,the latter did not cease their solicitations2 but in the mean time1 ,knight escaped from the citadel4 ,illustration3 ,,brabant ,,screen4#be #be ,the ,brabant ,screen4 ,this caricature represents the ,duchess of ,kendal behind the ,brabant ,screen1 supplying ,mr4 ,knight with money to facilitate his escape2 and is copied from a rare print of the time1 in the collection of ,e4 ,hawkins1 ,esq4 ,f4,s4,a4 ,on the #afth of ,february the ,committee of ,secrecy made their first report to the ,house4 ,they stated that their inquiry had been attended with numerous difficulties and embarrassments2 every one they had examined had endeavoured1 as far as in him lay1 to defeat the ends of justice4 ,in some of the books produced before them1 false and fictitious entries had been made2 in others1 there were entries of money with blanks for the name of the stockholders4 ,there were frequent erasures and alterations1 and in some of the books leaves were torn out4 ,they also found that some books of great importance had been destroyed altogether1 and that some had been taken away or secreted4 ,at the very entrance into their inquiry1 they had observed that the matters referred to them were of great variety and extent4 ,many persons had been entrusted with various parts in the execution of the law1 and under colour thereof had acted in an unwarrantable manner1 in disposing of the properties of many thousands of persons amounting to many millions of money4 ,they discovered that1 before the ,south-,sea ,act was passed1 there was an entry in the company's books of the sum of #a1bei1cbel41 upon account of stock stated to have been sold to the amount of #egd1ejjl4 ,this stock was all fictitious1 and had been disposed of with a view to promote the passing of the bill4 ,it was noted as sold on various days1 and at various prices1 from #aej to #cbe per cent4 ,being surprised to see so large an account disposed of at a time when the company were not empowered to increase their capital1 the ,committee determined to investigate most carefully the whole transaction4 ,the governor1 sub-governor1 and several directors were brought before them1 and examined rigidly4 ,they found that1 at the time these entries were made1 the company was not in possession of such a quantity of stock1 having in their own right only a small quantity1 not exceeding thirty thousand pounds at the utmost4 ,pursuing the inquiry1 they found that this amount of stock was to be esteemed as taken in or holden by the company for the benefit of the pretended purchasers1 although no mutual agreement was made for its delivery or acceptance at any certain time4 ,no money was paid down1 nor any deposit or security whatever given to the company by the supposed purchasers2 so that if the stock had fallen1 as might have been expected had the act not passed1 they would have sustained no loss4 ,if1 on the contrary1 the price of stock advanced 7as it actually did by the success of the scheme71 the difference by the advanced price was to be made good to them4 ,accordingly1 after the passing of the act1 the account of stock was made up and adjusted with ,mr4 ,knight1 and the pretended purchasers were paid the difference out of the company's cash4 ,this fictitious stock1 which had been chiefly at the disposal of ,sir ,john ,blunt1 ,mr4 ,gibbon1 and ,mr4 ,knight1 was distributed among several members of the government and their connexions1 by way of bribe1 to facilitate the passing of the bill4 ,to the ,earl of ,sunderland was assigned #ej1jjjl4 of this stock2 to the ,duchess of ,kendal1 #aj1jjjl42 to the ,countess of ,platen1 #aj1jjjl42 to her two nieces1 #aj1jjjl42 to ,mr4 ,secretary ,craggs1 #cj1jjjl42 to ,mr4 ,charles ,stanhope 7one of the secretaries of the ,treasury71 #aj1jjjl42 to the ,sword-blade company1 #ej1jjjl4 ,it also appeared that ,mr4 ,stanhope had received the enormous sum of #bej1jjjl4 as the difference in the price of some stock1 through the hands of ,turner1 ,caswall1 and ,co41 but that his name had been partly erased from their books1 and altered to ,stangape4 ,aislabie1 the ,chancellor of the ,exchequer1 had made profits still more abominable4 ,he had an account with the same firm1 who were also ,south-,sea directors1 to the amount of #gid1deal4 ,he had1 besides1 advised the company to make their second subscription one million and a half1 instead of a million1 by their own authority1 and without any warrant4 ,the third subscription had been conducted in a manner as disgraceful4 ,mr4 ,aislabie's name was down for #gj1jjjl42 ,mr4 ,craggs1 senior1 for #fei1jjjl42 the ,earl of ,sunderland's for #afj1jjjl42 and ,mr4 ,stanhope for #dg1jjjl4 ,this report was succeeded by six others1 less important4 ,at the end of the last1 the committee declared1 that the absence of ,knight1 who had been principally entrusted1 prevented them from carrying on their inquiries4 ,the first report was ordered to be printed1 and taken into consideration on the next day but one succeeding4 ,after a very angry and animated debate1 a series of resolutions were agreed to1 condemnatory of the conduct of the directors1 of the members of the parliament and of the administration concerned with them2 and declaring that they ought1 each and all1 to make satisfaction out of their own estates for the injury they had done the public4 ,their practices were declared to be corrupt1 infamous1 and dangerous2 and a bill was ordered to be brought in for the relief of the unhappy sufferers4 ,illustration3 ,,bonfires ,,on ,,tower ,,hill ,mr4 ,charles ,stanhope was the first person brought to account for his share in these transactions4 ,he urged in his defence that1 for some years past1 he had lodged all the money he was possessed of in ,mr4 ,knight's hands1 and whatever stock ,mr4 ,knight had taken in for him1 he had paid a valuable consideration for it4 ,as for the stock that had been bought for him by ,turner1 ,caswall1 and ,co41 he knew nothing about it4 ,whatever had been done in that matter was done without his authority1 and he could not be responsible for it4 ,turner and ,co4 took the latter charge upon themselves2 but it was notorious to every unbiassed and unprejudiced person that ,mr4 ,stanhope was a gainer of the #bej1jjjl4 which lay in the hands of that firm to his credit4 ,he was1 however1 acquitted by a majority of three only4 ,the greatest exertions were made to screen him4 ,lord ,stanhope1 the son of the ,earl of ,chesterfield1 went round to the wavering members1 using all the eloquence he was possessed of to induce them either to vote for the acquittal1 or to absent themselves from the ,house4 ,many weak-headed country gentlemen were led astray by his persuasions1 and the result was as already stated4 ,the acquittal caused the greatest discontent throughout the country4 ,mobs of a menacing character assembled in different parts of ,london2 fears of riots were generally entertained1 especially as the examination of a still greater delinquent was expected by many to have a similar termination4 ,mr4 ,aislabie1 whose high office and deep responsibilities should have kept him honest1 even had native principle been insufficient1 was very justly regarded as perhaps the greatest criminal of all4 ,his case was entered into on the day succeeding the acquittal of ,mr4 ,stanhope4 ,great excitement prevailed1 and the lobbies and avenues of the ,house were beset by crowds1 impatient to know the result4 ,the debate lasted the whole day4 ,mr4 ,aislabie found few friends3 his guilt was so apparent and so heinous that nobody had courage to stand up in his favour4 ,it was finally resolved1 without a dissentient voice1 that ,mr4 ,aislabie had encouraged and promoted the destructive execution of the ,south-,sea scheme with a view to his own exorbitant profit1 and had combined with the directors in their pernicious practices1 to the ruin of the public trade and credit of the kingdom3 that he should for his offences be ignominiously expelled from the ,house of ,commons1 and committed a close prisoner to the ,tower of ,london2 that he should be restrained from going out of the kingdom for a whole year1 or till the end of the next session of ,parliament2 and that he should make out a correct account of all his estate1 in order that it might be applied to the relief of those who had suffered by his mal-practices4 ,this verdict caused the greatest joy4 ,though it was delivered at half-past twelve at night1 it soon spread over the city4 ,several persons illuminated their houses in token of their joy4 ,on the following day1 when ,mr4 ,aislabie was conveyed to the ,tower1 the mob assembled on ,tower-hill with the intention of hooting and pelting him4 ,not succeeding in this1 they kindled a large bonfire1 and danced around it in the exuberance of their delight4 ,several bonfires were made in other places2 ,london presented the appearance of a holiday1 and people congratulated one another as if they had just escaped from some great calamity4 ,the rage upon the acquittal of ,mr4 ,stanhope had grown to such a height that none could tell where it would have ended1 had ,mr4 ,aislabie met with the like indulgence4 ,to increase the public satisfaction1 ,sir ,george ,caswall1 of the firm of ,turner1 ,caswall1 and ,co41 was expelled from the ,house on the following day1 committed to the ,tower1 and ordered to refund the sum of #bej1jjjl4 ,illustration3 ,,earl ,,of ,,sunderland4 ,that part of the report of the ,committee of ,secrecy which related to the ,earl of ,sunderland was next taken into consideration4 ,every effort was made to clear his lordship from the imputation4 ,as the case against him rested chiefly on the evidence extorted from ,sir ,john ,blunt1 great pains were taken to make it appear that ,sir ,john's word was not to be believed1 especially in a matter affecting the honour of a peer and privy councillor4 ,all the friends of the ministry rallied around the earl1 it being generally reported that a verdict of guilty against him would bring a ,tory ministry into power4 ,he was eventually acquitted by a majority of #bcc against #agb2 but the country was convinced of his guilt4 ,the greatest indignation was every where expressed1 and menacing mobs again assembled in ,london4 ,happily no disturbance took place4 ,this was the day on which ,mr4 ,craggs the elder expired4 ,the morrow had been appointed for the consideration of his case4 ,it was very generally believed that he had poisoned himself4 ,it appeared1 however1 that grief for the loss of his son1 one of the secretaries of the ,treasury1 who had died five weeks previously of the small-pox1 preyed much on his mind4 ,for this son1 dearly beloved1 he had been amassing vast heaps of riches3 he had been getting money1 but not honestly2 and he for whose sake he had bartered his honour and sullied his fame was now no more4 ,the dread of further exposure increased his trouble of mind1 and ultimately brought on an apoplectic fit1 in which he expired4 ,he left a fortune of a million and a half1 which was afterwards confiscated for the benefit of the sufferers by the unhappy delusion he had been so mainly instrumental in raising4 ,one by one the case of every director of the company was taken into consideration4 ,a sum amounting to two millions and fourteen thousand pounds was confiscated from their estates towards repairing the mischief they had done1 each man being allowed a certain residue in proportion to his conduct and circumstances1 with which he might begin the world anew4 ,sir ,john ,blunt was only allowed #e1jjjl4 out of his fortune of upwards of #ahc1jjjl42 ,sir ,john ,fellows was allowed #aj1jjjl4 out of #bdc1jjjl42 ,sir ,theodore ,janssen1 #ej1jjjl4 out of #bdc1jjjl42 ,mr4 ,edward ,gibbon1 #aj1jjjl4 out of #ajf1jjjl42 ,sir ,john ,lambert1 #ejjjl4 out of #gb1jjjl4 ,others1 less deeply involved1 were treated with greater liberality4 ,gibbon1 the historian1 whose grandfather was the ,mr4 ,edward ,gibbon so severely mulcted1 has given1 in the ,memoirs of his ,life and ,writings1 an interesting account of the proceedings in parliament at this time4 ,he owns that he is not an unprejudiced witness2 but1 as all the writers from which it is possible to extract any notice of the proceedings of these disastrous years were prejudiced on the other side1 the statements of the great historian become of additional value4 ,if only on the principle audi alteram partem1 his opinion is entitled to consideration4 ,in the year #agaf1 he says1 my grandfather was elected one of the directors of the ,south-,sea company1 and his books exhibited the proof that before his acceptance of that fatal office1 he had acquired an independent fortune of #fj1jjjl4 ,but his fortune was overwhelmed in the shipwreck of the year #agbj1 and the labours of thirty years were blasted in a single day4 ,of the use or abuse of the ,south-,sea scheme1 of the guilt or innocence of my grandfather and his brother directors1 ,i am neither a competent nor a disinterested judge4 ,yet the equity of modern times must condemn the violent and arbitrary proceedings1 which would have disgraced the cause of justice1 and rendered injustice still more odious4 ,no sooner had the nation awakened from its golden dream1 than a popular and even a parliamentary clamour demanded its victims2 but it was acknowledged on all sides1 that the directors1 however guilty1 could not be touched by any known laws of the land4 ,the intemperate notions of ,lord ,molesworth were not literally acted on2 but a bill of pains and penalties was introduced--a retro-active statute1 to punish the offences which did not exist at the time they were committed4 ,the legislature restrained the persons of the directors1 imposed an exorbitant security for their appearance1 and marked their character with a previous note of ignominy4 ,they were compelled to deliver1 upon oath1 the strict value of their estates1 and were disabled from making any transfer or alienation of any part of their property4 ,against a bill of pains and penalties1 it is the common right of every subject to be heard by his counsel at the bar4 ,they prayed to be heard4 ,their prayer was refused1 and their oppressors1 who required no evidence1 would listen to no defence4 ,it had been at first proposed1 that one-eighth of their respective estates should be allowed for the future support of the directors2 but it was especially urged that1 in the various shades of opulence and guilt1 such a proportion would be too light for many1 and for some might possibly be too heavy4 ,the character and conduct of each man were separately weighed2 but1 instead of the calm solemnity of a judicial inquiry1 the fortune and honour of thirty-three ,englishmen were made the topics of hasty conversation1 the sport of a lawless majority2 and the basest member of the committee1 by a malicious word or a silent vote1 might indulge his general spleen or personal animosity4 ,injury was aggravated by insult1 and insult was embittered by pleasantry4 ,allowances of #bjl4 or #as4 were facetiously moved4 ,a vague report that a director had formerly been concerned in another project1 by which some unknown persons had lost their money1 was admitted as a proof of his actual guilt4 ,one man was ruined because he had dropped a foolish speech1 that his horses should feed upon gold2 another1 because he was grown so proud1 that one day1 at the ,treasury1 he had refused a civil answer to persons much above him4 ,all were condemned1 absent and unheard1 in arbitrary fines and forfeitures1 which swept away the greatest part of their substance4 ,such bold oppression can scarcely be shielded by the omnipotence of parliament4 ,my grandfather could not expect to be treated with more lenity than his companions4 ,his ,tory principles and connexions rendered him obnoxious to the ruling powers4 ,his name was reported in a suspicious secret4 ,his well-known abilities could not plead the excuse of ignorance or error4 ,in the first proceedings against the ,south-,sea directors1 ,mr4 ,gibbon was one of the first taken into custody1 and in the final sentence the measure of his fine proclaimed him eminently guilty4 ,the total estimate1 which he delivered on oath to the ,house of ,commons1 amounted to #ajf1edcl4 #es4 #f;d41 exclusive of antecedent settlements4 ,two different allowances of #ae1jjjl4 and of #aj1jjjl4 were moved for ,mr4 ,gibbon2 but on the question being put1 it was carried without a division for the smaller sum4 ,on these ruins1 with the skill and credit of which parliament had not been able to despoil him1 my grandfather1 at a mature age1 erected the edifice of a new fortune4 ,the labours of sixteen years were amply rewarded2 and ,i have reason to believe that the second structure was not much inferior to the first4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,south-,,sea ,,bubble4--,,caricature ,,by ,,hogarth4#bf #bf ,emblematic print of the ,south-,sea ,scheme4 ,by ,w4 ,hogarth4 ,the next consideration of the legislature1 after the punishment of the directors1 was to restore public credit4 ,the scheme of ,walpole had been found insufficient1 and had fallen into disrepute4 ,a computation was made of the whole capital stock of the ,south-,sea company at the end of the year #agbj4 ,it was found to amount to thirty-seven millions eight hundred thousand pounds1 of which the stock allotted to all the proprietors only amounted to twenty-four millions five hundred thousand pounds4 ,the remainder of thirteen millions three hundred thousand pounds belonged to the company in their corporate capacity1 and was the profit they had made by the national delusion4 ,upwards of eight millions of this were taken from the company1 and divided among the proprietors and subscribers generally1 making a dividend of about #ccl4 #fs4 #h;d4 per cent4 ,this was a great relief4 ,it was further ordered1 that such persons as had borrowed money from the ,south-,sea company upon stock actually transferred and pledged at the time of borrowing to or for the use of the company1 should be free from all demands1 upon payment of ten per cent of the sums so borrowed4 ,they had lent about eleven millions in this manner1 at a time when prices were unnaturally raised2 and they now received back one million one hundred thousand1 when prices had sunk to their ordinary level4 ,but it was a long time before public credit was thoroughly restored4 ,enterprise1 like ,icarus1 had soared too high1 and melted the wax of her wings2 like ,icarus1 she had fallen into a sea1 and learned1 while floundering in its waves1 that her proper element was the solid ground4 ,she has never since attempted so high a flight4 ,in times of great commercial prosperity there has been a tendency to over-speculation on several occasions since then4 ,the success of one project generally produces others of a similar kind4 ,popular imitativeness will always1 in a trading nation1 seize hold of such successes1 and drag a community too anxious for profits into an abyss from which extrication is difficult4 ,bubble companies1 of a kind similar to those engendered by the ,south-,sea project1 lived their little day in the famous year of the panic1 #ahbe4 ,on that occasion1 as in #agbj1 knavery gathered a rich harvest from cupidity1 but both suffered when the day of reckoning came4 ,the schemes of the year #ahcf threatened1 at one time1 results as disastrous2 but they were happily averted before it was too late4#bg #bg ,the ,south-,sea project remained until #ahde the greatest example in ,british history of the infatuation of the people for commercial gambling4 ,the first edition of these volumes was published some time before the outbreak of the ,great ,railway ,mania of that and the following year4 ,illustration3 ,,bubblers' ,,arms--,,despair--,,from ,a ,,print ,,in ,,the ,,collection ,,of ,e4 ,,hawkins1 ,,esq4 ,illustration3 ,,conrad ,,gesner4 ,,the ,,tulipomania4 ,quis furor1 cives6--,lucan4 ,the tulip1--so named1 it is said1 from a ,turkish word1 signifying a turban1--was introduced into western ,europe about the middle of the sixteenth century4 ,conrad ,gesner1 who claims the merit of having brought it into repute1--little dreaming of the commotion it was shortly afterwards to make in the world1--says that he first saw it in the year #aeei1 in a garden at ,augsburg1 belonging to the learned ,counsellor ,herwart1 a man very famous in his day for his collection of rare exotics4 ,the bulbs were sent to this gentleman by a friend at ,constantinople1 where the flower had long been a favourite4 ,in the course of ten or eleven years after this period1 tulips were much sought after by the wealthy1 especially in ,holland and ,germany4 ,rich people at ,amsterdam sent for the bulbs direct to ,constantinople1 and paid the most extravagant prices for them4 ,the first roots planted in ,england were brought from ,vienna in #afjj4 ,until the year #afcd the tulip annually increased in reputation1 until it was deemed a proof of bad taste in any man of fortune to be without a collection of them4 ,many learned men1 including ,pompeius de ,angelis and the celebrated ,lipsius of ,leyden1 the author of the treatise ,de ,constantia1 were passionately fond of tulips4 ,the rage for possessing them soon caught the middle classes of society1 and merchants and shopkeepers1 even of moderate means1 began to vie with each other in the rarity of these flowers and the preposterous prices they paid for them4 ,a trader at ,harlaem was known to pay one-half of his fortune for a single root1 not with the design of selling it again at a profit1 but to keep in his own conservatory for the admiration of his acquaintance4 ,one would suppose that there must have been some great virtue in this flower to have made it so valuable in the eyes of so prudent a people as the ,dutch2 but it has neither the beauty nor the perfume of the rose--hardly the beauty of the sweet1 sweet-pea2 neither is it as enduring as either4 ,cowley1 it is true1 is loud in its praise4 ,he says-- ,the tulip next appeared1 all over gay1 ,but wanton1 full of pride1 and full of play2 ,the world can't shew a dye but here has place2 ,nay1 by new mixtures1 she can change her face2 ,purple and gold are both beneath her care1 ,the richest needlework she loves to wear2 ,her only study is to please the eye1 ,and to outshine the rest in finery4 ,this1 though not very poetical1 is the description of a poet4 ,beckmann1 in his ,history of ,inventions1 paints it with more fidelity1 and in prose more pleasing than ,cowley's poetry4 ,he says1 ,there are few plants which acquire1 through accident1 weakness1 or disease1 so many variegations as the tulip4 ,when uncultivated1 and in its natural state1 it is almost of one colour1 has large leaves1 and an extraordinarily long stem4 ,when it has been weakened by cultivation1 it becomes more agreeable in the eyes of the florist4 ,the petals are then paler1 smaller1 and more diversified in hue2 and the leaves acquire a softer green colour4 ,thus this masterpiece of culture1 the more beautiful it turns1 grows so much the weaker1 so that1 with the greatest skill and most careful attention1 it can scarcely be transplanted1 or even kept alive4 ,many persons grow insensibly attached to that which gives them a great deal of trouble1 as a mother often loves her sick and ever-ailing child better than her more healthy offspring4 ,upon the same principle we must account for the unmerited encomia lavished upon these fragile blossoms4 ,in #afcd1 the rage among the ,dutch to possess them was so great that the ordinary industry of the country was neglected1 and the population1 even to its lowest dregs1 embarked in the tulip trade4 ,as the mania increased1 prices augmented1 until1 in the year #afce1 many persons were known to invest a fortune of #ajj1jjj florins in the purchase of forty roots4 ,it then became necessary to sell them by their weight in perits1 a small weight less than a grain4 ,a tulip of the species called ,admiral ,liefken1 weighing #djj perits1 was worth #ddjj florins2 an ,admiral ,van der ,eyck1 weighing #ddf perits1 was worth #abfj florins2 a ,childer of #ajf perits was worth #afae florins2 a ,viceroy of #djj perits1 #cjjj florins1 and1 most precious of all1 a ,semper ,augustus1 weighing #bjj perits1 was thought to be very cheap at #eejj florins4 ,the latter was much sought after1 and even an inferior bulb might command a price of #bjjj florins4 ,it is related that1 at one time1 early in #afcf1 there were only two roots of this description to be had in all ,holland1 and those not of the best4 ,one was in the possession of a dealer in ,amsterdam1 and the other in ,harlaem4 ,so anxious were the speculators to obtain them1 that one person offered the fee-simple of twelve acres of building-ground for the ,harlaem tulip4 ,that of ,amsterdam was bought for #dfjj florins1 a new carriage1 two grey horses1 and a complete suit of harness4 ,hunting1 an industrious author of that day1 who wrote a folio volume of one thousand pages upon the tulipomania1 has preserved the folio wing list of the various articles1 and their value1 which were delivered for one single root of the rare species called the ,viceroy3 florins4 ,two lasts of wheat #ddh ,four lasts of rye #eeh ,four fat oxen #dhj ,eight fat swine #bdj ,twelve fat sheep #abj ,two hogsheads of wine #gj ,four tuns of beer #cb ,two tuns of butter #aib ,one thousand lbs4 of cheese #abj ,a complete bed #ajj ,a suit of clothes #hj ,a silver drinking-cup #fj ------ #bejj ,people who had been absent from ,holland1 and whose chance it was to return when this folly was at its maximum1 were sometimes led into awkward dilemmas by their ignorance4 ,there is an amusing instance of the kind related in ,blainville's ,travels4 ,a wealthy merchant1 who prided himself not a little on his rare tulips1 received upon one occasion a very valuable consignment of merchandise from the ,levant4 ,intelligence of its arrival was brought him by a sailor1 who presented himself for that purpose at the counting-house1 among bales of goods of every description4 ,the merchant1 to reward him for his news1 munificently made him a present of a fine red herring for his breakfast4 ,the sailor had1 it appears1 a great partiality for onions1 and seeing a bulb very like an onion lying upon the counter of this liberal trader1 and thinking it1 no doubt1 very much out of its place among silks and velvets1 he slily seized an opportunity and slipped it into his pocket1 as a relish for his herring4 ,he got clear off with his prize1 and proceeded to the quay to eat his breakfast4 ,hardly was his back turned when the merchant missed his valuable ,semper ,augustus1 worth three thousand florins1 or about #bhjl4 sterling4 ,the whole establishment was instantly in an uproar2 search was every where made for the precious root1 but it was not to be found4 ,great was the merchant's distress of mind4 ,the search was renewed1 but again without success4 ,at last some one thought of the sailor4 ,the unhappy merchant sprang into the street at the bare suggestion4 ,his alarmed household followed him4 ,the sailor1 simple soul6 had not thought of concealment4 ,he was found quietly sitting on a coil of ropes1 masticating the last morsel of his onion4 ,little did he dream that he had been eating a breakfast whose cost might have regaled a whole ship's crew for a twelvemonth2 or1 as the plundered merchant himself expressed it1 might have sumptuously feasted the ,prince of ,orange and the whole court of the ,stadtholder4 ,anthony caused pearls to be dissolved in wine to drink the health of ,cleopatra2 ,sir ,richard ,whittington was as foolishly magnificent in an entertainment to ,king ,henry ,v42 and ,sir ,thomas ,gresham drank a diamond dissolved in wine to the health of ,queen ,elizabeth1 when she opened the ,royal ,exchange2 but the breakfast of this roguish ,dutchman was as splendid as either4 ,he had an advantage1 too1 over his wasteful predecessors3 their gems did not improve the taste or the wholesomeness of their wine1 while his tulip was quite delicious with his red herring4 ,the most unfortunate part of the business for him was1 that he remained in prison for some months on a charge of felony preferred against him by the merchant4 ,another story is told of an ,english traveller1 which is scarcely less ludicrous4 ,this gentleman1 an amateur botanist1 happened to see a tulip-root lying in the conservatory of a wealthy ,dutchman4 ,being ignorant of its quality1 he took out his penknife1 and peeled off its coats1 with the view of making experiments upon it4 ,when it was by this means reduced to half its size1 he cut it into two equal sections1 making all the time many learned remarks on the singular appearances of the unknown bulb4 ,suddenly1 the owner pounced upon him1 and1 with fury in his eyes1 asked him if he knew what he had been doing8 ,peeling a most extraordinary onion1 replied the philosopher4 ,hundert tausend duyvel6 said the ,duchman2 it's an ,admiral ,van der ,eyck4 ,thank you1 replied the traveller1 taking out his note-book to make a memorandum of the same2 are these admirals common in your country8 ,death and the devil6 said the ,dutchman1 seizing the astonished man of science by the collar2 come before the syndic1 and you shall see4 ,in spite of his remonstrances1 the traveller was led through the streets followed by a mob of persons4 ,when brought into the presence of the magistrate1 he learned1 to his consternation1 that the root upon which he had been experimentalising was worth four thousand florins2 and1 notwithstanding all he could urge in extenuation1 he was lodged in prison until he found securities for the payment of this sum4 ,the demand for tulips of a rare species increased so much in the year #afcf1 that regular marts for their sale were established on the ,stock ,exchange of ,amsterdam1 in ,rotterdam1 ,harlaem1 ,leyden1 ,alkmar1 ,hoorn1 and other towns4 ,symptoms of gambling now became1 for the first time1 apparent4 ,the stock-jobbers1 ever on the alert for a new speculation1 dealt largely in tulips1 making use of all the means they so well knew how to employ1 to cause fluctuations in prices4 ,at first1 as in all these gambling mania1 confidence was at its height1 and every body gained4 ,the tulip-jobbers speculated in the rise and fall of the tulip stocks1 and made large profits by buying when prices fell1 and selling out when they rose4 ,many individuals grew suddenly rich4 ,a golden bait hung temptingly out before the people1 and one after the other1 they rushed to the tulip-marts1 like flies around a honey-pot4 ,every one imagined that the passion for tulips would last for ever1 and that the wealthy from every part of the world would send to ,holland1 and pay whatever prices were asked for them4 ,the riches of ,europe would be concentrated on the shores of the ,zuyder ,zee1 and poverty banished from the favoured clime of ,holland4 ,nobles1 citizens1 farmers1 mechanics1 sea-men1 footmen1 maid-servants1 even chimney-sweeps and old clothes-women1 dabbled in tulips4 ,people of all grades converted their property into cash1 and invested it in flowers4 ,houses and lands were offered for sale at ruinously low prices1 or assigned in payment of bargains made at the tulip-mart4 ,foreigners became smitten with the same frenzy1 and money poured into ,holland from all directions4 ,the prices of the necessaries of life rose again by degrees3 houses and lands1 horses and carriages1 and luxuries of every sort1 rose in value with them1 and for some months ,holland seemed the very antechamber of ,plutus4 ,the operations of the trade became so extensive and so intricate1 that it was found necessary to draw up a code of laws for the guidance of the dealers4 ,notaries and clerks were also appointed1 who devoted themselves exclusively to the interests of the trade4 ,the designation of public notary was hardly known in some towns1 that of tulip-notary usurping its place4 ,in the smaller towns1 where there was no exchange1 the principal tavern was usually selected as the show-place1 where high and low traded in tulips1 and confirmed their bargains over sumptuous entertainments4 ,these dinners were sometimes attended by two or three hundred persons1 and large vases of tulips1 in full bloom1 were placed at regular intervals upon the tables and sideboards for their gratification during the repast4 ,at last1 however1 the more prudent began to see that this folly could not last for ever4 ,rich people no longer bought the flowers to keep them in their gardens1 but to sell them again at cent per cent profit4 ,it was seen that somebody must lose fearfully in the end4 ,as this conviction spread1 prices fell1 and never rose again4 ,confidence was destroyed1 and a universal panic seized upon the dealers4 ,a had agreed to purchase ten ,semper ,augustines from ,b1 at four thousand florins each1 at six weeks after the signing of the contract4 ,b was ready with the flowers at the appointed time2 but the price had fallen to three or four hundred florins1 and ,a refused either to pay the difference or receive the tulips4 ,defaulters were announced day after day in all the towns of ,holland4 ,hundreds who1 a few months previously1 had begun to doubt that there was such a thing as poverty in the land1 suddenly found themselves the possessors of a few bulbs1 which nobody would buy1 even though they offered them at one quarter of the sums they had paid for them4 ,the cry of distress resounded every where1 and each man accused his neighbour4 ,the few who had contrived to enrich themselves hid their wealth from the knowledge of their fellow-citizens1 and invested it in the ,english or other funds4 ,many who1 for a brief season1 had emerged from the humbler walks of life1 were cast back into their original obscurity4 ,substantial merchants were reduced almost to beggary1 and many a representative of a noble line saw the fortunes of his house ruined beyond redemption4 ,when the first alarm subsided1 the tulip-holders in the several towns held public meetings to devise what measures1 were best to be taken to restore public credit4 ,it was generally agreed1 that deputies should be sent from all parts to ,amsterdam1 to consult with the government upon some remedy for the evil4 ,the government at first refused to interfere1 but advised the tulip-holders to agree to some plan among themselves4 ,several meetings were held for this purpose2 but no measure could be devised likely to give satisfaction to the deluded people1 or repair even a slight portion of the mischief that had been done4 ,the language of complaint and reproach was in every body's mouth1 and all the meetings were of the most stormy character4 ,at last1 however1 after much bickering and ill-will1 it was agreed1 at ,amsterdam1 by the assembled deputies1 that all contracts made in the height of the mania1 or prior to the month of ,november #afcf1 should be declared null and void1 and that1 in those made after that date1 purchasers should be freed from their engagements1 on paying ten per cent to the vendor4 ,this decision gave no satisfaction4 ,the vendors who had their tulips on hand were1 of course1 discontented1 and those who had pledged themselves to purchase1 thought themselves hardly treated4 ,tulips which had1 at one time1 been worth six thousand florins1 were now to be procured for five hundred2 so that the composition of ten per cent was one hundred florins more than the actual value4 ,actions for breach of contract were threatened in all the courts of the country2 but the latter refused to take cognisance of gambling transactions4 ,the matter was finally referred to the ,provincial ,council at the ,hague1 and it was confidently expected that the wisdom of this body would invent some measure by which credit should be restored4 ,expectation was on the stretch for its decision1 but it never came4 ,the members continued to deliberate week after week1 and at last1 after thinking about it for three months1 declared that they could offer no final decision until they had more information4 ,they advised1 however1 that1 in the mean time1 every vendor should1 in the presence of witnesses1 offer the tulips in natura to the purchaser for the sums agreed upon4 ,if the latter refused to take them1 they might be put up for sale by public auction1 and the original contractor held responsible for the difference between the actual and the stipulated price4 ,this was exactly the plan recommended by the deputies1 and which was already shewn to be of no avail4 ,there was no court in ,holland which would enforce payment4 ,the question was raised in ,amsterdam1 but the judges unanimously refused to interfere1 on the ground that debts contracted in gambling were no debts in law4 ,thus the matter rested4 ,to find a remedy was beyond the power of the government4 ,those who were unlucky enough to have had stores of tulips on hand at the time of the sudden reaction were left to bear their ruin as philosophically as they could2 those who had made profits were allowed to keep them2 but the commerce of the country suffered a severe shock1 from which it was many years ere it recovered4 ,the example of the ,dutch was imitated to some extent in ,england4 ,in the year #afcf tulips were publicly sold in the ,exchange of ,london1 and the jobbers exerted themselves to the utmost to raise them to the fictitious value they had acquired in ,amsterdam4 ,in ,paris also the jobbers strove to create a tulipomania4 ,in both cities they only partially succeeded4 ,however1 the force of example brought the flowers into great favour1 and amongst a certain class of people tulips have ever since been prized more highly than any other flowers of the field4 ,the ,dutch are still notorious for their partiality to them1 and continue to pay higher prices for them than any other people4 ,as the rich ,englishman boasts of his fine race-horses or his old pictures1 so does the wealthy ,dutchman vaunt him of his tulips4 ,in ,england1 in our day1 strange as it may appear1 a tulip will produce more money than an oak4 ,if one could be found1 rara in terris1 and black as the black swan of ,juvenal1 its price would equal that of a dozen acres of standing corn4 ,in ,scotland1 towards the close of the seventeenth century1 the highest price for tulips1 according to the authority of a writer in the supplement to the third edition of the ,encyclopedia ,britannica1 was ten guineas4 ,their value appears to have diminished from that time till the year #agfi1 when the two most valuable species in ,england were the ,don ,quevedo and the ,valentinier1 the former of which was worth two guineas and the latter two guineas and a half4 ,these prices appear to have been the minimum4 ,in the year #ahjj1 a common price was fifteen guineas for a single bulb4 ,in #ahce1 a bulb of the species called the ,miss ,fanny ,kemble was sold by public auction in ,london for seventy-five pounds4 ,still more remarkable was the price of a tulip in the possession of a gardener in the ,king's ,road1 ,chelsea2--in his catalogues it was labelled at two hundred guineas4 ,illustration ,,the ,,alchymists2 or ,searchers for the ,philosopher's ,stone and the ,water of ,life4 ,mercury 7loquitur74 ,the mischief a secret any of them know1 above the consuming of coals and drawing of usquebaugh6 howsoever they may pretend1 under the specious names of ,geber1 ,arnold1 ,lulli1 or bombast of ,hohenheim1 to commit miracles in art1 and treason against nature6 ,as if the title of philosopher1 that creature of glory1 were to be fetched out of a furnace6 ,i am their crude and their sublimate1 their precipitate and their unctions2 their male and their female1 sometimes their hermaphrodite--what they list to style me6 ,they will calcine you a grave matron1 as it might be a mother of the maids1 and spring up a young virgin out of her ashes1 as fresh as a phoenix2 lay you an old courtier on the coals1 like a sausage or a bloat-herring1 and1 after they have broiled him enough1 blow a soul into him with a pair of bellows6 ,see1 they begin to muster again1 and draw their forces out against me6 ,the genius of the place defend me6--,,ben ,,jonson',s ,masque3 ,mercury vindicated from the ,alchymists4 ,dissatisfaction with his lot seems to be the characteristic of man in all ages and climates4 ,so far1 however1 from being an evil1 as at first might be supposed1 it has been the great civiliser of our race2 and has tended1 more than any thing else1 to raise us above the condition of the brutes4 ,but the same discontent which has been the source of all improvement1 has been the parent of no small progeny of follies and absurdities2 to trace these latter is our present object4 ,vast as the subject appears1 it is easily reducible within such limits as will make it comprehensive without being wearisome1 and render its study both instructive and amusing4 ,three causes especially have excited the discontent of mankind2 and1 by impelling us to seek for remedies for the irremediable1 have bewildered us in a maze of madness and error4 ,these are death1 toil1 and ignorance of the future--the doom of man upon this sphere1 and for which he shews his antipathy by his love of life1 his longing for abundance1 and his craving curiosity to pierce the secrets of the days to come4 ,the first has led many to imagine that they might find means to avoid death1 or failing in this1 that they might1 nevertheless1 so prolong existence as to reckon it by centuries instead of units4 ,from this sprang the search1 so long continued and still pursued1 for the elixir vit1 or water of life1 which has led thousands to pretend to it and millions to believe in it4 ,from the second sprang the search for the philosopher's stone1 which was to create plenty by changing all metals into gold2 and from the third1 the false sciences of astrology1 divination1 and their divisions of necromancy1 chiromancy1 augury1 with all their train of signs1 portents1 and omens4 ,in tracing the career of the erring philosophers1 or the wilful cheats1 who have encouraged or preyed upon the credulity of mankind1 it will simplify and elucidate the subject1 if we divide it into three classes3 the first comprising alchymists1 or those in general who have devoted themselves to the discovering of the philosopher's stone and the water of life2 the second comprising astrologers1 necromancers1 sorcerers1 geomancers1 and all those who pretended to discover futurity2 and the third consisting of the dealers in charms1 amulets1 philters1 universal-panacea mongers1 touchers for the evil1 seventh sons of a seventh son1 sympathetic powder compounders1 homoeopathists1 animal magnetisers1 and all the motley tribe of quacks1 empirics1 and charlatans4 ,but in narrating the career of such men1 it will be found that many of them united several or all of the functions just mentioned2 that the alchymist was a fortune-teller1 or a necromancer--that he pretended to cure all maladies by touch or charm1 and to work miracles of every kind4 ,in the dark and early ages of ,european history this is more especially the case4 ,even as we advance to more recent periods1 we shall find great difficulty in separating the characters4 ,the alchymist seldom confined himself strictly to his pretended science--the sorcerer and necromancer to theirs1 or the medical charlatan to his4 ,beginning with alchymy1 some confusion of these classes is unavoidable2 but the ground will clear for us as we advance4 ,let us not1 in the pride of our superior knowledge1 turn with contempt from the follies of our predecessors4 ,the study of the errors into which great minds have fallen in the pursuit of truth can never be uninstructive4 ,as the man looks back to the days of his childhood and his youth1 and recalls to his mind the strange notions and false opinions that swayed his actions at that time1 that he may wonder at them2 so should society1 for its edification1 look back to the opinions which governed the ages fled4 ,he is but a superficial thinker who would despise and refuse to hear of them merely because they are absurd4 ,no man is so wise but that he may learn some wisdom from his past errors1 either of thought or action2 and no society has made such advances as to be capable of no improvement from the retrospect of its past folly and credulity4 ,and not only is such a study instructive3 he who reads for amusement only will find no chapter in the annals of the human mind more amusing than this4 ,it opens out the whole realm of fiction--the wild1 the fantastic1 and the wonderful1 and all the immense variety of things that are not1 and cannot be2 but that have been imagined and believed4 99 99 99 99 99 ,for more than a thousand years the art of alchymy captivated many noble spirits1 and was believed in by millions4 ,its origin is involved in obscurity4 ,some of its devotees have claimed for it an antiquity coeval with the creation of man himself1 others1 again1 would trace it no further back than the time of ,noah4 ,vincent de ,beauvais argues1 indeed1 that all the antediluvians must have possessed a knowledge of alchymy2 and particularly cites ,noah as having been acquainted with the elixir vit1 or he could not have lived to so prodigious an age1 and have begotten children when upwards of five hundred4 ,lenglet du ,fresnoy1 in his ,history of the ,hermetic ,philosophy1 says1 ,most of them pretended that ,shem1 or ,chem1 the son of ,noah1 was an adept in the art1 and thought it highly probable that the words chemistry and alchymy are both derived from his name4 ,others say1 the art was derived from the ,egyptians1 amongst whom it was first founded by ,hermes ,trismegistus4 ,moses1 who is looked upon as a first-rate alchymist1 gained his knowledge in ,egypt2 but he kept it all to himself1 and would not instruct the children of ,israel in its mysteries4 ,all the writers upon alchymy triumphantly cite the story of the golden calf1 in the #cb;d chapter of ,exodus1 to prove that this great lawgiver was an adept1 and could make or unmake gold at his pleasure4 ,it is recorded1 that ,moses was so wrath with the ,israelites for their idolatry1 that he took the calf which they had made1 and burned it in the fire1 and ground it to powder1 and strewed it upon the water1 and made the children of ,israel drink of it4 ,this1 say the alchymists1 he never could have done had he not been in possession of the philosopher's stone2 by no other means could he have made the powder of gold float upon the water4 ,but we must leave this knotty point for the consideration of the adepts in the art1 if any such there be1 and come to more modern periods of its history4 ,the ,jesuit1 ,father ,martini1 in his ,historia ,sinica1 says1 it was practised by the ,chinese two thousand five hundred years before the birth of ,christ2 but his assertion1 being unsupported1 is worth nothing4 ,it would appear1 however1 that pretenders to the art of making gold and silver existed in ,rome in the first centuries after the ,christian era1 and that1 when discovered1 they were liable to punishment as knaves and impostors4 ,at ,constantinople1 in the fourth century1 the transmutation of metals was very generally believed in1 and many of the ,greek ecclesiastics wrote treatises upon the subject4 ,their names are preserved1 and some notice of their works given1 in the third volume of ,langlet du ,fresnoy's ,history of the ,hermetic ,philosophy4 ,their notion appears to have been1 that all metals were composed of two substances2 the one1 metallic earth2 and the other1 a red inflammable matter1 which they called sulphur4 ,the pure union of these substances formed gold2 but other metals were mixed with and contaminated by various foreign ingredients4 ,the object of the philosopher's stone was to dissolve or neutralise all these ingredients1 by which iron1 lead1 copper1 and all metals would be transmuted into the original gold4 ,many learned and clever men wasted their time1 their health1 and their energies1 in this vain pursuit2 but for several centuries it took no great hold upon the imagination of the people4 ,the history of the delusion appears1 in a manner1 lost from this time till the eighth century1 when it appeared amongst the ,arabians4 ,from this period it becomes easier to trace its progress4 ,a master then appeared1 who was long looked upon as the father of the science1 and whose name is indissolubly connected with it4 ,,geber4 ,of this philosopher1 who devoted his life to the study of alchymy1 but few particulars are known4 ,he is thought to have lived in the year #gcj4 ,his true name was ,abou ,moussah ,djafar1 to which was added ,al ,sofi1 or ,the ,wise1 and he was born at ,houran1 in ,mesopotamia4#bh ,some have thought he was a ,greek1 others a ,spaniard1 and others a prince of ,hindostan2 but of all the mistakes which have been made respecting him1 the most ludicrous was that made by the ,french translator of ,sprenger's ,history of ,medicine1 who thought1 from the sound of his name1 that he was a ,german1 and rendered it as the ,donnateur1 or ,giver4 ,no details of his life are known2 but it is asserted1 that he wrote more than five hundred works upon the philosopher's stone and the water of life4 ,he was a great enthusiast in his art1 and compared the incredulous to little children shut up in a narrow room1 without windows or aperture1 who1 because they saw nothing beyond1 denied the existence of the great globe itself4 ,he thought that a preparation of gold would cure all maladies1 not only in man1 but in the inferior animals and plants4 ,he also imagined that all the metals laboured under disease1 with the exception of gold1 which was the only one in perfect health4 ,he affirmed1 that the secret of the philosopher's stone had been more than once discovered2 but that the ancient and wise men who had hit upon it would never1 by word or writing1 communicate it to men1 because of their unworthiness and incredulity4#bi ,but the life of ,geber1 though spent in the pursuit of this vain chimera1 was not altogether useless4 ,he stumbled upon discoveries which he did not seek2 and science is indebted to him for the first mention of corrosive sublimate1 the red oxide of mercury1 nitric acid1 and the nitrate of silver4#cj #bh ,biographie ,universelle4 #bi ,his sum of perfection1 or instructions to students to aid them in the laborious search for the stone and elixir1 has been translated into most of the languages of ,europe4 ,an ,english translation1 by a great enthusiast in alchymy1 one ,richard ,russell1 was published in ,london in #afhf4 ,the preface is dated eight years previously from the house of the alchymist1 at the ,star1 in ,newmarket1 in ,wapping1 near the ,dock4 ,his design in undertaking the translation was1 as he informs us1 to expose the false pretences of the many ignorant pretenders to the science who abounded in his day4 #cj ,article1 ,geber1 ,biographie ,universelle4 ,for more than two hundred years after the death of ,geber1 the ,arabian philosophers devoted themselves to the study of alchymy1 joining with it that of astrology4 ,of these the most celebrated was ,,alfarabi4 ,alfarabi flourished at the commencement of the tenth century1 and enjoyed the reputation of being one of the most learned men of his age4 ,he spent his life in travelling from country to country1 that he might gather the opinions of philosophers upon the great secrets of nature4 ,no danger dismayed him2 no toil wearied him of the pursuit4 ,many sovereigns endeavoured to retain him at their courts2 but he refused to rest until he had discovered the great object of his life--the art of preserving it for centuries1 and of making gold as much as he needed4 ,this wandering mode of life at last proved fatal to him4 ,he had been on a visit to ,mecca1 not so much for religious as for philosophical purposes1 when1 returning through ,syria1 he stopped at the court of the ,sultan ,seifeddoulet1 who was renowned as the patron of learning4 ,he presented himself in his travelling attire in the presence of that monarch and his courtiers2 and1 without invitation1 coolly sat himself down on the sofa beside the prince4 ,the courtiers and wise men were indignant2 and the sultan1 who did not know the intruder1 was at first inclined to follow their example4 ,he turned to one of his officers1 and ordered him to eject the presumptuous stranger from the room2 but ,alfarabi1 without moving1 dared them to lay hands upon him2 and1 turning himself calmly to the prince1 remarked1 that he did not know who was his guest1 or he would treat him with honour1 not with violence4 ,the sultan1 instead of being still further incensed1 as many potentates would have been1 admired his coolness2 and1 requesting him to sit still closer to him on the sofa1 entered into a long conversation with him upon science and divine philosophy4 ,all the court were charmed with the stranger4 ,questions for discussion were propounded1 on all of which he shewed superior knowledge4 ,he convinced every one who ventured to dispute with him2 and spoke so eloquently upon the science of alchymy1 that he was at once recognised as only second to the great ,geber himself4 ,one of the doctors present inquired whether a man who knew so many sciences was acquainted with music8 ,alfarabi made no reply1 but merely requested that a lute should be brought him4 ,the lute was brought2 and he played such ravishing and tender melodies1 that all the court were melted into tears4 ,he then changed his theme1 and played airs so sprightly1 that he set the grave philosophers1 sultan and all1 dancing as fast as their legs could carry them4 ,he then sobered them again by a mournful strain1 and made them sob and sigh as if broken-hearted4 ,the sultan1 highly delighted with his powers1 entreated him to stay1 offering him every inducement that wealth1 power1 and dignity could supply2 but the alchymist resolutely refused1 it being decreed1 he said1 that he should never repose till he had discovered the philosopher's stone4 ,he set out accordingly the same evening1 and was murdered by some thieves in the deserts of ,syria4 ,his biographers give no further particulars of his life beyond mentioning that he wrote several valuable treatises on his art1 all of which1 however1 have been lost4 ,his death happened in the year #ied4 ,,avicenna4 ,avicenna1 whose real name was ,ebn ,cinna1 another great alchymist1 was born at ,bokhara in #ihj4 ,his reputation as a physician and a man skilled in all sciences was so great1 that the ,sultan ,magdal ,douleth resolved to try his powers in the great science of government4 ,he was accordingly made ,grand ,vizier of that prince1 and ruled the state with some advantage2 but in a science still more difficult1 he failed completely4 ,he could not rule his own passions1 but gave himself up to wine and women1 and led a life of shameless debauchery4 ,amid the multifarious pursuits of business and pleasure1 he nevertheless found time to write seven treatises upon the philosopher's stone1 which were for many ages looked upon as of great value by pretenders to the art4 ,it is rare that an eminent physician as ,avicenna appears to have been1 abandons himself to sensual gratification2 but so completely did he become enthralled in the course of a few years1 that he was dismissed from his high office1 and died shortly afterwards of premature old age and a complication of maladies1 brought on by debauchery4 ,his death took place in the year #ajcf4 ,after his time few philosophers of any note in ,arabia are heard of as devoting themselves to the study of alchymy2 but it began shortly afterwards to attract greater attention in ,europe4 ,learned men in ,france1 ,england1 ,spain1 and ,italy1 expressed their belief in the science1 and many devoted their whole energies to it4 ,in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries especially1 it was extensively pursued1 and some of the brightest names of that age are connected with it4 ,among the most eminent of them are ,,albertus ,,magnus ,,and ,,thomas ,,aquinas4 ,the first of these philosophers was born in the year #aaic1 of a noble family at ,lawingen1 in the ,duchy of ,neuburg1 on the ,danube4 ,for the first thirty years of his life he appeared remarkably dull and stupid1 and it was feared by every one that no good could come of him4 ,he entered a ,dominican monastery at an early age2 but made so little progress in his studies1 that he was more than once upon the point of abandoning them in despair1 but he was endowed with extraordinary perseverance4 ,as he advanced to middle age1 his mind expanded1 and he learned whatever he applied himself to with extreme facility4 ,so remarkable a change was not in that age to be accounted for but by a miracle4 ,it was asserted and believed that the ,holy ,virgin1 touched with his great desire to become learned and famous1 took pity upon his incapacity1 and appeared to him in the cloister where he sat almost despairing1 and asked him whether he wished to excel in philosophy or divinity4 ,he chose philosophy1 to the chagrin of the ,virgin1 who reproached him in mild and sorrowful accents that he had not made a better choice4 ,she1 however1 granted his request1 that he should become the most excellent philosopher of the age2 but set this drawback to his pleasure1 that he should relapse1 when at the height of his fame1 into his former incapacity and stupidity4 ,albertus never took the trouble to contradict the story1 but prosecuted his studies with such unremitting zeal1 that his reputation speedily spread over all ,europe4 ,in the year #abdd1 the celebrated ,thomas ,aquinas placed himself under his tuition4 ,many extraordinary stories are told of the master and his pupil4 ,while they paid all due attention to other branches of science1 they never neglected the pursuit of the philosopher's stone and the elixir vit4 ,although they discovered neither1 it was believed that ,albert had seized some portion of the secret of life1 and found means to animate a brazen statue1 upon the formation of which1 under proper conjunctions of the planets1 he had been occupied many years of his life4 ,he and ,thomas ,aquinas completed it together1 endowed it with the faculty of speech1 and made it perform the functions of a domestic servant4 ,in this capacity it was exceedingly useful2 but1 through some defect in the machinery1 it chattered much more than was agreeable to either philosopher4 ,various remedies were tried to cure it of its garrulity1 but in vain2 and one day1 ,thomas ,aquinas was so enraged at the noise it made when he was in the midst of a mathematical problem1 that he seized a ponderous hammer and smashed it to pieces4#ca ,he was sorry afterwards for what he had done1 and was reproved by his master for giving way to his anger1 so unbecoming in a philosopher4 ,they made no attempt to re-animate the statue4 #ca ,naud1 ,apologie des ,grands ,hommes accuss de ,magie1 chap4 xviii4 ,illustration3 ,,albertus ,,magnus4 ,such stories as these shew the spirit of the age4 ,every great man who attempted to study the secrets of nature was thought a magician2 and it is not to be wondered at that1 when philosophers themselves pretended to discover an elixir for conferring immortality1 or a red stone which was to create boundless wealth1 that popular opinion should have enhanced upon their pretensions1 and have endowed them with powers still more miraculous4 ,it was believed of ,albertus ,magnus that he could even change the course of the seasons1 a feat which the many thought less difficult than the discovery of the grand elixir4 ,albertus was desirous of obtaining a piece of ground on which to build a monastery in the neighbourhood of ,cologne4 ,the ground belonged to ,william ,count of ,holland and ,king of the ,romans1 who for some reason or other did not wish to part with it4 ,albertus is reported to have gained it by the following extraordinary method3 ,he invited the prince as he was passing through ,cologne to a magnificent entertainment prepared for him and all his court4 ,the prince accepted it1 and repaired with a lordly retinue to the residence of the sage4 ,it was in the midst of winter1 the ,rhine was frozen over1 and the cold was so bitter1 that the knights could not sit on horseback without running the risk of losing their toes by the frost4 ,great1 therefore1 was their surprise1 on arriving at ,albert's house1 to find that the repast was spread in his garden1 in which the snow had drifted to the depth of several feet4 ,the earl in high dudgeon remounted his steed1 but ,albert at last prevailed upon him to take his seat at the table4 ,he had no sooner done so1 than the dark clouds rolled away from the sky--a warm sun shone forth--the cold north wind veered suddenly round and blew a mild breeze from the south--the snows melted away--the ice was unbound upon the streams1 and the trees put forth their green leaves and their fruit--flowers sprang up beneath their feet1 while larks1 nightingales1 blackbirds1 cuckoos1 thrushes1 and every sweet song-bird sang hymns from every tree4 ,the earl and his attendants wondered greatly2 but they ate their dinner1 and in recompense for it1 ,albert got his piece of ground to build a convent on4 ,he had not1 however1 shewn them all his power4 ,immediately that the repast was over1 he gave the word1 and dark clouds obscured the sun--the snow fell in large flakes--the singing-birds fell dead--the leaves dropped from the trees1 and the winds blew so cold and howled so mournfully1 that the guests wrapped themselves up in their thick cloaks1 and retreated into the house to warm themselves at the blazing fire in ,albert's kitchen4#cb #cb ,lenglet1 ,histoire de la ,philosophie ,hermtique4 ,see also ,godwin's ,lives of the ,necromancers4 ,thomas ,aquinas also could work wonders as well as his master4 ,it is related of him that he lodged in a street at ,cologne1 where he was much annoyed by the incessant clatter made by the horses' hoofs1 as they were led through it daily to exercise by their grooms4 ,he had entreated the latter to select some other spot1 where they might not disturb a philosopher2 but the grooms turned a deaf ear to all his solicitations4 ,in this emergency he had recourse to the aid of magic4 ,he constructed a small horse of bronze1 upon which he inscribed certain cabalistic characters1 and buried it at midnight in the midst of the highway4 ,the next morning a troop of grooms came riding along as usual2 but the horses1 as they arrived at the spot where the magic horse was buried1 reared and plunged violently--their nostrils distended with terror--their manes grew erect1 and the perspiration ran down their sides in streams4 ,in vain the riders applied the spur--in vain they coaxed or threatened1 the animals would not pass the spot4 ,on the following day their success was no better4 ,they were at length compelled to seek another spot for their exercise1 and ,thomas ,aquinas was left in peace4#cc #cc ,naud1 ,apologie des ,grands ,hommes accuss de ,magie1 chap4 xvii4 ,albertus ,magnus was made ,bishop of ,ratisbon in #abei2 but he occupied the see only four years1 when he resigned1 on the ground that its duties occupied too much of the time which he was anxious to devote to philosophy4 ,he died in ,cologne in #abhj1 at the advanced age of eighty-seven4 ,the ,dominican writers deny that he ever sought the philosopher's stone1 but his treatise upon minerals sufficiently proves that he did4 ,,artephius4 ,artephius1 a name noted in the annals of alchymy1 was born in the early part of the twelfth century4 ,he wrote two famous treatises2 the one upon the philosopher's stone1 and the other on the art of prolonging human life4 ,in the latter he vaunts his great qualifications for instructing mankind on such a matter1 as he was at that time in the thousand and twenty-fifth year of his age6 ,he had many disciples who believed in his extreme age1 and who attempted to prove that he was ,apollonius of ,tyana1 who lived soon after the advent of ,jesus ,christ1 and the particulars of whose life and pretended miracles have been so fully described by ,philostratus4 ,he took good care never to contradict a story which so much increased the power he was desirous of wielding over his fellow-mortals4 ,on all convenient occasions1 he boasted of it2 and having an excellent memory1 a fertile imagination1 and a thorough knowledge of all existing history1 he was never at a loss for an answer when questioned as to the personal appearance1 the manners1 or the character of the great men of antiquity4 ,he also pretended to have found the philosopher's stone2 and said that1 in search of it1 he had descended to hell1 and seen the devil sitting on a throne of gold1 with a legion of imps and fiends around him4 ,his works on alchymy have been translated into ,french1 and were published in ,paris in #afji or #afaj4 ,,alain ,,de ,,lisle4 ,contemporary with ,albertus ,magnus was ,alain de ,lisle of ,flanders1 who was named1 from his great learning1 the universal doctor4 ,he was thought to possess a knowledge of all the sciences1 and1 like ,artephius1 to have discovered the elixir vit4 ,he became one of the friars of the abbey of ,citeaux1 and died in #abih1 aged about one hundred and ten years4 ,it was said of him that he was at the point of death when in his fiftieth year1 but that the fortunate discovery of the elixir enabled him to add sixty years to his existence4 ,he wrote a commentary on the prophecies of ,merlin4 ,,arnold ,,de ,,villeneuve4 ,this philosopher has left a much greater reputation4 ,he was born in the year #abde1 and studied medicine with great success in the university of ,paris4 ,he afterwards travelled for twenty years in ,italy and ,germany1 where he made acquaintance with ,pietro d',apone1 a man of a character akin to his own1 and addicted to the same pursuits4 ,as a physician1 he was thought1 in his own lifetime1 to be the most able the world had ever seen4 ,like all the learned men of that day1 he dabbled in astrology and alchymy1 and was thought to have made immense quantities of gold from lead and copper4 ,when ,pietro d',apone was arrested in ,italy1 and brought to trial as a sorcerer1 a similar accusation was made against ,arnold2 but he managed to leave the country in time1 and escape the fate of his unfortunate friend4 ,he lost some credit by predicting the end of the world1 but afterwards regained it4 ,the time of his death is not exactly known2 but it must have been prior to the year #acaa1 when ,pope ,clement ,v4 wrote a circular letter to all the clergy of ,europe who lived under his obedience1 praying them to use their utmost efforts to discover the famous treatise of ,arnold on ,the ,practice of ,medicine4 ,the author had promised1 during his lifetime1 to make a present of the work to the ,holy ,see1 but died without fulfilling it4 ,illustration3 ,,arnold ,,de ,,villeneuve4 ,in a very curious work by ,monsieur ,longeville ,harcouet1 entitled ,the ,history of the ,persons who have lived several centuries and then grown young again1 there is a receipt1 said to have been given by ,arnold de ,villeneuve1 by means of which any one might prolong his life for a few hundred years or so4 ,in the first place1 say ,arnold and ,monsieur ,harcouet1 the person intending so to prolong his life must rub himself well1 two or three times a week1 with the juice or marrow of cassia 7molle de la casse74 ,every night1 upon going to bed1 he must put upon his heart a plaster1 composed of a certain quantity of oriental saffron1 red rose-leaves1 sandal-wood1 aloes1 and amber1 liquified in oil of roses and the best white wax4 ,in the morning1 he must take it off1 and enclose it carefully in a leaden box till the next night1 when it must be again applied4 ,if he be of a sanguine temperament1 he shall take sixteen chickens2 if phlegmatic1 twenty-five2 and if melancholy1 thirty1 which he shall put into a yard where the air and the water are pure4 ,upon these he is to feed1 eating one a day2 but previously the chickens are to be fattened by a peculiar method1 which will impregnate their flesh with the qualities that are to produce longevity in the eater4 ,being deprived of all other nourishment till they are almost dying of hunger1 they are to be fed upon broth made of serpents and vinegar1 which broth is to be thickened with wheat and bran4 ,various ceremonies are to be performed in the cooking of this mess1 which those may see in the book of ,m4 ,harcouet who are at all interested in the matter2 and the chickens are to be fed upon it for two months4 ,they are then fit for table1 and are to be washed down with moderate quantities of good white wine or claret4 ,this regimen is to be followed regularly every seven years1 and any one may live to be as old as ,methuselah6 ,it is right to state that ,m4 ,harcouet has but little authority for attributing this precious composition to ,arnold of ,villeneuve4 ,it is not found in the collected works of that philosopher2 but was first brought to light by a ,m4 ,poirier1 at the commencement of the sixteenth century1 who asserted that he had discovered it in ,,ms4 in the undoubted writing of ,arnold4 ,,pietro ,d',,apone4 ,this unlucky sage was born at ,apone1 near ,padua1 in the year #abej4 ,like his friend ,arnold de ,villeneuve1 he was an eminent physician1 and a pretender to the arts of astrology and alchymy4 ,he practised for many years in ,paris1 and made great wealth by killing and curing1 and telling fortunes4 ,in an evil day for him1 he returned to his own country1 with the reputation of being a magician of the first order4 ,it was universally believed that he had drawn seven evil spirits from the infernal regions1 whom he kept enclosed in seven crystal vases until he required their services1 when he sent them forth to the ends of the earth to execute his pleasure4 ,one spirit excelled in philosophy2 a second1 in alchymy2 a third1 in astrology2 a fourth1 in physic2 a fifth1 in poetry2 a sixth1 in music2 and the seventh1 in painting3 and whenever ,pietro wished for information or instruction in any of these arts1 he had only to go to his crystal vase and liberate the presiding spirit4 ,immediately all the secrets of the art were revealed to him2 and he might1 if it pleased him1 excel ,homer in poetry1 ,apelles in painting1 or ,pythagoras himself in philosophy4 ,although he could make gold out of brass1 it was said of him that he was very sparing of his powers in that respect1 and kept himself constantly supplied with money by other and less creditable means4 ,whenever he disbursed gold1 he muttered a certain charm1 known only to himself1 and next morning the gold was safe again in his own possession4 ,the trader to whom he gave it might lock it in his strong box and have it guarded by a troop of soldiers1 but the charmed metal flew back to its old master4 ,even if it were buried in the earth1 or thrown into the sea1 the dawn of the next morning would behold it in the pockets of ,pietro4 ,few people1 in consequence1 liked to have dealings with such a personage1 especially for gold4 ,some1 bolder than the rest1 thought that his power did not extend over silver2 but1 when they made the experiment1 they found themselves mistaken4 ,bolts and bars could not restrain it1 and it sometimes became invisible in their very hands1 and was whisked through the air to the purse of the magician4 ,he necessarily acquired a very bad character2 and1 having given utterance to some sentiments regarding religion which were the very reverse of orthodox1 he was summoned before the tribunals of the ,inquisition to answer for his crimes as a heretic and a sorcerer4 ,he loudly protested his innocence1 even upon the rack1 where he suffered more torture than nature could support4 ,he died in prison ere his trial was concluded1 but was afterwards found guilty4 ,his bones were ordered to be dug up and publicly burned4 ,he was also burned in effigy in the streets of ,padua4 ,,raymond ,,lulli4 ,illustration3 ,,raymond ,,lulli4 ,while ,arnold de ,villeneuve and ,pietro d',apone flourished in ,france and ,italy1 a more celebrated adept than either appeared in ,spain4 ,this was ,raymond ,lulli1 a name which stands in the first rank among the alchymists4 ,unlike many of his predecessors1 he made no pretensions to astrology or necromancy2 but1 taking ,geber for his model1 studied intently the nature and composition of metals1 without reference to charms1 incantations1 or any foolish ceremonies4 ,it was not1 however1 till late in life that he commenced his study of the art4 ,his early and middle age were spent in a different manner1 and his whole history is romantic in the extreme4 ,he was born of an illustrious family1 in ,majorca1 in the year #abce4 ,when that island was taken from the ,saracens by ,james ,i4 king of ,aragon1 in #abcj1 the father of ,raymond1 who was originally of ,catalonia1 settled there1 and received a considerable appointment from the crown4 ,raymond married at an early age2 and1 being fond of pleasure1 he left the solitudes of his native isle1 and passed over with his bride into ,spain4 ,he was made ,grand ,seneschal at the court of ,king ,james1 and led a gay life for several years4 ,faithless to his wife1 he was always in the pursuit of some new beauty1 till his heart was fixed at last by the lovely but unkind ,ambrosia de ,castello4 ,this lady1 like her admirer1 was married2 but1 unlike him1 was faithful to her vows1 and treated all his solicitations with disdain4 ,raymond was so enamoured1 that repulse only increased his flame2 he lingered all night under her windows1 wrote passionate verses in her praise1 neglected his affairs1 and made himself the butt of all the courtiers4 ,one day1 while watching under her lattice1 he by chance caught sight of her bosom1 as her neckerchief was blown aside by the wind4 ,the fit of inspiration came over him1 and he sat down and composed some tender stanzas upon the subject1 and sent them to the lady4 ,the fair ,ambrosia had never before condescended to answer his letters2 but she replied to this4 ,she told him that she could never listen to his suit2 that it was unbecoming in a wise man to fix his thoughts1 as he had done1 on any other than his ,god2 and entreated him to devote himself to a religious life1 and conquer the unworthy passion which he had suffered to consume him4 ,she1 however1 offered1 if he wished it1 to shew him the fair bosom which had so captivated him4 ,raymond was delighted4 ,he thought the latter part of this epistle but ill corresponded with the former1 and that ,ambrosia1 in spite of the good advice she gave him1 had at last relented1 and would make him as happy as he desired4 ,he followed her about from place to place1 entreating her to fulfil her promise3 but still ,ambrosia was cold1 and implored him with tears to importune her no longer2 for that she never could be his1 and never would1 if she were free to-morrow4 ,what means your letter1 then8 said the despairing lover4 ,i will shew you6 replied ,ambrosia1 who immediately uncovered her bosom1 and exposed to the eyes of her horror-stricken admirer a large cancer which had extended to both breasts4 ,she saw that he was shocked2 and1 extending her hand to him1 she prayed him once more to lead a religious life1 and set his heart upon the ,creator1 and not upon the creature4 ,he went home an altered man4 ,he threw up1 on the morrow1 his valuable appointment at the court1 separated from his wife1 and took a farewell of his children1 after dividing one-half of his ample fortune among them4 ,the other half he shared among the poor4 ,he then threw himself at the foot of a crucifix1 and devoted himself to the service of ,god1 vowing1 as the most acceptable atonement for his errors1 that he would employ the remainder of his days in the task of converting the ,mussulmans to the ,christian religion4 ,in his dreams he saw ,jesus ,christ1 who said to him1 ,raymond6 ,raymond6 follow me6 ,the vision was three times repeated1 and ,raymond was convinced that it was an intimation direct from heaven4 ,having put his affairs in order1 he set out on a pilgrimage to the shrine of ,st4 ,james of ,compostello1 and afterwards lived for ten years in solitude amid the mountains of ,aranda4 ,here he learned the ,arabic1 to qualify himself for his mission of converting the ,mahometans4 ,he also studied various sciences1 as taught in the works of the learned men of the ,east1 and first made acquaintance with the writings of ,geber1 which were destined to exercise so much influence over his future life4 ,at the end of this probation1 and when he had entered his fortieth year1 he emerged from his solitude into more active life4 ,with some remains of his fortune1 which had accumulated during his retirement1 he founded a college for the study of ,arabic1 which was approved of by the pope1 with many commendations upon his zeal and piety4 ,at this time he narrowly escaped assassination from an ,arabian youth whom he had taken into his service4 ,raymond had prayed to ,god1 in some of his accesses of fanaticism1 that he might suffer martyrdom in his holy cause4 ,his servant had overheard him3 and1 being as great a fanatic as his master1 he resolved to gratify his wish1 and punish him1 at the same time1 for the curses which he incessantly launched against ,mahomet and all who believed in him1 by stabbing him to the heart4 ,he therefore aimed a blow at his master as he sat one day at table2 but the instinct of self-preservation being stronger than the desire of martyrdom1 ,raymond grappled with his antagonist1 and overthrew him4 ,he scorned to take his life himself2 but handed him over to the authorities of the town1 by whom he was afterwards found dead in his prison4 ,after this adventure ,raymond travelled to ,paris1 where he resided for some time1 and made the acquaintance of ,arnold de ,villeneuve4 ,from him he probably received some encouragement to search for the philosopher's stone1 as he began from that time forth to devote less of his attention to religious matters1 and more to the study of alchymy4 ,still he never lost sight of the great object for which he lived--the conversion of the ,mahometans--and proceeded to ,rome1 to communicate personally with ,pope ,john ,,xxi4 on the best measures to be adopted for that end4 ,the ,pope gave him encouragement in words1 but failed to associate any other persons with him in the enterprise which he meditated4 ,raymond1 therefore1 set out for ,tunis alone1 and was kindly received by many ,arabian philosophers1 who had heard of his fame as a professor of alchymy4 ,if he had stuck to alchymy while in their country1 it would have been well for him2 but he began cursing ,mahomet1 and got himself into trouble4 ,while preaching the doctrines of ,christianity in the great bazaar of ,tunis1 he was arrested and thrown into prison4 ,he was shortly afterwards brought to trial1 and sentenced to death4 ,some of his philosophic friends interceded hard for him1 and he was pardoned upon condition that he left ,africa immediately and never again set foot in it4 ,if he was found there again1 no matter what his object might be1 or whatever length of time might intervene1 his original sentence would be carried into execution4 ,raymond was not at all solicitous of martyrdom when it came to the point1 whatever he might have been when there was no danger1 and he gladly accepted his life upon these conditions1 and left ,tunis with the intention of proceeding to ,rome4 ,he afterwards changed his plan1 and established himself at ,milan1 where1 for a length of time1 he practised alchymy1 and some say astrology1 with great success4 ,most writers who believed in the secrets of alchymy1 and who have noticed the life of ,raymond ,lulli1 assert1 that while in ,milan1 he received letters from ,edward ,king of ,england1 inviting him to settle in his states4 ,they add that ,lulli gladly accepted the invitation1 and had apartments assigned for his use in the ,tower of ,london1 where he refined much gold2 superintended the coinage of rose-nobles1 and made gold out of iron1 quicksilver1 lead1 and pewter1 to the amount of six millions4 ,the writers in the ,biographie ,universelle1 an excellent authority in general1 deny that ,raymond was ever in ,england1 and say1 that in all these stories of his wondrous powers as an alchymist1 he has been mistaken for another ,raymond1 a ,jew of ,tarragona4 ,naud1 in his ,apologie1 says1 simply1 that six millions were given by ,raymond ,lulli to ,king ,edward1 to make war against the ,turks and other infidels3 not that he transmuted so much metal into gold2 but1 as he afterwards adds1 that he advised ,edward to lay a tax upon wool1 which produced that amount4 ,to shew that ,raymond went to ,england1 his admirers quote a work attributed to him1 ,de ,transmutatione ,anim ,metallorum1 in which he expressly says that he was in ,england at the intercession of the king4#cd ,the hermetic writers are not agreed whether it was ,edward ,i4 or ,edward ,,ii4 who invited him over2 but1 by fixing the date of his journey in #acab1 they make it appear that it was ,edward ,,ii4 ,edmond ,dickenson1 in his work on the ,quintessences of the ,philosophers1 says1 that ,raymond worked in ,westminster ,abbey1 where1 a long time after his departure1 there was found in the cell which he had occupied a great quantity of golden dust1 of which the architects made a great profit4 ,in the biographical sketch of ,john ,cremer1 ,abbot of ,westminster1 given by ,lenglet1 it is said that it was chiefly through his instrumentality that ,raymond came to ,england4 ,cremer had been himself for thirty years occupied in the vain search for the philosopher's stone1 when he accidentally met ,raymond in ,italy1 and endeavoured to induce him to communicate his grand secret4 ,raymond told him that he must find it for himself1 as all great alchymists had done before him4 ,cremer1 on his return to ,england1 spoke to ,king ,edward in high terms of the wonderful attainments of the philosopher1 and a letter of invitation was forthwith sent him4 ,robert ,constantinus1 in the ,nomenclator ,scriptorum ,medicorum1 published in #aeae1 says1 that after a great deal of research1 he found that ,raymond ,lulli resided for some time in ,london1 and that he actually made gold1 by means of the philosopher's stone1 in the ,tower2 that he had seen the golden pieces of his coinage1 which were still named in ,england the nobles of ,raymond1 or rose-nobles4 ,lulli himself appears to have boasted that he made gold2 for1 in his well-known ,testamentum1 he states that he converted no less than fifty thousand pounds weight of quicksilver1 lead1 and pewter into that metal4#ce ,it seems highly probable that the ,english king1 believing in the extraordinary powers of the alchymist1 invited him to ,england to make test of them1 and that he was employed in refining gold and in coining4 ,camden1 who is not credulous in matters like these1 affords his countenance to the story of his coinage of nobles2 and there is nothing at all wonderful in the fact of a man famous for his knowledge of metals being employed in such a capacity4 ,raymond was1 at this time1 an old man1 in his seventy-seventh year1 and somewhat in his dotage4 ,he was willing enough to have it believed that he had discovered the grand secret1 and supported the rumour rather than contradicted it4 ,he did not long remain in ,england1 but returned to ,rome to carry out the projects which were nearer to his heart than the profession of alchymy4 ,he had proposed them to several successive popes with little or no success4 ,the first was a plan for the introduction of the oriental languages into all the monasteries of ,europe2 the second1 for the reduction into one of all the military orders1 that1 being united1 they might move more efficaciously against the ,saracens2 and the third1 that the sovereign pontiff should forbid the works of ,averroes to be read in the schools1 as being more favourable to ,mahometanism than to ,christianity4 ,the pope did not receive the old man with much cordiality2 and1 after remaining for about two years in ,rome1 he proceeded once more to ,africa1 alone and unprotected1 to preach the ,gospel of ,jesus4 ,he landed at ,bona in #acad1 and so irritated the ,mahometans by cursing their prophet1 that they stoned him1 and left him for dead on the sea-shore4 ,he was found some hours afterwards by a party of ,genoese merchants1 who conveyed him on board their vessel1 and sailed towards ,majorca4 ,the unfortunate man still breathed1 but could not articulate4 ,he lingered in this state for some days1 and expired just as the vessel arrived within sight of his native shores4 ,his body was conveyed with great pomp to the church of ,st4 ,eulalia1 at ,palma1 where a public funeral was instituted in his honour4 ,miracles were afterwards said to have been worked at his tomb4 #cd ,vidimus omnia ista dum ad ,angliam transiimus1 propter intercessionem domini ,regis ,edoardi illustrissimi4 #ce ,converti una vice in aurum ad ,l millia pondo argenti vivi1 plumbi1 et stanni4--,lullii ,testamentum4 ,thus ended the career of ,raymond ,lulli1 one of the most extraordinary men of his age2 and1 with the exception of his last boast about the six millions of gold1 the least inclined to quackery of any of the professors of alchymy4 ,his writings were very numerous1 and include nearly five hundred volumes1 upon grammar1 rhetoric1 morals1 theology1 politics1 civil and canon law1 physics1 metaphysics1 astronomy1 medicine1 and chemistry4 ,,roger ,,bacon4 ,the powerful delusion of alchymy seized upon a mind still greater than that of ,raymond ,lulli4 ,roger ,bacon firmly believed in the philosopher's stone1 and spent much of his time in search of it4 ,his example helped to render all the learned men of the time more convinced of its practicability1 and more eager in the pursuit4 ,he was born at ,ilchester1 in the county of ,somerset1 in the year #abad4 ,he studied for some time in the ,university of ,oxford1 and afterwards in that of ,paris1 in which he received the degree of doctor of divinity4 ,returning to ,england in #abdj1 he became a monk of the order of ,st4 ,francis4 ,he was by far the most learned man of his age2 and his acquirements were so much above the comprehension of his contemporaries1 that they could only account for them by supposing that he was indebted for them to the devil4 ,voltaire has not inaptly designated him ,de l'or encrout de toutes les ordures de son sicle2 but the crust of superstition that enveloped his powerful mind1 though it may have dimmed1 could not obscure the brightness of his genius4 ,to him1 and apparently to him only1 among all the inquiring spirits of the time1 were known the properties of the concave and convex lens4 ,he also invented the magic lantern2 that pretty plaything of modern days1 which acquired for him a reputation that embittered his life4 ,in a history of alchymy1 the name of this great man cannot be omitted1 although unlike many others of whom we shall have occasion to speak1 he only made it secondary to other pursuits4 ,the love of universal knowledge that filled his mind1 would not allow him to neglect one branch of science1 of which neither he nor the world could yet see the absurdity4 ,he made ample amends for his time lost in this pursuit by his knowledge in physics and his acquaintance with astronomy4 ,the telescope1 burning-glasses1 and gunpowder1 are discoveries which may well carry his fame to the remotest time1 and make the world blind to the one spot of folly--the diagnosis of the age in which he lived1 and the circumstances by which he was surrounded4 ,his treatise on the ,admirable ,power of ,art and ,nature in the ,production of the ,philosopher's ,stone was translated into ,french by ,girard de ,tormes1 and published at ,lyons in #aeeg4 ,his ,mirror of ,alchymy was also published in ,french in the same year1 and in ,paris in #afab1 with some additions from the works of ,raymond ,lulli4 ,a complete list of all the published treatises upon the subject may be seen in ,lenglet du ,fresnoy4 ,,pope ,,john ,,xxii4 ,this prelate is said to have been the friend and pupil of ,arnold de ,villeneuve1 by whom he was instructed in all the secrets of alchymy4 ,tradition asserts of him1 that he made great quantities of gold1 and died as rich as ,croesus4 ,he was born at ,cahors1 in the province of ,guienne1 in the year #abdd4 ,he was a very eloquent preacher1 and soon reached high dignity in the ,church4 ,he wrote a work on the transmutation of metals1 and had a famous laboratory at ,avignon4 ,he issued two bulls against the numerous pretenders to the art1 who had sprung up in every part of ,christendom2 from which it might be inferred that he was himself free from the delusion4 ,the alchymists claim him1 however1 as one of the most distinguished and successful professors of their art1 and say that his bulls were not directed against the real adepts1 but the false pretenders4 ,they lay particular stress upon these words in his bull1 ,spondent1 quas non exhibent1 divitias1 pauperes alchymist4 ,these1 it is clear1 they say1 relate only to poor alchymists1 and therefore false ones4 ,he died in the year #acdd1 leaving in his coffers a sum of eighteen millions of florins4 ,popular belief alleged that he had made1 and not amassed1 this treasure2 and alchymists complacently cite this as a proof that the philosopher's stone was not such a chimera as the incredulous pretended4 ,they take it for granted that ,john really left this money1 and ask by what possible means he could have accumulated it4 ,replying to their own question1 they say triumphantly1 ,his book shews it was by alchymy1 the secrets of which he learned from ,arnold de ,villeneuve and ,raymond ,lulli4 ,but he was as prudent as all other hermetic philosophers4 ,whoever would read his book to find out his secret1 would employ all his labour in vain2 the pope took good care not to divulge it4 ,unluckily for their own credit1 all these gold-makers are in the same predicament2 their great secret loses its worth most wonderfully in the telling1 and therefore they keep it snugly to themselves4 ,perhaps they thought that1 if everybody could transmute metals1 gold would be so plentiful that it would be no longer valuable1 and that some new art would be requisite to transmute it back again into steel and iron4 ,if so1 society is much indebted to them for their forbearance4 ,,jean ,,de ,,meung4 ,all classes of men dabbled in the art at this time2 the last mentioned was a pope1 the one of whom we now speak was a poet4 ,jean de ,meung1 the celebrated author of the ,roman de la ,rose1 was born in the year #abgi or #abhj1 and was a great personage at the courts of ,louis ,x41 ,philip the ,long1 ,charles ,,iv41 and ,philip de ,valois4 ,his famous poem of the ,roman de la ,rose1 which treats of every subject in vogue at that day1 necessarily makes great mention of alchymy4 ,jean was a firm believer in the art1 and wrote1 besides his ,roman1 two shorter poems1 the one entitled ,the ,remonstrance of ,nature to the wandering ,alchymist and ,the ,reply of the ,alchymist to ,nature4 ,poetry and alchymy were his delight1 and priests and women were his abomination4 ,a pleasant story is related of him and the ladies of the court of ,charles ,,iv4 ,he had written the following libellous couplet upon the fair sex3 ,toutes tes1 serez1 ou ftes1 ,de fait ou de volont1 putains2 ,et qui trs bien vous chercherait1 ,toutes putains vous trouverait4#cf #cf ,these verses are but a coarser expression of the slanderous line of ,pope1 that every woman is at heart a rake4 ,this naturally gave great offence2 and being perceived one day in the king's antechamber1 by some ladies who were waiting for an audience1 they resolved to punish him4 ,to the number of ten or twelve1 they armed themselves with canes and rods1 and surrounding the unlucky poet1 called upon the gentlemen present to strip him naked1 that they might wreak just vengeance upon him1 and lash him through the streets of the town4 ,some of the lords present were in no wise loath1 and promised themselves great sport from his punishment4 ,but ,jean de ,meung was unmoved by their threats1 and stood up calmly in the midst of them1 begging them to hear him first1 and then1 if not satisfied1 they might do as they liked with him4 ,silence being restored1 he stood upon a chair1 and entered on his defence4 ,he acknowledged that he was the author of the obnoxious verses1 but denied that they bore reference to all womankind4 ,he only meant to speak of the vicious and abandoned1 whereas those whom he saw around him were patterns of virtue1 loveliness1 and modesty4 ,if1 however1 any lady present thought herself aggrieved1 he would consent to be stripped1 and she might lash him till her arms were wearied4 ,it is added1 that by this means ,jean escaped his flogging1 and that the wrath of the fair ones immediately subsided4 ,the gentlemen present were1 however1 of opinion1 that if every lady in the room whose character corresponded with the verses had taken him at his word2 the poet would in all probability have been beaten to death4 ,all his life long he evinced a great animosity towards the priesthood1 and his famous poem abounds with passages reflecting upon their avarice1 cruelty1 and immorality4 ,at his death he left a large box1 filled with some weighty material1 which he bequeathed to the ,cordeliers1 as a peace-offering1 for the abuse he had lavished upon them4 ,as his practice of alchymy was well known1 it was thought the box was filled with gold and silver1 and the ,cordeliers congratulated each other on their rich acquisition4 ,when it came to be opened1 they found to their horror that it was filled only with slates1 scratched with hieroglyphic and cabalistic characters4 ,indignant at the insult1 they determined to refuse him ,christian burial1 on pretence that he was a sorcerer4 ,he was1 however1 honourably buried in ,paris1 the whole court attending his funeral4 ,,nicholas ,,flamel4 ,the story of this alchymist1 as handed down by tradition1 and enshrined in the pages of ,lenglet da ,fresnoy1 is not a little marvellous4 ,he was born at ,pontoise1 of a poor but respectable family1 at the end of the thirteenth1 or beginning of the fourteenth century4 ,having no patrimony1 he set out for ,paris at an early age1 to try his fortune as a public scribe4 ,he had received a good education1 was well skilled in the learned languages1 and was an excellent penman4 ,he soon procured occupation as a letter-writer and copyist1 and used to sit at the corner of the ,rue de ,marivaux1 and practise his calling2 but he hardly made profit enough to keep body and soul together4 ,to mend his fortunes he tried poetry2 but this was a more wretched occupation still4 ,as a transcriber he had at least gained bread and cheese2 but his rhymes were not worth a crust4 ,he then tried painting with as little success2 and as a last resource1 began to search for the philosopher's stone and tell fortunes4 ,this was a happier idea2 he soon increased in substance1 and had wherewithal to live comfortably4 ,he therefore took unto himself his wife ,petronella1 and began to save money2 but continued to all outward appearance as poor and miserable as before4 ,in the course of a few years1 he became desperately addicted to the study of alchymy1 and thought of nothing but the philosopher's stone1 the elixir of life1 and the universal alkahest4 ,in the year #abeg1 he bought by chance an old book for two florins1 which soon became his sole study4 ,it was written with a steel instrument upon the bark of trees1 and contained twenty-one1 or as he himself always expressed it1 three times seven1 leaves4 ,the writing was very elegant and in the ,latin language4 ,each seventh leaf contained a picture and no writing4 ,on the first of these was a serpent swallowing rods2 on the second1 a cross with a serpent crucified2 and on the third1 the representation of a desert1 in the midst of which was a fountain1 with serpents crawling from side to side4 ,it purported to be written by no less a personage than ,abraham1 patriarch1 ,jew1 prince1 philosopher1 priest1 ,levite1 and astrologer2 and invoked curses upon any one who should cast eyes upon it1 without being a sacrificer or a scribe4 ,nicholas ,flamel never thought it extraordinary that ,abraham should have known ,latin1 and was convinced that the characters on his book had been traced by the hands of that great patriarch himself4 ,he was at first afraid to read it1 after he became aware of the curse it contained2 but he got over that difficulty by recollecting that1 although he was not a sacrificer1 he had practised as a scribe4 ,as he read he was filled with admiration1 and found that it was a perfect treatise upon the transmutation of metals4 ,all the processes were clearly explained2 the vessels1 the retorts1 the mixtures1 and the proper times and seasons for experiment4 ,but as ill-luck would have it1 the possession of the philosopher's stone1 or prime agent in the work1 was presupposed4 ,this was a difficulty which was not to be got over4 ,it was like telling a starving man how to cook a beef-steak1 instead of giving him the money to buy one4 ,but ,nicholas did not despair1 and set about studying the hieroglyphics and allegorical representations with which the book abounded4 ,he soon convinced himself that it had been one of the sacred books of the ,jews1 and that it was taken from the temple of ,jerusalem on its destruction by ,titus4 ,the process of reasoning by which he arrived at this conclusion is not stated4 ,from some expression in the treatise1 he learned that the allegorical drawings on the fourth and fifth leaves enshrined the secret of the philosopher's stone1 without which all the fine ,latin of the directions was utterly unavailing4 ,he invited all the alchymists and learned men of ,paris to come and examine them1 but they all departed as wise as they came4 ,nobody could make any thing either of ,nicholas or his pictures2 and some even went so far as to say that his invaluable book was not worth a farthing4 ,this was not to be borne2 and ,nicholas resolved to discover the great secret by himself1 without troubling the philosophers4 ,he found on the first page of the fourth leaf1 the picture of ,mercury attacked by an old man resembling ,saturn or ,time4 ,the latter had an hour-glass on his head1 and in his hand a scythe1 with which he aimed a blow at ,mercury's feet4 ,the reverse of the leaf represented a flower growing on a mountain top1 shaken rudely by the wind1 with a blue stalk1 red and white blossoms1 and leaves of pure gold4 ,around it were a great number of dragons and griffins4 ,on the first page of the fifth leaf was a fine garden1 in the midst of which was a rose-tree in full bloom1 supported against the trunk of a gigantic oak4 ,at the foot of this there bubbled up a fountain of milk-white water1 which1 forming a small stream1 flowed through the garden1 and was afterwards lost in the sands4 ,on the second page was a king1 with a sword in his hand1 superintending a number of soldiers1 who1 in execution of his orders1 were killing a great multitude of young children1 spurning the prayers and tears of their mothers1 who tried to save them from destruction4 ,the blood of the children was carefully collected by another party of soldiers1 and put into a large vessel1 in which two allegorical figures of the sun and moon were bathing themselves4 ,for twenty-one years poor ,nicholas wearied himself with the study of these pictures1 but still he could make nothing of them4 ,his wife ,petronella at last persuaded him to find out some learned rabbi2 but there was no rabbi in ,paris learned enough to be of any service to him4 ,the ,jews met but small encouragement to fix their abode in ,france1 and all the chiefs of that people were located in ,spain4 ,to ,spain accordingly ,nicholas ,flamel repaired4 ,he left his book in ,paris1 for fear1 perhaps1 that he might be robbed of it on the road2 and telling his neighbours that he was going on a pilgrimage to the shrine of ,st4 ,james of ,compostello1 he trudged on foot towards ,madrid in search of a rabbi4 ,he was absent two years in that country1 and made himself known to a great number of ,jews1 descendants of those who had been expelled from ,france in the reign of ,philip ,augustus4 ,the believers in the philosopher's stone give the following account of his adventures3 ,they say that at ,leon he made the acquaintance of a converted ,jew1 named ,cauches1 a very learned physician1 to whom he explained the title and nature of his little book4 ,the doctor was transported with joy as soon as he heard it named1 and immediately resolved to accompany ,nicholas to ,paris1 that he might have a sight of it4 ,the two set out together2 the doctor on the way entertaining his companion with the history of his book1 which1 if the genuine book he thought it to be1 from the description he had heard of it1 was in the handwriting of ,abraham himself1 and had been in the possession of personages no less distinguished than ,moses1 ,joshua1 ,solomon1 and ,esdras4 ,it contained all the secrets of alchymy and of many other sciences1 and was the most valuable book that had ever existed in this world4 ,the doctor was himself no mean adept1 and ,nicholas profited greatly by his discourse1 as in the garb of poor pilgrims they wended their way to ,paris1 convinced of their power to turn every old shovel in that capital into pure gold4 ,but1 unfortunately1 when they reached ,orleans1 the doctor was taken dangerously ill4 ,nicholas watched by his bedside1 and acted the double part of a physician and nurse to him2 but he died after a few days1 lamenting with his last breath that he had not lived long enough to see the precious volume4 ,nicholas rendered the last honours to his body2 and with a sorrowful heart1 and not one sou in his pocket1 proceeded home to his wife ,petronella4 ,he immediately recommenced the study of his pictures2 but for two whole years he was as far from understanding them as ever4 ,at last1 in the third year1 a glimmer of light stole over his understanding4 ,he recalled some expression of his friend the doctor1 which had hitherto escaped his memory1 and he found that all his previous experiments had been conducted on a wrong basis4 ,he recommenced them now with renewed energy1 and at the end of the year had the satisfaction to see all his toils rewarded4 ,on the #acth ,january #achb1 says ,lenglet1 he made a projection on mercury1 and had some very excellent silver4 ,on the #beth ,april following1 he converted a large quantity of mercury into gold1 and the great secret was his4 ,nicholas was now about eighty years of age1 and still a hale and stout old man4 ,his friends say that by a simultaneous discovery of the elixir of life1 he found means to keep death at a distance for another quarter of a century2 and that he died in #adae1 at the age of #aaf4 ,in this interval he made immense quantities of gold1 though to all outward appearance he was as poor as a mouse4 ,at an early period of his changed fortune1 he had1 like a worthy man1 taken counsel with his old wife ,petronella1 as to the best use he could make of his wealth4 ,petronella replied1 that as unfortunately they had no children1 the best thing he could do1 was to build hospitals and endow churches4 ,nicholas thought so too1 especially when he began to find that his elixir could not keep off death1 and that the grim foe was making rapid advances upon him4 ,he richly endowed the church of ,st4 ,jacques de la ,boucherie1 near the ,rue de ,marivaux1 where he had all his life resided1 besides seven others in different parts of the kingdom4 ,he also endowed fourteen hospitals1 and built three chapels4 ,the fame of his great wealth and his munificent benefactions soon spread over all the country1 and he was visited1 among others1 by the celebrated doctors of that day1 ,jean ,gerson1 ,jean de ,courtecuisse1 and ,pierre d',ailli4 ,they found him in his humble apartment1 meanly clad1 and eating porridge out of an earthen vessel2 and with regard to his secret1 as impenetrable as all his predecessors in alchymy4 ,his fame reached the ears of the king1 ,charles ,,vi41 who sent ,m4 de ,cramoisi1 the ,master of ,requests1 to find out whether ,nicholas had indeed discovered the philosopher's stone4 ,but ,m4 de ,cramoisi took nothing by his visit2 all his attempts to sound the alchymist were unavailing1 and he returned to his royal master no wiser than he came4 ,it was in this year1 #adad1 that he lost his faithful ,petronella4 ,he did not long survive her1 but died in the following year1 and was buried with great pomp by the grateful priests of ,st4 ,jacques de la ,boucherie4 ,the great wealth of ,nicholas ,flamel is undoubted1 as the records of several churches and hospitals in ,france can testify4 ,that he practised alchymy is equally certain1 as he left behind several works upon the subject4 ,those who knew him well1 and who were incredulous about the philosopher's stone1 give a satisfactory solution of the secret of his wealth4 ,they say that he was always a miser and a usurer2 that his journey to ,spain was undertaken with very different motives from those pretended by the alchymists2 that1 in fact1 he went to collect debts due from ,jews in that country to their brethren in ,paris1 and that he charged a commission of fully cent per cent in consideration of the difficulty of collecting and the dangers of the road2 that when he possessed thousands1 he lived upon almost nothing2 and was the general money-lender1 at enormous profits1 to all the dissipated young men at the ,french court4 ,among the works written by ,nicholas ,flamel on the subject of alchymy is ,the ,philosophic ,summary1 a poem1 reprinted in #agce1 as an appendix to the third volume of the ,roman de la ,rose4 ,he also wrote three treatises upon natural philosophy1 and an alchymic allegory1 entitled ,le ,dsir dsir4 ,specimens of his writing1 and a fac-simile of the drawings in his book of ,abraham1 may be seen in ,salmon's ,bibliothque des ,philosophes ,chimiques4 ,the writer of the article ,flamel in the ,biographie ,universelle says1 that for a hundred years after the death of ,flamel1 many of the adepts believed that he was still alive1 and that he would live for upwards of six hundred years4 ,the house he formerly occupied1 at the corner of the ,rue de ,marivaux1 has been often taken by credulous speculators1 and ransacked from top to bottom1 in the hopes that gold might be found4 ,a report was current in ,paris1 not long previous to the year #ahaf1 that some lodgers had found in the cellars several jars filled with a dark-coloured ponderous matter4 ,upon the strength of the rumour1 a believer in all the wondrous tales told of ,nicholas ,flamel bought the house1 and nearly pulled it to pieces in ransacking the walls and wainscoting for hidden gold4 ,he got nothing for his pains1 however1 and had a heavy bill to pay to restore his dilapidations4 ,,george ,,ripley4 ,while alchymy was thus cultivated on the continent of ,europe1 it was not neglected in the isles of ,britain4 ,since the time of ,roger ,bacon1 it had fascinated the imagination of many ardent men in ,england4 ,in the year #adjd an act of parliament was passed declaring the making of gold and silver to be felony4 ,great alarm was felt at that time lest any alchymist should succeed in his projects1 and perhaps bring ruin upon the state by furnishing boundless wealth to some designing tyrant1 who would make use of it to enslave his country4 ,this alarm appears to have soon subsided2 for1 in the year #adee1 ,king ,henry ,,vi41 by advice of his council and parliament1 granted four successive patents and commissions to several knights1 citizens of ,london1 chemists1 monks1 mass-priests1 and others1 to find out the philosopher's stone and elixir1 to the great benefit1 said the patent1 of the realm1 and the enabling of the king to pay all the debts of the crown in real gold and silver4 ,prinn1 in his ,aurum ,regin1 observes1 as a note to this passage1 that the king's reason for granting this patent to ecclesiastics was1 that they were such good artists in transubstantiating bread and wine in the eucharist1 and therefore the more likely to be able to effect the transmutation of baser metals into better4 ,no gold1 of course1 was ever made2 and next year the king1 doubting very much of the practicability of the thing1 took further advice1 and appointed a commission of ten learned men and persons of eminence to judge and certify to him whether the transmutation of metals were a thing practicable or no4 ,it does not appear whether the commission ever made any report upon the subject4 ,in the succeeding reign an alchymist appeared who pretended to have discovered the secret4 ,this was ,george ,ripley1 the canon of ,bridlington1 in ,yorkshire4 ,he studied for twenty years in the universities of ,italy1 and was a great favourite with ,pope ,innocent ,,viii41 who made him one of his domestic chaplains1 and master of the ceremonies in his household4 ,returning to ,england in #adgg1 he dedicated to ,king ,edward ,,iv4 his famous work1 ,the ,compound of ,alchymy2 or1 the ,twelve ,gates leading to the ,discovery of the ,philosopher's ,stone4 ,these gates he described to be calcination1 solution1 separation1 conjunction1 putrefaction1 congelation1 cibation1 sublimation1 fermentation1 exaltation1 multiplication1 and projection2 to which he might have added botheration1 the most important process of all4 ,he was very rich1 and allowed it to be believed that he could make gold out of iron4 ,fuller1 in his ,worthies of ,england1 says that an ,english gentleman of good credit reported1 that in his travels abroad he saw a record in the island of ,malta which declared that ,ripley gave yearly to the knights of that island1 and of ,rhodes1 the enormous sum of one hundred thousand pounds sterling to enable them to carry on the war against the ,turks4 ,in his old age he became an anchorite near ,boston1 and wrote twenty-five volumes upon the subject of alchymy1 the most important of which is the ,duodecim ,portarum already mentioned4 ,before he died1 he seems to have acknowledged that he had mis-spent his life in this vain study1 and requested that all men1 when they met with any of his books1 would burn them1 or afford them no credit1 as they had been written merely from his opinion1 and not from proof2 and that subsequent trial had made manifest to him that they were false and vain4#cg #cg ,fuller's ,worthies of ,england4 ,,basil ,,valentine4 ,germany also produced many famous alchymists in the fifteenth century1 the chief of whom are ,basil ,valentine1 ,bernard of ,trves1 and the ,abbot ,trithemius4 ,basil ,valentine was born at ,mayence1 and was made prior of ,st4 ,peter's1 at ,erfurt1 about the year #adad4 ,it was known1 during his life1 that he diligently sought the philosopher's stone1 and that he had written some works upon the process of transmutation4 ,they were thought for many years to be lost1 but were1 after his death1 discovered enclosed in the stone-work of one of the pillars in the ,abbey4 ,they were twenty-one in number1 and are fully set forth in the third volume of ,lenglet's ,history of the ,hermetic ,philosophy4 ,the alchymists asserted that heaven itself conspired to bring to light these extraordinary works2 and that the pillar in which they were enclosed was miraculously shattered by a thunderbolt2 and that as soon as the manuscripts were liberated1 the pillar closed up again of its own accord6 ,,bernard ,,of ,,treves4 ,the life of this philosopher is a remarkable instance of talent and perseverance misapplied4 ,in the search of his chimera nothing could daunt him4 ,repeated disappointment never diminished his hopes2 and from the age of fourteen to that of eighty-five he was incessantly employed among the drugs and furnaces of his laboratory1 wasting his life with the view of prolonging it1 and reducing himself to beggary in the hopes of growing rich4 ,he was born at either ,trves or ,padua in the year #adjf4 ,his father is said by some to have been a physician in the latter city1 and by others to have been ,count of the ,marches of ,trves1 and one of the most wealthy nobles of his country4 ,at all events1 whether noble or physician1 he was a rich man1 and left his son a magnificent estate4 ,at the age of fourteen he first became enamoured of the science of alchymy1 and read the ,arabian authors in their own language4 ,he himself has left a most interesting record of his labours and wanderings1 from which the following particulars are chiefly extracted4 ,the first book which fell into his hands was that of the ,arabian philosopher ,rhazes1 from the reading of which he imagined that he had discovered the means of augmenting gold a hundredfold4 ,for four years he worked in his laboratory1 with the book of ,rhazes continually before him4 ,at the end of that time1 he found that he had spent no less than eight hundred crowns upon his experiment1 and had got nothing but fire and smoke for his pains4 ,he now began to lose confidence in ,rhazes1 and turned to the works of ,geber4 ,he studied him assiduously for two years2 and being young1 rich1 and credulous1 was beset by all the alchymists of the town1 who kindly assisted him in spending his money4 ,he did not lose his faith in ,geber1 or patience with his hungry assistants1 until he had lost two thousand crowns--a very considerable sum in those days4 ,among all the crowd of pretended men of science who surrounded him1 there was but one as enthusiastic and as disinterested as himself4 ,with this man1 who was a monk of the order of ,st4 ,francis1 he contracted an intimate friendship1 and spent nearly all his time4 ,some obscure treatises of ,rupecissa and ,sacrobosco having fallen into their hands1 they were persuaded1 from reading them1 that highly rectified spirits of wine was the universal alkahest1 or dissolvent1 which would aid them greatly in the process of transmutation4 ,they rectified the alcohol thirty times1 till they made it so strong as to burst the vessels which contained it4 ,after they had worked three years1 and spent three hundred crowns in the liquor1 they discovered that they were on the wrong track4 ,they next tried alum and copperas2 but the great secret still escaped them4 ,they afterwards imagined that there was a marvellous virtue in all excrement1 especially the human1 and actually employed more than two years in experimentalising upon it with mercury1 salt1 and molten lead6 ,again the adepts flocked around him from far and near to aid him with their counsels4 ,he received them all hospitably1 and divided his wealth among them so generously and unhesitatingly1 that they gave him the name of the ,good ,trevisan1 by which he is still often mentioned in works that treat on alchymy4 ,for twelve years he led this life1 making experiments every day upon some new substance1 and praying to ,god night and morning that he might discover the secret of transmutation4 ,in this interval he lost his friend the monk1 and was joined by a magistrate of the city of ,trves1 as ardent as himself in the search4 ,his new acquaintance imagined that the ocean was the mother of gold1 and that sea-salt would change lead or iron into the precious metals4 ,bernard resolved to try2 and1 transporting his laboratory to a house on the shores of the ,baltic1 he worked upon salt for more than a year1 melting it1 sublimating it1 crystallising it1 and occasionally drinking it1 for the sake of other experiments4 ,still the strange enthusiast was not wholly discouraged1 and his failure in one trial only made him the more anxious to attempt another4 ,he was now approaching the age of fifty1 and had as yet seen nothing of the world4 ,he therefore determined to travel through ,germany1 ,italy1 ,france1 and ,spain4 ,wherever he stopped he made inquiries whether there were any alchymists in the neighbourhood4 ,he invariably sought them out2 and if they were poor1 relieved1 and if affluent1 encouraged them4 ,at ,citeaux he became acquainted with one ,geoffrey ,leuvier1 a monk of that place1 who persuaded him that the essence of egg-shells was a valuable ingredient4 ,he tried1 therefore1 what could be done2 and was only prevented from wasting a year or two on the experiment by the opinions of an attorney1 at ,berghem1 in ,flanders1 who said that the great secret resided in vinegar and copperas4 ,he was not convinced of the absurdity of this idea until he had nearly poisoned himself4 ,he resided in ,france for about five years1 when1 hearing accidentally that one ,master ,henry1 confessor to the ,emperor ,frederic ,,iii41 had discovered the philosopher's stone1 he set out for ,germany to pay him a visit4 ,he had1 as usual1 surrounded himself with a set of hungry dependants1 several of whom determined to accompany him4 ,he had not heart to refuse them1 and he arrived at ,vienna with five of them4 ,bernard sent a polite invitation to the confessor1 and gave him a sumptuous entertainment1 at which were present nearly all the alchymists of ,vienna4 ,master ,henry frankly confessed that he had not discovered the philosopher's stone1 but that he had all his life been employed in searching for it1 and would so continue till he found it1 or died4 ,this was a man after ,bernard's own heart1 and they vowed with each other an eternal friendship4 ,it was resolved1 at supper1 that each alchymist present should contribute a certain sum towards raising forty-two marks of gold1 which1 in five days1 it was confidently asserted by ,master ,henry1 would increase1 in his furnace1 fivefold4 ,bernard1 being the richest man1 contributed the lion's share1 ten marks of gold1 ,master ,henry five1 and the others one or two a-piece1 except the dependants of ,bernard1 who were obliged to borrow their quota from their patron4 ,the grand experiment was duly made2 the golden marks were put into a crucible1 with a quantity of salt1 copperas1 aquafortis1 egg-shells1 mercury1 lead1 and dung4 ,the alchymists watched this precious mess with intense interest1 expecting that it would agglomerate into one lump of pure gold4 ,at the end of three weeks they gave up the trial1 upon some excuse that the crucible was not strong enough1 or that some necessary ingredient was wanting4 ,whether any thief had put his hands into the crucible is not known1 but it is alleged that the gold found therein at the close of the experiment was worth only sixteen marks1 instead of the forty-two1 which were put there at the beginning4 ,bernard1 though he made no gold at ,vienna1 made away with a very considerable quantity4 ,he felt the loss so acutely1 that he vowed to think no more of the philosopher's stone4 ,this wise resolution he kept for two months2 but he was miserable4 ,he was in the condition of the gambler1 who cannot resist the fascination of the game while he has a coin remaining1 but plays on with the hope of retrieving former losses1 till hope forsakes him1 and he can live no longer4 ,he returned once more to his beloved crucibles1 and resolved to prosecute his journey in search of a philosopher who had discovered the secret1 and would communicate it to so zealous and persevering an adept as himself4 ,from ,vienna he travelled to ,rome1 and from ,rome to ,madrid4 ,taking ship at ,gibraltar1 he proceeded to ,messina2 from ,messina to ,cyprus2 from ,cyprus to ,greece2 from ,greece to ,constantinople2 and thence into ,egypt1 ,palestine1 and ,persia4 ,these wanderings occupied him about eight years4 ,from ,persia he made his way back to ,messina1 and from thence into ,france4 ,he afterwards passed over into ,england1 still in search of his great chimera2 and this occupied four years more of his life4 ,he was now growing both old and poor2 for he was sixty-two years of age1 and had been obliged to sell a great portion of his patrimony to provide for his expenses4 ,his journey to ,persia had cost upwards of thirteen thousand crowns1 about one-half of which had been fairly melted in his all-devouring furnaces2 the other half was lavished upon the sycophants that he made it his business to search out in every town he stopped at4 ,on his return to ,trves he found1 to his sorrow1 that1 if not an actual beggar1 he was not much better4 ,his relatives looked upon him as a madman1 and refused even to see him4 ,too proud to ask for favours from any one1 and still confident that1 some day or other1 he would be the possessor of unbounded wealth1 he made up his mind to retire to the island of ,rhodes1 where he might1 in the mean time1 hide his poverty from the eyes of the world4 ,here he might have lived unknown and happy2 but1 as ill luck would have it1 he fell in with a monk as mad as himself upon the subject of transmutation4 ,they were1 however1 both so poor that they could not afford to buy the proper materials to work with4 ,they kept up each other's spirits by learned discourses on the hermetic philosophy1 and in the reading of all the great authors who had written upon the subject4 ,thus did they nurse their folly1 as the good wife of ,tam ,o',shanter did her wrath1 to keep it warm4 ,after ,bernard had resided about a year in ,rhodes1 a merchant1 who knew his family1 advanced him the sum of eight thousand florins1 upon the security of the last-remaining acres of his formerly large estate4 ,once more provided with funds1 he recommenced his labours with all the zeal and enthusiasm of a young man4 ,for three years he hardly stepped out of his laboratory3 he ate there1 and slept there1 and did not even give himself time to wash his hands and clean his beard1 so intense was his application4 ,it is melancholy to think that such wonderful perseverance should have been wasted in so vain a pursuit1 and that energies so unconquerable should have had no worthier field to strive in4 ,even when he had fumed away his last coin1 and had nothing left in prospective to keep his old age from starvation1 hope never forsook him4 ,he still dreamed of ultimate success1 and sat down a grey-headed man of eighty1 to read over all the authors on the hermetic mysteries1 from ,geber to his own day1 lest he should have misunderstood some process1 which it was not yet too late to recommence4 ,the alchymists say1 that he succeeded at last1 and discovered the secret of transmutation in his eighty-second year4 ,they add that he lived three years afterwards to enjoy his wealth4 ,he lived1 it is true1 to this great age1 and made a valuable discovery--more valuable than gold or gems4 ,he learned1 as he himself informs us1 just before he had attained his eighty-third year1 that the great secret of philosophy was contentment with our lot4 ,happy would it have been for him if he had discovered it sooner1 and before he became decrepit1 a beggar1 and an exile6 ,he died at ,rhodes1 in the year #adij1 and all the alchymists of ,europe sang elegies over him1 and sounded his praise as the good ,trevisan4 ,he wrote several treatises upon his chimera1 the chief of which are1 the ,book of ,chemistry1 the ,verbum dimissum1 and an essay ,de ,natura ,ovi4 ,,trithemius4 ,the name of this eminent man has become famous in the annals of alchymy1 although he did but little to gain so questionable an honour4 ,he was born in the year #adfb1 at the village of ,trittheim1 in the electorate of ,trves4 ,his father was ,john ,heidenberg1 a vine-grower1 in easy circumstances1 who1 dying when his son was but seven years old1 left him to the care of his mother4 ,the latter married again very shortly afterwards1 and neglected the poor boy1 the offspring of her first marriage4 ,at the age of fifteen he did not even know his letters1 and was1 besides1 half starved1 and otherwise ill-treated by his step-father2 but the love of knowledge germinated in the breast of the unfortunate youth1 and he learned to read at the house of a neighbour4 ,his father-in-law set him to work in the vineyards1 and thus occupied all his days2 but the nights were his own4 ,he often stole out unheeded1 when all the household were fast asleep1 poring over his studies in the fields1 by the light of the moon2 and thus taught himself ,latin and the rudiments of ,greek4 ,he was subjected to so much ill-usage at home1 in consequence of this love of study1 that he determined to leave it4 ,demanding the patrimony which his father had left him1 he proceeded to ,trves2 and assuming the name of ,trithemius1 from that of his native village of ,trittheim1 lived there for some months under the tuition of eminent masters1 by whom he was prepared for the university4 ,at the age of twenty1 he took it into his head that he should like to see his mother once more2 and he set out on foot from the distant university for that purpose4 ,on his arrival near ,spannheim1 late in the evening of a gloomy winter's day1 it came on to snow so thickly1 that he could not proceed onwards to the town4 ,he therefore took refuge for the night in a neighbouring monastery2 but the storm continued several days1 the roads became impassable1 and the hospitable monks would not hear of his departure4 ,he was so pleased with them and their manner of life1 that he suddenly resolved to fix his abode among them1 and renounce the world4 ,they were no less pleased with him1 and gladly received him as a brother4 ,in the course of two years1 although still so young1 he was unanimously elected their abbot4 ,the financial affairs of the establishment had been greatly neglected1 the walls of the building were falling into ruin1 and every thing was in disorder4 ,trithemius1 by his good management and regularity1 introduced a reform in every branch of expenditure4 ,the monastery was repaired1 and a yearly surplus1 instead of a deficiency1 rewarded him for his pains4 ,he did not like to see the monks idle1 or occupied solely between prayers for their business1 and chess for their relaxation4 ,he1 therefore1 set them to work to copy the writings of eminent authors4 ,they laboured so assiduously1 that1 in the course of a few years1 their library1 which had contained only about forty volumes1 was enriched with several hundred valuable manuscripts1 comprising many of the classical ,latin authors1 besides the works of the early fathers1 and the principal historians1 and philosophers of more modern date4 ,he retained the dignity of ,abbot of ,spannheim for twenty-one years1 when the monks1 tired of the severe discipline he maintained1 revolted against him1 and chose another abbot in his place4 ,he was afterwards made ,abbot of ,st4 ,james1 in ,wurzburg1 where he died in #aeaf4 ,during his learned leisure at ,spannheim1 he wrote several works upon the occult sciences1 the chief of which are an essay on geomancy1 or divination by means of lines and circles on the ground2 another upon sorcery2 a third upon alchymy2 and a fourth upon the government of the world by its presiding angels1 which was translated into ,english1 and published by the famous ,william ,lilly in #afdg4 ,it has been alleged by the believers in the possibility of transmutation1 that the prosperity of the abbey of ,spannheim1 while under his superintendence1 was owing more to the philosopher's stone than to wise economy4 ,trithemius1 in common with many other learned men1 has been accused of magic2 and a marvellous story is told of his having raised from the grave the form of ,mary of ,burgundy1 at the intercession of her widowed husband1 the ,emperor ,maximilian4 ,his work on steganographia1 or cabalistic writing1 was denounced to the ,count ,palatine1 ,frederic ,,ii41 as magical and devilish2 and it was by him taken from the shelves of his library and thrown into the fire4 ,trithemius is said to be the first writer who makes mention of the wonderful story of the devil and ,dr4 ,faustus1 the truth of which he firmly believed4 ,he also recounts the freaks of a spirit named ,hudekin1 by whom he was at times tormented4#ch #ch ,biographie ,universelle4 ,,the ,,marechal ,,de ,,rays4 ,one of the greatest encouragers of alchymy in the fifteenth century was ,gilles de ,laval1 ,lord of ,rays and a ,marshal of ,france4 ,his name and deeds are little known2 but in the annals of crime and folly1 they might claim the highest and worst pre-eminence4 ,fiction has never invented any thing wilder or more horrible than his career2 and were not the details but too well authenticated by legal and other documents which admit no doubt1 the lover of romance might easily imagine they were drawn to please him from the stores of the prolific brain1 and not from the page of history4 ,he was born about the year #adbj1 of one of the noblest families of ,brittany4 ,his father dying when ,gilles had attained his twentieth year1 he came into uncontrolled possession1 at that early age1 of a fortune which the monarchs of ,france might have envied him4 ,he was a near kinsman of the ,montmorencys1 the ,roncys1 and the ,craons2 possessed fifteen princely domains1 and had an annual revenue of about three hundred thousand livres4 ,besides this1 he was handsome1 learned1 and brave4 ,he distinguished himself greatly in the wars of ,charles ,,vii41 and was rewarded by that monarch with the dignity of a marshal of ,france4 ,but he was extravagant and magnificent in his style of living1 and accustomed from his earliest years to the gratification of every wish and passion2 and this1 at last1 led him from vice to vice and from crime to crime1 till a blacker name than his is not to be found in any record of human iniquity4 ,in his castle of ,champtoc he lived with all the splendour of an eastern caliph4 ,he kept up a troop of two hundred horsemen to accompany him wherever he went2 and his excursions for the purposes of hawking and hunting were the wonder of all the country around1 so magnificent were the caparisons of his steeds and the dresses of his retainers4 ,day and night his castle was open all the year round to comers of every degree4 ,he made it a rule to regale even the poorest beggar with wine and hippocrass4 ,every day an ox was roasted whole in his spacious kitchens1 besides sheep1 pigs1 and poultry sufficient to feed five hundred persons4 ,he was equally magnificent in his devotions4 ,his private chapel at ,champtoc was the most beautiful in ,france1 and far surpassed any of those in the richly-endowed cathedrals of ,notre ,dame in ,paris1 of ,amiens1 of ,beauvais1 or of ,rouen4 ,it was hung with cloth of gold and rich velvet4 ,all the chandeliers were of pure gold curiously inlaid with silver4 ,the great crucifix over the altar was of solid silver1 and the chalices and incense-burners were of pure gold4 ,he had besides a fine organ1 which he caused to be carried from one castle to another on the shoulders of six men1 whenever he changed his residence4 ,he kept up a choir of twenty-five young children of both sexes1 who were instructed in singing by the first musicians of the day4 ,the master of his chapel he called a bishop1 who had under him his deans1 arch-deacons1 and vicars1 each receiving great salaries2 the bishop four hundred crowns a year1 and the rest in proportion4 ,he also maintained a whole troop of players1 including ten dancing girls and as many ballad-singers1 besides morris-dancers1 jugglers1 and mountebanks of every description4 ,the theatre on which they performed was fitted up without any regard to expense1 and they played mysteries or danced the morris-dance every evening for the amusement of himself and household1 and such strangers as were sharing his prodigal hospitality4 ,at the age of twenty-three he married ,catherine1 the wealthy heiress of the house of ,touars1 for whom he refurnished his castle at an expense of a hundred thousand crowns4 ,his marriage was the signal for new extravagance1 and he launched out more madly than ever he had done before2 sending for fine singers or celebrated dancers from foreign countries to amuse him and his spouse2 and instituting tilts and tournaments in his great court-yard almost every week for all the knights and nobles of the province of ,brittany4 ,the ,duke of ,brittany's court was not half so splendid as that of the ,marchal de ,rays4 ,his utter disregard for wealth was so well known1 that he was made to pay three times its value for every thing he purchased4 ,his castle was filled with needy parasites and panderers to his pleasures1 amongst whom he lavished rewards with an unsparing hand4 ,but the ordinary round of sensual gratification ceased at last to afford him delight2 he was observed to be more abstemious in the pleasures of the table1 and to neglect the beauteous dancing girls who used formerly to occupy so much of his attention4 ,he was sometimes gloomy and reserved1 and there was an unnatural wildness in his eye which gave indications of incipient madness4 ,still his discourse was as reasonable as ever1 his urbanity to the guests that flocked from far and near to ,champtoc suffered no diminution2 and learned priests1 when they conversed with him1 thought to themselves that few of the nobles of ,france were so well informed as ,gilles de ,laval4 ,but dark rumours spread gradually over the country2 murder1 and1 if possible1 still more atrocious deeds were hinted at2 and it was remarked that many young children of both sexes suddenly disappeared1 and were never afterwards heard of4 ,one or two had been traced to the castle of ,champtoc1 and had never been seen to leave it2 but no one dared to accuse openly so powerful a man as the ,marchal de ,rays4 ,whenever the subject of the lost children was mentioned in his presence1 he manifested the greatest astonishment at the mystery which involved their fate1 and indignation against those who might be guilty of kidnapping them4 ,still the world was not wholly deceived2 his name became as formidable to young children as that of the devouring ogre in fairy tales1 and they were taught to go miles round1 rather than pass under the turrets of ,champtoc4 ,in the course of a few years1 the reckless extravagance of the marshal drained him of all his funds1 and he was obliged to put up some of his estates for sale4 ,the ,duke of ,brittany entered into a treaty with him for the valuable seignory of ,ingrande2 but the heirs of ,gilles implored the interference of ,charles ,,vii4 to stay the sale4 ,charles immediately issued an edict1 which was confirmed by the provincial ,parliament of ,brittany1 forbidding him to alienate his paternal estates4 ,gilles had no alternative but to submit4 ,he had nothing to support his extravagance but his allowance as a marshal of ,france1 which did not cover the one-tenth of his expenses4 ,a man of his habits and character could not retrench his wasteful expenditure1 and live reasonably2 he could not dismiss without a pang his horsemen1 his jesters1 his morris-dancers1 his choristers1 and his parasites1 or confine his hospitality to those who really needed it4 ,notwithstanding his diminished resources1 he resolved to live as he had lived before1 and turn alchymist1 that he might make gold out of iron1 and be still the wealthiest and most magnificent among the nobles of ,brittany4 ,in pursuance of this determination1 he sent to ,paris1 ,italy1 ,germany1 and ,spain1 inviting all the adepts in the science to visit him at ,champtoc4 ,the messengers he despatched on this mission were two of his most needy and unprincipled dependants1 ,gilles de ,sill and ,roger de ,bricqueville4 ,the latter1 the obsequious panderer to his most secret and abominable pleasures1 he had entrusted with the education of his motherless daughter1 a child but five years of age1 with permission that he might marry her at the proper time to any person he chose1 or to himself if he liked it better4 ,this man entered into the new plans of his master with great zeal1 and introduced to him one ,prelati1 an alchymist of ,padua1 and a physician of ,poitou1 who was addicted to the same pursuits4 ,the marshal caused a splendid laboratory to be fitted up for them1 and the three commenced the search for the philosopher's stone4 ,they were soon afterwards joined by another pretended philosopher1 named ,anthony ,palermo1 who aided in their operations for upwards of a year4 ,they all fared sumptuously at the marshal's expense1 draining him of the ready money he possessed1 and leading him on from day to day with the hope that they would succeed in the object of their search4 ,from time to time new aspirants from the remotest parts of ,europe arrived at his castle1 and for months he had upwards of twenty alchymists at work1 trying to transmute copper into gold2 and wasting the gold which was still his own in drugs and elixirs4 ,but the ,lord of ,rays was not a man to abide patiently their lingering processes4 ,pleased with their comfortable quarters1 they jogged on from day to day1 and would have done so for years1 had they been permitted4 ,but he suddenly dismissed them all1 with the exception of the ,italian ,prelati1 and the physician of ,poitou4 ,these he retained to aid him to discover the secret of the philosopher's stone by a bolder method4 ,the ,poitousan had persuaded him that the devil was the great depository of that and all other secrets1 and that he would raise him before ,gilles1 who might enter into any contract he pleased with him4 ,gilles expressed his readiness1 and promised to give the devil any thing but his soul1 or do any deed that the arch-enemy might impose upon him4 ,attended solely by the physician1 he proceeded at midnight to a wild-looking place in a neighbouring forest2 the physician drew a magic circle around them on the sward1 and muttered for half an hour an invocation to the evil spirit to arise at his bidding1 and disclose the secrets of alchymy4 ,gilles looked on with intense interest1 and expected every moment to see the earth open1 and deliver to his gaze the great enemy of mankind4 ,at last the eyes of the physician became fixed1 his hair stood on end1 and he spoke1 as if addressing the fiend4 ,but ,gilles saw nothing except his companion4 ,at last the physician fell down on the sward as if insensible4 ,gilles looked calmly on to see the end4 ,after a few minutes the physician arose1 and asked him if he had not seen how angry the devil looked8 ,gilles replied that he had seen nothing2 upon which his companion informed him that ,beelzebub had appeared in the form of a wild leopard1 growled at him savagely1 and said nothing2 and that the reason why the marshal had neither seen nor heard him was1 that he hesitated in his own mind as to devoting himself entirely to the service4 ,de ,rays owned that he had indeed misgivings1 and inquired what was to be done to make the devil speak out1 and unfold his secret8 ,the physician replied1 that some person must go to ,spain and ,africa to collect certain herbs which only grew in those countries1 and offered to go himself1 if ,de ,rays would provide the necessary funds4 ,de ,rays at once consented2 and the physician set out on the following day with all the gold that his dupe could spare him4 ,the marshal never saw his face again4 ,but the eager ,lord of ,champtoc could not rest4 ,gold was necessary for his pleasures2 and unless by supernatural aid1 he had no means of procuring any further supplies4 ,the physician was hardly twenty leagues on his journey1 before ,gilles resolved to make another effort to force the devil to divulge the art of gold-making4 ,he went out alone for that purpose2 but all his conjurations were of no effect4 ,beelzebub was obstinate1 and would not appear4 ,determined to conquer him if he could1 he unbosomed himself to the ,italian alchymist1 ,prelati4 ,the latter offered to undertake the business1 upon condition that ,de ,rays did not interfere in the conjurations1 and consented besides to furnish him with all the charms and talismans that might be required4 ,he was further to open a vein in his arm1 and sign with his blood a contract that he would work the devil's will in all things1 and offer up to him a sacrifice of the heart1 lungs1 hands1 eyes1 and blood of a young child4 ,the grasping monomaniac made no hesitation1 but agreed at once to the disgusting terms proposed to him4 ,on the following night1 ,prelati went out alone1 and after having been absent for three or four hours1 returned to ,gilles1 who sat anxiously awaiting him4 ,prelati then informed him that he had seen the devil in the shape of a handsome youth of twenty4 ,he further said1 that the devil desired to be called ,barron in all future invocations2 and had shewn him a great number of ingots of pure gold1 buried under a large oak in the neighbouring forest1 all of which1 and as many more as he desired1 should become the property of the ,marchal de ,rays if he remained firm1 and broke no condition of the contract4 ,prelati further shewed him a small casket of black dust1 which would turn iron into gold2 but as the process was very troublesome1 he advised that they should be contented with the ingots they found under the oak tree1 and which would more than supply all the wants that the most extravagant imagination could desire4 ,they were not1 however1 to attempt to look for the gold till a period of seven times seven weeks1 or they would find nothing but slates and stones for their pains4 ,gilles expressed the utmost chagrin and disappointment1 and at once said that he could not wait for so long a period2 if the devil were not more1 prompt ,prelati might tell him that the ,marchal de ,rays was not to be trifled with1 and would decline all further communication with him4 ,prelati at last persuaded him to wait seven times seven days4 ,they then went at midnight with picks and shovels to dig up the ground under the oak1 where they found nothing to reward them but a great quantity of slates1 marked with hieroglyphics4 ,it was now ,prelati's turn to be angry2 and he loudly swore that the devil was nothing but a liar and a cheat4 ,the marshal joined cordially in the opinion1 but was easily persuaded by the cunning ,italian to make one more trial4 ,he promised at the same time that he would endeavour on the following night to discover the reason why the devil had broken his word4 ,he went out alone accordingly1 and on his return informed his patron that he had seen ,barron1 who was exceedingly angry that they had not waited the proper time ere they looked for the ingots4 ,barron had also said1 that the ,marchal de ,rays could hardly expect any favours from him1 at a time when he must know that he had been meditating a pilgrimage to the ,holy ,land to make atonement for his sins4 ,the ,italian had doubtless surmised this from some incautious expression of his patron1 for de ,rays frankly confessed that there were times when1 sick of the world and all its pomps and vanities1 he thought of devoting himself to the service of ,god4 ,in this manner the ,italian lured on from month to month his credulous and guilty patron1 extracting from him all the valuables he possessed1 and only waiting a favourable opportunity to decamp with his plunder4 ,but the day of retribution was at hand for both4 ,young girls and boys continued to disappear in the most mysterious manner2 and the rumours against the owner of ,champtoc grew so loud and distinct1 that the ,church was compelled to interfere4 ,representations were made by the ,bishop of ,nantes to the ,duke of ,brittany1 that it would be a public scandal if the accusations against the ,marchal de ,rays were not inquired into4 ,he was arrested accordingly in his own castle1 along with his accomplice ,prelati1 and thrown into a dungeon at ,nantes to await his trial4 ,the judges appointed to try him were the ,bishop of ,nantes ,chancellor of ,brittany1 the ,vicar of the ,inquisition in ,france1 and the celebrated ,pierre l',hpital1 the ,president of the provincial ,parliament4 ,the offences laid to his charge were1 sorcery1 sodomy1 and murder4 ,gilles1 on the first day of his trial1 conducted himself with the utmost insolence4 ,he braved the judges on the judgment-seat1 calling them simoniacs and persons of impure life1 and said he would rather be hanged by the neck like a dog without trial1 than plead either guilty or not guilty before such contemptible miscreants4 ,but his confidence forsook him as the trial proceeded1 and he was found guilty on the clearest evidence of all the crimes laid to his charge4 ,it was proved that he took insane pleasure in stabbing the victims of his lust and in observing the quivering of their flesh1 and the fading lustre of their eyes as they expired4 ,the confession of ,prelati first made the judges acquainted with this horrid madness1 and ,gilles himself confirmed it before his death4 ,nearly a hundred children of the villagers around his two castles of ,champtoc and ,machecoue1 had been missed within three years1 the greater part1 if not all1 of whom were immolated to the lust or the cupidity of this monster4 ,he imagined that he thus made the devil his friend1 and that his recompense would be the secret of the philosopher's stone4 ,gilles and ,prelati were both condemned to be burned alive4 ,at the place of execution they assumed the air of penitence and religion4 ,gilles tenderly embraced ,prelati1 saying1 ,farewell1 friend ,francis6 ,in this world we shall never meet again2 but let us place our hopes in ,god2 we shall see each other in ,paradise4 ,out of consideration for his high rank and connexions1 the punishment of the marshal was so far mitigated1 that he was not burned alive like ,prelati4 ,he was first strangled1 and then thrown into the flames3 his body1 when half consumed1 was given over to his relatives for interment1 while that of the ,italian was burned to ashes1 and then scattered to the winds4#ci #ci ,for full details of this extraordinary trial1 see ,lobineau's ,nouvelle ,histoire de ,bretagne1 and ,d',argentr's work on the same subject4 ,the character and life of ,gilles de ,rays are believed to have suggested the famous ,blue ,beard of the nursery tale4 ,,jacques ,,coeur4 ,this remarkable pretender to the secret of the philosopher's stone was contemporary with the last mentioned4 ,he was a great personage at the court of ,charles ,,vii41 and in the events of his reign played a prominent part4 ,from a very humble origin he rose to the highest honours of the state1 and amassed enormous wealth by peculation and plunder of the country which he should have served4 ,it was to hide his delinquencies in this respect1 and to divert attention from the real source of his riches1 that he boasted of having discovered the art of transmuting the inferior metals into gold and silver4 ,his father was a goldsmith in the city of ,bourges2 but so reduced in circumstances towards the latter years of his life1 that he was unable to pay the necessary fees to procure his son's admission into the guild4 ,young ,jacques became1 however1 a workman in the ,royal ,mint of ,bourges1 in #adbh1 and behaved himself so well1 and shewed so much knowledge of metallurgy1 that he attained rapid promotion in that establishment4 ,he had also the good fortune to make the acquaintance of the fair ,agnes ,sorel1 by whom he was patronised and much esteemed4 ,jacques had now three things in his favour--ability1 perseverance1 and the countenance of the king's mistress4 ,many a man succeeds with but one of these to help him forward2 and it would have been strange indeed if ,jacques ,coeur1 who had them all1 should have languished in obscurity4 ,while still a young man1 he was made master of the mint1 in which he had been a journeyman1 and installed at the same time into the vacant office of grand treasurer of the royal household4 ,he possessed an extensive knowledge of finance1 and turned it wonderfully to his own advantage1 as soon as he became entrusted with extensive funds4 ,he speculated in articles of the first necessity1 and made himself popular by buying up grain1 honey1 wines1 and other produce1 till there was a scarcity1 when he sold it again at enormous profit4 ,strong in the royal favour1 he did not hesitate to oppress the poor by continual acts of forestalling and monopoly4 ,as there is no enemy so bitter as the estranged friend1 so of all the tyrants and tramplers upon the poor1 there is none so fierce and reckless as the upstart that sprang from their ranks4 ,the offensive pride of ,jacques ,coeur to his inferiors was the theme of indignant reproach in his own city1 and his cringing humility to those above him was as much an object of contempt to the aristocrats into whose society he thrust himself4 ,but ,jacques did not care for the former1 and to the latter he was blind4 ,he continued his career till he became the richest man in ,france1 and so useful to the king that no important enterprise was set on foot until he had been consulted4 ,he was sent1 in #addf1 on an embassy to ,genoa1 and in the following year to ,pope ,nicholas ,v4 ,in both these missions he acquitted himself to the satisfaction of his sovereign1 and was rewarded with a lucrative appointment1 in addition to those which he already held4 ,in the year #addi1 the ,english in ,normandy1 deprived of their great general1 the ,duke of ,bedford1 broke the truce with the ,french king1 and took possession of a small town belonging to the ,duke of ,brittany4 ,this was the signal for the recommencement of a war1 in which the ,french regained possession of nearly the whole province4 ,the money for this war was advanced1 for the most part1 by ,jacques ,coeur4 ,when ,rouen yielded to the ,french1 and ,charles made his triumphal entry into that city1 accompanied by ,dunois and his most famous generals1 ,jacques was among the most brilliant of his cortge4 ,his chariot and horses vied with those of the king in the magnificence of their trappings2 and his enemies said of him that he publicly boasted that he alone had driven out the ,english1 and that the valour of the troops would have been nothing without his gold4 ,dunois appears1 also1 to have been partly of the same opinion4 ,without disparaging the courage of the army1 he acknowledged the utility of the able financier1 by whose means they had been fed and paid1 and constantly afforded him his powerful protection4 ,when peace returned1 ,jacques again devoted himself to commerce1 and fitted up several galleys to trade with the ,genoese4 ,he also bought large estates in various parts of ,france2 the chief of which were the baronies of ,st4 ,fargeau1 ,meneton1 ,salone1 ,maubranche1 ,meaune1 ,st4 ,gerant de ,vaux1 and ,st4 ,aon de ,boissy2 the earldoms or counties of ,la ,palisse1 ,champignelle1 ,beaumont1 and ,villeneuve la ,gent1 and the marquisate of ,toucy4 ,he also procured for his son1 ,jean ,coeur1 who had chosen the ,church for his profession1 a post no less distinguished than that of ,archbishop of ,bourges4 ,every body said that so much wealth could not have been honestly acquired2 and both rich and poor longed for the day that should humble the pride of the man1 whom the one class regarded as an upstart and the other as an oppressor4 ,jacques was somewhat alarmed at the rumours that were afloat respecting him1 and of dark hints that he had debased the coin of the realm and forged the king's seal to an important document1 by which he had defrauded the state of very considerable sums4 ,to silence these rumours1 he invited many alchymists from foreign countries to reside with him1 and circulated a counter rumour1 that he had discovered the secret of the philosopher's stone4 ,he also built a magnificent house in his native city1 over the entrance of which he caused to be sculptured the emblems of that science4 ,some time afterwards he built another1 no less splendid1 at ,montpellier1 which he inscribed in a similar manner4 ,he also wrote a treatise upon the hermetic philosophy1 in which he pretended that he knew the secret of transmuting metals4 ,illustration3 ,,house ,,of ,,jacques ,,coeur1 ,,bourges4 ,but all these attempts to disguise his numerous acts of peculation proved unavailing2 and he was arrested in #adeb1 and brought to trial on several charges4 ,upon one only1 which the malice of his enemies invented to ruin him1 was he acquitted2 which was1 that he had been accessory to the death1 by poison1 of his kind patroness1 ,agnes ,sorel4 ,upon the others he was found guilty1 and sentenced to be banished the kingdom1 and to pay the enormous fine of four hundred thousand crowns4 ,it was proved that he had forged the king's seal2 that in his capacity of master of the mint of ,bourges1 he had debased1 to a very great extent1 the gold and silver coin of the realm2 and that he had not hesitated to supply the ,turks with arms and money to enable them to carry on war against their ,christian neighbours1 for which service he had received the most munificent recompenses4 ,charles ,,vii4 was deeply grieved at his condemnation1 and believed to the last that he was innocent4 ,by his means the fine was reduced within a sum which ,jacques ,coeur could pay4 ,after remaining for some time in prison1 he was liberated1 and left ,france with a large sum of money1 part of which1 it was alleged1 was secretly paid him by ,charles out of the produce of his confiscated estates4 ,he retired to ,cyprus1 where he died about #adfj1 the richest and most conspicuous personage of the island4 ,the writers upon alchymy all claim ,jacques ,coeur as a member of their fraternity1 and treat as false and libellous the more rational explanation of his wealth which the records of his trial afford4 ,pierre ,borel1 in his ,antiquits ,gauloises1 maintains the opinion that ,jacques was an honest man1 and that he made his gold out of lead and copper by means of the philosopher's stone4 ,the alchymic adepts in general were of the same opinion2 but they found it difficult to persuade even his contemporaries of the fact4 ,posterity is still less likely to believe it4 ,,inferior ,,adepts ,,of ,,the ,,fourteenth ,,and ,,fifteenth ,,centuries4 ,many other pretenders to the secrets of the philosopher's stone appeared in every country in ,europe1 during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries4 ,the possibility of transmutation was so generally admitted1 that every chemist was more or less an alchymist4 ,germany1 ,holland1 ,italy1 ,spain1 ,poland1 ,france1 and ,england produced thousands of obscure adepts1 who supported themselves1 in the pursuit of their chimera1 by the more profitable resources of astrology and divination4 ,the monarchs of ,europe were no less persuaded than their subjects of the possibility of discovering the philosopher's stone4 ,henry ,,vi4 and ,edward ,,iv4 of ,england encouraged alchymy4 ,in ,germany1 the ,emperors ,maximilian1 ,rudolph1 and ,frederic ,,ii4 devoted much of their attention to it2 and every inferior potentate within their dominions imitated their example4 ,it was a common practice in ,germany1 among the nobles and petty sovereigns1 to invite an alchymist to take up his residence among them1 that they might confine him in a dungeon till he made gold enough to pay millions for his ransom4 ,many poor wretches suffered perpetual imprisonment in consequence4 ,a similar fate appears to have been intended by ,edward ,,ii4 for ,raymond ,lulli1 who1 upon the pretence that he was thereby honoured1 was accommodated with apartments in the ,tower of ,london4 ,he found out in time the trick that was about to be played him1 and managed to make his escape2 some of his biographers say1 by jumping into the ,thames1 and swimming to a vessel that lay waiting to receive him4 ,in the sixteenth century1 the same system was pursued1 as will be shewn more fully in the life of ,seton the ,cosmopolite4 ,the following is a catalogue of the chief authors upon alchymy1 who flourished during this epoch1 and whose lives and adventures are either unknown or are unworthy of more detailed notice4 ,john ,dowston1 an ,englishman1 lived in #acae1 and wrote two treatises on the philosopher's stone4 ,richard1 or1 as some call him1 ,robert1 also an ,englishman1 lived in #accj1 and wrote a work entitled ,correctorium ,alchymi1 which was much esteemed till the time of ,paracelsus4 ,in the same year lived ,peter of ,lombardy1 who wrote what he called a ,complete ,treatise upon the ,hermetic ,science1 an abridgment of which was afterwards published by ,lacini1 a monk of ,calabria4 ,in #accj the most famous alchymist of ,paris was one ,odomare1 whose work1 ,de ,practica ,magistri1 was for a long time a hand-book among the brethren of the science4 ,john de ,rupecissa1 a ,french monk of the order of ,st4 ,francis1 flourished in #aceg1 and pretended to be a prophet as well as an alchymist4 ,some of his prophecies were so disagreeable to ,pope ,innocent ,,vi41 that the pontiff determined to put a stop to them1 by locking up the prophet in the dungeons of the ,vatican4 ,it is generally believed that he died there1 though there is no evidence of the fact4 ,his chief works are1 the ,book of ,light1 the ,five ,essences1 the ,heaven of ,philosophers1 and his grand work1 ,de ,confectione ,lapidis4 ,he was not thought a shining light among the adepts4 ,ortholani was another pretender1 of whom nothing is known1 but that he exercised the arts of alchymy and astrology at ,paris1 shortly before the time of ,nicholas ,flamel4 ,his work on the practice of alchymy was written in that city in #aceh4 ,isaac of ,holland wrote1 it is supposed1 about this time2 and his son also devoted himself to the science4 ,nothing worth repeating is known of their lives4 ,boerhaave speaks with commendation of many passages in their works1 and ,paracelsus esteemed them highly3 the chief are1 ,de ,triplici ,ordine ,elixiris et ,lapidis ,theoria1 printed at ,berne in #afjh2 and ,mineralia ,opera1 seu de ,lapide ,philosophico1 printed at ,middleburg in #afjj4 ,they also wrote eight other works upon the same subject4 ,koffstky1 a ,pole1 wrote an alchymical treatise1 entitled ,the ,tincture of ,minerals1 about the year #adhh4 ,in this list of authors a royal name must not be forgotten4 ,charles ,,vi4 of ,france1 one of the most credulous princes of the day1 whose court absolutely swarmed with alchymists1 conjurers1 astrologers1 and quacks of every description1 made several attempts to discover the philosopher's stone1 and thought he knew so much about it1 that he determined to enlighten the world with a treatise2 it is called the ,royal ,work of ,charles ,,vi4 of ,france1 and the ,treasure of ,philosophy4 ,it is said to be the original from which ,nicholas ,flamel took the idea of his ,dsir dsir4 ,lenglet du ,fresnoy says it is very allegorical1 and utterly incomprehensible4 ,for a more complete list of the hermetic philosophers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries1 the reader is referred to the third volume of ,lenglet's ,history1 already quoted4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,progress ,,of ,,the ,,infatuation ,,during ,,the ,,sixteenth ,,and ,,seventeenth ,,centuries4--,,present ,,state ,,of ,,the ,,science4 ,during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries1 the search for the philosopher's stone was continued by thousands of the enthusiastic and the credulous2 but a great change was introduced during this period4 ,the eminent men who devoted themselves to the study totally changed its aspect1 and referred to the possession of their wondrous stone and elixir1 not only the conversion of the base into the precious metals1 but the solution of all the difficulties of other sciences4 ,they pretended that by its means man would be brought into closer communion with his ,maker2 that disease and sorrow would be banished from the world2 and that the millions of spiritual beings who walk the earth unseen would be rendered visible1 and become the friends1 companions1 and instructors of mankind4 ,in the seventeenth century more especially1 these poetical and fantastic doctrines excited the notice of ,europe2 and from ,germany1 where they had been first disseminated by ,rosencreutz1 spread into ,france and ,england1 and ran away with the sound judgment of many clever but too enthusiastic searchers for the truth4 ,paracelsus1 ,dee1 and many others of less note1 were captivated by the grace and beauty of the new mythology1 which was arising to adorn the literature of ,europe4 ,most of the alchymists of the sixteenth century1 although ignorant of the ,rosicrucians as a sect1 were1 in some degree1 tinctured with their fanciful tenets3 but before we speak more fully of these poetical visionaries1 it will be necessary to resume the history of the hermetic folly1 and trace the gradual change that stole over the dreams of the adepts4 ,it will be seen that the infatuation increased rather than diminished as the world grew older4 ,,augurello4 ,among the alchymists who were born in the fifteenth1 and distinguished themselves in the sixteenth century1 the first in point of date is ,john ,aurelio ,augurello4 ,he was born at ,rimini in #adda1 and became professor of the belles lettres at ,venice and ,trevisa4 ,he was early convinced of the truth of the hermetic science1 and used to pray to ,god that he might be happy enough to discover the philosopher's stone4 ,he was continually surrounded by the paraphernalia of chemistry1 and expended all his wealth in the purchase of drugs and metals4 ,he was also a poet1 but of less merit than pretensions4 ,his ,chrysopeia1 in which he pretended to teach the art of making gold1 he dedicated to ,pope ,leo ,x41 in the hope that the pontiff would reward him handsomely for the compliment2 but the pope was too good a judge of poetry to be pleased with the worse than mediocrity of his poem1 and too good a philosopher to approve of the strange doctrines which it inculcated2 he was1 therefore1 far from gratified at the dedication4 ,it is said1 that when ,augurello applied to him for a reward1 the pope1 with great ceremony and much apparent kindness and cordiality1 drew an empty purse from his pocket1 and presented it to the alchymist1 saying1 that since he was able to make gold1 the most appropriate present that could be made him1 was a purse to put it in4 ,this scurvy reward was all that the poor alchymist ever got either for his poetry or his alchymy4 ,he died in a state of extreme poverty1 in the eighty-third year of his age4 ,,cornelius ,,agrippa4 ,this alchymist has left a distinguished reputation4 ,the most extraordinary tales were told and believed of his powers4 ,he could turn iron into gold by his mere word4 ,all the spirits of the air and demons of the earth were under his command1 and bound to obey him in everything4 ,he could raise from the dead the forms of the great men of other days1 and make them appear1 in their habit as they lived1 to the gaze of the curious who had courage enough to abide their presence4 ,illustration3 ,,cornelius ,,agrippa4 ,he was born at ,cologne in #adhf1 and began at an early age the study of chemistry and philosophy4 ,by some means or other1 which have never been very clearly explained1 he managed to impress his contemporaries with a great idea of his wonderful attainments4 ,at the early age of twenty1 so great was his reputation as an alchymist1 that the principal adepts of ,paris wrote to ,cologne1 inviting him to settle in ,france1 and aid them with his experience in discovering the philosopher's stone4 ,honours poured upon him in thick succession2 and he was highly esteemed by all the learned men of his time4 ,melancthon speaks of him with respect and commendation4 ,erasmus also bears testimony in his favour2 and the general voice of his age proclaimed him a light of literature and an ornament to philosophy4 ,some men1 by dint of excessive egotism1 manage to persuade their contemporaries that they are very great men indeed3 they publish their acquirements so loudly in people's ears1 and keep up their own praises so incessantly1 that the world's applause is actually taken by storm4 ,such seems to have been the case with ,agrippa4 ,he called himself a sublime theologian1 an excellent jurisconsult1 an able physician1 a great philosopher1 and a successful alchymist4 ,the world at last took him at his word2 and thought that a man who talked so big1 must have some merit to recommend him1--that it was1 indeed1 a great trumpet which sounded so obstreperous a blast4 ,he was made secretary to the ,emperor ,maximilian1 who conferred upon him the title of chevalier1 and gave him the honorary command of a regiment4 ,he afterwards became professor of ,hebrew and the belles lettres at the ,university of ,dle1 in ,france2 but quarrelling with the ,franciscan monks upon some knotty points of divinity1 he was obliged to quit the town4 ,he took refuge in ,london1 where he taught ,hebrew and cast nativities1 for about a year4 ,from ,london he proceeded to ,pavia1 and gave lectures upon the writings1 real or supposed1 of ,hermes ,trismegistus2 and might have lived there in peace and honour1 had he not again quarrelled with the clergy4 ,by their means his position became so disagreeable that he was glad to accept an offer made him by the magistracy of ,metz1 to become their syndic and advocate-general4 ,here1 again1 his love of disputation made him enemies3 the theological wiseacres of that city asserted that ,st4 ,ann had three husbands1 in which opinion they were confirmed by the popular belief of the day4 ,agrippa needlessly ran foul of this opinion1 or prejudice as he called it1 and thereby lost much of his influence4 ,another dispute1 more creditable to his character1 occurred soon after1 and sank him for ever in the estimation of the ,metzians4 ,humanely taking the part of a young girl who was accused of witchcraft1 his enemies asserted that he was himself a sorcerer1 and raised such a storm over his head1 that he was forced to fly the city4 ,after this he became physician to ,louisa de ,savoy1 mother of ,king ,francis ,i4 ,this lady was curious to know the future1 and required her physician to cast her nativity4 ,agrippa replied that he would not encourage such idle curiosity4 ,the result was1 he lost her confidence1 and was forthwith dismissed4 ,if it had been through his belief in the worthlessness of astrology1 that he had made his answer1 we might admire his honest and fearless independence2 but when it is known that1 at the very same time1 he was in the constant habit of divination and fortune-telling1 and that he was predicting splendid success1 in all his undertakings1 to the ,constable of ,bourbon1 we can only wonder at his thus estranging a powerful friend through mere petulance and perversity4 ,he was about this time invited1 both by ,henry ,,viii4 of ,england1 and ,margaret of ,austria1 governess of the ,low ,countries1 to fix his residence in their dominions4 ,he chose the service of the latter1 by whose influence he was made historiographer to the ,emperor ,charles ,v4 ,unfortunately for ,agrippa1 he never had stability enough to remain long in one position1 and offended his patrons by his restlessness and presumption4 ,after the death of ,margaret he was imprisoned at ,brussels1 on a charge of sorcery4 ,he was released after a year2 and quitting the country1 experienced many vicissitudes4 ,he died in great poverty in #aecd1 aged forty-eight years4 ,while in the service of ,margaret of ,austria1 he resided principally at ,louvain1 in which city he wrote his famous work on the ,vanity and ,nothingness of ,human ,knowledge4 ,he also wrote to please his royal mistress1 a treatise upon the ,superiority of the ,female ,sex1 which he dedicated to her in token of his gratitude for the favours she had heaped upon him4 ,the reputation he left behind him in these provinces was any thing but favourable4 ,a great number of the marvellous tales that are told of him relate to this period of his life4 ,it was said1 that the gold which he paid to the traders with whom he dealt1 always looked remarkably bright1 but invariably turned into pieces of slate and stone in the course of four-and-twenty hours4 ,of this spurious gold he was believed to have made large quantities by the aid of the devil1 who1 it would appear from this1 had but a very superficial knowledge of alchymy1 and much less than the ,marchal de ,rays gave him credit for4 ,the ,jesuit ,delrio1 in his book on magic and sorcery1 relates a still more extraordinary story of him4 ,one day1 ,agrippa left his house at ,louvain1 and intending to be absent for some time1 gave the key of his study to his wife1 with strict orders that no one should enter it during his absence4 ,the lady herself1 strange as it may appear1 had no curiosity to pry into her husband's secrets1 and never once thought of entering the forbidden room2 but a young student1 who had been accommodated with an attic in the philosopher's house1 burned with a fierce desire to examine the study2 hoping1 perchance1 that he might purloin some book or implement which would instruct him in the art of transmuting metals4 ,the youth1 being handsome1 eloquent1 and1 above all1 highly complimentary to the charms of the lady1 she was persuaded without much difficulty to lend him the key1 but gave him strict orders not to remove any thing4 ,the student promised implicit obedience1 and entered ,agrippa's study4 ,the first object that caught his attention was a large grimoire1 or book of spells1 which lay open on the philosopher's desk4 ,he sat himself down immediately and began to read4 ,at the first word he uttered1 he fancied he heard a knock at the door4 ,he listened1 but all was silent4 ,thinking that his imagination had deceived him1 he read on1 when immediately a louder knock was heard1 which so terrified him1 that he started to his feet4 ,he tried to say ,come in1 but his tongue refused its office1 and he could not articulate a sound4 ,he fixed his eyes upon the door1 which1 slowly opening1 disclosed a stranger of majestic form1 but scowling features1 who demanded sternly1 why he was summoned8 ,i did not summon you1 said the trembling student4 ,you did6 said the stranger1 advancing angrily2 and the demons are not to be invoked in vain4 ,the student could make no reply2 and the demon1 enraged that one of the uninitiated should have summoned him out of mere presumption1 seized him by the throat and strangled him4 ,when ,agrippa returned1 a few days afterwards1 he found his house beset with devils4 ,some of them were sitting on the chimney-pots1 kicking up their legs in the air2 while others were playing at leapfrog on the very edge of the parapet4 ,his study was so filled with them1 that he found it difficult to make his way to his desk4 ,when1 at last1 he had elbowed his way through them1 he found his book open1 and the student lying dead upon the floor4 ,he saw immediately how the mischief had been done2 and dismissing all the inferior imps1 asked the principal demon how he could have been so rash as to kill the young man4 ,the demon replied1 that he had been needlessly invoked by an insulting youth1 and could do no less than kill him for his presumption4 ,agrippa reprimanded him severely1 and ordered him immediately to reanimate the dead body1 and walk about with it in the market-place for the whole of the afternoon4 ,the demon did so2 the student revived1 and putting his arm through that of his unearthly murderer1 walked very lovingly with him in sight of all the people4 ,at sunset1 the body fell down again1 cold and lifeless as before1 and was carried by the crowd to the hospital1 it being the general opinion that he had expired in a fit of apoplexy4 ,his conductor immediately disappeared4 ,when the body was examined1 marks of strangulation were found on the neck1 and prints of the long claws of the demon on various parts of it4 ,these appearances1 together with a story1 which soon obtained currency1 that the companion of the young man had vanished in a cloud of flame and smoke1 opened people's eyes to the truth4 ,the magistrates of ,louvain instituted inquiries1 and the result was1 that ,agrippa was obliged to quit the town4 ,other authors besides ,delrio relate similar stories of this philosopher4 ,the world in those days was always willing enough to believe in tales of magic and sorcery2 and when1 as in ,agrippa's case1 the alleged magician gave himself out for such1 and claimed credit for the wonders he worked1 it is not surprising that the age should have allowed his pretensions4 ,it was dangerous boasting1 which sometimes led to the stake or the gallows1 and therefore was thought to be not without foundation4 ,paulus ,jovius1 in his ,eulogia ,doctorum ,virorum1 says1 that the devil1 in the shape of a large black dog1 attended ,agrippa wherever he went4 ,thomas ,nash1 in his ,adventures of ,jack ,wilton1 relates1 that1 at the request of ,lord ,surrey1 ,erasmus1 and some other learned men1 ,agrippa called up from the grave many of the great philosophers of antiquity2 among others1 ,tully1 whom he caused to re-deliver his celebrated oration for ,roscius4 ,he also shewed ,lord ,surrey1 when in ,germany1 an exact resemblance in a glass of his mistress1 the fair ,geraldine4 ,she was represented on a couch weeping for the absence of her lover4 ,lord ,surrey made a note of the exact time at which he saw this vision1 and ascertained afterwards that his mistress was actually so employed at the very minute4 ,to ,thomas ,lord ,cromwell1 ,agrippa represented ,king ,henry ,,viii4 hunting in ,windsor ,park1 with the principal lords of his court2 and to please the ,emperor ,charles ,v4 he summoned ,king ,david and ,king ,solomon from the tomb4 ,naud1 in his ,apology for the great ,men who have been falsely suspected of ,magic1 takes a great deal of pains to clear ,agrippa from the imputations cast upon him by ,delrio1 ,paulus ,jovius1 and other such ignorant and prejudiced scribblers4 ,such stories demanded refutation in the days of ,naud1 but they may now be safely left to decay in their own absurdity4 ,that they should have attached1 however1 to the memory of a man who claimed the power of making iron obey him when he told it to become gold1 and who wrote such a work as that upon magic1 which goes by his name1 is not at all surprising4 ,,paracelsus4 ,this philosopher1 called by ,naud the zenith and rising sun of all the alchymists1 was born at ,einsiedeln1 near ,zurich1 in the year #adic4 ,his true name was ,hohenheim2 to which1 as he himself informs us1 were prefixed the baptismal names of ,aureolus ,theophrastus ,bombastes ,paracelsus4 ,the last of these he chose for his common designation while he was yet a boy2 and rendered it1 before he died1 one of the most famous in the annals of his time4 ,his father1 who was a physician1 educated his son for the same pursuit4 ,the latter was an apt scholar1 and made great progress4 ,by chance the work of ,isaac ,hollandus fell into his hands1 and from that time he became smitten with the mania of the philosopher's stone4 ,all his thoughts henceforth were devoted to metallurgy2 and he travelled into ,sweden that he might visit the mines of that country1 and examine the ores while they yet lay in the bowels of the earth4 ,he also visited ,trithemius at the monastery of ,spannheim1 and obtained instructions from him in the science of alchymy4 ,continuing his travels1 he proceeded through ,prussia and ,austria into ,turkey1 ,egypt1 and ,tartary1 and thence returning to ,constantinople1 learned1 as he boasted1 the art of transmutation1 and became possessed of the elixir vit4 ,he then established himself as a physician in his native ,switzerland at ,zurich1 and commenced writing works upon alchymy and medicine1 which immediately fixed the attention of ,europe4 ,their great obscurity was no impediment to their fame2 for the less the author was understood1 the more the demonologists1 fanatics1 and philosopher's-stone hunters seemed to appreciate him4 ,his fame as a physician kept pace with that which he enjoyed as an alchymist1 owing to his having effected some happy cures by means of mercury and opium1--drugs unceremoniously condemned by his professional brethren4 ,in the year #aebf1 he was chosen professor of physics and natural philosophy in the ,university of ,basle1 where his lectures attracted vast numbers of students4 ,he denounced the writings of all former physicians as tending to mislead2 and publicly burned the works of ,galen and ,avicenna1 as quacks and impostors4 ,he exclaimed1 in presence of the admiring and half-bewildered crowd1 who assembled to witness the ceremony1 that there was more knowledge in his shoe-strings than in the writings of these physicians4 ,continuing in the same strain1 he said1 all the ,universities in the world were full of ignorant quacks2 but that he1 ,paracelsus1 overflowed with wisdom4 ,you will all follow my new system1 said he1 with furious gesticulations1 ,avicenna1 ,galen1 ,rhazis1 ,montagnana1 ,mem1--you will all follow me1 ye professors of ,paris1 ,montpellier1 ,germany1 ,cologne1 and ,vienna6 and all ye that dwell on the ,rhine and the ,danube1--ye that inhabit the isles of the sea2 and ye also1 ,italians1 ,dalmatians1 ,athenians1 ,arabians1 ,jews1--ye will all follow my doctrines1 for ,i am the monarch of medicine6 ,illustration3 ,,paracelsus4 ,but he did not long enjoy the esteem of the good citizens of ,basle4 ,it is said that he indulged in wine so freely1 as not unfrequently to be seen in the streets in a state of intoxication4 ,this was ruinous for a physician1 and his good fame decreased rapidly4 ,his ill fame increased in still greater proportion1 especially when he assumed the airs of a sorcerer4 ,he boasted of the legions of spirits at his command2 and of one especially1 which he kept imprisoned in the hilt of his sword4 ,wetteras1 who lived twenty-seven months in his service1 relates that he often threatened to invoke a whole army of demons1 and shew him the great authority which he could exercise over them4 ,he let it be believed that the spirit in his sword had custody of the elixir of life1 by means of which he could make any one live to be as old as the antediluvians4 ,he also boasted that he had a spirit at his command1 called ,azoth1 whom he kept imprisoned in a jewel2 and in many of the old portraits he is represented with a jewel1 inscribed with the word ,azoth1 in his hand4 ,if a sober prophet has little honour in his own country1 a drunken one has still less4 ,paracelsus found it at last convenient to quit ,basle1 and establish himself at ,strasbourg4 ,the immediate cause of this change of residence was as follows4 ,a citizen lay at the point of death1 and was given over by all the physicians of the town4 ,as a last resource ,paracelsus was called in1 to whom the sick man promised a magnificent recompense1 if1 by his means1 he were cured4 ,paracelsus gave him two small pills1 which the man took1 and rapidly recovered4 ,when he was quite well1 ,paracelsus sent for his fee2 but the citizen had no great opinion of the value of a cure which had been so speedily effected4 ,he had no notion of paying a handful of gold for two pills1 although they had saved his life1 and he refused to pay more than the usual fee for a single visit4 ,paracelsus brought an action against him1 and lost it4 ,this result so exasperated him1 that he left ,basle in high dudgeon4 ,he resumed his wandering life1 and travelled in ,germany and ,hungary1 supporting himself as he went on the credulity and infatuation of all classes of society4 ,he cast nativities--told fortunes--aided those who had money to throw away upon the experiment1 to find the philosopher's stone--prescribed remedies for cows and pigs1 and aided in the recovery of stolen goods4 ,after residing successively at ,nuremburg1 ,augsburg1 ,vienna1 and ,mindelheim1 he retired in the year #aeda to ,saltzbourg1 and died in a state of abject poverty in the hospital of that town4 ,if this strange charlatan found hundreds of admirers during his life1 he found thousands after his death4 ,a sect of ,paracelsists sprang up in ,france and ,germany1 to perpetuate the extravagant doctrines of their founder upon all the sciences1 and upon alchymy in particular4 ,the chief leaders were ,bodenstein and ,dorneus4 ,the following is a summary of his doctrine1 founded upon the supposed existence of the philosopher's stone2 it is worth preserving from its very absurdity1 and is altogether unparalleled in the history of philosophy4 ,first of all1 he maintained that the contemplation of the perfection of the ,deity sufficed to procure all wisdom and knowledge2 that the ,bible was the key to the theory of all diseases1 and that it was necessary to search into the ,apocalypse to know the signification of magic medicine4 ,the man who blindly obeyed the will of ,god1 and who succeeded in identifying himself with the celestial intelligences1 possessed the philosopher's stone--he could cure all diseases1 and prolong life to as many centuries as he pleased2 it being by the very same means that ,adam and the antediluvian patriarchs prolonged theirs4 ,life was an emanation from the stars--the sun governed the heart1 and the moon the brain4 ,jupiter governed the liver1 ,saturn the gall1 ,mercury the lungs1 ,mars the bile1 and ,venus the loins4 ,in the stomach of every human being there dwelt a demon1 or intelligence1 that was a sort of alchymist in his way1 and mixed1 in their due proportions1 in his crucible1 the various aliments that were sent into that grand laboratory1 the belly4#dj ,he was proud of the title of magician1 and boasted that he kept up a regular correspondence with ,galen from hell2 and that he often summoned ,avicenna from the same regions to dispute with him on the false notions he had promulgated respecting alchymy1 and especially regarding potable gold and the elixir of life4 ,he imagined that gold could cure ossification of the heart1 and1 in fact1 all diseases1 if it were gold which had been transmuted from an inferior metal by means of the philosopher's stone1 and if it were applied under certain conjunctions of the planets4 ,the mere list of the works in which he advances these frantic imaginings1 which he called a doctrine1 would occupy several pages4 #dj ,see the article ,paracelsus1 by the learned ,renaudin1 in the ,biographie ,universelle4 ,,george ,,agricola4 ,this alchymist was born in the province of ,misnia1 in #adid4 ,his real name was ,bauer1 meaning a husbandman1 which1 in accordance with the common fashion of his age1 he latinised into ,agricola4 ,from his early youth1 he delighted in the visions of the hermetic science4 ,ere he was sixteen1 he longed for the great elixir which was to make him live for seven hundred years1 and for the stone which was to procure him wealth to cheer him in his multiplicity of days4 ,he published a small treatise upon the subject at ,cologne1 in #aeca1 which obtained him the patronage of the celebrated ,maurice duke of ,saxony4 ,after practising for some years as a physician at ,joachimsthal1 in ,bohemia1 he was employed by ,maurice as superintendent of the silver mines of ,chemnitz4 ,he led a happy life among the miners1 making various experiments in alchymy while deep in the bowels of the earth4 ,he acquired a great knowledge of metals1 and gradually got rid of his extravagant notions about the philosopher's stone4 ,the miners had no faith in alchymy2 and they converted him to their way of thinking1 not only in that but in other respects4 ,from their legends1 he became firmly convinced that the bowels of the earth were inhabited by good and evil spirits1 and that firedamp and other explosions sprang from no other causes than the mischievous propensities of the latter4 ,he died in the year #aeee1 leaving behind him the reputation of a very able and intelligent man4 ,,denis ,,zachaire4 ,autobiography1 written by a wise man who was once a fool1 is not only the most instructive1 but the most delightful of reading4 ,denis ,zachaire1 an alchymist of the sixteenth century1 has performed this task1 and left a record of his folly and infatuation in pursuit of the philosopher's stone1 which well repays perusal4 ,he was born in the year #aeaj1 of an ancient family in ,guienne1 and was early sent to the university of ,bordeaux1 under the care of a tutor to direct his studies4 ,unfortunately his tutor was a searcher for the grand elixir1 and soon rendered his pupil as mad as himself upon the subject4 ,with this introduction1 we will allow ,denis ,zachaire to speak for himself1 and continue his narrative in his own words3 ,i received from home1 says he1 the sum of two hundred crowns for the expenses of myself and master2 but before the end of the year1 all our money went away in the smoke of our furnaces4 ,my master1 at the same time1 died of a fever1 brought on by the parching heat of our laboratory1 from which he seldom or never stirred1 and which was scarcely less hot than the arsenal of ,venice4 ,his death was the more unfortunate for me1 as my parents took the opportunity of reducing my allowance1 and sending me only sufficient for my board and lodging1 instead of the sum ,i required to continue my operations in alchymy4 ,to meet this difficulty and get out of leading-strings1 ,i returned home at the age of twenty-five1 and mortgaged part of my property for four hundred crowns4 ,this sum was necessary to perform an operation of the science1 which had been communicated to me by an ,italian at ,toulouse1 and who1 as he said1 had proved its efficacy4 ,i retained this man in my service1 that we might see the end of the experiment4 ,i then1 by means of strong distillations1 tried to calcinate gold and silver2 but all my labour was in vain4 ,the weight of the gold ,i drew out of my furnace was diminished by one-half since ,i put it in1 and my four hundred crowns were very soon reduced to two hundred and thirty4 ,i gave twenty of these to my ,italian1 in order that he might travel to ,milan1 where the author of the receipt resided1 and ask him the explanation of some passages which we thought obscure4 ,i remained at ,toulouse all the winter1 in the hope of his return2 but ,i might have remained there till this day if ,i had waited for him1 for ,i never saw his face again4 ,in the succeeding summer there was a great plague1 which forced me to quit the town4 ,i did not1 however1 lose sight of my work4 ,i went to ,cahors1 where ,i remained six months1 and made the acquaintance of an old man1 who was commonly known to the people as 'the ,philosopher2' a name which1 in country places1 is often bestowed upon people whose only merit is1 that they are less ignorant than their neighbours4 ,i shewed him my collection of alchymical receipts1 and asked his opinion upon them4 ,he picked out ten or twelve of them1 merely saying that they were better than the others4 ,when the plague ceased1 ,i returned to ,toulouse1 and recommenced my experiments in search of the stone4 ,i worked to such effect that my four hundred crowns were reduced to one hundred and seventy4 ,that ,i might continue my work on a safer method1 ,i made acquaintance1 in #aecg1 with a certain abb who resided in the neighbourhood4 ,he was smitten with the same mania as myself1 and told me that one of his friends1 who had followed to ,rome in the retinue of the ,cardinal d',armagnac1 had sent him from that city a new receipt which could not fail to transmute iron and copper1 but which would cost two hundred crowns4 ,i provided half this money1 and the abb the rest2 and we began to operate at our joint expense4 ,as we required spirits of wine for our experiment1 ,i bought a tun of excellent vin de ,gaillac4 ,i extracted the spirit1 and rectified it several times4 ,we took a quantity of this1 into which we put four marks of silver and one of gold that had been undergoing the process of calcination for a month4 ,we put this mixture cleverly into a sort of horn-shaped vessel1 with another to serve as a retort2 and placed the whole apparatus upon our furnace to produce congelation4 ,this experiment lasted a year2 but1 not to remain idle1 we amused ourselves with many other less important operations4 ,we drew quite as much profit from these as from our great work4 ,the whole of the year #aecg passed over without producing any change whatever2 in fact we might have waited till doomsday for the congelation of our spirits of wine4 ,however1 we made a projection with it upon some heated quicksilver2 but all was in vain4 ,judge of our chagrin1 especially of that of the abb1 who had already boasted to all the monks of his monastery1 that they had only to bring the large pump which stood in a corner of the cloister1 and he would convert it into gold3 but this ill luck did not prevent us from persevering4 ,i once more mortgaged my paternal lands for four hundred crowns1 the whole of which ,i determined to devote to a renewal of my search for the great secret4 ,the abb contributed the same sum2 and with these eight hundred crowns ,i proceeded to ,paris1 a city more abounding with alchymists than any other in the world1 resolved never to leave it until ,i had either found the philosopher's stone or spent all my money4 ,this journey gave the greatest offence to all my relations and friends1 who1 imagining that ,i was fitted to be a great lawyer1 were anxious that ,i should establish myself in that profession4 ,for the sake of quietness1 ,i pretended1 at last1 that such was my object4 ,after travelling for fifteen days1 ,i arrived in ,paris on the #ith of ,january #aeci4 ,i remained for a month almost unknown2 but ,i had no sooner begun to frequent the amateurs of the science1 and visited the shops of the furnace-makers1 than ,i had the acquaintance of more than a hundred operative alchymists1 each of whom had a different theory and a different mode of working4 ,some of them preferred cementation2 others sought the universal alkahest or dissolvent2 and some of them boasted the great efficacy of the essence of emery4 ,some of them endeavoured to extract mercury from other metals1 to fix it afterwards2 and1 in order that each of us should be thoroughly acquainted with the proceedings of the others1 we agreed to meet somewhere every night and report progress4 ,we met sometimes at the house of one1 and sometimes in the garret of another2 not only on week days1 but on ,sundays and the great festivals of the ,church4 ',ah6' one used to say1 'if ,i had the means of recommencing this experiment1 ,i should do something4' ',yes1' said another1 'if my crucible had not cracked1 ,i should have succeeded before now2' while a third exclaimed1 with a sigh1 ',if ,i had but had a round copper vessel of sufficient strength1 ,i would have fixed mercury with silver4' ,there was not one among them who had not some excuse for his failure2 but ,i was deaf to all their speeches4 ,i did not want to part with my money to any of them1 remembering how often ,i had been the dupe of such promises4 ,a ,greek at last presented himself2 and with him ,i worked a long time uselessly upon nails made of cinnabar or vermilion4 ,i was also acquainted with a foreign gentleman newly arrived in ,paris1 and often accompanied him to the shops of the goldsmiths to sell pieces of gold and silver1 the produce1 as he said1 of his experiments4 ,i stuck closely to him for a long time1 in the hope that he would impart his secret4 ,he refused for a long time1 but acceded at last on my earnest entreaty1 and ,i found that it was nothing more than an ingenious trick4 ,i did not fail to inform my friend the abb1 whom ,i had left at ,toulouse1 of all my adventures2 and sent him1 among other matters1 a relation of the trick by which this gentleman pretended to turn lead into gold4 ,the abb still imagined that ,i should succeed at last1 and advised me to remain another year in ,paris1 where ,i had made so good a beginning4 ,i remained there three years2 but1 notwithstanding all my efforts1 ,i had no more success than ,i had had elsewhere4 ,i had just got to the end of my money1 when ,i received a letter from the abb1 telling me to leave every thing1 and join him immediately at ,toulouse4 ,i went accordingly1 and found that he had received letters from the king of ,navarre 7grandfather of ,henry ,,iv474 ,this prince was a great lover of philosophy1 full of curiosity1 and had written to the abb that ,i should visit him at ,pau2 and that he would give me three or four thousand crowns if ,i would communicate the secret ,i had learned from the foreign gentleman4 ,the abb's ears were so tickled with the four thousand crowns1 that he let me have no peace night or day until he had fairly seen me on the road to ,pau4 ,i arrived at that place in the month of ,may #aedb4 ,i worked away1 and succeeded1 according to the receipt ,i had obtained4 ,when ,i had finished to the satisfaction of the king1 he gave me the reward that ,i expected4 ,although he was willing enough to do me further service1 he was dissuaded from it by the lords of his court2 even by many of those who had been most anxious that ,i should come4 ,he sent me then about my business1 with many thanks2 saying1 that if there was any thing in his kingdom which he could give me--such as the produce of confiscations or the like--he should be most happy4 ,i thought ,i might stay long enough for these prospective confiscations1 and never get them at last2 and ,i therefore determined to go back to my friend the abb4 ,i learned that1 on the road between ,pau and ,toulouse1 there resided a monk who was very skilful in all matters of natural philosophy4 ,on my return1 ,i paid him a visit4 ,he pitied me very much1 and advised me1 with much warmth and kindness of expression1 not to amuse myself any longer with such experiments as these1 which were all false and sophistical2 but that ,i should read the good books of the old philosophers1 where ,i might not only find the true matter of the science of alchymy1 but learn also the exact order of operations which ought to be followed4 ,i very much approved of this wise advice2 but before ,i acted upon it1 ,i went back to my abb of ,toulouse1 to give him an account of the eight hundred crowns which we had had in common1 and1 at the same time1 share with him such reward as ,i had received from the king of ,navarre4 ,if he was little satisfied with the relation of my adventures since our first separation1 he appeared still less satisfied when ,i told him ,i had formed a resolution to renounce the search for the philosopher's stone4 ,the reason was that he thought me a good artist4 ,of our eight hundred crowns1 there remained but one hundred and seventy-six4 ,when ,i quitted the abb1 ,i went to my own house with the intention of remaining there1 till ,i had read all the old philosophers1 and of then proceeding to ,paris4 ,i arrived in ,paris on the day after ,all ,saints1 of the year #aedf1 and devoted another year to the assiduous study of great authors4 ,among others1 the ,turba ,philosophorum of the ,good ,trevisan1 the ,remonstrance of ,nature to the ,wandering ,alchymist1 by ,jean de ,meung1 and several others of the best books2 but1 as ,i had no right principles1 ,i did not well know what course to follow4 ,at last ,i left my solitude1 not to see my former acquaintances1 the adepts and operators1 but to frequent the society of true philosophers4 ,among them ,i fell into still greater uncertainties2 being1 in fact1 completely bewildered by the variety of operations which they shewed me4 ,spurred on1 nevertheless1 by a sort of frenzy or inspiration1 ,i threw myself into the works of ,raymond ,lulli and of ,arnold de ,villeneuve4 ,the reading of these1 and the reflections ,i made upon them1 occupied me for another year1 when ,i finally determined on the course ,i should adopt4 ,i was obliged to wait1 however1 until ,i had mortgaged another very considerable portion of my patrimony4 ,this business was not settled until the beginning of ,lent1 #aedi1 when ,i commenced my operations4 ,i laid in a stock of all that was necessary1 and began to work the day after ,easter4 ,it was not1 however1 without some disquietude and opposition from my friends who came about me2 one asking me what ,i was going to do1 and whether ,i had not already spent money enough upon such follies8 ,another assured me that1 if ,i bought so much charcoal1 ,i should strengthen the suspicion already existing1 that ,i was a coiner of base money4 ,another advised me to purchase some place in the magistracy1 as ,i was already a ,doctor of ,laws4 ,my relations spoke in terms still more annoying to me1 and even threatened that1 if ,i continued to make such a fool of myself1 they would send a posse of police-officers into my house1 and break all my furnaces and crucibles into atoms4 ,i was wearied almost to death by this continued persecution2 but ,i found comfort in my work and in the progress of my experiment1 to which ,i was very attentive1 and which went on bravely from day to day4 ,about this time1 there was a dreadful plague in ,paris1 which interrupted all intercourse between man and man1 and left me as much to myself as ,i could desire4 ,i soon had the satisfaction to remark the progress and succession of the three colours which1 according to the philosophers1 always prognosticate the approaching perfection of the work4 ,i observed them distinctly1 one after the other2 and next year1 being ,easter ,sunday1 #aeej1 ,i made the great trial4 ,some common quicksilver1 which ,i put into a small crucible on the fire1 was1 in less than an hour1 converted into very good gold4 ,you may judge how great was my joy1 but ,i took care not to boast of it4 ,i returned thanks to ,god for the favour he had shewn me1 and prayed that ,i might only be permitted to make such use of it as would redound to his glory4 ,on the following day1 ,i went towards ,toulouse to find1 the abb1 in accordance with a mutual promise1 that we should communicate our discoveries to each other4 ,on my way1 ,i called in to see the sage monk who had assisted me with his counsels2 but ,i had the sorrow to learn that they were both dead4 ,after this1 ,i would not return to my own home1 but retired to another place1 to await one of my relations whom ,i had left in charge of my estate4 ,i gave him orders to sell all that belonged to me1 as well movable as immovable--to pay my debts with the proceeds1 and divide all the rest among those in any way related to me who might stand in need of it1 in order that they might enjoy some share of the good fortune which had befallen me4 ,there was a great deal of talk in the neighbourhood about my precipitate retreat2 the wisest of my acquaintance imagining that1 broken down and ruined by my mad expenses1 ,i sold my little remaining property1 that ,i might go and hide my shame in distant countries4 ,my relative already spoken of rejoined me on the #ast of ,july1 after having performed all the business ,i had entrusted him with4 ,we took our departure together1 to seek a land of liberty4 ,we first retired to ,lausanne1 in ,switzerland1 when1 after remaining there for some time1 we resolved to pass the remainder of our days in some of the most celebrated cities of ,germany1 living quietly and without splendour4 ,thus ends the story of ,denis ,zachaire1 as written by himself4 ,he has not been so candid at its conclusion as at its commencement1 and has left the world in doubt as to his real motives for pretending that he had discovered the philosopher's stone4 ,it seems probable that the sentence he puts into the mouths of his wisest acquaintances was the true reason of his retreat2 that he was1 in fact1 reduced to poverty1 and hid his shame in foreign countries4 ,nothing further is known of his life1 and his real name has never yet been discovered4 ,he wrote a work on alchymy1 entitled ,the true ,natural ,philosophy of ,metals4 ,,dr4 ,,dee ,,and ,,edward ,,kelly4 ,john ,dee and ,edward ,kelly claim to be mentioned together1 having been so long associated in the same pursuits1 and undergone so many strange vicissitudes in each other's society4 ,dee was altogether a wonderful man1 and had he lived in an age when folly and superstition were less rife1 he would1 with the same powers which he enjoyed1 have left behind him a bright and enduring reputation4 ,he was born in ,london in the year #aebg1 and very early manifested a love for study4 ,at the age of fifteen he was sent to ,cambridge1 and delighted so much in his books1 that he passed regularly eighteen hours every day among them4 ,of the other six1 he devoted four to sleep and two for refreshment4 ,such intense application did not injure his health1 and could not fail to make him one of the first scholars of his time4 ,unfortunately1 however1 he quitted the mathematics and the pursuits of true philosophy1 to indulge in the unprofitable reveries of the occult sciences4 ,he studied alchymy1 astrology1 and magic1 and thereby rendered himself obnoxious to the authorities at ,cambridge4 ,to avoid persecution1 he was at last obliged to retire to the university of ,louvain2 the rumours of sorcery that were current respecting him rendering his longer stay in ,england not altogether without danger4 ,he found at ,louvain many kindred spirits who had known ,cornelius ,agrippa while he resided among them1 and by whom he was constantly entertained with the wondrous deeds of that great master of the hermetic mysteries4 ,from their conversation he received much encouragement to continue the search for the philosopher's stone1 which soon began to occupy nearly all his thoughts4 ,illustration3 ,,dr4 ,,dee4 ,he did not long remain on the ,continent1 but returned to ,england in #aeea1 being at that time in the twenty-fourth year of his age4 ,by the influence of his friend ,sir ,john ,cheek1 he was kindly received at the court of ,king ,edward ,,vi41 and rewarded 7it is difficult to say for what7 with a pension of one hundred crowns4 ,he continued for several years to practise in ,london as an astrologer2 casting nativities1 telling fortunes1 and pointing out lucky and unlucky days4 ,during the reign of ,queen ,mary he got into trouble1 being suspected of heresy1 and charged with attempting ,mary's life by means of enchantments4 ,he was tried for the latter offence1 and acquitted2 but was retained in prison on the former charge1 and left to the tender mercies of ,bishop ,bonner4 ,he had a very narrow escape from being burned in ,smithfield1 but he somehow or other contrived to persuade that fierce bigot that his orthodoxy was unimpeachable1 and was set at liberty in #aeee4 ,on the accession of ,elizabeth1 a brighter day dawned upon him4 ,during her retirement at ,woodstock1 her servants appear to have consulted him as to the time of ,mary's death1 which circumstance no doubt first gave rise to the serious charge for which he was brought to trial4 ,they now came to consult him more openly as to the fortunes of their mistress2 and ,robert ,dudley1 the celebrated ,earl of ,leicester1 was sent by command of the ,queen herself to know the most auspicious day for her coronation4 ,so great was the favour he enjoyed1 that1 some years afterwards1 ,elizabeth condescended to pay him a visit at his house in ,mortlake1 to view his museum of curiosities1 and when he was ill1 sent her own physician to attend upon him4 ,astrology was the means whereby he lived1 and he continued to practise it with great assiduity2 but his heart was in alchymy4 ,the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life haunted his daily thoughts and his nightly dreams4 ,the ,talmudic mysteries1 which he had also deeply studied1 impressed him with the belief1 that he might hold converse with spirits and angels1 and learn from them all the mysteries of the universe4 ,holding the same idea as the then obscure sect of the ,rosicrucians1 some of whom he had perhaps encountered in his travels in ,germany1 he imagined that1 by means of the philosopher's stone1 he could summon these kindly spirits at his will4 ,by dint of continually brooding upon the subject1 his imagination became so diseased1 that he at last persuaded himself that an angel appeared to him1 and promised to be his friend and companion as long as he lived4 ,he relates that1 one day1 in ,november #aehb1 while he was engaged in fervent prayer1 the window of his museum looking towards the west suddenly glowed with a dazzling light1 in the midst of which1 in all his glory1 stood the great angel ,uriel4 ,awe and wonder rendered him speechless2 but the angel smiling graciously upon him1 gave him a crystal1 of a convex form1 and told him that whenever he wished to hold converse with the beings of another sphere1 he had only to gaze intently upon it1 and they would appear in the crystal1 and unveil to him all the secrets of futurity4#da ,thus saying1 the angel disappeared4 ,dee found from experience of the crystal that it was necessary that all the faculties of the soul should be concentrated upon it1 otherwise the spirits did not appear4 ,he also found that he could never recollect the conversations he had with the angels4 ,he therefore determined to communicate the secret to another person1 who might converse with the spirit while he 7,dee7 sat in another part of the room1 and took down in writing the revelations which they made4 #da ,the crystal alluded to appears to have been a black stone1 or piece of polished coal4 ,the following account of it is given1 in the supplement to ,granger's ,biographical ,history4 ,the black stone into which ,dee used to call his spirits was in the collection of the ,earls of ,peterborough1 from whence it came to ,lady ,elizabeth ,germaine4 ,it was next the property of the late ,duke of ,argyle1 and is now ,mr4 ,walpole's4 ,it appears upon examination to be nothing more than a polished piece of cannel coal2 but this is what ,butler means when he says1 ',kelly did all his feats upon ,the devil's looking-glass--a stone4' ,illustration3 ,,shew-,,stone ,,of ,,dr4 ,,dee1 ,,in ,,the ,,british ,,museum4 ,he had at this time in his service1 as his assistant1 one ,edward ,kelly1 who1 like himself1 was crazy upon the subject of the philosopher's stone4 ,there was this difference1 however1 between them1 that1 while ,dee was more of an enthusiast than an impostor1 ,kelly was more of an impostor than an enthusiast4 ,in early life he was a notary1 and had the misfortune to lose both his ears for forgery4 ,this mutilation1 degrading enough in any man1 was destructive to a philosopher2 ,kelly1 therefore1 lest his wisdom should suffer in the world's opinion1 wore a black skull-cap1 which1 fitting close to his head1 and descending over both his cheeks1 not only concealed his loss1 but gave him a very solemn and oracular appearance4 ,so well did he keep his secret1 that even ,dee1 with whom he lived so many years1 appears never to have discovered it4 ,kelly1 with this character1 was just the man to carry on any piece of roguery for his own advantage1 or to nurture the delusions of his master for the same purpose4 ,no sooner did ,dee inform him of the visit he had received from the glorious ,uriel1 than ,kelly expressed such a fervour of belief1 that ,dee's heart glowed with delight4 ,he set about consulting his crystal forthwith1 and on the #b;d of ,december1 #aeha1 the spirits appeared1 and held a very extraordinary discourse with ,kelly1 which ,dee took down in writing4 ,the curious reader may see this farrago of nonsense among the ,harleian ,mss4 in the ,british ,museum4 ,the later consultations were published in a folio volume1 in #afei1 by ,dr4 ,meric ,casaubon1 under the title of ,a true and faithful ,relation of what passed between ,dr4 ,john ,dee and some ,spirits2 tending1 had it succeeded1 to a general ,alteration of most ,states and ,kingdoms in the ,world4#db #db ,lilly the astrologer1 in his ,life1 written by himself1 frequently tells of prophecies delivered by the angels in a manner similar to the angels of ,dr4 ,dee4 ,he says1 ,the prophecies were not given vocally by the angels1 but by inspection of the crystal in types and figures1 or by apparition the circular way2 where1 at some distance1 the angels appear1 representing by forms1 shapes1 and creatures1 what is demanded4 ,it is very rare1 yea even in our days1 quoth that wiseacre1 for any operator or master to hear the angels speak articulately3 when they do speak1 it is like1 the ,irish1 much in the throat6 ,the fame of these wondrous colloquies soon spread over the country1 and even reached the ,continent4 ,dee at the same time pretended to be in possession of the elixir vit1 which he stated he had found among the ruins of ,glastonbury ,abbey1 in ,somersetshire4 ,people flocked from far and near to his house at ,mortlake to have their nativities cast1 in preference to visiting astrologers of less renown4 ,they also longed to see a man who1 according to his own account1 would never die4 ,altogether1 he carried on a very profitable trade1 but spent so much in drugs and metals to work out some peculiar process of transmutation1 that he never became rich4 ,about this time there came into ,england a wealthy polish nobleman1 named ,albert ,laski1 ,count ,palatine of ,siradz4 ,his object was principally1 he said1 to visit the court of ,queen ,elizabeth1 the fame of whose glory and magnificence had reached him in distant ,poland4 ,elizabeth received this flattering stranger with the most splendid hospitality1 and appointed her favourite ,leicester to shew him all that was worth seeing in ,england4 ,he visited all the curiosities of ,london and ,westminster1 and from thence proceeded to ,oxford and ,cambridge1 that he might converse with some of the great scholars whose writings shed lustre upon the land of their birth4 ,he was very much disappointed at not finding ,dr4 ,dee among them1 and told the ,earl of ,leicester that he would not have gone to ,oxford if he had known that ,dee was not there4 ,the earl promised to introduce him to the great alchymist on their return to ,london1 and the ,pole was satisfied4 ,a few days afterwards1 the earl and ,laski being in the antechamber of the ,queen1 awaiting an audience of her majesty1 ,dr4 ,dee arrived on the same errand1 and was introduced to the ,pole4#dc ,an interesting conversation ensued1 which ended by the stranger inviting himself to dine with the astrologer at his house at ,mortlake4 ,dee returned home in some tribulation1 for he found he had not money enough1 without pawning his plate1 to entertain ,count ,laski and his retinue in a manner becoming their dignity4 ,in this emergency he sent off an express to the ,earl of ,leicester1 stating frankly the embarrassment he laboured under1 and praying his good offices in representing the matter to her majesty4 ,elizabeth immediately sent him a present of twenty pounds4 #dc ,albert ,laski1 son of ,jaroslav1 was ,palatine of ,siradz1 and afterwards of ,sendomir1 and chiefly contributed to the election of ,henry of ,valois1 the ,third of ,france1 to the throne of ,poland1 and was one of the delegates who went to ,france in order to announce to the new monarch his elevation to the sovereignty of ,poland4 ,after the deposition of ,henry1 ,albert ,laski voted for ,maximilian of ,austria4 ,in #aehc he visited ,england1 when ,queen ,elizabeth received him with great distinction4 ,the honours which were shewn him during his visit to ,oxford1 by the especial command of the ,queen1 were equal to those rendered to sovereign princes4 ,his extraordinary prodigality rendered his enormous wealth insufficient to defray his expenses1 and he therefore became a zealous adept in alchymy1 and took from ,england to ,poland with him two known alchymists4--,count ,valerian ,krasinski's ,historical ,sketch of the ,reformation in ,poland4 ,on the appointed day ,count ,laski came1 attended by a numerous retinue1 and expressed such open and warm admiration of the wonderful attainments of his host1 that ,dee turned over in his own mind how he could bind irretrievably to his interests a man who seemed so well inclined to become his friend4 ,long acquaintance with ,kelly had imbued him with all the roguery of that personage1 and he resolved to make the ,pole pay dearly for his dinner4 ,he found out before many days that he possessed great estates in his own country1 as well as great influence1 but that an extravagant disposition had reduced him to temporary embarrassment4 ,he also discovered that he was a firm believer in the philosopher's stone and the water of life4 ,he was therefore just the man upon whom an adventurer might fasten himself4 ,kelly thought so too2 and both of them set to work to weave a web1 in the meshes of which they might firmly entangle the rich and credulous stranger4 ,they went very cautiously about it2 first throwing out obscure hints of the stone and the elixir1 and finally of the spirits1 by means of whom they could turn over the pages of the book of futurity1 and read the awful secrets inscribed therein4 ,laski eagerly implored that he might be admitted to one of their mysterious interviews with ,uriel and the angels2 but they knew human nature too well to accede at once to the request4 ,to the count's entreaties they only replied by hints of the difficulty or impropriety of summoning the spirits in the presence of a stranger1 or of one who might perchance have no other motive than the gratification of a vain curiosity2 but they only meant to whet the edge of his appetite by this delay1 and would have been sorry indeed if the count had been discouraged4 ,to shew how exclusively the thoughts both of ,dee and ,kelly were fixed upon their dupe at this time1 it is only necessary to read the introduction to their first interview with the spirits1 related in the volume of ,dr4 ,casaubon4 ,the entry made by ,dee1 under the date of the #beth of ,may1 #aehc1 says1 that when the spirit appeared to them1 ,i ,john ,dee and ,e4 ,k4 ,edward ,kelly sat together1 conversing of that noble ,polonian ,albertus ,laski1 his great honour here with us obtained1 and of his great liking among all sorts of the people4 ,no doubt they were discussing how they might make the most of the noble ,polonian1 and concocting the fine story with which they afterwards excited his curiosity1 and drew him firmly within their toils4 ,suddenly1 says ,dee1 as they were thus employed1 there seemed to come out of the oratory a spiritual creature1 like a pretty girl of seven or nine years of age1 attired on her head1 with her hair rolled up before and hanging down behind1 with a gown of silk1 of changeable red and green1 and with a train4 ,she seemed to play up and down1 and seemed to go in and out behind the books2 and as she seemed to go between them1 the books displaced themselves1 and made way for her4 ,with such tales as these they lured on the ,pole from day to day1 and at last persuaded him to be a witness of their mysteries4 ,whether they played off any optical delusions upon him1 or whether1 by the force of a strong imagination1 he deluded himself1 does not appear1 but certain it is that he became a complete tool in their hands1 and consented to do whatever they wished him4 ,kelly1 at these interviews1 placed himself at a certain distance from the wondrous crystal1 and gazed intently upon it1 while ,dee took his place in a corner1 ready to set down the prophecies as they were uttered by the spirits4 ,in this manner they prophesied to the ,pole that he should become the fortunate possessor of the philosopher's stone2 that he should live for centuries1 and be chosen ,king of ,poland1 in which capacity he should gain many great victories over the ,saracens1 and make his name illustrious over all the earth4 ,for this purpose it was necessary1 however1 that ,laski should leave ,england1 and take them with him1 together with their wives and families2 that he should treat them all sumptuously1 and allow them to want for nothing4 ,laski at once consented2 and very shortly afterwards they were all on the road to ,poland4 ,it took them upwards of four months to reach the count's estates in the neighbourhood of ,cracow4 ,in the mean time1 they led a pleasant life1 and spent money with an unsparing hand4 ,when once established in the count's palace1 they commenced the great hermetic operation of transmuting iron into gold4 ,laski provided them with all necessary materials1 and aided them himself with his knowledge of alchymy2 but1 somehow or other1 the experiment always failed at the very moment it ought to have succeeded1 and they were obliged to recommence operations on a grander scale4 ,but the hopes of ,laski were not easily extinguished4 ,already1 in idea1 the possessor of countless millions1 he was not to be cast down for fear of present expenses4 ,he thus continued from day to day1 and from month to month1 till he was at last obliged to sell a portion of his deeply-mortgaged estates to find aliment for the hungry crucibles of ,dee and ,kelly1 and the no less hungry stomachs of their wives and families4 ,it was not till ruin stared him in the face that he awoke from his dream of infatuation1 too happy1 even then1 to find that he had escaped utter beggary4 ,thus restored to his senses1 his first thought was how to rid himself of his expensive visitors4 ,not wishing to quarrel with them1 he proposed that they should proceed to ,prague1 well furnished with letters of recommendation to the ,emperor ,rudolph4 ,our alchymists too plainly saw that nothing more was to be made of the almost destitute ,count ,laski4 ,without hesitation1 therefore1 they accepted the proposal1 and set out forthwith to the imperial residence4 ,they had no difficulty1 on their arrival at ,prague1 in obtaining an audience of the emperor4 ,they found him willing enough to believe that such a thing as the philosopher's stone existed1 and flattered themselves that they had made a favourable impression upon him2 but1 from some cause or other--perhaps the look of low cunning and quackery upon the face of ,kelly--the emperor conceived no very high opinion of their abilities4 ,he allowed them1 however1 to remain for some months at ,prague1 feeding themselves upon the hope that he would employ them2 but the more he saw of them1 the less he liked them2 and1 when the pope's nuncio represented to him that he ought not to countenance such heretic magicians1 he gave orders that they should quit his dominions within four-and-twenty hours4 ,it was fortunate for them that so little time was given them2 for1 had they remained six hours longer1 the nuncio had received orders to procure a perpetual dungeon or the stake for them4 ,not knowing well whither to direct their steps1 they resolved to return to ,cracow1 where they had still a few friends2 but1 by this time1 the funds they had drawn from ,laski were almost exhausted1 and they were many days obliged to go dinnerless and supperless4 ,they had great difficulty to keep their poverty a secret from the world2 but they managed to bear privation without murmuring1 from a conviction that if the fact were known1 it would militate very much against their pretensions4 ,nobody would believe that they were possessors of the philosopher's stone1 if it were once suspected that they did not know how to procure bread for their subsistence4 ,they still gained a little by casting nativities1 and kept starvation at arm's length1 till a new dupe1 rich enough for their purposes1 dropped into their toils1 in the shape of a royal personage4 ,having procured an introduction to ,stephen king of ,poland1 they predicted to him that the ,emperor ,rudolph would shortly be assassinated1 and that the ,germans would look to ,poland for his successor4 ,as this prediction was not precise enough to satisfy the king1 they tried their crystal again1 and a spirit appeared who told them that the new sovereign of ,germany would be ,stephen of ,poland4 ,stephen was credulous enough to believe them1 and was once present when ,kelly held his mystic conversations with the shadows of his crystal4 ,he also appears to have furnished them with money to carry on their experiments in alchymy2 but he grew tired1 at last1 of their broken promises and their constant drains upon his pocket1 and was on the point of discarding them with disgrace1 when they met with another dupe1 to whom they eagerly transferred their services4 ,this was ,count ,rosenberg1 a nobleman of large estates at ,trebona in ,bohemia4 ,so comfortable did they find themselves in the palace of this munificent patron1 that they remained nearly four years with him1 faring sumptuously1 and having an almost unlimited command of his money4 ,the count was more ambitious than avaricious3 he had wealth enough1 and did not care for the philosopher's stone on account of the gold1 but of the length of days it would bring him4 ,they had their predictions1 accordingly1 all ready framed to suit his character4 ,they prophesied that he should be chosen king of ,poland2 and promised1 moreover1 that he should live for five hundred years to enjoy his dignity1 provided always that he found them sufficient money to carry on their experiments4 ,but now1 while fortune smiled upon them1 while they revelled in the rewards of successful villany1 retributive justice came upon them in a shape they had not anticipated4 ,jealousy and mistrust sprang up between the two confederates1 and led to such violent and frequent quarrels1 that ,dee was in constant fear of exposure4 ,kelly imagined himself a much greater personage than ,dee2 measuring1 most likely1 by the standard of impudent roguery2 and was displeased that on all occasions1 and from all persons1 ,dee received the greater share of honour and consideration4 ,he often threatened to leave ,dee to shift for himself2 and the latter1 who had degenerated into the mere tool of his more daring associate1 was distressed beyond measure at the prospect of his desertion4 ,his mind was so deeply imbued with superstition1 that he believed the rhapsodies of ,kelly to be1 in a great measure1 derived from his intercourse with angels2 and he knew not where1 in the whole world1 to look for a man of depth and wisdom enough to succeed him4 ,as their quarrels every day became more and more frequent1 ,dee wrote letters to ,queen ,elizabeth to secure a favourable reception on his return to ,england1 whither he intended to proceed if ,kelly forsook him4 ,he also sent her a round piece of silver1 which he pretended he had made of a portion of brass cut out of a warming-pan4 ,he afterwards sent her the warming-pan also1 that she might convince herself that the piece of silver corresponded exactly with the hole which was cut into the brass4 ,while thus preparing for the worst1 his chief desire was to remain in ,bohemia with ,count ,rosenberg1 who treated him well1 and reposed much confidence in him4 ,neither had ,kelly any great objection to remain2 but a new passion had taken possession of his breast1 and he was laying deep schemes to gratify it4 ,his own wife was ill-favoured and ill-natured2 ,dee's was comely and agreeable2 and he longed to make an exchange of partners without exciting the jealousy or shocking the morality of ,dee4 ,this was a difficult matter2 but to a man like ,kelly1 who was as deficient in rectitude and right feeling as he was full of impudence and ingenuity1 the difficulty was not insurmountable4 ,he had also deeply studied the character and the foibles of ,dee2 and he took his measures accordingly4 ,the next time they consulted the spirits1 ,kelly pretended to be shocked at their language1 and refused to tell ,dee what they had said4 ,dee insisted1 and was informed that they were henceforth to have their wives in common4 ,dee1 a little startled1 inquired whether the spirits might not mean that they were to live in common harmony and good-will8 ,kelly tried again1 with apparent reluctance1 and said the spirits insisted upon the literal interpretation4 ,the poor fanatic ,dee resigned himself to their will2 but it suited ,kelly's purpose to appear coy a little longer4 ,he declared that the spirits must be spirits not of good1 but of evil2 and refused to consult them any more4 ,he thereupon took his departure1 saying that he would never return4 ,dee1 thus left to himself1 was in sore trouble and distress of mind4 ,he knew not on whom to fix as the successor to ,kelly for consulting the spirits2 but at last chose his son ,arthur1 a boy of eight years of age4 ,he consecrated him to this service with great ceremony1 and impressed upon the child's mind the dignified and awful nature of the duties he was called upon to perform2 but the poor boy had neither the imagination1 the faith1 nor the artifice of ,kelly4 ,he looked intently upon the crystal as he was told2 but could see nothing and hear nothing4 ,at last1 when his eyes ached1 he said he could see a vague indistinct shadow1 but nothing more4 ,dee was in despair4 ,the deception had been carried on so long1 that he was never so happy as when he fancied he was holding converse with superior beings2 and he cursed the day that had put estrangement between him and his dear friend ,kelly4 ,this was exactly what ,kelly had foreseen2 and1 when he thought the doctor had grieved sufficiently for his absence1 he returned unexpectedly1 and entered the room where the little ,arthur was in vain endeavouring to distinguish something in the crystal4 ,dee1 in entering this circumstance in his journal1 ascribes this sudden return to a miraculous fortune and a divine fate2 and goes on to record that ,kelly immediately saw the spirits which had remained invisible to little ,arthur4 ,one of these spirits reiterated the previous command1 that they should have their wives in common4 ,kelly bowed his head and submitted2 and ,dee1 in all humility1 consented to the arrangement4 ,this was the extreme depth of the wretched man's degradation4 ,in this manner they continued to live for three or four months1 when1 new quarrels breaking out1 they separated once more4 ,this time their separation was final4 ,kelly1 taking the elixir which he had found in ,glastonbury ,abbey1 proceeded to ,prague1 forgetful of the abrupt mode in which he had previously been expelled from that city4 ,almost immediately after his arrival1 he was seized by order of the ,emperor ,rudolph1 and thrown into prison4 ,he was released after some months' confinement1 and continued for five years to lead a vagabond life in ,germany1 telling fortunes at one place1 and pretending to make gold at another4 ,he was a second time thrown into prison1 on a charge of heresy and sorcery2 and he then resolved1 if ever he obtained his liberty1 to return to ,england4 ,he soon discovered that there was no prospect of this1 and that his imprisonment was likely to be for life4 ,he twisted his bed-clothes into a rope1 one stormy night in ,february #aeie1 and let himself down from the window of his dungeon1 situated at the top of a very high tower4 ,being a corpulent man1 the rope gave way1 and he was precipitated to the ground4 ,he broke two of his ribs and both his legs2 and was otherwise so much injured1 that he expired a few days afterwards4 ,dee1 for a while1 had more prosperous fortune4 ,the warming-pan he had sent to ,queen ,elizabeth was not without effect4 ,he was rewarded soon after ,kelly had left him with an invitation to return to ,england4 ,his pride1 which had been sorely humbled1 sprang up again to its pristine dimensions1 and he set out from ,bohemia with a train of attendants becoming an ambassador4 ,how he procured the money does not appear1 unless from the liberality of the rich ,bohemian ,rosenberg1 or perhaps from his plunder4 ,he travelled with three coaches for himself and family1 and three wagons to carry his baggage4 ,each coach had four horses1 and the whole train was protected by a guard of four and twenty soldiers4 ,this statement may be doubted2 but it is on the authority of ,dee himself1 who made it on oath before the commissioners appointed by ,elizabeth to inquire into his circumstances4 ,on his arrival in ,england he had an audience of the queen1 who received him kindly as far as words went1 and gave orders that he should not be molested in his pursuits of chemistry and philosophy4 ,a man who boasted of the power to turn baser metals into gold1 could not1 thought ,elizabeth1 be in want of money2 and she therefore gave him no more substantial marks of her approbation than her countenance and protection4 ,thrown thus unexpectedly upon his own resources1 ,dee began in earnest the search for the philosopher's stone4 ,he worked incessantly among his furnaces1 retorts1 and crucibles1 and almost poisoned himself with deleterious fumes4 ,he also consulted his miraculous crystal2 but the spirits appeared not to him4 ,he tried one ,bartholomew to supply the place of the invaluable ,kelly2 but he being a man of some little probity1 and of no imagination at all1 the spirits would not hold any communication with him4 ,dee then tried another pretender to philosophy1 of the name of ,hickman1 but had no better fortune4 ,the crystal had lost its power since the departure of its great high priest4 ,from this quarter1 then1 ,dee could get no information on the stone or elixir of the alchymists1 and all his efforts to discover them by other means were not only fruitless but expensive4 ,he was soon reduced to great distress1 and wrote piteous letters to the queen praying relief4 ,he represented that1 after he left ,england with ,count ,laski1 the mob had pillaged his house at ,mortlake1 accusing him of being a necromancer and a wizard2 and had broken all his furniture1 burned his library1 consisting of four thousand rare volumes1 and destroyed all the philosophical instruments and curiosities in his museum4 ,for this damage he claimed compensation2 and furthermore stated1 that1 as he had come to ,england by the queen's command1 she ought to pay the expenses of his journey4 ,elizabeth sent him small sums of money at various times2 but ,dee still continuing his complaints1 a commission was appointed to inquire into his circumstances4 ,he finally obtained a small appointment as ,chancellor of ,st4 ,paul's cathedral1 which he exchanged1 in #aeie1 for the wardenship of the college at ,manchester4 ,he remained in this capacity till #afjb or #afjc1 when1 his strength and intellect beginning to fail him1 he was compelled to resign4 ,he retired to his old dwelling at ,mortlake1 in a state not far removed from actual want1 supporting himself as a common fortune-teller1 and being often obliged to sell or pawn his books to procure a dinner4 ,james ,i4 was often applied to on his behalf1 but he refused to do any thing for him4 ,it may be said to the discredit of this king1 that the only reward he would grant the indefatigable ,stowe1 in his days of old age and want1 was the royal permission to beg2 but no one will blame him for neglecting such a quack as ,john ,dee4 ,he died in #afjh1 in the eighty-first year of his age1 and was buried at ,mortlake4 ,,the ,,cosmopolite4 ,many disputes have arisen as to the real name of the alchymist who wrote several works under the above designation4 ,the general opinion is that he was a ,scotsman named ,seton1 and that by a fate very common to alchymists who boasted too loudly of their powers of transmutation1 he ended his days miserably in a dungeon1 into which he was thrown by a ,german potentate until he made a million of gold to pay his ransom4 ,by some he has been confounded with ,michael ,sendivog1 or ,sendivogius1 a ,pole1 a professor of the same art1 who made a great noise in ,europe at the commencement of the seventeenth century4 ,lenglet du ,fresnoy1 who is in general well informed with respect to the alchymists1 inclines to the belief that these personages were distinct2 and gives the following particulars of the ,cosmopolite1 extracted from ,george ,morhoff1 in his ,epistola ad ,langelottum1 and other writers4 ,about the year #afjj1 one ,jacob ,haussen1 a ,dutch pilot1 was shipwrecked on the coast of ,scotland4 ,a gentleman1 named ,alexander ,seton1 put off in a boat1 and saved him from drowning1 and afterwards entertained him hospitably for many weeks at his house on the shore4 ,haussen saw that he was addicted to the pursuits of chemistry1 but no conversation on the subject passed between them at the time4 ,about a year and a half afterwards1 ,haussen being then at home at ,enkhuysen1 in ,holland1 received a visit from his former host4 ,he endeavoured to repay the kindness that had been shewn him2 and so great a friendship arose between them that ,seton1 on his departure1 offered to make him acquainted with the great secret of the philosopher's stone4 ,in his presence the ,scotsman transmuted a great quantity of base metal into pure gold1 and gave it him as a mark of his esteem4 ,seton then took leave of his friend1 and travelled into ,germany4 ,at ,dresden he made no secret of his wonderful powers1 having1 it is said1 performed transmutation successfully before a great assemblage of the learned men of that city4 ,the circumstance coming to the ears of the ,duke or ,elector of ,saxony1 he gave orders for the arrest of the alchymist4 ,he caused him to be imprisoned in a high tower1 and set a guard of forty men to watch that he did not escape1 and that no strangers were admitted to his presence4 ,the unfortunate ,seton received several visits from the elector1 who used every art of persuasion to make him divulge his secret4 ,seton obstinately refused either to communicate his secret1 or to make any gold for the tyrant2 on which he was stretched upon the rack1 to see if the argument of torture would render him more tractable4 ,the result was still the same2 neither hope of reward nor fear of anguish could shake him4 ,for several months he remained in prison1 subjected alternately to a sedative and a violent regimen1 till his health broke1 and he wasted away almost to a skeleton4 ,there happened at that time to be in ,dresden a learned ,pole1 named ,michael ,sendivogius1 who had wasted a good deal of his time and substance in the unprofitable pursuits of alchymy4 ,he was touched with pity for the hard fate1 and admiration for the intrepidity of ,seton2 and determined1 if possible1 to aid him in escaping from the clutch of his oppressor4 ,he requested the elector's permission to see the alchymist1 and obtained it with some difficulty4 ,he found him in a state of great wretchedness1 shut up from the light of day in a noisome dungeon1 and with no better couch or fare than those allotted to the worst of criminals4 ,seton listened eagerly to the proposal of escape1 and promised the generous ,pole that he would make him richer than an eastern monarch if by his means he were liberated4 ,sendivogius immediately commenced operations2 he sold some property which he possessed near ,cracow1 and with the proceeds led a merry life at ,dresden4 ,he gave the most elegant suppers1 to which he regularly invited the officers of the guard1 and especially those who did duty at the prison of the alchymist4 ,he insinuated himself at last into their confidence1 and obtained free ingress to his friend as often as he pleased2 pretending that he was using his utmost endeavours to conquer his obstinacy and worm his secret out of him4 ,when their project was ripe1 a day was fixed upon for the grand attempt2 and ,sendivogius was ready with a post-chariot to convey him with all speed into ,poland4 ,by drugging some wine which he presented to the guards of the prison1 he rendered them so drowsy that he easily found means to scale a wall unobserved1 with ,seton1 and effect his escape4 ,seton's wife was in the chariot awaiting him1 having safely in her possession a small packet of a black powder1 which was1 in fact1 the philosopher's stone1 or ingredient for the transmutation of iron and copper into gold4 ,they all arrived in safety at ,cracow2 but the frame of ,seton was so wasted by torture of body and starvation1 to say nothing of the anguish of mind he had endured1 that he did not long survive4 ,he died in ,cracow1 in #afjc or #afjd1 and was buried under the cathedral church of that city4 ,such is the story related of the author of the various works which bear the name of the ,cosmopolite4 ,a list of them may be found in the third volume of the ,history of the ,hermetic ,philosophy4 ,,sendivogius4 ,on the death of ,seton1 ,sendivogius married his widow1 hoping to learn from her some of the secrets of her deceased lord in the art of transmutation4 ,the ounce of black powder stood him1 however1 in better service2 for the alchymists say1 that by its means he converted great quantities of quicksilver into the purest gold4 ,it is also said that he performed this experiment successfully before the ,emperor ,rudolph ,,ii41 at ,prague2 and that the emperor1 to commemorate the circumstance1 caused a marble tablet to be affixed to the wall of the room in which it was performed1 bearing this inscription1 ,faciat hoc quispiam alius1 quod fecit ,sendivogius ,polonus4 ,m4 ,desnoyers1 secretary to the ,princess ,mary of ,gonzaga1 ,queen of ,poland1 writing from ,warsaw in #afea1 says that he saw this tablet1 which existed at that time1 and was often visited by the curious4 ,the after-life of ,sendivogius is related in a ,latin memoir of him by one ,brodowski1 his steward2 and is inserted by ,pierre ,borel in his ,treasure of ,gaulish ,antiquities4 ,the ,emperor ,rudolph1 according to this authority1 was so well pleased with his success1 that he made him one of his councillors of state1 and invited him to fill a station in the royal household and inhabit the palace4 ,but ,sendivogius loved his liberty1 and refused to become a courtier4 ,he preferred to reside on his own patrimonial estate of ,gravarna1 where1 for many years1 he exercised a princely hospitality4 ,his philosophic powder1 which1 his steward says1 was red1 and not black1 he kept in a little box of gold2 and with one grain of it he could make five hundred ducats1 or a thousand rix-dollars4 ,he generally made his projection upon quicksilver4 ,when he travelled1 he gave this box to his steward1 who hung it round his neck by a gold chain next his skin4 ,but the greatest part of the powder he used to hide in a secret place cut into the step of his chariot4 ,he thought that1 if attacked at any time by robbers1 they would not search such a place as that4 ,when he anticipated any danger1 he would dress himself in his valet's clothes1 and1 mounting the coach-box1 put the valet inside4 ,he was induced to take these precautions1 because it was no secret that he possessed the philosopher's stone2 and many unprincipled adventurers were on the watch for an opportunity to plunder him4 ,a ,german prince1 whose name ,brodowski has not thought fit to chronicle1 served him a scurvy trick1 which ever afterwards put him on his guard4 ,this prince went on his knees to ,sendivogius1 and entreated him in the most pressing terms to satisfy his curiosity1 by converting some quicksilver into gold before him4 ,sendivogius1 wearied by his importunity1 consented1 upon a promise of inviolable secrecy4 ,after his departure1 the prince called a ,german alchymist1 named ,muhlenfels1 who resided in his house1 and told him all that had been done4 ,muhlenfels entreated that he might have a dozen mounted horsemen at his command1 that he might instantly ride after the philosopher1 and either rob him of all his powder1 or force from him the secret of making it4 ,the prince desired nothing better2 ,muhlenfels1 being provided with twelve men well mounted and armed1 pursued ,sendivogius in hot haste4 ,he came up with him at a lonely inn by the road-side1 just as he was sitting down to dinner4 ,he at first endeavoured to persuade him to divulge the secret2 but finding this of no avail1 he caused his accomplices to strip the unfortunate ,sendivogius and tie him naked to one of the pillars of the house4 ,he then took from him his golden box1 containing a small quantity of the powder2 a manuscript book on the philosopher's stone2 a golden medal1 with its chain1 presented to him by the ,emperor ,rudolph2 and a rich cap1 ornamented with diamonds1 of the value of one hundred thousand rix-dollars4 ,with this booty he decamped1 leaving ,sendivogius still naked and firmly bound to the pillar4 ,his servants had been treated in a similar manner2 but the people of the inn released them all as soon as the robbers were out of sight4 ,sendivogius proceeded to ,prague1 and made his complaint to the emperor4 ,an express was instantly sent off to the prince1 with orders that he should deliver up ,muhlenfels and all his plunder4 ,the prince1 fearful of the emperor's wrath1 caused three large gallows to be erected in his court-yard2 on the highest of which he hanged ,muhlenfels1 with another thief on each side of him4 ,he thus propitiated the emperor1 and got rid of an ugly witness against himself4 ,he sent back1 at the same time1 the bejewelled hat1 the medal and chain1 and the treatise upon the philosopher's stone1 which had been stolen from ,sendivogius4 ,as regarded the powder1 he said he had not seen it1 and knew nothing about it4 ,this adventure made ,sendivogius more prudent2 he would no longer perform the process of transmutation before any strangers1 however highly recommended4 ,he pretended also to be very poor2 and sometimes lay in bed for weeks together1 that people might believe he was suffering from some dangerous malady1 and could not therefore1 by any possibility1 be the owner of the philosopher's stone4 ,he would occasionally coin false money1 and pass it off as gold2 preferring to be esteemed a cheat rather than a successful alchymist4 ,many other extraordinary tales are told of this personage by his steward ,brodowski1 but they are not worth repeating4 ,he died in #afcf1 aged upwards of eighty1 and was buried in his own chapel at ,gravarna4 ,several works upon alchymy have been published under his name4 ,,the ,,rosicrucians4 ,it was during the time of the last-mentioned author that the sect of the ,rosicrucians first began to create a sensation in ,europe4 ,the influence which they exercised upon opinion during their brief career1 and the permanent impression which they have left upon ,european literature1 claim for them especial notice4 ,before their time1 alchymy was but a grovelling delusion2 and theirs is the merit of having spiritualised and refined it4 ,they also enlarged its sphere1 and supposed the possession of the philosopher's stone to be1 not only the means of wealth1 but of health and happiness1 and the instrument by which man could command the services of superior beings1 control the elements to his will1 defy the obstructions of time and space1 and acquire the most intimate knowledge of all the secrets of the universe4 ,wild and visionary as they were1 they were not without their uses2 if it were only for having purged the superstitions of ,europe of the dark and disgusting forms with which the monks had peopled it1 and substituted1 in their stead1 a race of mild1 graceful1 and beneficent beings4 ,they are said to have derived their name from ,christian ,rosencreutz1 or ,rose-cross1 a ,german philosopher1 who travelled in the ,holy ,land towards the close of the fourteenth century4 ,while dangerously ill at a place called ,damcar1 he was visited by some learned ,arabs1 who claimed him as their brother in science1 and unfolded to him1 by inspiration1 all the secrets of his past life1 both of thought and of action4 ,they restored him to health by means of the philosopher's stone1 and afterwards instructed him in all their mysteries4 ,he returned to ,europe in #adja1 being then only twenty-three years of age2 and drew a chosen number of his friends around him1 whom he initiated into the new science1 and bound by solemn oaths to keep it secret for a century4 ,he is said to have lived eighty-three years after this period1 and to have died in #adhd4 ,many have denied the existence of such a personage as ,rosencreutz1 and have fixed the origin of this sect at a much later epoch4 ,the first dawning of it1 they say1 is to be found in the theories of ,paracelsus and the dreams of ,dr4 ,dee1 who1 without intending it1 became the actual1 though never the recognised founders of the ,rosicrucian philosophy4 ,it is now difficult1 and indeed impossible1 to determine whether ,dee and ,paracelsus obtained their ideas from the then obscure and unknown ,rosicrucians1 or whether the ,rosicrucians did but follow and improve upon them4 ,certain it is1 that their existence was never suspected till the year #afje1 when they began to excite attention in ,germany4 ,no sooner were their doctrines promulgated1 than all the visionaries1 ,paracelsists1 and alchymists1 flocked around their standard1 and vaunted ,rosencreutz as the new regenerator of the human race4 ,michael ,mayer1 a celebrated physician of that day1 and who had impaired his health and wasted his fortune in searching for the philosopher's stone1 drew up a report of the tenets and ordinances of the new fraternity1 which was published at ,cologne1 in the year #afae4 ,they asserted1 in the first place1 that the meditations of their founders surpassed every thing that had ever been imagined since the creation of the world1 without even excepting the revelations of the ,deity2 that they were destined to accomplish the general peace and regeneration of man before the end of the world arrived2 that they possessed all wisdom and piety in a supreme degree2 that they possessed all the graces of nature1 and could distribute them among the rest of mankind according to their pleasure2 that they were subject to neither hunger1 nor thirst1 nor disease1 nor old age1 nor to any other inconvenience of nature2 that they knew by inspiration1 and at the first glance1 every one who was worthy to be admitted into their society2 that they had the same knowledge then which they would have possessed if they had lived from the beginning of the world1 and had been always acquiring it2 that they had a volume in which they could read all that ever was or ever would be written in other books till the end of time2 that they could force to1 and retain in their service the most powerful spirits and demons2 that1 by the virtue of their songs1 they could attract pearls and precious stones from the depths of the sea or the bowels of the earth2 that ,god had covered them with a thick cloud1 by means of which they could shelter themselves from the malignity of their enemies1 and that they could thus render themselves invisible from all eyes2 that the first eight brethren of the ',rose-cross' had power to cure all maladies2 that1 by means of the fraternity1 the triple diadem of the pope would be reduced into dust2 that they only admitted two sacraments1 with the ceremonies of the primitive ,church1 renewed by them2 that they recognised the ,fourth ,monarchy and the ,emperor of the ,romans as their chief and the chief of all ,christians2 that they would provide him with more gold1 their treasures being inexhaustible1 than the ,king of ,spain had ever drawn from the golden regions of ,eastern and ,western ,ind4 ,this was their confession of faith4 ,their rules of conduct were six in number1 and as follow3 ,first4 ,that1 in their travels1 they should gratuitously cure all diseases4 ,secondly4 ,that they should always dress in conformity to the fashion of the country in which they resided4 ,thirdly4 ,that they should1 once every year1 meet together in the place appointed by the fraternity1 or send in writing an available excuse4 ,fourthly4 ,that every brother1 whenever he felt inclined to die1 should choose a person worthy to succeed him4 ,fifthly4 ,that the words ,rose-cross should be the marks by which they should recognise each other4 ,sixthly4 ,that their fraternity should be kept secret for six times twenty years4 ,they asserted that these laws had been found inscribed in a golden book in the tomb of ,rosencreutz1 and that the six times twenty years from his death expired in #afjd4 ,they were consequently called upon from that time forth to promulgate their doctrine for the welfare of mankind#dd4 #dd ,the following legend of the tomb of ,rosencreutz1 written by ,eustace ,budgell1 appears in ,no4 #cgi of the ,spectator3--,a certain person1 having occasion to dig somewhat deep in the ground where this philosopher lay interred1 met with a small door1 having a wall on each side of it4 ,his curiosity1 and the hope of finding some hidden treasure1 soon prompted him to force open the door4 ,he was immediately surprised by a sudden blaze of light1 and discovered a very fair vault4 ,at the upper end of it was a statue of a man in armour1 sitting by a table1 and leaning on his left arm4 ,he held a truncheon in his right hand1 and had a lamp burning before him4 ,the man had no sooner set one foot within the vault1 than the statue1 erecting itself from its leaning posture1 stood bolt upright2 and1 upon the fellow's advancing another step1 lifted up the truncheon in his right hand4 ,the man still ventured a third step2 when the statue1 with a furious blow1 broke the lamp into a thousand pieces1 and left his guest in sudden darkness4 ,upon the report of this adventure1 the country people came with lights to the sepulchre1 and discovered that the statue1 which was made of brass1 was nothing more than a piece of clock-work2 that the floor of the vault was all loose1 and underlaid with several springs1 which1 upon any man's entering1 naturally produced that which had happened4 ,rosicreucius1 say his disciples1 made use of this method to shew the world that he had re-invented the ever-burning lamps of the ancients1 though he was resolved no one should reap any advantage from the discovery4 ,for eight years these enthusiasts made converts in ,germany1 but they excited little or no attention in other parts of ,europe4 ,at last they made their appearance in ,paris1 and threw all the learned1 all the credulous1 and all the lovers of the marvellous into commotion4 ,in the beginning of ,march #afbc1 the good folks of that city1 when they arose one morning1 were surprised to find all their walls placarded with the following singular manifesto3 ,we1 the deputies of the principal ,college of the ,brethren of the ,rose-cross1 have taken up our abode1 visible and invisible1 in this city1 by the grace of the ,most ,high1 towards whom are turned the hearts of the just4 ,we shew and teach without books or signs1 and speak all sorts of languages in the countries where we dwell1 to draw mankind1 our fellows1 from error and from death4 ,for a long time this strange placard was the sole topic of conversation in all public places4 ,some few wondered1 but the greater number only laughed at it4 ,in the course of a few weeks two books were published1 which raised the first alarm respecting this mysterious society1 whose dwelling-place no one knew1 and no members of which had ever been seen4 ,the first was called a history of ,the frightful ,compacts entered into between the ,devil and the pretended ',invisibles2' with their damnable ,instructions1 the deplorable ,ruin of their ,disciples1 and their miserable end4 ,the other was called an ,examination of the new and unknown ,cabala of the ,brethren of the ,rose-cross1 who have lately inhabited the ,city of ,paris2 with the ,history of their ,manners1 the ,wonders worked by them1 and many other particulars4 ,these books sold rapidly4 ,every one was anxious to know something of this dreadful and secret brotherhood4 ,the badauds of ,paris were so alarmed that they daily expected to see the arch-enemy walking in propria persona among them4 ,it was said in these volumes that the ,rosicrucian society consisted of six-and-thirty persons in all1 who had renounced their baptism and hope of resurrection4 ,that it was not by means of good angels1 as they pretended1 that they worked their prodigies2 but that it was the devil who gave them power to transport themselves from one end of the world to the other with the rapidity of thought2 to speak all languages2 to have their purses always full of money1 however much they might spend2 to be invisible1 and penetrate into the most secret places1 in spite of fastenings of bolts and bars2 and to be able to tell the past and future4 ,these thirty-six brethren were divided into bands or companies3 six of them only had been sent on the mission to ,paris1 six to ,italy1 six to ,spain1 six to ,germany1 four to ,sweden1 and two into ,switzerland1 two into ,flanders1 two into ,lorraine1 and two into ,franche ,comt4 ,it was generally believed that the missionaries to ,france resided somewhere in the ,marais du ,temple4 ,that quarter of ,paris soon acquired a bad name1 and people were afraid to take houses in it1 lest they should be turned out by the six invisibles of the ,rose-cross4 ,it was believed by the populace1 and by many others whose education should have taught them better1 that persons of a mysterious aspect used to visit the inns and hotels of ,paris1 and eat of the best meats and drink of the best wines1 and then suddenly melt away into thin air when the landlord came with the reckoning4 ,that gentle maidens1 who went to bed alone1 often awoke in the night and found men in bed with them1 of shape more beautiful than the ,grecian ,apollo1 who immediately became invisible when an alarm was raised4 ,it was also said that many persons found large heaps of gold in their houses without knowing from whence they came4 ,all ,paris was in alarm4 ,no man thought himself secure of his goods1 no maiden of her virginity1 or wife of her chastity1 while these ,rosicrucians were abroad4 ,in the midst of the commotion1 a second placard was issued to the following effect3 ,if any one desires to see the brethren of the ,rose-cross from curiosity only1 he will never communicate with us4 ,but if his will really induces him to inscribe his name in the register of our brotherhood1 we1 who can judge of the thoughts of all men1 will convince him of the truth of our promises4 ,for this reason we do not publish to the world the place of our abode4 ,thought alone1 in unison with the sincere will of those who desire to know us1 is sufficient to make us known to them1 and them to us4 ,though the existence of such a society as that of the ,rose-cross was problematical1 it was quite evident that somebody or other was concerned in the promulgation of these placards1 which were stuck up on every wall in ,paris4 ,the police endeavoured in vain to find out the offenders1 and their want of success only served to increase the perplexity of the public4 ,the ,church very soon took up the question2 and the ,abb ,gaultier1 a ,jesuit1 wrote a book to prove that1 by their enmity to the pope1 they could be no other than disciples of ,luther1 sent to promulgate his heresy4 ,their very name1 he added1 proved that they were heretics2 a cross surmounted by a rose being the heraldic device of the arch-heretic ,luther4 ,one ,garasse said they were a confraternity of drunken impostors2 and that their name was derived from the garland of roses1 in the form of a cross1 hung over the tables of taverns in ,germany as the emblem of secrecy1 and from whence was derived the common saying1 when one man communicated a secret to another1 that it was said under the rose4 ,others interpreted the letters ,f4,r4,c4 to mean1 not ,brethren of the ,rose-cross1 but ,fratres ,roris ,cocti1 or ,brothers of ,boiled ,dew2 and explained this appellation by alleging that they collected large quantities of morning dew1 and boiled it1 in order to extract a very valuable ingredient in the composition of the philosopher's stone and the water of life4 ,the fraternity thus attacked defended themselves as well as they were able4 ,they denied that they used magic of any kind1 or that they consulted the devil4 ,they said they were all happy2 that they had lived more than a century1 and expected to live many centuries more2 and that the intimate knowledge which they possessed of all nature was communicated to them by ,god himself as a reward for their piety and utter devotion to his service4 ,those were in error who derived their name from a cross of roses1 or called them drunkards4 ,to set the world right on the first point1 they reiterated that they derived their name from ,christian ,rosencreutz1 their founder2 and to answer the latter charge1 they repeated that they knew not what thirst was1 and had higher pleasures than those of the palate4 ,they did not desire to meddle with the politics or religion of any man or set of men1 although they could not help denying the supremacy of the pope1 and looking upon him as a tyrant4 ,many slanders1 they said1 had been repeated respecting them1 the most unjust of which was1 that they indulged in carnal appetites1 and1 under the cloak of their invisibility1 crept into the chambers of beautiful maidens4 ,they asserted1 on the contrary1 that the first vow they took on entering the society was a vow of chastity1 and that any one among them who transgressed in that particular would immediately lose all the advantages he enjoyed1 and be exposed once more to hunger1 woe1 disease1 and death1 like other men4 ,so strongly did they feel on the subject of chastity1 that they attributed the fall of ,adam solely to his want of this virtue4 ,besides defending themselves in this manner1 they entered into a further confession of their faith4 ,they discarded for ever all the old tales of sorcery and witchcraft1 and communion with the devil4 ,they said there were no such horrid1 unnatural1 and disgusting beings as the incubi and succubi1 and the innumerable grotesque imps that men had believed in for so many ages4 ,man was not surrounded with enemies like these1 but with myriads of beautiful and beneficent beings1 all anxious to do him service4 ,the air was peopled with sylphs1 the water with undines or naiads1 the bowels of the earth with gnomes1 and the fire with salamanders4 ,all these beings were the friends of man1 and desired nothing so much as that men should purge themselves of all uncleanness1 and thus be enabled to see and converse with them4 ,they possessed great power1 and were unrestrained by the barriers of space or the obstructions of matter4 ,but man was in one particular their superior4 ,he had an immortal soul1 and they had not4 ,they might1 however1 become sharers in man's immortality if they could inspire one of that race with the passion of love towards them4 ,hence it was the constant endeavour of the female spirits to captivate the admiration of men1 and of the male gnomes1 sylphs1 salamanders1 and undines to be beloved by a woman4 ,the object of this passion1 in returning their love1 imparted a portion of that celestial fire1 the soul2 and from that time forth the beloved became equal to the lover1 and both1 when their allotted course was run1 entered together into the mansions of felicity4 ,these spirits1 they said1 watched constantly over mankind by night and day4 ,dreams1 omens1 and presentiments were all their works1 and the means by which they gave warning of the approach of danger4 ,but though so well inclined to befriend man for their own sakes1 the want of a soul rendered them at times capricious and revengeful2 they took offence on slight causes1 and heaped injuries instead of benefits on the heads of those who extinguished the light of reason that was in them by gluttony1 debauchery1 and other appetites of the body4 ,the excitement produced in ,paris by the placards of the brotherhood and the attacks of the clergy wore itself away after a few months4 ,the stories circulated about them became at last too absurd even for that age of absurdity1 and men began to laugh once more at those invisible gentlemen and their fantastic doctrines4 ,gabriel ,naud at that conjuncture brought out his ,avis la ,france sur les ,frres de la ,rose-croix1 in which he very successfully exposed the folly of the new sect4 ,this work1 though not well written1 was well timed4 ,it quite extinguished the ,rosicrucians of ,france2 and after that year little more was heard of them4 ,swindlers in different parts of the country assumed the name at times to cloak their depredations2 and now and then one of them was caught and hanged for his too great ingenuity in enticing pearls and precious stones from the pockets of other people into his own1 or for passing off lumps of gilded brass for pure gold1 made by the agency of the philosopher's stone4 ,with these exceptions1 oblivion shrouded them4 ,the doctrine was not confined to a sphere so narrow as ,france alone2 it still nourished in ,germany1 and drew many converts in ,england4 ,the latter countries produced two great masters in the persons of ,jacob ,bhmen and ,robert ,fludd--pretended philosophers1 of whom it is difficult to say which was the more absurd and extravagant4 ,it would appear that the sect was divided into two classes--the brothers ,rose ,crucis1 who devoted themselves to the wonders of this sublunary sphere1 and the brothers ,aure ,crucis1 who were wholly occupied in the contemplation of things divine4 ,fludd belonged to the first class1 and ,bhmen to the second4 ,fludd may be called the father of the ,english ,rosicrucians1 and as such merits a conspicuous niche in the temple of ,folly4 ,he was born in the year #aegd at ,milgate1 in ,kent1 and was the son of ,sir ,thomas ,fludd1 ,treasurer of ,war to ,queen ,elizabeth4 ,he was originally intended for the army2 but he was too fond of study1 and of a disposition too quiet and retiring1 to shine in that sphere4 ,his father would not therefore press him to adopt a course of life for which he was unsuited1 and encouraged him in the study of medicine1 for which he early manifested a partiality4 ,at the age of twenty-five he proceeded to the continent2 and being fond of the abstruse1 the marvellous1 and the incomprehensible1 he became an ardent disciple of the school of ,paracelsus1 whom he looked upon as the regenerator not only of medicine1 but of philosophy4 ,he remained six years in ,italy1 ,france1 and ,germany1 storing his mind with fantastic notions1 and seeking the society of enthusiasts and visionaries4 ,on his return to ,england in #afje1 he received the degree of ,doctor of ,medicine from the ,university of ,oxford1 and began to practise as a physician in ,london4 ,he soon made himself conspicuous4 ,he latinised his name from ,robert ,fludd into ,robertus ,fluctibus1 and began the promulgation of many strange doctrines4 ,he avowed his belief in the philosopher's stone1 the water of life1 and the universal alkahest2 and maintained that there were but two principles of all things1--which were1 condensation1 the boreal or northern virtue2 and rarefaction1 the southern or austral virtue4 ,a number of demons1 he said1 ruled over the human frame1 whom he arranged in their places in a rhomboid4 ,every disease had its peculiar demon who produced it1 which demon could only be combated by the aid of the demon whose place was directly opposite to his in the rhomboidal figure4 ,of his medical notions we shall have further occasion to speak in another part of this book1 when we consider him in his character as one of the first founders of the magnetic delusion1 and its offshoot1 animal magnetism1 which has created so much sensation in our own day4 ,as if the doctrines already mentioned were not wild enough1 he joined the ,rosicrucians as soon as they began to make a sensation in ,europe1 and succeeded in raising himself to high consideration among them4 ,the fraternity having been violently attacked by several ,german authors1 and among others by ,libavius1 ,fludd volunteered a reply1 and published1 in #afaf1 his defence of the ,rosicrucian philosophy1 under the title of the ,apologia compendiaria ,fraternitatem de ,rosea-cruce suspicionis et infami maculis aspersam abluens4 ,this work immediately procured him great renown upon the ,continent1 and he was henceforth looked upon as one of the high-priests of the sect4 ,of so much importance was he considered1 that ,keppler and ,gassendi thought it necessary to refute him2 and the latter wrote a complete examination of his doctrine4 ,mersenne also1 the friend of ,descartes1 and who had defended that philosopher when accused of having joined the ,rosicrucians1 attacked ,dr4 ,fluctibus1 as he preferred to be called1 and shewed the absurdity of the brothers of the ,rose-cross in general1 and of ,dr4 ,fluctibus in particular4 ,fluctibus wrote a long reply1 in which he called ,mersenne an ignorant calumniator1 and reiterated that alchymy was a profitable science1 and the ,rosicrucians worthy to be the regenerators of the world4 ,this book was published at ,frankfort1 and was entitled ,summum ,bonum1 quod est ,magi1 ,cabal1 ,alchimi1 ,fratrum1 ,rose-,crucis verorum1 et adversus ,mersenium ,calumniatorem4 ,besides this1 he wrote several other works upon alchymy1 a second answer to ,libavius upon the ,rosicrucians1 and many medical works4 ,he died in ,london in #afcg4 ,after his time there was some diminution of the sect in ,england4 ,they excited but little attention1 and made no effort to bring themselves into notice4 ,occasionally some obscure and almost incomprehensible work made its appearance1 to shew the world that the folly was not extinguished4 ,eugenius ,philalethes1 a noted alchymist1 who has veiled his real name under this assumed one1 translated ,the ,fame and ,confession of the ,brethren of the ,rosie ,cross1 which was published in ,london in #afeb4 ,a few years afterwards1 another enthusiast1 named ,john ,heydon1 wrote two works on the subject3 the one entitled ,the ,wise ,man's ,crown1 or the ,glory of the ,rosie ,cross2 and the other1 ,the ,holy ,guide1 leading the way to unite ,art and ,nature with the ,rosie ,crosse uncovered4 ,neither of these attracted much notice4 ,a third book was somewhat more successful2 it was called ,a new ,method of ,rosicrucian ,physic2 by ,john ,heydon1 the servant of ,god and the ,secretary of ,nature4 ,a few extracts will shew the ideas of the ,english ,rosicrucians about this period4 ,its author was an attorney1 practising 7to use his own words7 at ,westminster ,hall all term times as long as he lived1 and in the vacations devoting himself to alchymical and ,rosicrucian meditation4 ,in his preface1 called by him an ,apologue for an ,epilogue1 he enlightens the public upon the true history and tenets of his sect4 ,moses1 ,elias1 and ,ezekiel were1 he says1 the most ancient masters of the ,rosicrucian philosophy4 ,those few then existing in ,england and the rest of ,europe1 were as the eyes and ears of the great king of the universe1 seeing and hearing all things2 seraphically illuminated2 companions of the holy company of unbodied souls and immortal angels2 turning themselves1 ,proteus-like1 into any shape1 and having the power of working miracles4 ,the most pious and abstracted brethren could slack the plague in cities1 silence the violent winds and tempests1 calm the rage of the sea and rivers1 walk in the air1 frustrate the malicious aspect of witches1 cure all diseases1 and turn all metals into gold4 ,he had known in his time two famous brethren of the ,rosie ,cross1 named ,walfourd and ,williams1 who had worked miracles in his sight1 and taught him many excellent predictions of astrology and earthquakes4 ,i desired one of these to tell me1 says he1 whether my complexion were capable of the society of my good genius4 ',when ,i see you again1' said he 7which was when he pleased to come to me1 for ,i knew not where to go to him71 ',i will tell you4' ,when ,i saw him afterwards1 he said1 ',you should pray to ,god2 for a good and holy man can offer no greater or more acceptable service to ,god than the oblation of himself--his soul4' ,he said also1 that the good genii were the benign eyes of ,god1 running to and fro in the world1 and with love and pity beholding the innocent endeavours of harmless and single-hearted men1 ever ready to do them good and to help them4 ,heydon held devoutly true that dogma of the ,rosicrucians which said that neither eating nor drinking was necessary to men4 ,he maintained that any one might exist in the same manner as that singular people dwelling near the source of the ,ganges1 of whom mention was made in the travels of his namesake1 ,sir ,christopher ,heydon1 who had no mouths1 and therefore could not eat1 but lived by the breath of their nostrils2 except when they took a far journey1 and then they mended their diet with the smell of flowers4 ,he said that in really pure air there was a fine foreign fatness1 with which it was sprinkled by the sunbeams1 and which was quite sufficient for the nourishment of the generality of mankind4 ,those who had enormous appetites1 he had no objection to see take animal food1 since they could not do without it2 but he obstinately insisted that there was no necessity why they should eat it4 ,if they put a plaster of nicely-cooked meat upon their epigastrium1 it would be sufficient for the wants of the most robust and voracious6 ,they would by that means let in no diseases1 as they did at the broad and common gate1 the mouth1 as any one might see by example of drink2 for all the while a man sat in water1 he was never athirst4 ,he had known1 he said1 many ,rosicrucians1 who by applying wine in this manner1 had fasted for years together4 ,in fact1 quoth ,heydon1 we may easily fast all our life1 though it be three hundred years1 without any kind of meat1 and so cut off all danger of disease4 ,this sage philosopher further informed his wondering contemporaries that the chiefs of the doctrine always carried about with them to their place of meeting their symbol1 called the ,r4,c4 which was an ebony cross1 flourished and decked with roses of gold2 the cross typifying ,christ's sufferings upon the cross for our sins1 and the roses of gold the glory and beauty of his ,resurrection4 ,this symbol was carried alternately to ,mecca1 ,mount ,calvary1 ,mount ,sinai1 ,haran1 and to three other places1 which must have been in mid-air1 called ,cascle1 ,apamia and ,chaulateau ,virissa ,caunuch1 where the ,rosicrucian brethren met when they pleased1 and made resolution of all their actions4 ,they always took their pleasures in one of these places1 where they resolved all questions of whatsoever had been done1 was done1 or should be done in the world1 from the beginning to the end thereof4 ,and these1 he concludes1 are the men called ,rosicrucians6 ,towards the end of the seventeenth century1 more rational ideas took possession of the sect1 which still continued to boast of a few members4 ,they appear to have considered that contentment was the true philosopher's stone1 and to have abandoned the insane search for a mere phantom of the imagination4 ,addison1 in ,the ,spectator1#de gives an account of his conversation with a ,rosicrucian2 from which it may be inferred that the sect had grown wiser in their deeds1 though in their talk they were as foolish as ever4 ,i was once1 says he1 engaged in discourse with a ,rosicrucian about the great secret4 ,he talked of the secret as of a spirit which lived within an emerald1 and converted every thing that was near it to the highest perfection that it was capable of4 ',it gives a lustre1' says he1 'to the sun1 and water to the diamond4 ,it irradiates every metal1 and enriches lead with all the properties of gold4 ,it heightens smoke into flame1 flame into light1 and light into glory4' ,he further added1 'that a single ray of it dissipates pain and care and melancholy from the person on whom it falls4 ,in short1' says he1 'its presence naturally changes every place into a kind of heaven4' ,after he had gone on for some time in this unintelligible cant1 ,i found that he jumbled natural and moral ideas together into the same discourse1 and that his great secret was nothing else but content4 #de ,no4 #egd4 ,friday1 ,july #cjth1 #agad4 ,,jacob ,b,,hmen4 ,it is now time to speak of ,jacob ,bhmen1 who thought he could discover the secret of the transmutation of metals in the ,bible1 and who invented a strange heterogeneous doctrine of mingled alchymy and religion1 and founded upon it the sect of the ,aurea-crucians4 ,he was born at ,grlitz1 in ,upper ,lusatia1 in #aege1 and followed till his thirtieth year the occupation of a shoemaker4 ,in this obscurity he remained1 with the character of a visionary and a man of unsettled mind1 until the promulgation of the ,rosicrucian philosophy in his part of ,germany1 toward the year #afjg or #afjh4 ,from that time he began to neglect his leather1 and buried his brain under the rubbish of metaphysics4 ,the works of ,paracelsus fell into his hands2 and these1 with the reveries of the ,rosicrucians1 so completely engrossed his attention1 that he abandoned his trade altogether1 sinking1 at the same time1 from a state of comparative independence into poverty and destitution4 ,but he was nothing daunted by the miseries and privations of the flesh2 his mind was fixed upon the beings of another sphere1 and in thought he was already the new apostle of the human race4 ,in the year #afab1 after a meditation of four years1 he published his first work1 entitled ,aurora1 or the ,rising of the ,sun2 embodying the ridiculous notions of ,paracelsus1 and worse confounding the confusion of that writer4 ,the philosopher's stone might1 he contended1 be discovered by a diligent search of the ,old and ,new ,testaments1 and more especially of the ,apocalypse1 which alone contained all the secrets of alchymy4 ,he contended that the divine grace operated by the same rules1 and followed the same methods1 that the divine providence observed in the natural world2 and that the minds of men were purged from their vices and corruptions in the very same manner that metals were purified from their dross1 namely1 by fire4 ,besides the sylphs1 gnomes1 undines1 and salamanders1 he acknowledged various ranks and orders of demons4 ,he pretended to invisibility and absolute chastity4 ,he also said that1 if it pleased him1 he could abstain for years from meat and drink1 and all the necessities of the body4 ,it is needless1 however1 to pursue his follies any further4 ,he was reprimanded for writing this work by the magistrates of ,grlitz1 and commanded to leave the pen alone and stick to his wax1 that his family might not become chargeable to the parish4 ,he neglected this good advice1 and continued his studies2 burning minerals and purifying metals one day1 and mystifying the ,word of ,god on the next4 ,he afterwards wrote three other works1 as sublimely ridiculous as the first4 ,the one was entitled ,metallurgia1 and has the slight merit of being the least obscure of his compositions4 ,another was called ,the ,temporal ,mirror of ,eternity2 and the last his ,theosophy revealed1 full of allegories and metaphors1 ,all strange and geason1 ,devoid of sense and ordinary reason4 ,bhmen died in #afbd1 leaving behind him a considerable number of admiring disciples4 ,many of them became1 during the seventeenth century1 as distinguished for absurdity as their master2 amongst whom may be mentioned ,gifftheil1 ,wendenhagen1 ,john ,jacob ,zimmermann1 and ,abraham ,frankenberg4 ,their heresy rendered them obnoxious to the ,church of ,rome2 and many of them suffered long imprisonment and torture for their faith4 ,one1 named ,kuhlmann1 was burned alive at ,moscow1 in #afhd1 on a charge of sorcery4 ,bhmen's works were translated into ,english1 and published1 many years afterwards1 by an enthusiast named ,william ,law4 ,,mormius4 ,peter ,mormius1 a notorious alchymist and contemporary of ,bhmen1 endeavoured1 in #afcj1 to introduce the ,rosicrucian philosophy into ,holland4 ,he applied to the ,states-,general to grant him a public audience1 that he might explain the tenets of the sect1 and disclose a plan for rendering ,holland the happiest and richest country on the earth1 by means of the philosopher's stone and the service of the elementary spirits4 ,the ,states-,general wisely resolved to have nothing to do with him4 ,he thereupon determined to shame them by printing his book1 which he did at ,leyden the same year4 ,it was entitled ,the ,book of the most ,hidden ,secrets of ,nature1 and was divided into three parts2 the first treating of perpetual motion2 the second of the transmutation of metals2 and the third of the universal medicine4 ,he also published some ,german works upon the ,rosicrucian philosophy1 at ,frankfort1 in #afag4 ,poetry and romance are deeply indebted to the ,rosicrucians for many a graceful creation4 ,the literature of ,england1 ,france1 and ,germany contains hundreds of sweet fictions1 whose machinery has been borrowed from their day-dreams4 ,the delicate ,ariel of ,shakspeare stands pre-eminent among the number4 ,from the same source ,pope drew the airy tenants of ,belinda's dressing-room1 in his charming ,rape of the ,lock2 and ,la ,motte ,fouqu1 the beautiful and capricious water-nymph ,undine1 around whom he has thrown more grace and loveliness1 and for whose imaginary woes he has excited more sympathy1 than ever were bestowed on a supernatural being4 ,sir ,walter ,scott also endowed the ,white ,lady of ,avenel with many of the attributes of the undines or water-sprites4 ,german romance and lyrical poetry teem with allusions to sylphs1 gnomes1 undines1 and salamanders2 and the ,french have not been behind in substituting them1 in works of fiction1 for the more cumbrous mythology of ,greece and ,rome4 ,the sylphs1 more especially1 have been the favourites of the bards1 and have become so familiar to the popular mind as to be1 in a manner1 confounded with that other race of ideal beings1 the fairies1 who can boast of an antiquity much more venerable in the annals of superstition4 ,having these obligations to the ,rosicrucians1 no lover of poetry can wish1 however absurd they were1 that such a sect of philosophers had never existed4 ,,borri4 ,just at the time that ,michael ,mayer was making known to the world the existence of such a body as the ,rosicrucians1 there was born in ,italy a man who was afterwards destined to become the most conspicuous member of the fraternity4 ,the alchymic mania never called forth the ingenuity of a more consummate or more successful impostor than ,joseph ,francis ,borri4 ,he was born in #afaf1 according to some authorities1 and in #afbg according to others1 at ,milan2 where his father1 the ,signor ,branda ,borri1 practised as a physician4 ,at the age of sixteen ,joseph was sent to finish his education at the ,jesuits' college in ,rome1 where he distinguished himself by his extraordinary memory4 ,he learned every thing to which he applied himself with the utmost ease4 ,in the most voluminous works no fact was too minute for his retention1 and no study was so abstruse but that he could master it2 but any advantages he might have derived from this facility were neutralised by his ungovernable passions and his love of turmoil and debauchery4 ,he was involved in continual difficulty1 as well with the heads of the college as with the police of ,rome1 and acquired so bad a character that years could not remove it4 ,by the aid of his friends he established himself as a physician in ,rome1 and also obtained some situation in the pope's household4 ,in one of his fits of studiousness he grew enamoured of alchymy1 and determined to devote his energies to the discovery of the philosopher's stone4 ,of unfortunate propensities he had quite sufficient1 besides this1 to bring him to poverty4 ,his pleasures were as expensive as his studies1 and both were of a nature to destroy his health and ruin his fair fame4 ,at the age of thirty-seven he found that he could not live by the practice of medicine1 and began to look about for some other employment4 ,he became1 in #afec1 private secretary to the ,marquis di ,mirogli1 the minister of the ,archduke of ,innsprck at the court of ,rome4 ,he continued in this capacity for two years2 leading1 however1 the same abandoned life as heretofore1 frequenting the society of gamesters1 debauchees1 and loose women1 involving himself in disgraceful street quarrels1 and alienating the patrons who were desirous to befriend him4 ,all at once a sudden change was observed in his conduct4 ,the abandoned rake put on the outward sedateness of a philosopher2 the scoffing sinner proclaimed that he had forsaken his evil ways1 and would live thenceforth a model of virtue4 ,to his friends this reformation was as pleasing as it was unexpected2 and ,borri gave obscure hints that it had been brought about by some miraculous manifestation of a superior power4 ,he pretended that he held converse with beneficent spirits2 that the secrets of ,god and nature were revealed to him2 and that he had obtained possession of the philosopher's stone4 ,like his predecessor1 ,jacob ,bhmen1 he mixed up religious questions with his philosophical jargon1 and took measures for declaring himself the founder of a new sect4 ,this1 at ,rome itself1 and in the very palace of the pope1 was a hazardous proceeding2 and ,borri just awoke to a sense of it in time to save himself from the dungeons of the ,castle of ,st4 ,angelo4 ,he fled to ,innsprck1 where he remained about a year1 and then returned to his native city of ,milan4 ,illustration3 ,,innspruck4 ,the reputation of his great sanctity had gone before him2 and he found many persons ready to attach themselves to his fortunes4 ,all who were desirous of entering into the new communion took an oath of poverty1 and relinquished their possessions for the general good of the fraternity4 ,borri told them that he had received from the archangel ,michael a heavenly sword1 upon the hilt of which were engraven the names of the seven celestial intelligences4 ,whoever shall refuse1 said he1 to enter into my new sheepfold shall be destroyed by the papal armies1 of whom ,god has predestined me to be the chief4 ,to those who follow me all joy shall be granted4 ,i shall soon bring my chemical studies to a happy conclusion1 by the discovery of the philosopher's stone1 and by this means we shall all have as much gold as we desire4 ,i am assured of the aid of the angelic hosts1 and more especially of the archangel ,michael's4 ,when ,i began to walk in the way of the spirit1 ,i had a vision of the night1 and was assured by an angelic voice that ,i should become a prophet4 ,in sign of it ,i saw a palm-tree1 surrounded with all the glory of paradise4 ,the angels come to me whenever ,i call1 and reveal to me all the secrets of the universe4 ,the sylphs and elementary spirits obey me1 and fly to the uttermost ends of the world to serve me1 and those whom ,i delight to honour4 ,by force of continually repeating such stories as these1 ,borri soon found himself at the head of a very considerable number of adherents4 ,as he figures in these pages as an alchymist1 and not as a religious sectarian1 it will be unnecessary to repeat the doctrines which he taught with regard to some of the dogmas of the ,church of ,rome1 and which exposed him to the fierce resentment of the papal authority4 ,they were to the full as ridiculous as his philosophical pretensions4 ,as the number of his followers increased1 he appears to have cherished the idea of becoming one day a new ,mahomet1 and of founding1 in his native city of ,milan1 a monarchy and religion of which he should be the king and the prophet4 ,he had taken measures1 in the year #afeh1 for seizing the guards at all the gates of that city1 and formally declaring himself the monarch of the ,milanese4 ,just as he thought the plan ripe for execution1 it was discovered4 ,twenty of his followers were arrested1 and he himself managed1 with the utmost difficulty1 to escape to the neutral territory of ,switzerland1 where the papal displeasure could not reach him4 ,the trial of his followers commenced forthwith1 and the whole of them were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment4 ,borri's trial proceeded in his absence1 and lasted for upwards of two years4 ,he was condemned to death as a heretic and sorcerer in #affa1 and was burned in effigy in ,rome by the common hangman4 ,borri1 in the mean time1 lived quietly in ,switzerland1 indulging himself in railing at the ,inquisition and its proceedings4 ,he afterwards went to ,strasbourg1 intending to fix his residence in that town4 ,he was received with great cordiality1 as a man persecuted for his religious opinions1 and withal a great alchymist4 ,he found that sphere too narrow for his aspiring genius1 and retired in the same year to the more wealthy city of ,amsterdam4 ,he there hired a magnificent house1 established an equipage which eclipsed in brilliancy those of the richest merchants1 and assumed the title of ,excellency4 ,where he got the money to live in this expensive style was long a secret3 the adepts in alchymy easily explained it1 after their fashion4 ,sensible people were of opinion that he had come by it in a less wonderful manner2 for it was remembered that among his unfortunate disciples in ,milan1 there were many rich men1 who1 in conformity with one of the fundamental rules of the sect1 had given up all their earthly wealth into the hands of their founder4 ,in whatever manner the money was obtained1 ,borri spent it in ,holland with an unsparing hand1 and was looked up to by the people with no little respect and veneration4 ,he performed several able cures1 and increased his reputation so much that he was vaunted as a prodigy4 ,he continued diligently the operations of alchymy1 and was in daily expectation that he should succeed in turning the inferior metals into gold4 ,this hope never abandoned him1 even in the worst extremity of his fortunes2 and in his prosperity it led him into the most foolish expenses3 but he could not long continue to live so magnificently upon the funds he had brought from ,italy2 and the philosopher's stone1 though it promised all for the wants of the morrow1 never brought any thing for the necessities of to-day4 ,he was obliged in a few months to retrench1 by giving up his large house1 his gilded coach and valuable blood-horses1 his liveried domestics1 and his luxurious entertainments4 ,with this diminution of splendour came a diminution of renown4 ,his cures did not appear so miraculous1 when he went out on foot to perform them1 as they had seemed when his ,excellency had driven to a poor man's door in his carriage with six horses4 ,he sank from a prodigy into an ordinary man4 ,his great friends shewed him the cold shoulder1 and his humble flatterers carried their incense to some other shrine4 ,borri now thought it high time to change his quarters4 ,with this view he borrowed money wherever he could get it1 and succeeded in obtaining two hundred thousand florins from a merchant named ,de ,meer1 to aid1 as he said1 in discovering the water of life4 ,he also obtained six diamonds of great value1 on pretence that he could remove the flaws from them without diminishing their weight4 ,with this booty he stole away secretly by night1 and proceeded to ,hamburgh4 ,on his arrival in that city1 he found the celebrated ,christina1 the ex-queen of ,sweden4 ,he procured an introduction to her1 and requested her patronage in his endeavour to discover the philosopher's stone4 ,she gave him some encouragement2 but ,borri1 fearing that the merchants of ,amsterdam1 who had connexions in ,hamburgh1 might expose his delinquencies if he remained in the latter city1 passed over to ,copenhagen1 and sought the protection of ,frederick ,,iii41 the king of ,denmark4 ,this prince was a firm believer in the transmutation of metals4 ,being in want of money1 he readily listened to the plans of an adventurer who had both eloquence and ability to recommend him4 ,he provided ,borri with the means to make experiments1 and took a great interest in the progress of his operations4 ,he expected every month to possess riches that would buy ,peru2 and1 when he was disappointed1 accepted patiently the excuses of ,borri1 who1 upon every failure1 was always ready with some plausible explanation4 ,he became in time much attached to him2 and defended him from the jealous attacks of his courtiers1 and the indignation of those who were grieved to see their monarch the easy dupe of a charlatan4 ,borri endeavoured1 by every means in his power1 to find aliment for this good opinion4 ,his knowledge of medicine was useful to him in this respect1 and often stood between him and disgrace4 ,he lived six years in this manner at the court of ,frederick2 but that monarch dying in #afgj he was left without a protector4 ,as he had made more enemies than friends in ,copenhagen1 and had nothing to hope from the succeeding sovereign1 he sought an asylum in another country4 ,he went first to ,saxony2 but met so little encouragement1 and encountered so much danger from the emissaries of the ,inquisition1 that he did not remain there many months4 ,anticipating nothing but persecution in every country that acknowledged the spiritual authority of the pope1 he appears to have taken the resolution to dwell in ,turkey1 and turn ,mussulman4 ,on his arrival at the ,hungarian frontier1 on his way to ,constantinople1 he was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the conspiracy of the ,counts ,nadasdi and ,frangipani1 which had just been discovered4 ,in vain he protested his innocence1 and divulged his real name and profession4 ,he was detained in prison1 and a letter despatched to the ,emperor ,leopold1 to know what should be done with him4 ,the star of his fortunes was on the decline4 ,the letter reached ,leopold at an unlucky moment4 ,the pope's nuncio was closeted with his majesty2 and he no sooner heard the name of ,joseph ,francis ,borri1 than he demanded him as a prisoner of the ,holy ,see4 ,the request was complied with2 and ,borri1 closely manacled1 was sent under an escort of soldiers to the prison of the ,inquisition at ,rome4 ,he was too much of an impostor to be deeply tinged with fanaticism1 and was not unwilling to make a public recantation of his heresies1 if he could thereby save his life4 ,when the proposition was made to him1 he accepted it with eagerness4 ,his punishment was to be commuted into the hardly less severe one of perpetual imprisonment2 but he was too happy to escape the clutch of the executioner at any price1 and he made the amende honorable in face of the assembled multitudes of ,rome on the #bgth of ,october #afgb4 ,he was then transferred to the prisons of the ,castle of ,st4 ,angelo1 where he remained till his death1 twenty-three years afterwards4 ,it is said that1 towards the close of his life1 considerable indulgence was granted him2 that he was allowed to have a laboratory1 and to cheer the solitude of his dungeon by searching for the philosopher's stone4 ,queen ,christina1 during her residence at ,rome1 frequently visited the old man1 to converse with him upon chemistry and the doctrines of the ,rosicrucians4 ,she even obtained permission that he should leave his prison occasionally for a day or two1 and reside in her palace1 she being responsible for his return to captivity4 ,she encouraged him to search for the great secret of the alchymists1 and provided him with money for the purpose4 ,it may well be supposed that ,borri benefited most by this acquaintance1 and that ,christina got nothing but experience4 ,it is not sure that she gained even that2 for until her dying day she was convinced of the possibility of finding the philosopher's stone1 and ready to assist any adventurer either zealous or impudent enough to pretend to it4 ,after ,borri had been about eleven years in confinement1 a small volume was published at ,cologne1 entitled ,the ,key of the ,cabinet of the ,chevalier ,joseph ,francis ,borri1 in which are contained many curious ,letters upon ,chemistry and other ,sciences1 written by him1 together with a ,memoir of his ,life4 ,this book contained a complete exposition of the ,rosicrucian philosophy1 and afforded materials to the ,abb de ,villars for his interesting ,count de ,gabalis1 which excited so much attention at the close of the seventeenth century4 ,borri lingered in the prison of ,st4 ,angelo till #afie1 when he died1 in his eightieth year4 ,besides ,the ,key of the ,cabinet1 written originally in ,copenhagen1 in #afff1 for the edification of ,king ,frederick ,,iii41 he published a work upon alchymy and the secret sciences1 under the title of ,the ,mission of ,romulus to the ,romans4 ,,inferior ,,alchymists ,,of ,,the ,,seventeenth ,,century4 ,besides the pretenders to the philosopher's stone whose lives have been already narrated1 this and the preceding century produced a great number of writers1 who inundated literature with their books upon the subject4 ,in fact1 most of the learned men of that age had some faith in it4 ,van ,helmont1 ,borrichius1 ,kircher1 ,boerhaave1 and a score of others1 though not professed alchymists1 were fond of the science1 and countenanced its professors4 ,helvetius1 the grandfather of the celebrated philosopher of the same name1 asserts that he saw an inferior metal turned into gold by a stranger1 at the ,hague1 in #afff4 ,he says1 that1 sitting one day in his study1 a man1 who was dressed as a respectable burgher of ,north ,holland1 and very modest and simple in his appearance1 called upon him1 with the intention of dispelling his doubts relative to the philosopher's stone4 ,he asked ,helvetius if he thought he should know that rare gem if he saw it4 ,to which ,helvetius replied1 that he certainly should not4 ,the burgher immediately drew from his pocket a small ivory box1 containing three pieces of metal1 of the colour of brimstone1 and extremely heavy2 and assured ,helvetius1 that of them he could make as much as twenty tons of gold4 ,helvetius informs us1 that he examined them very attentively2 and seeing that they were very brittle1 he took the opportunity to scrape off a small portion with his thumb-nail4 ,he then returned them to the stranger1 with an entreaty that he would perform the process of transmutation before him4 ,the stranger replied1 that he was not allowed to do so1 and went away4 ,after his departure1 ,helvetius procured a crucible and a portion of lead1 into which1 when in a state of fusion1 he threw the stolen grain from the philosopher's stone4 ,he was disappointed to find that the grain evaporated altogether1 leaving the lead in its original state4 ,some weeks afterwards1 when he had almost forgotten the subject1 he received another visit from the stranger4 ,he again entreated him to explain the processes by which he pretended to transmute lead4 ,the stranger at last consented1 and informed him1 that one grain was sufficient2 but that it was necessary to envelope it in a ball of wax before throwing it on the molten metal2 otherwise its extreme volatility would cause it to go off in vapour4 ,they tried the experiment1 and succeeded to their heart's content4 ,helvetius repeated the experiment alone1 and converted six ounces of lead into very pure gold4 ,the fame of this event spread all over the ,hague1 and all the notable persons of the town flocked to the study of ,helvetius to convince themselves of the fact4 ,helvetius performed the experiment again1 in the presence of the ,prince of ,orange1 and several times afterwards1 until he exhausted the whole of the powder he had received from the stranger1 from whom it is necessary to state1 he never received another visit2 nor did he ever discover his name or condition4 ,in the following year1 ,helvetius published his ,golden ,calf1#df in which he detailed the above circumstances4 #df ,vitulus ,aureus quem ,mundus adorat et orat1 in quo tractatur de natur miraculo transmutandi metalla4 ,hag1 #affg4 ,about the same time1 the celebrated ,father ,kircher published his ,subterranean ,world1 in which he called the alchymists a congregation of knaves and impostors1 and their science a delusion4 ,he admitted that he had himself been a diligent labourer in the field1 and had only come to this conclusion after mature consideration and repeated fruitless experiments4 ,all the alchymists were in arms immediately1 to refute this formidable antagonist4 ,one ,solomon de ,blauenstein was the first to grapple with him1 and attempted to convict him of wilful misrepresentation1 by recalling to his memory the transmutations by ,sendivogius1 before the ,emperor ,frederick ,,iii4 and the ,elector of ,mayence1 all performed within a recent period4 ,zwelfer and ,glauber also entered into the dispute1 and attributed the enmity of ,father ,kircher to spite and jealousy against adepts who had been more successful than himself4 ,it was also pretended that ,gustavus ,adolphus transmuted a quantity of quicksilver into pure gold4 ,the learned ,borrichius relates1 that he saw coins which had been struck of this gold2 and ,lenglet du ,fresnoy deposes to the same circumstance4 ,in the ,travels of ,monconis the story is told in the following manner3 ,a merchant of ,lubeck1 who carried on but little trade1 but who knew how to change lead into very good gold1 gave the ,king of ,sweden a lingot which he had made1 weighing at least one hundred pounds4 ,the king immediately caused it to be coined into ducats2 and because he knew positively that its origin was such as had been stated to him1 he had his own arms graven upon the one side1 and emblematical figures of ,mercury and ,venus on the other4 ,i 7continued ,monconis7 have one of these ducats in my possession2 and was credibly informed that1 after the death of the ,lubeck merchant1 who had never appeared very rich1 a sum of no less than one million seven hundred thousand crowns was found in his coffers4#dg #dg ,voyages de ,monconis1 tome ii4 p4 #cgi4 ,such stories as these1 confidently related by men high in station1 tended to keep up the infatuation of the alchymists in every country of ,europe4 ,it is astonishing to see the number of works which were written upon the subject during the seventeenth century alone1 and the number of clever men who sacrificed themselves to the delusion4 ,gabriel de ,castaigne1 a monk of the order of ,st4 ,francis1 attracted so much notice in the reign of ,louis ,,xiii41 that that monarch secured him in his household1 and made him his ,grand ,almoner4 ,he pretended to find the elixir of life1 and ,louis expected by his means to have enjoyed the crown for a century4 ,van ,helmont also pretended to have once performed with success the process of transmuting quicksilver1 and was in consequence invited by the ,emperor ,rudolph ,,ii4 to fix his residence at the court of ,vienna4 ,glauber1 the inventor of the salts which still bear his name1 and who practised as a physician at ,amsterdam about the middle of the seventeenth century1 established a public school in that city for the study of alchymy1 and gave lectures himself upon the science4 ,john ,joachim ,becher of ,spire acquired great reputation at the same period1 and was convinced that much gold might be made out of flint-stones by a peculiar process1 and the aid of that grand and incomprehensible substance the philosopher's stone4 ,he made a proposition to the ,emperor ,leopold of ,austria to aid him in these experiments2 but the hope of success was too remote1 and the present expense too great1 to tempt that monarch1 and he therefore gave ,becher much of his praise1 but none of his money4 ,becher afterwards tried the ,states-,general of ,holland with no better success4 ,with regard to the innumerable tricks by which impostors persuaded the world that they had succeeded in making gold1 and of which so many stories were current about this period1 a very satisfactory report was read by ,m4 ,geoffroy the elder1 at the sitting of the ,royal ,academy of ,sciences at ,paris1 on the #aeth of ,april1 #agbb4 ,as it relates principally to the alchymic cheats of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries1 the following abridgment of it may not be out of place in this portion of our history4 ,the instances of successful transmutation were so numerous1 and apparently so well authenticated1 that nothing short of so able an exposure as that of ,m4 ,geoffroy could disabuse the public mind4 ,the trick to which they oftenest had recourse was to use a double-bottomed crucible1 the under surface being of iron or copper1 and the upper one of wax1 painted to resemble the same metal4 ,between the two they placed as much gold or silver dust as was necessary for their purpose4 ,they then put in their lead1 quicksilver1 or other ingredients1 and placed their pot upon the fire4 ,of course1 when the experiment was concluded1 they never failed to find a lump of gold at the bottom4 ,the same result was produced in many other ways4 ,some of them used a hollow wand1 filled with gold or silver dust1 and stopped at the ends with wax or butter4 ,with this they stirred the boiling metal in their crucibles1 taking care to accompany the operation with many ceremonies1 to divert attention from the real purpose of the manoeuvre4 ,they also drilled holes in lumps of lead1 into which they poured molten gold1 and carefully closed the aperture with the original metal4 ,sometimes they washed a piece of gold with quicksilver4 ,when in this state1 they found no difficulty in palming it off upon the uninitiated as an inferior metal1 and very easily transmuted it into fine sonorous gold again with the aid of a little aquafortis4 ,others imposed by means of nails1 half iron and half gold or silver4 ,they pretended that they really transmuted the precious half from iron1 by dipping it in a strong alcohol4 ,m4 ,geoffroy produced several of these nails to the ,academy of ,sciences1 and shewed how nicely the two parts were soldered together4 ,the golden or silver half was painted black to resemble iron1 and the colour immediately disappeared when the nail was dipped into aquafortis4 ,a nail of this description was1 for a long time1 in the cabinet of the ,grand ,duke of ,tuscany4 ,such also1 said ,m4 ,geoffroy1 was the knife presented by a monk to ,queen ,elizabeth of ,england2 the blade of which was half gold and half steel4 ,nothing at one time was more common than to see coins1 half gold and half silver1 which had been operated upon by alchymists1 for the same purposes of trickery4 ,in fact1 says ,m4 ,geoffroy1 in concluding his long report1 there is every reason to believe that all the famous histories which have been handed down to us about the transmutation of metals into gold or silver1 by means of the powder of projection or philosophical elixirs1 are founded upon some successful deception of the kind above narrated4 ,these pretended philosophers invariably disappeared after the first or second experiment1 or their powders or elixirs have failed to produce their effect1 either because attention being excited they have found no opportunity to renew the trick without being discovered1 or because they have not had sufficient gold dust for more than one trial4 ,the disinterestedness of these would-be philosophers looked1 at first sight1 extremely imposing4 ,instances were not rare in which they generously abandoned all the profits of their transmutations--even the honour of the discovery4 ,but this apparent disinterestedness was one of the most cunning of their manoeuvres4 ,it served to keep up the popular expectation2 it seemed to shew the possibility of discovering the philosopher's stone1 and provided the means of future advantages1 which they were never slow to lay hold of--such as entrances into royal households1 maintenance at the public expense1 and gifts from ambitious potentates1 too greedy after the gold they so easily promised4 ,it now only remains to trace the progress of the delusion from the commencement of the eighteenth century until the present day4 ,it will be seen that1 until a very recent period1 there were but slight signs of a return to reason4 ,,jean ,,delisle4 ,in the year #agje1 there was much talk in ,france of a blacksmith1 named ,delisle1 who had discovered the philosopher's stone1 and who went about the country turning lead into gold4 ,he was a native of ,provence1 from which place his fame soon spread to the capital4 ,his early life is involved in obscurity2 but ,lenglet du ,fresnoy has industriously collected some particulars of his later career1 which possess considerable interest4 ,he was a man without any education1 and had been servant in his youth to an alchymist1 from whom he learned many of the tricks of the fraternity4 ,the name of his master has never been discovered2 but it is pretended that he rendered himself in some manner obnoxious to the government of ,louis ,,xiv41 and was obliged1 in consequence1 to take refuge in ,switzerland4 ,delisle accompanied him as far as ,savoy1 and there1 it is said1 set upon him in a solitary mountain-pass1 and murdered and robbed him4 ,he then disguised himself as a pilgrim1 and returned to ,france4 ,at a lonely inn1 by the road-side1 where he stopped for the night1 he became acquainted with a woman1 named ,aluys2 and so sudden a passion was enkindled betwixt them1 that she consented to leave all1 follow him1 and share his good or evil fortune wherever he went4 ,they lived together for five or six years in ,provence1 without exciting any attention1 apparently possessed of a decent independence4 ,at last1 in #agjf1 it was given out that he was the possessor of the philosopher's stone2 and people from far and near came flocking to his residence1 at the ,chteau de la ,palu1 at ,sylanez1 near ,barjaumont1 to witness the wealth he could make out of pumps and fire-shovels4 ,the following account of his operations is given in a letter addressed by ,m4 de ,cerisy1 the ,prior of ,chteauneuf1 in the ,diocese of ,riez1 in ,provence1 to the ,vicar of ,st4 ,jacques du ,hautpas1 at ,paris1 and dated the #ahth of ,november1 #agjf3 ,i have something to relate to you1 my dear cousin1 which will be interesting to you and your friends4 ,the philosopher's stone1 which so many persons have looked upon as a chimera1 is at last found4 ,it is a man named ,delisle1 of the parish of ,sylanez1 and residing within a quarter of a league of me1 that has discovered this great secret4 ,he turns lead into gold1 and iron into silver1 by merely heating these metals red hot1 and pouring upon them in that state some oil and powder he is possessed of2 so that it would not be impossible for any man to make a million a day1 if he had sufficient of this wondrous mixture4 ,some of the pale gold which he had made in this manner1 he sent to the jewellers of ,lyons1 to have their opinion on its quality4 ,he also sold twenty pounds weight of it to a merchant of ,digne1 named ,taxis4 ,all the jewellers say they never saw such fine gold in their lives4 ,he makes nails1 part gold1 part iron1 and part silver4 ,he promised to give me one of them1 in a long conversation which ,i had with him the other day1 by order of the ,bishop of ,sens1 who saw his operations with his own eyes1 and detailed all the circumstances to me4 ,the ,baron and ,baroness de ,rheinwald shewed me a lingot of gold made out of pewter before their eyes by ,m4 ,delisle4 ,my brother-in-law ,sauveur1 who has wasted fifty years of his life in this great study1 brought me the other day a nail which he had seen changed into gold by ,delisle1 and fully convinced me that all his previous experiments were founded on an erroneous principle4 ,this excellent workman received1 a short time ago1 a very kind letter from the superintendent of the royal household1 which ,i read4 ,he offered to use all his influence with the ministers to prevent any attempts upon his liberty1 which has twice been attacked by the agents of government4 ,it is believed that the oil he makes use of1 is gold or silver reduced to that state4 ,he leaves it for a long time exposed to the rays of the sun4 ,he told me that it generally took him six months to make all his preparations4 ,i told him that1 apparently1 the king wanted to see him4 ,he replied that he could not exercise his art in every place1 as a certain climate and temperature were absolutely necessary to his success4 ,the truth is1 that this man appears to have no ambition4 ,he only keeps two horses and two men-servants4 ,besides1 he loves his liberty1 has no politeness1 and speaks very bad ,french2 but his judgment seems to be solid4 ,he was formerly no more than a blacksmith1 but excelled in that trade without having been taught it4 ,all the great lords and seigneurs from far and near come to visit him1 and pay such court to him1 that it seems more like idolatry than any thing else4 ,happy would ,france be if this man would discover his secret to the king1 to whom the superintendent has already sent some lingots6 ,but the happiness is too great to be hoped for2 for ,i fear that the workman and his secret will expire together4 ,there is no doubt that this discovery will make a great noise in the kingdom1 unless the character of the man1 which ,i have just depicted to you1 prevent it4 ,at all events1 posterity will hear of him4 ,in another letter to the same person1 dated the #bgth of ,january #agjg1 ,m4 de ,cerisy says1 ,my dear cousin1 ,i spoke to you in my last letter of the famous alchymist of ,provence1 ,m4 ,delisle4 ,a good deal of that was only hearsay1 but now ,i am enabled to speak from my own experience4 ,i have in my possession a nail1 half iron and half silver1 which ,i made myself4 ,that great and admirable workman also bestowed a still greater privilege upon me--he allowed me turn a piece of lead which ,i had brought with me into pure gold1 by means of his wonderful oil and powder4 ,all the country have their eyes upon this gentleman2 some deny loudly1 others are incredulous2 but those who have seen acknowledge the truth4 ,i have read the passport that has been sent to him from court1 with orders that he should present himself at ,paris early in the spring4 ,he told me that he would go willingly1 and that it was himself who fixed the spring for his departure2 as he wanted to collect his materials1 in order that1 immediately on his introduction to the king1 he might make an experiment worthy of his majesty1 by converting a large quantity of lead into the finest gold4 ,i sincerely hope that he will not allow his secret to die with him1 but that he will communicate it to the king4 ,as ,i had the honour to dine with him on ,thursday last1 the #bjth of this month1 being seated at his side1 ,i told him in a whisper that he could1 if he liked1 humble all the enemies of ,france4 ,he did not deny it1 but began to smile4 ,in fact1 this man is the miracle of art4 ,sometimes he employs the oil and powder mixed1 sometimes the powder only2 but in so small a quantity that1 when the lingot which ,i made was rubbed all over with it1 it did not shew at all4 ,this soft-headed priest was by no means the only person in the neighbourhood who lost his wits in hopes of the boundless wealth held out by this clever impostor4 ,another priest1 named ,de ,lions1 a chanter in the cathedral of ,grenoble1 writing on the #cjth ,january #agjg1 says3 ,m4 ,mesnard1 the curate of ,montier1 has written to me1 stating that there is a man1 about thirty-five years of age1 named ,delisle1 who turns lead and iron into gold and silver2 and that this transmutation is so veritable and so true1 that the goldsmiths affirm that his gold and silver are the purest and finest they ever saw4 ,for five years this man was looked upon as a madman or a cheat2 but the public mind is now disabused with respect to him4 ,he now resides with ,m4 de la ,palu1 at the chteau of the same name4 ,m4 de la ,palu is not very easy in his circumstances1 and wants money to portion his daughters1 who have remained single till middle age1 no man being willing to take them without a dowry4 ,m4 ,delisle has promised to make them the richest girls in the province before he goes to court1 having been sent for by the king4 ,he has asked for a little time before his departure1 in order that he may collect powder enough to make several quintals of gold before the eyes of his majesty1 to whom he intends to present them4 ,the principal matter of his wonderful powder is composed of simples1 principally the herbs ,lunaria major and minor4 ,there is a good deal of the first planted by him in the gardens of ,la ,palu2 and he gets the other from the mountains that stretch about two leagues from ,montier4 ,what ,i tell you now is not a mere story invented for your diversion3 ,m4 ,mesnard can bring forward many witnesses to its truth2 among others1 the ,bishop of ,sens1 who saw these surprising operations performed2 and ,m4 de ,cerisy1 whom you know well4 ,delisle transmutes his metals in public4 ,he rubs the lead or iron with his powder1 and puts it over burning charcoal4 ,in a short time it changes colour2 the lead becomes yellow1 and is found to be converted into excellent gold2 the iron becomes white1 and is found to be pure silver4 ,delisle is altogether an illiterate person4 ,m4 de ,st4 ,auban endeavoured to teach him to read and write1 but he profited very little by his lessons4 ,he is unpolite1 fantastic1 and a dreamer1 and acts by fits and starts4 ,delisle1 it would appear1 was afraid of venturing to ,paris4 ,he knew that his sleight of hand would be too narrowly watched in the royal presence2 and upon some pretence or other he delayed the journey for more than two years4 ,desmarets1 the ,minister of ,finance to ,louis ,,xiv41 thinking the philosopher dreaded foul play1 twice sent him a safe conduct under the king's seal2 but ,delisle still refused4 ,upon this1 ,desmarets wrote to the ,bishop of ,sens for his real opinion as to these famous transmutations4 ,the following was the answer of that prelate3 ,copy of a report addressed to ,m4 ,desmarets1 ,comptroller-,general of the ,finances to ,his ,majesty ,louis ,,xiv41 by the ,bishop of ,sens1 dated ,march #agji4 ,,sir1--,a twelvemonth ago1 or a little more1 ,i expressed to you my joy at hearing of your elevation to the ministry2 ,i have now the honour to write you my opinion of the ,sieur ,delisle1 who has been working at the transmutation of metals in my diocese4 ,i have1 during the last two years1 spoken of him several times to the ,count de ,pontchartrain1 because he asked me2 but ,i have not written to you1 sir1 or to ,m4 de ,chamillart1 because you neither of you requested my opinion upon the subject4 ,now1 however1 that you have given me to understand that you wish to know my sentiments on the matter1 ,i will unfold myself to you in all sincerity1 for the interests of the king and the glory of your ministry4 ,there are two things about the ,sieur ,delisle which1 in my opinion1 should be examined without prejudice3 the one relates to his secret2 the other1 to his person2 that is to say1 whether his transmutations are real1 and whether his conduct has been regular4 ,as regards the secret of the philosopher's stone1 ,i deemed it impossible1 for a long time2 and for more than three years ,i was more mistrustful of the pretensions of this ,sieur ,delisle than of any other person4 ,during this period ,i afforded him no countenance2 ,i even aided a person1 who was highly recommended to me by an influential family of this province1 to prosecute ,delisle for some offence or other which it was alleged he had committed4 ,but this person1 in his anger against him1 having told me that he had himself been several times the bearer of gold and silver to the goldsmiths of ,nice1 ,aix1 and ,avignon1 which had been transmuted by ,delisle from lead and iron1 ,i began to waver a little in my opinions respecting him4 ,i afterwards met ,delisle at the house of one of my friends4 ,to please me1 the family asked ,delisle to operate before me1 to which he immediately consented4 ,i offered him some iron nails1 which he changed into silver in the chimney-place before six or seven credible witnesses4 ,i took the nails thus transmuted1 and sent them by my almoner to ,imbert1 the jeweller of ,aix1 who1 having subjected them to the necessary trial1 returned them to me1 saying they were very good silver4 ,still1 however1 ,i was not quite satisfied4 ,m4 de ,pontchartrain having hinted to me1 two years previously1 that ,i should do a thing agreeable to his majesty if ,i examined into this business of ,delisle1 ,i resolved to do so now4 ,i therefore summoned the alchymist to come to me at ,castellane4 ,he came2 and ,i had him escorted by eight or ten vigilant men1 to whom ,i had given notice to watch his hands strictly4 ,before all of us he changed two pieces of lead into gold and silver4 ,i sent them both to ,m4 de ,pontchartrain2 and he afterwards informed me by a letter1 now lying before me1 that he had shewn them to the most experienced goldsmiths of ,paris1 who unanimously pronounced them to be gold and silver of the very purest quality1 and without alloy4 ,my former bad opinion of ,delisle was now indeed shaken4 ,it was much more so when he performed transmutation five or six times before me at ,sens1 and made me perform it myself before him without his putting his hand to any thing4 ,you have seen1 sir1 the letter of my nephew1 the ,pre ,berard1 of the ,oratoire at ,paris1 on the experiment that he performed at ,castellane1 and the truth of which ,i hereby attest4 ,another nephew of mine1 the ,sieur ,bourget1 who was here three weeks ago1 performed the same experiment in my presence1 and will detail all the circumstances to you personally at ,paris4 ,a hundred persons in my diocese have been witnesses of these things4 ,i confess to you1 sir1 that1 after the testimony of so many spectators and so many goldsmiths1 and after the repeatedly successful experiments that ,i saw performed1 all my prejudices vanished4 ,my reason was convinced by my eyes2 and the phantoms of impossibility which ,i had conjured up were dissipated by the work of my own hands4 ,it now only remains for me to speak to you on the subject of his person and conduct4 ,three suspicions have been excited against him3 the first1 that he was implicated in some criminal proceeding at ,cisteron1 and that he falsified the coin of the realm2 the second1 that the king sent him two safe-conducts without effect2 and the third1 that he still delays going to court to operate before the king4 ,you may see1 sir1 that ,i do not hide or avoid any thing4 ,as regards the business at ,cisteron1 the ,sieur ,delisle has repeatedly assured me that there was nothing against him which could reasonably draw him within the pale of justice1 and that he had never carried on any calling injurious to the king's service4 ,it was true that1 six or seven years ago1 he had been to ,cisteron to gather herbs necessary for his powder1 and that he had lodged at the house of one ,pelouse1 whom he thought an honest man4 ,pelouse was accused of clipping ,louis-d'ors2 and as he had lodged with him1 he was suspected of being his accomplice4 ,this mere suspicion1 without any proof whatever1 had caused him to be condemned for contumacy2 a common case enough with judges1 who always proceed with much rigour against those who are absent4 ,during my own sojourn at ,aix1 it was well known that a man1 named ,andr ,aluys1 had spread about reports injurious to the character of ,delisle1 because he hoped thereby to avoid paying him a sum of forty ,louis that he owed him4 ,but permit me1 sir1 to go further1 and to add that1 even if there were well-founded suspicions against ,delisle1 we should look with some little indulgence on the faults of a man who possesses a secret so useful to the state4 ,as regards the two safe-conducts sent him by the king1 ,i think ,i can answer certainly that it was through no fault of his that he paid so little attention to them4 ,his year1 strictly speaking1 consists only of the four summer months2 and when by any means he is prevented from making the proper use of them1 he loses a whole year4 ,thus the first safe-conduct became useless by the irruption of the ,duke of ,savoy in #agjg and the second had hardly been obtained1 at the end of ,june #agjh1 when the said ,delisle was insulted by a party of armed men1 pretending to act under the authority of the ,count de ,grignan1 to whom he wrote several letters of complaint1 without receiving any answer1 or promise that his safety would be attended to4 ,what ,i have now told you1 sir1 removes the third objection1 and is the reason why1 at the present time1 he cannot go to ,paris to the king1 in fulfilment of his promises made two years ago4 ,two1 or even three1 summers have been lost to him1 owing to the continual inquietude he has laboured under4 ,he has1 in consequence1 been unable to work1 and has not collected a sufficient quantity of his oil and powder1 or brought what he has got to the necessary degree of perfection4 ,for this reason also he could not give the ,sieur de ,bourget the portion he promised him for your inspection4 ,if the other day he changed some lead into gold with a few grains of his powder1 they were assuredly all he had2 for he told me that such was the fact long before he knew my nephew was coming4 ,even if he had preserved this small quantity to operate before the king1 ,i am sure that1 on second thoughts1 he would never have adventured with so little2 because the slightest obstacles in the metals 7their being too hard or too soft1 which is only discovered in operating17 would have caused him to be looked upon as an impostor1 if1 in case his first powder had proved ineffectual1 he had not been possessed of more to renew the experiment and surmount the difficulty4 ,permit me1 sir1 in conclusion1 to repeat1 that such an artist as this should not be driven to the last extremity1 nor forced to seek an asylum offered to him in other countries1 but which he has despised1 as much from his own inclinations as from the advice ,i have given him4 ,you risk nothing in giving him a little time1 and in hurrying him you may lose a great deal4 ,the genuineness of his gold can no longer be doubted1 after the testimony of so many jewellers of ,aix1 ,lyons1 and ,paris in its favour4 ,as it is not his fault that the previous safe-conducts sent to him have been of no service1 it will be necessary to send him another2 for the success of which ,i will be answerable1 if you will confide the matter to me1 and trust to my zeal for the service of his majesty1 to whom ,i pray you to communicate this letter1 that ,i may be spared the just reproaches he might one day heap upon me if he remained ignorant of the facts ,i have now written to you4 ,assure him1 if you please1 that1 if you send me such a safe-conduct1 ,i will oblige the ,sieur ,delisle to depose with me such precious pledges of his fidelity as shall enable me to be responsible myself to the king4 ,these are my sentiments1 and ,i submit them to your superior knowledge2 and have the honour to remain1 with much respect1 c4 ,,john ,,bishop ,,of ,,senes4 ,to ,m4 ,desmarets1 ,minister of ,state1 and ,comptroller-,general of the ,finances1 at ,paris4 ,that ,delisle was no ordinary impostor1 but a man of consummate cunning and address1 is very evident from this letter4 ,the bishop was fairly taken in by his clever legerdemain1 and when once his first distrust was conquered1 appeared as anxious to deceive himself as even ,delisle could have wished4 ,his faith was so abundant that he made the case of his protg his own1 and would not suffer the breath of suspicion to be directed against him4 ,both ,louis and his minister appear to have been dazzled by the brilliant hopes he had excited1 and a third pass1 or safe-conduct1 was immediately sent to the alchymist1 with a command from the king that he should forthwith present himself at ,versailles1 and make public trial of his oil and powder4 ,but this did not suit the plans of ,delisle4 ,in the provinces he was regarded as a man of no small importance2 the servile flattery that awaited him wherever he went was so grateful to his mind that he could not willingly relinquish it1 and run upon certain detection at the court of the monarch4 ,upon one pretext or another he delayed his journey1 notwithstanding the earnest solicitations of his good friend the bishop4 ,the latter had given his word to the minister1 and pledged his honour that he would induce ,delisle to go1 and he began to be alarmed when he found he could not subdue the obstinacy of that individual4 ,for more than two years he continued to remonstrate with him1 and was always met by some excuse1 that there was not sufficient powder1 or that it had not been long enough exposed to the rays of the sun4 ,at last his patience was exhausted2 and fearful that he might suffer in the royal estimation by longer delay1 he wrote to the king for a lettre de cachet1 in virtue of which the alchymist was seized at the castle of ,la ,palu1 in the month of ,june #agaa1 and carried off to be imprisoned in the ,bastille4 ,the gendarmes were aware that their prisoner was supposed to be the lucky possessor of the philosopher's stone1 and on the road they conspired to rob and murder him4 ,one of them pretended to be touched with pity for the misfortunes of the philosopher1 and offered to give him an opportunity of escape whenever he could divert the attention of his companions4 ,delisle was profuse in his thanks1 little dreaming of the snare that was laid for him4 ,his treacherous friend gave notice of the success of the stratagem so far2 and it was agreed that ,delisle should be allowed to struggle with and overthrow one of them while the rest were at some distance4 ,they were then to pursue him and shoot him through the heart2 and after robbing the corpse of the philosopher's stone1 convey it to ,paris on a cart1 and tell ,m4 ,desmarets that the prisoner had attempted to escape1 and would have succeeded if they had not fired after him and shot him through the body4 ,at a convenient place the scheme was executed4 ,on a given signal from the friendly gendarme1 ,delisle fled1 while another gendarme took aim and shot him through the thigh4 ,some peasants arriving at the instant1 they were prevented from killing him as they intended1 and he was transported to ,paris1 maimed and bleeding4 ,he was thrown into a dungeon in the ,bastille1 and obstinately tore away the bandages which the surgeons applied to his wound4 ,he never afterwards rose from his bed4 ,the ,bishop of ,sens visited him in prison1 and promised him his liberty if he would transmute a certain quantity of lead into gold before the king4 ,the unhappy man had no longer the means of carrying on the deception2 he had no gold1 and no double-bottomed crucible or hollow wand to conceal it in1 even if he had4 ,he would not1 however1 confess that he was an impostor2 but merely said he did not know how to make the powder of projection1 but had received a quantity from an ,italian philosopher1 and had used it all in his various transmutations in ,provence4 ,he lingered for seven or eight months in the ,bastille1 and died from the effects of his wound1 in the forty-first year of his age4 ,,albert ,,aluys4 ,this pretender to the philosopher's stone was the son1 by a former husband1 of the woman ,aluys1 with whom ,delisle became acquainted at the commencement of his career1 in the cabaret by the road-side1 and whom he afterwards married4 ,delisle performed the part of a father towards him1 and thought he could shew no stronger proof of his regard1 than by giving him the necessary instructions to carry on the deception which had raised himself to such a pitch of greatness4 ,the young ,aluys was an apt scholar1 and soon mastered all the jargon of the alchymists4 ,he discoursed learnedly upon projections1 cimentations1 sublimations1 the elixir of life1 and the universal alkahest2 and on the death of ,delisle gave out that the secret of that great adept had been communicated to him1 and to him only4 ,his mother aided in the fraud1 with the hope they might both fasten themselves1 in the true alchymical fashion1 upon some rich dupe1 who would entertain them magnificently while the operation was in progress4 ,the fate of ,delisle was no inducement for them to stop in ,france4 ,the ,provenals1 it is true1 entertained as high an opinion as ever of his skill1 and were well inclined to believe the tales of the young adept on whom his mantle had fallen2 but the dungeons of the ,bastille were yawning for their prey1 and ,aluys and his mother decamped with all convenient expedition4 ,they travelled about the ,continent for several years1 sponging upon credulous rich men1 and now and then performing successful transmutations by the aid of double-bottomed crucibles and the like4 ,in the year #agbf1 ,aluys1 without his mother1 who appears to have died in the interval1 was at ,vienna1 where he introduced himself to the ,duke de ,richelieu1 at that time ambassador from the court of ,france4 ,he completely deceived this nobleman2 he turned lead into gold 7apparently7 on several occasions1 and even made the ambassador himself turn an iron nail into a silver one4 ,the duke afterwards boasted to ,lenglet du ,fresnoy of his achievements as an alchymist1 and regretted that he had not been able to discover the secret of the precious powder by which he performed them4 ,aluys soon found that1 although he might make a dupe of the ,duke de ,richelieu1 he could not get any money from him4 ,on the contrary1 the duke expected all his pokers and fire-shovels to be made silver1 and all his pewter utensils gold2 and thought the honour of his acquaintance was reward sufficient for a roturier1 who could not want wealth since he possessed so invaluable a secret4 ,aluys1 seeing that so much was expected of him1 bade adieu to his excellency1 and proceeded to ,bohemia accompanied by a pupil1 and by a young girl who had fallen in love with him in ,vienna4 ,some noblemen in ,bohemia received him kindly1 and entertained him at their houses for months at a time4 ,it was his usual practice to pretend that he possessed only a few grains of his powder1 with which he would operate in any house where he intended to fix his quarters for the season4 ,he would make the proprietor the present of a piece of gold thus transmuted1 and promise him millions1 if he could only be provided with leisure to gather his lunaria major and minor on their mountain-tops1 and board1 lodging1 and loose cash for himself1 his wife1 and his pupil1 in the interval4 ,he exhausted in this manner the patience of some dozen of people1 when1 thinking that there was less danger for him in ,france under the young king ,louis ,,xv4 than under his old and morose predecessor1 he returned to ,provence4 ,on his arrival at ,aix1 he presented himself before ,m4 le ,bret1 the president of the province1 a gentleman who was much attached to the pursuits of alchymy1 and had great hopes of being himself able to find the philosopher's stone4 ,m4 le ,bret1 contrary to his expectation1 received him very coolly1 in consequence of some rumours that were spread abroad respecting him2 and told him to call upon him on the morrow4 ,aluys did not like the tone of the voice1 or the expression of the eye of the learned president1 as that functionary looked down upon him4 ,suspecting that all was not right1 he left ,aix secretly the same evening1 and proceeded to ,marseilles4 ,but the police were on the watch for him2 and he had not been there four-and-twenty hours1 before he was arrested on a charge of coining1 and thrown into prison4 ,as the proofs against him were too convincing to leave him much hope of an acquittal1 he planned an escape from durance4 ,it so happened that the gaoler had a pretty daughter1 and ,aluys soon discovered that she was tender-hearted4 ,he endeavoured to gain her in his favour1 and succeeded4 ,the damsel1 unaware that he was a married man1 conceived and encouraged a passion for him1 and generously provided him with the means of escape4 ,after he had been nearly a year in prison he succeeded in getting free1 leaving the poor girl behind to learn that he was already married1 and to lament in solitude that she had given her heart to an ungrateful vagabond4 ,when he left ,marseilles1 he had not a shoe to his foot or a decent garment to his back1 but was provided with some money and clothes by his wife in a neighbouring town4 ,they then found their way to ,brussels1 and by dint of excessive impudence1 brought themselves into notice4 ,he took a house1 fitted up a splendid laboratory1 and gave out that he knew the secret of transmutation4 ,in vain did ,m4 ,percel1 the brother-in-law of ,lenglet du ,fresnoy1 who resided in that city1 expose his pretensions1 and hold him up to contempt as an ignorant impostor3 the world believed him not4 ,they took the alchymist at his word1 and besieged his doors to see and wonder at the clever legerdemain by which he turned iron nails into gold and silver4 ,a rich greffier paid him a large sum of money that he might be instructed in the art1 and ,aluys gave him several lessons on the most common principles of chemistry4 ,the greffier studied hard for a twelvemonth1 and then discovered that his master was a quack4 ,he demanded his money back again2 but ,aluys was not inclined to give it him1 and the affair was brought before the civil tribunal of the province4 ,in the mean time1 however1 the greffier died suddenly2 poisoned1 according to the popular rumour1 by his debtor1 to avoid repayment4 ,so great an outcry arose in the city1 that ,aluys1 who may have been innocent of the crime1 was nevertheless afraid to remain and brave it4 ,he withdrew secretly in the night1 and retired to ,paris4 ,here all trace of him is lost4 ,he was never heard of again2 but ,lenglet du ,fresnoy conjectures that he ended his days in some obscure dungeon1 into which he was cast for coining or other malpractices4 ,,the ,,count ,,de ,,st4 ,,germain4 ,this adventurer was of a higher grade than the last1 and played a distinguished part at the court of ,louis ,,xv4 ,he pretended to have discovered the elixir of life1 by means of which he could make any one live for centuries2 and allowed it to believed that his own age was upwards of two thousand years4 ,he entertained many of the opinions of the ,rosicrucians2 boasted of his intercourse with sylphs and salamanders2 and of his power of drawing diamonds from the earth1 and pearls from the sea1 by the force of his incantations4 ,he did not lay claim to the merit of having discovered the philosopher's stone2 but devoted so much of his time to the operations of alchymy1 that it was very generally believed1 that if such a thing as the philosopher's stone had ever existed1 or could be called into existence1 he was the man to succeed in finding it4 ,it has never yet been discovered what was his real name1 or in what country he was born4 ,some believed1 from the ,jewish cast of his handsome countenance1 that he was the wandering ,jew2 others asserted that he was the issue of an ,arabian princess1 and that his father was a salamander2 while others1 more reasonable1 affirmed him to be the son of a ,portuguese ,jew established at ,bourdeaux4 ,he first carried on his imposture in ,germany1 where he made considerable sums by selling an elixir to arrest the progress of old age4 ,the ,marchal de ,belle-,isle purchased a dose of it2 and was so captivated with the wit1 learning1 and good manners of the charlatan1 and so convinced of the justice of his most preposterous pretensions1 that he induced him to fix his residence in ,paris4 ,under the marshal's patronage1 he first appeared in the gay circles of that capital4 ,every one was delighted with the mysterious stranger2 who1 at this period of his life1 appears to have been about seventy years of age1 but did not look more than forty-five4 ,his easy assurance imposed upon most people4 ,his reading was extensive1 and his memory extraordinarily tenacious of the slightest circumstances4 ,his pretension to have lived for so many centuries naturally exposed him to some puzzling questions1 as to the appearance1 life1 and conversation of the great men of former days2 but he was never at a loss for an answer4 ,many who questioned him for the purpose of scoffing at him1 refrained in perplexity1 quite bewildered by his presence of mind1 his ready replies1 and his astonishing accuracy on every point mentioned in history4 ,to increase the mystery by which he was surrounded1 he permitted no person to know how he lived4 ,he dressed in a style of the greatest magnificence2 sported valuable diamonds in his hat1 on his fingers1 and in his shoe-buckles2 and sometimes made the most costly presents to the ladies of the court4 ,it was suspected by many that he was a spy1 in the pay of the ,english ministry2 but there never was a tittle of evidence to support the charge4 ,the king looked upon him with marked favour1 was often closeted with him for hours together1 and would not suffer any body to speak disparagingly of him4 ,voltaire constantly turned him into ridicule2 and1 in one of his letters to the ,king of ,prussia1 mentions him as un comte pour rire2 and states that he pretended to have dined with the holy fathers at the ,council of ,trent6 ,in the ,memoirs of ,madame du ,hausset1 chamber-woman to ,madame du ,pompadour1 there are some amusing anecdotes of this personage4 ,very soon after his arrival in ,paris1 he had the entre of her dressing-room2 a favour only granted to the most powerful lords at the court of her royal lover4 ,madame was fond of conversing with him2 and1 in her presence1 he thought fit to lower his pretensions very considerably2 but he often allowed her to believe that he had lived two or three hundred years at least4 ,one day1 says ,madame du ,hausset1 madame said to him1 in my presence1 ',what was the personal appearance of ,francis ,i48 ,he was a king ,i should have liked4' ',he was1 indeed1 very captivating1' replied ,st4 ,germain2 and he proceeded to describe his face and person1 as that of a man whom he had accurately observed4 ',it is a pity he was too ardent4 ,i could have given him some good advice1 which would have saved him from all his misfortunes3 but he would not have followed it2 for it seems as if a fatality attended princes1 forcing them to shut their ears to the wisest counsel4' ',was his court very brilliant8' inquired ,madame du ,pompadour4 ',very1' replied the count2 'but those of his grandsons surpassed it4 ,in the time of ,mary ,stuart and ,margaret of ,valois1 it was a land of enchantment--a temple sacred to pleasures of every kind4' ,madame said1 laughing1 ',you seem to have seen all this4' ',i have an excellent memory1' said he1 'and have read the history of ,france with great care4 ,i sometimes amuse myself1 not by making1 but by letting1 it be believed that ,i lived in old times4' ',but you do not tell us your age1' said ,madame du ,pompadour to him on another occasion2 'and yet you pretend you are very old4 ,the ,countess de ,gergy1 who was1 ,i believe1 ambassadress at ,vienna some fifty years ago1 says she saw you there1 exactly the same as you now appear4' ',it is true1 madame1' replied ,st4 ,germain2 ',i knew ,madame de ,gergy many years ago4' ',but1 according to her account1 you must be more than a hundred years old8' ',that is not impossible1' said he1 laughing2 'but it is much more possible that the good lady is in her dotage4' ',you gave her an elixir1 surprising for the effects it produced2 for she says1 that during a length of time1 she only appeared to be eighty-four2 the age at which she took it4 ,why don't you give it to the king8' ',oh1 madam1' he exclaimed1 'the physicians would have me broken on the wheel1 were ,i to think of drugging his majesty4' ,when the world begins to believe extraordinary things of an individual1 there is no telling where its extravagance will stop4 ,people1 when once they have taken the start1 vie with each other who shall believe most4 ,at this period all ,paris resounded with the wonderful adventures of the ,count de ,st4 ,germain2 and a company of waggish young men tried the following experiment upon its credulity3 ,a clever mimic1 who1 on account of the amusement he afforded1 was admitted into good society1 was taken by them1 dressed as the ,count de ,st4 ,germain1 into several houses in the ,rue du ,marais4 ,he imitated the count's peculiarities admirably1 and found his auditors open-mouthed to believe any absurdity he chose to utter4 ,no fiction was too monstrous for their all-devouring credulity4 ,he spoke of the ,saviour of the world in terms of the greatest familiarity2 said he had supped with him at the marriage in ,canaan of ,galilee1 where the water was miraculously turned into wine4 ,in fact1 he said he was an intimate friend of his1 and had often warned him to be less romantic and imprudent1 or he would finish his career miserably4 ,this infamous blasphemy1 strange to say1 found believers2 and ere three days had elapsed1 it was currently reported that ,st4 ,germain was born soon after the deluge1 and that he would never die6 ,st4 ,germain himself was too much a man of the world to assert any thing so monstrous2 but he took no pains to contradict the story4 ,in all his conversations with persons of rank and education1 he advanced his claims modestly1 and as if by mere inadvertency1 and seldom pretended to a longevity beyond three hundred years1 except when he found he was in company with persons who would believe any thing4 ,he often spoke of ,henry ,,viii4 as if he had known him intimately1 and of the ,emperor ,charles ,v4 as if that monarch had delighted in his society4 ,he would describe conversations which took place with such an apparent truthfulness1 and be so exceedingly minute and particular as to the dress and appearance of the individuals1 and even the weather at the time and the furniture of the room1 that three persons out of four were generally inclined to credit him4 ,he had constant applications from rich old women for an elixir to make them young again1 and it would appear gained large sums in this manner4 ,to those whom he was pleased to call his friends he said his mode of living and plan of diet were far superior to any elixir1 and that any body might attain a patriarchal age by refraining from drinking at meals1 and very sparingly at any other time4 ,the ,baron de ,gleichen followed this system1 and took great quantities of senna leaves1 expecting to live for two hundred years4 ,he died1 however1 at seventy-three4 ,the ,duchess de ,choiseul was desirous of following the same system1 but the duke her husband in much wrath forbade her to follow any system prescribed by a man who had so equivocal a reputation as ,m4 de ,st4 ,germain4 ,madame du ,hausset says she saw ,st4 ,germain and conversed with him several times4 ,he appeared to her to be about fifty years of age1 was of the middle size1 and had fine expressive features4 ,his dress was always simple1 but displayed much taste4 ,he usually wore diamond rings of great value1 and his watch and snuff-box were ornamented with a profusion of precious stones4 ,one day1 at ,madame du ,pompadour's apartments1 where the principal courtiers were assembled1 ,st4 ,germain made his appearance in diamond knee and shoe buckles of so fine a water1 that madame said she did not think the king had any equal to them4 ,he was entreated to pass into the antechamber and undo them1 which he did1 and brought them to madame for closer inspection4 ,m4 de ,gontant1 who was present1 said their value could not be less than two hundred thousand livres1 or upwards of eight thousand pounds sterling4 ,the ,baron de ,gleichen1 in his ,memoirs1 relates that the count one day shewed him so many diamonds1 that he thought he saw before him all the treasures of ,aladdin's lamp2 and adds1 that he had had great experience in precious stones1 and was convinced that all those possessed by the count were genuine4 ,on another occasion ,st4 ,germain shewed ,madame du ,pompadour a small box1 containing topazes1 emeralds1 and diamonds worth half a million of livres4 ,he affected to despise all this wealth1 to make the world more easily believe that he could1 like the ,rosicrucians1 draw precious stones out of the earth by the magic of his song4 ,he gave away a great number of these jewels to the ladies of the court2 and ,madame du ,pompadour was so charmed with his generosity1 that she gave him a richly enamelled snuff-box as a token of her regard1 on the lid of which was beautifully painted a portrait of ,socrates1 or some other ,greek sage1 to whom she compared him4 ,he was not only lavish to the mistresses1 but to the maids4 ,madame du ,hausset says3 ,the count came to see ,madame du ,pompadour1 who was very ill1 and lay on the sofa4 ,he shewed her diamonds enough to furnish a king's treasury4 ,madame sent for me to see all those beautiful things4 ,i looked at them with an air of the utmost astonishment2 but ,i made signs to her that ,i thought them all false4 ,the count felt for something in a pocket-book about twice as large as a spectacle-case1 and at length drew out two or three little paper packets1 which he unfolded1 and exhibited a superb ruby4 ,he threw on the table1 with a contemptuous air1 a little cross of green and white stones4 ,i looked at it1 and said it was not to be despised4 ,i then put it on1 and admired it greatly4 ,the count begged me to accept it2 ,i refused4 ,he urged me to take it4 ,at length he pressed so warmly1 that madame1 seeing it could not be worth more than a thousand livres1 made me a sign to accept it4 ,i took the cross1 much pleased with the count's politeness4 ,how the adventurer obtained his wealth remains a secret4 ,he could not have made it all by the sale of his elixir vit in ,germany1 though no doubt some portion of it was derived from that source4 ,voltaire positively says he was in the pay of foreign governments2 and in his letter to the ,king of ,prussia1 dated the #eth of ,april #ageh1 says that he was initiated in all the secrets of ,choiseul1 ,kaunitz1 and ,pitt4 ,of what use he could be to any of those ministers1 and to ,choiseul especially1 is a mystery of mysteries4 ,there appears no doubt that he possessed the secret of removing spots from diamonds2 and in all probability he gained considerable sums by buying at inferior prices such as had flaws in them1 and afterwards disposing of them at a profit of cent per cent4 ,madame du ,hausset relates the following anecdote on this particular3 ,the king1 says she1 ordered a middling-sized diamond1 which had a flaw in it1 to be brought to him4 ,after having it weighed1 his majesty said to the count1 ',the value of this diamond as it is1 and with the flaw in it1 is six thousand livres2 without the flaw1 it would be worth at least ten thousand4 ,will you undertake to make me a gainer of four thousand livres8' ,st4 ,germain examined it very attentively1 and said1 ',it is possible2 it may be done4 ,i will bring it you again in a month4' ,at the time appointed the count brought back the diamond without a spot1 and gave it to the king4 ,it was wrapped in a cloth of amianthos1 which he took off4 ,the king had it weighed immediately1 and found it very little diminished4 ,his majesty then sent it to his jeweller by ,m4 de ,gontant1 without telling him of any thing that had passed4 ,the jeweller gave nine thousand six hundred livres for it4 ,the king1 however1 sent for the diamond back again1 and said he would keep it as a curiosity4 ,he could not overcome his surprise1 and said ,m4 de ,st4 ,germain must be worth millions1 especially if he possessed the secret of making large diamonds out of small ones4 ,the count neither said that he could or could not1 but positively asserted that he knew how to make pearls grow1 and give them the finest water4 ,the king paid him great attention1 and so did ,madame du ,pompadour4 ,m4 du ,quesnoy once said that ,st4 ,germain was a quack1 but the king reprimanded him4 ,in fact1 his majesty appears infatuated by him1 and sometimes talks of him as if his descent were illustrious4 ,st4 ,germain had a most amusing vagabond for a servant1 to whom he would often appeal for corroboration1 when relating some wonderful event that happened centuries before4 ,the fellow1 who was not without ability1 generally corroborated him in a most satisfactory manner4 ,upon one occasion1 his master was telling a party of ladies and gentlemen1 at dinner1 some conversation he had had in ,palestine with ,king ,richard ,i4 of ,england1 whom he described as a very particular friend of his4 ,signs of astonishment and incredulity were visible on the faces of the company2 upon which ,st4 ,germain very coolly turned to his servant1 who stood behind his chair1 and asked him if he had not spoken truth8 ,i really cannot say1 replied the man1 without moving a muscle2 you forget1 sir1 ,i have only been five hundred years in your service6 ,ah6 true1 said his master2 ,i remember now2 it was a little before your time6 ,occasionally1 when with men whom he could not so easily dupe1 he gave utterance to the contempt with which he could scarcely avoid regarding such gaping credulity4 ,these fools of ,parisians1 said he to the ,baron de ,gleichen1 believe me to be more than five hundred years old2 and1 since they will have it so1 ,i confirm them in their idea4 ,not but that ,i really am much older than ,i appear4 ,many other stories are related of this strange impostor2 but enough have been quoted to shew his character and pretensions4 ,it appears that he endeavoured to find the philosopher's stone2 but never boasted of possessing it4 ,the ,prince of ,hesse ,cassel1 whom he had known years before1 in ,germany1 wrote urgent letters to him1 entreating him to quit ,paris1 and reside with him4 ,st4 ,germain at last consented4 ,nothing further is known of his career4 ,there were no gossipping memoir-writers at the court of ,hesse ,cassel to chronicle his sayings and doings4 ,he died at ,sleswig1 under the roof of his friend the prince1 in the year #aghd4 ,,cagliostro4 ,this famous charlatan1 the friend and successor of ,st4 ,germain1 ran a career still more extraordinary4 ,he was the arch-quack of his age1 the last of the great pretenders to the philosopher's stone and the water of life1 and during his brief season of prosperity1 one of the most conspicuous characters of ,europe4 ,his real name was ,joseph ,balsamo4 ,he was born at ,palermo1 about the year #agdc1 of humble parentage4 ,he had the misfortune to lose his father during his infancy1 and his education was left in consequence to some relatives of his mother1 the latter being too poor to afford him any instruction beyond mere reading and writing4 ,he was sent in his fifteenth year to a monastery1 to be taught the elements of chemistry and physic2 but his temper was so impetuous1 his indolence so invincible1 and his vicious habits so deeply rooted1 that he made no progress4 ,after remaining some years1 he left it with the character of an uninformed and dissipated young man1 with good natural talents but a bad disposition4 ,when he became of age1 he abandoned himself to a life of riot and debauchery1 and entered himself1 in fact1 into that celebrated fraternity1 known in ,france and ,italy as the ,knights of ,industry1 and in ,england as the ,swell ,mob4 ,he was far from being an idle or unwilling member of the corps4 ,the first way in which he distinguished himself was by forging orders of admission to the theatres4 ,he afterwards robbed his uncle1 and counterfeited a will4 ,for acts like these1 he paid frequent compulsory visits to the prisons of ,palermo4 ,somehow or other he acquired the character of a sorcerer--of a man who had failed in discovering the secrets of alchymy1 and had sold his soul to the devil for the gold which he was not able to make by means of transmutation4 ,he took no pains to disabuse the popular mind on this particular1 but rather encouraged the belief than otherwise4 ,he at last made use of it to cheat a silversmith named ,marano1 of about sixty ounces of gold1 and was in consequence obliged to leave ,palermo4 ,he persuaded this man that he could shew him a treasure hidden in a cave1 for which service he was to receive the sixty ounces of gold1 while the silversmith was to have all the treasure for the mere trouble of digging it up4 ,they went together at midnight to an excavation in the vicinity of ,palermo1 where ,balsamo drew a magic circle1 and invoked the devil to shew his treasures4 ,suddenly there appeared half a dozen fellows1 the accomplices of the swindler1 dressed to represent devils1 with horns on their heads1 claws to their fingers1 and vomiting apparently red and blue flame4 ,they were armed with pitchforks1 with which they belaboured poor ,marano till he was almost dead1 and robbed him of his sixty ounces of gold and all the valuables he carried about his person4 ,they then made off1 accompanied by ,balsamo1 leaving the unlucky silversmith to recover or die at his leisure4 ,nature chose the former course2 and soon after daylight he was restored to his senses1 smarting in body from his blows and in spirit for the deception of which he had been the victim4 ,his first impulse was to denounce ,balsamo to the magistrates of the town2 but on further reflection he was afraid of the ridicule that a full exposure of all the circumstances would draw upon him2 he therefore took the truly ,italian resolution of being revenged on ,balsamo1 by murdering him at the first convenient opportunity4 ,having given utterance to this threat in the hearing of a friend of ,balsamo1 it was reported to the latter1 who immediately packed up his valuables and quitted ,europe4 ,he chose ,medina1 in ,arabia1 for his future dwelling-place1 and there became acquainted with a ,greek named ,altotas1 a man exceedingly well versed in all the languages of the ,east1 and an indefatigable student of alchymy4 ,he possessed an invaluable collection of ,arabian manuscripts on his favourite science1 and studied them with such unremitting industry that he found he had not sufficient time to attend to his crucibles and furnaces without neglecting his books4 ,he was looking about for an assistant when ,balsamo opportunely presented himself1 and made so favourable an impression that he was at once engaged in that capacity4 ,but the relation of master and servant did not long subsist between them2 ,balsamo was too ambitious and too clever to play a secondary part1 and within fifteen days of their first acquaintance they were bound together as friends and partners4 ,altotas1 in the course of a long life devoted to alchymy1 had stumbled upon some valuable discoveries in chemistry1 one of which was an ingredient for improving the manufacture of flax1 and imparting to goods of that material a gloss and softness almost equal to silk4 ,balsamo gave him the good advice to leave the philosopher's stone for the present undiscovered1 and make gold out of their flax4 ,the advice was taken1 and they proceeded together to ,alexandria to trade1 with a large stock of that article4 ,they stayed forty days in ,alexandria1 and gained a considerable sum by their venture4 ,they afterwards visited other cities in ,egypt1 and were equally successful4 ,they also visited ,turkey1 where they sold drugs and amulets4 ,on their return to ,europe1 they were driven by stress of weather into ,malta1 and were hospitably received by ,pinto1 the ,grand ,master of the ,knights1 and a famous alchymist4 ,they worked in his laboratory for some months1 and tried hard to change a pewter platter into a silver one4 ,balsamo1 having less faith than his companions1 was sooner wearied2 and obtaining from his host many letters of introduction to ,rome and ,naples1 he left him and ,altotas to find the philosopher's stone and transmute the pewter platter without him4 ,he had long since dropped the name of ,balsamo on account of the many ugly associations that clung to it2 and during his travels had assumed at least half a score others1 with titles annexed to them4 ,he called himself sometimes the ,chevalier de ,fischio1 the ,marquis de ,melissa1 the ,baron de ,belmonte1 de ,pelligrini1 d',anna1 de ,fenix1 de ,harat1 but most commonly the ,count de ,cagliostro4 ,under the latter title he entered ,rome1 and never afterwards changed it4 ,in this city he gave himself out as the restorer of the ,rosicrucian philosophy2 said he could transmute all metals into gold2 that he could render himself invisible1 cure all diseases1 and administer an elixir against old age and decay4 ,his letters from the ,grand ,master ,pinto procured him an introduction into the best families4 ,he made money rapidly by the sale of his elixir vit2 and1 like other quacks1 performed many remarkable cures by inspiring his patients with the most complete faith and reliance upon his powers2 an advantage which the most impudent charlatans often possess over the regular practitioner4 ,while thus in a fair way of making his fortune he became acquainted with the beautiful ,lorenza ,feliciana1 a young lady of noble birth1 but without fortune4 ,cagliostro soon discovered that she possessed accomplishments that were invaluable4 ,besides her ravishing beauty1 she had the readiest wit1 the most engaging manners1 the most fertile imagination1 and the least principle of any of the maidens of ,rome4 ,she was just the wife for ,cagliostro1 who proposed himself to her1 and was accepted4 ,after their marriage1 he instructed his fair ,lorenza in all the secrets of his calling--taught her pretty lips to invoke angels1 and genii1 sylphs1 salamanders1 and undines1 and1 when need required1 devils and evil spirits4 ,lorenza was an apt scholar2 she soon learned all the jargon of the alchymists and all the spells of the enchanters2 and thus accomplished the hopeful pair set out on their travels1 to levy contributions on the superstitious and the credulous4 ,they first went to ,sleswig on a visit to the ,count de ,st4 ,germain1 their great predecessor in the art of making dupes1 and were received by him in the most magnificent manner4 ,they no doubt fortified their minds for the career they had chosen by the sage discourse of that worshipful gentleman2 for immediately after they left him1 they began their operations4 ,they travelled for three or four years in ,russia1 ,poland1 and ,germany1 transmuting metals1 telling fortunes1 raising spirits1 and selling the elixir vit wherever they went2 but there is no record of their doings from whence to draw a more particular detail4 ,it was not until they made their appearance in ,england in #aggf1 that the names of the ,count and ,countess di ,cagliostro began to acquire a ,european reputation4 ,they arrived in ,london in the ,july of that year1 possessed of property1 in plate1 jewels1 and specie1 to the amount of about three thousand pounds4 ,they hired apartments in ,whitcombe ,street1 and lived for some months quietly4 ,in the same house there lodged a ,portuguese woman1 named ,blavary1 who1 being in necessitous circumstances1 was engaged by the count as interpreter4 ,she was constantly admitted into his laboratory1 where he spent much of his time in search of the philosopher's stone4 ,she spread abroad the fame of her entertainer in return for his hospitality1 and laboured hard to impress every body with as full a belief in his extraordinary powers as she felt herself2 but as a female interpreter of the rank and appearance of ,madame ,blavary did not exactly correspond with the count's notions either of dignity or decorum1 he hired a person named ,vitellini1 a teacher of languages1 to act in that capacity4 ,vitellini was a desperate gambler1 a man who had tried almost every resource to repair his ruined fortunes1 including among the rest the search for the philosopher's stone4 ,immediately that he saw the count's operations1 he was convinced that the great secret was his1 and that the golden gates of the palace of fortune were open to let him in4 ,with still more enthusiasm than ,madame ,blavary1 he held forth to his acquaintance1 and in all public places1 that the count was an extraordinary man1 a true adept1 whose fortune was immense1 and who could transmute into pure and solid gold as much lead1 iron1 and copper as he pleased4 ,the consequence was1 that the house of ,cagliostro was besieged by crowds of the idle1 the credulous1 and the avaricious1 all eager to obtain a sight of the philosopher1 or to share in the boundless wealth which he could call into existence4 ,unfortunately for ,cagliostro1 he had fallen into evil hands4 ,instead of duping the people of ,england1 as he might have done1 he became himself the victim of a gang of swindlers1 who1 with the fullest reliance on his occult powers1 only sought to make money of him4 ,vitellini introduced to him a ruined gambler like himself1 named ,scot1 whom he represented as a ,scottish nobleman1 attracted to ,london solely by his desire to see and converse with the extraordinary man whose fame had spread to the distant mountains of the north4 ,cagliostro received him with great kindness and cordiality2 and ,lord ,scot thereupon introduced a woman named ,fry as ,lady ,scot1 who was to act as chaperone to the ,countess di ,cagliostro1 and make her acquainted with all the noble families of ,britain4 ,thus things went swimmingly4 ,his lordship1 whose effects had not arrived from ,scotland1 and who had no banker in ,london1 borrowed two hundred pounds of the count4 ,they were lent without scruple1 so flattered was ,cagliostro by the attentions they paid him1 the respect1 nay veneration they pretended to feel for him1 and the complete deference with which they listened to every word that fell from his lips4 ,superstitious like all desperate gamesters1 ,scot had often tried magical and cabalistic numbers1 in the hope of discovering lucky numbers in the lottery or at the roulette-tables4 ,he had in his possession a cabalistic manuscript1 containing various arithmetical combinations of the kind1 which he submitted to ,cagliostro1 with an urgent request that he would select a number4 ,cagliostro took the manuscript and studied it1 but1 as he himself informs us1 with no confidence in its truth4 ,he1 however1 predicted twenty as the successful number for the #fth of ,november following4 ,scot ventured a small sum upon this number out of the two hundred pounds he had borrowed1 and won4 ,cagliostro1 incited by this success1 prognosticated number twenty-five for the next drawing4 ,scot tried again1 and won a hundred guineas4 ,the numbers fifty-five and fifty-seven were announced with equal success for the #ahth of the same month1 to the no small astonishment and delight of ,cagliostro1 who thereupon resolved to try fortune for himself1 and not for others4 ,to all the entreaties of ,scot and his lady that he would predict more numbers for them1 he turned a deaf ear1 even while he still thought him a lord and a man of honour2 but when he discovered that he was a mere swindler1 and the pretended ,lady ,scot an artful woman of the town1 he closed his door upon them and on all their gang4 ,having complete faith in the supernatural powers of the count1 they were in the deepest distress at having lost his countenance4 ,they tried by every means their ingenuity could suggest to propitiate him again4 ,they implored1 they threatened1 and endeavoured to bribe him2 but all was vain4 ,cagliostro would neither see nor correspond with them4 ,in the mean time they lived extravagantly1 and in the hope of future1 exhausted all their present gains4 ,they were reduced to the last extremity1 when ,miss ,fry obtained access to the countess1 and received a guinea from her on the representation that she was starving4 ,miss ,fry1 not contented with this1 begged her to intercede with her husband1 that for the last time he would point out a lucky number in the lottery4 ,the countess promised to exert her influence2 and ,cagliostro1 thus entreated1 named the number eight1 at the same time reiterating his determination to have no more to do with any of them4 ,by an extraordinary hazard1 which filled ,cagliostro with surprise and pleasure1 number eight was the greatest prize in the lottery4 ,miss ,fry and her associates cleared fifteen hundred guineas by the adventure1 and became more than ever convinced of the occult powers of ,cagliostro1 and strengthened in their determination never to quit him until they had made their fortunes4 ,out of the proceeds ,miss ,fry bought a handsome necklace at a pawnbroker's for ninety guineas4 ,she then ordered a richly-chased gold box1 having two compartments1 to be made at a jeweller's1 and putting the necklace in the one1 filled the other with a fine aromatic snuff4 ,she then sought another interview with ,madame di ,cagliostro1 and urged her to accept the box as a small token of her esteem and gratitude1 without mentioning the valuable necklace that was concealed in it4 ,madame di ,cagliostro accepted the present1 and was from that hour exposed to the most incessant persecution from all the confederates--,blavary1 ,vitellini1 and the pretended ,lord and ,lady ,scot4 ,they flattered themselves they had regained their lost footing in the house1 and came day after day to know lucky numbers in the lottery1 sometimes forcing themselves up the stairs1 and into the count's laboratory1 in spite of the efforts of the servants to prevent them4 ,cagliostro1 exasperated at their pertinacity1 threatened to call in the assistance of the magistrates1 and taking ,miss ,fry by the shoulders1 pushed her into the street4 ,from that time may be dated the misfortunes of ,cagliostro4 ,miss ,fry1 at the instigation of her paramour1 determined on vengeance4 ,her first act was to swear a debt of two hundred pounds against ,cagliostro1 and to cause him to be arrested for that sum4 ,while he was in custody in a sponging-house1 ,scot1 accompanied by a low attorney1 broke into his laboratory1 and carried off a small box1 containing1 as they believed1 the powder of transmutation1 and a number of cabalistic manuscripts and treatises upon alchymy4 ,they also brought an action against him for the recovery of the necklace2 and ,miss ,fry accused both him and his countess of sorcery and witchcraft1 and of foretelling numbers in the lottery by the aid of the ,devil4 ,this latter charge was actually heard before ,mr4 ,justice ,miller4 ,the action of trover for the necklace was tried before the ,lord ,chief ,justice of the ,common ,pleas1 who recommended the parties to submit to arbitration4 ,in the mean time ,cagliostro remained in prison for several weeks1 till having procured bail1 he was liberated4 ,he was soon after waited upon by an attorney named ,reynolds1 also deep in the plot1 who offered to compromise all the actions upon certain conditions4 ,scot1 who had accompanied him1 concealed himself behind the door1 and suddenly rushing out1 presented a pistol at the heart of ,cagliostro1 swearing he would shoot him instantly1 if he would not tell him truly the art of predicting lucky numbers and of transmuting metals4 ,reynolds pretending to be very angry1 disarmed his accomplice1 and entreated the count to satisfy them by fair means1 and disclose his secrets1 promising that if he would do so1 they would discharge all the actions1 and offer him no further molestation4 ,cagliostro replied1 that threats and entreaties were alike useless2 that he knew no secrets2 and that the powder of transmutation of which they had robbed him1 was of no value to any body but himself4 ,he offered1 however1 if they would discharge the actions1 and return the powder and the manuscripts1 to forgive them all the money they had swindled him out of4 ,these conditions were refused2 and ,scot and ,reynolds departed1 swearing vengeance against him4 ,cagliostro appears to have been quite ignorant of the forms of law in ,england1 and to have been without a friend to advise him as to the best course he should pursue4 ,while he was conversing with his countess on the difficulties that beset them1 one of his bail called1 and invited him to ride in a hackney coach to the house of a person who would see him righted4 ,cagliostro consented1 and was driven to the ,king's ,bench prison1 where his friend left him4 ,he did not discover for several hours that he was a prisoner1 or1 in fact1 understand the process of being surrendered by one's bail4 ,he regained his liberty in a few weeks2 and the arbitrators between him and ,miss ,fry made their award against him4 ,he was ordered to pay the two hundred pounds she had sworn against him1 and to restore the necklace and gold box which had been presented to the countess4 ,cagliostro was so disgusted1 that he determined to quit ,england4 ,his pretensions1 besides1 had been unmercifully exposed by a ,frenchman1 named ,morande1 the editor of the ,courrier de l',europe1 published in ,london4 ,to add to his distress1 he was recognised in ,westminster ,hall as ,joseph ,balsamo1 the swindler of ,palermo4 ,such a complication of disgrace was not to be borne4 ,he and his countess packed up their small effects1 and left ,england with no more than fifty pounds1 out of the three thousand they had brought with them4 ,they first proceeded to ,brussels1 where fortune was more auspicious4 ,they sold considerable quantities of the elixir of life1 performed many cures1 and recruited their finances4 ,they then took their course through ,germany to ,russia1 and always with the same success4 ,gold flowed into their coffers faster than they could count it4 ,they quite forgot all the woes they had endured in ,england1 and learned to be more circumspect in the choice of their acquaintance4 ,in the year #aghj1 they made their appearance in ,strasbourg4 ,their fame had reached that city before them4 ,they took a magnificent hotel1 and invited all the principal persons of the place to their table4 ,their wealth appeared to be boundless1 and their hospitality equal to it4 ,both the count and countess acted as physicians1 and gave money1 advice1 and medicine to all the necessitous and suffering of the town4 ,many of the cures they performed astonished those regular practitioners who did not make sufficient allowance for the wonderful influence of imagination in certain cases4 ,the countess1 who at this time was not more than five-and-twenty1 and all radiant with grace1 beauty1 and cheerfulness1 spoke openly of her eldest son as a fine young man of eight-and-twenty1 who had been for some years a captain in the ,dutch service4 ,the trick succeeded to admiration4 ,all the ugly old women in ,strasbourg1 and for miles around1 thronged the saloon of the countess to purchase the liquid which was to make them as blooming as their daughters2 the young women came in equal abundance1 that they might preserve their charms1 and when twice as old as ,ninon de l',enclos1 be more captivating than she2 while men were not wanting who were fools enough to imagine that they might keep off the inevitable stroke of the grim foe by a few drops of the same incomparable elixir4 ,the countess1 sooth to say1 looked like an incarnation of immortal loveliness1 a very goddess of youth and beauty2 and it is possible that the crowds of young men and old1 who at all convenient seasons haunted the perfumed chambers of this enchantress1 were attracted less by their belief in her occult powers than from admiration of her languishing bright eyes and sparkling conversation4 ,but amid all the incense that was offered at her shrine1 ,madame di ,cagliostro was ever faithful to her spouse4 ,she encouraged hopes1 it is true1 but she never realised them2 she excited admiration1 yet kept it within bounds2 and made men her slaves1 without ever granting a favour of which the vainest might boast4 ,in this city they made the acquaintance of many eminent persons1 and1 among others1 of the ,cardinal ,prince de ,rohan1 who was destined afterwards to exercise so untoward an influence over their fate4 ,the cardinal1 who seems to have had great faith in him as a philosopher1 persuaded him to visit ,paris in his company1 which he did1 but remained only thirteen days4 ,he preferred the society of ,strasbourg1 and returned thither with the intention of fixing his residence far from the capital4 ,but he soon found that the first excitement of his arrival had passed away4 ,people began to reason with themselves1 and to be ashamed of their own admiration4 ,the populace1 among whom he had lavished his charity with a bountiful hand1 accused him of being the ,antichrist1 the ,wandering ,jew1 the man of fourteen hundred years of age1 a demon in human shape1 sent to lure the ignorant to their destruction2 while the more opulent and better informed called him a spy in the pay of foreign governments1 an agent of the police1 a swindler1 and a man of evil life4 ,the outcry grew at last so strong1 that he deemed it prudent to try his fortune elsewhere4 ,he went first to ,naples1 but that city was too near ,palermo2 he dreaded recognition from some of his early friends1 and1 after a short stay1 returned to ,france4 ,he chose ,bourdeaux as his next dwelling-place1 and created as great a sensation there as he had done in ,strasbourg4 ,he announced himself as the founder of a new school of medicine and philosophy1 boasted of his ability to cure all diseases1 and invited the poor and suffering to visit him1 and he would relieve the distress of the one class1 and cure the ailings of the other4 ,all day long the street opposite his magnificent hotel was crowded by the populace2 the halt and the blind1 women with sick babes in their arms1 and persons suffering under every species of human infirmity1 flocked to this wonderful doctor4 ,the relief he afforded in money more than counterbalanced the failure of his nostrums2 and the affluence of people from all the surrounding country became so great1 that the jurats of the city granted him a military guard1 to be stationed day and night before his door1 to keep order4 ,the anticipations of ,cagliostro were realised4 ,the rich were struck with admiration of his charity and benevolence1 and impressed with a full conviction of his marvellous powers4 ,the sale of the elixir went on admirably4 ,his saloons were thronged with wealthy dupes who came to purchase immortality4 ,beauty1 that would endure for centuries1 was the attraction for the fair sex2 health and strength for the same period were the baits held out to the other4 ,his charming countess1 in the meantime1 brought grist to the mill by telling fortunes and casting nativities1 or granting attendant sylphs to any ladies who would pay sufficiently for their services4 ,what was still better1 as tending to keep up the credit of her husband1 she gave the most magnificent parties in ,bourdeaux4 ,but as at ,strasbourg1 the popular delusion lasted for a few months only1 and burned itself out2 ,cagliostro forgot1 in the intoxication of success1 that there was a limit to quackery which once passed inspired distrust4 ,when he pretended to call spirits from the tomb1 people became incredulous4 ,he was accused of being an enemy to religion1 of denying ,christ1 and of being the ,wandering ,jew4 ,he despised these rumours as long as they were confined to a few2 but when they spread over the town1 when he received no more fees1 when his parties were abandoned1 and his acquaintance turned away when they met him in the street1 he thought it high time to shift his quarters4 ,illustration3 ,,house ,,of ,,cagliostro1 ,,paris4 ,he was by this time wearied of the provinces1 and turned his thoughts to the capital4 ,on his arrival he announced himself as the restorer of ,egyptian ,freemasonry1 and the founder of a new philosophy4 ,he immediately made his way into the best society by means of his friend the ,cardinal de ,rohan4 ,his success as a magician was quite extraordinary3 the most considerable persons of the time visited him4 ,he boasted of being able1 like the ,rosicrucians1 to converse with the elementary spirits2 to invoke the mighty dead from the grave1 to transmute metals1 and to discover occult things by means of the special protection of ,god towards him4 ,like ,dr4 ,dee1 he summoned the angels to reveal the future2 and they appeared and conversed with him in crystals and under glass bells4#dh ,there was hardly1 says the ,biographie des ,contemporains1 a fine lady in ,paris who would not sup with the shade of ,lucretius in the apartments of ,cagliostro2 a military officer who would not discuss the art of war with ,csar1 ,hannibal1 or ,alexander2 or an advocate or counsellor who would not argue legal points with the ghost of ,cicero4 ,these interviews with the departed were very expensive2 for1 as ,cagliostro said1 the dead would not rise for nothing4 ,the countess1 as usual1 exercised all her ingenuity to support her husband's credit4 ,she was a great favourite with her own sex1 to many a delighted and wondering auditory of whom she detailed the marvellous powers of ,cagliostro4 ,she said he could render himself invisible1 traverse the world with the rapidity of thought1 and be in several places at the same time4#di #dh ,see the ,abb ,fiard1 and ,anecdotes of the ,reign of ,louis ,,xvi4 p4 #djj4 #di ,biographie des ,contemporains1 article ,cagliostro4 ,see also ,histoire de la ,magie en ,france1 par ,m4 ,jules ,garinet1 p4 #bhd4 ,he had not been long at ,paris before he became involved in the celebrated affair of the queen's necklace4 ,his friend the ,cardinal de ,rohan1 enamoured of the charms of ,marie ,antoinette1 was in sore distress at her coldness1 and the displeasure she had so often manifested against him4 ,there was at that time a lady named ,la ,motte in the service of the queen1 of whom the cardinal was foolish enough to make a confidant4 ,madame de la ,motte1 in return1 endeavoured to make a tool of the cardinal1 and succeeded but too well in her projects4 ,in her capacity of chamber-woman1 or lady of honour to the queen1 she was present at an interview between her majesty and ,m4 ,boehmer1 a wealthy jeweller of ,paris1 when the latter offered for sale a magnificent diamond necklace1 valued at #a1fjj1jjj francs1 or about #fd1jjjl4 sterling4 ,the queen admired it greatly1 but dismissed the jeweller1 with the expression of her regret that she was too poor to purchase it4 ,madame de la ,motte formed a plan to get this costly ornament into her own possession1 and determined to make the ,cardinal de ,rohan the instrument by which to effect it4 ,she therefore sought an interview with him1 and pretending to sympathise in his grief for the queen's displeasure1 told him she knew a way by which he might be restored to favour4 ,she then mentioned the necklace1 and the sorrow of the queen that she could not afford to buy it4 ,the cardinal1 who was as wealthy as he was foolish1 immediately offered to purchase the necklace1 and make a present of it to the queen4 ,madame de la ,motte told him by no means to do so1 as he would thereby offend her majesty4 ,his plan would be to induce the jeweller to give her majesty credit1 and accept her promissory note for the amount at a certain date1 to be hereafter agreed upon4 ,the cardinal readily agreed to the proposal1 and instructed the jeweller to draw up an agreement1 and he would procure the queen's signature4 ,he placed this in the hands of ,madame de la ,motte1 who returned it shortly afterwards1 with the words1 ,bon1 bon--approuv--,marie ,antoinette1 written in the margin4 ,she told him at the same time that the queen was highly pleased with his conduct in the matter1 and would appoint a meeting with him in the gardens of ,versailles1 when she would present him with a flower1 as a token of her regard4 ,the cardinal shewed the forged document to the jeweller1 obtained the necklace1 and delivered it into the hands of ,madame de la ,motte4 ,so far all was well4 ,her next object was to satisfy the cardinal1 who awaited impatiently the promised interview with his royal mistress4 ,there was at that time in ,paris a young woman named ,d',oliva1 noted for her resemblance to the queen2 and ,madame de la ,motte1 on the promise of a handsome reward1 found no difficulty in persuading her to personate ,marie ,antoinette1 and meet the ,cardinal de ,rohan at the evening twilight in the gardens of ,versailles4 ,the meeting took place accordingly4 ,the cardinal was deceived by the uncertain light1 the great resemblance of the counterfeit1 and his own hopes2 and having received the flower from ,mademoiselle ,d',oliva1 went home with a lighter heart than had beat in his bosom for many a day4#ej #ej ,the enemies of the unfortunate ,queen of ,france1 when the progress of the ,revolution embittered their animosity against her1 maintained that she was really a party in this transaction2 that she1 and not ,mademoiselle ,d',oliva1 met the cardinal and rewarded him with the flower2 and that the story above related was merely concocted between her ,la ,motte1 and others to cheat the jeweller of his #a1fjj1jjj francs4 ,in the course of time the forgery of the queen's signature was discovered4 ,boehmer the jeweller immediately named the ,cardinal de ,rohan and ,madame de la ,motte as the persons with whom he had negotiated1 and they were both arrested and thrown into the ,bastille4 ,la ,motte was subjected to a rigorous examination1 and the disclosures she made implicating ,cagliostro1 he was seized1 along with his wife1 and also sent to the ,bastille4 ,a story involving so much scandal necessarily excited great curiosity4 ,nothing was to be heard of in ,paris but the queen's necklace1 with surmises of the guilt or innocence of the several parties implicated4 ,the husband of ,madame de la ,motte escaped to ,england1 and in the opinion of many took the necklace with him1 and there disposed of it to different jewellers in small quantities at a time4 ,but ,madame de la ,motte insisted that she had entrusted it to ,cagliostro1 who had seized and taken it to pieces1 to swell the treasures of his immense unequalled fortune4 ,she spoke of him as an empiric1 a mean alchymist1 a dreamer on the philosopher's stone1 a false prophet1 a profaner of the true worship1 the self-dubbed ,count ,cagliostro6 ,she further said that he originally conceived the project of ruining the ,cardinal de ,rohan2 that he persuaded her1 by the exercise of some magic influence over her mind1 to aid and abet the scheme2 and that he was a robber1 a swindler1 and a sorcerer6 ,after all the accused parties had remained for upwards of six months in the ,bastille1 the trial commenced4 ,the depositions of the witnesses having been heard1 ,cagliostro1 as the principal culprit1 was first called upon for his defence4 ,he was listened to with the most breathless attention4 ,he put himself into a theatrical attitude1 and thus began3--,i am oppressed6--,i am accused6--,i am calumniated6 ,have ,i deserved this fate8 ,i descend into my conscience1 and ,i there find the peace that men refuse me6 ,i have travelled a great deal--,i am known over all ,europe1 and a great part of ,asia and ,africa4 ,i have every where shewn myself the friend of my fellow-creatures4 ,my knowledge1 my time1 my fortune have ever been employed in the relief of distress4 ,i have studied and practised medicine2 but ,i have never degraded that most noble and most consoling of arts by mercenary speculations of any kind4 ,though always giving1 and never receiving1 ,i have preserved my independence4 ,i have even carried my delicacy so far as to refuse the favours of kings4 ,i have given gratuitously my remedies and my advice to the rich2 the poor have received from me both remedies and money4 ,i have never contracted any debts1 and my manners are pure and uncorrupted4 ,after much more self-laudation of the same kind1 he went on to complain of the great hardships he had endured in being separated for so many months from his innocent and loving wife1 who1 as he was given to understand1 had been detained in the ,bastille1 and perhaps chained in an unwholesome dungeon4 ,he denied unequivocally that he had the necklace1 or that he had ever seen it2 and to silence the rumours and accusations against him1 which his own secrecy with regard to the events of his life had perhaps originated1 he expressed himself ready to satisfy the curiosity of the public1 and to give a plain and full account of his career4 ,he then told a romantic and incredible tale1 which imposed upon no one4 ,he said he neither knew the place of his birth nor the name of his parents1 but that he spent his infancy in ,medina1 in ,arabia1 and was brought up under the name of ,acharat4 ,he lived in the palace of the ,great ,muphti in that city1 and always had three servants to wait upon him1 besides his preceptor1 named ,althotas4 ,this ,althotas was very fond of him1 and told him that his father and mother1 who were ,christians and nobles1 died when he was three months old1 and left him in the care of the ,muphti4 ,he could never1 he said1 ascertain their names1 for whenever he asked ,althotas the question1 he was told that it would be dangerous for him to know4 ,some incautious expressions dropped by his preceptor gave him reason to think they were from ,malta4 ,at the age of twelve he began his travels1 and learned the various languages of the ,east4 ,he remained three years in ,mecca1 where the cherif1 or governor1 shewed him so much kindness1 and spoke to him so tenderly and affectionately1 that he sometimes thought that personage was his father4 ,he quitted this good man with tears in his eyes1 and never saw him afterwards2 but he was convinced that he was1 even at that moment1 indebted to his care for all the advantages he enjoyed4 ,whenever he arrived in any city1 either of ,europe or ,asia1 he found an account opened for him at the principal bankers' or merchants'4 ,he could draw upon them to the amount of thousands and hundreds of thousands2 and no questions were ever asked beyond his name4 ,he had only to mention the word ',acharat1' and all his wants were supplied4 ,he firmly believed that the ,cherif of ,mecca was the friend to whom all was owing4 ,this was the secret of his wealth1 and he had no occasion to resort to swindling for a livelihood4 ,it was not worth his while to steal a diamond necklace when he had wealth enough to purchase as many as he pleased1 and more magnificent ones than had ever been worn by a queen of ,france4 ,as to the other charges brought against him by ,madame de la ,motte1 he had but a short answer to give4 ,she had called him an empiric4 ,he was not unfamiliar with the word4 ,if it meant a man who1 without being a physician1 had some knowledge of medicine1 and took no fees--who cured both rich and poor1 and took no money from either1 he confessed that he was such a man1 that he was an empiric4 ,she had also called him a mean alchymist4 ,whether he were an alchymist or not1 the epithet mean could only be applied to those who begged and cringed1 and he had never done either4 ,as regarded his being a dreamer about the philosopher's stone1 whatever his opinions upon that subject might be1 he had been silent1 and had never troubled the public with his dreams4 ,then1 as to his being a false prophet1 he had not always been so2 for he had prophesied to the ,cardinal de ,rohan1 that ,madame de la ,motte would prove a dangerous woman1 and the result had verified the prediction4 ,he denied that he was a profaner of the true worship1 or that he had ever striven to bring religion into contempt2 on the contrary1 he respected every man's religion1 and never meddled with it4 ,he also denied that he was a ,rosicrucian1 or that he had ever pretended to be three hundred years of age1 or to have had one man in his service for a hundred and fifty years4 ,in conclusion1 he said every statement that ,madame de la ,motte had made regarding him was false1 and that she was mentiris impudentissime1 which two words he begged her counsel to translate for her1 as it was not polite to tell her so in ,french4 ,such was the substance of his extraordinary answer to the charges against him2 an answer which convinced those who were before doubtful that he was one of the most impudent impostors that had ever run the career of deception4 ,counsel were then heard on behalf of the ,cardinal de ,rohan and ,madame de la ,motte4 ,it appearing clearly that the cardinal was himself the dupe of a vile conspiracy1 and there being no evidence against ,cagliostro1 they were both acquitted4 ,madame de la ,motte was found guilty1 and sentenced to be publicly whipped1 and branded with a hot iron on the back4 ,cagliostro and his wife were then discharged from custody4 ,on applying to the officers of the ,bastille for the papers and effects which had been seized at his lodgings1 he found that many of them had been abstracted4 ,he thereupon brought an action against them for the recovery of his ,mss4 and a small portion of the powder of transmutation4 ,before the affair could be decided1 he received orders to quit ,paris within four-and-twenty hours4 ,fearing that if he were once more enclosed in the dungeons of the ,bastille he should never see daylight again1 he took his departure immediately and proceeded to ,england4 ,on his arrival in ,london he made the acquaintance of the notorious ,lord ,george ,gordon1 who espoused his cause warmly1 and inserted a letter in the public papers1 animadverting upon the conduct of the ,queen of ,france in the affair of the necklace1 and asserting that she was really the guilty party4 ,for this letter ,lord ,george was exposed to a prosecution at the instance of the ,french ambassador1 found guilty of libel1 and sentenced to fine and a long imprisonment4 ,cagliostro and the countess afterwards travelled in ,italy1 where they were arrested by the ,papal government in #aghi1 and condemned to death4 ,the charges against him were1 that he was a freemason1 a heretic1 and a sorcerer4 ,this unjustifiable sentence was afterwards commuted into one of perpetual imprisonment in the ,castle of ,st4 ,angelo4 ,his wife was allowed to escape severer punishment by immuring herself in a nunnery4 ,cagliostro did not long survive4 ,the loss of liberty preyed upon his mind--accumulated misfortunes had injured his health and broken his spirit1 and he died early in #agij4 ,his fate may have been no better than he deserved1 but it is impossible not to feel that his sentence for the crimes assigned was utterly disgraceful to the government that pronounced it4 ,,present ,,state ,,of ,,alchymy4 ,we have now finished the list of the persons who have most distinguished themselves in this unprofitable pursuit4 ,among them are men of all ranks1 characters1 and conditions3 the truth-seeking but erring philosopher2 the ambitious prince and the needy noble1 who have believed in it2 as well as the designing charlatan1 who has not believed in it1 but has merely made the pretension to it the means of cheating his fellows1 and living upon their credulity4 ,one or more of all these classes will be found in the foregoing pages4 ,it will be seen1 from the record of their lives1 that the delusion was not altogether without its uses4 ,men1 in striving to gain too much1 do not always overreach themselves2 if they cannot arrive at the inaccessible mountain-top1 they may perhaps get half way towards it1 and pick up some scraps of wisdom and knowledge on the road4 ,the useful science of chemistry is not a little indebted to its spurious brother of alchymy4 ,many valuable discoveries have been made in that search for the impossible1 which might otherwise have been hidden for centuries yet to come4 ,roger ,bacon1 in searching for the philosopher's stone1 discovered gunpowder1 a still more extraordinary substance4 ,van ,helmont1 in the same pursuit1 discovered the properties of gas2 ,geber made discoveries in chemistry which were equally important2 and ,paracelsus1 amidst his perpetual visions of the transmutation of metals1 found that mercury was a remedy for one of the most odious and excruciating of all the diseases that afflict humanity4 ,in our day little mention is made in ,europe of any new devotees of the science1 though it is affirmed that one or two of our most illustrious men of science do not admit the pursuit to be so absurd and vain as it has been commonly considered in recent times4 ,the belief in witchcraft1 which is scarcely more absurd1 still lingers in the popular mind2 but few are so credulous as to believe that any elixir could make man live for centuries1 or turn all our iron and pewter into gold4 ,alchymy1 in ,europe1 may be said to be almost wholly exploded2 but in the ,east it still flourishes in as great repute as ever4 ,recent travellers make constant mention of it1 especially in ,china1 ,hindostan1 ,persia1 ,tartary1 ,egypt1 and ,arabia4 ,,modern ,,prophecies4 ,illustration3 ,a ,an epidemic terror of the end of the world has several times spread over the nations4 ,the most remarkable was that which seized ,christendom about the middle of the tenth century4 ,numbers of fanatics appeared in ,france1 ,germany1 and ,italy at that time1 preaching that the thousand years prophesied in the ,apocalypse as the term of the world's duration were about to expire1 and that the ,son of ,man would appear in the clouds to judge the godly and the ungodly4 ,the delusion appears to have been discouraged by the ,church1 but it nevertheless spread rapidly among the people4#ea #ea ,see ,gibbon and ,voltaire for further notice of this subject4 ,the scene of the last judgment was expected to be at ,jerusalem4 ,in the year #iii1 the number of pilgrims proceeding eastward1 to await the coming of the ,lord in that city1 was so great that they were compared to a desolating army4 ,most of them sold their goods and possessions before they quitted ,europe1 and lived upon the proceeds in the ,holy ,land4 ,buildings of every sort were suffered to fall into ruins4 ,it was thought useless to repair them1 when the end of the world was so near4 ,many noble edifices were deliberately pulled down4 ,even churches1 usually so well maintained1 shared the general neglect4 ,knights1 citizens1 and serfs1 travelled eastwards in company1 taking with them their wives and children1 singing psalms as they went1 and looking with fearful eyes upon the sky1 which they expected each minute to open1 to let the ,son of ,god descend in his glory4 ,during the thousandth year the number of pilgrims increased4 ,most of them were smitten with terror as with a plague4 ,every phenomenon of nature filled them with alarm4 ,a thunder-storm sent them all upon their knees in mid-march4 ,it was the opinion that thunder was the voice of ,god1 announcing the day of judgment4 ,numbers expected the earth to open1 and give up its dead at the sound4 ,every meteor in the sky seen at ,jerusalem brought the whole ,christian population into the streets to weep and pray4 ,the pilgrims on the road were in the same alarm3 ,lorsque1 pendant la nuit1 un globe de lumire ,s'chappa quelquefois de la vote de cieux1 ,et traa dans sa chte un long sillon de feux1 ,la troupe suspendit sa marche solitaire4#eb #eb ,charlemagne3 ,pome pique par ,lucien ,buonaparte4 ,fanatic preachers kept up the flame of terror4 ,every shooting star furnished occasion for a sermon1 in which the sublimity of the approaching judgment was the principal topic4 ,the appearance of comets has been often thought to foretell the speedy dissolution of this world4 ,part of this belief still exists2 but the comet is no longer looked upon as the sign1 but the agent of destruction4 ,so lately as in the year #ahcb the greatest alarm spread over the continent of ,europe1 especially in ,germany1 lest the comet1 whose appearance was then foretold by astronomers1 should destroy the earth4 ,the danger of our globe was gravely discussed4 ,many persons refrained from undertaking or concluding any business during that year1 in consequence solely of their apprehension that this terrible comet would dash us and our world to atoms4 ,during seasons of great pestilence1 men have often believed the prophecies of crazed fanatics1 that the end of the world was come4 ,credulity is always greatest in times of calamity4 ,during the great plague1 which ravaged all ,europe between the years #acde and #acej1 it was generally considered that the end of the world was at hand4 ,pretended prophets were to be found in all the principal cities of ,germany1 ,france1 and ,italy1 predicting that within ten years the trump of the archangel would sound1 and the ,saviour appear in the clouds to call the earth to judgment4 ,no little consternation was created in ,london in #agcf by the prophecy of the famous ,whiston1 that the world would be destroyed in that year1 on the #acth of ,october4 ,crowds of people went out on the appointed day to ,islington1 ,hampstead1 and the fields intervening1 to see the destruction of ,london1 which was to be the beginning of the end4 ,a satirical account of this folly is given in ,swift's ,miscellanies1 vol4 iii41 entitled ,a true and faithful ,narrative of what passed in ,london on a ,rumour of the ,day of ,judgment4 ,an authentic narrative of this delusion would be interesting2 but this solemn witticism of ,pope and ,gay is not to be depended upon4 ,in the year #agfa the citizens of ,london were alarmed by two shocks of an earthquake1 and the prophecy of a third1 which was to destroy them altogether4 ,the first shock was felt on the #hth of ,february1 and threw down several chimneys in the neighbourhood of ,limehouse and ,poplar2 the second happened on the #hth of ,march1 and was chiefly felt in the north of ,london1 and towards ,hampstead and ,highgate4 ,it soon became the subject of general remark1 that there was exactly an interval of a month between the shocks2 and a crack-brained fellow1 named ,bell1 a soldier in the ,life ,guards1 was so impressed with the idea that there would be a third in another month1 that he lost his senses altogether1 and ran about the streets predicting the destruction of ,london on the #eth of ,april4 ,most people thought that the first would have been a more appropriate day2 but there were not wanting thousands who confidently believed the prediction1 and took measures to transport themselves and families from the scene of the impending calamity4 ,as the awful day approached1 the excitement became intense1 and great numbers of credulous people resorted to all the villages within a circuit of twenty miles1 awaiting the doom of ,london4 ,islington1 ,highgate1 ,hampstead1 ,harrow1 and ,blackheath1 were crowded with panic-stricken fugitives1 who paid exorbitant prices for accommodation to the housekeepers of these secure retreats4 ,such as could not afford to pay for lodgings at any of those places1 remained in ,london until two or three days before the time1 and then encamped in the surrounding fields1 awaiting the tremendous shock which was to lay their high city all level with the dust4 ,as happened during a similar panic in the time of ,henry ,,viii41 the fear became contagious1 and hundreds who had laughed at the prediction a week before1 packed up their goods1 when they saw others doing so1 and hastened away4 ,the river was thought to be a place of great security1 and all the merchant-vessels in the port were filled with people1 who passed the night between the #dth and #eth on board1 expecting every instant to see ,st4 ,paul's totter1 and the towers of ,westminster ,abbey rock in the wind and fall amid a cloud of dust4 ,the greater part of the fugitives returned on the following day1 convinced that the prophet was a false one2 but many judged it more prudent to allow a week to elapse before they trusted their dear limbs in ,london4 ,bell lost all credit in a short time1 and was looked upon even by the most credulous as a mere madman4 ,he tried some other prophecies1 but nobody was deceived by them2 and1 in a few months afterwards1 he was confined in a lunatic asylum4 ,a panic terror of the end of the world seized the good people of ,leeds and its neighbourhood in the year #ahjf4 ,it arose from the following circumstances4 ,a hen1 in a village close by1 laid eggs1 on which were inscribed the words1 ,christ is coming4 ,great numbers visited the spot1 and examined these wondrous eggs1 convinced that the day of judgment was near at hand4 ,like sailors in a storm1 expecting every instant to go to the bottom1 the believers suddenly became religious1 prayed violently1 and flattered themselves that they repented them of their evil courses4 ,but a plain tale soon put them down1 and quenched their religion entirely4 ,some gentlemen1 hearing of the matter1 went one fine morning1 and caught the poor hen in the act of laying one of her miraculous eggs4 ,they soon ascertained beyond doubt that the egg had been inscribed with some corrosive ink1 and cruelly forced up again into the bird's body4 ,at this explanation1 those who had prayed1 now laughed1 and the world wagged as merrily as of yore4 ,at the time of the plague in ,milan1 in #afcj1 of which so affecting a description has been left us by ,ripamonte1 in his interesting work1 ,de ,peste ,mediolani1 the people1 in their distress1 listened with avidity to the predictions of astrologers and other impostors4 ,it is singular enough that the plague was foretold a year before it broke out4 ,a large comet appearing in #afbh1 the opinions of astrologers were divided with regard to it4 ,some insisted that it was a forerunner of a bloody war2 others maintained that it predicted a great famine2 but the greater number1 founding their judgment upon its pale colour1 thought it portended a pestilence4 ,the fulfilment of their prediction brought them into great repute while the plague was raging4 ,other prophecies were current1 which were asserted to have been delivered hundreds of years previously4 ,they had a most pernicious effect upon the mind of the vulgar1 as they induced a belief in fatalism4 ,by taking away the hope of recovery--that greatest balm in every malady--they increased threefold the ravages of the disease4 ,one singular prediction almost drove the unhappy people mad4 ,an ancient couplet1 preserved for ages by tradition1 foretold1 that in the year #afcj the devil would poison all ,milan4 ,early one morning in ,april1 and before the pestilence had reached its height1 the passengers were surprised to see that all the doors in the principal streets of the city were marked with a curious daub1 or spot1 as if a sponge1 filled with the purulent matter of the plague-sores1 had been pressed against them4 ,the whole population were speedily in movement to remark the strange appearance1 and the greatest alarm spread rapidly4 ,every means was taken to discover the perpetrators1 but in vain4 ,at last the ancient prophecy was remembered1 and prayers were offered up in all the churches1 that the machinations of the ,evil ,one might be defeated4 ,many persons were of opinion that the emissaries of foreign powers were employed to spread infectious poison over the city2 but by far the greater number were convinced that the powers of hell had conspired against them1 and that the infection was spread by supernatural agencies4 ,in the mean time the plague increased fearfully4 ,distrust and alarm took possession of every mind4 ,every thing was believed to have been poisoned by the ,devil2 the waters of the wells1 the standing corn in the fields1 and the fruit upon the trees4 ,it was believed that all objects of touch were poisoned2 the walls of the houses1 the pavements of the streets1 and the very handles of the doors4 ,the populace were raised to a pitch of ungovernable fury4 ,a strict watch was kept for the ,devil's emissaries1 and any man who wanted to be rid of an enemy1 had only to say that he had seen him besmearing a door with ointment2 his fate was certain death at the hands of the mob4 ,an old man1 upwards of eighty years of age1 a daily frequenter of the church of ,st4 ,antonio1 was seen1 on rising from his knees1 to wipe with the skirt of his cloak the stool on which he was about to sit down4 ,a cry was raised immediately that he was besmearing the seat with poison4 ,a mob of women1 by whom the church was crowded1 seized hold of the feeble old man1 and dragged him out by the hair of his head1 with horrid oaths and imprecations4 ,he was trailed in this manner through the mire to the house of the municipal judge1 that he might be put to the rack1 and forced to discover his accomplices2 but he expired on the way4 ,many other victims were sacrificed to the popular fury4 ,one ,mora1 who appears to have been half a chemist and half a barber1 was accused of being in league with the ,devil to poison ,milan4 ,his house was surrounded1 and a number of chemical preparations were found4 ,the poor man asserted1 that they were intended as preservatives against infection2 but some physicians1 to whom they were submitted1 declared they were poison1 ,mora was put to the rack1 where he for a long time asserted his innocence4 ,he confessed at last1 when his courage was worn down by torture1 that he was in league with the ,devil and foreign powers to poison the whole city2 that he had anointed the doors1 and infected the fountains of water4 ,he named several persons as his accomplices1 who were apprehended and put to a similar torture4 ,they were all found guilty1 and executed4 ,mora's house was rased to the ground1 and a column erected on the spot1 with an inscription to commemorate his guilt4 ,while the public mind was filled with these marvellous occurrences1 the plague continued to increase4 ,the crowds that were brought together to witness the executions spread the infection among one another4 ,but the fury of their passions1 and the extent of their credulity1 kept pace with the violence of the plague2 every wonderful and preposterous story was believed4 ,one1 in particular1 occupied them to the exclusion1 for a long time1 of every other4 ,the ,devil himself had been seen4 ,he had taken a house in ,milan1 in which he prepared his poisonous unguents1 and furnished them to his emissaries for distribution4 ,one man had brooded over such tales till he became firmly convinced that the wild nights of his own fancy were realities4 ,he stationed himself in the market-place of ,milan1 and related the following story to the crowds that gathered round him4 ,he was standing1 he said1 at the door of the cathedral1 late in the evening2 and when there was nobody nigh1 he saw a dark-coloured chariot1 drawn by six milk-white horses1 stop close beside him4 ,the chariot was followed by a numerous train of domestics in dark liveries1 mounted on dark-coloured steeds4 ,in the chariot there sat a tall stranger of a majestic aspect2 his long black hair floated in the wind--fire flashed from his large black eyes1 and a curl of ineffable scorn dwelt upon his lips4 ,the look of the stranger was so sublime that he was awed1 and trembled with fear when he gazed upon him4 ,his complexion was much darker than that of any man he had ever seen1 and the atmosphere around him was hot and suffocating4 ,he perceived immediately that he was a being of another world4 ,the stranger1 seeing his trepidation1 asked him blandly1 yet majestically1 to mount beside him4 ,he had no power to refuse1 and before he was well aware that he had moved1 he found himself in the chariot4 ,onwards they went1 with the rapidity of the wind1 the stranger speaking no word1 until they stopped before a door in the high-street of ,milan4 ,there was a crowd of people in the street1 but1 to his great surprise1 no one seemed to notice the extraordinary equipage and its numerous train4 ,from this he concluded that they were invisible4 ,the house at which they stopped appeared to be a shop1 but the interior was like a vast half-ruined palace4 ,he went with his mysterious guide through several large and dimly-lighted rooms4 ,in one of them1 surrounded by huge pillars of marble1 a senate of ghosts was assembled1 debating on the progress of the plague4 ,other parts of the building were enveloped in the thickest darkness1 illumined at intervals by flashes of lightning1 which allowed him to distinguish a number of gibing and chattering skeletons1 running about and pursuing each other1 or playing at leap-frog over one another's backs4 ,at the rear of the mansion was a wild1 uncultivated plot of ground1 in the midst of which arose a black rock4 ,down its sides rushed with fearful noise a torrent of poisonous water1 which1 insinuating itself through the soil1 penetrated to all the springs of the city1 and rendered them unfit for use4 ,after he had been shewn all this1 the stranger led him into another large chamber1 filled with gold and precious stones1 all of which he offered him if he would kneel down and worship him1 and consent to smear the doors and houses of ,milan with a pestiferous salve which he held out to him4 ,he now knew him to be the ,devil1 and in that moment of temptation1 prayed to ,god to give him strength to resist4 ,his prayer was heard--he refused the bribe4 ,the stranger scowled horribly upon him--a loud clap of thunder burst over his head--the vivid lightning flashed in his eyes1 and the next moment he found himself standing alone at the porch of the cathedral4 ,he repeated this strange tale day after day1 without any variation1 and all the populace were firm believers in its truth4 ,repeated search was made to discover the mysterious house1 but all in vain4 ,the man pointed out several as resembling it1 which were searched by the police2 but the ,demon of the ,pestilence was not to be found1 nor the hall of ghosts1 nor the poisonous fountain4 ,but the minds of the people were so impressed with the idea1 that scores of witnesses1 half crazed by disease1 came forward to swear that they also had seen the diabolical stranger1 and had heard his chariot1 drawn by the milk-white steeds1 rumbling over the streets at midnight with a sound louder than thunder4 ,the number of persons who confessed that they were employed by the ,devil to distribute poison is almost incredible4 ,an epidemic frenzy was abroad1 which seemed to be as contagious as the plague4 ,imagination was as disordered as the body1 and day after day persons came voluntarily forward to accuse themselves4 ,they generally had the marks of disease upon them1 and some died in the act of confession4 ,during the great plague of ,london1 in #affe1 the people listened with similar avidity to the predictions of quacks and fanatics4 ,defoe says1 that at that time the people were more addicted to prophecies and astronomical conjurations1 dreams1 and old wives' tales than ever they were before or since4 ,almanacs1 and their predictions1 frightened them terribly4 ,even the year before the plague broke out1 they were greatly alarmed by the comet which then appeared1 and anticipated that famine1 pestilence1 or fire would follow4 ,enthusiasts1 while yet the disease had made but little progress1 ran about the streets1 predicting that in a few days ,london would be destroyed4 ,a still more singular instance of the faith in predictions occurred in ,london in the year #aebd4 ,the city swarmed at that time with fortune-tellers and astrologers1 who were consulted daily by people of every class in society on the secrets of futurity4 ,as early as the month of ,june #aebc1 several of them concurred in predicting that1 on the #ast day of ,february #aebd1 the waters of the ,thames would swell to such a height as to overflow the whole city of ,london1 and wash away ten thousand houses4 ,the prophecy met implicit belief4 ,it was reiterated with the utmost confidence month after month1 until so much alarm was excited that many families packed up their goods1 and removed into ,kent and ,essex4 ,as the time drew nigh1 the number of these emigrants increased4 ,in ,january1 droves of workmen might be seen1 followed by their wives and children1 trudging on foot to the villages within fifteen or twenty miles1 to await the catastrophe4 ,people of a higher class were also to be seen in wagons and other vehicles bound on a similar errand4 ,by the middle of ,january1 at least twenty thousand persons had quitted the doomed city1 leaving nothing but the bare walls of their homes to be swept away by the impending floods4 ,many of the richer sort took up their abode on the heights of ,highgate1 ,hampstead1 and ,blackheath2 and some erected tents as far away as ,waltham ,abbey on the north1 and ,croydon on the south of the ,thames4 ,bolton1 the prior of ,st4 ,bartholomew's1 was so alarmed1 that he erected1 at a very great expense1 a sort of fortress at ,harrow-on-the-,hill1 which he stocked with provisions for two months4 ,on the #bdth of ,january1 a week before the awful day which was to see the destruction of ,london1 he removed thither1 with the brethren and officers of the priory and all his household4 ,a number of boats were conveyed in wagons to his fortress1 furnished abundantly with expert rowers1 in case the flood1 reaching so high as ,harrow1 should force them to go farther for a resting-place4 ,many wealthy citizens prayed to share his retreat2 but the prior1 with a prudent forethought1 admitted only his personal friends1 and those who brought stores of eatables for the blockade4 ,at last the morn1 big with the fate of ,london1 appeared in the east4 ,the wondering crowds were astir at an early hour to watch the rising of the waters4 ,the inundation1 it was predicted1 would be gradual1 not sudden2 so that they expected to have plenty of time to escape as soon as they saw the bosom of old ,thames heave beyond the usual mark4 ,but the majority were too much alarmed to trust to this1 and thought themselves safer ten or twenty miles off4 ,the ,thames1 unmindful of the foolish crowds upon its banks1 flowed on quietly as of yore4 ,the tide ebbed at its usual hour1 flowed to its usual height1 and then ebbed again1 just as if twenty astrologers had not pledged their words to the contrary4 ,blank were their faces as evening approached1 and as blank grew the faces of the citizens to think that they had made such fools of themselves4 ,at last night set in1 and the obstinate river would not lift its waters to sweep away even one house out of the ten thousand4 ,still1 however1 the people were afraid to go to sleep4 ,many hundreds remained up till dawn of the next day1 lest the deluge should come upon them like a thief in the night4 ,on the morrow1 it was seriously discussed whether it would not be advisable to duck the false prophets in the river4 ,luckily for them1 they thought of an expedient which allayed the popular fury4 ,they asserted that1 by an error 7a very slight one17 of a little figure1 they had fixed the date of this awful inundation a whole century too early4 ,the stars were right after all1 and they1 erring mortals1 were wrong4 ,the present generation of cockneys was safe1 and ,london would be washed away1 not in #aebd1 but in #afbd4 ,at this announcement1 ,bolton the prior dismantled his fortress1 and the weary emigrants came back4 ,an eye-witness of the great fire of ,london1 in an account preserved among the ,harleian ,mss4 in the ,british ,museum1 and published in the transactions of the ,royal ,society of ,antiquaries1 relates another instance of the credulity of the ,londoners4 ,the writer1 who accompanied the ,duke of ,york day by day through the district included between the ,fleet-bridge and the ,thames1 states that1 in their efforts to check the progress of the flames1 they were much impeded by the superstition of the people4 ,mother ,shipton1 in one of her prophecies1 had said that ,london would be reduced to ashes1 and they refused to make any efforts to prevent it4#ec ,a son of the noted ,sir ,kenelm ,digby1 who was also a pretender to the gifts of prophecy1 persuaded them that no power on earth could prevent the fulfilment of the prediction2 for it was written in the great book of fate that ,london was to be destroyed4 ,hundreds of persons1 who might have rendered valuable assistance1 and saved whole parishes from devastation1 folded their arms and looked on4 ,as many more gave themselves up1 with the less compunction1 to plunder a city which they could not save4#ed #ec ,this prophecy seems to have been that set forth at length in the popular ,life of ,mother ,shipton3 ,when fate to ,england shall restore ,a king to reign as heretofore1 ,great death in ,london shall be though1 ,and many houses be laid low4 #ed ,the ,london ,saturday ,journal of ,march #abth1 #ahdb1 contains the following3--,an absurd report is gaining ground among the weak-minded1 that ,london will be destroyed by an earthquake on the #agth of ,march1 or ,st4 ,patrick's day4 ,this rumour is founded on the following ancient prophecies3 one professing to be pronounced in the year #abjc2 the other1 by ,dr4 ,dee the astrologer1 in #aeih3 ,in eighteen hundred and forty-two ,four things the sun shall view2 ,london's rich and famous town ,hungry earth shall swallow down4 ,storm and rain in ,france shall be1 ,till every river runs a sea4 ,spain shall be rent in twain1 ,and famine waste the land again4 ,so say ,i1 the ,monk of ,dree1 ,in the twelve hundredth year and three4 ,harleian ,collection 7,british ,museum71 #hjj b1 fol4 #cai4 ,the ,lord have mercy on you all-- ,prepare yourselves for dreadful fall ,of house and land and human soul-- ,the measure of your sins is full4 ,in the year one1 eight1 and forty-two1 ,of the year that is so new2 ,in the third month of that sixteen1 ,it may be a day or two between-- ,perhaps you'll soon be stiff and cold4 ,dear ,christian1 be not stout and bold-- ,the mighty1 kingly-proud will see ,this comes to pass as my name's ,dee4 #aeih4 ,ms4 in the ,british ,museum4 ,the alarm of the population of ,london did not on this occasion extend beyond the wide circle of the uneducated classes1 but among them it equalled that recorded in the text4 ,it was soon afterwards stated that no such prophecy is to be found in the ,harleian ,ms4 ,the prophecies of ,mother ,shipton are still believed in many of the rural districts of ,england4 ,in cottages and servants' halls her reputation is great2 and she rules1 the most popular of ,british prophets1 among all the uneducated1 or half-educated1 portions of the community4 ,she is generally supposed to have been born at ,knaresborough1 in the reign of ,henry ,,vii41 and to have sold her soul to the ,devil for the power of foretelling future events4 ,though during her lifetime she was looked upon as a witch1 she yet escaped the witch's fate1 and died peaceably in her bed at an extreme old age1 near ,clifton in ,yorkshire4 ,a stone is said to have been erected to her memory in the churchyard of that place1 with the following epitaph3 ,here lies she who never lied1 ,whose skill often has been tried3 ,her prophecies shall still survive1 ,and ever keep her name alive4 ,never a day passed1 says her traditionary biography1 wherein1 she did not relate something remarkable1 and that required the most serious consideration4 ,people flocked to her from far and near1 her fame was so great4 ,they went to her of all sorts1 both old and young1 rich and poor1 especially young maidens1 to be resolved of their doubts relating to things to come2 and all returned wonderfully satisfied in the explanations she gave to their questions4 ,among the rest1 went the ,abbot of ,beverley1 to whom she foretold the suppression of the monasteries by ,henry ,,viii41 his marriage with ,anne ,boleyn1 the fires for heretics in ,smithfield1 and the execution of ,mary ,queen of ,scots4 ,she also foretold the accession of ,james ,i41 adding that1 with him1 ,from the cold ,north ,every evil should come forth4 ,on a subsequent visit she uttered another prophecy1 which1 in the opinion of her believers1 still remains unfulfilled1 but may be expected to be realised during the present century3 ,the time shall come when seas of blood ,shall mingle with a greater flood4 ,great noise there shall be heard--great shouts and cries1 ,and seas shall thunder louder than the skies2 ,then shall three lions fight with three and bring ,joy to a people1 honour to a king4 ,that fiery year as soon as o'er1 ,peace shall then be as before2 ,plenty shall every where be found1 ,and men with swords shall plough the ground4 ,but the most famous of all her prophecies is one relating to ,london4 ,thousands of persons still shudder to think of the woes that are to burst over this unhappy realm1 when ,london and ,highgate are joined by one continuous line of houses4 ,this junction1 which1 if the rage for building lasts much longer1 in the same proportion as heretofore1 bids fair to be soon accomplished1 was predicted by her shortly before her death4 ,revolutions--the fall of mighty monarchs1 and the shedding of much blood are to signalise that event4 ,the very angels1 afflicted by our woes1 are to turn aside their heads1 and weep for hapless ,britain4 ,but great as is the fame of ,mother ,shipton1 she ranks but second in the list of ,british prophets4 ,merlin1 the mighty ,merlin1 stands alone in his high pre-eminence--the first and greatest4 ,as old ,drayton sings1 in his ,poly-olbion3 ,of ,merlin and his skill what region doth not hear8 ,the world shall still be full of ,merlin every year4 ,a thousand lingering years his prophecies have run1 ,and scarcely shall have end till time itself be done4 ,spenser1 in his divine poem1 has given us a powerful description of this renowned seer-- who had in magic more insight ,than ever him before1 or after1 living wight4 ,for he by words could call out of the sky ,both sun and moon1 and make them him obey2 ,the land to sea1 and sea to mainland dry1 ,and darksome night he eke could turn to day-- ,huge hosts of men he could1 alone1 dismay4 ,and hosts of men and meanest things could frame1 ,whenso him list his enemies to fray1 ,that to this day1 for terror of his name1 ,the fiends do quake1 when any him to them does name4 ,and soothe men say that he was not the sonne ,of mortal sire or other living wighte1 ,but wondrously begotten and begoune ,by false illusion of a guileful sprite ,on a faire ladye nun4 ,in these verses the poet has preserved the popular belief with regard to ,merlin1 who is generally supposed to have been a contemporary of ,vortigern4 ,opinion is divided as to whether he were a real personage1 or a mere impersonation1 formed by the poetic fancy of a credulous people4 ,it seems most probable that such a man did exist1 and that1 possessing knowledge as much above the comprehension of his age1 as that possessed by ,friar ,bacon was beyond the reach of his1 he was endowed by the wondering crowd with the supernatural attributes that ,spenser has enumerated4 ,geoffrey of ,monmouth translated ,merlin's poetical odes1 or prophecies1 into ,latin prose2 and he was much reverenced not only by ,geoffrey1 but by most of the old annalists4 ,in a ,life of ,merlin1 with his ,prophecies and ,predictions interpreted and made good by our ,english ,annals1 by ,thomas ,heywood1 published in the reign of ,charles ,i41 we find several of these pretended prophecies4 ,they seem1 however1 to have been all written by ,heywood himself4 ,they are in terms too plain and positive to allow any one to doubt for a moment of their having been composed ex post facto4 ,speaking of ,richard ,i41 he says3 ,the ,lion's heart will 'gainst the ,saracen rise1 ,and purchase from him many a glorious prize2 ,the rose and lily shall at first unite1 ,but1 parting of the prey prove opposite4 99 99 99 ,but while abroad these great acts shall be done1 ,all things at home shall to disorder run4 ,cooped up and caged then shall the ,lion be1 ,but1 after sufferance1 ransomed and set free4 ,the simple-minded ,thomas ,heywood gravely goes on to inform us1 that all these things actually came to pass4 ,upon ,richard ,,iii4 he is equally luminous4 ,he says3 ,a hunch-backed monster1 who with teeth is born1 ,the mockery of art and nature's scorn2 ,who from the womb preposterously is hurled1 ,and with feet forward thrust into the world1 ,shall1 from the lower earth on which he stood1 ,wade1 every step he mounts1 knee-deep in blood4 ,he shall to th' height of all his hopes aspire1 ,and1 clothed in state1 his ugly shape admire2 ,but1 when he thinks himself most safe to stand1 ,from foreign parts a native whelp shall land4 ,another of these prophecies after the event tells us that ,henry ,,viii4 should take the power from ,rome1 and bring it home unto his ,british bower2 that he should root out from the land all the razored skulls2 and that he should neither spare man in his rage nor woman in his lust2 and that1 in the time of his next successor but one1 there should come in the fagot and the stake4 ,master ,heywood closes ,merlin's prophecies at his own day1 and does not give even a glimpse of what was to befall ,england after his decease4 ,many other prophecies1 besides those quoted by him1 were1 he says1 dispersed abroad1 in his day1 under the name of ,merlin2 but he gives his readers a taste of one only1 and that is the following3 ,when hempe is ripe and ready to pull1 ,then1 ,englishman1 beware thy skull4 ,this prophecy1 which1 one would think1 ought to have put him in mind of the gallows1 at that time the not unusual fate of false prophets1 he explains thus3 ,in this word ,,hempe be five letters4 ,now1 by reckoning the five successive princes from ,henry ,,viii41 this prophecy is easily explained3 ,h signifieth ,king ,henry before-named2 ,e1 ,edward1 his son1 the sixth of that name2 ,m1 ,mary1 who succeeded him2 ,p1 ,philip of ,spain1 who1 by marrying ,queen ,mary1 participated with her in the ,english diadem2 and1 lastly1 ,e signifieth ,queen ,elizabeth1 after whose death there was a great feare that some troubles might have arisen about the crown4 ,as this did not happen1 ,heywood1 who was a sly rogue in a small way1 gets out of the scrape by saying1 ,yet proved this augury true1 though not according to the former expectation2 for1 after the peaceful inauguration of ,king ,james1 there was great mortality1 not in ,london only1 but through the whole kingdom1 and from which the nation was not quite clean in seven years after4 ,this is not unlike the subterfuge of ,peter of ,pontefract1 who had prophesied the death and deposition of ,king ,john1 and who was hanged by that monarch for his pains4 ,a very graphic and amusing account of this pretended prophet is given by ,grafton1 in his ,chronicles of ,england4#ee ,in the meanwhile1 says he1 the priestes within ,england had provided them a false and counterfeated prophet1 called ,peter ,wakefielde1 a ,yorkshire man1 who was an hermite1 an idle gadder about1 and a pratlyng marchant4 ,now1 to bring this ,peter in credite1 and the kyng out of all credite with his people1 diverse vaine persons bruted dayly among the commons of the realme1 that ,christe had twice appered unto him in the shape of a childe1 betwene the prieste's handes1 once at ,yorke1 another tyme at ,pomfret2 and that he had breathed upon him thrice1 saying1 ',peace1 peace1 peace1' and teachyng many things1 which he anon declared to the bishops1 and bid the people amend their naughtie living4 ,being rapt also in spirite1 they sayde he behelde the joyes of heaven and sorrowes of hell2 for scant were there three in the realme1 sayde he1 that lived christianly4 #ee ,chronicles of ,england1 by ,richard ,grafton2 ,london1 #aefh1 p4 #ajf4 ,this counterfeated soothsayer prophesied of ,king ,john1 that he should reigne no longer than the ,ascension-day next followyng1 which was in the yere of our ,lord #abaa1 and was the thirteenth yere from his coronation2 and this1 he said1 he had by revelation4 ,then it was of him demanded1 whether he should be slaine or be deposed1 or should voluntarily give over the crowne8 ,he aunswered1 that he could not tell2 but of this he was sure 7he sayd71 that neither he nor any of his stock or lineage should reigne after that day4 ,the king1 hering of this1 laughed much at it1 and made but a scoff thereat4 ',tush6' saith he1 'it is but an ideot knave1 and such an one as lacketh his right wittes4' ,but when this foolish prophet had so escaped the daunger of the kinge's displeasure1 and that he made no more of it1 he gate him abroad1 and prated thereof at large1 as he was a very idle vagabond1 and used to trattle and talke more than ynough2 so that they which loved the king caused him anon after to be apprehended as a malefactor1 and to be throwen in prison1 the king not yet knowing thereof4 ,anone after the fame of this phantasticall prophet went all the realme over1 and his name was knowen every where1 as foolishnesse is much regarded of the people1 where wisdome is not in place2 specially because he was then imprisoned for the matter1 the rumour was the larger1 their wonderynges were the wantoner1 their practises the foolisher1 their busye talkes and other idle doinges the greater4 ,continually from thence1 as the rude manner of people is1 old gossyps tales went abroad1 new tales were invented1 fables were added to fables1 and lyes grew upon lyes4 ,so that every daye newe slanders were laide upon the king1 and not one of them true4 ,rumors arose1 blasphemyes were sprede1 the enemyes rejoyced1 and treasons by the priestes were mainteyned2 and what lykewise was surmised1 or other subtiltye practised1 all was then fathered upon this foolish prophet1 as 'thus saith ,peter ,wakefield2' 'thus hath he prophesied2' 'and thus it shall come to pass2' yea1 many times1 when he thought nothing lesse4 ,and when the ,ascension-day was come1 which was prophecyed of before1 ,king ,john commanded his royal tent to be spread in the open fielde1 passing that day with his noble counseyle and men of honour in the greatest solemnitie that ever he did before2 solacing himself with musickale instrumentes and songs1 most in sight among his trustie friendes4 ,when that day was paste in all prosperitie and myrth1 his enemyes being confused1 turned all into an allegorical understanding to make the prophecie good1 and sayde1 ',he is no longer king1 for the pope reigneth1 and not he4' ,king ,john was labouring under a sentence of excommunication at the time4 ,then was the king by his council perswaded that this false prophet had troubled the realme1 perverted the heartes of the people1 and raysed the ,commons against him2 for his wordes went over the sea1 by the help of his prelates1 and came to the ,french king's eare1 and gave to him a great encouragement to invade the lande4 ,he had not else done it so sodeinely4 ,but he was most fowly deceived1 as all they are and shall be that put their trust in such dark drowsye dreames of hipocrites4 ,the king therefore commended that he should be hanged up1 and his sonne also with him1 lest any more false prophets should arise of that race4 ,heywood1 who was a great stickler for the truth of all sorts of prophecies1 gives a much more favourable account of this ,peter of ,pomfret1 or ,pontefract1 whose fate he would1 in all probability1 have shared1 if he had had the misfortune to have flourished in the same age4 ,he says1 that ,peter1 who was not only a prophet1 but a bard1 predicted divers of ,king ,john's disasters1 which fell out accordingly4 ,on being taxed for a lying prophet in having predicted that the king would be deposed before he entered into the fifteenth year of his reign1 he answered him boldly1 that all he had said was justifiable and true2 for that1 having given up his crown to the pope1 and paying him an annual tribute1 the pope reigned1 and not he4 ,heywood thought this explanation to be perfectly satisfactory1 and the prophet's faith for ever established4 ,but to return to ,merlin4 ,of him even to this day it may be said1 in the words which ,burns has applied to another notorious personage1 ,great was his power and great his fame2 ,far kenned and noted is his name4 ,his reputation is by no means confined to the land of his birth1 but extends through most of the nations of ,europe4 ,a very curious volume of his ,life1 ,prophecies1 and ,miracles1 written1 it is supposed1 by ,robert de ,bosron1 was printed at ,paris in #adih1 which states1 that the devil himself was his father1 and that he spoke the instant he was born1 and assured his mother1 a very virtuous young woman1 that she should not die in childbed with him1 as her ill-natured neighbours had predicted4 ,the judge of the district1 hearing of so marvellous an occurrence1 summoned both mother and child to appear before him2 and they went accordingly the same day4 ,to put the wisdom of the young prophet most effectually to the test1 the judge asked him if he knew his own father8 ,to which the infant ,merlin replied1 in a clear1 sonorous voice1 ,yes1 my father is the ,devil2 and ,i have his power1 and know all things1 past1 present1 and to come4 ,his worship clapped his hands in astonishment1 and took the prudent resolution of not molesting so awful a child or its mother either4 ,early tradition attributes the building of ,stonehenge to the power of ,merlin4 ,it was believed that those mighty stones were whirled through the air1 at his command1 from ,ireland to ,salisbury ,plain2 and that he arranged them in the form in which they now stand1 to commemorate for ever the unhappy fate of three hundred ,british chiefs1 who were massacred on that spot by the ,saxons4 ,at ,abergwylly1 near ,carmarthen1 is still shewn the cave of the prophet and the scene of his incantations4 ,how beautiful is the description of it given by ,spenser in his ,faerie ,queene6 ,the lines need no apology for their repetition here1 and any sketch of the great prophet of ,britain would be incomplete without them3 ,there the wise ,merlin1 whilom wont 7they say17 ,to make his wonne low underneath the ground1 ,in a deep delve far from the view of day1 ,that of no living wight he mote be found1 ,whenso he counselled with his sprites encompassed round4 ,and if thou ever happen that same way ,to travel1 go to see that dreadful place2 ,it is a hideous1 hollow cave1 they say1 ,under a rock that lies1 a little space ,from the swift ,barry1 tumbling down apace ,amongst the woody hills of ,dynevoure2 ,but dare thou not1 ,i charge1 in any case1 ,to enter into that same baleful bower1 ,for fear the cruel fiendes should thee unwares devour6 ,but1 standing high aloft1 low lay thine eare1 ,and there such ghastly noise of iron chaines ,and brazen caudrons thou shalt rombling heare1 ,which thousand sprites with long-enduring paines ,doe tosse1 that it will stun thy feeble braines2 ,and often times great groans and grievous stownds1 ,when too huge toile and labour them constraines2 ,and often times loud strokes and ringing sounds ,from under that deep rock most horribly rebounds4 ,the cause1 they say1 is this4 ,a little while ,before that ,merlin died1 he did intend ,a brazen wall in compass1 to compile ,about ,cayr ,merdin1 and did it commend ,unto these sprites to bring to perfect end2 ,during which work the ,lady of the ,lake1 ,whom long he loved1 for him in haste did send1 ,who thereby forced his workmen to forsake1 ,them bound till his return their labour not to slake4 ,in the mean time1 through that false ladie's traine1 ,he was surprised1 and buried under biere1 ,ne ever to his work returned again2 ,natheless these fiendes may not their work forbeare1 ,so greatly his commandement they fear1 ,but there doe toile and travaile day and night1 ,until that brazen wall they up doe reare4#ef #ef ,faerie ,queene1 b4 #c1 c4 #c1 s4 #f-ac4 ,amongst other ,english prophets1 a belief in whose power has not been entirely effaced by the light of advancing knowledge1 is ,robert ,nixon1 the ,cheshire idiot1 a contemporary of ,mother ,shipton4 ,the popular accounts of this man say1 that he was born of poor parents1 not far from ,vale ,royal1 on the edge of the forest of ,delamere4 ,he was brought up to the plough1 but was so ignorant and stupid1 that nothing could be made of him4 ,every body thought him irretrievably insane1 and paid no attention to the strange1 unconnected discourses which he held4 ,many of his prophecies are believed to have been lost in this manner4 ,but they were not always destined to be wasted upon dull and inattentive ears4 ,an incident occurred which brought him into notice1 and established his fame as a prophet of the first calibre4 ,he was ploughing in a field when he suddenly stopped from his labour1 and with a wild look and strange gesture1 exclaimed1 ,now1 ,dick6 now1 ,harry6 ,o1 ill done1 ,dick6 ,o1 well done1 ,harry6 ,harry has gained the day6 ,his fellow-labourers in the field did not know what to make of this rhapsody2 but the next day cleared up the mystery4 ,news was brought by a messenger1 in hot haste1 that at the very instant when ,nixon had thus ejaculated1 ,richard ,,iii4 had been slain at the battle of ,bosworth1 and ,henry ,,vii4 proclaimed king of ,england4 ,it was not long before the fame of the new prophet reached the ears of the king1 who expressed a wish to see and converse with him4 ,a messenger was accordingly despatched to bring him to court2 but long before he reached ,cheshire1 ,nixon knew and dreaded the honours that awaited him4 ,indeed it was said1 that at the very instant the king expressed the wish1 ,nixon was1 by supernatural means1 made acquainted with it1 and that he ran about the town of ,over in great distress of mind1 calling out1 like a madman1 that ,henry had sent for him1 and that he must go to court1 and be clammed1 that is1 starved to death4 ,these expressions excited no little wonder2 but1 on the third day1 the messenger arrived1 and carried him to court1 leaving on the minds of the good people of ,cheshire an impression that their prophet was one of the greatest ever born4 ,on his arrival ,king ,henry appeared to be troubled exceedingly at the loss of a valuable diamond1 and asked ,nixon if he could inform him where it was to be found4 ,henry had hidden the diamond himself1 with a view to test the prophet's skill4 ,great1 therefore1 was his surprise when ,nixon answered him in the words of the old proverb1 ,those who hide can find4 ,from that time forth the king implicitly believed that he had the gift of prophecy1 and ordered all his words to be taken down4 ,during all the time of his residence at court he was in constant fear of being starved to death1 and repeatedly told the king that such would be his fate1 if he were not allowed to depart1 and return into his own country4 ,henry would not suffer it1 but gave strict orders to all his officers and cooks to give him as much to eat as he wanted4 ,he lived so well1 that for some time he seemed to be thriving like a nobleman's steward1 and growing as fat as an alderman4 ,one day the king went out hunting1 when ,nixon ran to the palace gate1 and entreated on his knees that he might not be left behind to be starved4 ,the king laughed1 and calling an officer1 told him to take especial care of the prophet during his absence1 and rode away to the forest4 ,after his departure1 the servants of the palace began to jeer at and insult ,nixon1 whom they imagined to be much better treated than he deserved4 ,nixon complained to the officer1 who1 to prevent him from being further molested1 locked him up in the king's own closet1 and brought him regularly his four meals a day4 ,but it so happened that a messenger arrived from the king to this officer1 requiring his immediate presence at ,winchester1 on a matter of life and death4 ,so great was his haste to obey the king's command1 that he mounted on the horse behind the messenger1 and rode off1 without bestowing a thought upon poor ,nixon4 ,he did not return till three days afterwards1 when1 remembering the prophet for the first time1 he went to the king's closet1 and found him lying upon the floor1 starved to death1 as he had predicted4 ,among the prophecies of his which are believed to have been fulfilled are the following1 which relate to the times of the ,pretender3 ,a great man shall come into ,england1 ,but the son of a king ,shall take from him the victory4 ,crows shall drink the blood of many nobles1 ,and the ,north shall rise against the ,south4 ,the coek of the ,north shall be made to flee1 ,and his feather be plucked for his pride1 ,that he shall almost curse the day that he was born4 ,all these1 say his admirers1 are as clear as the sun at noon-day4 ,the first denotes the defeat of ,prince ,charles ,edward1 at the battle of ,culloden1 by the ,duke of ,cumberland2 the second1 the execution of ,lords ,derwentwater1 ,balmerino1 and ,lovat2 and the third1 the retreat of the ,pretender from the shores of ,britain4 ,among the prophecies that still remain to be accomplished are the following3 ,between seven1 eight1 and nine1 ,in ,england wonders shall be seen2 ,between nine and thirteen ,all sorrow shall be done4 ,through our own money and our men ,shall a dreadful war begin4 ,between the sickle and the suck ,all ,england shall have a pluck4 ,foreign nations shall invade ,england with snow on their helmets1 and shall bring plague1 famine1 and murder in the skirts of their garments4 ,the town of ,nantwich shall be swept away by a flood4 ,of the two first of these no explanation has yet been attempted2 but some event or other will doubtless be twisted into such a shape as will fit them4 ,the third1 relative to the invasion of ,england by a nation with snow on their helmets1 is supposed by the old women to foretell most clearly a coming war with ,russia4 ,as to the last1 there are not a few in the town mentioned who devoutly believe that such will be its fate4 ,happily for their peace of mind1 the prophet said nothing of the year that was to witness the awful calamity2 so that they think it as likely to be two centuries hence as now4 ,the popular biographers of ,nixon conclude their account of him by saying1 that his prophecies are by some persons thought fables2 yet by what has come to pass1 it is now thought1 and very plainly appears1 that most of them have proved1 or will prove1 true2 for which we1 on all occasions1 ought not only to exert our utmost might to repel by force our enemies1 but to refrain from our abandoned and wicked course of life1 and to make our continual prayer to ,god for protection and safety4 ,to this1 though a non sequitur1 every one will cry1 ,amen6 ,besides the prophets1 there have been the almanac-makers ,lilly1 ,poor ,robin1 ,partridge1 and ,francis ,moore physician1 in ,england and ,matthew ,laensbergh1 in ,france and ,belgium4 ,but great as were their pretensions1 they were modesty itself in comparison with ,merlin1 ,shipton1 and ,nixon1 who fixed their minds upon higher things than the weather1 and were not so restrained as to prophesy for only one year at a time4 ,after such prophets the almanac-makers hardly deserve to be mentioned2 not even the renowned ,partridge1 whose prognostications set all ,england agog in #agjh1 and whose death while still alive was so pleasantly and satisfactorily proved by ,isaac ,bickerstaff4 ,the anti-climax would be too palpable1 and they and their doings must be left uncommemorated4 ,illustration3 ,,mother ,,shipton',s ,,house4#eg #eg ,although other places claim the honour767 of ,mother ,shipton's birth1 her residence is asserted1 by oral tradition1 to have been for many years a cottage at ,winslow-cum-,shipton1 in ,buckinghamshire1 of which the above is a representation4 ,we give the contents of one of the popular books containing her prophecies3 ,the ,strange and ,wonderful ,history and ,prophecies of ,mother ,shipton1 plainly setting forth her ,birth1 ,life1 ,death1 and ,burial4 #abmo4 ,newcastle4 ,chap4 #a4--,of her birth and parentage4 #b4 ,how ,mother ,shipton's mother proved with child2 how she fitted the justice1 and what happened at her delivery4 #c4 ,by what name ,mother ,shipton was christened1 and how her mother went into a monastery4 #d4 ,several other pranks play'd by ,mother ,shipton in revenge of such as abused her4 #e4 ,how ,ursula married a young man named ,tobias ,shipton1 and how strangely she discovered a thief4 #f4 ,her prophecy against ,cardinal ,wolsey4 #g4 ,some other prophecies of ,mother ,shipton relating to those times4 #h4 ,her prophecies in verse to the ,abbot of ,beverly4 #i4 ,mother ,shipton's life1 death1 and burial4 ,,fortune-,,telling4 ,and men still grope t' anticipate ,the cabinet designs of ,fate2 ,apply to wizards to foresee ,what shall and what shall never be4 ,hudibras1 part iii4 canto #c4 ,in accordance with the plan laid down1 we proceed to the consideration of the follies into which men have been led by their eager desire to pierce the thick darkness of futurity4 ,god himself1 for his own wise purposes1 has more than once undrawn the impenetrable veil which shrouds those awful secrets2 and1 for purposes just as wise1 he has decreed that1 except in these instances1 ignorance shall be our lot for ever4 ,it is happy for man that he does not know what the morrow is to bring forth2 but1 unaware of this great blessing1 he has1 in all ages of the world1 presumptuously endeavoured to trace the events of unborn centuries1 and anticipate the march of time4 ,he has reduced this presumption into a study4 ,he has divided it into sciences and systems without number1 employing his whole life in the vain pursuit4 ,upon no subject has it been so easy to deceive the world as upon this4 ,in every breast the curiosity exists in a greater or less degree1 and can only be conquered by a long course of self-examination1 and a firm reliance that the future would not be hidden from our sight1 if it were right that we should be acquainted with it4 ,an undue opinion of our own importance in the scale of creation is at the bottom of all our unwarrantable notions in this respect4 ,how flattering to the pride of man to think that the stars in their courses watch over him1 and typify1 by their movements and aspects1 the joys or the sorrows that await him6 ,he1 less in proportion to the universe than the all-but invisible insects that feed in myriads on a summer's leaf are to this great globe itself1 fondly imagines that eternal worlds were chiefly created to prognosticate his fate4 ,how we should pity the arrogance of the worm that crawls at our feet1 if we knew that it also desired to know the secrets of futurity1 and imagined that meteors shot athwart the sky to warn it that a tom-tit was hovering near to gobble it up2 that storms and earthquakes1 the revolutions of empires1 or the fall of mighty monarchs1 only happened to predict its birth1 its progress1 and its decay6 ,not a whit less presuming has man shewn himself2 not a whit less arrogant are the sciences1 so called1 of astrology1 augury1 necromancy1 geomancy1 palmistry1 and divination of every kind4 ,leaving out of view the oracles of pagan antiquity and religious predictions in general1 and confining ourselves solely to the persons who1 in modern times1 have made themselves most conspicuous in foretelling the future1 we shall find that the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were the golden age of these impostors4 ,many of them have been already mentioned in their character of alchymists4 ,the union of the two pretensions is not at all surprising4 ,it was to be expected that those who assumed a power so preposterous as that of prolonging the life of man for several centuries1 should pretend1 at the same time1 to foretell the events which were to mark that preternatural span of existence4 ,the world would as readily believe that they had discovered all secrets1 as that they had only discovered one4 ,the most celebrated astrologers of ,europe1 three centuries ago1 were alchymists4 ,agrippa1 ,paracelsus1 ,dr4 ,dee1 and the ,rosicrucians1 all laid as much stress upon their knowledge of the days to come1 as upon their pretended possession of the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life4 ,in their time1 ideas of the wonderful1 the diabolical1 and the supernatural1 were rifer than ever they were before4 ,the devil or the stars were universally believed to meddle constantly in the affairs of men2 and both were to be consulted with proper ceremonies4 ,those who were of a melancholy and gloomy temperament betook themselves to necromancy and sorcery2 those more cheerful and aspiring devoted themselves to astrology4 ,the latter science was encouraged by all the monarchs and governments of that age4 ,in ,england1 from the time of ,elizabeth to that of ,william and ,mary1 judicial astrology was in high repute4 ,during that period flourished ,drs4 ,dee1 ,lamb1 and ,forman2 with ,lilly1 ,booker1 ,gadbury1 ,evans1 and scores of nameless impostors in every considerable town and village in the country1 who made it their business to cast nativities1 aid in the recovery of stolen goods1 prognosticate happy or unhappy marriages1 predict whether journeys would be prosperous1 and note lucky moments for the commencement of any enterprise1 from the setting up of a cobbler's shop to the marching of an army4 ,men who1 to use the words of ,butler1 did ,deal in ,destiny's dark counsel1 ,and sage opinion of the moon sell2 ,to whom all people far and near ,on deep importance did repair1 ,when brass and pewter pots did stray1 ,and linen slunk out of the way4 ,illustration3 ,,henry ,,andrews1 ,,the ,,original ,,francis ,,moore4 ,in ,lilly's ,memoirs of his ,life and ,times1 there are many notices of the inferior quacks who then abounded1 and upon whom he pretended to look down with supreme contempt2 not because they were astrologers1 but because they debased that noble art by taking fees for the recovery of stolen property4 ,from ,butler's ,hudibras1 and its curious notes1 we may learn what immense numbers of these fellows lived upon the credulity of mankind in that age of witchcraft and diablerie4 ,even in our day1 how great is the reputation enjoyed by the almanac-makers1 who assume the name of ,francis ,moore6 ,but in the time of ,charles ,i4 and the ,commonwealth the most learned1 the most noble1 and the most conspicuous characters did not hesitate to consult astrologers in the most open manner4 ,lilly1 whom ,butler has immortalised under the name of ,sydrophel1 relates1 that he proposed to write a work called ,an ,introduction to ,astrology1 in which he would satisfy the whole kingdom of the lawfulness of that art4 ,many of the soldiers were for it1 he says1 and many of the ,independent party1 and abundance of worthy men in the ,house of ,commons1 his assured friends1 and able to take his part against the ,presbyterians1 who would have silenced his predictions if they could4 ,he afterwards carried his plan into execution1 and when his book was published1 went with another astrologer named ,booker to the headquarters of the parliamentary army at ,windsor1 where they were welcomed and feasted in the garden where ,general ,fairfax lodged4 ,they were afterwards introduced to the general1 who received them very kindly1 and made allusion to some of their predictions4 ,he hoped their art was lawful and agreeable to ,god's word2 but he did not understand it himself4 ,he did not doubt1 however1 that the two astrologers feared ,god1 and therefore he had a good opinion of them4 ,lilly assured him that the art of astrology was quite consonant to the ,scriptures2 and confidently predicted from his knowledge of the stars1 that the parliamentary army would overthrow all its enemies4 ,in ,oliver's ,protectorate1 this quack informs us that he wrote freely enough4 ,he became an ,independent1 and all the soldiery were his friends4 ,when he went to ,scotland1 he saw a soldier standing in front of the army with a book of prophecies in his hand1 exclaiming to the several companies as they passed by him1 ,lo6 hear what ,lilly saith3 you are in this month promised victory6 ,fight it out1 brave boys6 and then read that month's prediction6 ,after the great fire of ,london1 which ,lilly said he had foretold1 he was sent for by the committee of the ,house of ,commons appointed to inquire into the causes of the calamity4 ,in his ,monarchy or no ,monarchy1 published in #afea1 he had inserted an hieroglyphical plate representing on one side persons in winding-sheets digging graves2 and on the other a large city in flames4 ,after the great fire1 some sapient member of the legislature bethought him of ,lilly's book1 and having mentioned it in the house1 it was agreed that the astrologer should be summoned4 ,lilly attended accordingly1 when ,sir ,robert ,brook told him the reason of his summons1 and called upon him to declare what he knew4 ,this was a rare opportunity for the vainglorious ,lilly to vaunt his abilities2 and he began a long speech in praise of himself and his pretended science4 ,he said that1 after the execution of ,charles ,i41 he was extremely desirous to know what might from that time forth happen to the parliament and to the nation in general4 ,he therefore consulted the stars1 and satisfied himself4 ,the result of his judgment he put into emblems and hieroglyphics1 without any commentary1 so that the true meaning might be concealed from the vulgar1 and made manifest only to the wise2 imitating in this the example of many wise philosophers who had done the like4 ,did you foresee the year of the fire8 said a member4 ,no1 quoth ,lilly1 nor was ,i desirous4 ,of that ,i made no scrutiny4 ,after some further parley1 the house found they could make nothing of the astrologer1 and dismissed him with great civility4 ,one specimen of the explanation of a prophecy given by ,lilly1 and related by him with much complacency1 will be sufficient to shew the sort of trash by which he imposed upon the million4 ,in the year #aehh1 says he1 there was a prophecy printed in ,greek characters1 exactly deciphering the long troubles of the ,english nation from #afda to #affj4 ,and it ended thus3 ,and after him shall come a dreadful dead man1 and with him a royal ,g1 of the best blood in the world2 and he shall have the crown1 and shall set ,england on the right way1 and put out all heresies4 ,the following is the explanation of this oracular absurdity3 ,monkery being extinguished above eighty or ninety years1 and the ,lord ,general's name being ,monk1 is the dead man4 ,the royal ,g or ,c it is gamma in the ,greek1 intending ,c in the ,latin1 being the third letter in the alphabet is ,charles ,,ii41 who for his extraction may be said to be of the best blood of the world4 ,in ,france and ,germany astrologers met even more encouragement than they received in ,england4 ,in very early ages ,charlemagne and his successors fulminated their wrath against them in common with sorcerers4 ,louis ,,xi41 that most superstitious of men1 entertained great numbers of them at his court2 and ,catherine de ,medicis1 that most superstitious of women1 hardly ever undertook any affair of importance without consulting them4 ,she chiefly favoured her own countrymen2 and during the time she governed ,france1 the land was overrun by ,italian conjurors1 necromancers1 and fortune-tellers of every kind4 ,but the chief astrologer of that day1 beyond all doubt1 was the celebrated ,nostradamus1 physician to her husband1 ,king ,henry ,,ii4 ,he was born in #aejc at the town of ,st4 ,remi1 in ,provence1 where his father was a notary4 ,he did not acquire much fame till he was past his fiftieth year1 when his famous ,centuries1 a collection of verses1 written in obscure and almost unintelligible language1 began to excite attention4 ,they were so much spoken of in #aeef1 that ,henry ,,ii4 resolved to attach so skilful a man to his service1 and appointed him his physician4 ,in a biographical notice of him1 prefixed to the edition of his ,vraies ,centuries1 published at ,amsterdam in #affh1 we are informed that he often discoursed with his royal master on the secrets of futurity1 and received many great presents as his reward1 besides his usual allowance for medical attendance4 ,after the death of ,henry he retired to his native place1 where ,charles ,,ix4 paid him a visit in #aefd2 and was so impressed with veneration for his wondrous knowledge of the things that were to be1 not in ,france only1 but in the whole world for hundreds of years to come1 that he made him a counsellor of state and his own physician1 besides treating him in other matters with a royal liberality4 ,in fine1 continues his biographer1 ,i should be too prolix were ,i to tell all the honours conferred upon him1 and all the great nobles and learned men that arrived at his house from the very ends of the earth1 to see and converse with him as if he had been an oracle4 ,many strangers1 in fact1 came to ,france for no other purpose than to consult him4 ,illustration3 ,,nostradamus4--,,from ,,the ,,frontispiece ,,to ,a ,,collection ,,of ,,his ,,prophecies1 ,,published ,,at ,,amsterdam1 ,a4,d4 #afff4 ,the prophecies of ,nostradamus consist of upwards of a thousand stanzas1 each of four lines1 and are to the full as obscure as the oracles of old4 ,they take so great a latitude1 both as to time and space1 that they are almost sure to be fulfilled somewhere or other in the course of a few centuries4 ,a little ingenuity1 like that evinced by ,lilly in his explanation about ,general ,monk and the dreadful dead man1 might easily make events to fit some of them4#eh #eh ,let us try4 ,in his second century1 prediction #ff1 he says3 ,from great dangers the captive is escaped4 ,a little time1 great fortune changed4 ,in the palace the people are caught4 ,by good augury the city is besieged4 ,what is this1 a believer might exclaim1 but the escape of ,napoleon from ,elba--his changed fortune1 and the occupation of ,paris by the allied armies8 ,let us try again4 ,in his third century1 prediction #ih1 he says3 ,two royal brothers will make fierce war on each other2 ,so mortal shall be the strife between them1 ,that each one shall occupy a fort against the other2 ,for their reign and life shall be the quarrel4 ,some ,lillius ,redivivus would find no difficulty in this prediction4 ,to use a vulgar phrase1 it is as clear as a pikestaff4 ,had not the astrologer in view ,don ,miguel and ,don ,pedro when he penned this stanza1 so much less obscure and oracular than the rest8 ,he is to this day extremely popular in ,france and the ,walloon country of ,belgium1 where old farmer-wives consult him with great confidence and assiduity4 ,catherine di ,medicis was not the only member of her illustrious house who entertained astrologers4 ,at the beginning of the fifteenth century there was a man1 named ,basil1 residing in ,florence1 who was noted over all ,italy for his skill in piercing the darkness of futurity4 ,it is said that he foretold to ,cosmo di ,medicis1 then a private citizen1 that he would attain high dignity1 inasmuch as the ascendant of his nativity was adorned with the same propitious aspects as those of ,augustus ,csar and the ,emperor ,charles ,v4#ei ,another astrologer foretold the death of ,prince ,alexander di ,medicis2 and so very minute and particular was he in all the circumstances1 that he was suspected of being chiefly instrumental in fulfilling his own prophecy--a very common resource with these fellows to keep up their credit4 ,he foretold confidently that the prince should die by the hand of his own familiar friend1 a person of a slender habit of body1 a small face1 a swarthy complexion1 and of most remarkable taciturnity4 ,so it afterwards happened1 ,alexander having been murdered in his chamber by his cousin ,lorenzo1 who corresponded exactly with the above description4#fj ,the author of ,hermippus ,redivivus1 in relating this story1 inclines to the belief that the astrologer was guiltless of any participation in the crime1 but was employed by some friend of ,prince ,alexander to warn him of his danger4 #ei ,hermippus ,redivivus1 p4 #adb4 #fj ,jovii ,elog4 p4 #cbj4 ,a much more remarkable story is told of an astrologer who lived in ,romagna in the fifteenth century1 and whose name was ,antiochus ,tibertus4#fa ,at that time nearly all the petty sovereigns of ,italy retained such men in their service2 and ,tibertus1 having studied the mathematics with great success at ,paris1 and delivered many predictions1 some of which1 for guesses1 were not deficient in shrewdness1 was taken into the household of ,pandolfo di ,malatesta1 the sovereign of ,rimini4 ,his reputation was so great1 that his study was continually thronged either with visitors who were persons of distinction1 or with clients who came to him for advice2 and in a short time he acquired a considerable fortune4 ,notwithstanding all these advantages1 he passed his life miserably1 and ended it on the scaffold4 ,the following story afterwards got into circulation1 and has been often triumphantly cited by succeeding astrologers as an irrefragable proof of the truth of their science4 ,it was said that1 long before he died1 he uttered three remarkable prophecies--one relating to himself1 another to his friend1 and the third to his patron1 ,pandolfo di ,malatesta4 ,the first delivered was that relating to his friend ,guido di ,bogni1 one of the greatest captains of the time4 ,guido was exceedingly desirous to know his fortune1 and so importuned ,tibertus1 that the latter consulted the stars and the lines on his palm to satisfy him4 ,he afterwards told him with a sorrowful face1 that1 according to all the rules of astrology and palmistry1 he should be falsely suspected by his best friend1 and should lose his life in consequence4 ,guido then asked the astrologer if he could foretell his own fate2 upon which ,tibertus again consulted the stars1 and found that it was decreed from all eternity that he should end his days on the scaffold4 ,malatesta1 when he heard these predictions1 so unlikely1 to all present appearance1 to prove true1 desired his astrologer to predict his fate also1 and to hide nothing from him1 however unfavourable it might be4 ,tibertus complied1 and told his patron1 at that time one of the most flourishing and powerful princes of ,italy1 that he should suffer great want1 and die at last like a beggar in the common hospital of ,bologna4 ,and so it happened in all three cases4 ,guido di ,bogni was accused by his own father-in-law1 the ,count di ,bentivoglio1 of a treasonable design to deliver up the city of ,rimini to the papal forces1 and was assassinated afterwards1 by order of the tyrant ,malatesta1 as he sat at the supper-table1 to which he had been invited in all apparent friendship4 ,the astrologer was at the same time thrown into prison1 as being concerned in the treason of his friend4 ,he attempted to escape1 and had succeeded in letting himself down from his dungeon-window into a moat1 when he was discovered by the sentinels4 ,this being reported to ,malatesta1 he gave orders for his execution on the following morning4 #fa ,les ,anecdotes de ,florence1 ou l',histoire secrte de la ,maison di ,medicis1 p4 #cah4 ,malatesta had1 at this time1 no remembrance of the prophecy2 and his own fate gave him no uneasiness2 but events were silently working its fulfilment4 ,a conspiracy had been formed1 though ,guido di ,bogni was innocent of it1 to deliver up ,rimini to the pope2 and all the necessary measures having been taken1 the city was seized by the ,count de ,valentinois4 ,in the confusion1 ,malatesta had barely time to escape from his palace in disguise4 ,he was pursued from place to place by his enemies1 abandoned by all his former friends1 and1 finally1 by his own children4 ,he at last fell ill of a languishing disease1 at ,bologna2 and1 nobody caring to afford him shelter1 he was carried to the hospital1 where he died4 ,the only thing that detracts from the interest of this remarkable story is the fact1 that the prophecy was made after the event4 ,for some weeks before the birth of ,louis ,,xiv41 an astrologer from ,germany1 who had been sent for by the ,marshal de ,bassompierre and other noblemen of the court1 had taken up his residence in the palace1 to be ready1 at a moment's notice1 to draw the horoscope of the future sovereign of ,france4 ,when the queen was taken in labour1 he was ushered into a contiguous apartment1 that he might receive notice of the very instant the child was born4 ,the result of his observations were the three words1 diu1 dur1 feliciter2 meaning1 that the new-born prince should live and reign long1 with much labour1 and with great glory4 ,no prediction less favourable could have been expected from an astrologer1 who had his bread to get1 and who was at the same time a courtier4 ,a medal was afterwards struck in commemoration of the event2 upon one side of which was figured the nativity of the prince1 representing him as driving the chariot of ,apollo1 with the inscription ,ortus solis ,gallici1--the rising of the ,gallic sun4 ,the best excuse ever made for astrology was that offered by the great astronomer1 ,kepler1 himself an unwilling practiser of the art4 ,he had many applications from his friends to cast nativities for them1 and generally gave a positive refusal to such as he was not afraid of offending by his frankness4 ,in other cases he accommodated himself to the prevailing delusion4 ,in sending a copy of his ,ephemerides to ,professor ,gerlach1 he wrote1 that they were nothing but worthless conjectures2 but he was obliged to devote himself to them1 or he would have starved4 ,ye overwise philosophers1 he exclaimed1 in his ,tertius ,interveniens2 ye censure this daughter of astronomy beyond her deserts6 ,know ye not that she must support her mother by her charms8 ,the scanty reward of an astronomer would not provide him with bread1 if men did not entertain hopes of reading the future in the heavens4 ,,necromancy was1 next to astrology1 the pretended science most resorted to1 by those who wished to pry into the future4 ,the earliest instance upon record is that of the witch of ,endor and the spirit of ,samuel4 ,nearly all the nations of antiquity believed in the possibility of summoning departed ghosts to disclose the awful secrets that ,god made clear to the disembodied4 ,many passages in allusion to this subject will at once suggest themselves to the classical reader2 but this art was never carried on openly in any country4 ,all governments looked upon it as a crime of the deepest dye4 ,while astrology was encouraged1 and its professors courted and rewarded1 necromancers were universally condemned to the stake or the gallows4 ,roger ,bacon1 ,albertus ,magnus1 ,arnold of ,villeneuve1 and many others1 were accused by the public opinion of many centuries1 of meddling in these unhallowed matters4 ,so deep-rooted has always been the popular delusion with respect to accusations of this kind1 that no crime was ever disproved with such toil and difficulty4 ,that it met great encouragement1 nevertheless1 is evident from the vast numbers of pretenders to it2 who1 in spite of the danger1 have existed in all ages and countries4 ,,geomancy1 or the art of foretelling the future by means of lines and circles1 and other mathematical figures drawn on the earth1 is still extensively practised in ,asiatic countries1 but is almost unknown in ,europe4 ,,augury1 from the flight or entrails of birds1 so favourite a study among the ,romans1 is1 in like manner1 exploded in ,europe4 ,its most assiduous professors1 at the present day1 are the abominable ,thugs of ,india4 ,,divination1 of which there are many kinds1 boasts a more enduring reputation4 ,it has held an empire over the minds of men from the earliest periods of recorded history1 and is1 in all probability1 coeval with time itself4 ,it was practised alike by the ,jews1 the ,egyptians1 the ,chaldeans1 the ,persians1 the ,greeks1 and the ,romans2 is equally known to all modern nations1 in every part of the world2 and is not unfamiliar to the untutored tribes that roam in the wilds of ,africa and ,america4 ,divination1 as practised in civilised ,europe at the present day1 is chiefly from cards1 the tea-cup1 and the lines on the palm of the hand4 ,gipsies alone make a profession of it2 but there are thousands and tens of thousands of humble families in which the good-wife1 and even the good-man1 resort to the grounds at the bottom of their tea-cups1 to know whether the next harvest will be abundant1 or their sow bring forth a numerous litter2 and in which the young maidens look to the same place to know when they are to be married1 and whether the man of their choice is to be dark or fair1 rich or poor1 kind or cruel4 ,divination by cards1 so great a favourite among the moderns1 is1 of course1 a modern science2 as cards do not yet boast an antiquity of much more than four hundred years4 ,divination by the palm1 so confidently believed in by half the village lasses in ,europe1 is of older date1 and seems to have been known to the ,egyptians in the time of the patriarchs2 as well as divination by the cup1 which1 as we are informed in ,genesis1 was practised by ,joseph4 ,divination by the rod was also practised by the ,egyptians4 ,in comparatively recent times1 it was pretended that by this means hidden treasures could be discovered4 ,it now appears to be altogether exploded in ,europe4 ,onomancy1 or the foretelling a man's fate by the letters of his name1 and the various transpositions of which they are capable1 is a more modern sort of divination2 but it reckons comparatively few believers4 ,the following list of the various species of divination formerly in use1 is given by ,gaule in his ,magastromancer1 and quoted in ,hone's ,year-,book1 p4 #aeag4 ,stereomancy1 or divining by the elements4 ,aeromancy1 or divining by the air4 ,pyromancy1 by fire1 ,hydromancy1 by water4 ,geomancy1 by earth4 ,theomancy1 pretending to divine by the revelation of the ,spirit1 and by the ,scriptures1 or word of ,god4 ,demonomancy1 by the aid of devils and evil spirits4 ,idolomancy1 by idols1 images1 and figures4 ,psychomancy1 by the soul1 affections1 or dispositions of men4 ,anthropomancy1 by the entrails of human beings4 ,theriomancy1 by beasts4 ,ornithomancy1 by birds4 ,ichthyomancy1 by fishes4 ,botanomancy1 by herbs4 ,lithomancy1 by stones4 ,kleromancy1 by lots4 ,oneiromancy1 by dreams4 ,onomancy1 by names4 ,arithmancy1 by numbers4 ,logarithmancy1 by logarithms4 ,sternomancy1 by the marks from the breast to the belly4 ,gastromancy1 by the sound of1 or marks upon the belly4 ,omphalomancy1 by the navel4 ,chiromancy1 by the hands4 ,podomancy1 by the feet4 ,onchyomancy1 by the nails4 ,cephaleonomancy1 by asses' heads4 ,tephromancy1 by ashes4 ,kapnomancy1 by smoke4 ,knissomancy1 by the burning of incense4 ,ceromancy1 by the melting of wax4 ,lecanomancy1 by basins of water4 ,katoptromancy1 by looking-glasses4 ,chartomancy1 by writing in papers1 and by ,valentines4 ,macharomancy1 by knives and swords4 ,crystallomancy1 by crystals4 ,dactylomancy1 by rings4 ,koskinomancy1 by sieves4 ,axinomancy1 by saws4 ,chalcomancy1 by vessels of brass1 or other metal4 ,spatilomancy1 by skins1 bones1 c4 ,astromancy1 by stars4 ,sciomancy1 by shadows4 ,astragalomancy1 by dice4 ,oinomancy1 by the lees of wine4 ,sycomancy1 by figs4 ,tyromancy1 by cheese4 ,alphitomancy1 by meal1 flour1 or bran4 ,krithomancy1 by corn or grain4 ,alectromancy1 by cocks4 ,gyromancy1 by circles4 ,lampadomancy1 by candles and lamps4 ,,oneiro-,,criticism1 or the art of interpreting dreams1 is a relic of the most remote ages1 which has subsisted through all the changes that moral or physical revolutions have operated in the world4 ,the records of five thousand years bear abundant testimony to the universal diffusion of the belief1 that the skilful could read the future in dreams4 ,the rules of the art1 if any existed in ancient times1 are not known2 but in our day1 one simple rule opens the whole secret4 ,dreams1 say all the wiseacres in ,christendom1 are to be interpreted by contraries4 ,thus1 if you dream of filth1 you will acquire something valuable2 if you dream of the dead1 you will hear news of the living2 if you dream of gold and silver1 you run a risk of being without either2 and if you dream you have many friends1 you will be persecuted by many enemies4 ,the rule1 however1 does not hold good in all cases4 ,it is fortunate to dream of little pigs1 but unfortunate to dream of big bullocks4 ,if you dream you have lost a tooth1 you may be sure that you will shortly lose a friend2 and if you dream that your house is on fire1 you will receive news from a far country4 ,if you dream of vermin1 it is a sign that there will be sickness in your family2 and if you dream of serpents1 you will have friends who1 in the course of time1 will prove your bitterest enemies2 but1 of all dreams1 it is most fortunate if you dream that you are wallowing up to your neck in mud and mire4 ,clear water is a sign of grief2 and great troubles1 distress1 and perplexity are predicted1 if you dream that you stand naked in the public streets1 and know not where to find a garment to shield you from the gaze of the multitude4 ,in many parts of ,great ,britain1 and the continents of ,europe and ,america1 there are to be found elderly women in the villages and country-places whose interpretations of dreams are looked upon with as much reverence as if they were oracles4 ,in districts remote from towns it is not uncommon to find the members of a family regularly every morning narrating their dreams at the breakfast-table1 and becoming happy or miserable for the day according to their interpretation4 ,there is not a flower that blossoms1 or fruit that ripens1 that1 dreamed of1 is not ominous of either good or evil to such people4 ,every tree of the field or the forest is endowed with a similar influence over the fate of mortals1 if seen in the night-visions4 ,to dream of the ash1 is the sign of a long journey2 and of an oak1 prognosticates long life and prosperity4 ,to dream you stript the bark off any tree1 is a sign to a maiden of an approaching loss of a character2 to a married woman1 of a family bereavement2 and to a man1 of an accession of fortune4 ,to dream of a leafless tree1 is a sign of great sorrow2 and of a branchless trunk1 a sign of despair and suicide4 ,the elder-tree is more auspicious to the sleeper2 while the fir-tree1 better still1 betokens all manner of comfort and prosperity4 ,the lime-tree predicts a voyage across the ocean2 while the yew and the alder are ominous of sickness to the young and of death to the old4#fb ,among the flowers and fruits charged with messages for the future1 the following is a list of the most important1 arranged from approved sources1 in alphabetical order3 ,asparagus1 gathered and tied up in bundles1 is an omen of tears4 ,if you see it growing in your dreams1 it is a sign of good fortune4 ,aloes1 without a flower1 betokens long life2 in flower1 betokens a legacy4 ,artichokes4 ,this vegetable is a sign that you will receive1 in a short time1 a favour from the hands of those from whom you would least expect it4 ,agrimony4 ,this herb denotes that there will be sickness in your house4 ,anemone predicts love4 ,auriculas1 in beds1 denote luck2 in pots1 marriage2 while to gather them1 foretells widowhood4 ,bilberries predict a pleasant excursion4 ,broom-flowers an increase of family4 ,cauliflowers predict that all your friends will slight you1 or that you will fall into poverty and find no one to pity you4 ,dock-leaves1 a present from the country4 ,daffodils4 ,any maiden who dreams of daffodils is warned by her good angel to avoid going into a wood with her lover1 or into any dark or retired place where she might not be able to make people hear her if she cried out4 ,alas for her if she pay no attention to the warning6 ,never again shall she put garland on2 ,instead of it she'll wear sad cypress now1 ,and bitter elder broken from the bough4 ,figs1 if green1 betoken embarrassment2 if dried1 money to the poor1 and mirth to the rich4 ,hearts-ease betokens heart's pain4 ,lilies predict joy2 water-lilies1 danger from the sea4 ,lemons betoken a separation4 ,pomegranates predict happy wedlock to those who are single1 and reconciliation to those who are married and have disagreed4 ,quinces prognosticate pleasant company4 ,roses denote happy love1 not unmixed with sorrow from other sources4 ,sorrel4 ,to dream of this herb is a sign that you will shortly have occasion to exert all your prudence to overcome some great calamity4 ,sunflowers shew that your pride will be deeply wounded4 ,violets predict evil to the single1 and joy to the married4 ,yellow-flowers of any kind predict jealousy4 ,yew-berries predict loss of character to both sexes4 #fb ,it is quite astonishing to see the great demand there is1 both in ,england and ,france1 for dream-books1 and other trash of the same kind4 ,two books in ,england enjoy an extraordinary popularity1 and have run through upwards of fifty editions in as many years in ,london alone1 besides being reprinted in ,manchester1 ,edinburgh1 ,glasgow1 and ,dublin4 ,one is ,mother ,bridget's ,dream-book and ,oracle of ,fate2 the other is the ,norwood ,gipsy4 ,it is stated1 on the authority of one who is curious in these matters1 that there is a demand for these works1 which are sold at sums varying from a penny to sixpence1 chiefly to servant-girls and imperfectly-educated people1 all over the country1 of upwards of eleven thousand annually2 and that at no period during the last thirty years has the average number sold been less than this4 ,the total number during this period would thus amount to #ccj1jjj4 ,it should be observed that the rules for the interpretation of dreams are far from being universal4 ,the cheeks of the peasant girl of ,england glow with pleasure in the morning after she has dreamed of a rose1 while the paysanne of ,normandy dreads disappointment and vexation for the very same reason4 ,the ,switzer who dreams of an oak-tree does not share in the ,englishman's joy2 for he imagines that the vision was a warning to him that1 from some trifling cause1 an overwhelming calamity will burst over him4 ,thus do the ignorant and the credulous torment themselves2 thus do they spread their nets to catch vexation1 and pass their lives between hopes which are of no value and fears which are a positive evil4 ,,omens4 ,among the other means of self-annoyance upon which men have stumbled1 in their vain hope of discovering the future1 signs and omens hold a conspicuous place4 ,there is scarcely an occurrence in nature which1 happening at a certain time1 is not looked upon by some persons as a prognosticator either of good or evil4 ,the latter are in the greatest number1 so much more ingenious are we in tormenting ourselves than in discovering reasons for enjoyment in the things that surround us4 ,we go out of our course to make ourselves uncomfortable2 the cup of life is not bitter enough to our palate1 and we distil superfluous poison to put into it1 or conjure up hideous things to frighten ourselves at1 which would never exist if we did not make them4 ,we suffer1 says ,addison1#fc as much from trifling accidents as from real evils4 ,i have known the shooting of a star spoil a night's rest1 and have seen a man in love grow pale and lose his appetite upon the plucking of a merrythought4 ,a screech-owl at midnight has alarmed a family more than a band of robbers2 nay1 the voice of a cricket has struck more terror than the roaring of a lion4 ,there is nothing so inconsiderable which may not appear dreadful to an imagination that is filled with omens and prognostics4 ,a rusty nail or a crooked pin shoot up into prodigies4 #fc ,spectator1 ,no4 #g1 ,march #h1 #agaj-aa4 ,the century and a quarter that has passed away since ,addison wrote has seen the fall of many errors4 ,many fallacies and delusions have been crushed under the foot of ,time since then2 but this has been left unscathed1 to frighten the weak-minded and embitter their existence4 ,a belief in omens is not confined to the humble and uninformed4 ,a general who led an army with credit has been known to feel alarmed at a winding-sheet in the candle2 and learned men1 who had honourably and fairly earned the highest honours of literature1 have been seen to gather their little ones around them1 and fear that one would be snatched away1 because1 ,when stole upon the time the dead of night1 ,and heavy sleep had closed up mortal eyes1 a dog in the street was howling at the moon4 ,persons who would acknowledge freely that the belief in omens was unworthy of a man of sense1 have yet confessed at the same time that1 in spite of their reason1 they have been unable to conquer their fears of death when they heard the harmless insect called the death-watch ticking in the wall1 or saw an oblong hollow coal fly out of the fire4 ,many other evil omens besides those mentioned above alarm the vulgar and the weak4 ,if a sudden shivering comes over such people1 they believe that1 at that instant1 an enemy is treading over the spot that will one day be their grave4 ,if they meet a sow when they first walk abroad in the morning1 it is an omen of evil for that day4 ,to meet an ass1 is in like manner unlucky4 ,it is also very unfortunate to walk under a ladder2 to forget to eat goose on the festival of ,st4 ,michael2 to tread upon a beetle1 or to eat the twin nuts that are sometimes found in one shell4 ,woe1 in like manner1 is predicted to that wight who inadvertently upsets the salt2 each grain that is overthrown will bring to him a day of sorrow4 ,if thirteen persons sit at table1 one of them will die within the year2 and all of them will be unhappy4 ,of all evil omens this is the worst4 ,the facetious ,dr4 ,kitchener used to observe that there was one case in which he believed that it was really unlucky for thirteen persons to sit down to dinner1 and that was when there was only dinner enough for twelve4 ,unfortunately for their peace of mind1 the great majority of people do not take this wise view of the matter4 ,in almost every country of ,europe the same superstition prevails1 and some carry it so far as to look upon the number thirteen as in every way ominous of evil2 and if they find thirteen coins in their purse1 cast away the odd one like a polluted thing4 ,the philosophic ,beranger1 in his exquisite song1 ,thirteen at ,table1 has taken a poetical view of this humiliating superstition1 and mingled1 as is his wont1 a lesson of genuine wisdom in his lay4 ,being at dinner1 he overthrows the salt1 and1 looking round the room1 discovers that he is the thirteenth guest4 ,while he is mourning his unhappy fate1 and conjuring up visions of disease and suffering and the grave1 he is suddenly startled by the apparition of ,death herself1 not in the shape of a grim foe1 with skeleton-ribs and menacing dart1 but of an angel of light1 who shews the folly of tormenting ourselves with the dread of her approach1 when she is the friend1 rather than the enemy1 of man1 and frees us from the fetters which bind us to the dust4 ,if men could bring themselves to look upon death in this manner1 living well and wisely till her inevitable approach1 how vast a store of grief and vexation would they spare themselves6 ,among good omens1 one of the most conspicuous is to meet a piebald horse4 ,to meet two of these animals is still more fortunate2 and if on such an occasion you spit thrice1 and form any reasonable wish1 it will be gratified within three days4 ,it is also a sign of good fortune if you inadvertently put on your stocking wrong side out4 ,if you wilfully wear your stocking in this fashion1 no good will come of it4 ,it is very lucky to sneeze twice2 but if you sneeze a third time1 the omen loses its power1 and your good fortune will be nipped in the bud4 ,if a strange dog follow you1 and fawn on you1 and wish to attach itself to you1 it is a sign of very great prosperity4 ,just as fortunate is it if a strange male cat comes to your house and manifests friendly intentions towards your family4 ,if a she cat1 it is an omen1 on the contrary1 of very great misfortune4 ,if a swarm of bees alight in your garden1 some very high honour and great joys await you4 ,besides these glimpses of the future1 you may know something of your fate by a diligent attention to every itching that you may feel in your body4 ,thus1 if the eye or the nose itches1 it is a sign you will be shortly vexed2 if the foot itches1 you will tread upon strange ground2 and if the elbow itches1 you will change your bedfellow4 ,itching of the right hand prognosticates that you will soon have a sum of money2 and1 of the left1 that you will be called upon to disburse it4 ,these are but a few of the omens which are generally credited in modern ,europe4 ,a complete list of them would fatigue from its length1 and sicken from its absurdity4 ,it would be still more unprofitable to attempt to specify the various delusions of the same kind which are believed among oriental nations4 ,every reader will remember the comprehensive formula of cursing preserved in ,tristram ,shandy--curse a man after any fashion you remember or can invent1 you will be sure to find it there4 ,the oriental creed of omens is not less comprehensive4 ,every movement of the body1 every emotion of the mind1 is at certain times an omen4 ,every form and object in nature1 even the shape of the clouds and the changes of the weather2 every colour1 every sound1 whether of men or animals1 or birds or insects1 or inanimate things1 is an omen4 ,nothing is too trifling or inconsiderable to inspire a hope which is not worth cherishing1 or a fear which is sufficient to embitter existence4 ,from the belief in omens springs the superstition that has1 from very early ages1 set apart certain days1 as more favourable than others1 for prying into the secrets of futurity4 ,the following1 copied verbatim from the popular ,dream and ,omen ,book of ,mother ,bridget1 will shew the belief of the people of ,england at the present day4 ,those who are curious as to the ancient history of these observances1 will find abundant aliment in the ,every-day ,book4 ,the #ast of ,january4--,if a young maiden drink1 on going to bed1 a pint of cold spring water1 in which is beat up an amulet1 composed of the yolk of a pullet's egg1 the legs of a spider1 and the skin of an eel pounded1 her future destiny will be revealed to her in a dream4 ,this charm fails of its effect if tried any other day of the year4 ,valentine ,day4--,let a single woman go out of her own door very early in the morning1 and if the first person she meets be a woman1 she will not be married that year2 if she meet a man she will be married within three months4 ,lady ,day4--,the following charm may be tried this day with certain success3 ,string thirty-one nuts on a string1 composed of red worsted mixed with blue silk1 and tie it round your neck on going to bed1 repeating these lines3 ,oh1 ,i wish6 oh1 ,i wish to see ,who my true love is to be6 ,shortly after midnight1 you will see your lover in a dream1 and be informed at the same time of all the principal events of your future life4 ,st4 ,swithin's ,eve4--,select three things you most wish to know2 write them down with a new pen and red ink on a sheet of fine wove paper1 from which you must previously cut off all the corners and burn them4 ,fold the paper into a true lover's knot1 and wrap round it three hairs from your head4 ,place the paper under your pillow for three successive nights1 and your curiosity to know the future will be satisfied4 ,st4 ,mark's ,eve4--,repair to the nearest churchyard as the clock strikes twelve1 and take from a grave on the south side of the church three tufts of grass 7the longer and ranker the better71 and on going to bed place them under your pillow1 repeating earnestly three several times1 ',the ,eve of ,st4 ,mark by prediction is blest1 ,set therefore my hopes and my fears all to rest3 ,let me know my fate1 whether weal or woe2 ,whether my rank's to be high or low2 ,whether to live single1 or be a bride1 ,and the destiny my star doth provide4' ,should you have no dream that night1 you will be single and miserable all your life4 ,if you dream of thunder and lightning1 your life will be one of great difficulty and sorrow4 ,candlemas ,eve4--,on this night 7which is the purification of the ,virgin ,mary71 let three1 five1 seven1 or nine young maidens assemble together in a square chamber4 ,hang in each corner a bundle of sweet herbs1 mixed with rue and rosemary4 ,then mix a cake of flour1 olive-oil1 and white sugar2 every maiden having an equal share in the making and the expense of it4 ,afterwards it must be cut into equal pieces1 each one marking the piece as she cuts it with the initials of her name4 ,it is then to be baked one hour before the fire1 not a word being spoken the whole time1 and the maidens sitting with their arms and knees across4 ,each piece of cake is then to be wrapped up in a sheet of paper1 on which each maiden shall write the love part of ,solomon's ,songs4 ,if she put this under her pillow she will dream true4 ,she will see her future husband and every one of her children1 and will know besides whether her family will be poor or prosperous1 a comfort to her or the contrary4 ,midsummer4--,take three roses1 smoke them with sulphur1 and exactly at three in the day bury one of the roses under a yew-tree2 the second in a newly-made grave1 and put the third under your pillow for three nights1 and at the end of that period burn it in a fire of charcoal4 ,your dreams during that time will be prophetic of your future destiny1 and1 what is still more curious and valuable1 says ,mother ,bridget1 the man whom you are to wed will enjoy no peace till he comes and visits you4 ,besides this1 you will perpetually haunt his dreams4 ,st4 ,john's ,eve4--,make a new pincushion of the very best black velvet 7no inferior quality will answer the purpose71 and on one side stick your name at full length with the very smallest pins that can be bought 7none other will do74 ,on the other side make a cross with some very large pins1 and surround it with a circle4 ,put this into your stocking when you take it off at night1 and hang it up at the foot of the bed4 ,all your future life will pass before you in a dream4 ,first ,new ,moon of the year4--,on the first new moon in the year take a pint of clear spring water1 and infuse into it the white of an egg laid by a white hen1 a glass of white wine1 three almonds peeled white1 and a tablespoonful of white rose-water4 ,drink this on going to bed1 not making more nor less than three draughts of it2 repeating the following verses three several times in a clear distinct voice1 but not so loud as to be overheard by any body3 ',if ,i dream of water pure ,before the coming morn1 ',tis a sign ,i shall be poor1 ,and unto wealth not born4 ,if ,i dream of tasting beer1 ,middling then will be my cheer-- ,chequer'd with the good and bad1 ,sometimes joyful1 sometimes sad2 ,but should ,i dream of drinking wine1 ,wealth and pleasure will be mine4 ,the stronger the drink1 the better the cheer-- ,dreams of my destiny1 appear1 appear6' ,twenty-ninth of ,february4--,this day1 as it only occurs once in four years1 is peculiarly auspicious to those who desire to have a glance at futurity1 especially to young maidens burning with anxiety to know the appearance and complexion of their future lords4 ,the charm to be adopted is the following3 ,stick twenty-seven of the smallest pins that are made1 three by three1 into a tallow candle4 ,light it up at the wrong end1 and then place it in a candlestick made out of clay1 which must be drawn from a virgin's grave4 ,place this on the chimney-place1 in the left-hand corner1 exactly as the clock strikes twelve1 and go to bed immediately4 ,when the candle is burnt out1 take the pins and put them into your left shoe2 and before nine nights have elapsed your fate will be revealed to you4 ,we have now taken a hasty review of the various modes of seeking to discover the future1 especially as practised in modern times4 ,the main features of the folly appear essentially the same in all countries4 ,national character and peculiarities operate some difference of interpretation4 ,the mountaineer makes the natural phenomena which he most frequently witnesses prognosticative of the future4 ,the dweller in the plains1 in a similar manner1 seeks to know his fate among the signs of the things that surround him1 and tints his superstition with the hues of his own clime4 ,the same spirit animates them all--the same desire to know that which ,infinite ,mercy has concealed4 ,there is but little probability that the curiosity of mankind in this respect will ever be wholly eradicated4 ,death and ill fortune are continual bugbears to the weak-minded1 the irreligious1 and the ignorant2 and while such exist in the world1 divines will preach upon its impiety and philosophers discourse upon its absurdity in vain4 ,still it is evident that these follies have greatly diminished4 ,soothsayers and prophets have lost the credit they formerly enjoyed1 and skulk in secret now where they once shewed their faces in the blaze of day4 ,so far there is manifest improvement4 ,,the ,,magnetisers4 ,some deemed them wondrous wise1 and some believed them mad4 ,beattie's ,minstrel4 ,illustration3 ,t ,the wonderful influence of imagination in the cure of diseases is well known4 ,a motion of the hand1 or a glance of the eye1 will throw a weak and credulous patient into a fit2 and a pill made of bread1 if taken with sufficient faith1 will operate a cure better than all the drugs in the pharmacopoeia4 ,the ,prince of ,orange1 at the siege of ,breda1 in #afbe1 cured all his soldiers1 who were dying of the scurvy1 by a philanthropic piece of quackery1 which he played upon them with the knowledge of the physicians1 when all other means had failed4#fd ,many hundreds of instances1 of a similar kind1 might be related1 especially from the history of witchcraft4 ,the mummeries1 strange gesticulations1 and barbarous jargon of witches and sorcerers1 which frightened credulous and nervous women1 brought on all those symptoms of hysteria and other similar diseases1 so well understood now1 but which were then supposed to be the work of the ,devil1 not only by the victims and the public in general1 but by the operators themselves4 #fd ,see ,van der ,mye's account of the siege of ,breda4 ,the garrison1 being afflicted with scurvy1 the ,prince of ,orange sent the physicians two or three small phials1 containing a decoction of camomile1 wormwood1 and camphor1 telling them to pretend that it was a medicine of the greatest value and extremest rarity1 which had been procured with very much danger and difficulty from the ,east2 and so strong1 that two or three drops would impart a healing virtue to a gallon of water4 ,the soldiers had faith in their commander2 they took the medicine with cheerful faces1 and grew well rapidly4 ,they afterwards thronged about the prince in groups of twenty and thirty at a time1 praising his skill1 and loading him with protestations of gratitude4 ,in the age when alchymy began to fall into some disrepute1 and learning to lift up its voice against it1 a new delusion1 based upon this power of imagination1 suddenly arose1 and found apostles among all the alchymists4 ,numbers of them1 forsaking their old pursuits1 made themselves magnetisers4 ,it appeared first in the shape of mineral1 and afterwards of animal1 magnetism1 under which latter name it survives to this day1 and numbers its dupes by thousands4 ,the mineral magnetisers claim the first notice1 as the worthy predecessors of the quacks of the present day4 ,the honour claimed for ,paracelsus1 of being the first of the ,rosicrucians1 has been disputed2 but his claim to be considered the first of the magnetisers can scarcely be challenged4 ,it has been already mentioned of him1 in the part of this work which treats of alchymy1 that1 like nearly all the distinguished adepts1 he was a physician2 and pretended1 not only to make gold and confer immortality1 but to cure all diseases4 ,he was the first who1 with the latter view1 attributed occult and miraculous powers to the magnet4 ,animated apparently by a sincere conviction that the magnet was the philosopher's stone1 which1 if it could not transmute metals1 could soothe all human suffering and arrest the progress of decay1 he travelled for many years in ,persia and ,arabia1 in search of the mountain of adamant1 so famed in oriental fables4 ,when he practised as a physician at ,basle1 he called one of his nostrums by the name of azoth--a stone or crystal1 which1 he said1 contained magnetic properties1 and cured epilepsy1 hysteria1 and spasmodic affections4 ,he soon found imitators4 ,his fame spread far and near2 and thus were sown the first seeds of that error which has since taken root and flourished so widely4 ,in spite of the denial of modern practitioners1 this must be considered the origin of magnetism2 for we find that1 beginning with ,paracelsus1 there was a regular succession of mineral magnetisers until ,mesmer appeared1 and gave a new feature to the delusion4 ,paracelsus boasted of being able to transplant diseases from the human frame into the earth1 by means of the magnet4 ,he said there were six ways by which this might be effected4 ,one of them will be quite sufficient as a specimen4 ,if a person suffer from disease1 either local or general1 let the following remedy be tried4 ,take a magnet1 impregnated with mummy1#fe and mixed with rich earth4 ,in this earth sow some seeds that have a congruity or homogeneity with the disease2 then let this earth1 well sifted and mixed with mummy1 be laid in an earthen vessel2 and let the seeds committed to it be watered daily with a lotion in which the diseased limb or body has been washed4 ,thus will the disease be transplanted from the human body to the seeds which are in the earth4 ,having done this1 transplant the seeds from the earthen vessel to the ground1 and wait till they begin to sprout into herbs2 as they increase1 the disease will diminish2 and when they have arrived at their full growth1 it will disappear altogether4 #fe ,mummies were of several kinds1 and were all of great use in magnetic medicines4 ,paracelsus enumerates six kinds of mummies2 the first four only differing in the composition used by different people for preserving their dead1 are the ,egyptian1 ,arabian1 ,pisasphaltos1 and ,libyan4 ,the fifth mummy of peculiar power was made from criminals that had been hanged2 for from such there is a gentle siccation1 that expungeth the watery humour1 without destroying the oil and spirituall1 which is cherished by the heavenly luminaries1 and strengthened continually by the affluence and impulses of the celestial spirits2 whence it may be properly called by the name of constellated or celestial mummie4 ,the sixth kind of mummy was made of corpuscles1 or spiritual effluences1 radiated from the living body2 though we cannot get very clear ideas on this head1 or respecting the manner in which they were caught4--,medicina ,diatastica2 or1 ,sympathetical ,mummie1 abstracted from the ,works of ,paracelsus1 and translated out of the ,latin1 by ,fernando ,parkhurst1 ,gent4 ,london1 #afec1 pp4 #b1 #g4 ,quoted by the ,foreign ,quarterly ,review1 vol4 xii4 p4 #dae4 ,kircher the ,jesuit1 whose quarrel with the alchymists was the means of exposing many of their impostures1 was a firm believer in the efficacy of the magnet4 ,having been applied to by a patient afflicted with hernia1 he directed the man to swallow a small magnet reduced to powder1 while he applied at the same time to the external swelling1 a poultice made of filings of iron4 ,he expected that by this means the magnet1 when it got to the corresponding place inside1 would draw in the iron1 and with it the tumour2 which would thus1 he said1 be safely and expeditiously reduced4 ,as this new doctrine of magnetism spread1 it was found that wounds inflicted with any metallic substance could be cured by the magnet4 ,in process of time1 the delusion so increased1 that it was deemed sufficient to magnetise a sword1 to cure any hurt which that sword might have inflicted6 ,this was the origin of the celebrated weapon-salve1 which excited so much attention about the middle of the seventeenth century4 ,the following was the recipe given by ,paracelsus for the cure of any wounds inflicted by a sharp weapon1 except such as had penetrated the heart1 the brain1 or the arteries4 ,take of moss growing on the head of a thief who has been hanged and left in the air2 of real mummy2 of human blood1 still warm--of each1 one ounce2 of human suet1 two ounces2 of linseed oil1 turpentine1 and ,armenian bole--of each1 two drachms4 ,mix all well in a mortar1 and keep the salve in an oblong1 narrow urn4 ,with this salve the weapon1 after being dipped in the blood from the wound1 was to be carefully anointed1 and then laid by in a cool place4 ,in the mean time1 the wound was to be duly washed with fair clean water1 covered with a clean1 soft1 linen rag1 and opened once a day to cleanse off purulent or other matter4 ,of the success of this treatment1 says the writer of the able article on ,animal ,magnetism1 in the twelfth volume of the ,foreign ,quarterly ,review1 there cannot be the least doubt2 for surgeons at this moment follow exactly the same method1 except anointing the weapon6 ,the weapon-salve continued to be much spoken of on the ,continent1 and many eager claimants appeared for the honour of the invention4 ,dr4 ,fludd1 or ,a4 ,fluctibus1 the ,rosicrucian1 who has been already mentioned in a previous part of this volume1 was very zealous in introducing it into ,england4 ,he tried it with great success in several cases1 and no wonder1 for while he kept up the spirits of his patients by boasting of the great efficacy of the salve1 he never neglected those common1 but much more important remedies1 of washing1 bandaging1 c4 which the experience of all ages had declared sufficient for the purpose4 ,fludd moreover declared1 that the magnet was a remedy for all diseases1 if properly applied2 but that man having1 like the earth1 a north and a south pole1 magnetism could only take place when his body was in a boreal position6 ,in the midst of his popularity1 an attack was made upon him and his favourite remedy1 the salve2 which1 however1 did little or nothing to diminish the belief in its efficacy4 ,one ,parson ,foster wrote a pamphlet1 entitled ,hyplocrisma ,spongus2 or1 a ,spunge to wipe away the ,weapon-,salve2 in which he declared1 that it was as bad as witchcraft to use or recommend such an unguent2 that it was invented by the ,devil1 who1 at the last day1 would seize upon every person who had given it the slightest encouragement4 ,in fact1 said ,parson ,foster1 the ,devil himself gave it to ,paracelsus2 ,paracelsus to the emperor2 the emperor to the courtier2 the courtier to ,baptista ,porta2 and ,baptista ,porta to ,dr4 ,fludd1 a doctor of physic1 yet living and practising in the famous city of ,london1 who now stands tooth and nail for it4 ,dr4 ,fludd1 thus assailed1 took up the pen in defence of his unguent1 in a reply called ,the ,squeezing of ,parson ,foster's ,spunge2 wherein the ,spunge-bearer's immodest carriage and behaviour towards his brethren is detected2 the bitter flames of his slanderous reports are1 by the sharp vinegar of truth1 corrected and quite extinguished2 and lastly1 the virtuous validity of his spunge in wiping away the-weapon-salve1 is crushed out and clean abolished4 ,shortly after this dispute a more distinguished believer in the weapon-salve made his appearance in the person of ,sir ,kenelm ,digby1 the son of ,sir ,everard ,digby1 who was executed for his participation in the ,gunpowder ,plot4 ,this gentleman1 who1 in other respects1 was an accomplished scholar and an able man1 was imbued with all the extravagant notions of the alchymists4 ,he believed in the philosopher's stone1 and wished to engage ,descartes to devote his energies to the discovery of the elixir of life1 or some other means by which the existence of man might be prolonged to an indefinite period4 ,he gave his wife1 the beautiful ,venetia ,anastasia ,stanley1 a dish of capons fed upon vipers1 according to the plan supposed to have been laid down by ,arnold of ,villeneuve1 in the hope that she might thereby preserve her loveliness for a century4 ,if such a man once took up the idea of the weapon-salve1 it was to be expected that he would make the most of it4 ,in his hands1 however1 it was changed from an unguent into a powder1 and was called the powder of sympathy4 ,he pretended that he had acquired the knowledge of it from a ,carmelite friar1 who had learned it in ,persia or ,armenia1 from an oriental philosopher of great renown4 ,king ,james1 the ,prince of ,wales1 the ,duke of ,buchingham1 and many other noble personages1 believed in its efficacy4 ,the following remarkable instance of his mode of cure was read by ,sir ,kenelm to a society of learned men at ,montpellier4 ,mr4 ,james ,howell1 the well-known author of the ,dendrologia1 and of various letters1 coming by chance as two of his best friends were fighting a duel1 rushed between them and endeavoured to part them4 ,he seized the sword of one of the combatants by the hilt1 while1 at the same time1 he grasped the other by the blade4 ,being transported with fury one against the other1 they struggled to rid themselves of the hindrance caused by their friend2 and in so doing1 the one whose sword was held by the blade by ,mr4 ,howell1 drew it away roughly1 and nearly cut his hand off1 severing the nerves and muscles1 and penetrating to the bone4 ,the other1 almost at the same instant1 disengaged his sword1 and aimed a blow at the head of his antagonist1 which ,mr4 ,howell observing1 raised his wounded hand with the rapidity of thought to prevent the blow4 ,the sword fell on the back of his already wounded hand1 and cut it severely4 ,it seemed1 said ,sir ,kenelm ,digby1 as if some unlucky star raged over them1 that they should have both shed the blood of that dear friend for whose life they would have given their own1 if they had been in their proper mind at the time4 ,seeing ,mr4 ,howell's face all besmeared with blood from his wounded hand1 they both threw down their swords and embraced him1 and bound up his hand with a garter1 to close the veins which were cut and bled profusely4 ,they then conveyed him home1 and sent for a surgeon4 ,king ,james1 who was much attached to ,mr4 ,howell1 afterwards sent his own surgeon to attend him4 ,we must continue the narrative in the words of ,sir ,kenelm ,digby3 ,it was my chance1 says he1 to be lodged hard by him2 and four or five days after1 as ,i was making myself ready1 he came to my house1 and prayed me to view his wounds4 ',for ,i understand1' said he1 'that you have extraordinary remedies on such occasions2 and my surgeons apprehend some fear that it may grow to a gangrene1 and so the hand must be cut off4' ,in effect1 his countenance discovered that he was in much pain1 which1 he said1 was insupportable in regard of the extreme inflammation4 ,i told him ,i would willingly serve him2 but if1 haply1 he knew the manner how ,i could cure him1 without touching or seeing him1 it might be that he would not expose himself to my manner of curing2 because he would think it1 peradventure1 either ineffectual or superstitious4 ,he replied1 ',the many wonderful things which people have related unto me of your way of medicinement makes me nothing doubt at all of its efficacy2 and all that ,i have to say unto you is comprehended in the ,spanish proverb1 ,hagase el milagro y hagalo ,mahoma--,let the miracle be done1 though ,mahomet do it4' ,i asked him then for any thing that had the blood upon it3 so he presently sent for his garter1 wherewith his hand was first bound2 and as ,i called for a basin of water1 as if ,i would wash my hands1 ,i took a handful of powder of vitriol1 which ,i had in my study1 and presently dissolved it4 ,as soon as the bloody garter was brought me1 ,i put it in the basin1 observing1 in the interim1 what ,mr4 ,howell did1 who stood talking with a gentleman in a corner of my chamber1 not regarding at all what ,i was doing4 ,he started suddenly1 as if he had found some strange alteration in himself4 ,i asked him what he ailed8 ',i know not what ails me1 but ,i find that ,i feel no more pain4 ,methinks that a pleasing kind of freshness1 as it were a wet cold napkin1 did spread over my hand1 which hath taken away the inflammation that tormented me before4' ,i replied1 ',since1 then1 you feel already so much good of my medicament1 ,i advise you to cast away all your plasters2 only keep the wound clean1 and in a moderate temper betwixt heat and cold4' ,this was presently reported to the ,duke of ,buckingham1 and1 a little after1 to the king1 who were both very curious to know the circumstances of the business2 which was1 that after dinner ,i took the garter out of the water1 and put it to dry before a great fire4 ,it was scarce dry before ,mr4 ,howell's servant came running1 and saying that his master felt as much burning as ever he had done1 if not more2 for the heat was such as if his hand were betwixt coals of fire4 ,i answered that1 although that had happened at present1 yet he should find ease in a short time2 for ,i knew the reason of this new accident1 and would provide accordingly2 for his master should be free from that inflammation1 it might be before he could possibly return to him4 ,but1 in case he found no ease1 ,i wished him to come presently back again2 if not1 he might forbear coming4 ,thereupon he went1 and1 at the instant ,i did put the garter again into the water2 thereupon he found his master without any pain at all4 ,to be brief1 there was no cense of pain afterwards2 but within five or six days the wounds were sicatrised and entirely healed4 ,such is the marvellous story of ,sir ,kenelm ,digby4 ,other practitioners of that age were not behind him in their pretensions4 ,it was not always thought necessary to use either the powder of sympathy1 or the weapon-salve1 to effect a cure4 ,it was sufficient to magnetise the sword with the hand 7the first faint dawn of the animal theory71 to relieve any pain the same weapon had caused4 ,they asserted1 that if they stroked the sword upwards with their fingers1 the wounded person would feel immediate relief2 but if they stroked it downwards1 he would feel intolerable pain4#ff #ff ,reginald ,scott1 quoted by ,sir ,walter ,scott1 in the notes to the ,lay of the last ,minstrel1 c4 iii4 v4 xxiii4 ,another very singular notion of the power and capabilities of magnetism was entertained at the same time4 ,it was believed that a sympathetic alphabet could be made on the flesh1 by means of which persons could correspond with each other1 and communicate all their ideas with the rapidity of volition1 although thousands of miles apart4 ,from the arms of two persons a piece of flesh was cut1 and mutually transplanted1 while still warm and bleeding4 ,the piece so severed grew to the new arm on which it was placed2 but still retained so close a sympathy with its native limb1 that its old possessor was always sensible of any injury done to it4 ,upon these transplanted pieces were tatooed the letters of the alphabet2 so that1 when a communication was to be made1 either of the persons1 though the wide ,atlantic rolled between them1 had only to prick his arm with a magnetic needle1 and straightway his friend received intimation that the telegraph was at work4 ,whatever letter he pricked on his own arm pained the same letter on the arm of his correspondent4 ,contemporary with ,sir ,kenelm ,digby was the no less famous ,mr4 ,valentine ,greatraks1 who1 without mentioning magnetism1 or laying claim to any theory1 practised upon himself and others a deception much more akin to the animal magnetism of the present day than the mineral magnetism it was then so much the fashion to study4 ,he was the son of an ,irish gentleman1 of good education and property1 in the county of ,cork4 ,he fell1 at an early age1 into a sort of melancholy derangement4 ,after some time he had an impulse1 or strange persuasion in his mind1 which continued to present itself1 whether he were sleeping or waking1 that ,god had given him the power of curing the king's evil4 ,he mentioned this persuasion to his wife1 who very candidly told him that he was a fool4 ,he was not quite sure of this1 notwithstanding the high authority from which it came1 and determined to make trial of the power that was in him4 ,a few days afterwards1 he went to one ,william ,maher1 of ,saltersbridge1 in the parish of ,lismore1 who was grievously afflicted with the king's evil in his eyes1 cheek1 and throat4 ,upon this man1 who was of abundant faith1 he laid his hands1 stroked him1 and prayed fervently4 ,he had the satisfaction to see him heal considerably in the course of a few days2 and finally1 with the aid of other remedies1 to be quite cured4 ,this success encouraged him in the belief that he had a divine mission4 ,day after day he had further impulses from on high that he was called upon to cure the ague also4 ,in the course of time he extended his powers to the curing of epilepsy1 ulcers1 aches1 and lameness4 ,all the county of ,cork was in a commotion to see this extraordinary physician1 who certainly operated some very great benefit in cases where the disease was heightened by hypochondria and depression of spirits4 ,according to his own account1#fg such great multitudes resorted to him from divers places1 that he had no time to follow his own business1 or enjoy the company of his family and friends4 ,he was obliged to set aside three days in the week1 from six in the morning till six at night1 during which time only he laid hands upon all that came4 ,still the crowds which thronged around him were so great1 that the neighbouring towns were not able to accommodate them4 ,he thereupon left his house in the country1 and went to ,youghal1 where the resort of sick people1 not only from all parts of ,ireland1 but from ,england1 continued so great1 that the magistrates were afraid they would infect the place by their diseases4 ,several of these poor credulous people no sooner saw him than they fell into fits1 and he restored them by waving his hand in their faces1 and praying over them4 ,nay1 he affirmed that the touch of his glove had driven pains away1 and1 on one occasion1 cast out from a woman several devils1 or evil spirits1 who tormented her day and night4 ,every one of these devils1 says ,greatraks1 was like to choke her when it came up into her throat4 ,it is evident from this that the woman's complaint was nothing but hysteria4 #fg ,greatraks' ,account of himself1 in a letter to the ,honourable ,robert ,boyle4 ,the clergy of the diocese of ,lismore1 who seem to have had much clearer notions of ,greatraks' pretensions than their parishioners1 set their faces against the new prophet and worker of miracles4 ,he was cited to appear in the ,dean's ,court1 and prohibited from laying on his hands for the future3 but he cared nothing for the ,church4 ,he imagined that he derived his powers direct from heaven1 and continued to throw people into fits1 and bring them to their senses again1 as usual1 almost exactly after the fashion of modern magnetisers4 ,his reputation became1 at last1 so great1 that ,lord ,conway sent to him from ,london1 begging that he would come over immediately to cure a grievous headache which his lady had suffered for several years1 and which the principal physicians of ,england had been unable to relieve4 ,greatraks accepted the invitation1 and tried his manipulations and prayers upon ,lady ,conway4 ,he failed1 however1 in affording any relief4 ,the poor lady's headache was excited by causes too serious to allow her any help1 even from faith and a lively imagination4 ,he lived for some months in ,lord ,conway's house1 at ,ragley1 in ,warwickshire1 operating cures similar to those he had performed in ,ireland4 ,he afterwards removed to ,london1 and took a house in ,lincoln's-,inn ,fields1 which soon became the daily resort of all the nervous and credulous women of the metropolis4 ,a very amusing account of ,greatraks at this time 7#affe7 is given in the second volume of the ,miscellanies of ,st4 ,evremond1 under the title of the ,irish prophet4 ,it is the most graphic sketch ever made of this early magnetiser4 ,whether his pretensions were more or less absurd than those of some of his successors1 who have lately made their appearance among us1 would be hard to say4 ,when ,m4 de ,comminges1 says ,st4 ,evremond1 was ambassador from his most ,christian majesty to the king of ,great ,britain1 there came to ,london an ,irish prophet1 who passed himself off as a great worker of miracles4 ,some persons of quality having begged ,m4 de ,comminges to invite him to his house1 that they might be witnesses of some of his miracles1 the ambassador promised to satisfy them1 as much to gratify his own curiosity as from courtesy to his friends2 and gave notice to ,greatraks that he would be glad to see him4 ,a rumour of the prophet's coming soon spread all over the town1 and the hotel of ,m4 de ,comminges was crowded by sick persons1 who came full of confidence in their speedy cure4 ,the ,irishman made them wait a considerable time for him1 but came at last1 in the midst of their impatience1 with a grave and simple countenance1 that showed no signs of his being a cheat4 ,monsieur de ,comminges prepared to question him strictly1 hoping to discourse with him on the matters that he had read of in ,van ,helmont and ,bodinus2 but he was not able to do so1 much to his regret1 for the crowd became so great1 and cripples and others pressed around so impatiently to be the first cured1 that the servants were obliged to use threats1 and even force1 before they could establish order among them1 or place them in proper ranks4 ,the prophet affirmed that all diseases were caused by evil spirits4 ,every infirmity was with him a case of diabolical possession4 ,the first that was presented to him was a man suffering from gout and rheumatism1 and so severely that the physicians had been unable to cure him4 ',ah1' said the miracle-worker1 ',i have seen a good deal of this sort of spirits when ,i was in ,ireland4 ,they are watery spirits1 who bring on cold shivering1 and excite an overflow of aqueous humours in our poor bodies4' ,then addressing the man1 he said1 ',evil spirit1 who hast quitted thy dwelling in the waters to come and afflict this miserable body1 ,i command thee to quit thy new abode1 and to return to thine ancient habitation6' ,this said1 the sick man was ordered to withdraw1 and another was brought forward in his place4 ,this new comer said he was tormented by the melancholy vapours4 ,in fact1 he looked like a hypochondriac2 one of those persons1 diseased in imagination1 and who but too often become so in reality4 ',aerial spirit1' said the ,irishman1 'return1 ,i command thee1 into the air2--exercise thy natural vocation of raising tempests1 and do not excite any more wind in this sad unlucky body6' ,this man was immediately turned away to make room for a third patient1 who1 in the ,irishman's opinion1 was only tormented by a little bit of a sprite1 who could not withstand his command for an instant4 ,he pretended that he recognised this sprite by some marks which were invisible to the company1 to whom he turned with a smile1 and said1 ',this sort of spirit does not often do much harm1 and is always very diverting4' ,to hear him talk1 one would have imagined that he knew all about spirits1--their names1 their rank1 their numbers1 their employment1 and all the functions they were destined to2 and he boasted of being much better acquainted with the intrigues of demons than he was with the affairs of men4 ,you can hardly imagine what a reputation he gained in a short time4 ,catholics and ,protestants visited him from every part1 all believing that power from heaven was in his hands4 ,after relating a rather equivocal adventure of a husband and wife1 who implored ,greatraks to cast out the devil of dissension which had crept in between them1 ,st4 ,evremond thus sums up the effect he produced on the popular mind3 ,so great was the confidence in him1 that the blind fancied they saw the light which they did not see--the deaf imagined that they heard--the lame that they walked straight1 and the paralytic that they had recovered the use of their limbs4 ,an idea of health made the sick forget for a while their maladies2 and imagination1 which was not less active in those merely drawn by curiosity than in the sick1 gave a false view to the one class1 from the desire of seeing1 as it operated a false cure on the other from the strong desire of being healed4 ,such was the power of the ,irishman over the mind1 and such was the influence of the mind upon the body4 ,nothing was spoken of in ,london but his prodigies2 and these prodigies were supported by such great authorities1 that the bewildered multitude believed them almost without examination1 while more enlightened people did not dare to reject them from their own knowledge4 ,the public opinion1 timid and enslaved1 respected this imperious and1 apparently1 well-authenticated error4 ,those who saw through the delusion kept their opinion to themselves1 knowing how useless it was to declare their disbelief to a people filled with prejudice and admiration4 ,about the same time that ,valentine ,greatraks was thus magnetising the people of ,london1 an ,italian enthusiast1 named ,francisco ,bagnone1 was performing the same tricks in ,italy1 and with as great success4 ,he had only to touch weak women with his hands1 or sometimes 7for the sake of working more effectively upon their fanaticism7 with a relic1 to make them fall into fits1 and manifest all the symptoms of magnetism4 ,besides these1 several learned men1 in different parts of ,europe1 directed their attention to the study of the magnet1 believing that it might be rendered efficacious in many diseases4 ,van ,helmont1 in particular1 published a work on the effects of magnetism on the human frame2 and ,balthazar ,gracian1 a ,spaniard1 rendered himself famous for the boldness of his views on the subject4 ,the magnet1 said the latter1 attracts iron2 iron is found every where2 every thing1 therefore1 is under the influence of magnetism4 ,it is only a modification of the general principle1 which establishes harmony or foments divisions among men4 ,it is the same agent that gives rise to sympathy1 antipathy1 and the passions4#fh #fh ,introduction to the ,study of ,animal ,magnetism1 by ,baron ,dupotet de ,sennevoy1 p4 #cae4 ,baptista ,porta1 who1 in the whimsical genealogy of the weapon-salve1 given by ,parson ,foster1 in his attack upon ,dr4 ,fluctibus1 is mentioned as one of its fathers1 had also great faith in the efficacy of the magnet1 and operated upon the imagination of his patients in a manner which was then considered so extraordinary that he was accused of being a magician1 and prohibited from practising by the court of ,rome4 ,among others who distinguished themselves by their faith in magnetism1 ,sebastian ,wirdig and ,william ,maxwell claim especial notice4 ,wirdig was professor of medicine at the university of ,rostock in ,mecklenburg1 and wrote a treatise called ,the ,new ,medicine of the ,spirits1 which he presented to the ,royal ,society of ,london4 ,an edition of this work was printed in #afgc1 in which the author maintained that a magnetic influence took place1 not only between the celestial and terrestrial bodies1 but between all living things4 ,the whole world1 he said1 was under the influence of magnetism2 life was preserved by magnetism2 death was the consequence of magnetism6 ,maxwell1 the other enthusiast1 was an admiring disciple of ,paracelsus1 and boasted that he had irradiated the obscurity in which too many of the wonder-working recipes of that great philosopher were enveloped4 ,his works were printed at ,frankfort in #afgi4 ,it would seem1 from the following passage1 that he was aware of the great influence of imagination1 as well in the production as in the cure of diseases4 ,if you wish to work prodigies1 says he1 abstract from the materiality of beings--increase the sum of spirituality in bodies--rouse the spirit from its slumbers4 ,unless you do one or other of these things--unless you can bind the idea1 you can never perform any thing good or great4 ,here1 in fact1 lies the whole secret of magnetism1 and all delusions of a similar kind3 increase the spirituality--rouse the spirit from its slumbers1 or1 in other words1 work upon the imagination--induce belief and blind confidence1 and you may do any thing4 ,this passage1 which is quoted with approbation by ,m4 ,dupotet#fi in a work1 as strongly corroborative of the theory now advanced by the animal magnetists1 is just the reverse4 ,if they believe they can work all their wonders by the means so dimly shadowed forth by ,maxwell1 what becomes of the universal fluid pervading all nature1 and which they pretend to pour into weak and diseased bodies from the tips of their fingers8 #fi ,introduction to the ,study of ,animal ,magnetism1 p4 #cah4 ,early in the eighteenth century the attention of ,europe was directed to a very remarkable instance of fanaticism1 which has been claimed by the animal magnetists as a proof of their science4 ,the ,convulsionaries of ,st4 ,medard1 as they were called1 assembled in great numbers round the tomb of their favourite saint1 the ,jansenist priest ,paris1 and taught one another how to fall into convulsions4 ,they believed that ,st4 ,paris would cure all their infirmities2 and the number of hysterical women and weak-minded persons of all descriptions that flocked to the tomb from far and near was so great as daily to block up all the avenues leading to it4 ,working themselves up to a pitch of excitement1 they went off one after the other into fits1 while some of them1 still in apparent possession of all their faculties1 voluntarily exposed themselves to sufferings which on ordinary occasions would have been sufficient to deprive them of life4 ,the scenes that occurred were a scandal to civilisation and to religion--a strange mixture of obscenity1 absurdity1 and superstition4 ,while some were praying on bended knees at the shrine of ,st4 ,paris1 others were shrieking and making the most hideous noises4 ,the women especially exerted themselves4 ,on one side of the chapel there might be seen a score of them1 all in convulsions2 while at another as many more1 excited to a sort of frenzy1 yielded themselves up to gross indecencies4 ,some of them took an insane delight in being beaten and trampled upon4 ,one in particular1 according to ,montgre1 whose account we quote1#gj was so enraptured with this ill-usage1 that nothing but the hardest blows would satisfy her4 ,while a fellow of ,herculean strength was beating her with all his might with a heavy bar of iron1 she kept continually urging him to renewed exertion4 ,the harder he struck the better she liked it1 exclaiming all the while1 ,well done1 brother1 well done6 ,oh1 how pleasant it is6 what good you are doing me6 ,courage1 my brother1 courage2 strike harder1 strike harder still6 ,another of these fanatics had1 if possible1 a still greater love for a beating4 ,carr de ,montgeron1 who relates the circumstance1 was unable to satisfy her with sixty blows of a large sledge-hammer4 ,he afterwards used the same weapon with the same degree of strength1 for the sake of experiment1 and succeeded in battering a hole in a stone wall at the twenty-fifth stroke4 ,another woman1 named ,sonnet1 laid herself down on a red-hot brazier without flinching1 and acquired for herself the nickname of the ,salamander2 while others1 desirous of a more illustrious martyrdom1 attempted to crucify themselves4 ,m4 ,deleuze1 in his critical history of ,animal ,magnetism1 attempts to prove that this fanatical frenzy was produced by magnetism1 and that these mad enthusiasts magnetised each other without being aware of it4 ,as well might he insist that the fanaticism which tempts the ,hindoo bigot to keep his arms stretched in a horizontal position till the sinews wither1 or his fingers closed upon his palms till the nails grow out of the backs of his hands1 is also an effect of magnetism6 #gj ,dictionaire des ,sciences ,mdicales--,article ,convulsionnaires1 par ,montgre4 ,for a period of sixty or seventy years magnetism was almost wholly confined to ,germany4 ,men of sense and learning devoted their attention to the properties of the loadstone2 and one ,father ,hell1 a ,jesuit1 and professor of astronomy at the ,university of ,vienna1 rendered himself famous by his magnetic cures4 ,about the year #agga or #aggb he invented steel-plates of a peculiar form1 which he applied to the naked body as a cure for several diseases4 ,in the year #aggd he communicated his system to ,anthony ,mesmer4 ,the latter improved upon the ideas of ,father ,hell1 constructed a new theory of his own1 and became the founder of ,,animal ,,magnetism4 ,it has been the fashion among the enemies of the new delusion to decry ,mesmer as an unprincipled adventurer1 while his disciples have extolled him to the skies as a regenerator of the human race4 ,in nearly the same words as the ,rosicrucians applied to their founders1 he has been called the discoverer of the secret which brings man into more intimate connexion with his ,creator1 the deliverer of the soul from the debasing trammels of the flesh1 the man who enables us to set time at defiance1 and conquer the obstructions of space4 ,a careful sifting of his pretensions1 and examination of the evidence brought forward to sustain them1 will soon shew which opinion is the more correct4 ,that the writer of these pages considers him in the light of a man who1 deluding himself1 was the means of deluding others1 may be inferred from his finding a place in these volumes1 and figuring among the ,flamels1 the ,agrippas1 the ,borris1 the ,bhmens1 and the ,cagliostros4 ,he was born in ,may #agcd1 at ,mersburg1 in ,swabia1 and studied medicine at the ,university of ,vienna4 ,he took his degrees in #agff1 and chose the influence of the planets on the human body as the subject of his inaugural dissertation4 ,having treated the matter quite in the style of the old astrological physicians1 he was exposed to some ridicule both then and afterwards4 ,even at this early period some faint ideas of his great theory were germinating in his mind4 ,he maintained in his dissertation that the sun1 moon1 and fixed stars mutually affect each other in their orbits2 that they cause and direct in our earth a flux and reflux not only in the sea1 but in the atmosphere1 and affect in a similar manner all organised bodies through the medium of a subtile and mobile fluid1 which pervades the universe1 and associates all things together in mutual intercourse and harmony4 ,this influence1 he said1 was particularly exercised on the nervous system1 and produced two states1 which he called intension and remission1 which seemed to him to account for the different periodical revolutions observable in several maladies4 ,when in after-life he met with ,father ,hell1 he was confirmed by that person's observations in the truth of many of his own ideas4 ,having caused ,hell to make him some magnetic plates1 he determined to try experiments with them himself for his further satisfaction4 ,he tried accordingly1 and was astonished at his success4 ,the faith of their wearers operated wonders with the metallic plates4 ,mesmer made due reports to ,father ,hell of all he had done1 and the latter published them as the results of his own happy invention1 and speaking of ,mesmer as a physician whom he had employed to work under him4 ,mesmer took offence at being thus treated1 considering himself a far greater personage than ,father ,hell4 ,he claimed the invention as his own1 accused ,hell of a breach of confidence1 and stigmatised him as a mean person1 anxious to turn the discoveries of others to his own account4 ,hell replied1 and a very pretty quarrel was the result1 which afforded small talk for months to the literati of ,vienna4 ,hell ultimately gained the victory4 ,mesmer1 nothing daunted1 continued to promulgate his views till he stumbled at last upon the animal theory4 ,one of his patients was a young lady1 named ,oesterline1 who suffered under a convulsive malady4 ,her attacks were periodical1 and attended by a rush of blood to the head1 followed by delirium and syncope4 ,these symptoms he soon succeeded in reducing under his system of planetary influence1 and imagined he could foretell the periods of accession and remission4 ,having thus accounted satisfactorily to himself for the origin of the disease1 the idea struck him that he could operate a certain cure if he could ascertain beyond doubt1 what he had long believed1 that there existed between the bodies which compose our globe an action equally reciprocal and similar to that of the heavenly bodies1 by means of which he could imitate artificially the periodical revolutions of the flux and reflux before mentioned4 ,he soon convinced himself that this action did exist4 ,when trying the metallic plates of ,father ,hell1 he thought their efficacy depended on their form2 but he found afterwards that he could produce the same effects without using them at all1 merely by passing his hands downwards towards the feet of the patient1 even when at a considerable distance4 ,this completed the theory of ,mesmer4 ,he wrote an account of his discovery to all the learned societies of ,europe1 soliciting their investigation4 ,the ,academy of ,sciences at ,berlin was the only one that answered him1 and their answer was any thing but favourable to his system or flattering to himself4 ,still he was not discouraged4 ,he maintained to all who would listen to him that the magnetic matter1 or fluid1 pervaded all the universe--that every human body contained it1 and could communicate the superabundance of it to another by an exertion of the will4 ,writing to a friend from ,vienna1 he said1 ,i have observed that the magnetic is almost the same thing as the electric fluid1 and that it may be propagated in the same manner1 by means of intermediate bodies4 ,steel is not the only substance adapted to this purpose4 ,i have rendered paper1 bread1 wool1 silk1 stones1 leather1 glass1 wood1 men1 and dogs--in short1 every thing ,i touched1 magnetic to such a degree1 that these substances produced the same effects as the loadstone on diseased persons4 ,i have charged jars with magnetic matter in the same way as is done with electricity4 ,mesmer did not long find his residence at ,vienna as agreeable as he wished4 ,his pretensions were looked upon with contempt or indifference1 and the case of ,mademoiselle ,oesterline brought him less fame than notoriety4 ,he determined to change his sphere of action1 and travelled into ,swabia and ,switzerland4 ,in the latter country he met with the celebrated ,father ,gassner1 who1 like ,valentine ,greatraks1 amused himself by casting out devils1 and healing the sick by merely laying hands upon them4 ,at his approach1 delicate girls fell into convulsions1 and hypochondriacs fancied themselves cured4 ,his house was daily besieged by the lame1 the blind1 and the hysteric4 ,mesmer at once acknowledged the efficacy of his cures1 and declared that they were the obvious result of his own newly-discovered power of magnetism4 ,a few of the father's patients were forthwith subjected to the manipulations of ,mesmer1 and the same symptoms were induced4 ,he then tried his hand upon some paupers in the hospitals of ,berne and ,zurich1 and succeeded1 according to his own account1 but no other person's1 in curing an opththalmia and a gutta serena4 ,with memorials of these achievements he returned to ,vienna1 in the hope of silencing his enemies1 or at least forcing them to respect his newly-acquired reputation1 and to examine his system more attentively4 ,his second appearance in that capital was not more auspicious than the first4 ,he undertook to cure a ,mademoiselle ,paradis1 who was quite blind1 and subject to convulsions4 ,he magnetised her several times1 and then declared that she was cured2 at least1 if she was not1 it was her fault and not his4 ,an eminent oculist of that day1 named ,barth1 went to visit her1 and declared that she was as blind as ever2 while her family said she was as much subject to convulsions as before4 ,mesmer persisted that she was cured4 ,like the ,french philosopher1 he would not allow facts to interfere with his theory4#ga ,he declared that there was a conspiracy against him2 and that ,mademoiselle ,paradis1 at the instigation of her family1 feigned blindness in order to injure his reputation6 #ga ,an enthusiastic philosopher1 of whose name we are not informed1 had constructed a very satisfactory theory on some subject or other1 and was not a little proud of it4 ,but the facts1 my dear fellow1 said his friend1 the facts do not agree with your theory4--,don't they8 replied the philosopher1 shrugging his shoulders1 then1 tant pis pour les faits2--so much the worse for the facts6 ,the consequences of this pretended cure taught ,mesmer that ,vienna was not the sphere for him4 ,paris1 the idle1 the debauched1 the pleasure-hunting1 the novelty-loving1 was the scene for a philosopher like him1 and thither he repaired accordingly4 ,he arrived at ,paris in #aggh1 and began modestly by making himself and his theory known to the principal physicians4 ,at first1 his encouragement was but slight2 he found people more inclined to laugh at than to patronise him4 ,but he was a man who had great confidence in himself1 and of a perseverance which no difficulties could overcome4 ,he hired a sumptuous apartment1 which he opened to all comers who chose to make trial of the new power of nature4 ,m4 ,d',eslon1 a physician of great reputation1 became a convert2 and from that time1 animal magnetism1 or1 as some called it1 mesmerism1 became the fashion in ,paris4 ,the women were quite enthusiastic about it1 and their admiring tattle wafted its fame through every grade of society4 ,mesmer was the rage2 and high and low1 rich and poor1 credulous and unbelieving1 all hastened to convince themselves of the power of this mighty magician1 who made such magnificent promises4 ,mesmer1 who knew as well as any man living the influence of the imagination1 determined that1 on that score1 nothing should be wanting to heighten the effect of the magnetic charm4 ,in all ,paris1 there was not a house so charmingly furnished as ,monsieur ,mesmer's4 ,richly-stained glass shed a dim religious light on his spacious saloons1 which were almost covered with mirrors4 ,orange-blossoms scented all the air of his corridors2 incense of the most expensive kinds burned in antique vases on his chimney-pieces2 olian harps sighed melodious music from distant chambers2 while sometimes a sweet female voice1 from above or below1 stole softly upon the mysterious silence that was kept in the house1 and insisted upon from all visitors4 ,was ever any thing so delightful6 cried all the ,mrs4 ,wittitterleys of ,paris1 as they thronged to his house in search of pleasant excitement2 ,so wonderful6 said the pseudo-philosophers1 who would believe anything if it were the fashion2 ,so amusing6 said the worn-out debauchs1 who had drained the cup of sensuality to its dregs1 and who longed to see lovely women in convulsions1 with the hope that they might gain some new emotions from the sight4 ,the following was the mode of operation3 ,in the centre of the saloon was placed an oval vessel1 about four feet in its longest diameter1 and one foot deep4 ,in this were laid a number of wine-bottles1 filled with magnetised water1 well corked-up1 and disposed in radii1 with their necks outwards4 ,water was then poured into the vessel so as just to cover the bottles1 and filings of iron were thrown in occasionally to heighten the magnetic effect4 ,the vessel was then covered with an iron cover1 pierced through with many holes1 and was called the baquet4 ,from each hole issued a long movable rod of iron1 which the patients were to apply to such parts of their bodies as were afflicted4 ,around this baquet the patients were directed to sit1 holding each other by the hand1 and pressing their knees together as closely as possible1 to facilitate the passage of the magnetic fluid from one to the other4 ,then came in the assistant magnetisers1 generally strong1 handsome young men1 to pour into the patient from their finger-tips fresh streams of the wondrous fluid4 ,they embraced the patient between the knees1 rubbed them gently down the spine and the course of the nerves1 using gentle pressure upon the breasts of the ladies1 and staring them out of countenance to magnetise them by the eye6 ,all this time the most rigorous silence was maintained1 with the exception of a few wild notes on the harmonica or the piano-forte1 or the melodious voice of a hidden opera-singer swelling softly at long intervals4 ,gradually the cheeks of the ladies began to glow1 their imaginations to become inflamed2 and off they went1 one after the other1 in convulsive fits4 ,some of them sobbed and tore their hair1 others laughed till the tears ran from their eyes1 while others shrieked and screamed and yelled till they became insensible altogether4 ,this was the crisis of the delirium4 ,in the midst of it1 the chief actor made his appearance1 waving his wand1 like ,prospero1 to work new wonders4 ,dressed in a long robe of lilac-coloured silk richly embroidered with gold flowers1 bearing in his hand a white magnetic rod1 and with a look of dignity which would have sat well on an eastern caliph1 he marched with solemn strides into the room4 ,he awed the still sensible by his eye1 and the violence of their symptoms diminished4 ,he stroked the insensible with his hands upon the eye-brows and down the spine2 traced figures upon their breast and abdomen with his long white wand1 and they were restored to consciousness4 ,they became calm1 acknowledged his power1 and said they felt streams of cold or burning vapour passing through their frames1 according as he waved his wand or his fingers before them4 ,it is impossible1 says ,m4 ,dupotet1 to conceive the sensation which ,mesmer's experiments created in ,paris4 ,no theological controversy1 in the earlier ages of the ,catholic ,church1 was ever conducted with greater bitterness4 ,his adversaries denied the discovery2 some calling him a quack1 others a fool1 and others again1 like the ,abb ,fiard1 a man who had sold himself to the ,devil6 ,his friends were as extravagant in their praise1 as his foes were in their censure4 ,paris was inundated with pamphlets upon the subject1 as many defending as attacking the doctrine4 ,at court1 the queen expressed herself in favour of it1 and nothing else was to be heard of in society4 ,by the advice of ,m4 ,d',eslon1 ,mesmer challenged an examination of his doctrine by the ,faculty of ,medicine4 ,he proposed to select twenty-four patients1 twelve of whom he would treat magnetically1 leaving the other twelve to be treated by the faculty according to the old and approved methods4 ,he also stipulated that1 to prevent disputes1 the government should nominate certain persons who were not physicians1 to be present at the experiments2 and that the object of the inquiry should be1 not how these effects were produced1 but whether they were really efficacious in the cure of any disease4 ,the faculty objected to limit the inquiry in this manner1 and the proposition fell to the ground4 ,mesmer now wrote to ,marie ,antoinette1 with the view of securing her influence in obtaining for him the protection of government4 ,he wished to have a chteau and its lands given to him1 with a handsome yearly income1 that he might be enabled to continue his experiments at leisure1 untroubled by the persecution of his enemies4 ,he hinted the duty of governments to support men of science1 and expressed his fear1 that if he met no more encouragement1 he should be compelled to carry his great discovery to some other land more willing to appreciate him4 ,in the eyes of your majesty1 said he1 four or five hundred thousand francs1 applied to a good purpose1 are of no account4 ,the welfare and happiness of your people are every thing4 ,my discovery ought to be received and rewarded with a munificence worthy of the monarch to whom ,i shall attach myself4 ,the government at last offered him a pension of twenty thousand francs1 and the cross of the order of ,st4 ,michael1 if he had made any discovery in medicine1 and would communicate it to physicians nominated by the king4 ,the latter part of the proposition was not agreeable to ,mesmer4 ,he feared the unfavourable report of the king's physicians2 and1 breaking off the negotiation1 spoke of his disregard of money1 and his wish to have his discovery at once recognised by the government4 ,he then retired to ,spa1 in a fit of disgust1 upon pretence of drinking the waters for the benefit of his health4 ,after he had left ,paris1 the ,faculty of ,medicine called upon ,m4 ,d',eslon1 for the third and last time1 to renounce the doctrine of animal magnetism1 or be expelled from their body4 ,m4 ,d',eslon1 so far from doing this1 declared that he had discovered new secrets1 and solicited further examination4 ,a royal commission of the ,faculty of ,medicine was1 in consequence1 appointed on the #abth of ,march #aghd1 seconded by another commission of the ,acadmie des ,sciences1 to investigate the phenomena and report upon them4 ,the first commission was composed of the principal physicians of ,paris2 while1 among the eminent men comprised in the latter1 were ,benjamin ,franklin1 ,lavoisier1 and ,bailly the historian of astronomy4 ,mesmer was formally invited to appear before this body1 but absented himself from day to day1 upon one pretence or another4 ,m4 ,d',eslon was more honest1 because he thoroughly believed in the phenomena1 which it is to be questioned if ,mesmer ever did1 and regularly attended the sittings and performed experiments4 ,bailly has thus described the scenes of which he was a witness in the course of this investigation4 ,the sick persons1 arranged in great numbers and in several rows around the baquet1 receive the magnetism1 by all these means3 by the iron rods which convey it to them from the baquet--by the cords wound round their bodies--by the connexion of the thumb1 which conveys to them the magnetism of their neighbours--and by the sounds of a piano-forte1 or of an agreeable voice1 diffusing the magnetism in the air4 ,the patients were also directly magnetised by means of the finger and wand of the magnetiser moved slowly before their faces1 above or behind their heads1 and on the diseased parts1 always observing the direction of the holes4 ,the magnetiser acts by fixing his eyes on them4 ,but above all1 they are magnetised by the application of his hands and the pressure of his fingers on the hypochondres and on the regions of the abdomen2 an application often continued for a long time--sometimes for several hours4 ,meanwhile the patients in their different conditions present a very varied picture4 ,some are calm1 tranquil1 and experience no effect4 ,others cough1 spit1 feel slight pains1 local or general heat1 and have sweatings4 ,others again are agitated and tormented with convulsions4 ,these convulsions are remarkable in regard to the number affected with them1 to their duration and force4 ,as soon as one begins to be convulsed1 several others are affected4 ,the commissioners have observed some of these convulsions last more than three hours4 ,they are accompanied with expectorations of a muddy viscous water1 brought away by violent efforts4 ,sometimes streaks of blood have been observed in this fluid4 ,these convulsions are characterised by the precipitous1 involuntary motion of all the limbs1 and of the whole body2 by the contraction of the throat--by the leaping motions of the hypochondria and the epigastrium--by the dimness and wandering of the eyes--by piercing shrieks1 tears1 sobbing1 and immoderate laughter4 ,they are preceded or followed by a state of langour or reverie1 a kind of depression1 and sometimes drowsiness4 ,the smallest sudden noise occasions a shuddering2 and it was remarked1 that the change of measure in the airs played on the piano-forte had a great influence on the patients4 ,a quicker motion1 a livelier melody1 agitated them more1 and renewed the vivacity of their convulsions4 ,nothing is more astonishing than the spectacle of these convulsions4 ,one who has not seen them can form no idea of them4 ,the spectator is as much astonished at the profound repose of one portion of the patients as at the agitation of the rest--at the various accidents which are repeated1 and at the sympathies which are exhibited4 ,some of the patients may be seen devoting their attention exclusively to one another1 rushing towards each other with open arms1 smiling1 soothing1 and manifesting every symptom of attachment and affection4 ,all are under the power of the magnetiser2 it matters not in what state of drowsiness they may be1 the sound of his voice--a look1 a motion of his hand--brings them out of it4 ,among the patients in convulsions there are always observed a great many women1 and very few men4#gb #gb ,rapport des ,commissaires1 rdig par ,m4 ,bailly4 ,paris1 #aghd4 ,these experiments lasted for about five months4 ,they had hardly commenced1 before ,mesmer1 alarmed at the loss both of fame and profit1 determined to return to ,paris4 ,some patients of rank and fortune1 enthusiastic believers in his doctrine1 had followed him to ,spa4 ,one of them named ,bergasse1 proposed to open a subscription for him1 of one hundred shares1 at one hundred louis each1 on condition that he would disclose his secret to the subscribers1 who were to be permitted to make whatever use they pleased of it4 ,mesmer readily embraced the proposal2 and such was the infatuation1 that the subscription was not only filled in a few days1 but exceeded by no less a sum than one hundred and forty thousand francs4 ,with this fortune he returned to ,paris1 and recommenced his experiments1 while the royal commission continued theirs4 ,his admiring pupils1 who had paid him so handsomely for his instructions1 spread his fame over the country1 and established in all the principal towns of ,france1 ,societies of ,harmony1 for trying experiments and curing all diseases by means of magnetism4 ,some of these societies were a scandal to morality1 being joined by profligate men of depraved appetites1 who took a disgusting delight in witnessing young girls in convulsions4 ,many of the pretended magnetisers were asserted at the time to be notorious libertines1 who took that opportunity of gratifying their passions4 ,at last the commissioners published their report1 which was drawn up by the illustrious and unfortunate ,bailly4 ,for clearness of reasoning and strict impartiality it has never been surpassed4 ,after detailing the various experiments made1 and their results1 they came to the conclusion that the only proof advanced in support of animal magnetism was the effects it produced on the human body--that those effects could be produced without passes or other magnetic manipulations--that all these manipulations and passes and ceremonies never produce any effect at all if employed without the patient's knowledge2 and that therefore imagination did1 and animal magnetism did not1 account for the phenomena4 ,this report was the ruin of ,mesmer's reputation in ,france4 ,he quitted ,paris shortly after1 with the three hundred and forty thousand francs which had been subscribed by his admirers1 and retired to his own country1 where he died in #ahae1 at the advanced age of eighty-one4 ,but the seeds he had sown fructified of themselves1 nourished and brought to maturity by the kindly warmth of popular credulity4 ,imitators sprang up in ,france1 ,germany1 and ,england1 more extravagant than their master1 and claiming powers for the new science which its founder had never dreamt of4 ,among others1 ,cagliostro made good use of the delusion in extending his claims to be considered a master of the occult sciences4 ,but he made no discoveries worthy to be compared to those of the ,marquis de ,puysegur and the ,chevalier ,barbarin1 honest men1 who began by deceiving themselves before they deceived others4 ,the ,marquis de ,puysegur1 the owner of a considerable estate at ,busancy1 was one of those who had entered into the subscription for ,mesmer4 ,after that individual had quitted ,france1 he retired to ,busancy1 with his brother1 to try animal magnetism upon his tenants1 and cure the country people of all manner of diseases4 ,he was a man of great simplicity and much benevolence1 and not only magnetised but fed the sick that flocked around him4 ,in all the neighbourhood1 and indeed within a circumference of twenty miles1 he was looked upon as endowed with a power almost divine4 ,his great discovery1 as he called it1 was made by chance4 ,one day he had magnetised his gardener2 and observing him to fall into a deep sleep1 it occurred to him that he would address a question to him1 as he would have done to a natural somnambulist4 ,he did so1 and the man replied with much clearness and precision4 ,m4 de ,puysegur was agreeably surprised3 he continued his experiments1 and found that1 in this state of magnetic somnambulism1 the soul of the sleeper was enlarged1 and brought into more intimate communion with all nature1 and more especially with him1 ,m4 de ,puysegur4 ,he found that all further manipulations were unnecessary2 that1 without speaking or making any sign1 he could convey his will to the patient2 that he could1 in fact1 converse with him1 soul to soul1 without the employment of any physical operation whatever6 ,simultaneously with this marvellous discovery he made another1 which reflects equal credit upon his understanding4 ,like ,valentine ,greatraks1 he found it hard work to magnetise all that came--that he had not even time to take the repose and relaxation which were necessary for his health4 ,in this emergency he hit upon a clever expedient4 ,he had heard ,mesmer say that he could magnetise bits of wood3 why should he not be able to magnetise a whole tree8 ,it was no sooner thought than done4 ,there was a large elm on the village green at ,busancy1 under which the peasant girls used to dance on festive occasions1 and the old men to sit1 drinking their vin du pays1 on the fine summer evenings4 ,m4 de ,puysegur proceeded to this tree and magnetised it1 by first touching it with his hands1 and then retiring a few steps from it2 all the while directing streams of the magnetic fluid from the branches toward the trunk1 and from the trunk toward the root4 ,this done1 he caused circular seats to be erected round it1 and cords suspended from it in all directions4 ,when the patients had seated themselves1 they twisted the cords round the diseased parts of their bodies1 and held one another firmly by their thumbs to form a direct channel of communication for the passage of the fluid4 ,m4 de ,puysegur had now two hobbies--the man with the enlarged soul and the magnetic elm4 ,the infatuation of himself and his patients cannot be better expressed than in his own words4 ,writing to his brother1 on the #agth of ,may #aghd1 he says1 ,if you do not come1 my dear friend1 you will not see my extraordinary man1 for his health is now almost quite restored4 ,i continue to make use of the happy power for which ,i am indebted to ,m4 ,mesmer4 ,every day ,i bless his name2 for ,i am very useful1 and produce many salutary effects on all the sick poor in the neighbourhood4 ,they flock around my tree2 there were more than one hundred and thirty of them this morning4 ,it is the best baquet possible2 not a leaf of it but communicates health6 all feel1 more or less1 the good effects of it4 ,you will be delighted to see the charming picture of humanity which this presents4 ,i have only one regret--it is1 that ,i cannot touch all who come4 ,but my magnetised man--my intelligence--sets me at ease4 ,he teaches me what conduct ,i should adopt4 ,according to him1 it is not at all necessary that ,i should touch every one2 a look1 a gesture1 even a wish1 is sufficient4 ,and it is one of the most ignorant peasants of the country that teaches me this6 ,when he is in a crisis1 ,i know of nothing more profound1 more prudent1 more clearsighted 7clairvoyant7 than he is4 ,in another letter1 describing his first experiment with the magnetic tree1 he says1 ,yesterday evening ,i brought my first patient to it4 ,as soon as ,i had put the cord round him he gazed at the tree2 and1 with an air of astonishment which ,i cannot describe1 exclaimed1 ',what is it that ,i see there8' ,his head then sunk down1 and he fell into a perfect fit of somnambulism4 ,at the end of an hour1 ,i took him home to his house again1 when ,i restored him to his senses4 ,several men and women came to tell him what he had been doing4 ,he maintained it was not true2 that1 weak as he was1 and scarcely able to walk1 it would have been scarcely possible for him to have gone down stairs and walked to the tree4 ,to-day ,i have repeated the experiment on him1 and with the same success4 ,i own to you that my head turns round with pleasure to think of the good ,i do4 ,madame de ,puysegur1 the friends she has with her1 my servants1 and1 in fact1 all who are near me1 feel an amazement1 mingled with admiration1 which cannot be described2 but they do not experience the half of my sensations4 ,without my tree1 which gives me rest1 and which will give me still more1 ,i should be in a state of agitation1 inconsistent1 ,i believe1 with my health4 ,i exist too much1 if ,i may be allowed to use the expression4 ,in another letter1 he descants still more poetically upon his gardener with the enlarged soul4 ,he says1 ,it is from this simple man1 this tall and stout rustic1 twenty-three years of age1 enfeebled by disease1 or rather by sorrow1 and therefore the more predisposed to be affected by any great natural agent1--it is from this man1 ,i repeat1 that ,i derive instruction and knowledge4 ,when in the magnetic state1 he is no longer a peasant who can hardly utter a single sentence2 he is a being1 to describe whom ,i cannot find a name4 ,i need not speak2 ,i have only to think before him1 when he instantly understands and answers me4 ,should any body come into the room1 he sees him1 if ,i desire it 7but not else71 and addresses him1 and says what ,i wish to say2 not indeed exactly as ,i dictate to him1 but as truth requires4 ,when he wants to add more than ,i deem it prudent strangers should hear1 ,i stop the flow of his ideas1 and of his conversation in the middle of a word1 and give it quite a different turn6 ,among other persons attracted to ,busancy by the report of these extraordinary occurrences was ,m4 ,cloquet1 the ,receiver of ,finance4 ,his appetite for the marvellous being somewhat insatiable1 he readily believed all that was told him by ,m4 de ,puysegur4 ,he also has left a record of what he saw1 and what he credited1 which throws a still clearer light upon the progress of the delusion4#gc ,he says that the patients he saw in the magnetic state had an appearance of deep sleep1 during which all the physical faculties were suspended1 to the advantage of the intellectual faculties4 ,the eyes of the patients were closed1 the sense of hearing was abolished2 and they awoke only at the voice of their magnetiser4 ,if any one touched a patient during a crisis1 or even the chair on which he was seated1 says ,m4 ,cloquet1 it would cause him much pain and suffering1 and throw him into convulsions4 ,during the crisis1 they possess an extraordinary and supernatural power1 by which1 on touching a patient presented to them1 they can feel what part of his body is diseased1 even by merely passing their hand over the clothes4 ,another singularity was1 that these sleepers who could thus discover diseases1 see into the interior of other men's stomachs1 and point out remedies1 remembered absolutely nothing after the magnetiser thought proper to disenchant them4 ,the time that elapsed between their entering the crisis and their coming out of it was obliterated4 ,not only had the magnetiser the power of making himself heard by the somnambulists1 but he could make them follow him by merely pointing his finger at them from a distance1 though they had their eyes the whole time completely closed4 #gc ,introduction to the ,study of ,animal ,magnetism1 by ,baron ,dupotet1 p4 #gc4 ,such was animal magnetism under the auspices of the ,marquis de ,puysegur4 ,while he was exhibiting these phenomena around his elm-tree1 a magnetiser of another class appeared in ,lyons1 in the person of the ,chevalier de ,barbarin4 ,this gentleman thought the effort of the will1 without any of the paraphernalia of wands or baquets1 was sufficient to throw patients into the magnetic sleep4 ,he tried it and succeeded4 ,by sitting at the bedside of his patients1 and praying that they might be magnetised1 they went off into a state very similar to that of the persons who fell under the notice of ,m4 de ,puysegur4 ,in the course of time a very considerable number of magnetisers1 acknowledging ,barbarin for their model1 and called after him ,barbarinists1 appeared in different parts1 and were believed to have effected some remarkable cures4 ,in ,sweden and ,germany this sect of fanatics increased rapidly1 and were called spiritualists1 to distinguish them from the followers of ,m4 de ,puysegur1 who were called experimentalists4 ,they maintained that all the effects of animal magnetism1 which ,mesmer believed to be producible by a magnetic fluid dispersed through nature1 were produced by the mere effort of one human soul acting upon another2 that when a connexion had once been established between a magnetiser and his patient1 the former could communicate his influence to the latter from any distance1 even hundreds of miles1 by the will4 ,one of them thus described the blessed state of a magnetic patient3 ,in such a man animal instinct ascends to the highest degree admissible in this world4 ,the clairvoyant is then a pure animal1 without any admixture of matter4 ,his observations are those of a spirit4 ,he is similar to ,god3 his eye penetrates all the secrets of nature4 ,when his attention is fixed on any of the objects of this world--on his disease1 his death1 his well-beloved1 his friends1 his relations1 his enemies--in spirit he sees them acting2 he penetrates into the causes and the consequences of their actions2 he becomes a physician1 a prophet1 a divine6#gd #gd ,see ,foreign ,review and ,continental ,miscellany1 vol4 v4 p4 #aac4 ,let us now see what progress these mysteries made in ,england4 ,in the year #aghh ,dr4 ,mainauduc1 who had been a pupil1 first of ,mesmer1 and afterwards of ,d',eslon1 arrived in ,bristol1 and gave public lectures upon magnetism4 ,his success was quite extraordinary4 ,people of rank and fortune hastened from ,london to ,bristol to be magnetised1 or to place themselves under his tuition4 ,dr4 ,george ,winter1 in his ,history of ,animal ,magnetism1 gives the following list of them3 ,they amounted to one hundred and twenty-seven1 among whom there were one duke1 one duchess1 one marchioness1 two countesses1 one earl1 one baron1 three baronesses1 one bishop1 five right honourable gentlemen and ladies1 two baronets1 seven members of parliament1 one clergyman1 two physicians1 seven surgeons1 besides ninety-two gentlemen and ladies of respectability4 ,he afterwards established himself in ,london1 where he performed with equal success4 ,he began by publishing proposals to the ladies for the formation of a ,hygeian ,society4 ,in this paper he vaunted highly the curative effects of animal magnetism1 and took great credit to himself for being the first person to introduce it into ,england1 and thus concluded3 ,as this method of cure is not confined to sex or college education1 and the fair sex being in general the most sympathising part of the creation1 and most immediately concerned in the health and care of its offspring1 ,i think myself bound in gratitude to you1 ladies1 for the partiality you have shewn me in midwifery1 to contribute1 as far as lies in my power1 to render you additionally useful and valuable to the community4 ,with this view ,i propose forming my ,hygeian ,society1 to be incorporated with that of ,paris4 ,as soon as twenty ladies have given in their names1 the day shall be appointed for the first meeting at my house1 when they are to pay fifteen guineas1 which will include the whole expense4 ,hannah ,more1 in a letter addressed to ,horace ,walpole in ,september #aghh1 speaks of the demoniacal mummeries of ,dr4 ,mainauduc1 and says he was in a fair way of gaining a hundred thousand pounds by them1 as ,mesmer had done by his exhibitions in ,paris4 ,so much curiosity was excited by the subject1 that1 about the same time1 a man named ,holloway gave a course of lectures on animal magnetism in ,london1 at the rate of five guineas for each pupil1 and realised a considerable fortune4 ,loutherbourg the painter and his wife followed the same profitable trade2 and such was the infatuation of the people to be witnesses of their strange manipulations1 that at times upwards of three thousand persons crowded around their house at ,hammersmith1 unable to gain admission4 ,the tickets sold at prices varying from one to three guineas4 ,loutherbourg performed his cures by the touch1 after the manner of ,valentine ,greatraks1 and finally pretended to a divine mission4 ,an account of his miracles1 as they were called1 was published in #aghi1 entitled ,a ,list of ,new ,cures performed by ,mr4 and ,mrs4 de ,loutherbourg1 of ,hammersmith ,terrace1 without ,medicine2 by a ,lover of the ,lamb of ,god4 ,dedicated to his ,grace the ,archbishop of ,canterbury4 ,this ,lover of the ,lamb of ,god was a half-crazy old woman1 named ,mary ,pratt1 who conceived for ,mr4 and ,mrs4 de ,loutherbourg a veneration which almost prompted her to worship them4 ,she chose for the motto of her pamphlet a verse in the thirteenth chapter of the ,acts of the ,apostles3 ,behold1 ye despisers1 and wonder and perish6 for ,i will work a work in your days which ye shall not believe1 though a man declare it unto you4 ,attempting to give a religious character to the cures of the painter1 she thought a woman was the proper person to make them known1 since the apostle had declared that a man should not be able to conquer the incredulity of the people4 ,she stated1 that from ,christmas #aghh to ,july #aghi1 ,de ,loutherbourg and his wife had cured two thousand people1 having been made proper recipients to receive divine manuductions2 which heavenly and divine influx1 coming from the radix ,god1 his ,divine ,majesty had most graciously bestowed upon them to diffuse healing to all1 be they deaf1 dumb1 blind1 lame1 or halt4 ,in her dedication to the ,archbishop of ,canterbury she implored him to compose a new form of prayer1 to be used in all churches and chapels1 that nothing might impede this inestimable gift from having its due course4 ,she further entreated all the magistrates and men of authority in the land to wait on ,mr4 and ,mrs4 de ,loutherbourg1 to consult with them on the immediate erection of a large hospital1 with a pool of ,bethesda attached to it4 ,all the magnetisers were scandalised at the preposterous jabber of this old woman1 and ,de ,loutherbourg appears to have left ,london to avoid her1--continuing1 however1 in conjunction with his wife1 the fantastic tricks which had turned the brain of this poor fanatic1 and deluded many others who pretended to more sense than she had4 ,from this period until #agih magnetism excited little or no attention in ,england4 ,an attempt to revive the belief in it was made in that year1 but it was in the shape of mineral rather than of animal magnetism4 ,one ,benjamin ,douglas ,perkins1 an ,american1 practising as a surgeon in ,leicester ,square1 invented and took out a patent for the celebrated ,metallic ,tractors4 ,he pretended that these tractors1 which were two small pieces of metal strongly magnetised1 something resembling the steel plates which were first brought into notice by ,father ,hell1 would cure gout1 rheumatism1 palsy1 and1 in fact1 almost every disease the human frame was subject to1 if applied externally to the afflicted part1 and moved about gently1 touching the surface only4 ,the most wonderful stories soon obtained general circulation1 and the press groaned with pamphlets1 all vaunting the curative effects of the tractors1 which were sold at five guineas the pair4 ,perkins gained money rapidly4 ,gouty subjects forgot their pains in the presence of this new remedy2 the rheumatism fled at its approach2 and toothache1 which is often cured by the mere sight of a dentist1 vanished before ,perkins and his marvellous steel-plates4 ,the benevolent ,society of ,friends1 of whose body he was a member1 warmly patronised the invention4 ,desirous that the poor1 who could not afford to pay ,mr4 ,perkins five guineas1 or even five shillings for his tractors1 should also share in the benefits of that sublime discovery1 they subscribed a large sum1 and built an hospital1 called the ,perkinean ,institution1 in which all comers might be magnetised free of cost4 ,in the course of a few months they were in very general use1 and their lucky inventor in possession of five thousand pounds4 ,dr4 ,haygarth1 an eminent physician at ,bath1 recollecting the influence of imagination in the cure of disease1 hit upon an expedient to try the real value of the tractors4 ,perkins's cures were too well established to be doubted2 and ,dr4 ,haygarth1 without gain-saying them1 quietly1 but in the face of numerous witnesses1 exposed the delusion under which people laboured with respect to the curative medium4 ,he suggested to ,dr4 ,falconer that they should make wooden tractors1 paint them to resemble the steel ones1 and see if the very same effects would not be produced4 ,five patients were chosen from the hospital in ,bath1 upon whom to operate4 ,four of them suffered severely from chronic rheumatism in the ankle1 knee1 wrist1 and hip2 and the fifth had been afflicted for several months with the gout4 ,on the day appointed for the experiments ,dr4 ,haygarth and his friends assembled at the hospital1 and with much solemnity brought forth the fictitious tractors4 ,four out of the five patients said their pains were immediately relieved2 and three of them said they were not only relieved but very much benefited4 ,one felt his knee warmer1 and said he could walk across the room4 ,he tried and succeeded1 although on the previous day he had not been able to stir4 ,the gouty man felt his pains diminish rapidly1 and was quite easy for nine hours1 until he went to bed1 when the twitching began again4 ,on the following day the real tractors were applied to all the patients1 when they described their symptoms in nearly the same terms4 ,to make still more sure1 the experiment was tried in the ,bristol infirmary1 a few weeks afterwards1 on a man who had a rheumatic affection in the shoulder1 so severe as to incapacitate him from lifting his hand from his knee4 ,the fictitious tractors were brought and applied to the afflicted part1 one of the physicians1 to add solemnity to the scene1 drawing a stop-watch from his pocket to calculate the time exactly1 while another1 with a pen in his hand1 sat down to write the change of symptoms from minute to minute as they occurred4 ,in less than four minutes the man felt so much relieved1 that he lifted his hand several inches without any pain in the shoulder6 ,an account of these matters was published by ,dr4 ,haygarth1 in a small volume entitled1 ,of the ,imagination1 as a ,cause and ,cure of ,disorders1 exemplified by fictitious ,tractors4 ,the exposure was a coup de grace to the system of ,mr4 ,perkins4 ,his friends and patrons1 still unwilling to confess that they had been deceived1 tried the tractors upon sheep1 cows1 and horses1 alleging that the animals received benefit from the metallic plates1 but none at all from the wooden ones4 ,but they found nobody to believe them2 the ,perkinean institution fell into neglect2 and ,perkins made his exit from ,england1 carrying with him about ten thousand pounds1 to soothe his declining years in the good city of ,pennsylvania4 ,thus was magnetism laughed out of ,england for a time4 ,in ,france the revolution left men no leisure for studying it4 ,the ,socits de l',harmonie of ,strasbourg1 and other great towns lingered for a while1 till sterner matters occupying men's attention1 they were one after the other abandoned1 both by pupils and professors4 ,the system1 thus driven from the first two nations of ,europe1 took refuge among the dreamy philosophers of ,germany4 ,there the wonders of the magnetic sleep grew more and more wonderful every day2 the patients acquired the gift of prophecy2 their vision extended over all the surface of the globe2 they could hear and see with their toes and fingers1 and read unknown languages1 and understand them too1 by merely having the book placed on their stomachs4 ,ignorant peasants1 when once entranced by the grand mesmeric fluid1 could spout philosophy diviner than ,plato ever wrote1 descant upon the mysteries of the mind with more eloquence and truth than the profoundest metaphysicians the world ever saw1 and solve knotty points of divinity with as much ease as waking men could undo their shoe-buckles6 ,during the first twelve years of the present century little was heard of animal magnetism in any country of ,europe4 ,even the ,germans forgot their airy fancies1 recalled to the knowledge of this every-day world by the roar of ,napoleon's cannon and the fall or the establishment of kingdoms4 ,during this period a cloud of obscurity hung over the science1 which was not dispersed until ,m4 ,deleuze published1 in #ahac1 his ,histoire ,critique du ,magntisme ,animal4 ,this work gave a new impulse to the half-forgotten fancy4 ,newspapers1 pamphlets1 and books again waged war upon each other on the question of its truth or falsehood2 and many eminent men in the profession of medicine recommenced inquiry with an earnest design to discover the truth4 ,the assertions made in the celebrated treatise of ,deleuze are thus summed up3#ge ,there is a fluid continually escaping from the human body1 and forming an atmosphere around us1 which1 as it has no determined current1 produces no sensible effects on surrounding individuals4 ,it is1 however1 capable of being directed by the will2 and1 when so directed1 is sent forth in currents1 with a force corresponding to the energy we possess4 ,its motion is similar to that of the rays from burning bodies2 it possesses different qualities in different individuals4 ,it is capable of a high degree of concentration1 and exists also in trees4 ,the will of the magnetiser1 guided by a motion of the hand1 several times repeated in the same direction1 can fill a tree with this fluid4 ,most persons1 when this fluid is poured into them from the body and by the will of the magnetiser1 feel a sensation of heat or cold when he passes his hand before them1 without even touching them4 ,some persons1 when sufficiently charged with this fluid1 fall into a state of somnambulism1 or magnetic ecstasy2 and when in this state1 they see the fluid encircling the magnetiser like a halo of light1 and issuing in luminous streams from his mouth and nostrils1 his head and hands1 possessing a very agreeable smell1 and communicating a particular taste to food and water4 #ge ,see the very clear1 and dispassionate article upon the subject in the fifth volume 7#ahcj7 of ,the ,foreign ,review1 p4 #if et seq4 ,one would think that these notions were quite enough to be insisted upon by any physician who wished to be considered sane2 but they form only a small portion of the wondrous things related by ,m4 ,deleuze4 ,he further said1 ,when magnetism produces somnambulism1 the person who is in this state acquires a prodigious extension of all his faculties4 ,several of his external organs1 especially those of sight and hearing1 become inactive2 but the sensations which depend upon them take place internally4 ,seeing and hearing are carried on by the magnetic fluid1 which transmits the impressions immediately1 and without the intervention of any nerves or organs directly to the brain4 ,thus the somnambulist1 though his eyes and ears are closed1 not only sees and hears1 but sees and hears much better than he does when awake4 ,in all things he feels the will of the magnetiser1 although that will be not expressed4 ,he sees into the interior of his own body1 and the most secret organisation of the bodies of all those who may be put en rapport1 or in magnetic connexion1 with him4 ,most commonly1 he only sees those parts which are diseased and disordered1 and intuitively prescribes a remedy for them4 ,he has prophetic visions and sensations1 which are generally true1 but sometimes erroneous4 ,he expresses himself with astonishing eloquence and facility4 ,he is not free from vanity4 ,he becomes a more perfect being of his own accord for a certain time1 if guided wisely by the magnetiser1 but wanders if he is ill-directed4 ,according to ,m4 ,deleuze1 any person could become a magnetiser and produce these effects1 by conforming to the following conditions1 and acting upon the following rules3 ,forget for a while all your knowledge of physics and metaphysics4 ,remove from your mind all objections that may occur4 ,imagine that it is in your power to take the malady in hand1 and throw it on one side4 ,never reason for six weeks after you have commenced the study4 ,have an active desire to do good2 a firm belief in the power of magnetism1 and an entire confidence in employing it4 ,in short1 repel all doubts2 desire success1 and act with simplicity and attention4 ,that is to say1 be very credulous2 be very persevering2 reject all past experience1 and do not listen to reason1 and you are a magnetiser after ,m4 ,deleuze's own heart4 ,having brought yourself into this edifying state1 remove from the patient all persons who might be troublesome to you2 keep with you only the necessary witnesses--a single person if need be2 desire them not to occupy themselves in any way with the processes you employ and the effects which result from them1 but to join with you in the desire of doing good to your patient4 ,arrange yourself so as neither to be too hot nor too cold1 and in such a manner that nothing may obstruct the freedom of your motions2 and take precautions to prevent interruption during the sitting4 ,make your patient then sit as commodiously as possible1 and place yourself opposite to him1 on a seat a little more elevated1 in such a manner that his knees may be betwixt yours1 and your feet at the side of his4 ,first1 request him to resign himself2 to think of nothing2 not to perplex himself by examining the effects which may be produced2 to banish all fear2 to surrender himself to hope1 and not to be disturbed or discouraged if the action of magnetism should cause in him momentary pains4 ,after having collected yourself1 take his thumbs between your fingers in such a way that the internal part of your thumbs may be in contact with the internal part of his1 and then fix your eyes upon him6 ,you must remain from two to five minutes in this situation1 or until you feel an equal heat between your thumbs and his4 ,this done1 you will withdraw your hands1 removing them to the right and left2 and at the same time turning them till their internal surface be outwards1 and you will raise them to the height of the head4 ,you will now place them upon the two shoulders1 and let them remain there about a minute2 afterwards drawing them gently along the arms to the extremities of the fingers1 touching very slightly as you go4 ,you will renew this pass five or six times1 always turning your hands1 and removing them a little from the body before you lift them4 ,you will then place them above the head2 and after holding them there for an instant1 lower them1 passing them before the face1 at the distance of one or two inches1 down to the pit of the stomach4 ,there you will stop them two minutes also1 putting your thumbs upon the pit of the stomach and the rest of your fingers below the ribs4 ,you will then descend slowly along the body to the knees1 or rather1 if you can do so without deranging yourself1 to the extremity of the feet4 ,you will repeat the same processes several times during the remainder of the sitting4 ,you will also occasionally approach your patient1 so as to place your hands behind his shoulders1 in order to descend slowly along the spine of the back and the thighs1 down to the knees or the feet4 ,after the first passes1 you may dispense with putting your hands upon the head1 and may make the subsequent passes upon the arms1 beginning at the shoulders1 and upon the body1 beginning at the stomach4 ,such was the process of magnetising recommended by ,deleuze4 ,that delicate1 fanciful1 and nervous women1 when subjected to it1 should have worked themselves into convulsions will be readily believed by the sturdiest opponent of animal magnetism4 ,to sit in a constrained posture--be stared out of countenance by a fellow who enclosed her knees between his1 while he made passes upon different parts of her body1 was quite enough to throw any weak woman into a fit1 especially if she were predisposed to hysteria1 and believed in the efficacy of the treatment4 ,it is just as evident that those of stronger minds and healthier bodies should be sent to sleep by the process4 ,that these effects have been produced by these means1 there are thousands of instances to shew4 ,but are they testimony in favour of animal magnetism8--do they prove the existence of the magnetic fluid8 ,it needs neither magnetism1 nor ghost from the grave1 to tell us that silence1 monotony1 and long recumbency in one position1 must produce sleep2 or that excitement1 imitation1 and a strong imagination acting upon a weak body1 will bring on convulsions4 ,m4 ,deleuze's book produced quite a sensation in ,france2 the study was resumed with redoubled vigour4 ,in the following year1 a journal was established devoted exclusively to the science1 under the title of ,annales du ,magntisme ,animal2 and shortly afterwards appeared the ,bibliothque du ,magntisme ,animal1 and many others4 ,about the same time1 the ,abb ,faria1 the man of wonders1 began to magnetise2 and the belief being that he had more of the mesmeric fluid about him1 and a stronger will1 than most men1 he was very successful in his treatment4 ,his experiments afford a convincing proof that imagination can operate all1 and the supposed fluid none1 of the results so confidently claimed as evidence of the new science4 ,he placed his patients in an arm-chair2 told them to shut their eyes2 and then1 in a loud commanding voice1 pronounced the single word1 ,sleep6 ,he used no manipulations whatever--had no baquet1 or conductor of the fluid2 but he nevertheless succeeded in causing sleep in hundreds of patients4 ,he boasted of having in his time produced five thousand somnambulists by this method4 ,it was often necessary to repeat the command three or four times2 and if the patient still remained awake1 the abb got out of the difficulty by dismissing him from the chair1 and declaring that he was incapable of being acted on4 ,and it should be especially remarked that the magnetisers do not lay claim to universal efficacy for their fluid2 the strong and the healthy cannot be magnetised2 the incredulous cannot be magnetised2 those who reason upon it cannot be magnetised2 those who firmly believe in it can be magnetised2 the weak in body can be magnetised1 and the weak in mind can be magnetised4 ,and lest1 from some cause or other1 individuals of the latter classes should resist the magnetic charm1 the apostles of the science declare that there are times when even they cannot be acted upon2 the presence of one scorner or unbeliever may weaken the potency of the fluid and destroy its efficacy4 ,in ,m4 ,deleuze's instructions to a magnetiser1 he expressly says1 ,never magnetise before inquisitive persons6#gf #gf ,histoire ,critique du ,magntisme ,animal1 p4 #fj4 ,here we conclude the subject1 as it would serve no good purpose to extend to greater length the history of ,animal ,magnetism2 especially at a time when many phenomena1 the reality of which it is impossible to dispute1 are daily occurring to startle and perplex the most learned1 impartial1 and truth-loving of mankind4 ,enough1 however1 has been stated to shew1 that if there be some truth in magnetism1 there has been much error1 misconception1 and exaggeration4 ,taking its history from the commencement1 it can hardly be said to have been without its uses4 ,to quote the words of ,bailly1 in #aghd1 ,magnetism has not been altogether unavailing to the philosophy which condemns it3 it is an additional fact to record among the errors of the human mind1 and a great experiment on the strength of the imagination4 ,over that vast inquiry of the influence of mind over matter1--an inquiry which the embodied intellect of mankind will never be able to fathom completely1--it will at least have thrown a feeble and imperfect light4 ,it will have afforded an additional proof of the strength of the unconquerable will1 and the weakness of matter as compared with it2 another illustration of the words of the inspired ,psalmist1 that we are fearfully and wonderfully made4 ,illustration ,,influence ,,of ,,politics ,,and ,,religion ,,on ,,the ,,hair ,,and ,,beard4 ,speak with respect and honour ,both of the beard and the beard's owner4 ,hudibras4 ,the famous declaration of ,st4 ,paul1 that long hair was a shame unto a man1 has been made the pretext for many singular enactments1 both of civil and ecclesiastical governments4 ,the fashion of the hair and the cut of the beard were state questions in ,france and ,england1 from the establishment of ,christianity until the fifteenth century4 ,we find1 too1 that in much earlier times1 men were not permitted to do as they liked with their own hair4 ,alexander the ,great thought that the beards of the soldiery afforded convenient handles for the enemy to lay hold of1 preparatory to cutting off their heads2 and1 with a view of depriving them of this advantage1 he ordered the whole of his army to be closely shaven4 ,his notions of courtesy towards an enemy were quite different from those entertained by the ,north ,american ,indians1 and amongst whom it is held a point of honour to allow one chivalrous lock to grow1 that the foe1 in taking the scalp1 may have something to catch hold of4 ,at one time1 long hair was the symbol of sovereignty in ,europe4 ,we learn from ,gregory of ,tours1 that1 among the successors of ,clovis1 it was the exclusive privilege of the royal family to have their hair long and curled4 ,the nobles1 equal to kings in power1 would not shew any inferiority in this respect1 and wore not only their hair1 but their beards of an enormous length4 ,this fashion lasted1 with but slight changes1 till the time of ,louis the ,debonnaire2 but his successors1 up to ,hugh ,capet1 wore their hair short1 by way of distinction4 ,even the serfs had set all regulation at defiance1 and allowed their locks and beards to grow4 ,at the time of the invasion of ,england by ,william the ,conqueror1 the ,normans wore their hair very short4 ,harold1 in his progress towards ,hastings1 sent forward spies to view the strength and number of the enemy4 ,they reported1 amongst other things1 on their return1 that the host did almost seem to be priests1 because they had all their face and both their lips shaven4 ,the fashion among the ,english at the time was to wear the hair long upon the head and the upper lip1 but to shave the chin4 ,when the haughty victors had divided the broad lands of the ,saxon thanes and franklins among them1 when tyranny of every kind was employed to make the ,english feel that they were indeed a subdued and broken nation1 the latter encouraged the growth of their hair1 that they might resemble as little as possible their cropped and shaven masters4 ,this fashion was exceedingly displeasing to the clergy1 and prevailed to a considerable extent in ,france and ,germany4 ,towards the end of the eleventh century1 it was decreed by the pope1 and zealously supported by the ecclesiastical authorities all over ,europe1 that such persons as wore long hair should be excommunicated while living1 and not be prayed for when dead4 ,william of ,malmesbury relates1 that the famous ,st4 ,wulstan1 ,bishop of ,worcester1 was peculiarly indignant whenever he saw a man with long hair4 ,he declaimed against the practice as one highly immoral1 criminal1 and beastly4 ,he continually carried a small knife in his pocket1 and whenever any body offending in this respect knelt before him to receive his blessing1 he would whip it out slily1 and cut off a handful1 and then1 throwing it in his face1 tell him to cut off all the rest1 or he would go to hell4 ,but fashion1 which at times it is possible to move with a wisp1 stands firm against a lever2 and men preferred to run the risk of damnation to parting with the superfluity of their hair4 ,in the time of ,henry ,i41 ,anselm1 ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 found it necessary to republish the famous decree of excommunication and outlawry against the offenders2 but1 as the court itself had begun to patronise curls1 the fulminations of the ,church were unavailing4 ,henry ,i4 and his nobles wore their hair in long ringlets down their backs and shoulders1 and became a scandalum magnatum in the eyes of the godly4 ,one ,serlo1 the king's chaplain1 was so grieved in spirit at the impiety of his master1 that he preached a sermon from the well-known text of ,st4 ,paul before the assembled court1 in which he drew so dreadful a picture of the torments that awaited them in the other world1 that several of them burst into tears1 and wrung their hair1 as if they would have pulled it out by the roots4 ,henry himself was observed to weep4 ,the priest1 seeing the impression he had made1 determined to strike while the iron was hot1 and pulling a pair of scissors from his pocket1 cut the king's hair in presence of them all4 ,several of the principal courtiers consented to do the like1 and for a short time long hair appeared to be going out of fashion4 ,but the courtiers thought1 after the first glow of their penitence had been cooled by reflection1 that the clerical ,delilah had shorn them of their strength1 and in less than six months they were as great sinners as ever4 ,anselm1 the ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 who had been a monk of ,bec1 in ,normandy1 and who had signalised himself at ,rouen by his fierce opposition to long hair1 was still anxious to work a reformation in this matter4 ,but his pertinacity was far from pleasing to the king1 who had finally made up his mind to wear ringlets4 ,there were other disputes1 of a more serious nature1 between them2 so that when the archbishop died1 the king was so glad to be rid of him1 that he allowed the see to remain vacant for five years4 ,still the cause had other advocates1 and every pulpit in the land resounded with anathemas against that disobedient and long-haired generation4 ,but all was of no avail4 ,stowe1 in writing of this period1 asserts1 on the authority of some more ancient chronicler1 that men1 forgetting their birth1 transformed themselves1 by the length of their haires1 into the semblance of woman kind2 and that when their hair decayed from age1 or other causes1 they knit about their heads certain rolls and braidings of false hair4 ,at last accident turned the tide of fashion4 ,a knight of the court1 who was exceedingly proud of his beauteous locks1 dreamed one night that1 as he lay in bed1 the devil sprang upon him1 and endeavoured to choke him with his own hair4 ,he started in affright1 and actually found that he had a great quantity of hair in his mouth4 ,sorely stricken in conscience1 and looking upon the dream as a warning from heaven1 he set about the work of reformation1 and cut off his luxuriant tresses the same night4 ,the story was soon bruited abroad2 of course it was made the most of by the clergy1 and the knight1 being a man of influence and consideration1 and the acknowledged leader of the fashion1 his example1 aided by priestly exhortations1 was very generally imitated4 ,men appeared almost as decent as ,st4 ,wulstan himself could have wished1 the dream of a dandy having proved more efficacious than the entreaties of a saint4 ,but1 as ,stowe informs us1 scarcely was one year past1 when all that thought themselves courtiers fell into the former vice1 and contended with women in their long haires4 ,henry1 the king1 appears to have been quite uninfluenced by the dreams of others1 for even his own would not induce him a second time to undergo a cropping from priestly shears4 ,it is said1 that he was much troubled at this time by disagreeable visions4 ,having offended the ,church in this and other respects1 he could get no sound1 refreshing sleep1 and used to imagine that he saw all the bishops1 abbots1 and monks of every degree1 standing around his bed-side1 and threatening to belabour him with their pastoral staves2 which sight1 we are told1 so frightened him1 that he often started naked out of his bed1 and attacked the phantoms sword in hand4 ,grimbalde1 his physician1 who1 like most of his fraternity at that day1 was an ecclesiastic1 never hinted that his dreams were the result of a bad digestion1 but told him to shave his head1 be reconciled to the ,church1 and reform himself with alms and prayer4 ,but he would not take this good advice1 and it was not until he had been nearly drowned a year afterwards1 in a violent storm at sea1 that he repented of his evil ways1 cut his hair short1 and paid proper deference to the wishes of the clergy4 ,in ,france1 the thunders of the ,vatican with regard to long curly hair were hardly more respected than in ,england4 ,louis ,,vii41 however1 was more obedient than his brother-king1 and cropped himself as closely as a monk1 to the great sorrow of all the gallants of his court4 ,his queen1 the gay1 haughty1 and pleasure-seeking ,eleanor of ,guienne1 never admired him in this trim1 and continually reproached him with imitating1 not only the head-dress1 but the asceticism of the monks4 ,from this cause a coldness arose between them4 ,the lady proving at last unfaithful to her shaven and indifferent lord1 they were divorced1 and the kings of ,france lost the rich provinces of ,guienne and ,poitou1 which were her dowry4 ,she soon after bestowed her hand and her possessions upon ,henry ,duke of ,normandy1 afterwards ,henry ,,ii4 of ,england1 and thus gave the ,english sovereigns that strong footing in ,france which was for so many centuries the cause of such long and bloody wars between the nations4 ,when the ,crusades had drawn all the smart young fellows into ,palestine1 the clergy did not find it so difficult to convince the staid burghers who remained in ,europe1 of the enormity of long hair4 ,during the absence of ,richard ,coeur de ,lion1 his ,english subjects not only cut their hair close1 but shaved their faces4 ,william ,fitz-osbert1 or ,long-beard1 the great demagogue of that day1 reintroduced among the people who claimed to be of ,saxon origin the fashion of long hair4 ,he did this with the view of making them as unlike as possible to the citizens and the ,normans4 ,he wore his own beard hanging down to his waist1 from whence the name by which he is best known to posterity4 ,the ,church never shewed itself so great an enemy to the beard as to long hair on the head4 ,it generally allowed fashion to take its own course1 both with regard to the chin and the upper lip4 ,this fashion varied continually2 for we find that1 in little more than a century after the time of ,richard ,i41 when beards were short1 that they had again become so long as to be mentioned in the famous epigram made by the ,scots who visited ,london in #acbg1 when ,david1 son of ,robert ,bruce1 was married to ,joan1 the sister of ,king ,edward4 ,this epigram1 which was stuck on the church-door of ,st4 ,peter ,stangate1 ran as follows3 ,long beards heartlesse1 ,painted hoods witlesse1 ,gray coats gracelesse1 ,make ,england thriftlesse4 ,when the ,emperor ,charles ,v4 ascended the throne of ,spain he had no beard4 ,it was not to be expected that the obsequious parasites who always surround a monarch1 could presume to look more virile than their master4 ,immediately all the courtiers appeared beardless1 with the exception of such few grave old men as had outgrown the influence of fashion1 and who had determined to die bearded as they had lived4 ,sober people in general saw this revolution with sorrow and alarm1 and thought that every manly virtue would be banished with the beard4 ,it became at the time a common saying1-- ,desde que no hay barba1 no hay mas alma4 ,we have no longer souls since we have lost our beards4 ,in ,france also the beard fell into disrepute after the death of ,henry ,,iv41 from the mere reason that his successor was too young to have one4 ,some of the more immediate friends of the great ,barnais1 and his minister ,sully among the rest1 refused to part with their beards1 notwithstanding the jeers of the new generation4 ,who does not remember the division of ,england into the two great parties of ,roundheads and ,cavaliers8 ,in those days every species of vice and iniquity was thought by the ,puritans to lurk in the long curly tresses of the monarchists1 while the latter imagined that their opponents were as destitute of wit1 of wisdom1 and of virtue1 as they were of hair4 ,a man's locks were the symbol of his creed1 both in politics and religion4 ,the more abundant the hair1 the more scant the faith2 and the balder the head1 the more sincere the piety4 ,illustration3 ,,peter ,,the ,,great4 ,but among all the instances of the interference of governments with men's hair1 the most extraordinary1 not only for its daring1 but for its success1 is that of ,peter the ,great1 in #agje4 ,by this time fashion had condemned the beard in every other country in ,europe1 and with a voice more potent than popes or emperors1 had banished it from civilised society4 ,but this only made the ,russians cling more fondly to their ancient ornament1 as a mark to distinguish them from foreigners1 whom they hated4 ,peter1 however1 resolved that they should be shaven4 ,if he had been a man deeply read in history1 he might have hesitated before he attempted so despotic an attack upon the time-hallowed customs and prejudices of his countrymen2 but he was not4 ,he did not know or consider the danger of the innovation2 he only listened to the promptings of his own indomitable will1 and his fiat went forth1 that not only the army1 but all ranks of citizens1 from the nobles to the serfs1 should shave their beards4 ,a certain time was given1 that people might get over the first throes of their repugnance1 after which every man who chose to retain his beard was to pay a tax of one hundred roubles4 ,the priests and the serfs were put on a lower footing1 and allowed to retain theirs upon payment of a copeck every time they passed the gate of a city4 ,great discontent existed in consequence1 but the dreadful fate of the ,strelitzes was too recent to be forgotten1 and thousands who had the will had not the courage to revolt4 ,as is well remarked by a writer in the ,encyclopdia ,britannica1 they thought it wiser to cut off their beards than to run the risk of incensing a man who would make no scruple in cutting off their heads4 ,wiser1 too1 than the popes and bishops of a former age1 he did not threaten them with eternal damnation1 but made them pay in hard cash the penalty of their disobedience4 ,for many years1 a very considerable revenue was collected from this source4 ,the collectors gave in receipt for its payment a small copper coin1 struck expressly for the purpose1 and called the borodovia1 or the bearded4 ,on one side it bore the figure of a nose1 mouth1 and moustaches1 with a long bushy beard1 surmounted by the words1 ,deuyee ,vyeatee1 money received2 the whole encircled by a wreath1 and stamped with the black eagle of ,russia4 ,on the reverse1 it bore the date of the year4 ,every man who chose to wear a beard was obliged to produce this receipt on his entry into a town4 ,those who were refractory1 and refused to pay the tax1 were thrown into prison4 ,since that day1 the rulers of modern ,europe have endeavoured to persuade1 rather than to force1 in all matters pertaining to fashion4 ,the ,vatican troubles itself no more about beards or ringlets1 and men may become hairy as bears1 if such is their fancy1 without fear of excommunication or deprivation of their political rights4 ,folly has taken a new start1 and cultivates the moustache4 ,even upon this point governments will not let men alone4 ,religion as yet has not meddled with it2 but perhaps it will2 and politics already influence it considerably4 ,before the revolution of #ahcj1 neither the ,french nor ,belgian citizens were remarkable for their moustaches2 but1 after that event1 there was hardly a shopkeeper either in ,paris or ,brussels whose upper lip did not suddenly become hairy with real or mock moustaches4 ,during a temporary triumph gained by the ,dutch soldiers over the citizens of ,louvain1 in ,october #ahcj1 it became a standing joke against the patriots1 that they shaved their faces clean immediately2 and the wits of the ,dutch army asserted that they had gathered moustaches enough from the denuded lips of the ,belgians to stuff mattresses for all the sick and wounded in their hospital4 ,the last folly of this kind is still more recent4 ,in the ,german newspapers1 of ,august #ahch1 appeared an ordonnance1 signed by the king of ,bavaria1 forbidding civilians1 on any pretence whatever1 to wear moustaches1 and commanding the police and other authorities to arrest1 and cause to be shaved1 the offending parties4 ,strange to say1 adds ,le ,droit1 the journal from which this account is taken1 moustaches disappeared immediately1 like leaves from the trees in autumn2 every body made haste to obey the royal order1 and not one person was arrested4 ,the king of ,bavaria1 a rhymester of some celebrity1 has taken a good many poetical licences in his time4 ,his licence in this matter appears neither poetical nor reasonable4 ,it is to be hoped that he will not take it into his royal head to make his subjects shave theirs2 nothing but that is wanting to complete their degradation4 ,illustration3 ,,bayeux ,,tapestry4#gg #gg ,the above engraving1 shewing two soldiers of ,william the ,conqueror's army1 is taken from the celebrated ,bayeux ,tapestry4--,see ante1 p4 #big4 ,,end ,,of ,,vol4 ,i4 ,illustration3 ,,pope ,,urban ,,preaching ,,the ,,crusades4 ,,memoirs ,,of ,,extraordinary ,,popular ,,delusions4 ,,volume ,,ii4 ,illustration3 ,,view ,,in ,,the ,,the ,,harz ,,mountains4 ,,london3 ,,office ,,of ,,the ,,national ,,illustrated ,,library1 #bbg ,,strand4 #aheb4 ,,memoirs ,,of ,,extraordinary ,,popular ,,delusions ,,and ,,the ,,madness ,,of ,,crowds4 ,,by ,,charles ,,mackay1 ,,ll4,d4 ,,author ,,of ,,egeria1 ,,the ,,salamandrine1 ,,etc4 ,,illustrated ,,with ,,numerous ,,engravings4 ,,vol4 ,,ii4 ,n'en dplaise ces fous nomms sages de ,grce1 ,en ce monde il n'est point de parfaite sagesse2 ,tous les hommes sont fous1 et malgr tous leurs sons ,ne diffrent entre eux que du plus ou du moins4 ,,boileau4 ,,london3 ,,office ,,of ,,the ,,national ,,illustrated ,,library1 #bbg ,,strand4 #aheb4 ,,contents4 ,,the ,,crusades4 ,different accounts of the ,crusaders derived from ,history and ,romance--,pilgrimages to the ,holy ,land first undertaken by converted ,jews and the very credulous--,increasing number of pilgrims every year--,relics greatly valued--,haroun al ,reschid--,the pilgrims taxed--,robert of ,normandy--,the pilgrims persecuted by the ,turks--,peter the ,hermit--,his first idea of rousing the powers of ,christendom--,his interview with ,simeon--,peter the ,hermit preaches the ,holy ,war to all the nations of ,christendom--,the ,pope crosses the ,alps--,king ,philip accused of adultery with ,bertrade de ,montfort--,the ,council of ,clermont--,oration of ,urban ,,ii4--,the ,truce of ,god--,gautier sans ,avoir1 or ,walter the ,pennyless--,gottschalk--,the arrival at ,semlin--,peter the ,hermit at ,nissa--,at ,constantinople--,the ,crusaders conducted in safety to ,constantinople--,fresh hordes from ,germany--,godfrey of ,bouillon--,count of ,vermandois--,tancred--,the siege of ,antioch--,the ,holy ,lance--,fate of ,peter ,barthelemy--,siege of ,jerusalem--,st4 ,bernard--,second ,crusade3 ,siege of ,damascus--,third ,crusade3 ,death of ,henry ,,ii4--,richard ,coeur de ,lion--,fourth ,crusade--,fifth ,crusade3 ,constantinople assaulted--,sixth ,crusade3 ,camhel and ,cohreddin--,seventh ,crusade3 ,departure of ,louis ,,ix4 for ,cyprus--,for ,acre--,his death at ,carthage--,end of the ,crusades ,,the ,,witch ,,mania4 ,popular notions of the devil--,inferior demons--,demons of both sexes--,demons preferring the night between ,friday and ,saturday--,the devil in the shape of a goat--,sorcery--,execution of ,joan of ,arc--,witches burned in ,europe--,various charges of ,witchcraft--,trois ,echelles--,the ,witches of ,warbois--,john ,knox--,torture of ,dr4 ,fian--,the ,lancashire ,witches--,matthew ,hopkins--,burnings at ,wrzburg1 at ,lindheim1 at ,labourt--,request of the parliament of ,rouen to the ,king1 in #afgj--,wrzburg the scene of the last case of ,witchcraft--,the ,witchcraft of ,lady ,hatton--,witchcraft at ,hastings and many other parts of ,england ,,the ,,slow ,,poisoners4 ,murder of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury--,trial of ,weston--,of ,sir ,jervis ,elwes--,poisoning most prevalent in ,italy--,poisons manufactured by ,la ,tophania--,her death--,madame de ,brinvilliers--,the poisoning of her father and two brothers--,lavoisin and ,lavigoreux ,,haunted ,,houses4 ,the haunted house in ,aix-la-,chapelle--,in ,tours--,the royal palace of ,woodstock a haunted house--,the supposed ghosts at ,tedworth--,at ,cock ,lane--,at ,stockwell--,haunted house at ,baldarroch ,,popular ,,follies ,,of ,,great ,,cities4 ,cant phrases--,quoz--,what a shocking bad hat--,hookey ,walker--,there he goes with his eye out--,has your mother sold her mangle8--,does your mother know you're out8--,tom and ,jerry--,jim ,crow ,,popular ,,admiration ,,of ,,great ,,thieves4 ,robin ,hood--,claude ,duval--,dick ,turpin--,jonathan ,wild--,jack ,sheppard--,vidocq--,mausch ,nadel--,the ,beggar's ,opera--,rob ,roy ,,duels ,,and ,,ordeals4 ,the origin of the ,duello--,all persons engaged in duelling excommunicated by the ,council of ,trent--,the fire ordeal--,the water ordeal--,the ,corsned--,duel between ,ingelgerius and ,gontran--,duel between ,franois de ,vivonne and ,guy de ,chabot--,l',isle-,marivaut and ,marolles--,richelieu--,duel between the ,dukes ,de ,beaufort and ,de ,nemours--,laws against ,duelling--,duel between ,lord ,sanquir and ,turner--,between the ,duke of ,hamilton and ,lord ,mohun--,german students inveterate ,duellists ,,relics4 ,the ,true ,cross--,tears of our ,saviour--,the ,santa ,scala1 or ,holy ,stairs--,the mad ,knight of ,malta--,shakspeare's ,mulberry-tree ,,list ,,of ,,engravings ,,in ,,vol4 ,,ii4 ,pope ,urban preaching the first ,crusade4--,frontispiece4 ,view in the ,harz ,mountains4 7,capt4 ,batty's ,hanoverian and ,saxon ,scenery47--,title-page4 ,initial--,crusaders' ,weapons of the eleventh century ,peter the ,hermit preaching ,cathedral at ,clermont4 7,sommerard's ,album7 ,nice1 ,asia ,minor4 7,leon de ,laborde's ,voyage en ,orient7 ,godfrey of ,bouillon4 7,from the ,statue by ,simonis1 ,brussels7 ,siege of ,antioch ,the ,holy ,lance4 7,copied1 in ,hone's ,everyday ,book1 from a very rare print published by the ,ecclesiastics of ,nuremberg7 ,shrine of the ,nativity1 ,bethlehem4 7,laborde's ,voyage en ,orient7 ,pilgrims' first sight of ,jerusalem4 7,print by ,plddemann7 ,siege of ,jerusalem ,jerusalem4 7,gerhardt von ,breydenbach's ,grand ,voyage de ,jherusalem1 #aeag7 ,bible of ,baldwin's ,queen4 7,original in the ,british ,museum7 ,cathedral of ,vezelai4 7,sommerard's ,album7 ,pilgrim's ,staff4 7,the ,archologia7 ,damascus4 7,laborde's ,voyage en ,orient7 ,seal of ,frederick ,barbarossa4 7,venetian ,history7 ,henry ,,ii4 7,stothard's ,monumental ,effigies7 ,chteau of ,gisors1 ,normandy4 7,l',univers ,pittoresque7 ,philip ,augustus4 7,willemin's ,monumens ,franais indits7 ,the ,island of ,rhodes4 7,royal ,library1 ,british ,museum2 print in ,venetia1 #aegj7 ,richard ,i4 and ,berengaria4 7,stothard's ,monumental ,effigies7 ,bethlehem4 7,laborde's ,voyage en ,orient7 ,constantinople4 7,print1 ,johann ,baptist ,hooman1 ,royal ,library1 ,british ,museum7 ,templar and ,hospitaller4 7,fairholt's ,book of ,costumes7 ,jaffa4 7,laborde's ,voyage en ,orient7 ,longespee or ,longsword1 ,earl of ,salisbury4 7,effigy in ,salisbury ,cathedral7 ,seal of ,edward ,i4 7,from ,great ,seal7 ,tomb of ,queen ,eleanor1 ,westminster ,abbey4 7,original sketch7 ,arras4 7,coney's ,cathedrals and ,hotels de ,ville7 ,philip ,,iv4 of ,france ,joan of ,arc ,gate of ,constance4 7,print1 from drawing by ,major ,cockburn7 ,charles ,,ix4 of ,france4 7,french print by ,adolph ,brune7 ,bishop ,jewell ,john ,knox ,torture of the ,boots4 7,knight's ,pictorial ,shakspere7 ,james ,i4 the ,demonologist ,sir ,g4 ,mackenzie ,pietro d',apone ,mathew ,hopkins4 7,print in ,caulfield's ,remarkable ,persons1 copied from a rare print in the collection of ,j4 ,bindley1 ,esq47 ,sir ,mathew ,hale ,sir ,thomas ,brown ,lyons4 7,prout's ,views in ,france7 ,bamberg4 7,prout's ,views in ,germany7 ,palais de ,justice1 ,rouen4 7,sommerard's ,arts du ,moyen ,age7 ,louis ,,xiv4 ,wrzburg4 7,prout's ,views in ,germany7 ,lady ,hatton's ,house1 ,cross ,street1 ,hatton ,garden4 7,original sketch7 ,floating a ,witch ,place de ,grve1 ,paris4 7,old print7 ,sir ,t4 ,overbury4 7,an extremely rare print by ,r4 ,elstracke7 ,george ,villiers1 ,duke of ,buckingham ,lord ,chief-,justice ,coke ,the ,earl of ,somerset ,countess of ,somerset ,death of ,dr4 ,lamb1 ,st4 ,paul's ,cross4 7,the ,cross copied from print in ,wilkinson's ,londina ,illustrata7 ,the ,bastille4 7,views of ,public ,edifices in ,paris1 by ,,mm4 ,legard et ,testard7 ,palace of ,woodstock in #agad4 7,from a print of date7 ,saint ,louis of ,france4 7,willemin's ,monumens ,franais indits7 ,haunted ,house in ,cock ,lane4 7,original sketch7 ,room in the haunted house in ,cock ,lane4 7,original sketch7 ,sherwood ,forest ,duel between ,du ,guesclin and ,troussel ,duel between ,ingelgerius and ,gontran ,henry ,,iv4 ,gallery in the ,palace of ,fontainebleau4 7,sommerard's ,arts du ,moyen ,age7 ,the ,duke de ,sully ,lord ,bacon ,illustration ,,memoirs ,,of ,,extraordinary ,,popular ,,delusions4 ,,the ,,crusades4 ,they heard1 and up they sprang upon the wing ,innumerable4 ,as when the potent rod ,of ,amram's son1 in ,egypt's evil day1 ,waved round the coast1 up call'd a pitchy cloud ,of locusts1 warping on the eastern wind ,that o'er the realm of impious ,pharaoh hung ,like night1 and darken'd all the realm of ,nile1 ,so numberless were they4 99 99 99 99 ,all in a moment through the gloom were seen ,ten thousand banners rise into the air1 ,with orient colours waving4 ,with them rose ,a forest huge of spears2 and thronging helms ,appear'd1 and serried shields1 in thick array1 ,of depth immeasurable4 ,paradise ,lost4 ,illustration3 ,e ,every age has its peculiar folly2 some scheme1 project1 or phantasy into which it plunges1 spurred on either by the love of gain1 the necessity of excitement1 or the mere force of imitation4 ,failing in these1 it has some madness1 to which it is goaded by political or religious causes1 or both combined4 ,every one of these causes influenced the ,crusades1 and conspired to render them the most extraordinary instance upon record of the extent to which popular enthusiasm can be carried4 ,history in her solemn page informs us1 that the ,crusaders were but ignorant and savage men1 that their motives were those of bigotry unmitigated1 and that their pathway was one of blood and tears4 ,romance1 on the other hand1 dilates upon their piety and heroism1 and portrays1 in her most glowing and impassioned hues1 their virtue and magnanimity1 the imperishable honour they acquired for themselves1 and the great services they rendered to ,christianity4 ,in the following pages we shall ransack the stores of both1 to discover the true spirit that animated the motley multitude who took up arms in the service of the cross1 leaving history to vouch for facts1 but not disdaining the aid of contemporary poetry and romance1 to throw light upon feelings1 motives1 and opinions4 ,in order to understand thoroughly the state of public feeling in ,europe at the time when ,peter the ,hermit preached the holy war1 it will be necessary to go back for many years anterior to that event4 ,we must make acquaintance with the pilgrims of the eighth1 ninth1 and tenth centuries1 and learn the tales they told of the dangers they had passed and the wonders they had seen4 ,pilgrimages to the ,holy ,land seem at first to have been undertaken by converted ,jews1 and by ,christian devotees of lively imagination1 pining with a natural curiosity to visit the scenes which of all others were most interesting in their eyes4 ,the pious and the impious alike flocked to ,jerusalem1--the one class to feast their sight on the scenes hallowed by the life and sufferings of their ,lord1 and the other1 because it soon became a generally received opinion1 that such a pilgrimage was sufficient to rub off the long score of sins1 however atrocious4 ,another and very numerous class of pilgrims were the idle and roving1 who visited ,palestine then as the moderns visit ,italy or ,switzerland now1 because it was the fashion1 and because they might please their vanity by retailing1 on their return1 the adventures they had met with4 ,but the really pious formed the great majority4 ,every year their numbers increased1 until at last they became so numerous as to be called the armies of the ,lord4 ,full of enthusiasm1 they set the dangers and difficulties of the way at defiance1 and lingered with holy rapture on every scene described by the ,evangelists4 ,to them it was bliss indeed to drink the clear waters of the ,jordan1 or be baptised in the same stream where ,john had baptised the ,saviour4 ,they wandered with awe and pleasure in the purlieus of the ,temple1 on the solemn ,mount of ,olives1 or the awful ,calvary1 where a ,god had bled for sinful men4 ,to these pilgrims every object was precious4 ,relics were eagerly sought after2 flagons of water from ,jordan1 or panniers of mould from the hill of the ,crucifixion1 were brought home1 and sold at extravagant prices to churches and monasteries4 ,more apocryphal relics1 such as the wood of the true cross1 the tears of the ,virgin ,mary1 the hems of her garments1 the toe-nails and hair of the ,apostles--even the tents that ,paul had helped to manufacture--were exhibited for sale by the knavish in ,palestine1 and brought back to ,europe with wondrous cost and care4 ,a grove of a hundred oaks would not have furnished all the wood sold in little morsels as remnants of the true cross2 and the tears of ,mary1 if collected together1 would have filled a cistern4 ,for upwards of two hundred years the pilgrims met with no impediment in ,palestine4 ,the enlightened ,haroun ,al ,reschid1 and his more immediate successors1 encouraged the stream which brought so much wealth into ,syria1 and treated the wayfarers with the utmost courtesy4 ,the race of ,fatemite caliphs1--who1 although in other respects as tolerant1 were more distressed for money1 or more unscrupulous in obtaining it1 than their predecessors of the house of ,abbas1--imposed a tax of a bezant for each pilgrim that entered ,jerusalem4 ,this was a serious hardship upon the poorer sort1 who had begged their weary way across ,europe1 and arrived at the bourne of all their hopes without a coin4 ,a great outcry was immediately raised1 but still the tax was rigorously levied4 ,the pilgrims unable to pay were compelled to remain at the gate of the holy city until some rich devotee arriving with his train1 paid the tax and let them in4 ,robert of ,normandy1 father of ,william the ,conqueror1 who1 in common with many other nobles of the highest rank1 undertook the pilgrimage1 found on his arrival scores of pilgrims at the gate1 anxiously expecting his coming to pay the tax for them4 ,upon no occasion was such a boon refused4 ,the sums drawn from this source were a mine of wealth to the ,moslem governors of ,palestine1 imposed as the tax had been at a time when pilgrimages had become more numerous than ever4 ,a strange idea had taken possession of the popular mind at the close of the tenth and commencement of the eleventh century4 ,it was universally believed that the end of the world was at hand2 that the thousand years of the ,apocalypse were near completion1 and that ,jesus ,christ would descend upon ,jerusalem to judge mankind4 ,all ,christendom was in commotion4 ,a panic terror seized upon the weak1 the credulous1 and the guilty1 who in those days formed more than nineteen-twentieths of the population4 ,forsaking their homes1 kindred1 and occupation1 they crowded to ,jerusalem to await the coming of the ,lord1 lightened1 as they imagined1 of a load of sin by their weary pilgrimage4 ,to increase the panic1 the stars were observed to fall from heaven1 earthquakes to shake the land1 and violent hurricanes to blow down the forests4 ,all these1 and more especially the meteoric phenomena1 were looked upon as the forerunners of the approaching judgments4 ,not a meteor shot athwart the horizon that did not fill a district with alarm1 and send away to ,jerusalem a score of pilgrims1 with staff in hand and wallet on their back1 praying as they went for the remission of their sins4 ,men1 women1 and even children1 trudged in droves to the holy city1 in expectation of the day when the heavens would open1 and the ,son of ,god descend in his glory4 ,this extraordinary delusion1 while it augmented the numbers1 increased also the hardships of the pilgrims4 ,beggars became so numerous on all the highways between the west of ,europe and ,constantinople1 that the monks1 the great almsgivers upon these occasions1 would have brought starvation within sight of their own doors1 if they had not economised their resources1 and left the devotees to shift for themselves as they could4 ,hundreds of them were glad to subsist upon the berries that ripened by the road1 who1 before this great flux1 might have shared the bread and flesh of the monasteries4 ,but this was not the greatest of their difficulties4 ,on their arrival in ,jerusalem they found that a sterner race had obtained possession of the ,holy ,land4 ,the caliphs of ,bagdad had been succeeded by the harsh ,turks of the race of ,seljook1 who looked upon the pilgrims with contempt and aversion4 ,the ,turks of the eleventh century were more ferocious and less scrupulous than the ,saracens of the tenth4 ,they were annoyed at the immense number of pilgrims who overran the country1 and still more so because they shewed no intention of quitting it4 ,the hourly expectation of the last judgment kept them waiting2 and the ,turks1 apprehensive of being at last driven from the soil by the swarms that were still arriving1 heaped up difficulties in their way4 ,persecution of every kind awaited them4 ,they were plundered1 and beaten with stripes1 and kept in suspense for months at the gates of ,jerusalem1 unable to pay the golden bezant that was to procure them admission4 ,when the first epidemic terror of the day of judgment began to subside1 a few pilgrims ventured to return to ,europe1 their hearts big with indignation at the insults they had suffered4 ,every where as they passed they related to a sympathising auditory the wrongs of ,christendom4 ,strange to say1 even these recitals increased the mania for pilgrimage4 ,the greater the dangers of the way1 the fairer chance that sins of deep dye would be atoned for4 ,difficulty and suffering only heightened the merit1 and fresh hordes issued from every town and village1 to win favour in the sight of heaven by a visit to the holy sepulchre4 ,thus did things continue during the whole of the eleventh century4 ,the train that was to explode so fearfully was now laid1 and there wanted but the hand to apply the torch4 ,at last the man appeared upon the scene4 ,like all who have ever achieved so great an end1 ,peter the ,hermit was exactly suited to the age2 neither behind it nor in advance of it2 but acute enough to penetrate its mystery ere it was discovered by any other4 ,enthusiastic1 chivalrous1 bigoted1 and1 if not insane1 not far removed from insanity1 he was the very prototype of the time4 ,true enthusiasm is always persevering and always eloquent1 and these two qualities were united in no common degree in the person of this extraordinary preacher4 ,he was a monk of ,amiens1 and ere he assumed the hood had served as a soldier4 ,he is represented as having been ill favoured and low in stature1 but with an eye of surpassing brightness and intelligence4 ,having been seized with the mania of the age1 he visited ,jerusalem1 and remained there till his blood boiled to see the cruel persecution heaped upon the devotees4 ,on his return home he shook the world by the eloquent story of their wrongs4 ,before entering into any further details of the marvellous results of his preaching1 it will be advisable to cast a glance at the state of the mind of ,europe1 that we may understand all the better the causes of his success4 ,first of all1 there was the priesthood1 which1 exercising as it did the most conspicuous influence upon the fortunes of society1 claims the largest share of attention4 ,religion was the ruling idea of that day1 and the only civiliser capable of taming such wolves as then constituted the flock of the faithful4 ,the clergy were all in all2 and though they kept the popular mind in the most slavish subjection with regard to religious matters1 they furnished it with the means of defence against all other oppression except their own4 ,in the ecclesiastical ranks were concentrated all the true piety1 all the learning1 all the wisdom of the time2 and1 as a natural consequence1 a great portion of power1 which their very wisdom perpetually incited them to extend4 ,the people knew nothing of kings and nobles1 except in the way of injuries inflicted4 ,the first ruled for1 or more properly speaking against1 the barons1 and the barons only existed to brave the power of the kings1 or to trample with their iron heels upon the neck of prostrate democracy4 ,the latter had no friend but the clergy1 and these1 though they necessarily instilled the superstition from which they themselves were not exempt1 yet taught the cheering doctrine that all men were equal in the sight of heaven4 ,thus1 while ,feudalism told them they had no rights in this world1 ,religion told them they had every right in the next4 ,with this consolation they were for the time content1 for political ideas had as yet taken no root4 ,when the clergy1 for other reasons1 recommended the ,crusade1 the people joined in it with enthusiasm4 ,the subject of ,palestine filled all minds2 the pilgrims' tales of two centuries warmed every imagination2 and when their friends1 their guides1 and their instructors preached a war so much in accordance with their own prejudices and modes of thinking1 the enthusiasm rose into a frenzy4 ,but while religion inspired the masses1 another agent was at work upon the nobility4 ,these were fierce and lawless2 tainted with every vice1 endowed with no virtue1 and redeemed by one good quality alone1 that of courage4 ,the only religion they felt was the religion of fear4 ,that and their overboiling turbulence alike combined to guide them to the ,holy ,land4 ,most of them had sins enough to answer for4 ,they lived with their hand against every man1 and with no law but their own passions4 ,they set at defiance the secular power of the clergy2 but their hearts quailed at the awful denunciations of the pulpit with regard to the life to come4 ,war was the business and the delight of their existence2 and when they were promised remission of all their sins upon the easy condition of following their favourite bent1 it is not to be wondered at that they rushed with enthusiasm to the onslaught1 and became as zealous in the service of the cross as the great majority of the people1 who were swayed by more purely religious motives4 ,fanaticism and the love of battle alike impelled them to the war1 while the kings and princes of ,europe had still another motive for encouraging their zeal4 ,policy opened their eyes to the great advantages which would accrue to themselves by the absence of so many restless1 intriguing1 and bloodthirsty men1 whose insolence it required more than the small power of royalty to restrain within due bounds4 ,thus every motive was favourable to the ,crusades4 ,every class of society was alike incited to join or encourage the war3 kings and the clergy by policy1 the nobles by turbulence and the love of dominion1 and the people by religious zeal and the concentrated enthusiasm of two centuries1 skilfully directed by their only instructors4 ,it was in ,palestine itself that ,peter the ,hermit first conceived the grand idea of rousing the powers of ,christendom to rescue the ,christians of the ,east from the thraldom of the ,mussulmans1 and the sepulchre of ,jesus from the rude hands of the infidel4 ,the subject engrossed his whole mind4 ,even in the visions of the night he was full of it4 ,one dream made such an impression upon him1 that he devoutly believed the ,saviour of the world himself appeared before him1 and promised him aid and protection in his holy undertaking4 ,if his zeal had ever wavered before1 this was sufficient to fix it for ever4 ,peter1 after he had performed all the penances and duties of his pilgrimage1 demanded an interview with ,simeon1 the ,patriarch of the ,greek ,church at ,jerusalem4 ,though the latter was a heretic in ,peter's eyes1 yet he was still a ,christian1 and felt as acutely as himself for the persecutions heaped by the ,turks upon the followers of ,jesus4 ,the good prelate entered fully into his views1 and1 at his suggestion1 wrote letters to the ,pope1 and to the most influential monarchs of ,christendom1 detailing the sorrows of the faithful1 and urging them to take up arms in their defence4 ,peter was not a laggard in the work4 ,taking an affectionate farewell of the ,patriarch1 he returned in all haste to ,italy4 ,pope ,urban ,,ii4 occupied the apostolic chair4 ,it was at that time far from being an easy seat4 ,his predecessor ,gregory had bequeathed him a host of disputes with the ,emperor ,henry ,,iv4 of ,germany1 and he had converted ,philip ,i4 of ,france into an enemy by his strenuous opposition to an adulterous connexion formed by that monarch4 ,so many dangers encompassed him1 that the ,vatican was no secure abode1 and he had taken refuge in ,apulia1 under the protection of the renowned ,robert ,guiscard4 ,thither ,peter appears to have followed him1 though in what spot their meeting took place is not stated with any precision by ancient chroniclers or modern historians4 ,urban received him most kindly2 read1 with tears in his eyes1 the epistle from the ,patriarch ,simeon1 and listened to the eloquent story of the ,hermit with an attention which shewed how deeply he sympathised with the woes of the ,christian ,church4 ,enthusiasm is contagious2 and the ,pope appears to have caught it instantly from one whose zeal was so unbounded4 ,giving the ,hermit full powers1 he sent him abroad to preach the holy war to all the nations and potentates of ,christendom4 ,the ,hermit preached1 and countless thousands answered to his call4 ,france1 ,germany1 and ,italy started at his voice1 and prepared for the deliverance of ,zion4 ,one of the early historians of the ,crusade1 who was himself an eye-witness of the rapture of ,europe1#a describes the personal appearance of the ,hermit at this time4 ,he says1 that there appeared to be something of divine in every thing which he said or did4 ,the people so highly reverenced him1 that they plucked hairs from the mane of his mule that they might keep them as relics4 ,while preaching1 he wore in general a woollen tunic1 with a dark-coloured mantle1 which fell down to his heels4 ,his arms and feet were bare2 and he ate neither flesh nor bread1 supporting himself chiefly upon fish and wine4 ,he set out1 says the chronicler1 from whence ,i know not2 but we saw him passing through the towns and villages1 preaching every where1 and the people surrounding him in crowds1 loading him with offerings1 and celebrating his sanctity with such great praises1 that ,i never remember to have seen such honours bestowed upon any one4 ,thus he went on1 untired1 inflexible1 and full of devotion1 communicating his own madness to his hearers1 until ,europe was stirred from its very depths4 #a ,guibert de ,nogent4 ,while the ,hermit was appealing with such signal success to the people1 the ,pope appealed with as much success to those who were to become the chiefs and leaders of the expedition4 ,his first step was to call a council at ,placentia1 in the autumn of the year #ajie4 ,here1 in the assembly of the clergy1 the ,pope debated the grand scheme1 and gave audience to emissaries who had been sent from ,constantinople by the ,emperor of the ,east1 to detail the progress made by the ,turks in their design of establishing themselves in ,europe4 ,the clergy were of course unanimous in support of the ,crusade2 and the council separated1 each individual member of it being empowered to preach it to his people4 ,but ,italy could not be expected to furnish all the aid required2 and the ,pope crossed the ,alps to inspire the fierce and powerful nobility and chivalrous population of ,gaul4 ,his boldness in entering the territory1 and placing himself in the power of his foe1 ,king ,philip of ,france1 is not the least surprising feature of his mission4 ,some have imagined that cool policy alone actuated him2 while others assert that it was mere zeal1 as warm and as blind as that of ,peter the ,hermit4 ,the latter opinion seems to be the true one4 ,society did not calculate the consequences of what it was doing4 ,every man seemed to act from impulse only2 and the ,pope1 in throwing himself into the heart of ,france1 acted as much from impulse as the thousands who responded to his call4 ,a council was eventually summoned to meet him at ,clermont1 in ,auvergne1 to consider the state of the ,church1 reform abuses1 and1 above all1 make preparations for the war4 ,it was in the midst of an extremely cold winter1 and the ground was covered with snow4 ,during seven days the council sat with closed doors1 while immense crowds from all parts of ,france flocked into the town1 in expectation that the ,pope himself would address the people4 ,all the towns and villages for miles around were filled with the multitude2 even the fields were encumbered with people1 who1 unable to procure lodging1 pitched their tents under the trees and by the way-side4 ,all the neighbourhood presented the appearance of a vast camp4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,cathedral ,,of ,,clermont4 ,during the seven days' deliberation1 a sentence of excommunication was passed upon ,king ,philip for adultery with ,bertrade de ,montfort1 ,countess of ,anjou1 and for disobedience to the supreme authority of the apostolic see4 ,this bold step impressed the people with reverence for so stern a ,church1 which in the discharge of its duty shewed itself no respecter of persons4 ,their love and their fear were alike increased1 and they were prepared to listen with more intense devotion to the preaching of so righteous and inflexible a pastor4 ,the great square before the cathedral church of ,clermont became every instant more densely crowded as the hour drew nigh when the ,pope was to address the populace4 ,issuing from the church in his full canonicals1 surrounded by his cardinals and bishops in all the splendour of ,romish ecclesiastical costume1 the ,pope stood before the populace on a high scaffolding erected for the occasion1 and covered with scarlet cloth4 ,a brilliant array of bishops and cardinals surrounded him2 and among them1 humbler in rank1 but more important in the world's eye1 the ,hermit ,peter1 dressed in his simple and austere habiliments4 ,historians differ as to whether or not ,peter addressed the crowd1 but as all agree that he was present1 it seems reasonable to suppose that he spoke4 ,but it was the oration of the ,pope that was most important4 ,as he lifted up his hands to ensure attention1 every voice immediately became still4 ,he began by detailing the miseries endured by their brethren in the ,holy ,land2 how the plains of ,palestine were desolated by the outrageous heathen1 who with the sword and the firebrand carried wailing into the dwellings and flames into the possessions of the faithful2 how ,christian wives and daughters were defiled by pagan lust2 how the altars of the true ,god were desecrated1 and the relics of the saints trodden under foot4 ,you1 continued the eloquent pontiff 7and ,urban ,,ii4 was one of the most eloquent men of the day71 you1 who hear me1 and who have received the true faith1 and been endowed by ,god with power1 and strength1 and greatness of soul1--whose ancestors have been the prop of ,christendom1 and whose kings have put a barrier against the progress of the infidel1--,i call upon you to wipe off these impurities from the face of the earth1 and lift your oppressed fellow-,christians from the depths into which they have been trampled4 ,the sepulchre of ,christ is possessed by the heathen1 the sacred places dishonoured by their vileness4 ,oh1 brave knights and faithful people6 offspring of invincible fathers6 ye will not degenerate from your ancient renown4 ,ye will not be restrained from embarking in this great cause by the tender ties of wife or little ones1 but will remember the words of the ,saviour of the world himself1 ',whosoever loves father and mother more than me is not worthy of me4 ,whosoever shall abandon for my name's sake his house1 or his brethren1 or his sisters1 or his father1 or his mother1 or his wife1 or his children1 or his lands1 shall receive a hundredfold1 and shall inherit eternal life4' ,the warmth of the ,pontiff communicated itself to the crowd1 and the enthusiasm of the people broke out several times ere he concluded his address4 ,he went on to portray1 not only the spiritual but the temporal advantages that would accrue to those who took up arms in the service of the cross4 ,palestine was1 he said1 a land flowing with milk and honey1 and precious in the sight of ,god1 as the scene of the grand events which had saved mankind4 ,that land1 he promised1 should be divided among them4 ,moreover1 they should have full pardon for all their offences1 either against ,god or man4 ,go1 then1 he added1 in expiation of your sins2 and go assured1 that after this world shall have passed away1 imperishable glory shall be yours in the world which is to come4 ,the enthusiasm was no longer to be restrained1 and loud shouts interrupted the speaker2 the people exclaiming as if with one voice1 ,dieu le veult6 ,dieu le veult6 ,with great presence of mind ,urban took advantage of the outburst1 and as soon as silence was obtained1 continued3 ,dear brethren1 to-day is shewn forth in you that which the ,lord has said by his ,evangelist1 ',when two or three are gathered together in my name1 there will ,i be in the midst of them to bless them4' ,if the ,lord ,god had not been in your souls1 you would not all have pronounced the same words2 or rather ,god himself pronounced them by your lips1 for it was he that put them in your hearts4 ,be they1 then1 your war-cry in the combat1 for those words came forth from ,god4 ,let the army of the ,lord1 when it rushes upon his enemies1 shout but that one cry1 ',dieu le veult6 ,dieu le veult6' ,let whoever is inclined to devote himself to this holy cause make it a solemn engagement1 and bear the cross of the ,lord either on his breast or his brow till he set out2 and let him who is ready to begin his march place the holy emblem on his shoulders1 in memory of that precept of our ,saviour1 ',he who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me4' ,the news of this council spread to the remotest parts of ,europe in an incredibly short space of time4 ,long before the fleetest horseman could have brought the intelligence1 it was known by the people in distant provinces2 a fact which was considered as nothing less than supernatural4 ,but the subject was in every body's mouth1 and the minds of men were prepared for the result4 ,the enthusiastic merely asserted what they wished1 and the event tallied with their prediction4 ,this was1 however1 quite enough in those days for a miracle1 and as a miracle every one regarded it4 ,for several months after the ,council of ,clermont1 ,france and ,germany presented a singular spectacle4 ,the pious1 the fanatic1 the needy1 the dissolute1 the young and the old1 even women and children1 and the halt and lame1 enrolled themselves by hundreds4 ,in every village the clergy were busied in keeping up the excitement1 promising eternal rewards to those who assumed the red cross1 and fulminating the most awful denunciations against all the worldly-minded who refused or even hesitated4 ,every debtor who joined the ,crusade was freed by the papal edict from the claims of his creditors2 outlaws of every grade were made equal with the honest upon the same conditions4 ,the property of those who went was placed under the protection of the ,church1 and ,st4 ,paul and ,st4 ,peter themselves were believed to descend from their high abode1 to watch over the chattels of the absent pilgrims4 ,signs and portents were seen in the air1 to increase the fervour of the multitude4 ,an aurora-borealis of unusual brilliancy appeared1 and thousands of the ,crusaders came out to gaze upon it1 prostrating themselves upon the earth in adoration4 ,it was thought to be a sure prognostic of the interposition of the ,most ,high2 and a representation of his armies fighting with and overthrowing the infidels4 ,reports of wonders were every where rife4 ,a monk had seen two gigantic warriors on horseback1 the one representing a ,christian and the other a ,turk1 fighting in the sky with flaming swords1 the ,christian of course overcoming the ,paynim4 ,myriads of stars were said to have fallen from heaven1 each representing the fall of a ,pagan foe4 ,it was believed at the same time that the ,emperor ,charlemagne would rise from the grave1 and lead on to victory the embattled armies of the ,lord4 ,a singular feature of the popular madness was the enthusiasm of the women4 ,every where they encouraged their lovers and husbands to forsake all things for the holy war4 ,many of them burned the sign of the cross upon their breasts and arms1 and coloured the wound with a red dye1 as a lasting memorial of their zeal4 ,others1 still more zealous1 impressed the mark by the same means upon the tender limbs of young children and infants at the breast4 ,guibert de ,nogent tells of a monk who made a large incision upon his forehead in the form of a cross1 which he coloured with some powerful ingredient1 telling the people that an angel had done it when he was asleep4 ,this monk appears to have been more of a rogue than a fool1 for he contrived to fare more sumptuously than any of his brother pilgrims1 upon the strength of his sanctity4 ,the ,crusaders every where gave him presents of food and money1 and he became quite fat ere he arrived at ,jerusalem1 notwithstanding the fatigues of the way4 ,if he had acknowledged in the first place that he had made the wound himself1 he would not have been thought more holy than his fellows2 but the story of the angel was a clincher4 ,all those who had property of any description rushed to the mart to change it into hard cash4 ,lands and houses could be had for a quarter of their value1 while arms and accoutrements of war rose in the same proportion4 ,corn1 which had been excessively dear in anticipation of a year of scarcity1 suddenly became plentiful2 and such was the diminution in the value of provisions1 that seven sheep were sold for five deniers4#b ,the nobles mortgaged their estates for mere trifles to ,jews and unbelievers1 or conferred charters of immunity upon the towns and communes within their fiefs1 for sums which1 a few years previously1 they would have rejected with disdain4 ,the farmer endeavoured to sell his plough1 and the artisan his tools1 to purchase a sword for the deliverance of ,jerusalem4 ,women disposed of their trinkets for the same purpose4 ,during the spring and summer of this year 7#ajif7 the roads teemed with crusaders1 all hastening to the towns and villages appointed as the rendezvous of the district4 ,some were on horseback1 some in carts1 and some came down the rivers in boats and rafts1 bringing their wives and children1 all eager to go to ,jerusalem4 ,very few knew where ,jerusalem was4 ,some thought it fifty thousand miles away1 and others imagined that it was but a month's journey2 while at sight of every town or castle the children exclaimed1 ,is that ,jerusalem8 ,is that the city8#c ,parties of knights and nobles might be seen travelling eastward1 and amusing themselves as they went with the knightly diversion of hawking1 to lighten the fatigues of the way4 #b ,guibert de ,nogent4 #c ,guibert de ,nogent4 ,guibert de ,nogent1 who did not write from hearsay1 but from actual observation1 says the enthusiasm was so contagious1 that when any one heard the orders of the ,pontiff1 he went instantly to solicit his neighbours and friends to join with him in the way of ,god1 for so they called the proposed expedition4 ,the ,counts ,palatine were full of the desire to undertake the journey1 and all the inferior knights were animated with the same zeal4 ,even the poor caught the flame so ardently1 that no one paused to think of the inadequacy of his means1 or to consider whether he ought to yield up his farm1 his vineyard1 or his fields4 ,each one set about selling his property at as low a price as if he had been held in some horrible captivity1 and sought to pay his ransom without loss of time4 ,those who had not determined upon the journey joked and laughed at those who were thus disposing of their goods at such ruinous prices1 prophesying that the expedition would be miserable and their return worse4 ,but they held this language only for a day2 the next they were suddenly seized with the same frenzy as the rest4 ,those who had been loudest in their jeers gave up all their property for a few crowns1 and set out with those they had so laughed at a few hours before4 ,in most cases the laugh was turned against them2 for when it became known that a man was hesitating1 his more zealous neighbours sent him a present of a knitting-needle or a distaff1 to shew their contempt of him4 ,there was no resisting this2 so that the fear of ridicule contributed its fair contingent to the armies of the ,lord4 ,another effect of the ,crusade was1 the religious obedience with which it inspired the people and the nobility for that singular institution ,the ,truce of ,god4 ,at the commencement of the eleventh century1 the clergy of ,france1 sympathising for the woes of the people1 but unable to diminish them1 by repressing the rapacity and insolence of the feudal chiefs1 endeavoured to promote universal good-will by the promulgation of the famous ,peace of ,god4 ,all who conformed to it bound themselves by oath not to take revenge for any injury1 not to enjoy the fruits of property usurped from others1 nor to use deadly weapons2 in reward of which they would receive remission of all their sins4 ,however benevolent the intention of this ,peace1 it led to nothing but perjury1 and violence reigned as uncontrolled as before4 ,in the year #ajda1 another attempt was made to soften the angry passions of the semi-barbarous chiefs1 and the ,truce of ,god was solemnly proclaimed4 ,the truce lasted from the ,wednesday evening to the ,monday morning of every week1 in which interval it was strictly forbidden to recur to violence on any pretext1 or to seek revenge for any injury4 ,it was impossible to civilise men by these means4 ,few even promised to become peaceable for so unconscionable a period as five days a-week2 or if they did1 they made ample amends on the two days left open to them4 ,the truce was afterwards shortened from the ,saturday evening to the ,monday morning2 but little or no diminution of violence and bloodshed was the consequence4 ,at the ,council of ,clermont1 ,urban ,,ii4 again solemnly proclaimed the truce4 ,so strong was the religious feeling1 that every one hastened to obey4 ,all minor passions disappeared before the grand passion of crusading4 ,the feudal chief ceased to oppress1 the robber to plunder1 the people to complain2 but one idea was in all hearts1 and there seemed to be no room for any other4 ,the encampments of these heterogeneous multitudes offered a singular aspect4 ,those vassals who ranged themselves under the banners of their lord erected tents around his castle2 while those who undertook the war on their own account constructed booths and huts in the neighbourhood of the towns or villages1 preparatory to their joining some popular leader of the expedition4 ,the meadows of ,france were covered with tents4 ,as the belligerents were to have remission of all their sins on their arrival in ,palestine1 hundreds of them gave themselves up to the most unbounded licentiousness4 ,the courtesan1 with the red cross upon her shoulders1 plied her shameless trade with sensual pilgrims without scruple on either side2 the lover of good cheer gave loose rein to his appetite1 and drunkenness and debauchery flourished4 ,their zeal in the service of the ,lord was to wipe out all faults and follies1 and they had the same surety of salvation as the rigid anchorite4 ,this reasoning had charms for the ignorant1 and the sounds of lewd revelry and the voice of prayer rose at the same instant from the camp4 ,it is now time to speak of the leaders of the expedition4 ,great multitudes ranged themselves under the command of ,peter the ,hermit1 whom1 as the originator1 they considered the most appropriate leader of the war4 ,others joined the banner of a bold adventurer1 whom history has dignified with no other name than that of ,gautier sans ,avoir1 or ,walter the ,pennyless1 but who is represented as having been of noble family1 and well skilled in the art of war4 ,a third multitude from ,germany flocked around the standard of a monk named ,gottschalk1 of whom nothing is known except that he was a fanatic of the deepest dye4 ,all these bands1 which together are said to have amounted to three hundred thousand men1 women1 and children1 were composed of the vilest rascality of ,europe4 ,without discipline1 principle1 or true courage1 they rushed through the nations like a pestilence1 spreading terror and death wherever they went4 ,the first multitude that set forth was led by ,walter the ,pennyless early in the spring of #ajif1 within a very few months after the ,council of ,clermont4 ,each man of that irregular host aspired to be his own master4 ,like their nominal leader1 each was poor to penury1 and trusted for subsistence on his journey to the chances of the road4 ,rolling through ,germany like a tide1 they entered ,hungary1 where1 at first1 they were received with some degree of kindness by the people4 ,the latter had not yet caught sufficient of the fire of enthusiasm to join the ,crusade themselves1 but were willing enough to forward the cause by aiding those embarked in it4 ,unfortunately this good understanding did not last long4 ,the swarm were not contented with food for their necessities1 but craved for luxuries also4 ,they attacked and plundered the dwellings of the country people1 and thought nothing of murder where resistance was offered4 ,on their arrival before ,semlin1 the outraged ,hungarians collected in large numbers1 and1 attacking the rear of the crusading host1 slew a great many of the stragglers1 and1 taking away their arms and crosses1 affixed them as trophies to the walls of the city4 ,walter appears to have been in no mood or condition to make reprisals2 for his army1 destructive as a plague of locusts when plunder urged them on1 were useless against any regular attack from a determined enemy4 ,their rear continued to be thus harassed by the wrathful ,hungarians until they were fairly out of their territory4 ,on his entrance into ,bulgaria1 ,walter met with no better fate4 ,the cities and towns refused to let him pass2 the villages denied him provisions2 and the citizens and country people uniting1 slaughtered his followers by hundreds4 ,the progress of the army was more like a retreat than an advance2 but as it was impossible to stand still1 ,walter continued his course till he arrived at ,constantinople with a force which famine and the sword had diminished to one-third of its original number4 ,the greater multitude1 led by the enthusiastic ,hermit1 followed close upon his heels1 with a bulky train of baggage1 and women and children sufficient to form a host of themselves4 ,if it were possible to find a rabble more vile than the army of ,walter the ,pennyless1 it was that led by ,peter the ,hermit4 ,being better provided with means1 they were not reduced to the necessity of pillage in their progress through ,hungary2 and had they taken any other route than that which led through ,semlin1 might perhaps have traversed the country without molestation4 ,on their arrival before that city1 their fury was raised at seeing the arms and red crosses of their predecessors hanging as trophies over the gates4 ,their pent-up ferocity exploded at the sight4 ,the city was tumultuously attacked1 and the besiegers entering1 not by dint of bravery1 but of superior numbers1 it was given up to all the horrors which follow when victory1 brutality1 and licentiousness are linked together4 ,every evil passion was allowed to revel with impunity1 and revenge1 lust1 and avarice1--each had its hundreds of victims in unhappy ,semlin4 ,any maniac can kindle a conflagration1 but it may require many wise men to put it out4 ,peter the ,hermit had blown the popular fury into a flame1 but to cool it again was beyond his power4 ,his followers rioted unrestrained1 until the fear of retaliation warned them to desist4 ,when the king of ,hungary was informed of the disasters of ,semlin1 he marched with a sufficient force to chastise the ,hermit1 who1 at the news1 broke up his camp and retreated towards the ,morava1 a broad and rapid stream that joins the ,danube a few miles to the eastward of ,belgrade4 ,here a party of indignant ,bulgarians awaited him1 and so harassed him1 as to make the passage of the river a task both of difficulty and danger4 ,great numbers of his infatuated followers perished in the waters1 and many fell under the swords of the ,bulgarians4 ,the ancient chronicles do not mention the amount of the ,hermit's loss at this passage1 but represent it in general terms as very great4 ,at ,nissa1 the ,duke of ,bulgaria fortified himself1 in fear of an assault2 but ,peter1 having learned a little wisdom from experience1 thought it best to avoid hostilities4 ,he passed three nights in quietness under the walls1 and the duke1 not wishing to exasperate unnecessarily so fierce and rapacious a host1 allowed the townspeople to supply them with provisions4 ,peter took his departure peaceably on the following morning2 but some ,german vagabonds1 falling behind the main body of the army1 set fire to the mills and house of a ,bulgarian1 with whom1 it appears1 they had had some dispute on the previous evening4 ,the citizens of ,nissa1 who had throughout mistrusted the ,crusaders1 and were prepared for the worst1 sallied out immediately1 and took signal vengeance4 ,the spoilers were cut to pieces1 and the townspeople pursuing the ,hermit1 captured all the women and children who had lagged in the rear1 and a great quantity of baggage4 ,peter hereupon turned round and marched back to ,nissa1 to demand explanation of the ,duke of ,bulgaria4 ,the latter fairly stated the provocation given1 and the ,hermit could urge nothing in palliation of so gross an outrage4 ,a negotiation was entered into1 which promised to be successful1 and the ,bulgarians were about to deliver up the women and children1 when a party of undisciplined ,crusaders1 acting solely upon their own suggestion1 endeavoured to scale the walls and seize upon the town4 ,peter in vain exerted his authority2 the confusion became general1 and after a short but desperate battle1 the ,crusaders threw down their arms1 and fled in all directions4 ,their vast host was completely routed1 the slaughter being so great among them1 as to be counted1 not by hundreds1 but by thousands4 ,it is said that the ,hermit fled from this fatal field to a forest a few miles from ,nissa1 abandoned by every human creature4 ,it would be curious to know whether1 after so dire a reverse1 ,his enpierced breast ,sharp sorrow did in thousand pieces rive1 or whether his fiery zeal still rose superior to calamity1 and pictured the eventual triumph of his cause4 ,he1 so lately the leader of a hundred thousand men1 was now a solitary skulker in the forests1 liable at every instant to be discovered by some pursuing ,bulgarian1 and cut off in mid career4 ,chance at last brought him within sight of an eminence1 where two or three of his bravest knights had collected five hundred of the stragglers4 ,these gladly received the ,hermit1 and a consultation having taken place1 it was resolved to gather together the scattered remnants of the army4 ,fires were lighted on the hill1 and scouts sent out in all directions for the fugitives4 ,horns were sounded at intervals1 to make known that friends were near1 and before nightfall the ,hermit saw himself at the head of seven thousand men4 ,during the succeeding day1 he was joined by twenty thousand more1 and with this miserable remnant of his force1 he pursued his route towards ,constantinople4 ,the bones of the rest mouldered in the forests of ,bulgaria4 ,on his arrival at ,constantinople1 where he found ,walter the ,pennyless awaiting him1 he was hospitably received by the ,emperor ,alexius4 ,it might have been expected that the sad reverses they had undergone would have taught his followers common prudence2 but1 unhappily for them1 their turbulence and love of plunder was not to be restrained4 ,although they were surrounded by friends1 by whom all their wants were liberally supplied1 they could not refrain from rapine4 ,in vain the ,hermit exhorted them to tranquillity2 he possessed no more power over them1 in subduing their passions1 than the obscurest soldier of the host4 ,they set fire to several public buildings in ,constantinople out of pure mischief1 and stripped the lead from the roofs of the churches1 which they afterwards sold for old metal in the purlieus of the city4 ,from this time may be dated the aversion which the ,emperor ,alexius entertained for the ,crusaders1 and which was afterwards manifested in all his actions1 even when he had to deal with the chivalrous and more honourable armies which arrived after the ,hermit4 ,he seems to have imagined that the ,turks themselves were enemies less formidable to his power than these outpourings of the refuse of ,europe3 he soon found a pretext to hurry them into ,asia ,minor4 ,peter crossed the ,bosphorus with ,walter1 but the excesses of his followers were such1 that1 despairing of accomplishing any good end by remaining at their head1 he left them to themselves1 and returned to ,constantinople1 on the pretext of making arrangements with the government of ,alexius for a proper supply of provisions4 ,the ,crusaders1 forgetting that they were in the enemy's country1 and that union1 above all things1 was desirable1 gave themselves up to dissensions4 ,violent disputes arose between the ,lombards and ,normans commanded by ,walter the ,pennyless1 and the ,franks and ,germans led out by ,peter4 ,the latter separated themselves from the former1 and1 choosing for their leader one ,reinaldo1 or ,reinhold1 marched forward1 and took possession of the fortress of ,exorogorgon4 ,the ,sultan ,solimaun was on the alert1 with a superior force4 ,a party of ,crusaders1 which had been detached from the fort1 and stationed at a little distance as an ambuscade1 were surprised and cut to pieces1 and ,exorogorgon invested on all sides4 ,the siege was protracted for eight days1 during which the ,christians suffered the most acute agony from the want of water4 ,it is hard to say how long the hope of succour or the energy of despair would have enabled them to hold out3 their treacherous leader cut the matter short by renouncing the ,christian faith1 and delivering up the fort into the hands of the sultan4 ,he was followed by two or three of his officers2 all the rest1 refusing to become ,mahometans1 were ruthlessly put to the sword4 ,thus perished the last wretched remnant of the vast multitude which had traversed ,europe with ,peter the ,hermit4 ,walter the ,pennyless and his multitude met as miserable a fate4 ,on the news of the disasters of ,exorogorgon1 they demanded to be led instantly against the ,turks4 ,walter1 who only wanted good soldiers to have made a good general1 was cooler of head1 and saw all the dangers of such a step4 ,his force was wholly insufficient to make any decisive movement in a country where the enemy was so much superior1 and where1 in case of defeat1 he had no secure position to fall back upon2 and he therefore expressed his opinion against advancing until the arrival of reinforcements4 ,this prudent counsel found no favour3 the army loudly expressed their dissatisfaction at their chief1 and prepared to march forward without him4 ,upon this1 the brave ,walter put himself at their head1 and rushed to destruction4 ,proceeding towards ,nice1 the modern ,isnik1 he was intercepted by the army of the sultan3 a fierce battle ensued1 in which the ,turks made fearful havoc2 out of twenty-five thousand ,christians1 twenty-two thousand were slain1 and among them ,gautier himself1 who fell pierced by seven mortal wounds4 ,the remaining three thousand retreated upon ,civitot1 where they entrenched themselves4 ,illustration3 ,,isnik4 ,disgusted as was ,peter the ,hermit at the excesses of the multitude1 who1 at his call1 had forsaken ,europe1 his heart was moved with grief and pity at their misfortunes4 ,all his former zeal revived3 casting himself at the feet of the ,emperor ,alexius1 he implored him1 with tears in his eyes1 to send relief to the few survivors at ,civitot4 ,the emperor consented1 and a force was sent1 which arrived just in time to save them from destruction4 ,the ,turks had beleaguered the place1 and the ,crusaders were reduced to the last extremity4 ,negotiations were entered into1 and the last three thousand were conducted in safety to ,constantinople4 ,alexius had suffered too much by their former excesses to be very desirous of retaining them in his capital3 he therefore caused them all to be disarmed1 and1 furnishing each with a sum of money1 he sent them back to their own country4 ,while these events were taking place1 fresh hordes were issuing from the woods and wilds of ,germany1 all bent for the ,holy ,land4 ,they were commanded by a fanatical priest1 named ,gottschalk1 who1 like ,gautier and ,peter the ,hermit1 took his way through ,hungary4 ,history is extremely meagre in her details of the conduct and fate of this host1 which amounted to at least one hundred thousand men4 ,robbery and murder seem to have journeyed with them1 and the poor ,hungarians were rendered almost desperate by their numbers and rapacity4 ,karloman1 the king of the country1 made a bold effort to get rid of them2 for the resentment of his people had arrived at such a height1 that nothing short of the total extermination of the ,crusaders would satisfy them4 ,gottschalk had to pay the penalty1 not only for the ravages of his own bands1 but for those of the swarms that had come before him4 ,he and his army were induced1 by some means or other1 to lay down their arms3 the savage ,hungarians1 seeing them thus defenceless1 set upon them1 and slaughtered them in great numbers4 ,how many escaped their arrows we are not informed2 but not one of them reached ,palestine4 ,other swarms1 under nameless leaders1 issued from ,germany and ,france1 more brutal and more frantic than any that had preceded them4 ,their fanaticism surpassed by far the wildest freaks of the followers of the ,hermit4 ,in bands1 varying in numbers from one to five thousand1 they traversed the country in all directions1 bent upon plunder and massacre4 ,they wore the symbol of the ,crusade upon their shoulders1 but inveighed against the folly of proceeding to the ,holy ,land to destroy the ,turks1 while they left behind them so many ,jews1 the still more inveterate enemies of ,christ4 ,they swore fierce vengeance against this unhappy race1 and murdered all the ,hebrews they could lay their hands on1 first subjecting them to the most horrible mutilation4 ,according to the testimony of ,albert ,aquensis1 they lived among each other in the most shameless profligacy1 and their vice was only exceeded by their superstition4 ,whenever they were in search of ,jews1 they were preceded by a goose and goat1 which they believed to be holy1 and animated with divine power to discover the retreats of the unbelievers4 ,in ,germany alone they slaughtered more than a thousand ,jews1 notwithstanding all the efforts of the clergy to save them4 ,so dreadful was the cruelty of their tormentors1 that great numbers of ,jews committed self-destruction to avoid falling into their hands4 ,again it fell to the lot of the ,hungarians to deliver ,europe from these pests4 ,when there were no more ,jews to murder1 the bands collected in one body1 and took the old route to the ,holy ,land1 a route stained with the blood of three hundred thousand who had gone before1 and destined also to receive theirs4 ,the number of these swarms has never been stated2 but so many of them perished in ,hungary1 that contemporary writers1 despairing of giving any adequate idea of their multitudes1 state that the fields were actually heaped with their corpses1 and that for miles in its course the waters of the ,danube were dyed with their blood4 ,it was at ,mersburg1 on the ,danube1 that the greatest slaughter took place1--a slaughter so great as to amount almost to extermination4 ,the ,hungarians for a while disputed the passage of the river1 but the ,crusaders forced their way across1 and attacking the city with the blind courage of madness1 succeeded in making a breach in the walls4 ,at this moment of victory an unaccountable fear came over them4 ,throwing down their arms1 they fled panic-stricken1 no one knew why1 and no one knew whither4 ,the ,hungarians followed1 sword in hand1 and cut them down without remorse1 and in such numbers1 that the stream of the ,danube is said to have been choked up by their unburied bodies4 ,this was the worst paroxysm of the madness of ,europe2 and this passed1 her chivalry stepped upon the scene4 ,men of cool heads1 mature plans1 and invincible courage stood forward to lead and direct the grand movement of ,europe upon ,asia4 ,it is upon these men that romance has lavished her most admiring epithets1 leaving to the condemnation of history the vileness and brutality of those who went before4 ,of these leaders the most distinguished were ,godfrey of ,bouillon duke of ,lorraine1 and ,raymond count of ,toulouse4 ,four other chiefs of the royal blood of ,europe also assumed the cross1 and led each his army to the ,holy ,land2 ,hugh count of ,vermandois1 brother of the king of ,france2 ,robert duke of ,normandy1 the elder brother of ,william ,rufus2 ,robert count of ,flanders1 and ,bohemund prince of ,tarentum1 eldest son of the celebrated ,robert ,guiscard4 ,these men were all tinged with the fanaticism of the age1 but none of them acted entirely from religious motives4 ,they were neither utterly reckless like ,gautier sans ,avoir1 crazy like ,peter the ,hermit1 nor brutal like ,gottschalk the ,monk1 but possessed each of these qualities in a milder form2 their valour being tempered by caution1 their religious zeal by worldly views1 and their ferocity by the spirit of chivalry4 ,they saw whither led the torrent of the public will2 and it being neither their wish nor their interest to stem it1 they allowed themselves to be carried with it1 in the hope that it would lead them at last to a haven of aggrandisement4 ,around them congregated many minor chiefs1 the flower of the nobility of ,france and ,italy1 with some few from ,germany1 ,england1 and ,spain4 ,it was wisely conjectured that armies so numerous would find a difficulty in procuring provisions if they all journeyed by the same road4 ,they therefore resolved to separate2 ,godfrey de ,bouillon proceeding through ,hungary and ,bulgaria1 the ,count of ,toulouse through ,lombardy and ,dalmatia1 and the other leaders through ,apulia to ,constantinople1 where the several divisions were to reunite4 ,the forces under these leaders have been variously estimated4 ,the ,princess ,anna ,comnena talks of them as having been as numerous as the sands on the sea-shore1 or the stars in the firmament4 ,fulcher of ,chartres is more satisfactory1 and exaggerates less magnificently1 when he states1 that all the divisions1 when they had sat down before ,nice in ,bithynia1 amounted to one hundred thousand horsemen1 and six hundred thousand men on foot1 exclusive of the priests1 women1 and children4 ,gibbon is of opinion that this amount is exaggerated2 but thinks the actual numbers did not fall very far short of the calculation4 ,the ,princess ,anna afterwards gives the number of those under ,godfrey of ,bouillon as eighty thousand foot and horse2 and supposing that each of the other chiefs led an army as numerous1 the total would be near half a million4 ,this must be over rather than under the mark1 as the army of ,godfrey of ,bouillon was confessedly the largest when it set out1 and suffered less by the way than any other4 ,illustration3 ,,godfrey ,,de ,,bouillon4 ,the ,count of ,vermandois was the first who set foot on the ,grecian territory4 ,on his arrival at ,durazzo he was received with every mark of respect and courtesy by the agents of the emperor1 and his followers were abundantly supplied with provisions4 ,suddenly1 however1 and without cause assigned1 the count was arrested by order of the ,emperor ,alexius1 and conveyed a close prisoner to ,constantinople4 ,various motives have been assigned by different authors as having induced the emperor to this treacherous and imprudent proceeding4 ,by every writer he has been condemned for so flagrant a breach of hospitality and justice4 ,the most probable reason for his conduct appears to be that suggested by ,guibert of ,nogent1 who states that ,alexius1 fearful of the designs of the ,crusaders upon his throne1 resorted to this extremity in order afterwards to force the count to take the oath of allegiance to him1 as the price of his liberation4 ,the example of a prince so eminent as the brother of the king of ,france1 would1 he thought1 be readily followed by the other chiefs of the ,crusade4 ,in the result he was wofully disappointed1 as every man deserves to be who commits positive evil that doubtful good may ensue4 ,but this line of policy accorded well enough with the narrowmindedness of the emperor1 who1 in the enervating atmosphere of his highly civilised and luxurious court1 dreaded the influx of the hardy and ambitious warriors of the ,west1 and strove to nibble away by unworthy means the power which he had not energy enough to confront4 ,if danger to himself had existed from the residence of the chiefs in his dominions1 he might easily have averted it1 by the simple means of placing himself at the head of the ,european movement1 and directing its energies to their avowed object1 the conquest of the ,holy ,land4 ,but the emperor1 instead of being1 as he might have been1 the lord and leader of the ,crusades1 which he had himself aided in no inconsiderable degree to suscitate by his embassies to the ,pope1 became the slave of men who hated and despised him4 ,no doubt the barbarous excesses of the followers of ,gautier and ,peter the ,hermit made him look upon the whole body of them with disgust1 but it was the disgust of a little mind1 which is glad of any excuse to palliate or justify its own irresolution and love of ease4 ,godfrey of ,bouillon traversed ,hungary in the most quiet and orderly manner4 ,on his arrival at ,mersburg he found the country strewed with the mangled corpses of the ,jew-killers1 and demanded of the king of ,hungary for what reason his people had set upon them4 ,the latter detailed the atrocities they had committed1 and made it so evident to ,godfrey that the ,hungarians had only acted in self-defence1 that the high-minded leader declared himself satisfied1 and passed on without giving or receiving molestation4 ,on his arrival at ,philippopoli he was informed for the first time of the imprisonment of the count of ,vermandois4 ,he immediately sent messengers to the emperor1 demanding the count's release1 and threatening1 in case of refusal1 to lay waste the country with fire and sword4 ,after waiting a day at ,philippopoli1 he marched on to ,adrianople1 where he was met by his messengers returning with the emperor's refusal4 ,godfrey1 the bravest and most determined of the leaders of the ,crusade1 was not a man to swerve from his word1 and the country was given up to pillage4 ,alexius here committed another blunder4 ,no sooner did he learn from dire experience that the ,crusader was not an utterer of idle threats1 than he consented to the release of the prisoner4 ,as he had been unjust in the first instance1 he became cowardly in the second1 and taught his enemies 7for so the ,crusaders were forced to consider themselves7 a lesson which they took care to remember to his cost1 that they could hope nothing from his sense of justice1 but every thing from his fears4 ,godfrey remained encamped for several weeks in the neighbourhood of ,constantinople1 to the great annoyance of ,alexius1 who sought by every means to extort from him the homage he had extorted from ,vermandois4 ,sometimes he acted as if at open and declared war with the ,crusaders1 and sent his troops against them4 ,sometimes he refused to supply them with food1 and ordered the markets to be shut against them1 while at other times he was all for peace and good-will1 and sent costly presents to ,godfrey4 ,the honest1 straightforward ,crusader was at last so wearied by his false kindness1 and so pestered by his attacks1 that1 allowing his indignation to get the better of his judgment1 he gave up the country around ,constantinople to be plundered by his soldiers4 ,for six days the flames of the farm-houses around struck terror into the heart of ,alexius2 but1 as ,godfrey anticipated1 they convinced him of his error4 ,fearing that ,constantinople itself would be the next object of attack1 he sent messengers to demand an interview with ,godfrey1 offering at the same time to leave his son as a hostage for his good faith4 ,godfrey agreed to meet him2 and1 whether to put an end to these useless dissensions1 or for some other unexplained reason1 he rendered homage to ,alexius as his liege lord4 ,he was thereupon loaded with honours1 and1 according to a singular custom of that age1 underwent the ceremony of the adoption of honour as son to the emperor4 ,godfrey and his brother ,baudouin de ,bouillon conducted themselves with proper courtesy on this occasion1 but were not able to restrain the insolence of their followers1 who did not conceive themselves bound to keep any terms with a man so insincere as he had shewn himself4 ,one barbarous chieftain1 ,count ,robert of ,paris1 carried his insolence so far as to seat himself upon the throne2 an insult which ,alexius merely resented with a sneer1 but which did not induce him to look with less mistrust upon the hordes that were still advancing4 ,it is impossible1 notwithstanding his treachery1 to avoid feeling some compassion for the emperor1 whose life at this time was rendered one long scene of misery by the presumption of the ,crusaders1 and his not altogether groundless fears of the evil they might inflict upon him1 should any untoward circumstance force the current of their ambition to the conquest of his empire4 ,his daughter ,anna ,comnena feelingly deplores his state of life at this time1 and a learned ,german#d1 in a recent work1 describes it1 on the authority of the princess1 in the following manner3 ,to avoid all occasion of offence to the ,crusaders1 ,alexius complied with all their whims and their 7on many occasions7 unreasonable demands1 even at the expense of great bodily exertion1 at a time when he was suffering severely under the gout1 which eventually brought him to his grave4 ,no ,crusader who desired an interview with him was refused access2 he listened with the utmost patience to the long-winded harangues which their loquacity or zeal continually wearied him with2 he endured1 without expressing any impatience1 the unbecoming and haughty language which they permitted themselves to employ towards him1 and severely reprimanded his officers when they undertook to defend the dignity of the imperial station from these rude assaults1 for he trembled with apprehension at the slightest disputes1 lest they might become the occasion of greater evil4 ,though the counts often appeared before him with trains altogether unsuitable to their dignity and to his--sometimes with an entire troop1 which completely filled the royal apartment--the emperor held his peace4 ,he listened to them at all hours2 he often seated himself on his throne at day-break to attend to their wishes and requests1 and the evening twilight saw him still in the same place4 ,very frequently he could not snatch time to refresh himself with meat and drink4 ,during many nights he could not obtain any repose1 and was obliged to indulge in an unrefreshing sleep upon his throne1 with his head resting on his hands4 ,even this slumber was continually disturbed by the appearance and harangues of some newly-arrived rude knights4 ,when all the courtiers1 wearied out by the efforts of the day and by night-watching1 could no longer keep themselves on their feet1 and sank down exhausted--some upon benches and others on the floor--,alexius still rallied his strength to listen with seeming attention to the wearisome chatter of the ,latins1 that they might have no occasion or pretext for discontent4 ,in such a state of fear and anxiety1 how could ,alexius comport himself with dignity and like an emperor8 #d ,m4 ,wilken's ,geschichte der ,kreuzzge4 ,alexius1 however1 had himself to blame1 in a great measure1 for the indignities he suffered3 owing to his insincerity1 the ,crusaders mistrusted him so much1 that it became at last a common saying1 that the ,turks and ,saracens were not such inveterate foes to the ,western or ,latin ,christians as the ,emperor ,alexius and the ,greeks#e4 ,it would be needless in this sketch1 which does not profess to be so much a history of the ,crusades1 as of the madness of ,europe1 from which they sprang1 to detail the various acts of bribery and intimidation1 cajolery and hostility1 by which ,alexius contrived to make each of the leaders in succession1 as they arrived1 take the oath of allegiance to him as their suzerain4 ,one way or another he exacted from each the barren homage on which he had set his heart1 and they were then allowed to proceed into ,asia ,minor4 ,one only1 ,raymond de ,st4 ,gilles count of ,toulouse1 obstinately refused the homage4 #e ,wilken4 ,their residence in ,constantinople was productive of no good to the armies of the cross4 ,bickerings and contentions on the one hand1 and the influence of a depraved and luxurious court on the other1 destroyed the elasticity of their spirits1 and cooled the first ardour of their enthusiasm4 ,at one time the army of the ,count of ,toulouse was on the point of disbanding itself2 and1 had not their leader energetically removed them across the ,bosphorus1 this would have been the result4 ,once in ,asia1 their spirits in some degree revived1 and the presence of danger and difficulty nerved them to the work they had undertaken4 ,the first operation of the war was the siege of ,nice1 to gain possession of which all their efforts were directed4 ,godfrey of ,bouillon and the ,count of ,vermandois were joined under its walls by each host in succession as it left ,constantinople4 ,among the celebrated ,crusaders who fought at this siege we find1 besides the leaders already mentioned1 the brave and generous ,tancred1 whose name and fame have been immortalised in the ,gerusalemme ,liberata1 the valorous ,bishop of ,puy1 ,baldwin1 afterwards king of ,jerusalem1 and ,peter the ,hermit1 now an almost solitary soldier1 shorn of all the power and influence he had formerly possessed4 ,kilij ,aslaun the sultan of ,roum and chief of the ,seljukian ,turks1 whose deeds1 surrounded by the false halo of romance1 are familiar to the readers of ,tasso1 under the name of ,soliman1 marched to defend this city1 but was defeated after several obstinate engagements1 in which the ,christians shewed a degree of heroism that quite astonished him4 ,the ,turkish chief had expected to find a wild undisciplined multitude1 like that under ,peter the ,hermit1 without leaders capable of enforcing obedience2 instead of which1 he found the most experienced leaders of the age at the head of armies that had just fanaticism enough to be ferocious1 but not enough to render them ungovernable4 ,in these engagements1 many hundreds fell on both sides2 and on both sides the most revolting barbarity was practised3 the ,crusaders cut off the heads of the fallen ,mussulmans1 and sent them in panniers to ,constantinople1 as trophies of their victory4 ,after the temporary defeat of ,kilij ,aslaun1 the siege of ,nice was carried on with redoubled vigour4 ,the ,turks defended themselves with the greatest obstinacy1 and discharged showers of poisoned arrows upon the ,crusaders4 ,when any unfortunate wretch was killed under the walls1 they let down iron hooks from above1 and drew the body up1 which1 after stripping and mutilating1 they threw back again at the besiegers4 ,the latter were well supplied with provisions1 and for six-and-thirty days the siege continued without any relaxation of the efforts on either side4 ,many tales are told of the almost superhuman heroism of the ,christian leaders--how one man put a thousand to flight2 and how the arrows of the faithful never missed their mark4 ,one anecdote of ,godfrey of ,bouillon1 related by ,albert of ,aix1 is worth recording1 not only as shewing the high opinion entertained of his valour1 but as shewing the contagious credulity of the armies--a credulity which as often led them to the very verge of defeat1 as it incited them to victory4 ,one ,turk1 of gigantic stature1 took his station day by day on the battlements of ,nice1 and1 bearing an enormous bow1 committed great havoc among the ,christian host4 ,not a shaft he sped but bore death upon its point2 and although the ,crusaders aimed repeatedly at his breast1 and he stood in the most exposed position1 their arrows fell harmless at his feet4 ,he seemed to be invulnerable to attack2 and a report was soon spread abroad1 that he was no other than the ,arch ,fiend himself1 and that mortal hand could not prevail against him4 ,godfrey of ,bouillon1 who had no faith in the supernatural character of the ,mussulman1 determined1 if possible1 to put an end to the dismay which was rapidly paralysing the exertions of his best soldiers4 ,taking a huge cross-bow1 he stood forward in front of the army1 to try the steadiness of his hand against the much-dreaded archer3 the shaft was aimed directly at his heart1 and took fatal effect4 ,the ,moslem fell amid the groans of the besieged1 and the shouts of ,deus adjuva6 ,deus adjuva6 the war-cry of the besiegers4 ,at last the ,crusaders imagined that they had overcome all obstacles1 and were preparing to take possession of the city1 when1 to their great astonishment1 they saw the flag of the ,emperor ,alexius flying from the battlements4 ,an emissary of the emperor1 named ,faticius or ,tatin1 had contrived to gain admission1 with a body of ,greek troops1 at a point which the ,crusaders had left unprotected1 and had persuaded the ,turks to surrender to him rather than to the crusading forces4 ,the greatest indignation prevailed in the army when this stratagem was discovered1 and the soldiers were1 with the utmost difficulty1 prevented from renewing the attack and besieging the ,greek emissary4 ,the army1 however1 continued its march1 and1 by some means or other1 was broken into two divisions2 some historians say accidentally1#f while others affirm by mutual consent1 and for the convenience of obtaining provisions on the way4#g ,the one division was composed of the forces under ,bohemund1 ,tancred1 and the ,duke of ,normandy2 while the other1 which took a route at some distance on the right1 was commanded by ,godfrey of ,bouillon and the other chiefs4 ,the ,sultan of ,roum1 who1 after his losses at ,nice1 had been silently making great efforts to crush the ,crusaders at one blow1 collected in a very short time all the multitudinous tribes that owed him allegiance1 and with an army which1 according to a moderate calculation1 amounted to two hundred thousand men1 chiefly cavalry1 he fell upon the first division of the ,christian host in the valley of ,dorylum4 ,it was early in the morning of the #ast of ,july #ajig1 when the ,crusaders saw the first companies of the ,turkish horsemen pouring down upon them from the hills4 ,bohemund had hardly time to set himself in order1 and transport his sick and helpless to the rear1 when the overwhelming force of the ,orientals was upon him4 ,the ,christian army1 composed principally of men on foot1 gave way on all sides1 and the hoofs of the ,turkish steeds1 and the poisoned arrows of their bowmen1 mowed them down by hundreds4 ,after having lost the flower of their chivalry1 the ,christians retreated upon their baggage1 when a dreadful slaughter took place4 ,neither women nor children1 nor the sick1 were spared4 ,just as they were reduced to the last extremity1 ,godfrey of ,bouillon and the ,count of ,toulouse made their appearance on the field1 and turned the tide of battle4 ,after an obstinate engagement the ,turks fled1 and their rich camp fell into the hands of the enemy4 ,the loss of the ,crusaders amounted to about four thousand men1 with several chiefs of renown1 among whom were ,count ,robert of ,paris and ,william the brother of ,tancred4 ,the loss of the ,turks1 which did not exceed this number1 taught them to pursue a different mode of warfare4 ,the sultan was far from being defeated4 ,with his still gigantic army1 he laid waste all the country on either side of the ,crusaders4 ,the latter1 who were unaware of the tactics of the enemy1 found plenty of provisions in the ,turkish camp2 but so far from economising these resources1 they gave themselves up for several days to the most unbounded extravagance4 ,they soon paid dearly for their heedlessness4 ,in the ravaged country of ,phrygia1 through which they advanced towards ,antiochetta1 they suffered dreadfully for want of food for themselves and pasture for their cattle4 ,above them was a scorching sun1 almost sufficient of itself to dry up the freshness of the land1 a task which the firebrands of the sultan had but too surely effected1 and water was not to be had after the first day of their march4 ,the pilgrims died at the rate of five hundred a day4 ,the horses of the knights perished on the road1 and the baggage which they had aided to transport was either placed upon dogs1 sheep1 and swine1 or abandoned altogether4 ,in some of the calamities that afterwards befell them1 the ,christians gave themselves up to the most reckless profligacy2 but upon this occasion1 the dissensions which prosperity had engendered were all forgotten4 ,religion1 often disregarded1 arose in the stern presence of misfortune1 and cheered them as they died by the promises of eternal felicity4 #f ,fulcher of ,chartres2 ,guibert de ,nogent2 ,vital4 #g ,william of ,tyre2 ,mills2 ,wilken1 c4 ,at length they reached ,antiochetta1 where they found water in abundance1 and pastures for their expiring cattle4 ,plenty once more surrounded them1 and here they pitched their tents4 ,untaught by the bitter experience of famine1 they again gave themselves up to luxury and waste4 ,on the #ahth of ,october they sat down before the strong city of ,antioch1 the siege of which1 and the events to which it gave rise1 are among the most extraordinary incidents of the ,crusade4 ,the city1 which is situated on an eminence1 and washed by the river ,orontes1 is naturally a very strong position1 and the ,turkish garrison were well supplied with provisions to endure a long siege4 ,in this respect the ,christians were also fortunate1 but unluckily for themselves1 unwise4 ,their force amounted to three hundred thousand fighting men2 and we are informed by ,raymond d',argilles1 that they had so much provision1 that they threw away the greater part of every animal they killed1 being so dainty1 that they would only eat particular parts of the beast4 ,so insane was their extravagance1 that in less than ten days famine began to stare them in the face4 ,after making a fruitless attempt to gain possession of the city by a coup de main1 they1 starving themselves1 sat down to starve out the enemy4 ,but with want came a cooling of enthusiasm4 ,the chiefs began to grow weary of the expedition4 ,baldwin had previously detached himself from the main body of the army1 and1 proceeding to ,edessa1 had intrigued himself into the supreme power in that little principality4 ,the other leaders were animated with less zeal than heretofore4 ,stephen of ,chartres and ,hugh of ,vermandois began to waver1 unable to endure the privations which their own folly and profusion had brought upon them4 ,even ,peter the ,hermit became sick at heart ere all was over4 ,when the famine had become so urgent that they were reduced to eat human flesh in the extremity of their hunger1 ,bohemund and ,robert of ,flanders set forth on an expedition to procure a supply4 ,they were in a slight degree successful2 but the relief they brought was not economised1 and in two days they were as destitute as before4 ,faticius1 the ,greek commander and representative of ,alexius1 deserted with his division under pretence of seeking for food1 and his example was followed by various bodies of ,crusaders4 ,misery was rife among those who remained1 and they strove to alleviate it by a diligent attention to signs and omens4 ,these1 with extraordinary visions seen by the enthusiastic1 alternately cheered and depressed them according as they foretold the triumph or pictured the reverses of the cross4 ,at one time a violent hurricane arose1 levelling great trees with the ground1 and blowing down the tents of the ,christian leaders4 ,at another time an earthquake shook the camp1 and was thought to prognosticate some great impending evil to the cause of ,christendom4 ,but a comet which appeared shortly afterwards raised them from the despondency into which they had fallen2 their lively imaginations making it assume the form of a flaming cross leading them on to victory4 ,famine was not the least of the evils they endured4 ,unwholesome food1 and the impure air from the neighbouring marshes1 engendered pestilential diseases1 which carried them off more rapidly than the arrows of the enemy4 ,a thousand of them died in a day1 and it became at last a matter of extreme difficulty to afford them burial4 ,to add to their misery1 each man grew suspicious of his neighbour2 for the camp was infested by ,turkish spies1 who conveyed daily to the besieged intelligence of the movements and distresses of the enemy4 ,with a ferocity1 engendered by despair1 ,bohemund caused two spies1 whom he had detected1 to be roasted alive in presence of the army1 and within sight of the battlements of ,antioch4 ,but even this example failed to reduce their numbers1 and the ,turks continued to be as well informed as the ,christians themselves of all that was passing in the camp4 ,the news of the arrival of a reinforcement of soldiers from ,europe1 with an abundant stock of provisions1 came to cheer them when reduced to the last extremity4 ,the welcome succour landed at ,st4 ,simeon1 the port of ,antioch1 and about six miles from that city4 ,thitherwards the famishing ,crusaders proceeded in tumultuous bands1 followed by ,bohemund and the ,count of ,toulouse1 with strong detachments of their retainers and vassals1 to escort the supplies in safety to the camp4 ,the garrison of ,antioch1 forewarned of this arrival1 was on the alert1 and a corps of ,turkish archers was despatched to lie in ambuscade among the mountains and intercept their return4 ,bohemund1 laden with provisions1 was encountered in the rocky passes by the ,turkish host4 ,great numbers of his followers were slain1 and he himself had just time to escape to the camp with the news of his defeat4 ,godfrey of ,bouillon1 the ,duke of ,normandy1 and the other leaders had heard the rumour of this battle1 and were at that instant preparing for the rescue4 ,the army was immediately in motion1 animated both by zeal and by hunger1 and marched so rapidly as to intercept the victorious ,turks before they had time to reach ,antioch with their spoil4 ,a fierce battle ensued1 which lasted from noon till the going down of the sun4 ,the ,christians gained and maintained the advantage1 each man fighting as if upon himself alone had depended the fortune of the day4 ,hundreds of ,turks perished in the ,orontes1 and more than two thousand were left dead upon the field of battle4 ,all the provision was recaptured and brought in safety to the camp1 whither the ,crusaders returned singing ,alleluia6 or shouting ,deus adjuva6 ,deus adjuva6 ,this relief lasted for some days1 and1 had it been duly economised1 would have lasted much longer2 but the chiefs had no authority1 and were unable to exercise any control over its distribution4 ,famine again approached with rapid strides1 and ,stephen count of ,blois1 not liking the prospect1 withdrew from the camp with four thousand of his retainers1 and established himself at ,alexandretta4 ,the moral influence of this desertion was highly prejudicial upon those who remained2 and ,bohemund1 the most impatient and ambitious of the chiefs1 foresaw that1 unless speedily checked1 it would lead to the utter failure of the expedition4 ,it was necessary to act decisively2 the army murmured at the length of the siege1 and the sultan was collecting his forces to crush them4 ,against the efforts of the ,crusaders ,antioch might have held out for months2 but treason within effected that which courage without might have striven for in vain4 ,baghasihan1 the ,turkish prince or emir of ,antioch1 had under his command an ,armenian of the name of ,phirouz1 whom he had entrusted with the defence of a tower on that part of the city wall which overlooked the passes of the mountains4 ,bohemund1 by means of a spy who had embraced the ,christian religion1 and to whom he had given his own name at baptism1 kept up a daily communication with this captain1 and made him the most magnificent promises of reward1 if he would deliver up his post to the ,crusaders4 ,whether the proposal was first made by ,bohemund or by the ,armenian is uncertain1 but that a good understanding soon existed between them is undoubted2 and a night was fixed for the execution of the project4 ,bohemund communicated the scheme to ,godfrey and the ,count of ,toulouse1 with the stipulation that1 if the city were won1 he1 as the soul of the enterprise1 should enjoy the dignity of ,prince of ,antioch4 ,the other leaders hesitated3 ambition and jealousy prompted them to refuse their aid in furthering the views of the intriguer4 ,more mature consideration decided them to acquiesce1 and seven hundred of the bravest knights were chosen for the expedition1 the real object of which1 for fear of spies1 was kept a profound secret from the rest of the army4 ,when all was ready1 a report was promulgated that the seven hundred were intended to form an ambuscade for a division of the sultan's army1 which was stated to be approaching4 ,every thing favoured the treacherous project of the ,armenian captain1 who1 on his solitary watch-tower1 received due intimation of the approach of the ,crusaders4 ,the night was dark and stormy2 not a star was visible above1 and the wind howled so furiously as to overpower all other sounds3 the rain fell in torrents1 and the watchers on the towers adjoining to that of ,phirouz could not hear the tramp of the armed knights for the wind1 nor see them for the obscurity of the night and the dismalness of the weather4 ,when within shot of the walls1 ,bohemund sent forward an interpreter to confer with the ,armenian4 ,the latter urged them to make haste1 and seize the favourable interval1 as armed men1 with lighted torches1 patrolled the battlements every half hour1 and at that instant they had just passed4 ,the chiefs were instantly at the foot of the wall3 ,phirouz let down a rope2 ,bohemund attached it to the end of a ladder of hides1 which was then raised by the ,armenian1 and held while the knights mounted4 ,a momentary fear came over the spirits of the adventurers1 and every one hesitated4 ,at last ,bohemund1#h encouraged by ,phirouz from above1 ascended a few steps on the ladder1 and was followed by ,godfrey1 ,count ,robert of ,flanders1 and a number of other knights4 ,as they advanced1 others pressed forward1 until their weight became too great for the ladder1 which1 breaking1 precipitated about a dozen of them to the ground1 where they fell one upon the other1 making a great clatter with their heavy coats of mail4 ,for a moment they thought that all was lost2 but the wind made so loud a howling as it swept in fierce gusts through the mountain gorges--and the ,orontes1 swollen by the rain1 rushed so noisily along--that the guards heard nothing4 ,the ladder was easily repaired1 and the knights ascended two at a time1 and reached the platform in safety4 ,when sixty of them had thus ascended1 the torch of the coming patrol was seen to gleam at the angle of the wall4 ,hiding themselves behind a buttress1 they awaited his coming in breathless silence4 ,as soon as he arrived at arm's length1 he was suddenly seized1 and1 before he could open his lips to raise an alarm1 the silence of death closed them up for ever4 ,they next descended rapidly the spiral staircase of the tower1 and opening the portal1 admitted the whole of their companions4 ,raymond of ,toulouse1 who1 cognisant of the whole plan1 had been left behind with the main body of the army1 heard at this instant the signal horn1 which announced that an entry had been effected1 and1 leading on his legions1 the town was attacked from within and without4 #h ,vide ,william of ,tyre4 ,imagination cannot conceive a scene more dreadful than that presented by the devoted city of ,antioch on that night of horror4 ,the ,crusaders fought with a blind fury1 which fanaticism and suffering alike incited4 ,men1 women1 and children were indiscriminately slaughtered1 till the streets ran with blood4 ,darkness increased the destruction1 for when morning dawned the ,crusaders found themselves with their swords at the breasts of their fellow-soldiers1 whom they had mistaken for foes4 ,the ,turkish commander fled1 first to the citadel1 and that becoming insecure1 to the mountains1 whither he was pursued and slain1 and his grey head brought back to ,antioch as a trophy4 ,at daylight the massacre ceased1 and the ,crusaders gave themselves up to plunder4 ,they found gold1 and jewels1 and silks1 and velvets in abundance1 but of provisions1 which were of more importance to them1 they found but little of any kind4 ,corn was excessively scarce1 and they discovered to their sorrow that in this respect the besieged had been but little better off than the besiegers4 ,illustration3 ,,siege ,,of ,,antioch4 ,before they had time to instal themselves in their new position1 and take the necessary measures for procuring a supply1 the city was invested by the ,turks4 ,the sultan of ,persia had raised an immense army1 which he entrusted to the command of ,kerbogha1 the emir of ,mosul1 with instructions to sweep the ,christian locusts from the face of the land4 ,the emir effected a junction with ,kilij ,aslaun1 and the two armies surrounded the city4 ,discouragement took complete possession of the ,christian host1 and numbers of them contrived to elude the vigilance of the besiegers1 and escape to ,count ,stephen of ,blois at ,alexandretta1 to whom they related the most exaggerated tales of the misery they had endured1 and the utter hopelessness of continuing the war4 ,stephen forthwith broke up his camp and retreated towards ,constantinople4 ,on his way he was met by the ,emperor ,alexius1 at the head of a considerable force1 hastening to take possession of the conquests made by the ,christians in ,asia4 ,as soon as he heard of their woful plight1 he turned back1 and proceeded with the ,count of ,blois to ,constantinople1 leaving the remnant of the ,crusaders to shift for themselves4 ,the news of this defection increased the discouragement at ,antioch4 ,all the useless horses of the army had been slain and eaten1 and dogs1 cats1 and rats were sold at enormous prices4 ,even vermin were becoming scarce4 ,with increasing famine came a pestilence1 so that in a short time but sixty thousand remained of the three hundred thousand that had originally invested ,antioch4 ,but this bitter extremity1 while it annihilated the energy of the host1 only served to knit the leaders more firmly together2 and ,bohemund1 ,godfrey1 and ,tancred swore never to desert the cause as long as life lasted4 ,the former strove in vain to reanimate the courage of his followers4 ,they were weary and sick at heart1 and his menaces and promises were alike thrown away4 ,some of them had shut themselves up in the houses1 and refused to come forth4 ,bohemund1 to drive them to their duty1 set fire to the whole quarter1 and many of them perished in the flames1 while the rest of the army looked on with the utmost indifference4 ,bohemund1 animated himself by a worldly spirit1 did not know the true character of the ,crusaders1 nor understand the religious madness which had brought them in such shoals from ,europe4 ,a priest1 more clear-sighted1 devised a scheme which restored all their confidence1 and inspired them with a courage so wonderful as to make the poor sixty thousand emaciated1 sick1 and starving zealots put to flight the well-fed and six times as numerous legions of the ,sultan of ,persia4 ,this priest1 a native of ,provence1 was named ,peter ,barthelemy1 and whether he were a knave or an enthusiast1 or both2 a principal1 or a tool in the hands of others1 will ever remain a matter of doubt4 ,certain it is1 however1 that he was the means of raising the siege of ,antioch1 and causing the eventual triumph of the armies of the cross4 ,when the strength of the ,crusaders was completely broken by their sufferings1 and hope had fled from every bosom1 ,peter came to ,count ,raymond of ,toulouse1 and demanded an interview on matters of serious moment4 ,he was immediately admitted4 ,he said that1 some weeks previously1 at the time the ,christians were besieging ,antioch1 he was reposing alone in his tent1 when he was startled by the shock of the earthquake1 which had so alarmed the whole host4 ,through violent terror of the shock he could only ejaculate1 ,god help me6 when turning round he saw two men standing before him1 whom he at once recognised by the halo of glory around them as beings of another world4 ,one of them appeared to be an aged man1 with reddish hair sprinkled with grey1 black eyes1 and a long flowing grey beard4 ,the other was younger1 larger1 and handsomer1 and had something more divine in his aspect4 ,the elderly man alone spoke1 and informed him that he was the holy apostle ,st4 ,andrew1 and desired him to seek out the ,count ,raymond1 the ,bishop of ,puy1 and ,raymond of ,altopulto1 and ask them why the bishop did not exhort the people1 and sign them with the cross which he bore4 ,the apostle then took him1 naked in his shirt as he was1 and transported him through the air into the heart of the city of ,antioch1 where he led him into the church of ,st4 ,peter1 at that time a ,saracen mosque4 ,the apostle made him stop by the pillar close to the steps by which they ascend on the south side to the altar1 where hung two lamps1 which gave out a light brighter than that of the noonday sun2 the younger man1 whom he did not at that time know1 standing afar off1 near the steps of the altar4 ,the apostle then descended into the ground and brought up a lance1 which he gave into his hand1 telling him that it was the very lance that had opened the side whence had flowed the salvation of the world4 ,with tears of joy he held the holy lance1 and implored the apostle to allow him to take it away and deliver it into the hands of ,count ,raymond4 ,the apostle refused1 and buried the lance again in the ground1 commanding him1 when the city was won from the infidels1 to go with twelve chosen men1 and dig it up again in the same place4 ,the apostle then transported him back to his tent1 and the two vanished from his sight4 ,he had neglected1 he said1 to deliver this message1 afraid that his wonderful tale would not obtain credence from men of such high rank4 ,after some days he again saw the holy vision1 as he was gone out of the camp to look for food4 ,this time the divine eyes of the younger looked reproachfully upon him4 ,he implored the apostle to choose some one else more fitted for the mission1 but the apostle refused1 and smote him with a disorder of the eyes1 as a punishment for his disobedience4 ,with an obstinacy unaccountable even to himself1 he had still delayed4 ,a third time the apostle and his companion had appeared to him1 as he was in a tent with his master ,william at ,st4 ,simeon4 ,on that occasion ,st4 ,andrew told him to bear his command to the ,count of ,toulouse not to bathe in the waters of the ,jordan when he came to it1 but to cross over in a boat1 clad in a shirt and breeches of linen1 which he should sprinkle with the sacred waters of the river4 ,these clothes he was afterwards to preserve along with the holy lance4 ,his master ,william1 although he could not see the saint1 distinctly heard the voice giving orders to that effect4 ,again he neglected to execute the commission1 and again the saints appeared to him1 when he was at the port of ,mamistra1 about to sail for ,cyprus1 and ,st4 ,andrew threatened him with eternal perdition if he refused longer4 ,upon this he made up his mind to divulge all that had been revealed to him4 ,the ,count of ,toulouse1 who1 in all probability1 concocted this tale with the priest1 appeared struck with the recital1 and sent immediately for the ,bishop of ,puy and ,raymond of ,altapulto4 ,the bishop at once expressed his disbelief of the whole story1 and refused to have any thing to do in the matter4 ,the ,count of ,toulouse1 on the contrary1 saw abundant motives1 if not for believing1 for pretending to believe2 and1 in the end1 he so impressed upon the mind of the bishop the advantage that might be derived from it1 in working up the popular mind to its former excitement1 that the latter reluctantly agreed to make search in due form for the holy weapon4 ,the day after the morrow was fixed upon for the ceremony2 and1 in the mean time1 ,peter was consigned to the care of ,raymond1 the count's chaplain1 in order that no profane curiosity might have an opportunity of cross-examining him1 and putting him to a nonplus4 ,twelve devout men were forthwith chosen for the undertaking1 among whom were the ,count of ,toulouse and his chaplain4 ,they began digging at sunrise1 and continued unwearied till near sunset1 without finding the lance2 they might have dug till this day with no better success1 had not ,peter himself sprung into the pit1 praying to ,god to bring the lance to light1 for the strengthening and victory of his people4 ,those who hide know where to find2 and so it was with ,peter1 for both he and the lance found their way into the hole at the same time4 ,on a sudden1 he and ,raymond the chaplain beheld its point in the earth1 and ,raymond1 drawing it forth1 kissed it with tears of joy1 in sight of the multitude which had assembled in the church4 ,it was immediately enveloped in a rich purple cloth1 already prepared to receive it1 and exhibited in this state to the faithful1 who made the building resound with their shouts of gladness4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,holy ,,lance4 ,peter had another vision the same night1 and became from that day forth dreamer of dreams in general to the army4 ,he stated on the following day1 that the ,apostle ,andrew and the youth with the divine aspect appeared to him again1 and directed that the ,count of ,toulouse1 as a reward for his persevering piety1 should carry the ,holy ,lance at the head of the army1 and that the day on which it was found should be observed as a solemn festival throughout ,christendom4 ,st4 ,andrew shewed him at the same time the holes in the feet and hands of his benign companion2 and he became convinced that he stood in the awful presence of ,,the ,,redeemer4 ,peter gained so much credit by his visions that dreaming became contagious4 ,other monks beside himself were visited by the saints1 who promised victory to the host if it would valiantly hold out to the last1 and crowns of eternal glory to those who fell in the fight4 ,two deserters1 wearied of the fatigues and privations of the war1 who had stealthily left the camp1 suddenly returned1 and seeking ,bohemund1 told him that they had been met by two apparitions1 who1 with great anger1 had commanded them to return4 ,the one of them said1 that he recognised his brother1 who had been killed in battle some months before1 and that he had a halo of glory around his head4 ,the other1 still more hardy1 asserted that the apparition which had spoken to him was the ,saviour himself1 who had promised eternal happiness as his reward if he returned to his duty1 but the pains of eternal fire if he rejected the cross4 ,no one thought of disbelieving these men4 ,the courage of the army immediately revived2 despondency gave way to hope2 every arm grew strong again1 and the pangs of hunger were for a time disregarded4 ,the enthusiasm which had led them from ,europe1 burned forth once more as brightly as ever1 and they demanded1 with loud cries1 to be led against the enemy4 ,the leaders were not unwilling4 ,in a battle lay their only chance of salvation2 and although ,godfrey1 ,bohemund1 and ,tancred received the story of the lance with much suspicion1 they were too wise to throw discredit upon an imposture which bade fair to open the gates of victory4 ,peter the ,hermit was previously sent to the camp of ,kerbogha to propose that the quarrel between the two religions should be decided by a chosen number of the bravest soldiers of each army4 ,kerbogha turned from him with a look of contempt1 and said he could agree to no proposals from a set of such miserable beggars and robbers4 ,with this uncourteous answer ,peter returned to ,antioch4 ,preparations were immediately commenced for an attack upon the enemy3 the latter continued to be perfectly well informed of all the proceedings of the ,christian camp4 ,the citadel of ,antioch1 which remained in their possession1 overlooked the town1 and the commander of the fortress could distinctly see all that was passing within4 ,on the morning of the #bhth of ,june1 #ajih1 a black flag1 hoisted from its highest tower1 announced to the besieging army that the ,christians were about to sally forth4 ,the ,moslem leaders knew the sad inroads that famine and disease had made upon the numbers of the foe2 they knew that not above two hundred of the knights had horses to ride upon1 and that the foot soldiers were sick and emaciated2 but they did not know the almost incredible valour which superstition had infused into their hearts4 ,the story of the lance they treated with the most supreme contempt1 and1 secure of an easy victory1 they gave themselves no trouble in preparing for the onslaught4 ,it is related that ,kerbogha was playing a game at chess1 when the black flag on the citadel gave warning of the enemy's approach1 and that1 with true oriental coolness1 he insisted upon finishing the game ere he bestowed any of his attention upon a foe so unworthy4 ,the defeat of his advanced post of two thousand men aroused him from his apathy4 ,the ,crusaders1 after this first victory1 advanced joyfully towards the mountains1 hoping to draw the ,turks to a place where their cavalry would be unable to manoeuvre4 ,their spirits were light and their courage high1 as1 led on by the ,duke of ,normandy1 ,count ,robert of ,flanders1 and ,hugh of ,vermandois1 they came within sight of the splendid camp of the enemy4 ,godfrey of ,bouillon and ,adhemar ,bishop of ,puy1 followed immediately after these leaders1 the latter clad in complete armour1 and bearing the ,holy ,lance within sight of the whole army3 ,bohemund and ,tancred brought up the rear4 ,kerbogha1 aware at last that his enemy was not so despicable1 took vigorous measures to remedy his mistake1 and1 preparing himself to meet the ,christians in front1 he despatched the ,sultan ,soliman of ,roum to attack them in the rear4 ,to conceal this movement1 he set fire to the dried weeds and grass with which the ground was covered1 and ,soliman1 taking a wide circuit with his cavalry1 succeeded1 under cover of the smoke1 in making good his position in the rear4 ,the battle raged furiously in front2 the arrows of the ,turks fell thick as hail1 and their well-trained squadrons trod the ,crusaders under their hoofs like stubble4 ,still the affray was doubtful2 for the ,christians had the advantage of the ground1 and were rapidly gaining upon the enemy1 when the overwhelming forces of ,soliman arrived in the rear4 ,godfrey and ,tancred flew to the rescue of ,bohemund1 spreading dismay in the ,turkish ranks by their fierce impetuosity4 ,the ,bishop of ,puy was left almost alone with the ,provenals to oppose the legions commanded by ,kerbogha in person2 but the presence of the ,holy ,lance made a hero of the meanest soldier in his train4 ,still1 however1 the numbers of the enemy seemed interminable4 ,the ,christians1 attacked on every side1 began at last to give way1 and the ,turks made sure of victory4 ,at this moment a cry was raised in the ,christian host that the saints were fighting on their side4 ,the battle-field was clear of the smoke from the burning weeds1 which had curled away1 and hung in white clouds of fantastic shape on the brow of the distant mountains4 ,some imaginative zealot1 seeing this dimly through the dust of the battle1 called out to his fellows1 to look at the army of saints1 clothed in white1 and riding upon white horses1 that were pouring over the hills to the rescue4 ,all eyes were immediately turned to the distant smoke2 faith was in every heart2 and the old battle-cry1 ,god wills it6 ,god wills it6 resounded through the field1 as every soldier1 believing that ,god was visibly sending his armies to his aid1 fought with an energy unfelt before4 ,a panic seized the ,persian and ,turkish hosts1 and they gave way in all directions4 ,in vain ,kerbogha tried to rally them4 ,fear is more contagious than enthusiasm1 and they fled over the mountains like deer pursued by the hounds4 ,the two leaders1 seeing the uselessness of further efforts1 fled with the rest2 and that immense army was scattered over ,palestine1 leaving nearly seventy thousand of its dead upon the field of battle4 ,their magnificent camp fell into the hands of the enemy1 with its rich stores of corn1 and its droves of sheep and oxen4 ,jewels1 gold1 and rich velvets in abundance were distributed among the army4 ,tancred followed the fugitives over the hills1 and reaped as much plunder as those who had remained in the camp4 ,the way1 as they fled1 was covered with valuables1 and horses of the finest breed of ,arabia became so plentiful that every knight of the ,christians was provided with a steed4 ,the ,crusaders1 in this battle1 acknowledge to have lost nearly ten thousand men4 ,their return to ,antioch was one of joy indeed3 the citadel was surrendered at once1 and many of the ,turkish garrison embraced the ,christian faith1 and the rest were suffered to depart4 ,a solemn thanksgiving was offered up by the ,bishop of ,puy1 in which the whole army joined1 and the ,holy ,lance was visited by every soldier4 ,the enthusiasm lasted for some days1 and the army loudly demanded to be led forward to ,jerusalem1 the grand goal of all their wishes3 but none of their leaders was anxious to move2--the more prudent among them1 such as ,godfrey and ,tancred1 for reasons of expediency2 and the more ambitious1 such as the ,count of ,toulouse and ,bohemund1 for reasons of self-interest4 ,violent dissensions sprang up again between all the chiefs4 ,raymond of ,toulouse1 who was left at ,antioch to guard the town1 had summoned the citadel to surrender1 as soon as he saw that there was no fear of any attack upon the part of the ,persians2 and the other chiefs found1 upon their return1 his banner waving on its walls4 ,this had given great offence to ,bohemund1 who had stipulated the principality of ,antioch as his reward for winning the town in the first instance4 ,godfrey and ,tancred supported his claim1 and1 after a great deal of bickering1 the flag of ,raymond was lowered from the tower1 and that of ,bohemund hoisted in its stead1 who assumed from that time the title of ,prince of ,antioch4 ,raymond1 however1 persisted in retaining possession of one of the city gates and its adjacent towers1 which he held for several months1 to the great annoyance of ,bohemund and the scandal of the army4 ,the count became in consequence extremely unpopular1 although his ambition was not a whit more unreasonable than that of ,bohemund himself1 nor of ,baldwin1 who had taken up his quarters at ,edessa1 where he exercised the functions of a petty sovereign4 ,the fate of ,peter ,barthelemy deserves to be recorded4 ,honours and consideration had come thick upon him after the affair of the lance1 and he consequently felt bound in conscience to continue the dreams which had made him a personage of so much importance4 ,the mischief of it was1 that1 like many other liars1 he had a very bad memory1 and he contrived to make his dreams contradict each other in the most palpable manner4 ,st4 ,john one night appeared to him1 and told one tale2 while1 a week after1 ,st4 ,paul told a totally different story1 and held out hopes quite incompatible with those of his apostolic brother4 ,the credulity of that age had a wide maw1 and ,peter's visions must have been absurd and outrageous indeed1 when the very men who had believed in the lance refused to swallow any more of his wonders4 ,bohemund at last1 for the purpose of annoying the ,count of ,toulouse1 challenged poor ,peter to prove the truth of his story of the lance by the fiery ordeal4 ,peter could not refuse a trial so common in that age1 and being besides encouraged by the count and his chaplain ,raymond1 an early day was appointed for the ceremony4 ,the previous night was spent in prayer and fasting1 according to custom1 and ,peter came forth in the morning bearing the lance in his hand1 and walked boldly up to the fire4 ,the whole army gathered round1 impatient for the result1 many thousands still believing that the lance was genuine1 and ,peter a holy man4 ,prayers having been said by ,raymond d',agilles1 ,peter walked into the flames1 and had got nearly through1 when pain caused him to lose his presence of mind3 the heat too affected his eyes1 and1 in his anguish1 he turned round unwittingly1 and passed through the fire again1 instead of stepping out of it1 as he should have done4 ,the result was1 that he was burned so severely that he never recovered1 and1 after lingering for some days1 he expired in great agony4 ,most of the soldiers were suffering either from wounds1 disease1 or weariness2 and it was resolved by ,godfrey1--the tacitly acknowledged chief of the enterprise1--that the army should have time to refresh itself ere they advanced upon ,jerusalem4 ,it was now ,july1 and he proposed that they should pass the hot months of ,august and ,september within the walls of ,antioch1 and march forward in ,october with renewed vigour1 and numbers increased by fresh arrivals from ,europe4 ,this advice was finally adopted1 although the enthusiasts of the army continued to murmur at the delay4 ,in the mean time the ,count of ,vermandois was sent upon an embassy to the ,emperor ,alexius at ,constantinople1 to reproach him for his base desertion of the cause1 and urge him to send the reinforcements he had promised4 ,the count faithfully executed his mission 7of which1 by the way1 ,alexius took no notice whatever71 and remained for some time at ,constantinople1 till his zeal1 never very violent1 totally evaporated4 ,he then returned to ,france1 sick of the ,crusade1 and determined to intermeddle with it no more4 ,the chiefs1 though they had determined to stay at ,antioch for two months1 could not remain quiet for so long a time4 ,they would1 in all probability1 have fallen upon each other1 had there been no ,turks in ,palestine upon whom they might vent their impetuosity4 ,godfrey proceeded to ,edessa1 to aid his brother ,baldwin in expelling the ,saracens from his principality1 and the other leaders carried on separate hostilities against them as caprice or ambition dictated4 ,at length the impatience of the army to be led against ,jerusalem became so great that the chiefs could no longer delay1 and ,raymond1 ,tancred1 and ,robert of ,normandy marched forward with their divisions1 and laid siege to the small but strong town of ,marah4 ,with their usual improvidence1 they had not food enough to last a beleaguering army for a week4 ,they suffered great privations in consequence1 till ,bohemund came to their aid and took the town by storm4 ,in connexion with this siege1 the chronicler1 ,raymond d',agilles 7the same ,raymond the chaplain who figured in the affair of the ,holy ,lance71 relates a legend1 in the truth of which he devoutly believed1 and upon which ,tasso has founded one of the most beautiful passages of his poem4 ,it is worth preserving1 as shewing the spirit of the age and the source of the extraordinary courage manifested by the ,crusaders on occasions of extreme difficulty4 ,one day1 says ,raymond1 ,anselme de ,ribeaumont beheld young ,engelram1 the son of the ,count de ,st4 ,paul1 who had been killed at ,marah1 enter his tent4 ',how is it1' said ,anselme to him1 'that you1 whom ,i saw lying dead on the field of battle1 are full or life8'--',you must know1' replied ,engelram1 'that those who fight for ,jesus ,christ never die4' ',but whence1' resumed ,anselme1 'comes that strange brightness that surrounds you8' ,upon this ,engelram pointed to the sky1 where ,anselme saw a palace of diamond and crystal4 ',it is thence1' said he1 'that ,i derive the beauty which surprises you4 ,my dwelling is there2 a still finer one is prepared for you1 and you shall soon come to inhabit it4 ,farewell6 we shall meet again to-morrow4' ,with these words ,engelram returned to heaven4 ,anselme1 struck by the vision1 sent the next morning for the priests1 received the sacrament1 and although full of health1 took a last farewell of all his friends1 telling them that he was about to leave this world4 ,a few hours afterwards1 the enemy having made a sortie1 ,anselme went out against them sword in hand1 and was struck on the forehead by a stone from a ,turkish sling1 which sent him to heaven1 to the beautiful palace that was prepared for him4 ,illustration3 ,,shrine ,,of ,,the ,,nativity4 ,new disputes arose between the ,prince of ,antioch and the ,count of ,toulouse with regard to the capture of this town1 which were with the utmost difficulty appeased by the other chiefs4 ,delays also took place in the progress of the army1 especially before ,archas1 and the soldiery were so exasperated that they were on the point of choosing new leaders to conduct them to ,jerusalem4 ,godfrey1 upon this1 set fire to his camp at ,archas1 and marched forward4 ,he was immediately joined by hundreds of the ,provenals of the ,count of ,toulouse4 ,the latter1 seeing the turn affairs were taking1 hastened after them1 and the whole host proceeded towards the holy city1 so long desired amid sorrow1 and suffering1 and danger4 ,at ,emmaus they were met by a deputation from the ,christians of ,bethlehem1 praying for immediate aid against the oppression of the infidels4 ,the very name of ,bethlehem1 the birthplace of the ,saviour1 was music to their ears1 and many of them wept with joy to think they were approaching a spot so hallowed4 ,albert of ,aix informs us that their hearts were so touched that sleep was banished from the camp1 and that1 instead of waiting till the morning's dawn to recommence their march1 they set out shortly after midnight1 full of hope and enthusiasm4 ,for upwards of four hours the mail-clad legions tramped stedfastly forward in the dark1 and when the sun arose in unclouded splendour1 the towers and pinnacles of ,jerusalem gleamed upon their sight4 ,all the tender feelings of their nature were touched2 no longer brutal fanatics1 but meek and humble pilgrims1 they knelt down upon the sod1 and with tears in their eyes1 exclaimed to one another ,jerusalem6 ,jerusalem6 ,some of them kissed the holy ground1 others stretched themselves at full length upon it1 in order that their bodies might come in contact with the greatest possible extent of it1 and others prayed aloud4 ,the women and children who had followed the camp from ,europe1 and shared in all its dangers1 fatigues1 and privations1 were more boisterous in their joy2 the former from long-nourished enthusiasm1 and the latter from mere imitation1#i and prayed1 and wept1 and laughed till they almost put the more sober to the blush4 #i ,guibert de ,nogent relates a curious instance of the imitativeness of these juvenile ,crusaders4 ,he says that1 during the siege of ,antioch1 the ,christian and ,saracen boys used to issue forth every evening from the town and camp in great numbers1 under the command of captains chosen from among themselves4 ,armed with sticks instead of swords1 and stones instead of arrows1 they ranged themselves in battle order1 and1 shouting each the war-cry of their country1 fought with the utmost desperation4 ,some of them lost their eyes1 and many became cripples for life from the injuries they received on these occasions4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,pilgrims ,,at ,,the ,,first ,,sight ,,of ,,jerusalem4 ,the first ebullition of their gladness having subsided1 the army marched forward1 and invested the city on all sides4 ,the assault was almost immediately begun2 but after the ,christians had lost some of their bravest knights1 that mode of attack was abandoned1 and the army commenced its preparations for a regular siege4 ,mangonels1 moveable towers1 and battering-rams1 together with a machine called a sow1 made of wood1 and covered with raw hides1 inside of which miners worked to undermine the walls1 were forthwith constructed2 and to restore the courage and discipline of the army1 which had suffered from the unworthy dissensions of the chiefs1 the latter held out the hand of friendship to each other1 and ,tancred and the ,count of ,toulouse embraced in sight of the whole camp4 ,the clergy aided the cause with their powerful voice1 and preached union and goodwill to the highest and the lowest4 ,a solemn procession was also ordered round the city1 in which the entire army joined1 prayers being offered up at every spot which gospel records had taught them to consider as peculiarly sacred4 ,the ,saracens upon the ramparts beheld all these manifestations without alarm4 ,to incense the ,christians1 whom they despised1 they constructed rude crosses1 and fixed them upon the walls1 and spat upon and pelted them with dirt and stones4 ,this insult to the symbol of their faith raised the wrath of the ,crusaders to that height that bravery became ferocity1 and enthusiasm madness4 ,when all the engines of war were completed1 the attack was recommenced1 and every soldier of the ,christian army fought with a vigour which the sense of private wrong invariably inspires4 ,every man had been personally outraged1 and the knights worked at the battering-rams with as much readiness as the meanest soldiers4 ,the ,saracen arrows and balls of fire fell thick and fast among them1 but the tremendous rams still heaved against the walls1 while the best marksmen of the host were busily employed in the several floors of the moveable towers in dealing death among the ,turks upon the battlements4 ,godfrey1 ,raymond1 ,tancred1 and ,robert of ,normandy1 each upon his tower1 fought for hours with unwearied energy1 often repulsed1 but ever ready to renew the struggle4 ,the ,turks1 no longer despising the enemy1 defended themselves with the utmost skill and bravery till darkness brought a cessation of hostilities4 ,short was the sleep that night in the ,christian camp4 ,the priests offered up solemn prayers in the midst of the attentive soldiery for the triumph of the cross in this last great struggle2 and as soon as morning dawned1 every one was in readiness for the affray4 ,the women and children lent their aid1 the latter running unconcerned to and fro while the arrows fell fast around them1 bearing water to the thirsty combatants4 ,the saints were believed to be aiding their efforts1 and the army1 impressed with this idea1 surmounted difficulties under which a force thrice as numerous1 but without their faith1 would have quailed and been defeated4 ,raymond of ,toulouse at last forced his way into the city by escalade1 while at the very same moment ,tancred and ,robert of ,normandy succeeded in bursting open one of the gates4 ,the ,turks flew to repair the mischief1 and ,godfrey of ,bouillon1 seeing the battlements comparatively deserted1 let down the drawbridge of his moveable tower1 and sprang forward1 followed by all the knights of his train4 ,in an instant after1 the banner of the cross floated upon the walls of ,jerusalem4 ,the ,crusaders1 raising once more their redoubtable war-cry1 rushed on from every side1 and the city was taken4 ,the battle raged in the streets for several hours1 and the ,christians1 remembering their insulted faith1 gave no quarter to young or old1 male or female1 sick or strong4 ,not one of the leaders thought himself at liberty to issue orders for staying the carnage1 and if he had1 he would not have been obeyed4 ,the ,saracens fled in great numbers to the mosque of ,soliman1 but they had not time to fortify themselves within it ere the ,christians were upon them4 ,ten thousand persons are said to have perished in that building alone4 ,peter the ,hermit1 who had remained so long under the veil of neglect1 was repaid that day for all his zeal and all his sufferings4 ,as soon as the battle was over1 the ,christians of ,jerusalem issued forth from their hiding-places to welcome their deliverers4 ,they instantly recognised the ,hermit as the pilgrim who1 years before1 had spoken to them so eloquently of the wrongs and insults they had endured1 and promised to stir up the princes and people of ,europe in their behalf4 ,they clung to the skirts of his garments in the fervour of their gratitude1 and vowed to remember him for ever in their prayers4 ,many of them shed tears about his neck1 and attributed the deliverance of ,jerusalem solely to his courage and perseverance4 ,peter afterwards held some ecclesiastical office in the holy city1 but what it was1 or what was his ultimate fate1 history has forgotten to inform us4 ,some say that he returned to ,france and founded a monastery1 but the story does not rest upon sufficient authority4 ,illustration3 ,,siege ,,of ,,jerusalem4 ,the grand object for which the popular swarms of ,europe had forsaken their homes was now accomplished4 ,the ,moslem mosques of ,jerusalem were converted into churches for a purer faith1 and the mount of ,calvary and the sepulchre of ,christ were profaned no longer by the presence or the power of the infidel4 ,popular frenzy had fulfilled its mission1 and1 as a natural consequence1 it began to subside from that time forth4 ,the news of the capture of ,jerusalem brought numbers of pilgrims from ,europe1 and1 among others1 ,stephen count of ,chartres and ,hugh of ,vermandois1 to atone for their desertion2 but nothing like the former enthusiasm existed among the nations4 ,thus then ends the history of the first ,crusade4 ,for the better understanding of the second1 it will be necessary to describe the interval between them1 and to enter into a slight sketch of the history of ,jerusalem under its ,latin kings1 the long and fruitless wars they continued to wage with the unvanquished ,saracens1 and the poor and miserable results which sprang from so vast an expenditure of zeal1 and so deplorable a waste of human life4 ,illustration3 ,,jerusalem4 ,the necessity of having some recognised chief was soon felt by the ,crusaders1 and ,godfrey de ,bouillon1 less ambitious than ,bohemund or ,raymond of ,toulouse1 gave his cold consent to wield a sceptre which the latter chiefs would have clutched with eagerness4 ,he was hardly invested with the royal mantle before the ,saracens menaced his capital4 ,with much vigour and judgment he exerted himself to follow up the advantages he had gained1 and marching out to meet the enemy before they had time to besiege him in ,jerusalem1 he gave them battle at ,ascalon1 and defeated them with great loss4 ,he did not1 however1 live long to enjoy his new dignity1 being seized with a fatal illness when he had only reigned nine months4 ,to him succeeded his brother1 ,baldwin of ,edessa4 ,the latter monarch did much to improve the condition of ,jerusalem and to extend its territory1 but was not able to make a firm footing for his successors4 ,for fifty years1 in which the history of ,jerusalem is full of interest to the historical student1 the ,crusaders were exposed to fierce and constant hostilities1 often gaining battles and territory1 and as often losing them1 but becoming every day weaker and more divided1 while the ,saracens became stronger and more united to harass and root them out4 ,the battles of this period were of the most chivalrous character1 and deeds of heroism were done by the handful of brave knights that remained in ,syria1 which have hardly their parallel in the annals of war4 ,in the course of time1 however1 the ,christians could not avoid feeling some respect for the courage1 and admiration for the polished manners and advanced civilisation of the ,saracens1 so much superior to the rudeness and semi-barbarism of ,europe at that day4 ,difference of faith did not prevent them from forming alliances with the dark-eyed maidens of the ,east4 ,one of the first to set the example of taking a ,paynim spouse was ,king ,baldwin himself1 and these connexions in time became not only frequent1 but almost universal1 among such of the knights as had resolved to spend their lives in ,palestine4 ,these ,eastern ladies were obliged1 however1 to submit to the ceremony of baptism before they could be received to the arms of a ,christian lord4 ,these1 and their offspring1 naturally looked upon the ,saracens with less hatred than did the zealots who conquered ,jerusalem1 and who thought it a sin deserving the wrath of ,god to spare an unbeliever4 ,we find1 in consequence1 that the most obstinate battles waged during the reigns of the later kings of ,jerusalem were fought by the new and raw levies who from time to time arrived from ,europe1 lured by the hope of glory or spurred by fanaticism4 ,the latter broke without scruple the truces established between the original settlers and the ,saracens1 and drew down severe retaliation upon many thousands of their brethren in the faith1 whose prudence was stronger than their zeal1 and whose chief desire was to live in peace4 ,illustration3 ,,bible ,,of ,,baldwin',s ,,queen4 ,things remained in this unsatisfactory state till the close of the year #aade1 when ,edessa1 the strong frontier town of the ,christian kingdom1 fell into the hands of the ,saracens4 ,the latter were commanded by ,zenghi1 a powerful and enterprising monarch1 and1 after his death1 by his son ,nourheddin1 as powerful and enterprising as his father4 ,an unsuccessful attempt was made by the ,count of ,edessa to regain the fortress1 but ,nourheddin with a large army came to the rescue1 and after defeating the count with great slaughter1 marched into ,edessa and caused its fortifications to be razed to the ground1 that the town might never more be a bulwark of defence for the kingdom of ,jerusalem4 ,the road to the capital was now open1 and consternation seized the hearts of the ,christians4 ,nourheddin1 it was known1 was only waiting for a favourable opportunity to advance upon ,jerusalem1 and the armies of the cross1 weakened and divided1 were not in a condition to make any available resistance4 ,the clergy were filled with grief and alarm1 and wrote repeated letters to the ,pope and the sovereigns of ,europe1 urging the expediency of a new ,crusade for the relief of ,jerusalem4 ,by far the greater number of the priests of ,palestine were natives of ,france1 and these naturally looked first to their own country4 ,the solicitations they sent to ,louis ,,vii4 were urgent and oft repeated1 and the chivalry of ,france began to talk once more of arming in defence of the birthplace of ,jesus4 ,the kings of ,europe1 whose interest it had not been to take any part in the first ,crusade1 began to bestir themselves in this2 and a man appeared1 eloquent as ,peter the ,hermit1 to arouse the people as that preacher had done4 ,we find1 however1 that the enthusiasm of the second did not equal that of the first ,crusade2 in fact1 the mania had reached its climax in the time of ,peter the ,hermit1 and decreased regularly from that period4 ,the third ,crusade was less general than the second1 and the fourth than the third1 and so on1 until the public enthusiasm was quite extinct1 and ,jerusalem returned at last to the dominion of its old masters without a convulsion in ,christendom4 ,various reasons have been assigned for this2 and one very generally put forward is1 that ,europe was wearied with continued struggles1 and had become sick of precipitating itself upon ,asia4 ,m4 ,guizot1 in his admirable lectures upon ,european civilisation1 successfully combats this opinion1 and offers one of his own1 which is far more satisfactory4 ,he says1 in his eighth lecture1 ,it has been often repeated that ,europe was tired of continually invading ,asia4 ,this expression appears to me exceedingly incorrect4 ,it is not possible that human beings can be wearied with what they have not done--that the labours of their forefathers can fatigue them4 ,weariness is a personal1 not an inherited feeling4 ,the men of the thirteenth century were not fatigued by the ,crusades of the twelfth4 ,they were influenced by another cause4 ,a great change had taken place in ideas1 sentiments1 and social conditions4 ,the same desires and the same wants were no longer felt4 ,the same things were no longer believed4 ,the people refused to believe what their ancestors were persuaded of4 ,this is1 in fact1 the secret of the change2 and its truth becomes more apparent as we advance in the history of the ,crusades1 and compare the state of the public mind at the different periods when ,godfrey of ,bouillon1 ,louis ,,vii41 and ,richard ,i41 were chiefs and leaders of the movement4 ,the ,crusades themselves were the means of operating a great change in national ideas1 and advancing the civilisation of ,europe4 ,in the time of ,godfrey1 the nobles were all-powerful and all-oppressive1 and equally obnoxious to kings and people4 ,during their absence along with that portion of the community the deepest sunk in ignorance and superstition1 both kings and people fortified themselves against the renewal of aristocratic tyranny1 and in proportion as they became free became civilised4 ,it was during this period that in ,france1 the grand centre of the crusading madness1 the communes began to acquire strength1 and the monarch to possess a practical and not a merely theoretic authority4 ,order and comfort began to take root1 and1 when the second ,crusade was preached1 men were in consequence much less willing to abandon their homes than they had been during the first4 ,such pilgrims as had returned from the ,holy ,land came back with minds more liberal and expanded than when they set out4 ,they had come in contact with a people more civilised than themselves2 they had seen something more of the world1 and had lost some portion1 however small1 of the prejudice and bigotry of ignorance4 ,the institution of chivalry had also exercised its humanising influence1 and coming bright and fresh through the ordeal of the ,crusades1 had softened the character and improved the hearts of the aristocratic order4 ,the ,trouvres and ,troubadours1 singing of love and war in strains pleasing to every class of society1 helped to root out the gloomy superstitions which1 at the first ,crusade1 filled the minds of all those who were able to think4 ,men became in consequence less exclusively under the mental thraldom of the priesthood1 and lost much of the credulity which formerly distinguished them4 ,the ,crusades appear never to have excited so much attention in ,england as on the continent of ,europe2 not because the people were less fanatical than their neighbours1 but because they were occupied in matters of graver interest4 ,the ,english were suffering too severely from the recent successful invasion of their soil1 to have much sympathy to bestow upon the distresses of people so far away as the ,christians of ,palestine2 and we find that they took no part in the first ,crusade1 and very little in the second4 ,even then those who engaged in it were chiefly ,norman knights and their vassals1 and not the ,saxon franklins and population1 who no doubt thought1 in their sorrow1 as many wise men have thought since1 that charity should begin at home4 ,germany was productive of more zeal in the cause1 and her raw uncivilised hordes continued to issue forth under the banners of the cross in numbers apparently undiminished1 when the enthusiasm had long been on the wane in other countries4 ,they were sunk at that time in a deeper slough of barbarism than the livelier nations around them1 and took1 in consequence1 a longer period to free themselves from their prejudices4 ,in fact the second ,crusade drew its chief supplies of men from that quarter1 where alone the expedition can be said to have retained any portion of popularity4 ,such was the state of mind of ,europe when ,pope ,eugenius1 moved by the reiterated entreaties of the ,christians of ,syria1 commissioned ,st4 ,bernard to preach a new ,crusade4 ,st4 ,bernard was a man eminently qualified for the mission4 ,he was endowed with an eloquence of the highest order1 could move an auditory to tears1 or laughter1 or fury1 as it pleased him1 and had led a life of such rigid and self-denying virtue1 that not even calumny could lift her finger and point it at him4 ,he had renounced high prospects in the ,church1 and contented himself with the simple abbacy of ,clairvaux1 in order that he might have the leisure he desired1 to raise his powerful voice against abuses wherever he found them4 ,vice met in him an austere and uncompromising reprover2 no man was too high for his reproach1 and none too low for his sympathy4 ,he was just as well suited for his age as ,peter the ,hermit had been for the age preceding4 ,he appealed more to the reason1 his predecessor to the passions2 ,peter the ,hermit collected a mob1 while ,st4 ,bernard collected an army4 ,both were endowed with equal zeal and perseverance1 springing in the one from impulse1 and in the other from conviction1 and a desire to increase the influence of the ,church1 that great body of which he was a pillar and an ornament4 ,illustration3 ,,cathedral ,,of ,,vezelai4 ,one of the first converts he made was in himself a host4 ,louis ,,vii4 was both superstitious and tyrannical1 and1 in a fit of remorse for the infamous slaughter he had authorised at the sacking of ,vitry1 he made a vow to undertake the journey to the ,holy ,land4#aj ,he was in this disposition when ,st4 ,bernard began to preach1 and wanted but little persuasion to embark in the cause4 ,his example had great influence upon the nobility1 who1 impoverished as many of them were by the sacrifices made by their fathers in the holy wars1 were anxious to repair their ruined fortunes by conquests on a foreign shore4 ,these took the field with such vassals as they could command1 and in a very short time an army was raised amounting to two hundred thousand men4 ,at ,vezelai the monarch received the cross from the hands of ,st4 ,bernard1 on a platform elevated in sight of all the people4 ,several nobles1 three bishops1 and his queen1 ,eleanor of ,aquitaine1 were present at this ceremony1 and enrolled themselves under the banner of the cross1 ,st4 ,bernard cutting up his red sacerdotal vestments1 and making crosses of them1 to be sewn on the shoulders of the people4 ,an exhortation from the ,pope was read to the multitude1 granting remission of their sins to all who should join the ,crusade1 and directing that no man on that holy pilgrimage should encumber himself with heavy baggage and vain superfluities1 and that the nobles should not travel with dogs or falcons1 to lead them from the direct road1 as had happened to so many during the first ,crusade4 #aj ,the sacking of ,vitry reflects indelible disgrace upon ,louis ,,vii4 ,his predecessors had been long engaged in resistance to the outrageous powers assumed by the ,popes1 and ,louis continued the same policy4 ,the ecclesiastical chapter of ,bourges1 having elected an archbishop without his consent1 he proclaimed the election to be invalid1 and took severe and prompt measures against the refractory clergy4 ,thibault count de ,champagne took up arms in defence of the ,papal authority1 and entrenched himself in the town of ,vitry4 ,louis immediately took the field to chastise the rebel1 and he besieged the town with so much vigour that the count was forced to surrender4 ,upwards of thirteen hundred of the inhabitants1 fully one half of whom were women and children1 took refuge in the church2 and1 when the gates of the city were opened1 and all resistance had ceased1 ,louis inhumanly gave orders to set fire to the sacred edifice1 and a thousand persons perished in the flames4 ,the command of the army was offered to ,st4 ,bernard2 but he wisely refused to accept a station for which his habits had unqualified him4 ,after consecrating ,louis with great solemnity1 at ,st4 ,denis1 as chief of the expedition1 he continued his course through the country1 stirring up the people wherever he went4 ,so high an opinion was entertained of his sanctity1 that he was thought to be animated by the spirit of prophecy1 and to be gifted with the power of working miracles4 ,many women1 excited by his eloquence1 and encouraged by his predictions1 forsook their husbands and children1 and1 clothing themselves in male attire1 hastened to the war4 ,st4 ,bernard himself wrote a letter to the ,pope detailing his success1 and stating1 that in several towns there did not remain a single male inhabitant capable of bearing arms1 and that every where castles and towns were to be seen filled with women weeping for their absent husbands4 ,but in spite of this apparent enthusiasm1 the numbers who really took up arms were inconsiderable1 and not to be compared to the swarms of the first ,crusade4 ,a levy of no more than two hundred thousand men1 which was the utmost the number amounted to1 could hardly have depopulated a country like ,france1 to the extent mentioned by ,st4 ,bernard4 ,his description of the state of the country appears1 therefore1 to have been much more poetical than true4 ,suger1 the able minister of ,louis1 endeavoured to dissuade him from undertaking so long a journey at a time when his own dominions so much needed his presence4 ,but the king was pricked in his conscience by the cruelties of ,vitry1 and was anxious to make the only reparation which the religion of that day considered sufficient4 ,he was desirous1 moreover1 of testifying to the world1 that though he could brave the temporal power of the ,church when it encroached upon his prerogatives1 he could render all due obedience to its spiritual decrees whenever it suited his interest or tallied with his prejudices to do so4 ,suger1 therefore1 implored in vain1 and ,louis received the pilgrim's staff at ,st4 ,denis1 and made all preparations for his pilgrimage4 ,in the mean time ,st4 ,bernard passed into ,germany1 where similar success attended his preaching4 ,the renown of his sanctity had gone before him1 and he found every where an admiring audience4 ,thousands of people1 who could not understand a word he said1 flocked around him to catch a glimpse of so holy a man2 and the knights enrolled themselves in great numbers in the service of the cross1 each receiving from his hands the symbol of the cause4 ,but the people were not led away as in the days of ,gottschalk4 ,we do not find that they rose in such tremendous masses of two and three hundred thousand men1 swarming over the country like a plague of locusts4 ,still the enthusiasm was very great4 ,the extraordinary tales that were told and believed of the miracles worked by the preacher brought the country people from far and near4 ,devils were said to vanish at his sight1 and diseases of the most malignant nature to be cured by his touch4#aa ,the ,emperor ,conrad caught at last the contagion from his subjects1 and declared his intention to follow the cross4 #aa ,philip1 ,archdeacon of the cathedral of ,liege1 wrote a detailed account of all the miracles performed by ,st4 ,bernard during thirty-four days of his mission4 ,they averaged about ten per day4 ,the disciples of ,st4 ,bernard complained bitterly that the people flocked around their master in such numbers1 that they could not see half the miracles he performed4 ,but they willingly trusted the eyes of others1 as far as faith in the miracles went1 and seemed to vie with each other whose credulity should be greatest4 ,the preparations were carried on so vigorously under the orders of ,conrad1 that in less than three months he found himself at the head of an army containing at least one hundred and fifty thousand effective men1 besides a great number of women who followed their husbands and lovers to the war4 ,one troop of them rode in the attitude and armour of men3 their chief wore gilt spurs and buskins1 and thence acquired the epithet of the golden-footed lady4 ,conrad was ready to set out long before the ,french monarch1 and in the month of ,june #aadg1 he arrived before ,constantinople1 having passed through ,hungary and ,bulgaria without offence to the inhabitants4 ,illustration3 ,,pilgrim',s ,,staff4 ,manuel ,comnenus1 the ,greek emperor1 successor not only to the throne but to the policy of ,alexius1 looked with alarm upon the new levies who had come to eat up his capital and imperil its tranquillity4 ,too weak to refuse them a passage through his dominions1 too distrustful of them to make them welcome when they came1 and too little assured of the advantages likely to result to himself from the war1 to feign a friendship which he did not feel1 the ,greek emperor gave offence at the very outset4 ,his subjects1 in the pride of superior civilisation1 called the ,germans barbarians2 while the latter1 who1 if semi-barbarous1 were at least honest and straightforward1 retorted upon the ,greeks by calling them double-faced knaves and traitors4 ,disputes continually arose between them1 and ,conrad1 who had preserved so much good order among his followers during their passage1 was unable to restrain their indignation when they arrived at ,constantinople4 ,for some offence or other which the ,greeks had given them1 but which is rather hinted at than stated by the scanty historians of the day1 the ,germans broke into the magnificent pleasure-garden of the emperor1 where he had a valuable collection of tame animals1 for which the grounds had been laid out in woods1 caverns1 groves1 and streams1 that each might follow in captivity his natural habits4 ,the enraged ,germans1 meriting the name of barbarians that had been bestowed upon them1 laid waste this pleasant retreat1 and killed or let loose the valuable animals it contained4 ,manuel1 who is said to have beheld the devastation from his palace windows without power or courage to prevent it1 was completely disgusted with his guests1 and resolved1 like his predecessor ,alexius1 to get rid of them on the first opportunity4 ,he sent a message to ,conrad respectfully desiring an interview1 but the ,german refused to trust himself within the walls of ,constantinople4 ,the ,greek emperor1 on his part1 thought it compatible neither with his dignity nor his safety to seek the ,german1 and several days were spent in insincere negotiations4 ,manuel at length agreed to furnish the crusading army with guides to conduct it through ,asia ,minor2 and ,conrad passed over the ,hellespont with his forces1 the advanced guard being commanded by himself1 and the rear by the warlike ,bishop of ,freysinghen4 ,historians are almost unanimous in their belief that the wily ,greek gave instructions to his guides to lead the army of the ,german emperor into dangers and difficulties4 ,it is certain that1 instead of guiding them through such districts of ,asia ,minor as afforded water and provisions1 they led them into the wilds of ,cappadocia1 where neither was to be procured1 and where they were suddenly attacked by the sultan of the ,seljukian ,turks1 at the head of an immense force4 ,the guides1 whose treachery is apparent from this fact alone1 fled at the first sight of the ,turkish army1 and the ,christians were left to wage unequal warfare with their enemy1 entangled and bewildered in desert wilds4 ,toiling in their heavy mail1 the ,germans could make but little effective resistance to the attacks of the ,turkish light horse1 who were down upon them one instant1 and out of sight the next4 ,now in the front and now in the rear1 the agile foe showered his arrows upon them1 enticing them into swamps and hollows1 from which they could only extricate themselves after long struggles and great losses4 ,the ,germans1 confounded by this mode of warfare1 lost all conception of the direction they were pursuing1 and went back instead of forward4 ,suffering at the same time for want of provisions1 they fell an easy prey to their pursuers4 ,count ,bernhard1 one of the bravest leaders of the ,german expedition1 was surrounded1 with his whole division1 not one of whom escaped the ,turkish arrows4 ,the emperor himself had nearly fallen a victim1 and was twice severely wounded4 ,so persevering was the enemy1 and so little able were the ,germans to make even a shew of resistance1 that when ,conrad at last reached the city of ,nice1 he found that1 instead of being at the head of an imposing force of one hundred thousand foot and seventy thousand horse1 he had but fifty or sixty thousand men1 and these in the most worn and wearied condition4 ,totally ignorant of the treachery of the ,greek emperor1 although he had been warned to beware of it1 ,louis ,,vii4 proceeded1 at the head of his army1 through ,worms and ,ratisbon1 towards ,constantinople4 ,at ,ratisbon he was met by a deputation from ,manuel1 bearing letters so full of hyperbole and flattery1 that ,louis is reported to have blushed when they were read to him by the ,bishop of ,langres4 ,the object of the deputation was to obtain from the ,french king a promise to pass through the ,grecian territories in a peaceable and friendly manner1 and to yield to the ,greek emperor any conquest he might make in ,asia ,minor4 ,the first part of the proposition was immediately acceded to1 but no notice was taken of the second and more unreasonable4 ,louis marched on1 and1 passing through ,hungary1 pitched his tents in the outskirts of ,constantinople4 ,on his arrival1 ,manuel sent him a friendly invitation to enter the city at the head of a small train4 ,louis at once accepted it1 and was met by the emperor at the porch of his palace4 ,the fairest promises were made2 every art that flattery could suggest was resorted to1 and every argument employed1 to induce him to yield his future conquests to the ,greek4 ,louis obstinately refused to pledge himself1 and returned to his army convinced that the emperor was a man not to be trusted4 ,negotiations were1 however1 continued for several days1 to the great dissatisfaction of the ,french army4 ,the news that arrived of a treaty entered into between ,manuel and the ,turkish sultan changed their dissatisfaction into fury1 and the leaders demanded to be led against ,constantinople1 swearing that they would raze the treacherous city to the ground4 ,louis did not feel inclined to accede to this proposal1 and1 breaking up his camp1 he crossed over into ,asia4 ,here he heard1 for the first time1 of the mishaps of the ,german emperor1 whom he found in a woful plight under the walls of ,nice4 ,the two monarchs united their forces1 and marched together along the sea-coast to ,ephesus2 but ,conrad1 jealous1 it would appear1 of the superior numbers of the ,french1 and not liking to sink into a vassal1 for the time being1 of his rival1 withdrew abruptly with the remnant of his legions1 and returned to ,constantinople4 ,manuel was all smiles and courtesy4 ,he condoled with the ,german so feelingly upon his losses1 and cursed the stupidity or treachery of the guides with such apparent heartiness1 that ,conrad was half inclined to believe in his sincerity4 ,louis1 marching onward in the direction of ,jerusalem1 came up with the enemy on the banks of the ,meander4 ,the ,turks contested the passage of the river1 but the ,french bribed a peasant to point out a ford lower down3 crossing the river without difficulty1 they attacked the ,turks with much vigour1 and put them to flight4 ,whether the ,turks were really defeated1 or merely pretended to be so1 is doubtful2 but the latter supposition seems to be the true one4 ,it is probable that it was part of a concerted plan to draw the invaders onwards to more unfavourable ground1 where their destruction might be more certain4 ,if such were the scheme1 it succeeded to the heart's wish of its projectors4 ,the ,crusaders1 on the third day after their victory1 arrived at a steep mountain-pass1 on the summit of which the ,turkish host lay concealed so artfully1 that not the slightest vestige of their presence could be perceived4 ,with labouring steps and slow1 they toiled up the steep ascent1 when suddenly a tremendous fragment of rock came bounding down the precipices with an awful crash1 bearing dismay and death before it4 ,at the same instant the ,turkish archers started from their hiding-places1 and discharged a shower of arrows upon the foot-soldiers1 who fell by hundreds at a time4 ,the arrows rebounded harmlessly against the iron mail of the knights1 which the ,turks observing1 took aim at their steeds1 and horse and rider fell down the steep into the rapid torrent which rushed below4 ,louis1 who commanded the rear-guard1 received the first intimation of the onslaught from the sight of the wounded and flying soldiers1 and1 not knowing the numbers of the enemy1 he pushed vigorously forward to stay1 by his presence1 the panic which had taken possession of his army4 ,all his efforts were in vain4 ,immense stones continued to be hurled upon them as they advanced1 bearing men and horse before them2 and those who succeeded in forcing their way to the top were met hand-to-hand by the ,turks1 and cast down headlong upon their companions4 ,louis himself fought with the energy of desperation1 but had great difficulty to avoid falling into the enemy's hands4 ,he escaped at last under cover of the night1 with the remnant of his forces1 and took up his position before ,attalia4 ,here he restored the discipline and the courage of his disorganised and disheartened followers1 and debated with his captains the plan that was to be pursued4 ,after suffering severely both from disease and famine1 it was resolved that they should march to ,antioch1 which still remained an independent principality under the successors of ,bohemund of ,tarentum4 ,at this time the sovereignty was vested in the person of ,raymond1 the uncle of ,eleanor of ,aquitaine4 ,this prince1 presuming upon his relationship to the ,french queen1 endeavoured to withdraw ,louis from the grand object of the ,crusade--the defence of the kingdom of ,jerusalem1 and secure his co-operation in extending the limits and the power of his principality of ,antioch4 ,the ,prince of ,tripoli formed a similar design2 but ,louis rejected the offers of both1 and marched1 after a short delay1 to ,jerusalem4 ,the ,emperor ,conrad was there before him1 having left ,constantinople with promises of assistance from ,manuel ,comnenus--assistance which never arrived1 and was never intended4 ,illustration3 ,,damascus4 ,a great council of the ,christian princes of ,palestine1 and the leaders of the ,crusade1 was then summoned1 to discuss the future operations of the war4 ,it was ultimately determined that it would further the cause of the cross in a greater degree if the united armies1 instead of proceeding to ,edessa1 laid siege to the city of ,damascus1 and drove the ,saracens from that strong position4 ,this was a bold scheme1 and1 had it been boldly followed out1 would have insured1 in all probability1 the success of the war4 ,but the ,christian leaders never learned from experience the necessity of union1 that very soul of great enterprises4 ,though they all agreed upon the policy of the plan1 yet every one had his own notions as to the means of executing it4 ,the princes of ,antioch and ,tripoli were jealous of each other1 and of the king of ,jerusalem4 ,the ,emperor ,conrad was jealous of the king of ,france1 and the king of ,france was disgusted with them all4 ,but he had come out to ,palestine in accordance with a solemn vow2 his religion1 though it may be called bigotry1 was sincere2 and he determined to remain to the very last moment that a chance was left of effecting any good for the cause he had set his heart on4 ,the siege of ,damascus was accordingly commenced1 and with so much ability and vigour that the ,christians gained a considerable advantage at the very outset4 ,for weeks the siege was pressed1 till the shattered fortifications and diminishing resistance of the besieged gave evidence that the city could not hold out much longer4 ,at that moment the insane jealousy of the leaders led to dissensions that soon caused the utter failure1 not only of the siege but of the ,crusade4 ,a modern cookery-book1 in giving a recipe for cooking a hare1 says1 first catch your hare1 and then kill it--a maxim of indisputable wisdom4 ,the ,christian chiefs1 on this occasion1 had not so much sagacity1 for they began a violent dispute among themselves for the possession of a city which was still unconquered4 ,there being already a prince of ,antioch and a prince of ,tripoli1 twenty claimants started for the principality of ,damascus2 and a grand council of the leaders was held to determine the individual on whom the honour should devolve4 ,many valuable days were wasted in this discussion1 the enemy in the meanwhile gaining strength from their inactivity4 ,it was at length1 after a stormy deliberation1 agreed that ,count ,robert of ,flanders1 who had twice visited the ,holy ,land1 should be invested with the dignity4 ,the other claimants refused to recognise him or to co-operate in the siege until a more equitable arrangement had been made4 ,suspicion filled the camp2 the most sinister rumours of intrigues and treachery were set afloat2 and the discontented candidates withdrew at last to the other side of the city1 and commenced operations on their own account without a probability of success4 ,they were soon joined by the rest of the army4 ,the consequence was that the weakest side of the city1 and that on which they had already made considerable progress in the work of demolition1 was left uncovered4 ,the enemy was prompt to profit by the mistake1 and received an abundant supply of provisions1 and refortified the walls1 before the ,crusaders came to their senses again4 ,when this desirable event happened1 it was too late4 ,saph ,eddin1 the powerful emir of ,mousoul1 was in the neighbourhood1 at the head of a large army1 advancing by forced marches to the relief of the city4 ,the siege was abruptly abandoned1 and the foolish ,crusaders returned to ,jerusalem1 having done nothing to weaken the enemy1 but every thing to weaken themselves4 ,the freshness of enthusiasm had now completely subsided2 even the meanest soldiers were sick at heart4 ,conrad1 from whose fierce zeal at the outset so much might have been expected1 was wearied with reverses1 and returned to ,europe with the poor remnant of his host4 ,louis lingered a short time longer1 for very shame1 but the pressing solicitations of his minister ,suger induced him to return to ,france4 ,thus ended the second ,crusade4 ,its history is but a chronicle of defeats4 ,it left the kingdom of ,jerusalem in a worse state than when it quitted ,europe1 and gained nothing but disgrace for its leaders1 and discouragement for all concerned4 ,st4 ,bernard1 who had prophesied a result so different1 fell after this into some disrepute1 and experienced1 like many other prophets1 the fate of being without honour in his own country4 ,what made the matter worse1 he could not obtain it in any other4 ,still1 however1 there were not wanting zealous advocates to stand forward in his behalf1 and stem the tide of incredulity1 which1 unopposed1 would have carried away his reputation4 ,the ,bishop of ,freysinghen declared that prophets were not always able to prophesy1 and that the vices of the ,crusaders drew down the wrath of heaven upon them4 ,but the most ingenious excuse ever made for ,st4 ,bernard is to be found in his life by ,geoffroi de ,clairvaux1 where he pertinaciously insists that the ,crusade was not unfortunate4 ,st4 ,bernard1 he says1 had prophesied a happy result1 and that result could not be considered other than happy which had peopled heaven with so glorious an army of martyrs4 ,geoffroi was a cunning pleader1 and1 no doubt1 convinced a few of the zealous2 but plain people1 who were not wanting even in those days1 retained their own opinion1 or1 what amounts to the same thing1 were convinced against their will4 ,we now come to the consideration of the third ,crusade1 and of the causes which rendered it necessary4 ,the epidemic frenzy1 which had been cooling ever since the issue of the first expedition1 was now extinct1 or very nearly so1 and the nations of ,europe looked with cold indifference upon the armaments of their princes4 ,but chivalry had flourished in its natural element of war1 and was now in all its glory4 ,it continued to supply armies for the ,holy ,land when the popular ranks refused to deliver up their able-bodied swarms4 ,poetry1 which1 more than religion1 inspired the third ,crusade1 was then but caviare to the million1 who had other matters1 of sterner import1 to claim all their attention4 ,but the knights and their retainers listened with delight to the martial and amatory strains of the minstrels1 minnesngers1 trouvres1 and troubadours1 and burned to win favour in ladies' eyes by shewing prowess in the ,holy ,land4 ,the third was truly the romantic era of the ,crusades4 ,men fought then1 not so much for the sepulchre of ,jesus1 and the maintenance of a ,christian kingdom in the ,east1 as to gain glory for themselves in the best and almost only field where glory could be obtained4 ,they fought1 not as zealots1 but as soldiers2 not for religion1 but for honour2 not for the crown of martyrdom1 but for the favour of the lovely4 ,illustration3 ,,seal ,,of ,,barbarossa4 ,it is not necessary to enter into a detail of the events by which ,saladin attained the sovereignty of the ,east1 or how1 after a succession of engagements1 he planted the ,moslem banner once more upon the battlements of ,jerusalem4 ,the ,christian knights and population1 including the grand orders of ,st4 ,john1 the ,hospitallers1 and the ,templars1 were sunk in an abyss of vice1 and1 torn by unworthy jealousies and dissensions1 were unable to resist the well-trained armies which the wise and mighty ,saladin brought forward to crush them4 ,but the news of their fall created a painful sensation among the chivalry of ,europe1 whose noblest members were linked to the dwellers in ,palestine by many ties1 both of blood and friendship4 ,the news of the great battle of ,tiberias1 in which ,saladin defeated the ,christian host with terrible slaughter1 arrived first in ,europe1 and was followed in quick succession by that of the capture of ,jerusalem1 ,antioch1 ,tripoli1 and other cities4 ,dismay seized upon the clergy4 ,the ,pope 7,urban ,,iii47 was so affected by the news that he pined away for grief1 and was scarcely seen to smile again1 until he sank into the sleep of death4#ab ,his successor1 ,gregory ,,viii41 felt the loss as acutely1 but had better strength to bear it1 and instructed all the clergy of the ,christian world to stir up the people to arms for the recovery of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,william ,archbishop of ,tyre1 a humble follower in the path of ,peter the ,hermit1 left ,palestine to preach to the kings of ,europe the miseries he had witnessed1 and to incite them to the rescue4 ,the renowned ,frederick ,barbarossa1 the emperor of ,germany1 speedily collected an army1 and passing over into ,syria with less delay than had ever before awaited a crusading force1 defeated the ,saracens1 and took possession of the city of ,iconium4 ,he was unfortunately cut off in the middle of his successful career1 by imprudently bathing in the ,cydnus#ac while he was overheated1 and the ,duke of ,suabia took the command of the expedition4 ,the latter did not prove so able a general1 and met with nothing but reverses1 although he was enabled to maintain a footing at ,antioch until assistance arrived from ,europe4 #ab ,james of ,vitry2 ,william de ,nangis4 #ac ,the desire of comparing two great men has tempted many writers to drown ,frederick in the river ,cydnus1 in which ,alexander so imprudently bathed 7,q4 ,curt4 lib4 iii4 c4 #d1 #e72 but1 from the march of the emperor1 ,i rather judge that his ,saleph is the ,calycadnus1 a stream of less fame1 but of a longer course4--,gibbon4 ,illustration3 ,,henry ,,ii4 ,,of ,,england4 ,illustration3 ,,chateau ,,of ,,gisors4 ,henry ,,ii4 of ,england and ,philip ,augustus of ,france1 at the head of their chivalry1 supported the ,crusade with all their influence1 until wars and dissensions nearer home estranged them from it for a time4 ,the two kings met at ,gisors in ,normandy in the month of ,january1 #aahh1 accompanied by a brilliant train of knights and warriors4 ,william of ,tyre was present1 and expounded the cause of the cross with considerable eloquence1 and the whole assembly bound themselves by oath to proceed to ,jerusalem4 ,it was agreed at the same time that a tax1 called ,saladin's tithe1 and consisting of the tenth part of all possessions1 whether landed or personal1 should be enforced over ,christendom1 upon every one who was either unable or unwilling to assume the cross4 ,the lord of every feof1 whether lay or ecclesiastical1 was charged to raise the tithe within his own jurisdiction2 and any one who refused to pay his quota1 became by that act the bondsman and absolute property of his lord4 ,at the same time the greatest indulgence was shewn to those who assumed the cross2 no man was at liberty to stay them by process of any kind1 whether for debt1 or robbery1 or murder4 ,the king of ,france1 at the breaking up of the conference1 summoned a parliament at ,paris1 where these resolutions were solemnly confirmed1 while ,henry ,,ii4 did the same for his ,norman possessions at ,rouen1 and for ,england at ,geddington1 in ,northamptonshire4 ,to use the words of an ancient chronicler1#ad he held a parliament about the voyage into the ,holy ,land1 and troubled the whole land with the paying of tithes towards it4 #ad ,stowe4 ,illustration3 ,,philip ,,augustus4 ,but it was not ,england alone that was troubled by the tax4 ,the people of ,france also looked upon it with no pleasant feelings1 and appear from that time forth to have changed their indifference for the ,crusade into aversion4 ,even the clergy1 who were exceedingly willing that other people should contribute half1 or even all their goods in furtherance of their favourite scheme1 were not at all anxious to contribute a single sous themselves4 ,millot#ae relates that several of them cried out against the impost4 ,among the rest1 the clergy of ,rheims were called upon to pay their quota1 but sent a deputation to the king1 begging him to be contented with the aid of their prayers1 as they were too poor to contribute in any other shape4 ,philip ,augustus knew better1 and by way of giving them a lesson1 employed three nobles of the vicinity to lay waste the ,church lands4 ,the clergy1 informed of the outrage1 applied to the king for redress4 ,i will aid you with my prayers1 said the monarch condescendingly1 and will entreat those gentlemen to let the ,church alone4 ,he did as he had promised1 but in such a manner that the nobles1 who appreciated the joke1 continued their devastations as before4 ,again the clergy applied to the king4 ,what would you have of me8 he replied1 in answer to their remonstrances3 you gave me your prayers in my necessity1 and ,i have given you mine in yours4 ,the clergy understood the argument1 and thought it the wiser course to pay their quota of ,saladin's tithe without further parley4 #ae ,elmens de l',histoire de ,france4 ,this anecdote shews the unpopularity of the ,crusade4 ,if the clergy disliked to contribute1 it is no wonder that the people felt still greater antipathy4 ,but the chivalry of ,europe was eager for the affray3 the tithe was rigorously collected1 and armies from ,england1 ,france1 ,burgundy1 ,italy1 ,flanders1 and ,germany1 were soon in the field4 ,the two kings who were to have led it were1 however1 drawn into broils by an aggression of ,richard duke of ,guienne1 better known as ,richard ,coeur de ,lion1 upon the territory of the ,count of ,toulouse1 and the proposed journey to ,palestine was delayed4 ,war continued to rage between ,france and ,england1 and with so little probability of a speedy termination1 that many of the nobles1 bound to the ,crusade1 left the two monarchs to settle the differences at their leisure1 and proceeded to ,palestine without them4 ,death at last stepped in and removed ,henry ,,ii4 from the hostility of his foes1 and the treachery and ingratitude of his children4 ,his son ,richard immediately concluded an alliance with ,philip ,augustus2 and the two young1 valiant1 and impetuous monarchs united all their energies to forward the ,crusade4 ,they met with a numerous and brilliant retinue at ,nonancourt in ,normandy1 where1 in sight of their assembled chivalry1 they embraced as brothers1 and swore to live as friends and true allies1 until a period of forty days after their return from the ,holy ,land4 ,with a view of purging their camp from the follies and vices which had proved so ruinous to preceding expeditions1 they drew up a code of laws for the government of the army4 ,gambling had been carried to a great extent1 and proved the fruitful source of quarrels and bloodshed2 and one of their laws prohibited any person in the army1 beneath the degree of a knight1 from playing at any game for money4#af ,knights and clergymen might play for money1 but no one was permitted to lose or gain more than twenty shillings in a day1 under a penalty of one hundred shillings4 ,the personal attendants of the monarchs were also allowed to play to the same extent4 ,the penalty in their case for infraction was that they should be whipped naked through the army for the space of three days4 ,any ,crusader1 who struck another and drew blood1 was ordered to have his hand cut off2 and whoever slew a brother ,crusader was condemned to be tied alive to the corpse of his victim1 and buried with him4 ,no young women were allowed to follow the army1 to the great sorrow of many vicious and of many virtuous dames1 who had not courage to elude the decree by dressing in male attire4 ,but many high-minded and affectionate maidens and matrons1 bearing the sword or the spear1 followed their husbands and lovers to the war in spite of ,king ,richard1 and in defiance of danger4 ,the only women allowed to accompany the army in their own habiliments were washerwomen of fifty years complete1 and any others of the fair sex who had reached the same age4 #af ,strutt's ,sports and ,pastimes4 ,these rules having been promulgated1 the two monarchs marched together to ,lyons1 where they separated1 agreeing to meet again at ,messina4 ,philip proceeded across the ,alps to ,genoa1 where he took ship1 and was conveyed in safety to the place of rendezvous4 ,richard turned in the direction of ,marseilles1 where he also took ship for ,messina4 ,his impetuous disposition hurried him into many squabbles by the way1 and his knights and followers1 for the most part as brave and as foolish as himself1 imitated him very zealously in this particular4 ,at ,messina the ,sicilians charged the most exorbitant prices for every necessary of life4 ,richard's army in vain remonstrated4 ,from words they came to blows1 and1 as a last resource1 plundered the ,sicilians1 since they could not trade with them4 ,continual battles were the consequence1 in one of which ,lebrun1 the favourite attendant of ,richard1 lost his life4 ,the peasantry from far and near came flocking to the aid of the townspeople1 and the battle soon became general4 ,richard1 irritated at the loss of his favourite1 and incited by report that ,tancred1 the king of ,sicily1 was fighting at the head of his own people1 joined the mle with his boldest knights1 and1 beating back the ,sicilians1 attacked the city sword in hand1 stormed the battlements1 tore down the flag of ,sicily1 and planted his own in its stead4 ,this collision gave great offence to the king of ,france1 who became from that time jealous of ,richard1 and apprehensive that his design was not so much to re-establish the ,christian kingdom of ,jerusalem1 as to make conquests for himself4 ,he1 however1 exerted his influence to restore peace between the ,english and ,sicilians1 and shortly afterwards set sail for ,acre1 with distrust of his ally germinating in his heart4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,island ,,of ,,rhodes4 ,richard remained behind for some weeks in a state of inactivity quite unaccountable in one of his temperament4 ,he appears to have had no more squabbles with the ,sicilians1 but to have lived an easy1 luxurious life1 forgetting1 in the lap of pleasure1 the objects for which he had quitted his own dominions and the dangerous laxity he was introducing into his army4 ,the superstition of his soldiers recalled him at length to a sense of his duty3 a comet was seen for several successive nights1 which was thought to menace them with the vengeance of ,heaven for their delay4 ,shooting stars gave them similar warning2 and a fanatic1 of the name of ,joachim1 with his drawn sword in his hand1 and his long hair streaming wildly over his shoulders1 went through the camp1 howling all night long1 and predicting plague1 famine1 and every other calamity1 if they did not set out immediately4 ,richard did not deem it prudent to neglect the intimations2 and1 after doing humble penance for his remissness1 he set sail for ,acre4 ,a violent storm dispersed his fleet1 but he arrived safely at ,rhodes with the principal part of the armament4 ,here he learned that three of his ships had been stranded on the rocky coasts of ,cyprus1 and that the ruler of the island1 ,isaac ,comnenus1 had permitted his people to pillage the unfortunate crews1 and had refused shelter to his betrothed bride1 the ,princess ,berengaria1 and his sister1 who1 in one of the vessels1 had been driven by stress of weather into the port of ,limisso4 ,the fiery monarch swore to be revenged1 and1 collecting all his vessels1 sailed back to ,limisso4 ,isaac ,comnenus refused to apologise or explain1 and ,richard1 in no mood to be trifled with1 landed on the island1 routed with great loss the forces sent to oppose him1 and laid the whole country under contribution4 ,illustration3 ,,richard ,i4 ,,and ,,berengaria4 ,on his arrival at ,acre he found the whole of the chivalry of ,europe there before him4 ,guy of ,lusignan1 the king of ,jerusalem1 had long before collected the bold ,knights of the ,temple1 the ,hospital1 and ,st4 ,john1 and had laid siege to ,acre1 which was resolutely defended by the ,sultan ,saladin1 with an army magnificent both for its numbers and its discipline4 ,for nearly two years the ,crusaders had pushed the siege1 and made efforts almost superhuman to dislodge the enemy4 ,various battles had taken place in the open fields with no decisive advantage to either party1 and ,guy of ,lusignan had begun to despair of taking that strong position without aid from ,europe4 ,his joy was extreme on the arrival of ,philip with all his chivalry1 and he only awaited the coming of ,coeur de ,lion to make one last decisive attack upon the town4 ,when the fleet of ,england was first seen approaching the shores of ,syria1 a universal shout arose from the ,christian camp2 and when ,richard landed with his train1 one louder still pierced to the very mountains of the south1 where ,saladin lay with all his army4 ,it may be remarked as characteristic of this ,crusade1 that the ,christians and the ,moslems no longer looked upon each other as barbarians1 to whom mercy was a crime4 ,each host entertained the highest admiration for the bravery and magnanimity of the other1 and1 in their occasional truces1 met upon the most friendly terms4 ,the ,moslem warriors were full of courtesy to the ,christian knights1 and had no other regret than to think that such fine fellows were not ,mahomedans4 ,the ,christians1 with a feeling precisely similar1 extolled to the skies the nobleness of the ,saracens1 and sighed to think that such generosity and valour should be sullied by disbelief in the ,gospel of ,jesus4 ,but when the strife began1 all these feelings disappeared1 and the struggle became mortal4 ,the jealousy excited in the mind of ,philip by the events of ,messina still rankled1 and the two monarchs refused to act in concert4 ,instead of making a joint attack upon the town1 the ,french monarch assailed it alone1 and was repulsed4 ,richard did the same1 and with the same result4 ,philip tried to seduce the soldiers of ,richard from their allegiance by the offer of three gold pieces per month to every knight who would forsake the banners of ,england for those of ,france4 ,richard endeavoured to neutralise the offer by a larger one1 and promised four pieces to every ,french knight who should join the ,lion of ,england4 ,in this unworthy rivalry their time was wasted1 to the great detriment of the discipline and efficiency of their followers4 ,some good was nevertheless effected2 for the mere presence of two such armies prevented the besieged city from receiving supplies1 and the inhabitants were reduced by famine to the most woful straits4 ,saladin did not deem it prudent to risk a general engagement by coming to their relief1 but preferred to wait till dissension had weakened his enemy1 and made him an easy prey4 ,perhaps if he had been aware of the real extent of the extremity in ,acre1 he would have changed his plan2 but1 cut off from the town1 he did not know its misery till it was too late4 ,after a short truce the city capitulated upon terms so severe that ,saladin afterwards refused to ratify them4 ,the chief conditions were1 that the precious wood of the true cross1 captured by the ,moslems in ,jerusalem1 should be restored2 that a sum of two hundred thousand gold pieces should be paid2 and that all the ,christian prisoners in ,acre should be released1 together with two hundred knights and a thousand soldiers detained in captivity by ,saladin4 ,the eastern monarch1 as may be well conceived1 did not set much store on the wood of the cross1 but was nevertheless anxious to keep it1 as he knew its possession by the ,christians would do more than a victory to restore their courage4 ,he refused1 therefore1 to deliver it up1 or to accede to any of the conditions2 and ,richard1 as he had previously threatened1 barbarously ordered all the ,saracen prisoners in his power to be put to death4 ,the possession of the city only caused new and unhappy dissensions between the ,christian leaders4 ,the ,archduke of ,austria unjustifiably hoisted his flag on one of the towers of ,acre1 which ,richard no sooner saw than he tore it down with his own hands1 and trampled it under his feet4 ,philip1 though he did not sympathise with the archduke1 was piqued at the assumption of ,richard1 and the breach between the two monarchs became wider than ever4 ,a foolish dispute arose at the same time between ,guy of ,lusignan and ,conrad of ,montferrat for the crown of ,jerusalem4 ,the inferior knights were not slow to imitate the pernicious example1 and jealousy1 distrust1 and ill-will reigned in the ,christian camp4 ,in the midst of this confusion the king of ,france suddenly announced his intention to return to his own country4 ,richard was filled with indignation1 and exclaimed1 ,eternal shame light on him1 and on all ,france1 if1 for any cause1 he leave this work unfinished6 ,but ,philip was not to be stayed4 ,his health had suffered by his residence in the ,east2 and1 ambitious of playing a first part1 he preferred to play none at all than to play second to ,king ,richard4 ,leaving a small detachment of ,burgundians behind1 he returned to ,france with the remainder of his army2 and ,coeur de ,lion1 without feeling1 in the multitude of his rivals1 that he had lost the greatest1 became painfully convinced that the right arm of the enterprise was lopped off4 ,after his departure1 ,richard re-fortified ,acre1 restored the ,christian worship in the churches1 and1 leaving a ,christian garrison to protect it1 marched along the sea-coast towards ,ascalon4 ,saladin was on the alert1 and sent his light horse to attack the rear of the ,christian army1 while he himself1 miscalculating their weakness since the defection of ,philip1 endeavoured to force them to a general engagement4 ,the rival armies met near ,azotus4 ,a fierce battle ensued1 in which ,saladin was defeated and put to flight1 and the road to ,jerusalem left free for the ,crusaders4 ,again discord exerted its baleful influence1 and prevented ,richard from following up his victory4 ,his opinion was constantly opposed by the other leaders1 all jealous of his bravery and influence2 and the army1 instead of marching to ,jerusalem1 or even to ,ascalon1 as was first intended1 proceeded to ,jaffa1 and remained in idleness until ,saladin was again in a condition to wage war against them4 ,illustration3 ,,bethlehem4 ,many months were spent in fruitless hostilities and as fruitless negotiations4 ,richard's wish was to recapture ,jerusalem2 but there were difficulties in the way1 which even his bold spirit could not conquer4 ,his own intolerable pride was not the least cause of the evil2 for it estranged many a generous spirit1 who would have been willing to co-operate with him in all cordiality4 ,at length it was agreed to march to the ,holy ,city2 but the progress made was so slow and painful1 that the soldiers murmured1 and the leaders meditated retreat4 ,the weather was hot and dry1 and there was little water to be procured4 ,saladin had choked up the wells and cisterns on the route1 and the army had not zeal enough to push forward amid such privation4 ,at ,bethlehem a council was held1 to debate whether they should retreat or advance4 ,retreat was decided upon1 and immediately commenced4 ,it is said1 that ,richard was first led to a hill1 whence he could obtain a sight of the towers of ,jerusalem1 and that he was so affected at being so near it1 and so unable to relieve it1 that he hid his face behind his shield1 and sobbed aloud4 ,the army separated into two divisions1 the smaller falling back upon ,jaffa1 and the larger1 commanded by ,richard and the ,duke of ,burgundy1 returning to ,acre4 ,before the ,english monarch had made all his preparations for his return to ,europe1 a messenger reached ,acre with the intelligence that ,jaffa was besieged by ,saladin1 and that1 unless relieved immediately1 the city would be taken4 ,the ,french1 under the ,duke of ,burgundy1 were so wearied with the war1 that they refused to aid their brethren in ,jaffa4 ,richard1 blushing with shame at their pusillanimity1 called his ,english to the rescue1 and arrived just in time to save the city4 ,his very name put the ,saracens to flight1 so great was their dread of his prowess4 ,saladin regarded him with the warmest admiration1 and when ,richard1 after his victory1 demanded peace1 willingly acceded4 ,a truce was concluded for three years and eight months1 during which ,christian pilgrims were to enjoy the liberty of visiting ,jerusalem without hindrance or payment of any tax4 ,the ,crusaders were allowed to retain the cities of ,tyre and ,jaffa1 with the country intervening4 ,saladin1 with a princely generosity1 invited many of the ,christians to visit ,jerusalem2 and several of the leaders took advantage of his offer to feast their eyes upon a spot which all considered so sacred4 ,many of them were entertained for days in the sultan's own palace1 from which they returned with their tongues laden with the praises of the noble infidel4 ,richard and ,saladin never met1 though the impression that they did will remain on many minds1 who have been dazzled by the glorious fiction of ,sir ,walter ,scott4 ,but each admired the prowess and nobleness of soul of his rival1 and agreed to terms far less onerous than either would have accepted1 had this mutual admiration not existed4#ag #ag ,richard left a high reputation in ,palestine4 ,so much terror did his name occasion1 that the women of ,syria used it to frighten their children for ages afterwards4 ,every disobedient child became still when told that ,king ,richard was coming4 ,even men shared the panic that his name created2 and a hundred years afterwards1 whenever a horse shied at any object in the way1 his rider would exclaim1 ,what6 dost thou think ,king ,richard is in the bush8 ,the king of ,england no longer delayed his departure1 for messengers from his own country brought imperative news that his presence was required to defeat the intrigues that were fomenting against his crown4 ,his long imprisonment in the ,austrian dominions and final ransom are too well known to be dwelt upon4 ,and thus ended the third ,crusade1 less destructive of human life than the two first1 but quite as useless4 ,the flame of popular enthusiasm now burned pale indeed1 and all the efforts of popes and potentates were insufficient to rekindle it4 ,at last1 after flickering unsteadily1 like a lamp expiring in the socket1 it burned up brightly for one final instant1 and was extinguished for ever4 ,the fourth ,crusade1 as connected with popular feeling1 requires little or no notice4 ,at the death of ,saladin1 which happened a year after the conclusion of his truce with ,richard of ,england1 his vast empire fell to pieces4 ,his brother ,saif ,eddin1 or ,saphaddin1 seized upon ,syria1 in the possession of which he was troubled by the sons of ,saladin4 ,when this intelligence reached ,europe1 the ,pope1 ,celestine ,,iii41 judged the moment favourable for preaching a new ,crusade4 ,but every nation in ,europe was unwilling and cold towards it4 ,the people had no ardour1 and kings were occupied with more weighty matters at home4 ,the only monarch of ,europe who encouraged it was the ,emperor ,henry of ,germany1 under whose auspices the ,dukes of ,saxony and ,bavaria took the field at the head of a considerable force4 ,they landed in ,palestine1 and found any thing but a welcome from the ,christian inhabitants4 ,under the mild sway of ,saladin1 they had enjoyed repose and toleration1 and both were endangered by the arrival of the ,germans4 ,they looked upon them in consequence as over-officious intruders1 and gave them no encouragement in the warfare against ,saphaddin4 ,the result of this ,crusade was even more disastrous than the last2 for the ,germans contrived not only to embitter the ,saracens against the ,christians of ,judea1 but to lose the strong city of ,jaffa1 and cause the destruction of nine-tenths of the army with which they had quitted ,europe4 ,and so ended the fourth ,crusade4 ,the fifth was more important1 and had a result which its projectors never dreamed of--no less than the sacking of ,constantinople1 and the placing of a ,french dynasty upon the imperial throne of the eastern ,csars4 ,each succeeding pope1 however much he may have differed from his predecessors on other points1 zealously agreed in one1 that of maintaining by every possible means the papal ascendency4 ,no scheme was so likely to aid in this endeavour as the ,crusades4 ,as long as they could persuade the kings and nobles of ,europe to fight and die in ,syria1 their own sway was secured over the minds of men at home4 ,such being their object1 they never inquired whether a ,crusade was or was not likely to be successful1 whether the time were well or ill chosen1 or whether men and money could be procured in sufficient abundance4 ,pope ,innocent ,,iii4 would have been proud if he could have bent the refractory monarchs of ,england and ,france into so much submission4 ,but ,john and ,philip ,augustus were both engaged4 ,both had deeply offended the ,church1 and had been laid under her ban1 and both were occupied in important reforms at home2 ,philip in bestowing immunities upon his subjects1 and ,john in having them forced from him4 ,the emissaries of the pope therefore plied them in vain2 but as in the first and second ,crusades1 the eloquence of a powerful preacher incited the nobility1 and through them a certain portion of the people2 ,foulque bishop of ,neuilly1 an ambitious and enterprising prelate1 entered fully into the views of the court of ,rome1 and preached the ,crusade wherever he could find an audience4 ,chance favoured him to a degree he did not himself expect1 for he had in general found but few proselytes1 and those few but cold in the cause4 ,theobald count of ,champagne had instituted a grand tournament1 to which he had invited all the nobles from far and near4 ,upwards of two thousand knights were present with their retainers1 besides a vast concourse of people to witness the sports4 ,in the midst of the festivities ,foulque arrived upon the spot1 and conceiving the opportunity to be a favourable one1 he addressed the multitude in eloquent language1 and passionately called upon them to enrol themselves for the new ,crusade4 ,the ,count de ,champagne1 young1 ardent1 and easily excited1 received the cross at his hands4 ,the enthusiasm spread rapidly4 ,charles count of ,blois followed the example1 and of the two thousand knights present1 scarcely one hundred and fifty refused4 ,the popular phrensy seemed on the point of breaking out as in the days of yore4 ,the ,count of ,flanders1 the ,count of ,bar1 the ,duke of ,burgundy1 and the ,marquis of ,montferrat1 brought all their vassals to swell the train1 and in a very short space of time an effective army was on foot and ready to march to ,palestine4 ,the dangers of an overland journey were too well understood1 and the ,crusaders endeavoured to make a contract with some of the ,italian states to convey them over in their vessels4 ,dandolo1 the aged doge of ,venice1 offered them the galleys of the ,republic2 but the ,crusaders1 on their arrival in that city1 found themselves too poor to pay even half the sum demanded4 ,every means was tried to raise money2 the ,crusaders melted down their plate1 and ladies gave up their trinkets4 ,contributions were solicited from the faithful1 but came in so slowly as to make it evident to all concerned1 that the faithful of ,europe were outnumbered by the prudent4 ,as a last resource1 ,dandolo offered to convey them to ,palestine at the expense of the ,republic1 if they would previously aid in the recapture of the city of ,zara1 which had been seized from the ,venetians a short time previously by the king of ,hungary4 ,the ,crusaders consented1 much to the displeasure of the pope1 who threatened excommunication upon all who should be turned aside from the voyage to ,jerusalem4 ,but notwithstanding the fulminations of the ,church1 the expedition never reached ,palestine4 ,the siege of ,zara was speedily undertaken4 ,after a long and brave defence1 the city surrendered at discretion1 and the ,crusaders were free1 if they had so chosen it1 to use their swords against the ,saracens4 ,but the ambition of the chiefs had been directed1 by unforeseen circumstances1 elsewhere4 ,after the death of ,manuel ,comnenus1 the ,greek empire had fallen a prey to intestine divisions4 ,his son ,alexius ,,ii4 had succeeded him1 but was murdered after a short reign by his uncle ,andronicus1 who seized upon the throne4 ,his reign also was but of short duration4 ,isaac ,angelus1 a member of the same family1 took up arms against the usurper1 and having defeated and captured him in a pitched battle1 had him put to death4 ,he also mounted the throne only to be cast down from it4 ,his brother ,alexius deposed him1 and to incapacitate him from reigning1 put out his eyes1 and shut him up in a dungeon4 ,neither was ,alexius ,,iii4 allowed to remain in peaceable possession of the throne2 the son of the unhappy ,isaac1 whose name also was ,alexius1 fled from ,constantinople1 and hearing that the ,crusaders had undertaken the siege of ,zara1 made them the most magnificent offers if they would afterwards aid him in deposing his uncle4 ,his offers were1 that if by their means he was re-established in his father's dominions1 he would place the ,greek ,church under the authority of the ,pope of ,rome1 lend the whole force of the ,greek empire to the conquest of ,palestine1 and distribute two hundred thousand marks of silver among the crusading army4 ,the offer was accepted1 with a proviso on the part of some of the leaders1 that they should be free to abandon the design1 if it met with the disapproval of the pope4 ,but this was not to be feared4 ,the submission of the schismatic ,greeks to the ,see of ,rome was a greater bribe to the ,pontiff than the utter annihilation of the ,saracen power in ,palestine would have been4 ,the ,crusaders were soon in movement for the imperial city4 ,their operations were skilfully and courageously directed1 and spread such dismay as to paralyse the efforts of the usurper to retain possession of his throne4 ,after a vain resistance1 he abandoned the city to its fate1 and fled no one knew whither4 ,the aged and blind ,isaac was taken from his dungeon by his subjects1 and placed upon the throne ere the ,crusaders were apprised of the flight of his rival4 ,his son ,alexius ,,iv4 was afterwards associated with him in the sovereignty4 ,but the conditions of the treaty gave offence to the ,grecian people1 whose prelates refused to place themselves under the dominion of the ,see of ,rome4 ,alexius at first endeavoured to persuade his subjects to admission1 and prayed the ,crusaders to remain in ,constantinople until they had fortified him in the possession of a throne which was yet far from secure4 ,he soon became unpopular with his subjects2 and breaking faith with regard to the subsidies1 he offended the ,crusaders4 ,war was at length declared upon him by both parties2 by his people for his tyranny1 and by his former friends for his treachery4 ,he was seized in his palace by his own guards and thrown into prison1 while the ,crusaders were making ready to besiege his capital4 ,the ,greeks immediately proceeded to the election of a new monarch2 and looking about for a man of courage1 energy1 and perseverance1 they fixed upon ,alexius ,ducas1 who1 with almost every bad quality1 was possessed of the virtues they needed4 ,he ascended the throne under the name of ,murzuphlis4 ,one of his first acts was to rid himself of his youngest predecessor--a broken heart had already removed the blind old ,isaac1 no longer a stumbling-block in his way--and the young ,alexius was soon after put to death in his prison4 ,illustration3 ,,constantinople4 ,war to the knife was now declared between the ,greeks and the ,franks2 and early in the spring of the year #abjd1 preparations were commenced for an assault upon ,constantinople4 ,the ,french and ,venetians entered into a treaty for the division of the spoils among their soldiery2 for so confident were they of success1 that failure never once entered into their calculations4 ,this confidence led them on to victory2 while the ,greeks1 cowardly as treacherous people always are1 were paralysed by a foreboding of evil4 ,it has been a matter of astonishment to all historians1 that ,murzuphlis1 with the reputation for courage which he had acquired1 and the immense resources at his disposal1 took no better measures to repel the onset of the ,crusaders4 ,their numbers were as a mere handful in comparison with those which he could have brought against them2 and if they had the hopes of plunder to lead them on1 the ,greeks had their homes to fight for1 and their very existence as a nation to protect4 ,after an impetuous assault1 repulsed for one day1 but renewed with double impetuosity on another1 the ,crusaders lashed their vessels against the walls1 slew every man who opposed them1 and1 with little loss to themselves1 entered the city4 ,murzuphlis fled1 and ,constantinople was given over to be pillaged by the victors4 ,the wealth they found was enormous4 ,in money alone there was sufficient to distribute twenty marks of silver to each knight1 ten to each squire or servant at arms1 and five to each archer4 ,jewels1 velvets1 silks1 and every luxury of attire1 with rare wines and fruits1 and valuable merchandise of every description1 also fell into their hands1 and were bought by the trading ,venetians1 and the proceeds distributed among the army4 ,two thousand persons were put to the sword2 but had there been less plunder to take up the attention of the victors1 the slaughter would in all probability have been much greater4 ,in many of the bloody wars which defile the page of history1 we find that soldiers1 utterly reckless of the works of ,god1 will destroy his masterpiece1 man1 with unsparing brutality1 but linger with respect round the beautiful works of art4 ,they will slaughter women and children1 but spare a picture2 will hew down the sick1 the helpless1 and the hoary-headed1 but refrain from injuring a fine piece of sculpture4 ,the ,latins1 on their entrance into ,constantinople1 respected neither the works of ,god nor man1 but vented their brutal ferocity upon the one1 and satisfied their avarice upon the other4 ,many beautiful bronze statues1 above all price as works of art1 were broken into pieces to be sold as old metal4 ,the finely-chiselled marble1 which could be put to no such vile uses1 was also destroyed with a recklessness1 if possible1 still more atrocious4#ah #ah ,the following is a list of some of the works of art thus destroyed1 from ,nicetas1 a contemporary ,greek author3 #ast4 ,a colossal ,juno1 from the forum of ,constantine1 the head of which was so large that four horses could scarcely draw it from the place where it stood to the palace4 #b;d4 ,the statue of ,paris1 presenting the apple to ,venus4 #c;d4 ,an immense bronze pyramid1 crowned by a female figure1 which turned with the wind4 #dth4 ,the colossal statue of ,bellerophon1 in bronze1 which was broken down and cast into the furnace4 ,under the inner nail of the horse's hind foot on the left side1 was found a seal wrapped in a woollen cloth4 #eth4 ,a figure of ,hercules1 by ,lysimachus1 of such vast dimensions that the thumb was equal in circumference to the waist of a man4 #fth4 ,the ,ass and his ,driver1 cast by order of ,augustus after the battle of ,actium1 in commemoration of his having discovered the position of ,anthony through the means of an ass-driver4 #gth4 ,the ,wolf suckling the ,twins of ,rome4 #hth4 ,the gladiator in combat with a lion4 #ith4 ,the ,hippopotamus4 #ajth4 ,the ,sphinxes4 #aath4 ,an ,eagle fighting with a ,serpent4 #abth4 ,a beautiful statue of ,helen4 #acth4 ,a group1 with a monster somewhat resembling a bull1 engaged in deadly conflict with a serpent2 and many other works of art1 too numerous to mention4 ,the carnage being over1 and the spoil distributed1 six persons were chosen from among the ,franks and six from among the ,venetians1 who were to meet and elect an emperor1 previously binding themselves by oath to select the individual best qualified among the candidates4 ,the choice wavered between ,baldwin count of ,flanders and ,boniface marquis of ,montferrat1 but fell eventually upon the former4 ,he was straightway robed in the imperial purple1 and became the founder of a new dynasty4 ,he did not live long to enjoy his power1 or to consolidate it for his successors1 who1 in their turn1 were soon swept away4 ,in less than sixty years the rule of the ,franks at ,constantinople was brought to as sudden and disastrous a termination as the reign of ,murzuphlis3 and this was the grand result of the fifth ,crusade4 ,pope ,innocent ,,iii41 although he had looked with no very unfavourable eye upon these proceedings1 regretted that nothing had been done for the relief of the ,holy ,land2 still1 upon every convenient occasion1 he enforced the necessity of a new ,crusade4 ,until the year #abac1 his exhortations had no other effect than to keep the subject in the mind of ,europe4 ,every spring and summer detachments of pilgrims continued to set out for ,palestine to the aid of their brethren1 but not in sufficient numbers to be of much service4 ,these periodical passages were called the passagium ,martii1 or the passage of ,march1 and the passagium ,johannis1 or the passage of the festival of ,st4 ,john4 ,these did not consist entirely of soldiers1 armed against the ,saracen1 but of pilgrims led by devotion1 and in performance of their vows1 bearing nothing with them but their staff and their wallet4 ,early in the spring of #abac a more extraordinary body of ,crusaders was raised in ,france and ,germany4 ,an immense number of boys and girls1 amounting1 according to some accounts1 to thirty thousand1 were incited by the persuasion of two monks to undertake the journey to ,palestine4 ,they were no doubt composed of the idle and deserted children who generally swarm in great cities1 nurtured in vice and daring1 and ready for any thing4 ,the object of the monks seems to have been the atrocious one of inveigling them into slave-ships1 on pretence of sending them to ,syria1 and selling them for slaves on the coast of ,africa4#ai ,great numbers of these poor victims were shipped at ,marseilles2 but the vessels1 with the exception of two or three1 were wrecked on the shores of ,italy1 and every soul perished4 ,the remainder arrived safely in ,africa1 and were bought up as slaves1 and sent off into the interior of the country4 ,another detachment arrived at ,genoa2 but the accomplices in this horrid plot having taken no measures at that port1 expecting them all at ,marseilles1 they were induced to return to their homes by the ,genoese4 #ai ,see ,jacob de ,voragine and ,albericus4 ,fuller1 in his quaint history of the ,holy ,warre1 says that this ,crusade was done by the instinct of the devil2 and he adds a reason1 which may provoke mirth now1 but which was put forth by the worthy historian in all soberness and sincerity4 ,he says1 the devil1 being cloyed with the murdering of men1 desired a cordial of children's blood to comfort his weak stomach2 as epicures1 when tired of mutton1 resort to lamb for a change4 ,it appears from other authors that the preaching of the vile monks had such an effect upon these deluded children that they ran about the country1 exclaiming1 ,o ,lord ,jesus1 restore thy cross to us6 and that neither bolts nor bars1 the fear of fathers1 nor the love of mothers1 was sufficient to restrain them from journeying to ,jerusalem4 ,the details of these strange proceedings are exceedingly meagre and confused1 and none of the contemporary writers who mention the subject have thought it worth while to state the names of the monks who originated the scheme1 or the fate they met for their wickedness4 ,two merchants of ,marseilles1 who were to have shared in the profits1 were1 it is said1 brought to justice for some other crime1 and suffered death2 but we are not informed whether they divulged any circumstances relating to this matter4 ,pope ,innocent ,,iii4 does not seem to have been aware that the causes of this juvenile ,crusade were such as have been stated1 for1 upon being informed that numbers of them had taken the cross1 and were marching to the ,holy ,land1 he exclaimed1 ,these children are awake while we sleep6 ,he imagined1 apparently1 that the mind of ,europe was still bent on the recovery of ,palestine1 and that the zeal of these children implied a sort of reproach upon his own lukewarmness4 ,very soon afterwards1 he bestirred himself with more activity1 and sent an encyclical letter to the clergy of ,christendom1 urging them to preach a new ,crusade4 ,as usual1 a number of adventurous nobles1 who had nothing else to do1 enrolled themselves with their retainers4 ,at a ,council of ,lateran1 which was held while these bands were collecting1 ,innocent announced that he himself would take the ,cross1 and lead the armies of ,christ to the defence of his sepulchre4 ,in all probability he would have done so1 for he was zealous enough2 but death stepped in1 and destroyed his project ere it was ripe4 ,his successor encouraged the ,crusade1 though he refused to accompany it2 and the armament continued in ,france1 ,england1 and ,germany4 ,no leaders of any importance joined it from the former countries4 ,andrew king of ,hungary was the only monarch who had leisure or inclination to leave his dominions4 ,the ,dukes of ,austria and ,bavaria joined him with a considerable army of ,germans1 and marching to ,spalatro1 took ship for ,cyprus1 and from thence to ,acre4 ,the whole conduct of the king of ,hungary was marked by pusillanimity and irresolution4 ,he found himself in the ,holy ,land at the head of a very efficient army2 the ,saracens were taken by surprise1 and were for some weeks unprepared to offer any resistance to his arms4 ,he defeated the first body sent to oppose him1 and marched towards ,mount ,tabor with the intention of seizing upon an important fortress which the ,saracens had recently constructed4 ,he arrived without impediment at the mount1 and might have easily taken it2 but a sudden fit of cowardice came over him1 and he returned to ,acre without striking a blow4 ,he very soon afterwards abandoned the enterprise altogether1 and returned to his own country4 ,tardy reinforcements arrived at intervals from ,europe2 and the ,duke of ,austria1 now the chief leader of the expedition1 had still sufficient forces at his command to trouble the ,saracens very seriously4 ,it was resolved by him1 in council with the other chiefs1 that the whole energy of the ,crusade should be directed upon ,egypt1 the seat of the ,saracen power in its relationship to ,palestine1 and from whence were drawn the continual levies that were brought against them by the sultan4 ,damietta1 which commanded the river ,nile1 and was one of the most important cities of ,egypt1 was chosen as the first point of attack4 ,the siege was forthwith commenced1 and carried on with considerable energy1 until the ,crusaders gained possession of a tower1 which projected into the middle of the stream1 and was looked upon as the very key of the city4 ,while congratulating themselves upon this success1 and wasting in revelry the time which should have been employed in turning it to further advantage1 they received the news of the death of the wise ,sultan ,saphaddin4 ,his two sons1 ,camhel and ,cohreddin1 divided his empire between them4 ,syria and ,palestine fell to the share of ,cohreddin1 while ,egypt was consigned to the other brother1 who had for some time exercised the functions of lieutenant of that country4 ,being unpopular among the ,egyptians1 they revolted against him1 giving the ,crusaders a finer opportunity for making a conquest than they had ever enjoyed before4 ,but1 quarrelsome and licentious as they had been from time immemorial1 they did not see that the favourable moment had come2 or seeing1 could not profit by it4 ,while they were revelling or fighting among themselves1 under the walls of ,damietta1 the revolt was suppressed1 and ,camhel firmly established on the throne of ,egypt4 ,in conjunction with his brother ,cohreddin1 his next care was to drive the ,christians from ,damietta1 and for upwards of three months they bent all their efforts to throw in supplies to the besieged1 or draw on the besiegers to a general engagement4 ,in neither were they successful2 and the famine in ,damietta became so dreadful that vermin of every description were thought luxuries1 and sold for exorbitant prices4 ,a dead dog became more valuable than a live ox in time of prosperity4 ,unwholesome food brought on disease1 and the city could hold out no longer for absolute want of men to defend the walls4 ,cohreddin and ,camhel were alike interested in the preservation of so important a position1 and1 convinced of the certain fate of the city1 they opened a conference with the crusading chiefs1 offering to yield the whole of ,palestine to the ,christians upon the sole condition of the evacuation of ,egypt4 ,with a blindness and wrong-headedness almost incredible1 these advantageous terms were refused1 chiefly through the persuasion of ,cardinal ,pelagius1 an ignorant and obstinate fanatic1 who urged upon the ,duke of ,austria and the ,french and ,english leaders1 that infidels never kept their word2 that their offers were deceptive1 and merely intended to betray4 ,the conferences were brought to an abrupt termination by the ,crusaders1 and a last attack made upon the walls of ,damietta4 ,the besieged made but slight resistance1 for they had no hope1 and the ,christians entered the city1 and found1 out of seventy thousand people1 but three thousand remaining3 so fearful had been the ravages of the twin fiends1 plague and famine4 ,several months were spent in ,damietta4 ,the climate either weakened the frames or obscured the understandings of the ,christians2 for1 after their conquest1 they lost all energy1 and abandoned themselves more unscrupulously than ever to riot and debauchery4 ,john of ,brienne1 who1 by right of his wife1 was the nominal sovereign of ,jerusalem1 was so disgusted with the pusillanimity1 arrogance1 and dissensions of the chiefs1 that he withdrew entirely from them and retired to ,acre4 ,large bodies also returned to ,europe1 and ,cardinal ,pelagius was left at liberty to blast the whole enterprise whenever it pleased him4 ,he managed to conciliate ,john of ,brienne1 and marched forward with these combined forces to attack ,cairo4 ,it was only when he had approached within a few hours' march of that city that he discovered the inadequacy of his army4 ,he turned back immediately2 but the ,nile had risen since his departure2 the sluices were opened1 and there was no means of reaching ,damietta4 ,in this strait1 he sued for the peace he had formerly spurned1 and1 happily for himself1 found the generous brothers ,camhel and ,cohreddin still willing to grant it4 ,damietta was soon afterwards given up1 and the cardinal returned to ,europe4 ,john of ,brienne retired to ,acre1 to mourn the loss of his kingdom1 embittered against the folly of his pretended friends1 who had ruined where they should have aided him4 ,and thus ended the sixth ,crusade4 ,the seventh was more successful4 ,frederic ,,ii41 emperor of ,germany1 had often vowed to lead his armies to the defence of ,palestine1 but was as often deterred from the journey by matters of more pressing importance4 ,cohreddin was a mild and enlightened monarch1 and the ,christians of ,syria enjoyed repose and toleration under his rule3 but ,john of ,brienne was not willing to lose his kingdom without an effort2 and the popes in ,europe were ever willing to embroil the nations for the sake of extending their own power4 ,no monarch of that age was capable of rendering more effective assistance than ,frederic of ,germany4 ,to inspire him with more zeal1 it was proposed that he should wed the young ,princess ,violante1 daughter of ,john of ,brienne1 and heiress of the kingdom of ,jerusalem4 ,frederic consented with joy and eagerness4 ,the princess was brought from ,acre to ,rome without delay1 and her marriage celebrated on a scale of great magnificence4 ,her father1 ,john of ,brienne1 abdicated all his rights in favour of his son-in-law1 and ,jerusalem had once more a king1 who had not only the will1 but the power1 to enforce his claims4 ,preparations for the new ,crusade were immediately commenced1 and in the course of six months the emperor was at the head of a well-disciplined army of sixty thousand men4 ,matthew ,paris informs us1 that an army of the same amount was gathered in ,england2 and most of the writers upon the ,crusades adopt his statement4 ,when ,john of ,brienne was in ,england1 before his daughter's marriage with the emperor was thought of1 praying for the aid of ,henry ,,iii4 and his nobles to recover his lost kingdom1 he did not meet with much encouragement4 ,grafton1 in his ,chronicle1 says1 he departed again without any great comfort4 ,but when a man of more influence in ,european politics appeared upon the scene1 the ,english nobles were as ready to sacrifice themselves in the cause as they had been in the time of ,coeur de ,lion4 ,the army of ,frederic encamped at ,brundusium2 but a pestilential disease having made its appearance among them1 their departure was delayed for several months4 ,in the mean time the ,empress ,violante died in childbed4 ,john of ,brienne1 who had already repented of his abdication1 and was besides incensed against ,frederic for many acts of neglect and insult1 no sooner saw the only tie which bound them severed by the death of his daughter1 than he began to bestir himself1 and make interest with the pope to undo what he had done1 and regain the honorary crown he had renounced4 ,pope ,gregory ,,ix41 a man of a proud1 unconciliating1 and revengeful character1 owed the emperor a grudge for many an act of disobedience to his authority1 and encouraged the overtures of ,john of ,brienne more than he should have done4 ,frederic1 however1 despised them both1 and1 as soon as his army was convalescent1 set sail for ,acre4 ,he had not been many days at sea when he was himself attacked with the malady1 and obliged to return to ,otranto1 the nearest port4 ,gregory1 who had by this time decided in the interest of ,john of ,brienne1 excommunicated the emperor for returning from so holy an expedition on any pretext whatever4 ,frederic at first treated the excommunication with supreme contempt2 but when he got well1 he gave his holiness to understand that he was not to be outraged with impunity1 and sent some of his troops to ravage the papal territories4 ,this1 however1 only made the matter worse1 and ,gregory despatched messengers to ,palestine forbidding the faithful1 under severe pains and penalties1 to hold any intercourse with the excommunicated emperor4 ,thus between them both1 the scheme which they had so much at heart bade fair to be as effectually ruined as even the ,saracens could have wished4 ,frederic still continued his zeal in the ,crusade1 for he was now king of ,jerusalem1 and fought for himself1 and not for ,christendom1 or its representative1 ,pope ,gregory4 ,hearing that ,john of ,brienne was preparing to leave ,europe1 he lost no time in taking his own departure1 and arrived safely at ,acre4 ,it was here that he first experienced the evil effects of excommunication4 ,the ,christians of ,palestine refused to aid him in any way1 and looked with distrust1 if not with abhorrence1 upon him4 ,the ,templars1 ,hospitallers1 and other knights1 shared at first the general feeling2 but they were not men to yield a blind obedience to a distant potentate1 especially when it compromised their own interests4 ,when1 therefore1 ,frederic prepared to march upon ,jerusalem without them1 they joined his banners to a man4 ,illustration3 ,,templar ,,and ,,hospitaller4 ,it is said that1 previous to quitting ,europe1 the ,german emperor had commenced a negotiation with the ,sultan ,camhel for the restoration of the ,holy ,land1 and that ,camhel1 who was jealous of the ambition of his brother ,cohreddin1 was willing to stipulate to that effect1 on condition of being secured by ,frederic in the possession of the more important territory of ,egypt4 ,but before the ,crusaders reached ,palestine1 ,camhel was relieved from all fears by the death of his brother4 ,he nevertheless did not think it worth while to contest with the ,crusaders the barren corner of the earth which had already been dyed with so much ,christian and ,saracen blood1 and proposed a truce of three years1 only stipulating1 in addition1 that the ,moslems should be allowed to worship freely in the temple of ,jerusalem4 ,this happy termination did not satisfy the bigoted ,christians of ,palestine4 ,the tolerance they sought for themselves1 they were not willing to extend to others1 and they complained bitterly of the privilege of free worship allowed to their opponents4 ,unmerited good fortune had made them insolent1 and they contested the right of the emperor to become a party to any treaty1 as long as he remained under the ecclesiastical ban4 ,frederic was disgusted with his new subjects2 but1 as the ,templars and ,hospitallers remained true to him1 he marched to ,jerusalem to be crowned4 ,all the churches were shut against him1 and he could not even find a priest to officiate at his coronation4 ,he had despised the papal authority too long to quail at it now1 when it was so unjustifiably exerted1 and1 as there was nobody to crown him1 he very wisely crowned himself4 ,he took the royal diadem from the altar with his own hands1 and boldly and proudly placed it on his brow4 ,no shouts of an applauding populace made the welkin ring2 no hymns of praise and triumph resounded from the ministers of religion2 but a thousand swords started from their scabbards to testify that their owners would defend the new monarch to the death4 ,it was hardly to be expected that he would renounce for any long period the dominion of his native land for the uneasy crown and barren soil of ,palestine4 ,he had seen quite enough of his new subjects before he was six months among them1 and more important interests called him home4 ,john of ,brienne1 openly leagued with ,pope ,gregory against him1 was actually employed in ravaging his territories at the head of a papal army4 ,this intelligence decided his return4 ,as a preliminary step1 he made those who had contemned his authority feel1 to their sorrow1 that he was their master4 ,he then set sail1 loaded with the curses of ,palestine4 ,and thus ended the seventh ,crusade1 which1 in spite of every obstacle and disadvantage1 had been productive of more real service to the ,holy ,land than any that had gone before2 a result solely attributable to the bravery of ,frederic and the generosity of the ,sultan ,camhel4 ,soon after the emperor's departure a new claimant started for the throne of ,jerusalem1 in the person of ,alice queen of ,cyprus1 and half-sister of the ,mary who1 by her marriage1 had transferred her right to ,john of ,brienne4 ,the grand military orders1 however1 clung to ,frederic1 and ,alice was obliged to withdraw4 ,so peaceful a termination to the ,crusade did not give unmixed pleasure in ,europe4 ,the chivalry of ,france and ,england were unable to rest1 and long before the conclusion of the truce1 were collecting their armies for an eighth expedition4 ,in ,palestine also the contentment was far from universal4 ,many petty ,mahomedan states in the immediate vicinity were not parties to the truce1 and harassed the frontier towns incessantly4 ,the ,templars1 ever turbulent1 waged bitter war with the sultan of ,aleppo1 and in the end were almost exterminated4 ,so great was the slaughter among them that ,europe resounded with the sad story of their fate1 and many a noble knight took arms to prevent the total destruction of an order associated with so many high and inspiring remembrances4 ,camhel1 seeing the preparations that were making1 thought that his generosity had been sufficiently shewn1 and the very day the truce was at an end assumed the offensive1 and marching forward to ,jerusalem1 took possession of it1 after routing the scanty forces of the ,christians4 ,before this intelligence reached ,europe a large body of ,crusaders was on the march1 headed by the king of ,navarre1 the ,duke of ,burgundy1 the ,count de ,bretagne1 and other leaders4 ,on their arrival1 they learned that ,jerusalem had been taken1 but that the sultan was dead1 and his kingdom torn by rival claimants to the supreme power4 ,the dissensions of their foes ought to have made them united1 but as in all previous ,crusades1 each feudal chief was master of his own host1 and acted upon his own responsibility1 and without reference to any general plan4 ,the consequence was that nothing could be done4 ,a temporary advantage was gained by one leader1 who had no means of improving it2 while another was defeated1 without means of retrieving himself4 ,thus the war lingered till the battle of ,gaza1 when the king of ,navarre was defeated with great loss1 and compelled to save himself from total destruction by entering into a hard and oppressive treaty with the emir of ,karac4 ,at this crisis aid arrived from ,england1 commanded by ,richard earl of ,cornwall1 the namesake of ,coeur de ,lion1 and inheritor of his valour4 ,his army was strong and full of hope4 ,they had confidence in themselves and in their leader1 and looked like men accustomed to victory4 ,their coming changed the aspect of affairs4 ,the new sultan of ,egypt was at war with the sultan of ,damascus1 and had not forces to oppose two enemies so powerful4 ,he therefore sent messengers to meet the ,english earl1 offering an exchange of prisoners and the complete cession of the ,holy ,land4 ,richard1 who had not come to fight for the mere sake of fighting1 agreed at once to terms so advantageous1 and became the deliverer of ,palestine without striking a blow4 ,the sultan of ,egypt then turned his whole force against his ,moslem enemies1 and the ,earl of ,cornwall returned to ,europe4 ,thus ended the eighth ,crusade1 the most beneficial of all4 ,christendom had no further pretence for sending her fierce levies to the ,east4 ,to all appearance the holy wars were at an end3 the ,christians had entire possession of ,jerusalem1 ,tripoli1 ,antioch1 ,edessa1 ,acre1 ,jaffa1 and1 in fact1 of nearly all ,judea2 and1 could they have been at peace among themselves1 they might have overcome1 without great difficulty1 the jealousy and hostility of their neighbours4 ,a circumstance1 as unforeseen as it was disastrous1 blasted this fair prospect1 and reillumed1 for the last time1 the fervour and fury of the ,crusades4 ,gengis ,khan and his successors had swept over ,asia like a tropical storm1 overturning in their progress the landmarks of ages4 ,kingdom after kingdom was cast down as they issued1 innumerable1 from the far recesses of the ,north and ,east1 and1 among others1 the empire of ,korasmin was overrun by these all-conquering hordes4 ,the ,korasmins1 a fierce1 uncivilised race1 thus driven from their homes1 spread themselves1 in their turn1 over the south of ,asia with fire and sword1 in search of a resting-place4 ,in their impetuous course they directed themselves towards ,egypt1 whose sultan1 unable to withstand the swarm that had cast their longing eyes on the fertile valleys of the ,nile1 endeavoured to turn them from their course4 ,for this purpose1 he sent emissaries to ,barbaquan1 their leader1 inviting them to settle in ,palestine2 and the offer being accepted by the wild horde1 they entered the country before the ,christians received the slightest intimation of their coming4 ,it was as sudden as it was overwhelming4 ,onwards1 like the simoom1 they came1 burning and slaying1 and were at the walls of ,jerusalem before the inhabitants had time to look round them4 ,they spared neither life nor property2 they slew women and children1 and priests at the altar1 and profaned even the graves of those who had slept for ages4 ,they tore down every vestige of the ,christian faith1 and committed horrors unparalleled in the history of warfare4 ,about seven thousand of the inhabitants of ,jerusalem sought safety in retreat2 but before they were out of sight1 the banner of the cross was hoisted upon the walls by the savage foe to decoy them back4 ,the artifice was but too successful4 ,the poor fugitives imagined that help had arrived from another direction1 and turned back to regain their homes4 ,nearly the whole of them were massacred1 and the streets of ,jerusalem ran with blood4 ,illustration3 ,,jaffa4 ,the ,templars1 ,hospitallers1 and ,teutonic knights forgot their long and bitter animosities1 and joined hand in hand to rout out this desolating foe4 ,they entrenched themselves in ,jaffa with all the chivalry of ,palestine that yet remained1 and endeavoured to engage the sultans of ,emissa and ,damascus to assist them against the common enemy4 ,the aid obtained from the ,moslems amounted at first to only four thousand men1 but with these reinforcements ,walter of ,brienne1 the lord of ,jaffa1 resolved to give battle to the ,korasmins4 ,the conflict was as deadly as despair on the one side1 and unmitigated ferocity on the other1 could make it4 ,it lasted with varying fortune for two days1 when the sultan of ,emissa fled to his fortifications1 and ,walter of ,brienne fell into the enemy's hands4 ,the brave knight was suspended by the arms to a cross in sight of the walls of ,jaffa1 and the ,korasminian leader declared that he should remain in that position until the city surrendered4 ,walter raised his feeble voice1 not to advise surrender1 but to command his soldiers to hold out to the last4 ,but his gallantry was unavailing4 ,so great had been the slaughter1 that out of the grand array of knights1 there now remained but sixteen ,hospitallers1 thirty-three ,templars1 and three ,teutonic cavaliers4 ,these with the sad remnant of the army fled to ,acre1 and the ,korasmins were masters of ,palestine4 ,the sultans of ,syria preferred the ,christians to this fierce horde for their neighbours4 ,even the sultan of ,egypt began to regret the aid he had given to such barbarous foes1 and united with those of ,emissa and ,damascus to root them from the land4 ,the ,korasmins amounted to but twenty thousand men1 and were unable to resist the determined hostility which encompassed them on every side4 ,the sultans defeated them in several engagements1 and the peasantry rose up in masses to take vengeance upon them4 ,gradually their numbers were diminished4 ,no mercy was shewn them in defeat4 ,barbaquan their leader was slain2 and after five years of desperate struggles1 they were finally extirpated1 and ,palestine became once more the territory of the ,mussulmans4 ,illustration3 ,,william ,,longsword4 ,a short time previous to this devastating eruption1 ,louis ,,ix4 fell sick in ,paris1 and dreamed in the delirium of his fever that he saw the ,christian and ,moslem host fighting before ,jerusalem1 and the ,christians defeated with great slaughter4 ,the dream made a great impression on his superstitious mind1 and he made a solemn vow1 that if ever he recovered his health1 he would take a pilgrimage to the ,holy ,land4 ,when the news of the misfortunes of ,palestine1 and the awful massacres at ,jerusalem and ,jaffa1 arrived in ,europe1 ,st4 ,louis remembered him of his dream4 ,more persuaded than ever that it was an intimation direct from heaven1 he prepared to take the cross at the head of his armies1 and march to the deliverance of the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,from that moment he doffed the royal mantle of purple and ermine1 and dressed in the sober serge becoming a pilgrim4 ,all his thoughts were directed to the fulfilment of his design1 and although his kingdom could but ill spare him1 he made every preparation to leave it4 ,pope ,innocent ,,iv4 applauded his zeal and afforded him every assistance4 ,he wrote to ,henry ,,iii4 of ,england to forward the cause in his dominions1 and called upon the clergy and laity all over ,europe to contribute towards it4 ,william ,longsword1 the celebrated ,earl of ,salisbury1 took the cross at the head of a great number of valiant knights and soldiers4 ,but the fanaticism of the people was not to be awakened either in ,france or ,england4 ,great armies were raised1 but the masses no longer sympathised4 ,taxation had been the great cooler of zeal4 ,it was no longer a disgrace even to a knight if he refused to take the cross4 ,rutebeuf1 a ,french minstrel1 who flourished about this time 7#abej71 composed a dialogue between a ,crusader and a non-,crusader1 which the reader will find translated in ,way's ,fabliaux4 ,the ,crusader uses every argument to persuade the non-,crusader to take up arms1 and forsake every thing1 in the holy cause2 but it is evident from the greater force of the arguments used by the non-,crusader1 that he was the favourite of the minstrel4 ,to a most urgent solicitation of his friend the ,crusader1 he replies3 ,i read thee right1 thou holdest good ,to this same land ,i straight should hie1 ,and win it back with mickle blood1 ,nor gaine one foot of soil thereby2 ,while here dejected and forlorn ,my wife and babes are left to mourn2 ,my goodly mansion rudely marred1 ,all trusted to my dogs to guard4 ,but ,i1 fair comrade1 well ,i wot ,an ancient saw of pregnant wit ,doth bid us keep what we have got2 ,and troth ,i mean to follow it4 ,this being the general feeling1 it is not to be wondered at that ,louis ,,ix4 was occupied fully three years in organising his forces1 and in making the necessary preparations for his departure4 ,when all was ready he set sail for ,cyprus1 accompanied by his queen1 his two brothers1 the ,counts d',anjou and d',artois1 and a long train of the noblest chivalry of ,france4 ,his third brother1 the ,count de ,poitiers1 remained behind to collect another corps of ,crusaders1 and followed him in a few months afterwards4 ,the army united at ,cyprus1 and amounted to fifty thousand men1 exclusive of the ,english ,crusaders under ,william ,longsword4 ,again1 a pestilential disease made its appearance1 to which many hundreds fell victims4 ,it was in consequence found necessary to remain in ,cyprus until the spring4 ,louis then embarked for ,egypt with his whole host2 but a violent tempest separated his fleet1 and he arrived before ,damietta with only a few thousand men4 ,they were1 however1 impetuous and full of hope2 and although the ,sultan ,melick ,shah was drawn up on the shore with a force infinitely superior1 it was resolved to attempt a landing without waiting the arrival of the rest of the army4 ,louis himself1 in wild impatience1 sprang from his boat1 and waded on shore2 while his army1 inspired by his enthusiastic bravery1 followed1 shouting the old war-cry of the first ,crusaders1 ,dieu le veut6 ,dieu le veut6 ,a panic seized the ,turks4 ,a body of their cavalry attempted to bear down upon the ,crusaders1 but the knights fixed their large shields deep in the sands of the shore1 and rested their lances upon them1 so that they projected above1 and formed a barrier so imposing1 that the ,turks1 afraid to breast it1 turned round and fairly took to flight4 ,at the moment of this panic1 a false report was spread in the ,saracen host1 that the sultan had been slain4 ,the confusion immediately became general--the deroute was complete3 ,damietta itself was abandoned1 and the same night the victorious ,crusaders fixed their head-quarters in that city4 ,the soldiers who had been separated from their chief by the tempest arrived shortly afterwards2 and ,louis was in a position to justify the hope1 not only of the conquest of ,palestine1 but of ,egypt itself4 ,but too much confidence proved the bane of his army4 ,they thought1 as they had accomplished so much1 that nothing more remained to be done1 and gave themselves up to ease and luxury4 ,when1 by the command of ,louis1 they marched towards ,cairo1 they were no longer the same men2 success1 instead of inspiring1 had unnerved them2 debauchery had brought on disease1 and disease was aggravated by the heat of a climate to which none of them were accustomed4 ,their progress towards ,massoura1 on the road to ,cairo1 was checked by the ,thanisian canal1 on the banks of which the ,saracens were drawn up to dispute the passage4 ,louis gave orders that a bridge should be thrown across3 and the operations commenced under cover of two cat-castles1 or high movable towers4 ,the ,saracens soon destroyed them by throwing quantities of ,greek fire1 the artillery of that day1 upon them1 and ,louis was forced to think of some other means of effecting his design4 ,a peasant agreed1 for a considerable bribe1 to point out a ford where the army might wade across1 and the ,count d',artois was despatched with fourteen hundred men to attempt it1 while ,louis remained to face the ,saracens with the main body of the army4 ,the ,count d',artois got safely over1 and defeated the detachment that had been sent to oppose his landing4 ,flushed with the victory1 the brave count forgot the inferiority of his numbers1 and pursued the panic-stricken enemy into ,massoura4 ,he was now completely cut off from the aid of his brother ,crusaders1 which the ,moslems perceiving1 took courage and returned upon him1 with a force swollen by the garrison of ,massoura1 and by reinforcements from the surrounding districts4 ,the battle now became hand to hand4 ,the ,christians fought with the energy of desperate men1 but the continually increasing numbers of the foe surrounded them completely1 and cut off all hope1 either of victory or escape4 ,the ,count d',artois was among the foremost of the slain2 and when ,louis arrived to the rescue1 the brave advanced-guard was nearly cut to pieces4 ,of the fourteen hundred but three hundred remained4 ,the fury of the battle was now increased threefold4 ,the ,french king and his troops performed prodigies of valour1 and the ,saracens1 under the command of the ,emir ,ceccidun1 fought as if they were determined to exterminate1 in one last decisive effort1 the new ,european swarm that had settled upon their coast4 ,at the fall of the evening dews the ,christians were masters of the field of ,massoura1 and flattered themselves that they were the victors4 ,self-love would not suffer them to confess that the ,saracens had withdrawn1 and not retreated2 but their leaders were too wofully convinced that that fatal field had completed the disorganisation of the ,christian army1 and that all hopes of future conquest were at an end4 ,impressed with this truth1 the ,crusaders sued for peace4 ,the sultan insisted upon the immediate evacuation of ,damietta1 and that ,louis himself should be delivered as hostage for the fulfilment of the condition4 ,his army at once refused1 and the negotiations were broken off4 ,it was now resolved to attempt a retreat2 but the agile ,saracens1 now in the front and now in the rear1 rendered it a matter of extreme difficulty1 and cut off the stragglers in great numbers4 ,hundreds of them were drowned in the ,nile2 and sickness and famine worked sad ravages upon those who escaped all other casualties4 ,louis himself was so weakened by disease1 fatigue1 and discouragement1 that he was hardly able to sit upon his horse4 ,in the confusion of the flight he was separated from his attendants1 and left a total stranger upon the sands of ,egypt1 sick1 weary1 and almost friendless4 ,one knight1 ,geffry de ,sergines1 alone attended him1 and led him to a miserable hut in a small village1 where for several days he lay in the hourly expectation of death4 ,he was at last discovered and taken prisoner by the ,saracens1 who treated him with all the honour due to his rank and all the pity due to his misfortunes4 ,under their care his health rapidly improved1 and the next consideration was that of his ransom4 ,the ,saracens demanded1 besides money1 the cession of ,acre1 ,tripoli1 and other cities of ,palestine4 ,louis unhesitatingly refused1 and conducted himself with so much pride and courage that the sultan declared he was the proudest infidel he had ever beheld4 ,after a good deal of haggling1 the sultan agreed to waive these conditions1 and a treaty was finally concluded4 ,the city of ,damietta was restored2 a truce of ten years agreed upon1 and ten thousand golden bezants paid for the release of ,louis and the liberation of all the captives4 ,louis then withdrew to ,jaffa1 and spent two years in putting that city1 and ,cesarea1 with the other possessions of the ,christians in ,palestine1 into a proper state of defence4 ,he then returned to his own country1 with great reputation as a saint1 but very little as a soldier4 ,matthew ,paris informs us that1 in the year #abej1 while ,louis was in ,egypt1 thousands of the ,english were resolved to go to the holy war1 had not the king strictly guarded his ports and kept his people from running out of doors4 ,when the news arrived of the reverses and captivity of the ,french king1 their ardour cooled2 and the ,crusade was sung of only1 but not spoken of4 ,in ,france1 a very different feeling was the result4 ,the news of the king's capture spread consternation through the country4 ,a fanatic monk of ,citeaux suddenly appeared in the villages1 preaching to the people1 and announcing that the ,holy ,virgin1 accompanied by a whole army of saints and martyrs1 had appeared to him1 and commanded him to stir up the shepherds and farm-labourers to the defence of the cross4 ,to them only was his discourse addressed2 and his eloquence was such1 that thousands flocked around him1 ready to follow wherever he should lead4 ,the pastures and the corn-fields were deserted1 and the shepherds1 or pastoureaux1 as they were termed1 became at last so numerous as to amount to upwards of fifty thousand1--,millot says one hundred thousand men4#bj ,the ,queen ,blanche1 who governed as regent during the absence of the king1 encouraged at first the armies of the pastoureaux2 but they soon gave way to such vile excesses that the peaceably disposed were driven to resistance4 ,robbery1 murder1 and violation marked their path2 and all good men1 assisted by the government1 united in putting them down4 ,they were finally dispersed1 but not before three thousand of them had been massacred4 ,many authors say that the slaughter was still greater4 #bj ,elmens de l',histoire de ,france4 ,the ten years' truce concluded in #abfd1 and ,st4 ,louis was urged by two powerful motives to undertake a second expedition for the relief of ,palestine4 ,these were1 fanaticism on the one hand1 and a desire of retrieving his military fame on the other1 which had suffered more than his parasites liked to remind him of4 ,the pope1 of course1 encouraged his design1 and once more the chivalry of ,europe began to bestir themselves4 ,in #abfh1 ,edward1 the heir of the ,english monarchy1 announced his determination to join the ,crusade2 and the pope 7,clement ,,iv47 wrote to the prelates and clergy to aid the cause by their persuasions and their revenues4 ,in ,england1 they agreed to contribute a tenth of their possessions2 and by a parliamentary order1 a twentieth was taken from the corn and movables of all the laity at ,michaelmas4 ,in spite of the remonstrances of the few clear-headed statesmen who surrounded him1 urging the ruin that might in consequence fall upon his then prosperous kingdom1 ,louis made every preparation for his departure4 ,the warlike nobility were nothing loath2 and in the spring of #abgj1 the king set sail with an army of sixty thousand men4 ,he was driven by stress of weather into ,sardinia1 and while there1 a change in his plans took place4 ,instead of proceeding to ,acre1 as he originally intended1 he shaped his course for ,tunis1 on the ,african coast4 ,the king of ,tunis had some time previously expressed himself favourably disposed towards the ,christians and their religion1 and ,louis1 it appears1 had hopes of converting him1 and securing his aid against the sultan of ,egypt4 ,what honour would be mine1 he used to say1 if ,i could become godfather to this ,mussulman king6 ,filled with this idea he landed in ,africa1 near the site of the city of ,carthage1 but found that he had reckoned without his host4 ,the king of ,tunis had no thoughts of renouncing his religion1 nor intention of aiding the ,crusaders in any way4 ,on the contrary1 he opposed their landing with all the forces that could be collected on so sudden an emergency4 ,the ,french1 however1 made good their first position1 and defeated the ,moslems with considerable loss4 ,they also gained some advantage over the reinforcements that were sent to oppose them2 but an infectious flux appeared in the army1 and put a stop to all future victories4 ,the soldiers died at the rate of a hundred in a day4 ,the enemy1 at the same time1 made as great havoc as the plague4 ,st4 ,louis himself was one of the first attacked by the disease4 ,his constitution had been weakened by fatigues1 and even before he left ,france he was unable to bear the full weight of his armour4 ,it was soon evident to his sorrowing soldiers that their beloved monarch could not long survive4 ,he lingered for some days1 and died in ,carthage in the fifty-sixth year of his age1 deeply regretted by his army and his subjects1 and leaving behind him one of the most singular reputations in history4 ,he is the model-king of ecclesiastical writers1 in whose eyes his very defects became virtues1 because they were manifested in furtherance of their cause4 ,more unprejudiced historians1 while they condemn his fanaticism1 admit that he was endowed with many high and rare qualities2 that he was in no one point behind his age1 and in many in advance of it4 ,his brother1 ,charles of ,anjou1 in consequence of a revolution in ,sicily1 had become king of that country4 ,before he heard of the death of ,louis1 he had sailed from ,messina with large reinforcements4 ,on his landing near ,carthage1 he advanced at the head of his army1 amid the martial music of drums and trumpets4 ,he was soon informed how inopportune was his rejoicing1 and shed tears before his whole army1 such as no warrior would have been ashamed to shed4 ,a peace was speedily agreed upon with the king of ,tunis1 and the armies of ,france and ,sicily returned to their homes4 ,illustration3 ,,seal ,,of ,,edward ,i4 ,so little favour had the ,crusade found in ,england1 that even the exertions of the heir to the throne had only collected a small force of fifteen hundred men4 ,with these few ,prince ,edward sailed from ,dover to ,bourdeaux1 in the expectation that he would find the ,french king in that city4 ,st4 ,louis1 however1 had left a few weeks previously2 upon which ,edward followed him to ,sardinia1 and afterwards to ,tunis4 ,before his arrival in ,africa1 ,st4 ,louis was no more1 and peace had been concluded between ,france and ,tunis4 ,he determined1 however1 not to relinquish the ,crusade4 ,returning to ,sicily1 he passed the winter in that country1 and endeavoured to augment his little army4 ,in the spring he set sail for ,palestine1 and arrived in safety at ,acre4 ,the ,christians were torn1 as usual1 by mutual jealousies and animosities4 ,the two great military orders were as virulent and as intractable as ever2 opposed to each other1 and to all the world4 ,the arrival of ,edward had the effect of causing them to lay aside their unworthy contention1 and of uniting heart to heart in one last effort for the deliverance of their adopted country4 ,a force of six thousand effective warriors was soon formed to join those of the ,english prince1 and preparations were made for the renewal of hostilities4 ,the ,sultan ,bibars or ,bendocdar1#ba a fierce ,mamluke1 who had been placed on the throne by a bloody revolution1 was at war with all his neighbours1 and unable1 for that reason1 to concentrate his whole strength against them4 ,edward took advantage of this1 and marching boldly forward to ,nazareth1 defeated the ,turks and gained possession of that city4 ,this was the whole amount of his successes4 ,the hot weather engendered disease among his troops1 and he himself1 the life and soul of the expedition1 fell sick among the first4 ,he had been ill for some time1 and was slowly recovering1 when a messenger desired to speak with him on important matters1 and to deliver some despatches into his own hand4 ,while the prince was occupied in examining them1 the traitorous messenger drew a dagger from his belt and stabbed him in the breast4 ,the wound fortunately was not deep1 and ,edward had regained a portion of his strength4 ,he struggled with the assassin1 and put him to death with his own dagger1 at the same time calling loudly for assistance4#bb ,his attendants came at his call1 and found him bleeding profusely1 and ascertained on inspection that the dagger was poisoned4 ,means were instantly taken to purify the wound1 and an antidote was sent by the ,grand ,master of the ,templars which removed all danger from the effects of the poison4 ,camden1 in his history1 has adopted the more popular1 and certainly more beautiful version of this story1 which says that the ,princess ,eleonora1 in her love for her gallant husband1 sucked the poison from his wound at the risk of her own life3 to use the words of old ,fuller1 it is a pity so pretty a story should not be true2 and that so sovereign a remedy as a woman's tongue1 anointed with the virtue of loving affection1 should not have performed the good deed4 #ba ,mills1 in his history1 gives the name of this chief as ,al ,malek al ,dhaker ,rok neddin ,abulfeth ,bibars al ,ali al ,bundokdari al ,salehi4 #bb ,the reader will recognise the incident which ,sir ,walter ,scott has introduced into his beautiful romance1 ,the ,talisman1 and which1 with the license claimed by poets and romancers1 he represents as having befallen ,king ,richard ,i4 ,edward suspected1 and doubtless not without reason1 that the assassin was employed by the sultan of ,egypt4 ,but it amounted to suspicion only2 and by the sudden death of the assassin the principal clue to the discovery of the truth was lost for ever4 ,edward1 on his recovery1 prepared to resume the offensive2 but the sultan1 embarrassed by the defence of interests which1 for the time being1 he considered of more importance1 made offers of peace to the ,crusaders4 ,this proof of weakness on the part of the enemy was calculated to render a man of ,edward's temperament more anxious to prosecute the war2 but he had also other interests to defend4 ,news arrived in ,palestine of the death of his father1 ,king ,henry ,,iii42 and his presence being necessary in ,england1 he agreed to the terms of the sultan4 ,these were1 that the ,christians should be allowed to retain their possessions in the ,holy ,land1 and that a truce of ten years should be proclaimed4 ,edward then set sail for ,england2 and thus ended the last ,crusade4 ,the after-fate of the ,holy ,land may be told in a few words4 ,the ,christians1 unmindful of their past sufferings and of the jealous neighbours they had to deal with1 first broke the truce by plundering some ,egyptian traders near ,margat4 ,the sultan immediately revenged the outrage by taking possession of ,margat1 and war once more raged between the nations4 ,margat made a gallant defence1 but no reinforcements arrived from ,europe to prevent its fall4 ,tripoli was the next1 and other cities in succession1 until at last ,acre was the only city of ,palestine that remained in possession of the ,christians4 ,illustration3 ,,tomb ,,of ,,queen ,,eleanor4 ,the ,grand ,master of the ,templars collected together his small and devoted band1 and1 with the trifling aid afforded by the ,king of ,cyprus1 prepared to defend to the death the last possession of his order4 ,europe was deaf to his cry for aid1 the numbers of the foe were overwhelming1 and devoted bravery was of no avail4 ,in that disastrous siege the ,christians were all but exterminated4 ,the king of ,cyprus fled when he saw that resistance was vain1 and the ,grand ,master fell at the head of his knights1 pierced with a hundred wounds4 ,seven ,templars1 and as many ,hospitallers1 alone escaped from the dreadful carnage4 ,the victorious ,moslems then set fire to the city1 and the rule of the ,christians in ,palestine was brought to a close for ever4 ,this intelligence spread alarm and sorrow among the clergy of ,europe1 who endeavoured to rouse once more the energy and enthusiasm of the nations in the cause of the ,holy ,land4 ,but the popular mania had run its career2 the spark of zeal had burned its appointed time1 and was never again to be re-illumined4 ,here and there a solitary knight announced his determination to take up arms1 and now and then a king gave cold encouragement to the scheme2 but it dropped almost as soon as spoken of1 to be renewed again1 still more feebly1 at some longer interval4 ,now what was the grand result of all these struggles8 ,europe expended millions of her treasures1 and the blood of two millions of her children2 and a handful of quarrelsome knights retained possession of ,palestine for about one hundred years6 ,even had ,christendom retained it to this day1 the advantage1 if confined to that1 would have been too dearly purchased4 ,but notwithstanding the fanaticism that originated1 and the folly that conducted them1 the ,crusades were not productive of unmitigated evil4 ,the feudal chiefs became better members of society by coming in contact1 in ,asia1 with a civilisation superior to their own2 the people secured some small instalments of their rights2 kings1 no longer at war with their nobility1 had time to pass some good laws2 the human mind learned some little wisdom from hard experience1 and1 casting off the slough of superstition in which the ,roman clergy had so long enveloped it1 became prepared to receive the seeds of the approaching ,reformation4 ,thus did the all-wise ,disposer of events bring good out of evil1 and advance the civilisation and ultimate happiness of the nations of the ,west by means of the very fanaticism that had led them against the ,east4 ,but the whole subject is one of absorbing interest1 and1 if carried fully out in all its bearings1 would consume more space than the plan of this work will allow4 ,the philosophic student will draw his own conclusions2 and he can have no better field for the exercise of his powers than this ,european madness--its advantages and disadvantages1 its causes and results4 ,illustration3 ,,arras4 ,,the ,,witch ,,mania4 ,what wrath of gods1 or wicked influence ,of tears1 conspiring wretched men t' afflict1 ,hath pour'd on earth this noyous pestilence ,that mortal minds doth inwardly infect ,with love of blindness and of ignorance8 ,spencer's ,tears of the ,muses4 ,countrymen4 ,hang her6 beat her6 kill her6 ,justice4 ,how now8 ,forbear this violence6 ,mother ,sawyer4 ,a crew of villains--a knot of bloody hangmen6 set to torment me6 ,i know not why4 ,justice4 ,alas1 neighbour ,banks6 are you a ringleader in mischief8 ,fie6 to abuse an aged woman6 ,banks4 ,woman6 a she hell-cat1 a witch6 ,to prove her one1 we no sooner set fire on the thatch of her house1 but in she came running1 as if the devil had sent her in a barrel of gunpowder4 ,ford's ,witch of ,edmonton4 ,the belief that disembodied spirits may be permitted to revisit this world has its foundation upon that sublime hope of immortality which is at once the chief solace and greatest triumph of our reason4 ,even if revelation did not teach us1 we feel that we have that within us which shall never die2 and all our experience of this life but makes us cling the more fondly to that one repaying hope4 ,but in the early days of little knowledge this grand belief became the source of a whole train of superstitions1 which1 in their turn1 became the fount from whence flowed a deluge of blood and horror4 ,europe1 for a period of two centuries and a half1 brooded upon the idea1 not only that parted spirits walked the earth to meddle in the affairs of men1 but that men had power to summon evil spirits to their aid to work woe upon their fellows4 ,an epidemic terror seized upon the nations2 no man thought himself secure1 either in his person or possessions1 from the machinations of the devil and his agents4 ,every calamity that befell him he attributed to a witch4 ,if a storm arose and blew down his barn1 it was witchcraft2 if his cattle died of a murrain--if disease fastened upon his limbs1 or death entered suddenly and snatched a beloved face from his hearth--they were not visitations of ,providence1 but the works of some neighbouring hag1 whose wretchedness or insanity caused the ignorant to raise their finger and point at her as a witch4 ,the word was upon every body's tongue4 ,france1 ,italy1 ,germany1 ,england1 ,scotland1 and the far north successively ran mad upon this subject1 and for a long series of years furnished their tribunals with so many trials for witchcraft1 that other crimes were seldom or never spoken of4 ,thousands upon thousands of unhappy persons fell victims to this cruel and absurd delusion4 ,in many cities of ,germany1 as will be shewn more fully in its due place hereafter1 the average number of executions for this pretended crime was six hundred annually1 or two every day1 if we leave out the ,sundays1 when it is to be supposed that even this madness refrained from its work4 ,a misunderstanding of the famous text of the ,mosaic law1 ,thou shalt not suffer a witch to live1 no doubt led many conscientious men astray1 whose superstition1 warm enough before1 wanted but a little corroboration to blaze out with desolating fury4 ,in all ages of the world men have tried to hold converse with superior beings1 and to pierce by their means the secrets of futurity4 ,in the time of ,moses1 it is evident that there were impostors who trafficked upon the credulity of mankind1 and insulted the supreme majesty of the true ,god by pretending to the power of divination4 ,hence the law which ,moses1 by ,divine command1 promulgated against these criminals2 but it did not follow1 as the superstitious monomaniacs of the middle ages imagined1 that the ,bible established the existence of the power of divination by its edicts against those who pretended to it4 ,from the best authorities1 it appears that the ,hebrew word1 which has been rendered venefica and witch1 means a poisoner and divineress1 a dabbler in spells1 or fortune-teller4 ,the modern witch was a very different character1 and joined to her pretended power of foretelling future events that of working evil upon the life1 limbs1 and possessions of mankind4 ,this power was only to be acquired by an express compact1 signed in blood1 with the devil himself1 by which the wizard or witch renounced baptism1 and sold his or her immortal soul to the evil one1 without any saving clause of redemption4 ,there are so many wondrous appearances in nature for which science and philosophy cannot even now account1 that it is not surprising that1 when natural laws were still less understood1 men should have attributed to supernatural agency every appearance which they could not otherwise explain4 ,the merest tyro now understands various phenomena which the wisest of old could not fathom4 ,the schoolboy knows why1 upon high mountains1 there should on certain occasions appear three or four suns in the firmament at once1 and why the figure of a traveller upon one eminence should be reproduced1 inverted and of a gigantic stature1 upon another4 ,we all know the strange pranks which imagination can play in certain diseases2 that the hypochondriac can see visions and spectres2 and that there have been cases in which men were perfectly persuaded that they were teapots4 ,science has lifted up the veil1 and rolled away all the fantastic horrors in which our forefathers shrouded these and similar cases4 ,the man who now imagines himself a wolf is sent to the hospital instead of to the stake1 as in the days of the witch mania2 and earth1 air1 and sea are unpeopled of the grotesque spirits that were once believed to haunt them4 ,before entering further into the history of ,witchcraft1 it may be as well if we consider the absurd impersonation of the evil principle formed by the monks in their legends4 ,we must make acquaintance with the primum mobile1 and understand what sort of a personage it was who gave the witches1 in exchange for their souls1 the power to torment their fellow-creatures4 ,the popular notion of the devil was1 that he was a large1 ill-formed1 hairy sprite1 with horns1 a long tail1 cloven feet1 and dragon's wings4 ,in this shape he was constantly brought on the stage by the monks in their early miracles and mysteries4 ,in these representations he was an important personage1 and answered the purpose of the clown in the modern pantomime4 ,the great fun for the people was to see him well belaboured by the saints with clubs or cudgels1 and to hear him howl with pain as he limped off1 maimed by the blow of some vigorous anchorite4 ,st4 ,dunstan generally served him the glorious trick for which he is renowned1 catching hold of his nose with a pair of red-hot pincers1 till ,rocks and distant dells resounded with his cries4 ,some of the saints spat in his face1 to his very great annoyance2 and others chopped pieces off of his tail1 which1 however1 always grew on again4 ,this was paying him in his own coin1 and amused the populace mightily1 for they all remembered the scurvy tricks he had played them and their forefathers4 ,it was believed that he endeavoured to trip people up by laying his long invisible tail in their way1 and giving it a sudden whisk when their legs were over it2--that he used to get drunk1 and swear like a trooper1 and be so mischievous in his cups as to raise tempests and earthquakes1 to destroy the fruits of the earth1 and the barns and homesteads of true believers2--that he used to run invisible spits into people by way of amusing himself in the long winter evenings1 and to proceed to taverns and regale himself with the best1 offering in payment pieces of gold which1 on the dawn of the following morning1 invariably turned into slates4 ,sometimes1 disguised as a large drake1 he used to lurk among the bulrushes1 and frighten the weary traveller out of his wits by his awful quack4 ,the reader will remember the lines of ,burns in his address to the ,de'il1 which so well express the popular notion on this point3 ,ae dreary1 windy1 winter night1 ,the stars shot down wi' sklentin light1 ,wi' you mysel1 ,i got a fright ,ayont the lough2 ,ye1 like a rash-bush1 stood in sight ,wi' waving sough4 ,the cudgel in my nieve did shake1 ,each bristled hair stood like a stake1 ,when wi' an eldritch stour1 'quaick6 quaick6' ,among the springs ,awa' ye squattered1 like a drake1 ,on whistling wings4 ,in all the stories circulated and believed about him1 he was represented as an ugly1 petty1 mischievous spirit1 who rejoiced in playing off all manner of fantastic tricks upon poor humanity4 ,milton seems to have been the first who succeeded in giving any but a ludicrous description of him4 ,the sublime pride1 which is the quintessence of evil1 was unconceived before his time4 ,all other limners made him merely grotesque1 but ,milton made him awful4 ,in this the monks shewed themselves but miserable romancers2 for their object undoubtedly was to represent the fiend as terrible as possible4 ,but there was nothing grand about their ,satan2 on the contrary1 he was a low1 mean devil1 whom it was easy to circumvent1 and fine fun to play tricks with4 ,but1 as is well and eloquently remarked by a modern writer1#bc the subject has also its serious side4 ,an ,indian deity1 with its wild distorted shape and grotesque attitude1 appears merely ridiculous when separated from its accessories and viewed by daylight in a museum2 but restore it to the darkness of its own hideous temple1 bring back to our recollection the victims that have bled upon its altar or been crushed beneath its car1 and our sense of the ridiculous subsides into aversion and horror4 ,so1 while the superstitious dreams of former times are regarded as mere speculative insanities1 we may be for a moment amused with the wild incoherencies of the patients2 but when we reflect that out of these hideous misconceptions of the principle of evil arose the belief in witchcraft--that this was no dead faith1 but one operating on the whole being of society1 urging on the wisest and the mildest to deeds of murder1 or cruelties scarcely less than murder--that the learned and the beautiful1 young and old1 male and female1 were devoted by its influence to the stake and the scaffold--every feeling disappears1 except that of astonishment that such things could be1 and humiliation at the thought that the delusion was as lasting as it was universal4 #bc ,see article on ,demonology in the sixth volume of the ,foreign ,quarterly ,review4 ,besides this chief personage1 there was an infinite number of inferior demons1 who played conspicuous parts in the creed of witchcraft4 ,the pages of ,bekker1 ,leloyer1 ,bodin1 ,delrio1 and ,de ,lancre1 abound with descriptions of the qualities of these imps1 and the functions which were assigned them4 ,from these authors1--three of whom were commissioners for the trial of witches1 and who wrote from the confessions made by the supposed criminals and the evidence delivered against them1--and from the more recent work of ,m4 ,jules ,garinet1 the following summary of the creed has been1 with great pains1 extracted4 ,the student who is desirous of knowing more is referred to the works in question2 he will find enough in every leaf to make his blood curdle with shame and horror3 but the purity of these pages shall not be soiled by any thing so ineffably humiliating and disgusting as a complete exposition of them2 what is here culled will be a sufficient sample of the popular belief1 and the reader would but lose time who should seek in the writings of the demonologists for more ample details4 ,he will gain nothing by lifting the veil which covers their unutterable obscenities1 unless1 like ,sterne1 he wishes to gather fresh evidence of what a beast man is4 ,in that case1 he will find plenty there to convince him that the beast would be libelled by the comparison4 ,it was thought that the earth swarmed with millions of demons of both sexes1 many of whom1 like the human race1 traced their lineage up to ,adam1 who after the fall was led astray by devils1 assuming the forms of beautiful women to deceive him4 ,these demons increased and multiplied among themselves with the most extraordinary rapidity4 ,their bodies were of the thin air1 and they could pass through the hardest substances with the greatest ease4 ,they had no fixed residence or abiding place1 but were tossed to and fro in the immensity of space4 ,when thrown together in great multitudes1 they excited whirlwinds in the air and tempests in the waters1 and took delight in destroying the beauty of nature and the monuments of the industry of man4 ,although they increased among themselves like ordinary creatures1 their numbers were daily augmented by the souls of wicked men1 of children still-born1 of women who died in childbed1 and of persons killed in duels4 ,the whole air was supposed to be full of them1 and many unfortunate men and women drew them by thousands into their mouths and nostrils at every inspiration2 and the demons1 lodging in their bowels or other parts of their bodies1 tormented them with pains and diseases of every kind1 and sent them frightful dreams4 ,st4 ,gregory of ,nice relates a story of a nun who forgot to say her benedicite and make the sign of the cross before she sat down to supper1 and who in consequence swallowed a demon concealed among the leaves of a lettuce4 ,most persons said the number of these demons was so great that they could not be counted1 but ,wierus asserted that they amounted to no more than seven millions four hundred and five thousand nine hundred and twenty-six2 and that they were divided into seventy-two companies or battalions1 to each of which there was a prince or captain4 ,they could assume any shape they pleased4 ,when they were male1 they were called incubi2 and when female1 succubi4 ,they sometimes made themselves hideous2 and at other times they assumed shapes of such transcendent loveliness1 that mortal eyes never saw beauty to compete with theirs4 ,although the devil and his legions could appear to mankind at any time1 it was generally understood that he preferred the night between ,friday and ,saturday4 ,if ,satan himself appeared in human shape1 he was never perfectly and in all respects like a man4 ,he was either too black or too white1 too large or too small1 or some of his limbs were out of proportion to the rest of his body4 ,most commonly his feet were deformed1 and he was obliged to curl up and conceal his tail in some part of his habiliments2 for1 take what shape he would1 he could not get rid of that encumbrance4 ,he sometimes changed himself into a tree or a river2 and upon one occasion he transformed himself into a barrister1 as we learn from ,wierus1 book iv4 chapter #i4 ,in the reign of ,philippe le ,bel1 he appeared to a monk in the shape of a dark man riding a tall black horse1 then as a friar1 afterwards as an ass and finally as a coach-wheel4 ,instances are not rare in which both he and his inferior demons have taken the form of handsome young men1 and1 successfully concealing their tails1 have married beautiful young women1 who have had children by them4 ,such children were easily recognisable by their continual shrieking1 by their requiring five nurses to suckle them1 and by their never growing fat4 ,all these demons were at the command of any individual who would give up his immortal soul to the prince of evil for the privilege of enjoying their services for a stated period4 ,the wizard or witch could send them to execute the most difficult missions3 whatever the witch commanded was performed1 except it was a good action1 in which case the order was disobeyed1 and evil worked upon herself instead4 ,at intervals1 according to the pleasure of ,satan1 there was a general meeting of the demons and all the witches4 ,this meeting was called the ,sabbath1 from its taking place on the ,saturday1 or immediately after midnight on ,fridays4 ,these sabbaths were sometimes held for one district1 sometimes for another1 and once at least every year it was held on the ,brocken1 or among other high mountains1 as a general sabbath of the fiends for the whole of ,christendom4 ,the devil generally chose a place where four roads met as the scene of this assembly1 or if that was not convenient1 the neighbourhood of a lake4 ,upon this spot nothing would ever afterwards grow1 as the hot feet of the demons and witches burnt the principle of fecundity from the earth1 and rendered it barren for ever4 ,when orders had been once issued for the meeting of the sabbath1 all the wizards and witches who failed to attend it were lashed by demons with a rod made of serpents or scorpions1 as a punishment for their inattention or want of punctuality4 ,in ,france and ,england the witches were supposed to ride uniformly upon broomsticks2 but in ,italy and ,spain1 the devil himself1 in the shape of a goat1 used to transport them on his back1 which lengthened or shortened according to the number of witches he was desirous of accommodating4 ,no witch1 when proceeding to the sabbath1 could get out by a door or window1 were she to try ever so much4 ,their general mode of ingress was by the keyhole1 and of egress by the chimney1 up which they flew1 broom and all1 with the greatest ease4 ,to prevent the absence of the witches from being noticed by their neighbours1 some inferior demon was commanded to assume their shapes and lie in their beds1 feigning illness1 until the sabbath was over4 ,when all the wizards and witches had arrived at the place of rendezvous1 the infernal ceremonies of the sabbath began4 ,satan1 having assumed his favourite shape of a large he-goat1 with a face in front and another in his haunches1 took his seat upon a throne2 and all present1 in succession1 paid their respects to him1 and kissed him in his face behind4 ,this done1 he appointed a master of the ceremonies1 in company with whom he made a personal examination of all the wizards and witches1 to see whether they had the secret mark about them by which they were stamped as the devil's own4 ,this mark was always insensible to pain4 ,those who had not yet been marked1 received the mark from the master of the ceremonies1 the devil at the same time bestowing nicknames upon them4 ,this done1 they all began to sing and dance in the most furious manner1 until some one arrived who was anxious to be admitted into their society4 ,they were then silent for a while1 until the new-comer had denied his salvation1 kissed the devil1 spat upon the ,bible1 and sworn obedience to him in all things4 ,they then began dancing again with all their might1 and singing these words1 ,alegremos1 ,alegremos6 ,que gente va tenemos6 ,in the course of an hour or two they generally became wearied of this violent exercise1 and then they all sat down and recounted the evil deeds they had done since their last meeting4 ,those who had not been malicious and mischievous enough towards their fellow-creatures1 received personal chastisement from ,satan himself1 who flogged them with thorns or scorpions till they were covered with blood1 and unable to sit or stand4 ,when this ceremony was concluded1 they were all amused by a dance of toads4 ,thousands of these creatures sprang out of the earth1 and standing on their hind legs1 danced1 while the devil played the bagpipes or the trumpet4 ,these toads were all endowed with the faculty of speech1 and entreated the witches to reward them with the flesh of unbaptised babes for their exertions to give them pleasure4 ,the witches promised compliance4 ,the devil bade them remember to keep their word2 and then stamping his foot1 caused all the toads to sink into the earth in an instant4 ,the place being thus cleared1 preparation was made for the banquet1 where all manner of disgusting things were served up and greedily devoured by the demons and witches2 although the latter were sometimes regaled with choice meats and expensive wines from golden plates and crystal goblets2 but they were never thus favoured unless they had done an extraordinary number of evil deeds since the last period of meeting4 ,after the feast1 they began dancing again2 but such as had no relish for any more exercise in that way1 amused themselves by mocking the holy sacrament of baptism4 ,for this purpose1 the toads were again called up1 and sprinkled with filthy water2 the devil making the sign of the cross1 and all the witches calling out1 ,in nomine ,patric1 ,aragueaco ,petrica1 agora6 agora6 ,valentia1 jouando goure gaits goustia6 which meant1 ,in the name of ,patrick1 ,petrick of ,aragon1 now1 now1 all our ills are over6 ,when the devil wished to be particularly amused1 he made the witches strip off their clothes and dance before him1 each with a cat tied round her neck1 and another dangling from her body in form of a tail4 ,when the cock crew1 they all disappeared1 and the sabbath was ended4 ,this is a summary of the belief which prevailed for many centuries nearly all over ,europe1 and which is far from eradicated even at this day4 ,it was varied in some respects in several countries1 but the main points were the same in ,france1 ,germany1 ,great ,britain1 ,italy1 ,spain1 and the far ,north of ,europe4 ,the early annals of ,france abound with stories of supposed sorcery1 but it was not until the time of ,charlemagne that the crime acquired any great importance4 ,this monarch1 says ,m4 ,jules ,garinet1#bd had several times given orders that all necromancers1 astrologers1 and witches should be driven from his states2 but as the number of criminals augmented daily1 he found it necessary at last to resort to severer measures4 ,in consequence1 he published several edicts1 which may be found at length in the ,capitulaire de ,baluse4 ,by these1 every sort of magic1 enchantment1 and witchcraft was forbidden2 and the punishment of death decreed against those who in any way evoked the devil1 compounded love-philters1 afflicted either man or woman with barrenness1 troubled the atmosphere1 excited tempests1 destroyed the fruits of the earth1 dried up the milk of cows1 or tormented their fellow-creatures with sores and diseases4 ,all persons found guilty of exercising these execrable arts were to be executed immediately upon conviction1 that the earth might be rid of the burden and curse of their presence2 and those even who consulted them might also be punished with death4#be #bd ,histoire de la ,magie en ,france4 ,rois de la seconde race1 p4 #bi4 #be ,m4 ,michaud1 in his ,history of the ,crusades1 ,m4 ,guinguen1 in his ,literary ,history of ,italy1 and some other critics1 have objected to ,tasso's poem1 that he has attributed to the ,crusaders a belief in magic1 which did not exist at that time4 ,if these critics had referred to the edicts of ,charlemagne1 they would have seen that ,tasso was right1 and that a disposition too eager to spy out imperfections in a great work was leading themselves into error4 ,after this time1 prosecutions for witchcraft are continually mentioned1 especially by the ,french historians4 ,it was a crime imputed with so much ease1 and repelled with so much difficulty1 that the powerful1 whenever they wanted to ruin the weak1 and could fix no other imputation upon them1 had only to accuse them of witchcraft to ensure their destruction4 ,instances in which this crime was made the pretext for the most violent persecution1 both of individuals and of communities1 whose real offences were purely political or religious1 must be familiar to every reader4 ,the extermination of the ,stedinger in #abcd1 of the ,templars from #acjg to #acac1 the execution of ,joan of ,arc in #adbi1 and the unhappy scenes of ,arras in #adei1 are the most prominent4 ,the first of these is perhaps the least known1 but is not among the least remarkable4 ,the following account1 from ,dr4 ,kortm's interesting history#bf of the republican confederacies of the middle ages1 will shew the horrible convenience of imputations of witchcraft when royal or priestly wolves wanted a pretext for a quarrel with the sheep4 #bf ,entstehungsgeschichte der freistdlischen ,bnde im ,mittelalter1 von ,dr4 ,f4 ,kortm4 #ahbg4 ,the ,frieslanders1 inhabiting the district from the ,weser to the ,zuydersee1 had long been celebrated for their attachment to freedom1 and their successful struggles in its defence4 ,as early as the eleventh century they had formed a general confederacy against the encroachments of the ,normans and the ,saxons1 which was divided into seven seelands1 holding annually a diet under a large oak-tree at ,aurich1 near the ,upstalboom4 ,here they managed their own affairs1 without the control of the clergy and ambitious nobles who surrounded them1 to the great scandal of the latter4 ,they already had true notions of a representative government4 ,the deputies of the people levied the necessary taxes1 deliberated on the affairs of the community1 and performed1 in their simple and patriarchal manner1 nearly all the functions of the representative assemblies of the present day4 ,finally1 the ,archbishop of ,bremen1 together with the ,count of ,oldenburg and other neighbouring potentates1 formed a league against that section of the ,frieslanders known by the name of the ,stedinger1 and succeeded1 after harassing them and sowing dissensions among them for many years1 in bringing them under the yoke4 ,but the ,stedinger1 devotedly attached to their ancient laws1 by which they had attained a degree of civil and religious liberty very uncommon in that age1 did not submit without a violent struggle4 ,they arose in insurrection in the year #abjd1 in defence of the ancient customs of their country1 refused to pay taxes to the feudal chiefs or tithes to the clergy--who had forced themselves into their peaceful retreats--and drove out many of their oppressors4 ,for a period of eight-and-twenty years the brave ,stedinger continued the struggle single-handed against the forces of the ,archbishops of ,bremen and the ,counts of ,oldenburg1 and destroyed1 in the year #abcb1 the strong castle of ,slutterberg1 near ,delmenhorst1 built by the latter nobleman as a position from which he could send out his marauders to plunder and destroy the possessions of the peasantry4 ,the invincible courage of these poor people proving too strong for their oppressors to cope with by the ordinary means of warfare1 the ,archbishop of ,bremen applied to ,pope ,gregory ,,ix4 for his spiritual aid against them4 ,that prelate entered cordially into the cause1 and launching forth his anathema against the ,stedinger as heretics and witches1 encouraged all true believers to assist in their extermination4 ,a large body of thieves and fanatics broke into their country in the year #abcc1 killing and burning wherever they went1 and not sparing either women or children1 the sick or the aged1 in their rage4 ,the ,stedinger1 however1 rallied in great force1 routed their invaders1 and killed in battle their leader1 ,count ,burckhardt of ,oldenburg1 with many inferior chieftains4 ,again the pope was applied to1 and a crusade against the ,stedinger was preached in all that part of ,germany4 ,the pope wrote to all the bishops and leaders of the faithful an exhortation to arm1 to root out from the land those abominable witches and wizards4 ,the ,stedinger1 said his holiness1 seduced by the devil1 have abjured all the laws of ,god and man1 slandered the ,church1 insulted the holy sacraments1 consulted witches to raise evil spirits1 shed blood like water1 taken the lives of priests1 and concocted an infernal scheme to propagate the worship of the devil1 whom they adore under the name of ,asmodi4 ,the devil appears to them in different shapes1--sometimes as a goose or a duck1 and at others in the figure of a pale black-eyed youth1 with a melancholy aspect1 whose embrace fills their hearts with eternal hatred against the holy ,church of ,christ4 ,this devil presides at their sabbaths1 when they all kiss him and dance around him4 ,he then envelopes them in total darkness1 and they all1 male and female1 give themselves up to the grossest and most disgusting debauchery4 ,in consequence of these letters of the pope1 the emperor of ,germany1 ,frederic ,,ii41 also pronounced his ban against them4 ,the ,bishops of ,ratzebourg1 ,lubeck1 ,osnabrck1 ,munster1 and ,minden took up arms to exterminate them1 aided by the ,duke of ,brabant1 the ,counts of ,holland1 of ,clves1 of the ,mark1 of ,oldenburg1 of ,egmond1 of ,diest1 and many other powerful nobles4 ,an army of forty thousand men was soon collected1 which marched1 under the command of the ,duke of ,brabant1 into the country of the ,stedinger4 ,the latter mustered vigorously in defence of their lives and liberties1 but could raise no greater force1 including every man capable of bearing arms1 than eleven thousand men to cope against the overwhelming numbers of their foe4 ,they fought with the energy of despair1 but all in vain4 ,eight thousand of them were slain on the field of battle2 the whole race was exterminated2 and the enraged conquerors scoured the country in all directions1 slew the women and children and old men1 drove away the cattle1 fired the woods and cottages1 and made a total waste of the land4 ,illustration3 ,,philip ,,iv4 ,just as absurd and effectual was the charge brought against the ,templars in #acjg1 when they had rendered themselves obnoxious to the potentates and prelacy of ,christendom4 ,their wealth1 their power1 their pride1 and their insolence had raised up enemies on every side2 and every sort of accusation was made against them1 but failed to work their overthrow1 until the terrible cry of witchcraft was let loose upon them4 ,this effected its object1 and the ,templars were extirpated4 ,they were accused of having sold their souls to the devil1 and of celebrating all the infernal mysteries of the witches' sabbath4 ,it was pretended that1 when they admitted a novice into their order1 they forced him to renounce his salvation and curse ,jesus ,christ2 that they then made him submit to many unholy and disgusting ceremonies1 and forced him to kiss the superior on the cheek1 the navel1 and the breech1 and spit three times upon a crucifix2 that all the members were forbidden to have connexion with women1 but might give themselves up without restraint to every species of unmentionable debauchery2 that when by any mischance a ,templar infringed this order1 and a child was born1 the whole order met1 and tossed it about like a shuttlecock from one to the other until it expired2 that they then roasted it by a slow fire1 and with the fat which trickled from it anointed the hair and beard of a large image of the devil4 ,it was also said that when one of the knights died1 his body was burnt into a powder1 and then mixed with wine and drunk by every member of the order4 ,philip ,,iv41 who1 to exercise his own implacable hatred1 invented1 in all probability1 the greater part of these charges1 issued orders for the immediate arrest of all the ,templars in his dominions4 ,the pope afterwards took up the cause with almost as much fervour as the king of ,france2 and in every part of ,europe the ,templars were thrown into prison1 and their goods and estates confiscated4 ,hundreds of them1 when put to the rack1 confessed even the most preposterous of the charges against them1 and by so doing increased the popular clamour and the hopes of their enemies4 ,it is true that1 when removed from the rack1 they denied all they had previously confessed2 but this circumstance only increased the outcry1 and was numbered as an additional crime against them4 ,they were considered in a worse light than before1 and condemned forthwith to the flames as relapsed heretics4 ,fifty-nine of these unfortunate victims were all burned together by a slow fire in a field in the suburbs of ,paris1 protesting to the very last moment of their lives their innocence of the crimes imputed to them1 and refusing to accept of pardon upon condition of acknowledging themselves guilty4 ,similar scenes were enacted in the provinces2 and for four years hardly a month passed without witnessing the execution of one or more of these unhappy men4 ,finally1 in #acac1 the last scene of this tragedy closed by the burning of the ,grand-,master1 ,jacques de ,molay1 and his companion ,guy1 the commander of ,normandy4 ,any thing more atrocious it is impossible to conceive1--disgraceful alike to the monarch who originated1 the pope who supported1 and the age which tolerated the monstrous iniquity4 ,that the malice of a few could invent such a charge is a humiliating thought for the lover of his species2 but that millions of mankind should credit it is still more so4 ,the execution of ,joan of ,arc is the next most notorious example which history affords us of the imputation of witchcraft against a political enemy4 ,instances of similar persecution1 in which this crime was made the pretext for the gratification of political or religious hatred1 might be multiplied to a great extent4 ,but it is better to proceed at once to the consideration of the bull of ,pope ,innocent1 the torch that set fire to the long-laid train1 and caused so fearful an explosion over the ,christian world4 ,it will be necessary1 however1 to go back for some years anterior to that event1 the better to understand the motives that influenced the ,church in the promulgation of that fearful document4 ,towards the close of the fourteenth and beginning of the fifteenth century1 many witches were burned in different parts of ,europe4 ,as a natural consequence of the severe persecution1 the crime1 or the pretenders to it1 increased4 ,those who found themselves accused and threatened with the penalties1 if they happened to be persons of a bad and malicious disposition1 wished they had the power imputed to them1 that they might be revenged upon their persecutors4 ,numerous instances are upon record of half-crazed persons being found muttering the spells which were supposed to raise the evil one4 ,when religion and law alike recognised the crime1 it is no wonder that the weak in reason and the strong in imagination1 especially when they were of a nervous temperament1 fancied themselves endued with the terrible powers of which all the world was speaking4 ,the belief of their neighbours did not lag behind their own1 and execution was the speedy consequence4 ,illustration3 ,,joan ,,of ,,arc4 ,as the fear of witchcraft increased1 the ,catholic clergy strove to fix the imputation of it upon those religious sects1 the pioneers of the ,reformation1 who began about this time to be formidable to the ,church of ,rome4 ,if a charge of heresy could not ensure their destruction1 that of sorcery and witchcraft never failed4 ,in the year #adei1 a devoted congregation of the ,waldenses at ,arras1 who used to repair at night to worship ,god in their own manner in solitary places1 fell victims to an accusation of sorcery4 ,it was rumoured in ,arras that in the desert places to which they retired the devil appeared before them in human form1 and read from a large book his laws and ordinances1 to which they all promised obedience2 that he then distributed money and food among them1 to bind them to his service1 which done1 they gave themselves up to every species of lewdness and debauchery4 ,upon these rumours several creditable persons in ,arras were seized and imprisoned1 together with a number of decrepit and idiotic old women4 ,the rack1 that convenient instrument for making the accused confess any thing1 was of course put in requisition4 ,monstrelet1 in his chronicle1 says that they were tortured until some of them admitted the truth of the whole accusations1 and said1 besides1 that they had seen and recognised in their nocturnal assemblies many persons of rank2 many prelates1 seigneurs1 governors of bailliages1 and mayors of cities1 being such names as the examiners had themselves suggested to the victims4 ,several who had been thus informed against were thrown into prison1 and so horribly tortured1 that reason fled1 and in their ravings of pain they also confessed their midnight meetings with the devil1 and the oaths they had taken to serve him4 ,upon these confessions judgment was pronounced4 ,the poor old women1 as usual in such cases1 were hanged and burned in the market-place2 the more wealthy delinquents were allowed to escape upon payment of large sums4 ,it was soon after universally recognised that these trials had been conducted in the most odious manner1 and that the judges had motives of private vengeance against many of the more influential persons who had been implicated4 ,the parliament of ,paris afterwards declared the sentence illegal1 and the judges iniquitous2 but its arrt was too late to be of service even to those who had paid the fine1 or to punish the authorities who had misconducted themselves1 for it was not delivered until thirty-two years after the executions had taken place4 ,in the mean time1 accusations of witchcraft spread rapidly in ,france1 ,italy1 and ,germany4 ,strange to say1 that although in the first instance chiefly directed against heretics1 the latter were as firm believers in the crime as even the ,catholics themselves4 ,in after times we also find that the ,lutherans and ,calvinists became greater witch-burners than ever the ,romanists had been1 so deeply was the prejudice rooted4 ,every other point of belief was in dispute1 but that was considered by every sect to be as well established as the authenticity of the ,scriptures or the existence of a ,god4 ,but at this early period of the epidemic the persecutions were directed by the heads of the ,catholic ,church4 ,the spread of heresy betokened1 it was thought1 the coming of ,antichrist4 ,florimond1 in his work concerning ,antichrist1 exposed the secret of these prosecutions4 ,he says3 ,all who have afforded us some signs of the approach of ,antichrist agree that the increase of sorcery and witchcraft is to distinguish the melancholy period of his advent2 and was ever age so afflicted as ours8 ,the seats destined for criminals in our courts of justice are blackened with persons accused of this guilt4 ,there are not judges enough to try them4 ,our dungeons are gorged with them4 ,no day passes that we do not render our tribunals bloody by the dooms which we pronounce1 or in which we do not return to our homes discountenanced and terrified at the horrible confessions which we have heard4 ,and the devil is accounted so good a master1 that we cannot commit so great a number of his slaves to the flames but what there shall arise from their ashes a sufficient number to supply their place4 ,florimond here spoke the general opinion of the ,church of ,rome2 but it never suggested itself to the mind of any person engaged in these trials1 that if it were indeed a devil who raised up so many new witches to fill the places of those consumed1 it was no other than one in their own employ--the devil of persecution4 ,but so it was4 ,the more they burned1 the more they found to burn1 until it became a common prayer with women in the humbler walks of life1 that they might never live to grow old4 ,it was sufficient to be aged1 poor1 and half-crazed1 to ensure death at the stake or the scaffold4 ,illustration3 ,,gate ,,of ,,constance4 ,in the year #adhg there was a severe storm in ,switzerland1 which laid waste the country for four miles around ,constance4 ,two wretched old women1 whom the popular voice had long accused of witchcraft1 were arrested on the preposterous charge of having raised the tempest4 ,the rack was displayed1 and the two poor creatures were extended upon it4 ,in reply to various questions from their tormentors1 they owned in their agony that they were in the constant habit of meeting the devil2 that they had sold their souls to him2 and that at their command he had raised the tempest4 ,upon this insane and blasphemous charge they were condemned to die4 ,in the criminal registers of ,constance there stands against the name of each the simple but significant phrase1 convicta et combusta4 ,this case and hundreds of others were duly reported to the ecclesiastical powers4 ,there happened at that time to be a pontiff at the head of the ,church who had given much of his attention to the subject of witchcraft1 and who1 with the intention of rooting out the supposed crime1 did more to increase it than any other man that ever lived4 ,john ,baptist ,cibo1 elected to the papacy in #adhe1 under the designation of ,innocent ,,viii41 was sincerely alarmed at the number of witches1 and launched forth his terrible manifesto against them4 ,in his celebrated bull of #adhh1 he called the nations of ,europe to the rescue of the ,church of ,christ upon earth1 imperilled by the arts of ,satan1 and set forth the horrors that had reached his ears2 how that numbers of both sexes had intercourse with the infernal fiends2 how by their sorceries they afflicted both man and beast2 how they blighted the marriage-bed1 destroyed the births of women and the increase of cattle2 and how they blasted the corn on the ground1 the grapes of the vineyard1 the fruits of the trees1 and the herbs of the field4 ,in order that criminals so atrocious might no longer pollute the earth1 he appointed inquisitors in every country1 armed with the apostolic power to convict and punish4 ,it was now that the ,witch ,mania1 properly so called1 may be said to have fairly commenced4 ,immediately a class of men sprang up in ,europe1 who made it the sole business of their lives to discover and burn the witches4 ,sprenger1 in ,germany1 was the most celebrated of these national scourges4 ,in his notorious work1 the ,malleus ,maleficarum1 he laid down a regular form of trial1 and appointed a course of examination by which the inquisitors in other countries might best discover the guilty4 ,the questions1 which were always enforced by torture1 were of the most absurd and disgusting nature4 ,the inquisitors were required to ask the suspected whether they had midnight meetings with the devil8 whether they attended the witches' sabbath on the ,brocken8 whether they had their familiar spirits8 whether they could raise whirlwinds and call down the lightning8 and whether they had had sexual intercourse with ,satan8 ,straightway the inquisitors set to work3 ,cumanus1 in ,italy1 burned forty-one poor women in one province alone2 and ,sprenger1 in ,germany1 burned a number which can never be ascertained correctly1 but which1 it is agreed on all hands1 amounted to more than five hundred in a year4 ,the great resemblance between the confessions of the unhappy victims was regarded as a new proof of the existence of the crime4 ,but this is not astonishing4 ,the same questions from the ,malleus ,maleficarum were put to them all1 and torture never failed to educe the answer required by the inquisitor4 ,numbers of people1 whose imaginations were filled with these horrors1 went further in the way of confession than even their tormentors anticipated1 in the hope that they would thereby be saved from the rack1 and put out of their misery at once4 ,some confessed that they had had children by the devil2 but no one who had ever been a mother gave utterance to such a frantic imagining1 even in the extremity of her anguish4 ,the childless only confessed it1 and were burned instanter as unworthy to live4 ,for fear the zeal of the enemies of ,satan should cool1 successive popes appointed new commissions4 ,one was appointed by ,alexander ,,vi4 in #adid1 another by ,leo ,x4 in #aeba1 and a third by ,adrian ,,vi4 in #aebb4 ,they were all armed with the same powers to hunt out and destroy1 and executed their fearful functions but too rigidly4 ,in ,geneva alone five hundred persons were burned in the years #aeae and #aeaf1 under the title of ,protestant witches4 ,it would appear that their chief crime was heresy1 and their witchcraft merely an aggravation4 ,bartolomeo de ,spina has a list still more fearful4 ,he informs us that in the year #aebd no less than a thousand persons suffered death for witchcraft in the district of ,como1 and that for several years afterwards the average number of victims exceeded a hundred annually4 ,one inquisitor1 ,remigius1 took great credit to himself for having1 during fifteen years1 convicted and burned nine hundred4 ,in ,france1 about the year #aebj1 fires for the execution of witches blazed in almost every town4 ,danus1 in his ,dialogues of ,witches1 says they were so numerous that it would be next to impossible to tell the number of them4 ,so deep was the thraldom of the human mind1 that the friends and relatives of the accused parties looked on and approved4 ,the wife or sister of a murderer might sympathise in his fate1 but the wives and husbands of sorcerers and witches had no pity4 ,the truth is that pity was dangerous1 for it was thought no one could have compassion on the sufferings of a witch who was not a dabbler in sorcery3 to have wept for a witch would have insured the stake4 ,in some districts1 however1 the exasperation of the people broke out1 in spite of superstition4 ,the inquisitor of a rural township in ,piedmont burned the victims so plentifully and so fast1 that there was not a family in the place which did not lose a member4 ,the people at last arose1 and the inquisitor was but too happy to escape from the country with whole limbs4 ,the archbishop of the diocese proceeded afterwards to the trial of such as the inquisitor had left in prison4 ,some of the charges were so utterly preposterous that the poor wretches were at once liberated2 others met a harder1 but the usual fate4 ,some of them were accused of having joined the witches' dance at midnight under a blasted oak1 where they had been seen by creditable people4 ,the husbands of several of these women 7two of whom were young and beautiful7 swore positively that at the time stated their wives were comfortably asleep in their arms2 but it was all in vain4 ,their word was taken1 but the archbishop told them they had been deceived by the devil and their own senses4 ,it was true they might have had the semblance of their wives in their beds1 but the originals were far away at the devil's dance under the oak4 ,the honest fellows were confounded1 and their wives burned forthwith4 ,illustration3 ,,charles ,,ix4 ,in the year #aefa1 five poor women of ,verneuil were accused of transforming themselves into cats1 and in that shape attending the sabbath of the fiends--prowling around ,satan1 who presided over them in the form of a goat1 and dancing1 to amuse him1 upon his back4 ,they were found guilty1 and burned4#bg #bg ,bodin1 p4 #ie ,garinet1 p4 #abe2 ,anti-demon de ,serclier1 p4 #cdf4 ,in #aefd1 three wizards and a witch appeared before the ,presidents ,salvert and ,d',avanton3 they confessed1 when extended on the rack1 that they anointed the sheep-pens with infernal unguents to kill the sheep2 that they attended the sabbath1 where they saw a great black goat1 which spoke to them1 and made them kiss him1 each holding a lighted candle in his hand while he performed the ceremony4 ,they were all executed at ,poitiers4 ,in #aega the celebrated sorcerer ,trois ,echelles was burned in the ,place de ,grve in ,paris4 ,he confessed1 in the presence of ,charles ,,ix41 and of the ,marshals de ,montmorency1 ,de ,retz1 and the ,sieur du ,mazille1 physician to the king1 that he could perform the most wonderful things by the aid of a devil to whom he had sold himself4 ,he described at great length the saturnalia of the fiends1 the sacrifices which they offered up1 the debaucheries they committed with the young and handsome witches1 and the various modes of preparing the infernal unguent for blighting cattle4 ,he said he had upwards of twelve hundred accomplices in the crime of witchcraft in various parts of ,france1 whom he named to the king1 and many of whom were afterwards arrested and suffered execution4 ,at ,dle1 two years afterwards1 ,gilles ,garnier1 a native of ,lyons1 was indicted for being a loup-garou1 or man-wolf1 and for prowling in that shape about the country at night to devour little children4 ,the indictment against him1 as read by ,henri ,camus1 doctor of laws and counsellor of the king1 was to the effect that he1 ,gilles ,garnier1 had seized upon a little girl1 twelve years of age1 whom he drew into a vineyard and there killed1 partly with his teeth and partly with his hands1 seeming like wolf's paws2 that from thence he trailed her bleeding body along the ground with his teeth into the wood of ,la ,serre1 where he ate the greatest portion of her at one meal1 and carried the remainder home to his wife2 that upon another occasion1 eight days before the festival of ,all ,saints1 he was seen to seize another child in his teeth1 and would have devoured her had she not been rescued by the country people1 and that the said child died a few days afterwards of the injuries he had inflicted2 that fifteen days after the same festival of ,all ,saints1 being again in the shape of a wolf1 he devoured a boy thirteen years of age1 having previously torn off his leg and thigh with his teeth1 and hid them away for his breakfast on the morrow4 ,he was furthermore indicted for giving way to the same diabolical and unnatural propensities even in his shape of a man2 and that he had strangled a boy in a wood with the intention of eating him1 which crime he would have effected if he had not been seen by the neighbours and prevented4 ,gilles ,garnier was put to the rack after fifty witnesses had deposed against him4 ,he confessed every thing that was laid to his charge4 ,he was thereupon brought back into the presence of his judges1 when ,dr4 ,camus1 in the name of the parliament of ,dle1 pronounced the following sentence3 ,seeing that ,gilles ,garnier has1 by the testimony of credible witnesses1 and by his own spontaneous confession1 been proved guilty of the abominable crimes of lycanthropy and witchcraft1 this court condemns him1 the said ,gilles1 to be this day taken in a cart from this spot to the place of execution1 accompanied by the executioner 7matre excuteur de la haute justice71 where he1 by the said executioner1 shall be tied to a stake and burned alive1 and that his ashes be then scattered to the winds4 ,the court further condemns him1 the said ,gilles1 to the costs of this prosecution4 ,given at ,dle1 this #ahth day of ,january1 #aegc4 ,in #aegh1 the parliament of ,paris was occupied for several days with the trial of a man named ,jacques ,rollet4 ,he also was found guilty of being a loup-garou1 and in that shape devouring a little boy4 ,he was burnt alive in the ,place de ,grve4 ,in #aegi1 so much alarm was excited in the neighbourhood of ,melun by the increase of witches and loup-garous1 that a council was held to devise some measures to stay the evil4 ,a decree was passed that all witches and consulters with witches should be punished with death2 and not only those1 but fortune-tellers and conjurors of every kind4 ,the parliament of ,rouen took up the same question in the following year1 and decreed that the possession of a grimoire1 or book of spells1 was sufficient evidence of witchcraft1 and that all persons on whom such books were found should be burned alive4 ,three councils were held in different parts of ,france in the year #aehc1 all in relation to the same subject4 ,the parliament of ,bourdeaux issued strict injunctions to all curates and clergy whatever to use redoubled efforts to root out the crime of witchcraft4 ,the parliament of ,tours was equally peremptory1 and feared the judgments of an offended ,god if all these dealers with the devil were not swept from the face of the land4 ,the parliament of ,rheims was particularly severe against the noueurs d'aiguillette1 or tyers of the knot--people of both sexes who took pleasure in preventing the consummation of marriage1 that they might counteract the command of ,god to our first parents to increase and multiply4 ,this parliament held it to be sinful to wear amulets to preserve from witchcraft2 and that this practice might not be continued within its jurisdiction1 drew up a form of exorcism1 which would more effectually defeat the agents of the devil1 and put them to flight4 ,a case of witchcraft1 which created a great sensation in its day1 occurred in #aehh1 at a village in the mountains of ,auvergne1 about two leagues from ,apchon4 ,a gentleman of that place being at his window1 there passed a friend of his who had been out hunting1 and who was then returning to his own house4 ,the gentleman asked his friend what sport he had had2 upon which the latter informed him that he had been attacked in the plain by a large and savage wolf1 which he had shot at without wounding1 and that he had then drawn out his hunting-knife and cut off the animal's fore-paw as it sprang upon his neck to devour him4 ,the huntsman upon this put his hand into his bag to pull out the paw1 but was shocked to find that it was a woman's hand1 with a wedding-ring on the finger4 ,the gentleman immediately recognised his wife's ring1 which1 says the indictment against her1 made him begin to suspect some evil of her4 ,he immediately went in search of her1 and found her sitting by the fire in the kitchen1 with her arm hidden underneath her apron4 ,he tore off her apron with great vehemence1 and found that she had no hand1 and that the stump was even then bleeding4 ,she was given into custody1 and burnt at ,riom in presence of some thousands of spectators4#bh #bh ,tablier4 ,see also ,boguet1 ,discours sur les ,sorciers2 and ,m4 ,jules ,garinet1 ,histoire de la ,magie1 p4 #aej4 ,in the midst of these executions1 rare were the gleams of mercy4 ,few instances are upon record of any acquittal taking place when the crime was witchcraft4 ,the discharge of fourteen persons by the parliament of ,paris1 in the year #aehi1 is almost a solitary example of a return to reason4 ,fourteen persons condemned to death for witchcraft appealed against the judgment to the parliament of ,paris1 which for political reasons had been exiled to ,tours4 ,the parliament named four commissioners--,pierre ,pigray1 the king's surgeon1 and ,messieurs ,leroi1 ,renard1 and ,falaiseau1 the king's physicians--to visit and examine these witches1 and see whether they had the mark of the devil upon them4 ,pigray1 who relates the circumstance in his work on ,surgery 7book vii4 chap4 #aj71 says the visit was made in presence of two counsellors of the court4 ,the witches were all stripped naked1 and the physicians examined their bodies very diligently1 pricking them in all the marks they could find to see whether they were insensible to pain1 which was always considered a certain proof of guilt4 ,they were1 however1 very sensible of the pricking1 and some of them called out very lustily when the pins were driven into them4 ,we found them1 continues ,pierre ,pigray1 to be very poor1 stupid people1 and some of them insane4 ,many of them were quite indifferent about life1 and one or two of them desired death as a relief for their sufferings4 ,our opinion was1 that they stood more in need of medicine than of punishment2 and so we reported to the parliament4 ,their case was thereupon taken into further consideration2 and the parliament1 after mature counsel amongst all the members1 ordered the poor creatures to be sent to their homes1 without inflicting any punishment upon them4 ,such was the dreadful state of ,italy1 ,germany1 and ,france during the sixteenth century1 which was far from being the worst crisis of the popular madness with regard to witchcraft4 ,let us see what was the state of ,england during the same period4 ,the ,reformation1 which in its progress had rooted out so many errors1 stopped short at this1 the greatest error of all4 ,luther and ,calvin were as firm believers in witchcraft as ,pope ,innocent himself2 and their followers shewed themselves more zealous persecutors than the ,romanists4 ,dr4 ,hutchinson1 in his work on ,witchcraft1 asserts that the mania manifested itself later in ,england1 and raged with less virulence than on the continent4 ,the first assertion only is true2 for though the persecution began later both in ,england and ,scotland1 its progress was as fearful as elsewhere4 ,it was not until more than fifty years after the issuing of the bull of ,innocent ,,viii4 that the legislature of ,england thought fit to make any more severe enactments against sorcery than those already in operation4 ,the statute of #aeda was the first that specified the particular crime of witchcraft4 ,at a much earlier period many persons had suffered death for sorcery1 in addition to other offences2 but no executions took place for attending the witches' sabbath1 raising tempests1 afflicting cattle with barrenness1 and all the fantastic trumpery of the continent4 ,two statutes were passed in #aeea3 the first relating to false prophecies1 caused mainly1 no doubt1 by the impositions of ,elizabeth ,barton1 the holy maid of ,kent1 in #aecd2 and the second against conjuration1 witchcraft1 and sorcery4 ,but even this enactment did not consider witchcraft as penal in itself1 and only condemned to death those who1 by means of spells1 incantations1 or contracts with the devil1 attempted the lives of their neighbours4 ,the statute of ,elizabeth1 in #aefb1 at last recognised witchcraft as a crime of the highest magnitude1 whether exerted or not to the injury of the lives1 limbs1 and possessions of the community4 ,from that date the persecution may be fairly said to have commenced in ,england4 ,it reached its climax in the early part of the seventeenth century1 which was the hottest period of the mania all over ,europe4 ,a few cases of witch persecution in the sixteenth century will enable the reader to form a more accurate idea of the progress of this great error than if he plunged at once into that busy period of its history when ,matthew ,hopkins and his coadjutors exercised their infernal calling4 ,several instances occur in ,england during the latter years of the reign of ,elizabeth4 ,at this time the public mind had become pretty familiar with the details of the crime4 ,bishop ,jewell1 in his sermons before her majesty1 used constantly to conclude them by a fervent prayer that she might be preserved from witches4 ,upon one occasion1 in #aeih1 his words were1 ,it may please your grace to understand that witches and sorcerers within these last four years are marvellously increased within this your grace's realm4 ,your grace's subjects pine away even unto the death2 their colour fadeth--their flesh rotteth--their speech is benumbed--their senses are bereft6 ,i pray ,god they may never practise further than upon the subject6 ,illustration3 ,,jewell4 ,by degrees1 an epidemic terror of witchcraft spread into the villages4 ,in proportion as the doctrine of the ,puritans took root1 this dread increased1 and1 of course1 brought persecution in its train4 ,the ,church of ,england has claimed1 and is entitled to the merit1 of having been less influenced in these matters than any other sect of ,christians2 but still they were tainted with the superstition of the age4 ,one of the most flagrant instances of cruelty and delusion upon record was consummated under the authority of the ,church1 and commemorated till a very late period by an annual lecture at the ,university of ,cambridge4 ,this is the celebrated case of the witches of ,warbois1 who were executed about thirty-two years after the passing of the statute of ,elizabeth4 ,although in the interval but few trials are recorded1 there is1 unfortunately1 but too much evidence to shew the extreme length to which the popular prejudice was carried4 ,many women lost their lives in every part of ,england without being brought to trial at all1 from the injuries received at the hands of the people4 ,the number of these can never be ascertained4 ,the case of the witches of ,warbois merits to be detailed at length1 not only from the importance attached to it for so many years by the learned of the ,university1 but from the singular absurdity of the evidence upon which men1 sensible in all other respects1 could condemn their fellow-creatures to the scaffold4 ,the principal actors in this strange drama were the families of ,sir ,samuel ,cromwell and a ,mr4 ,throgmorton1 both gentlemen of landed property near ,warbois in the county of ,huntingdon4 ,mr4 ,throgmorton had several daughters1 the eldest of whom1 ,mistress ,joan1 was an imaginative and melancholy girl1 whose head was filled with stories of ghosts and witches4 ,upon one occasion she chanced to pass the cottage of one ,mrs41 or1 as she was called1 ,mother ,samuel1 a very aged1 a very poor1 and a very ugly woman4 ,mother ,samuel was sitting at her door knitting1 with a black cap upon her head1 when this silly young lady passed1 and taking her eyes from her work she looked stedfastly at her4 ,mistress ,joan immediately fancied that she felt sudden pains in all her limbs1 and from that day forth never ceased to tell her sisters1 and every body about her1 that ,mother ,samuel had bewitched her4 ,the other children took up the cry1 and actually frightened themselves into fits whenever they passed within sight of this terrible old woman4 ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,throgmorton1 not a whit wiser than their children1 believed all the absurd tales they had been told2 and ,lady ,cromwell1 a gossip of ,mrs4 ,throgmorton1 made herself very active in the business1 and determined to bring the witch to the ordeal4 ,the sapient ,sir ,samuel joined in the scheme2 and the children1 thus encouraged1 gave loose reins to their imaginations1 which seem to have been of the liveliest4 ,they soon invented a whole host of evil spirits1 and names for them besides1 which they said were sent by ,mother ,samuel to torment them continually4 ,seven spirits especially1 they said1 were raised from hell by this wicked woman to throw them into fits2 and as the children were actually subject to fits1 their mother and her commeres gave the more credit to the story4 ,the names of these spirits were1 ,first ,smack1 ,second ,smack1 ,third ,smack1 ,blue1 ,catch1 ,hardname1 and ,pluck4 ,throgmorton1 the father1 was so pestered by these idle fancies1 and yet so well inclined to believe them1 that he marched valiantly forth to the hut where ,mother ,samuel resided with her husband and daughter1 and dragged her forcibly into his own grounds4 ,lady ,cromwell1 ,mrs4 ,throgmorton1 and the girls were in waiting1 armed with long pins to prick the witch1 and see if they could draw blood from her4 ,lady ,cromwell1 who seems to have been the most violent of the party1 tore the old woman's cap off her head1 and plucking out a handful of her grey hair1 gave it to ,mrs4 ,throgmorton to burn1 as a charm which would preserve them all from her future machinations4 ,it was no wonder that the poor creature1 subjected to this rough usage1 should give vent to an involuntary curse upon her tormentors4 ,she did so1 and her curse was never forgotten4 ,her hair1 however1 was supposed to be a grand specific1 and she was allowed to depart1 half dead with terror and ill-usage4 ,for more than a year the families of ,cromwell and ,throgmorton continued to persecute her1 and to assert that her imps afflicted them with pains and fits1 turned the milk sour in their pans1 and prevented their cows and ewes from bearing4 ,in the midst of these fooleries1 ,lady ,cromwell was taken ill and died4 ,it was then remembered that her death had taken place exactly a year and a quarter since she was cursed by ,mother ,samuel1 and that on several occasions she had dreamed of the witch and a black cat1 the latter being of course the arch-enemy of mankind himself4 ,sir ,samuel ,cromwell now conceived himself bound to take more energetic measures against the sorceress1 since he had lost his wife by her means4 ,the year and a quarter and the black cat were proofs positive4 ,all the neighbours had taken up the cry of witchcraft against ,mother ,samuel2 and her personal appearance1 unfortunately for her1 the very ideal of what a witch ought to be1 increased the popular suspicion4 ,it would appear that at last the poor woman believed1 even to her own disadvantage1 that she was what every body represented her to be4 ,being forcibly brought into ,mr4 ,throgmorton's house1 when his daughter ,joan was in one of her customary fits1 she was commanded by him and ,sir ,samuel ,cromwell to expel the devil from the young lady4 ,she was told to repeat her exorcism1 and to add1 as ,i am a witch1 and the causer of ,lady ,cromwell's death1 ,i charge thee1 fiend1 to come out of her6 ,she did as was required of her2 and moreover confessed that her husband and daughter were leagued with her in witchcraft1 and had1 like her1 sold their souls to the devil4 ,the whole family were immediately arrested1 and sent to ,huntingdon to prison4 ,the trial was instituted shortly afterwards before ,mr4 ,justice ,fenner1 when all the crazy girls of ,mr4 ,throgmorton's family gave evidence against ,mother ,samuel and her family4 ,they were all three put to the torture4 ,the old woman confessed in her anguish that she was a witch2 that she had cast her spells upon the young ladies2 and that she had caused the death of ,lady ,cromwell4 ,the father and daughter1 stronger in mind than their unfortunate wife and parent1 refused to confess any thing1 and asserted their innocence to the last4 ,they were all three condemned to be hanged1 and their bodies burned4 ,the daughter1 who was young and good-looking1 excited the pity of many persons1 and she was advised to plead pregnancy1 that she might gain at least a respite from death4 ,the poor girl refused proudly1 on the ground that she would not be accounted both a witch and a strumpet4 ,her half-witted old mother caught at the idea of a few weeks' longer life1 and asserted that she was pregnant4 ,the court was convulsed with laughter1 in which the wretched victim herself joined2 and this was accounted an additional proof that she was a witch4 ,the whole family were executed on the #gth of ,april1 #aeic4 ,sir ,samuel ,cromwell1 as lord of the manor1 received the sum of #djl4 out of the confiscated property of the ,samuels1 which he turned into a rent-charge of #djs4 yearly1 for the endowment of an annual sermon or lecture upon the enormity of witchcraft1 and this case in particular1 to be preached by a doctor or bachelor of divinity of ,queen's ,college1 ,cambridge4 ,i have not been able to ascertain the exact date at which this annual lecture was discontinued2 but it appears to have been preached so late as #agah1 when ,dr4 ,hutchinson published his work upon witchcraft4 ,to carry on in proper chronological order the history of the witch delusion in the ,british isles1 it will be necessary to examine into what was taking place in ,scotland during all that part of the sixteenth century anterior to the accession of ,james ,,vi4 to the crown of ,england4 ,we naturally expect that the ,scotch--a people renowned from the earliest times for their powers of imagination--should be more deeply imbued with this gloomy superstition than their neighbours of the south4 ,the nature of their soil and climate tended to encourage the dreams of early ignorance4 ,ghosts1 goblins1 wraiths1 kelpies1 and a whole host of spiritual beings1 were familiar to the dwellers by the misty glens of the ,highlands and the romantic streams of the ,lowlands4 ,their deeds1 whether of good or ill1 were enshrined in song1 and took a greater hold upon the imagination because verse had sanctified them4 ,but it was not till the religious reformers began the practice of straining ,scripture to the severest extremes that the arm of the law was called upon to punish witchcraft as a crime per se4 ,what ,pope ,innocent ,,viii4 had done for ,germany and ,france1 the preachers of the ,reformation did for the ,scottish people4 ,witchcraft1 instead of being a mere article of faith1 became enrolled in the statute-book2 and all good subjects and true ,christians were called upon to take arms against it4 ,the ninth parliament of ,queen ,mary passed an act in #aefc1 which decreed the punishment of death against witches and consulters with witches1 and immediately the whole bulk of the people were smitten with an epidemic fear of the devil and his mortal agents4 ,persons in the highest ranks of life shared and encouraged the delusion of the vulgar4 ,many were themselves accused of witchcraft2 and noble ladies were shewn to have dabbled in mystic arts1 and proved to the world that if they were not witches1 it was not for want of the will4 ,among the dames who became notorious for endeavouring to effect their wicked ends by the devil's aid may be mentioned the celebrated ,lady ,buccleugh of ,branxholme 7familiar to all the readers of ,sir ,walter ,scott71 the ,countess of ,lothian1 the ,countess of ,angus1 the ,countess of ,athol1 ,lady ,kerr1 the ,countess of ,huntley1 ,euphemia ,macalzean 7the daughter of ,lord ,cliftonhall71 and ,lady ,fowlis4 ,among the celebrated of the other sex who were accused of wizardism was ,sir ,lewis ,ballantyne1 the ,lord ,justice-,clerk for ,scotland1 who1 if we may believe ,scot of ,scotstarvet1 dealt by curiosity with a warlock called ,richard ,grahame1 and prayed him to raise the devil4 ,the warlock consented1 and raised him in propri person in the yard of his house in the ,canongate1 at sight of whom the ,lord ,justice-,clerk was so terrified1 that he took sickness and thereof died4 ,by such idle reports as these did the envious ruin the reputation of those they hated2 though it would appear in this case that ,sir ,lewis had been fool enough to make the attempt of which he was accused1 and that the success of the experiment was the only apocryphal part of the story4 ,illustration3 ,,john ,,knox4 ,the enemies of ,john ,knox invented a similar tale1 which found ready credence among the ,roman ,catholics1 glad to attach any stigma to that grand scourge of the vices of their ,church4 ,it was reported that he and his secretary went into the churchyard of ,st4 ,andrew's with the intent to raise some sanctes2 but that1 by a mistake in their conjurations1 they raised the great fiend himself instead of the saints they wished to consult4 ,the popular rumour added1 that ,knox's secretary was so frightened at the great horns1 goggle eyes1 and long tail of ,satan1 that he went mad1 and shortly afterwards died4 ,knox himself was built of sterner stuff1 and was not to be frightened4 ,the first name that occurs in the records of the ,high ,court of ,justiciary of persons tried or executed for witchcraft1 is that of ,janet ,bowman in #aegb1 nine years after the passing of the act of ,mary4 ,no particulars of her crimes are given1 and against her name there only stands the words1 convict and brynt4 ,it is not1 however1 to be inferred1 that in this interval no trials or executions took place2 for it appears1 on the authority of documents of unquestioned authenticity in the ,advocates' ,library at ,edinburgh1#bi that the ,privy ,council made a practice of granting commissions to resident gentlemen and ministers in every part of ,scotland to examine1 try1 and execute witches within their own parishes4 ,no records of those who suffered from the sentence of these tribunals have been preserved2 but if popular tradition may be believed even to the amount of one-fourth of its assertions1 their number was fearful4 ,after the year #aegb1 the entries of executions for witchcraft in the records of the ,high ,court become more frequent1 but do not average more than one per annum1--another proof that trials for this offence were in general entrusted to the local magistracy4 ,the latter appear to have ordered witches to the stake with as little compunction1 and after as summary a mode1 as modern justices of the peace order a poacher to the stocks4 #bi ,foreign ,quarterly ,review1 vol4 vi4 p4 #da4 ,as ,james ,,vi4 advanced in manhood1 he took great interest in the witch trials4 ,one of them especially--that of ,gellie ,duncan1 ,dr4 ,fian1 and their accomplices1 in the year #aeia--;engrossed his whole attention1 and no doubt suggested in some degree the famous work on ,demonology1 which he wrote shortly afterwards4 ,as these witches had made an attempt upon his own life1 it is not surprising1 with his habits1 that he should have watched the case closely1 or become strengthened in his prejudice and superstition by its singular details4 ,no other trial that could be selected would give so fair an idea of the delusions of the ,scottish people as this4 ,whether we consider the number of victims1 the absurdity of the evidence1 and the real villany of some of the persons implicated1 it is equally extraordinary4 ,gellie ,duncan1 the prime witch in these proceedings1 was servant to the deputy bailiff of ,tranent1 a small town in ,haddingtonshire1 about ten miles from ,edinburgh4 ,though neither old nor ugly 7as witches usually were71 but young and good-looking1 her neighbours1 from some suspicious parts of her behaviour1 had long considered her a witch4 ,she had1 it appears1 some pretensions to the healing art4 ,some cures which she effected were so sudden1 that the worthy bailiff1 her master1 who1 like his neighbours1 mistrusted her1 considered them no less than miraculous4 ,in order to discover the truth1 he put her to the torture2 but she obstinately refused to confess that she had dealings with the devil4 ,it was the popular belief that no witch would confess as long as the mark which ,satan had put upon her remained undiscovered upon her body4 ,somebody present reminded the torturing bailie of this fact1 and on examination1 the devil's mark was found upon the throat of poor ,gellie4 ,she was put to the torture again1 and her fortitude giving way under the extremity of her anguish1 she confessed that she was indeed a witch--that she had sold her soul to the devil1 and effected all her cures by his aid4 ,this was something new in the witch creed1 according to which1 the devil delighted more in laying diseases on than in taking them off2 but ,gellie ,duncan fared no better on that account4 ,the torture was still applied1 until she had named all her accomplices1 among whom were one ,cunningham1 a reputed wizard1 known by the name of ,dr4 ,fian2 a grave and matron-like witch1 named ,agnes ,sampson2 ,euphemia ,macalzean1 the daughter of ,lord ,cliftonhall1 already mentioned1 and nearly forty other persons1 some of whom were the wives of respectable individuals in the city of ,edinburgh4 ,every one of these persons was arrested1 and the whole realm of ,scotland thrown into commotion by the extraordinary nature of the disclosures which were anticipated4 ,about two years previous to this time1 ,james had suddenly left his kingdom1 and proceeded gallantly to ,denmark1 to fetch over his bride1 the ,princess of ,denmark1 who had been detained by contrary weather in the harbour of ,upslo4 ,after remaining for some months in ,copenhagen1 he set sail with his young bride1 and arrived safely in ,leith1 on the #ast of ,may #aeij1 having experienced a most boisterous passage1 and been nearly wrecked4 ,as soon as the arrest of ,gellie ,duncan and ,fian became known in ,scotland1 it was reported by every body who pretended to be well-informed1 that these witches and their associates had1 by the devil's means1 raised the storms which had endangered the lives of the king and queen4 ,gellie1 in her torture1 had confessed that such was the fact1 and the whole kingdom waited aghast and open-mouthed for the corroboration about to be furnished by the trial4 ,agnes ,sampson1 the grave and matron-like witch implicated by ,gellie ,duncan1 was put to the horrible torture of the pilliewinkis4 ,she laid bare all the secrets of the sisterhood before she had suffered an hour1 and confessed that ,gellie ,duncan1 ,dr4 ,fian1 ,marian ,lincup1 ,euphemia ,macalzean1 herself1 and upwards of two hundred witches and warlocks1 used to assemble at midnight in the kirk of ,north ,berwick1 where they met the devil2 that they had plotted there to attempt the king's life2 that they were incited to this by the old fiend himself1 who had asserted with a thundering oath that ,james was the greatest enemy he ever had1 and that there would be no peace for the devil's children upon earth until he were got rid of2 that the devil upon these occasions always liked to have a little music1 and that ,gellie ,duncan used to play a reel before him on a trump or ,jew's harp1 to which all the witches danced4 ,james was highly flattered at the idea that the devil should have said that he was the greatest enemy he ever had4 ,he sent for ,gellie ,duncan to the palace1 and made her play before him the same reel which she had played at the witches' dance in the kirk4 ,illustration3 ,,torture ,,of ,,the ,,boots4 ,dr4 ,fian1 or rather ,cunningham1 a petty schoolmaster of ,tranent1 was put to the torture among the rest4 ,he was a man who had led an infamous life1 was a compounder of and dealer in poisons1 and a pretender to magic4 ,though not guilty of the preposterous crimes laid to his charge1 there is no doubt that he was a sorcerer in will1 though not in deed1 and that he deserved all the misery he endured4 ,when put on the rack1 he would confess nothing1 and held out so long unmoved1 that the severe torture of the boots was resolved upon4 ,he endured this till exhausted nature could bear no longer1 when insensibility kindly stepped in to his aid4 ,when it was seen that he was utterly powerless1 and that his tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth1 he was released4 ,restoratives were administered2 and during the first faint gleam of returning consciousness1 he was prevailed upon to sign1 ere he well knew what he was about1 a full confession1 in strict accordance with those of ,gellie ,duncan and ,agnes ,sampson4 ,he was then remanded to his prison1 from which1 after two days1 he managed1 some how or other1 to escape4 ,he was soon recaptured1 and brought before the ,court of ,justiciary1 ,james himself being present4 ,fian now denied all the circumstances of the written confession which he had signed2 whereupon the king1 enraged at his stubborn wilfulness1 ordered him once more to the torture4 ,his finger nails were riven out with pincers1 and long needles thrust up to the eye into the quick2 but he did not wince4 ,he was then consigned again to the boots1 in which1 to quote a pamphlet published at the time1#cj he continued so long1 and abode so many blows in them1 that his legs were crushed and beaten together as small as might be1 and the bones and flesh so bruised1 that the blood and marrow spouted forth in great abundance1 whereby they were made unserviceable for ever4 #cj ,news from ,scotland1 declaring the ,damnable ,life of ,dr4 ,fian4 ,the astonishing similarity of the confessions of all the persons implicated in these proceedings has often been remarked4 ,it would appear that they actually endeavoured to cause the king's death by their spells and sorceries4 ,fian1 who was acquainted with all the usual tricks of his profession1 deceived them with pretended apparitions1 so that many of them were really convinced that they had seen the devil4 ,the sum of their confessions was to the following effect3 ,satan1 who was1 of course1 a great foe of the reformed religion1 was alarmed that ,king ,james should marry a ,protestant princess4 ,to avert the consequences to the realms of evil1 he had determined to put an end to the king and his bride by raising a storm on their voyage home4 ,satan1 first of all1 sent a thick mist over the waters1 in the hope that the king's vessel might be stranded on the coast amid the darkness4 ,this failing1 ,dr4 ,fian1 who1 from his superior scholarship1 was advanced to the dignity of the devil's secretary1 was commanded to summon all the witches to meet their master1 each one sailing on a sieve on the high seas4 ,on ,all ,hallowmas ,eve1 they assembled to the number of upwards of two hundred1 including ,gellie ,duncan1 ,agnes ,sampson1 ,euphemia ,macalzean1 one ,barbara ,napier1 and several warlocks2 and each embarking in a riddle or sieve1 they sailed over the ocean very substantially4 ,after cruising about for some time1 they met with the fiend1 bearing in his claws a cat1 which had been previously drawn nine times through the fire4 ,this he delivered to one of the warlocks1 telling him to cast it into the sea and cry ,hola6 ,this was done with all solemnity1 and immediately the ocean became convulsed1 the waters hissed loudly1 and the waves rose mountains high1 ,twisting their arms to the dun-coloured heaven4 ,the witches sailed gallantly through the tempest they had raised1 and landing on the coast of ,scotland1 took their sieves in their hands and marched on in procession to the haunted kirk of ,north ,berwick1 where the devil had resolved to hold a preaching4 ,gellie ,duncan1 the musician of the party1 tripped on before1 playing on her ,jew's harp and singing1 ,cummer1 go ye before1 cummer1 go ye2 ,gif ye will not go before1 cummer1 let me6 ,arrived at the kirk1 they paced around it withershins1 that is1 in reverse of the apparent motion of the sun4 ,dr4 ,fian then blew into the keyhole of the door1 which opened immediately1 and all the witches entered4 ,as it was pitch dark1 ,fian blew with his mouth upon the candles1 which immediately lighted1 and the devil was seen occupying the pulpit4 ,he was attired in a black gown and hat1 and the witches saluted him by crying ,all hail1 master6 ,his body was hard1 like iron2 his face terrible2 his nose1 like the beak of an eagle2 he had great burning eyes2 his hands and legs were hairy2 and he had long claws upon his hands and feet1 and spake with an exceedingly gruff voice4 ,before commencing his sermon he called over the names of his congregation1 demanding whether they had been good servants1 and what success had attended their operations against the life of the king and his bride4 ,gray ,meill1 a crazy old warlock1 who acted as beadle or door-keeper1 was silly enough to answer that nothing ailed the king yet1 ,god be thanked2 upon which the devil1 in a rage1 stepped down from the pulpit and boxed his ears for him4 ,he then remounted and commenced the preaching1 commanding them to be dutiful servants to him and do all the evil they could4 ,euphemia ,macalzean and ,agnes ,sampson1 bolder than the rest1 asked him whether he had brought the image or picture of ,king ,james1 that they might1 by pricking it1 cause pains and diseases to fall upon him4 ,the father of lies spoke truth for once1 and confessed that he had forgotten it2 upon which ,euphemia ,macalzean upbraided him loudly for his carelessness4 ,the devil1 however1 took it all in good part1 although ,agnes ,sampson and several other women let loose their tongues at him immediately4 ,when they had done scolding1 he invited them all to a grand entertainment4 ,a newly buried corpse was dug up and divided among them1 which was all they had in the way of edibles4 ,he was more liberal in the matter of drink1 and gave them so much excellent wine that they soon became jolly4 ,gellie ,duncan then played the old tune upon her trump1 and the devil himself led off the dance with ,euphemia ,macalzean4 ,thus they kept up the sport till the cock crew4 ,agnes ,sampson1 the wise woman of ,keith1 as she was called1 added some other particulars in her confession4 ,she stated1 that on a previous occasion1 she had raised an awful tempest in the sea by throwing a cat into it1 with four joints of men tied to its feet4 ,she said also1 that on their grand attempt to drown ,king ,james1 they did not meet with the devil after cruising about1 but that he had accompanied them from the first1 and that she had seen him dimly in the distance1 rolling himself before them over the great waves1 in shape and size not unlike a huge haystack4 ,they met with a foreign ship richly laden with wines and other good things1 which they boarded1 and sunk after they had drunk all the wine and made themselves quite merry4 ,illustration3 ,,james ,,the ,,demonologist4 ,some of these disclosures were too much even for the abundant faith of ,king ,james1 and he more than once exclaimed1 that the witches were like their master1 extreme lyars4 ,but they confessed many other things of a less preposterous nature1 and of which they were no doubt really guilty4 ,agnes ,sampson said she was to have taken the king's life by anointing his linen with a strong poison4 ,gellie ,duncan used to threaten her neighbours by saying she would send the devil after them2 and many persons of weaker minds than usual were frightened into fits by her1 and rendered subject to them for the remainder of their lives4 ,dr4 ,fian also made no scruple in aiding and abetting murder1 and would rid any person of an enemy by means of poison1 who could pay him his fee for it4 ,euphemia ,macalzean also was far from being pure4 ,there is no doubt that she meditated the king's death1 and used such means to compass it as the superstition of the age directed4 ,she was a devoted partisan of ,bothwell1 who was accused by many of the witches as having consulted them on the period of the king's death4 ,they were all found guilty1 and sentenced to be hanged and burned4 ,barbara ,napier1 though found guilty upon other counts1 was acquitted upon the charge of having been present at the great witch meeting in ,berwick kirk4 ,the king was highly displeased1 and threatened to have the jury indicted for a wilful error upon an assize4 ,they accordingly reconsidered their verdict1 and threw themselves upon the king's mercy for the fault they had committed4 ,james was satisfied1 and ,barbara ,napier was hanged along with ,gellie ,duncan1 ,agnes ,sampson1 ,dr4 ,fian1 and five-and-twenty others4 ,euphemia ,macalzean met a harder fate4 ,her connexion with the bold and obnoxious ,bothwell1 and her share in poisoning one or two individuals who had stood in her way1 were thought deserving of the severest punishment the law could inflict4 ,instead of the ordinary sentence1 directing the criminal to be first strangled and then burned1 the wretched woman was doomed to be bound to a stake1 and burned in ashes1 quick to the death4 ,this cruel sentence was executed on the #beth of ,june1 #aeia4 ,these trials had the most pernicious consequences all over ,scotland4 ,the lairds and ministers in their districts1 armed with due power from the privy council1 tried and condemned old women after the most summary fashion4 ,those who still clung to the ancient faith of ,rome were the severest sufferers1 as it was thought1 after the disclosures of the fierce enmity borne by the devil towards a ,protestant king and his ,protestant wife1 that all the ,catholics were leagued with the powers of evil to work woe on the realm of ,scotland4 ,upon a very moderate calculation1 it is presumed that from the passing of the act of ,queen ,mary till the accession of ,james to the throne of ,england1 a period of thirty-nine years1 the average number of executions for witchcraft in ,scotland was two hundred annually1 or upwards of seventeen thousand altogether4 ,for the first nine years the number was not one quarter so great2 but towards the years #aeij to #aeic1 the number must have been more than four hundred4 ,the case last cited was one of an extraordinary character4 ,the general aspect of the trials will be better seen from that of ,isabel ,gowdie1 which1 as it would be both wearisome and disgusting to go through them all1 is given as a fair specimen1 although it took place at a date somewhat later than the reign of ,james4 ,this woman1 wearied of her life by the persecutions of her neighbours1 voluntarily gave herself up to justice1 and made a confession1 embodying the whole witch-creed of the period4 ,she was undoubtedly a monomaniac of the most extraordinary kind4 ,she said that she deserved to be stretched upon an iron rack1 and that her crimes could never be atoned for1 even if she were to be drawn asunder by wild horses4 ,she named a long list of her associates1 including nearly fifty women and a few warlocks4 ,they dug up the graves of unchristened infants1 whose limbs were serviceable in their enchantments4 ,when they wanted to destroy the crops of an enemy1 they yoked toads to his plough1 and on the following night ,satan himself ploughed the land with his team1 and blasted it for the season4 ,the witches had power to assume almost any shape2 but they generally chose either that of a cat or a hare1 oftenest the latter4 ,isabel said1 that on one occasion1 when she was in this disguise1 she was sore pressed by a pack of hounds1 and had a very narrow escape with her life4 ,she reached her own door at last1 feeling the hot breath of the pursuing dogs at her haunches4 ,she managed1 however1 to hide herself behind a chest1 and got time to pronounce the magic words that could alone restore her to her proper shape4 ,they were3 ,hare6 hare6 ,god send thee care6 ,i am in a hare's likeness now2 ,but ,i shall be a woman e'en now6 ,hare6 hare6 ,god send thee care6 ,if witches1 when in this shape1 were bitten by the dogs1 they always retained the marks in their human form2 but she had never heard that any witch had been bitten to death4 ,when the devil appointed any general meeting of the witches1 the custom was that they should proceed through the air mounted on broomsticks1 or on corn or bean-straws1 pronouncing as they went3 ,horse and pattock1 horse and go1 ,horse and pellats1 ho6 ho6 ho6 ,they generally left behind them a broom or a three-legged stool1 which1 when placed in their beds and duly charmed1 assumed the human shape till their return4 ,this was done that the neighbours might not know when they were absent4 ,she added that the devil furnished his favourite witches with servant imps to attend upon them4 ,these imps were called1 ,the ,roaring ,lion1 ,thief of ,hell1 ,wait-upon-,herself1 ,ranting ,roarer1 ,care-for-,naught1 c41 and were known by their liveries1 which were generally yellow1 sad-dun1 sea-green1 pea-green1 or grass-green4 ,satan never called the witches by the names they had received at baptism2 neither were they allowed1 in his presence1 so to designate each other4 ,such a breach of the infernal etiquette assuredly drew down his most severe displeasure4 ,but as some designation was necessary1 he re-baptised them in their own blood by the names of ,able-and-,stout1 ,over-the-dike-with-it1 ,raise-the-wind1 ,pickle-nearest-the-wind1 ,batter-them-down-,maggy1 ,blow-,kale1 and such like4 ,the devil himself was not very particular what name they called him1 so that it was not ,black ,john4 ,if any witch was unthinking enough to utter these words1 he would rush out upon her and beat and buffet her unmercifully1 or tear her flesh with a wool-card4 ,other names he did not care about2 and once gave instructions to a noted warlock that whenever he wanted his aid1 he was to strike the ground three times and exclaim1 ,rise up1 foul thief6 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,g4 ,,mackenzie4 ,upon this confession many persons were executed4 ,so strong was the popular feeling1 that no one once accused of witchcraft was acquitted2 at least acquittals did not average one in a hundred trials4 ,witch-finding1 or witch-pricking1 became a trade1 and a set of mercenary vagabonds roamed about the country provided with long pins to run into the flesh of supposed criminals4 ,it was no unusual thing then1 nor is it now1 that in aged persons there should be some spot on the body totally devoid of feeling4 ,it was the object of the witch-pricker to discover this spot1 and the unhappy wight who did not bleed when pricked upon it was doomed to the death4 ,if not immediately cast into prison1 her life was rendered miserable by the persecution of her neighbours4 ,it is recorded of many poor women1 that the annoyances they endured in this way were so excessive1 that they preferred death4 ,sir ,george ,mackenzie1 the ,lord ,advocate1 at the time when witch trials were so frequent1 and himself a devout believer in the crime1 relates1 in his ,criminal ,law1 first published in #afgh1 some remarkable instances of it4 ,he says1 ,i went1 when ,i was a justice-depute1 to examine some women who had confessed judicially2 and one of them1 who was a silly creature1 told me1 under secrecy1 that she had not confessed because she was guilty1 but being a poor creature1 who wrought for her meat1 and being defamed for a witch1 she knew she should starve1 for no person thereafter would either give her meat or lodging1 and that all men would beat her and set dogs at her1 and that1 therefore1 she desired to be out of the world2 whereupon she wept most bitterly1 and upon her knees called ,god to witness to what she said4 ,sir ,george1 though not wholly elevated above the prejudices of his age upon this subject1 was clear-sighted enough to see the danger to society of the undue encouragement given to the witch prosecutions4 ,he was convinced that three-fourths of them were unjust and unfounded4 ,he says1 in the work already quoted1 that the persons who were in general accused of this crime were poor ignorant men and women who did not understand the nature of the accusation1 and who mistook their own superstitious fears for witchcraft4 ,one poor wretch1 a weaver1 confessed that he was a warlock1 and1 being asked why1 he replied1 because he had seen the devil dancing1 like a fly1 about the candle6 ,a simple woman1 who1 because she was called a witch1 believed that she was1 asked the judge upon the bench whether a person might be a witch and not know it8 ,sir ,george adds1 that all the supposed criminals were subjected to severe torture in prison from their gaolers1 who thought they did ,god good service by vexing and tormenting them2 and ,i know1 says this humane and enlightened magistrate1 that this usage was the ground of all their confession2 and albeit1 the poor miscreants cannot prove this usage1 the actors in it being the only witnesses2 yet the judge should be jealous of it1 as that which did at first elicit the confession1 and for fear of which they dare not retract it4 ,another author1#ca also a firm believer in witchcraft1 gives a still more lamentable instance of a woman who preferred execution as a witch to live on under the imputation4 ,this woman1 who knew that three others were to be strangled and burned on an early day1 sent for the minister of the parish1 and confessed that she had sold her soul to ,satan4 ,whereupon being called before the judges1 she was condemned to die with the rest4 ,being carried forth to the place of execution1 she remained silent during the first1 second1 and third prayer1 and then1 perceiving that there remained no more but to rise and go to the stake1 she lifted up her body1 and1 with a loud voice1 cried out1 ',now all you that see me this day1 know that ,i am now to die as a witch1 by my own confession2 and ,i free all men1 especially the ministers and magistrates1 of the guilt of my blood4 ,i take it wholly upon myself4 ,my blood be upon my own head4 ,and1 as ,i must make answer to the ,god of heaven presently1 ,i declare ,i am as free of witchcraft as any child4 ,but1 being delated by a malicious woman1 and put in prison under the name of a witch1 disowned by my husband and friends1 and seeing no ground of hope of ever coming out again1 ,i made up that confession to destroy my own life1 being weary of it1 and choosing rather to die than to live4' ,as a proof of the singular obstinacy and blindness of the believers in witches1 it may be stated that the minister who relates this story only saw in the dying speech of the unhappy woman an additional proof that she was a witch4 ,true1 indeed is it1 that none are so blind as those who will not see4 #ca ,satan's ,invisible ,world ,discovered1 by the ,rev4 ,g4 ,sinclair4 ,it is time1 however1 to return to ,james ,,vi41 who is fairly entitled to share with ,pope ,innocent1 ,sprenger1 ,bodinus1 and ,matthew ,hopkins the glory or the odium of being at the same time a chief enemy and chief encourager of witchcraft4 ,towards the close of the sixteenth century1 many learned men1 both on the continent and in the isles of ,britain1 had endeavoured to disabuse the public mind on this subject4 ,the most celebrated were ,wierus1 in ,germany2 ,pietro d',apone1 in ,italy2 and ,reginald ,scot1 in ,england4 ,their works excited the attention of the zealous ,james1 who1 mindful of the involuntary compliment which his merits had extorted from the devil1 was ambitious to deserve it by still continuing his greatest enemie4 ,in the year #aeig1 he published in ,edinburgh his famous treatise on ,demonology4 ,its design may be gathered from the following passage in the introduction3 ,the fearful abounding1 says the king1 at this time and in this country of these detestable slaves of the devil1 the witches or enchanters1 hath moved me1 beloved reader1 to despatch in post this following treatise of mine1 not in any wise1 as ,i protest1 to serve for a show of mine own learning and ingene ingenuity1 but only 7moved of conscience7 to press thereby1 so far as ,i can1 to resolve the doubting hearts of many1 both that such assaults of ,satan are most certainly practised1 and that the instrument thereof merits most severely to be punished1 against the damnable opinions of two1 principally in our age2 whereof the one called ,scot1 an ,englishman1 is not ashamed in public print to deny that there can be such thing as witchcraft1 and so maintains the old error of the ,sadducees in denying of spirits4 ,the other1 called ,wierus1 a ,german physician1 sets out a public apology for all these crafts-folks1 whereby procuring for them impunity1 he plainly betrays himself to have been one of that profession4 ,in other parts of this treatise1 which the author had put into the form of a dialogue1 to make it more pleasant and facile1 he says3 ,witches ought to be put to death1 according to the law of ,god1 the civil and imperial law1 and the municipal law of all ,christian nations3 yea1 to spare the life1 and not strike whom ,god bids strike and so severely punish in so odious a treason against ,god1 is not only unlawful1 but doubtless as great a sin in the magistrate as was ,saul's sparing ,agag4 ,he says also that the crime is so abominable1 that it may be proved by evidence which would not be received against any other offenders1--young children1 who knew not the nature of an oath1 and persons of an infamous character1 being sufficient witnesses against them2 but lest the innocent should be accused of a crime so difficult to be acquitted of1 he recommends that in all cases the ordeal should be resorted to4 ,he says1 ,two good helps may be used3 the one is the finding of their mark1 and the trying the insensibleness thereof2 the other is their floating on the water1--for1 as in a secret murther1 if the dead carcass be at any time thereafter handled by the murtherer1 it will gush out of blood1 as if the blood were crying to ,heaven for revenge of the murtherer 7,god having appointed that secret supernatural sign for trial of that secret unnatural crime71 so that it appears that ,god hath appointed 7for a supernatural sign of the monstrous impiety of witches7 that the water shall refuse to receive them in her bosom that have shaken off them the sacred water of baptism1 and wilfully refused the benefit thereof2--no1 not so much as their eyes are able to shed tears 7threaten and torture them as you please71 while first they repent 7,god not permitting them to dissemble their obstinacy in so horrible a crime72 albeit1 the womenkind especially1 be able otherwise to shed tears at every light occasion when they will1 yea1 although it were dissembling like the crocodiles4 ,illustration3 ,,pietro ,d',,apone4 ,when such doctrines as these were openly promulgated by the highest authority in the realm1 and who1 in promulgating them1 flattered1 but did not force the public opinion1 it is not surprising that the sad delusion should have increased and multiplied until the race of wizards and witches replenished the earth4 ,the reputation which he lost by being afraid of a naked sword1 he more than regained by his courage in combating the devil4 ,the ,kirk shewed itself a most zealous coadjutor1 especially during those halcyon days when it was not at issue with the king upon other matters of doctrine and prerogative4 ,on his accession to the throne of ,england in #afjc1 ,james came amongst a people who had heard with admiration of his glorious deeds against the witches4 ,he himself left no part of his ancient prejudices behind him2 and his advent was the signal for the persecution to burst forth in ,england with a fury equal to that in ,scotland4 ,it had languished a little during the latter years of the reign of ,elizabeth2 but the very first parliament of ,king ,james brought forward the subject4 ,james was flattered by their promptitude1 and the act passed in #afjd4 ,on the second reading in the ,house of ,lords1 the bill passed into a committee1 in which were twelve bishops4 ,by it was enacted1 ,that if any person shall use1 practise1 or exercise any conjuration of any wicked or evil spirit1 or shall consult1 covenant with1 or feed any such spirit1 the first offence to be imprisonment for a year1 and standing in the pillory once a quarter2 the second offence to be death4 ,the minor punishment seems but rarely to have been inflicted4 ,every record that has been preserved mentions that the witches were hanged and burned1 or burned1 without the previous strangling1 alive and quick4 ,during the whole of ,james's reign1 amid the civil wars of his successor1 the sway of the ,long ,parliament1 the usurpation of ,cromwell1 and the reign of ,charles ,,ii41 there was no abatement of the persecution4 ,if at any time it raged with less virulence1 it was when ,cromwell and the ,independents were masters4 ,dr4 ,zachary ,grey1 the editor of an edition of ,hudibras1 informs us1 in a note to that work1 that he himself perused a list of three thousand witches who were executed in the time of the ,long ,parliament alone4 ,during the first eighty years of the seventeenth century1 the number executed has been estimated at five hundred annually1 making the frightful total of forty thousand4 ,some of these cases deserve to be cited4 ,the great majority resemble closely those already mentioned2 but two or three of them let in a new light upon the popular superstition4 ,every one has heard of the ,lancashire witches1 a phrase now used to compliment the ladies of that county for their bewitching beauty2 but it is not every one who has heard the story in which it originated4 ,a villanous boy1 named ,robinson1 was the chief actor in the tragedy4 ,he confessed many years afterwards that he had been suborned by his father and other persons to give false evidence against the unhappy witches whom he brought to the stake4 ,the time of this famous trial was about the year #afcd4 ,this boy ,robinson1 whose father was a wood-cutter1 residing on the borders of ,pendle ,forest1 in ,lancashire1 spread abroad many rumours against one ,mother ,dickenson1 whom he accused of being a witch4 ,these rumours coming to the ears of the local magistracy1 the boy was sent for and strictly examined4 ,he told the following extraordinary story without hesitation or prevarication1 and apparently in so open and honest a manner1 that no one who heard him doubted the truth of it4 ,he said1 that as he was roaming about in one of the glades of the forest1 amusing himself by gathering blackberries1 he saw two greyhounds before him1 which he thought at the time belonged to some gentleman of the neighbourhood4 ,being fond of sport1 he proposed to have a course2 and a hare being started1 he incited the hounds to run4 ,neither of them would stir4 ,angry at the beasts1 he seized hold of a switch1 with which he was about to punish them1 when one of them suddenly started up in the form of a woman1 and the other of a little boy4 ,he at once recognised the woman to be the witch ,mother ,dickenson4 ,she offered him some money to induce him to sell his soul to the devil2 but he refused4 ,upon this she took a bridle out of her pocket1 and shaking it over the head of the other little boy1 he was instantly turned into a horse4 ,mother ,dickenson then seized him in her arms1 sprang upon the horse1 and placing him before her1 rode with the swiftness of the wind over forests1 fields1 bogs1 and rivers1 until they came to a large barn4 ,the witch alighted at the door1 and1 taking him by the hand1 led him inside4 ,there he saw seven old women pulling at seven halters which hung from the roof4 ,as they pulled1 large pieces of meat1 lumps of butter1 loaves of bread1 basins of milk1 hot puddings1 black puddings1 and other rural dainties1 fell from the halters on to the floor4 ,while engaged in this charm1 they made such ugly faces1 and looked so fiendish1 that he was quite frightened4 ,after they had pulled in this manner enough for an ample feast1 they set-to1 and shewed1 whatever might be said of the way in which their supper was procured1 that their epicurism was a little more refined than that of the ,scottish witches1 who1 according to ,gellie ,duncan's confession1 feasted upon dead men's flesh in the old kirk of ,berwick4 ,the boy added1 that as soon as supper was ready1 many other witches came to partake of it1 several of whom he named4 ,in consequence of this story1 many persons were arrested1 and the boy ,robinson was led about from church to church1 in order that he might point out to the officers by whom he was accompanied the hags he had seen in the barn4 ,altogether1 about twenty persons were thrown into prison2 eight of them were condemned to die1 including ,mother ,dickenson1 upon this evidence alone1 and executed accordingly4 ,among the wretches who concocted this notable story1 not one was ever brought to justice for his perjury2 and ,robinson1 the father1 gained considerable sums by threatening persons who were rich enough to buy off exposure4 ,among the ill-weeds which flourished amid the long dissensions of the civil war1 ,matthew ,hopkins1 the witch-finder1 stands eminent in his sphere4 ,this vulgar fellow resided1 in the year #afdd1 at the town of ,manningtree1 in ,essex1 and made himself very conspicuous in discovering the devil's marks upon several unhappy witches4 ,the credit he gained by his skill in this instance seems to have inspired him to renewed exertions4 ,in the course of a very short time1 whenever a witch was spoken of in ,essex1 ,matthew ,hopkins was sure to be present1 aiding the judges with his knowledge of such cattle1 as he called them4 ,as his reputation increased1 he assumed the title of ,witch-finder ,general1 and travelled through the counties of ,norfolk1 ,essex1 ,huntingdon1 and ,sussex1 for the sole purpose of finding out witches4 ,in one year he brought sixty poor creatures to the stake4 ,the test he commonly adopted was that of swimming1 so highly recommended by ,king ,james in his ,demonologie4 ,the hands and feet of the suspected persons were tied together crosswise1 the thumb of the right hand to the toe of the left foot1 and vice versa4 ,they were then wrapped up in a large sheet or blanket1 and laid upon their backs in a pond or river4 ,if they sank1 their friends and relatives had the poor consolation of knowing they were innocent2 but there was an end of them3 if they floated1 which1 when laid carefully on the water1 was generally the case1 there was also an end of them2 for they were deemed guilty of witchcraft1 and burned accordingly4 ,another test was to make them repeat the ,lord's prayer and creed4 ,it was affirmed that no witch could do so correctly4 ,if she missed a word1 or even pronounced one incoherently1 which in her trepidation it was most probable she would1 she was accounted guilty4 ,it was thought that witches could not weep more than three tears1 and those only from the left eye4 ,thus the conscious innocence of many persons1 which gave them fortitude to bear unmerited torture without flinching1 was construed by their unmerciful tormentors into proofs of guilt4 ,in some districts the test resorted to was to weigh the culprit against the church ,bible4 ,if the suspected witch proved heavier than the ,bible1 she was set at liberty4 ,this mode was far too humane for the witch-finders by profession4 ,hopkins always maintained that the most legitimate modes were pricking and swimming4 ,hopkins used to travel through his counties like a man of consideration1 attended by his two assistants1 always putting up at the chief inn of the place1 and always at the cost of the authorities4 ,his charges were twenty shillings a town1 his expenses of living while there1 and his carriage thither and back4 ,this he claimed whether he found witches or not4 ,if he found any1 he claimed twenty shillings a head in addition when they were brought to execution4 ,for about three years he carried on this infamous trade1 success making him so insolent and rapacious that high and low became his enemies4 ,the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,gaul1 a clergyman of ,houghton1 in ,huntingdonshire1 wrote a pamphlet impugning his pretensions1 and accusing him of being a common nuisance4 ,hopkins replied in an angry letter to the functionaries of ,houghton1 stating his intention to visit their town2 but desiring to know whether it afforded many such sticklers for witchcraft as ,mr4 ,gaul1 and whether they were willing to receive and entertain him with the customary hospitality1 if he so far honoured them4 ,he added1 by way of threat1 that in case he did not receive a satisfactory reply1 he would waive their shire altogether1 and betake himself to such places where he might do and punish1 not only without control1 but with thanks and recompense4 ,the authorities of ,houghton were not much alarmed at this awful threat of letting them alone4 ,they very wisely took no notice either of him or his letter4 ,mr4 ,gaul describes in his pamphlet one of the modes employed by ,hopkins1 which was sure to swell his revenues very considerably4 ,it was a proof even more atrocious than the swimming4 ,he says1 that the ,witch-finder ,general used to take the suspected witch and place her in the middle of a room1 upon a stool or table1 cross-legged1 or in some other uneasy posture4 ,if she refused to sit in this manner1 she was bound with strong cords4 ,hopkins then placed persons to watch her for four-and-twenty hours1 during which time she was to be kept without meat or drink4 ,it was supposed that one of her imps would come during that interval and suck her blood4 ,as the imp might come in the shape of a wasp1 a moth1 a fly1 or other insect1 a hole was made in the door or window to let it enter4 ,the watchers were ordered to keep a sharp look out1 and endeavour to kill any insect that appeared in the room4 ,if any fly escaped1 and they could not kill it1 the woman was guilty2 the fly was her imp1 and she was sentenced to be burned1 and twenty shillings went into the pockets of ,master ,hopkins4 ,in this manner he made one old woman confess1 because four flies had appeared in the room1 that she was attended by four imps1 named ,ilemazar1 ,pye-wackett1 ,peck-in-the-crown1 and ,grizel-,greedigut4 ,illustration3 ,,matthew ,,hopkins4#cb #cb ,this illustration1 representing ,matthew ,hopkins examining two witches1 who are confessing to him the names of their imps and familiars1 is copied from ,caulfield's ,memoirs of ,remarkable ,persons1 #agid1 where it is taken from an extremely rare print4 ,it is consoling to think that this impostor perished in his own snare4 ,mr4 ,gaul's exposure and his own rapacity weakened his influence among the magistrates2 and the populace1 who began to find that not even the most virtuous and innocent were secure from his persecution1 looked upon him with undisguised aversion4 ,he was beset by a mob at a village in ,suffolk1 and accused of being himself a wizard4 ,an old reproach was brought against him1 that he had1 by means of sorcery1 cheated the devil out of a certain memorandum-book1 in which he1 ,satan1 had entered the names of all the witches in ,england4 ,thus1 said the populace1 you find out witches1 not by ,god's aid1 but by the devil's4 ,in vain he denied his guilt4 ,the populace longed to put him to his own test4 ,he was speedily stripped1 and his thumbs and toes tied together4 ,he was then placed in a blanket1 and cast into a pond4 ,some say that he floated1 and that he was taken out1 tried1 and executed upon no other proof of his guilt4 ,others assert that he was drowned4 ,this much is positive1 that there was an end of him4 ,as no judicial entry of his trial and execution is to be found in any register1 it appears most probable that he expired by the hands of the mob4 ,butler has immortalised this scamp in the following lines of his ,hudibras3 ,hath not this present ,parliament ,a lieger to the devil sent1 ,fully empower'd to treat about ,finding revolted witches out8 ,and has he not within a year ,hang'd threescore of them in one shire8 ,some only for not being drown'd1 ,and some for sitting above ground ,whole days and nights upon their breeches1 ,and feeling pain1 were hang'd for witches2 ,and some for putting knavish tricks ,upon green geese or turkey chicks2 ,or pigs that suddenly deceased ,of griefs unnatural1 as he guessed2 ,who proved himself at length a witch1 ,and made a rod for his own breech4 ,in ,scotland also witch-finding became a trade4 ,they were known under the designation of common prickers1 and1 like ,hopkins1 received a fee for each witch they discovered4 ,at the trial of ,janet ,peaston1 in #afdf1 the magistrates of ,dalkeith caused ,john ,kincaid of ,tranent1 the common pricker1 to exercise his craft upon her4 ,he found two marks of the devil's making2 for she could not feel the pin when it was put into either of the said marks1 nor did the marks bleed when the pin was taken out again4 ,when she was asked where she thought the pins were put in her1 she pointed to a part of her body distant from the real place4 ,they were pins of three inches in length4#cc #cc ,pitcairn's ,records of ,justiciary4 ,these common prickers became at last so numerous that they were considered nuisances4 ,the judges refused to take their evidence2 and in #afgh the privy council of ,scotland condescended to hear the complaint of an honest woman who had been indecently exposed by one of them1 and expressed their opinion that common prickers were common cheats4 ,but such an opinion was not formed in high places before hundreds of innocent persons had fallen victims4 ,the parliaments had encouraged the delusion both in ,england and ,scotland2 and by arming these fellows with a sort of authority1 had in a manner forced the magistrates and ministers to receive their evidence4 ,the fate of one poor old gentleman1 who fell a victim to the arts of ,hopkins in #afdf1 deserves to be recorded4 ,mr4 ,louis1 a venerable clergyman1 upwards of seventy years of age1 and who had been rector of ,framlingham1 in ,suffolk1 for fifty years1 excited suspicion that he was a wizard4 ,being a violent royalist1 he was likely to meet with no sympathy at that time2 and even his own parishioners1 whom he had served so long and so faithfully1 turned their backs upon him as soon as he was accused4 ,placed under the hands of ,hopkins1 who knew so well how to bring the refractory to confession1 the old man1 the light of whose intellect had become somewhat dimmed from age1 confessed that he was a wizard4 ,he said he had two imps that continually excited him to do evil2 and that one day1 when he was walking on the sea-coast1 one of them prompted him to express a wish that a ship1 whose sails were just visible in the distance1 might sink4 ,he consented1 and saw the vessel sink before his eyes4 ,he was1 upon this confession1 tried and condemned4 ,on his trial1 the flame of reason burned up as brightly as ever4 ,he denied all that had been alleged against him1 and cross-examined ,hopkins with great tact and severity4 ,after his condemnation1 he begged that the funeral service of the ,church might be read for him4 ,the request was refused1 and he repeated it for himself from memory as he was led to the scaffold4 ,a poor woman in ,scotland was executed upon evidence even less strong than this4 ,john ,bain1 a common pricker1 swore that1 as he passed her door1 he heard her talking to the devil4 ,she said1 in defence1 that it was a foolish practice she had of talking to herself1 and several of her neighbours corroborated her statement2 but the evidence of the pricker was received4 ,he swore that none ever talked to themselves who were not witches4 ,the devil's mark being found upon her1 the additional testimony of her guilt was deemed conclusive1 and she was convict and brynt4 ,from the year #afeb to #afhb1 these trials diminished annually in number1 and acquittals were by no means so rare as they had been4 ,to doubt in witchcraft was no longer dangerous4 ,before country justices1 condemnations on the most absurd evidence still continued2 but when the judges of the land had to charge the jury1 they took a more humane and philosophical view4 ,by degrees1 the educated classes 7comprised in those days within very narrow limits7 openly expressed their unbelief of modern witchcraft1 although they were not bold enough to deny its existence altogether4 ,between them and the believers in the old doctrine fierce arguments ensued1 and the sceptics were designated ,sadducees4 ,to convince them1 the learned and ,reverend ,joseph ,glanvil wrote his well-known work1 ,sadducismus ,triumphatus1 and ,the ,collection of ,relations2 the first part intended as a philosophical inquiry into witchcraft1 and the power of the devil to assume a mortal shape3 the latter containing what he considered a multitude of well-authenticated modern instances4 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,matthew ,,hale4 ,but though progress was made1 it was slow4 ,in #affd1 the venerable ,sir ,matthew ,hale condemned two women1 named ,amy ,duny and ,rose ,cullender1 to the stake at ,st4 ,edmondsbury1 upon evidence the most ridiculous4 ,these two old women1 whose ugliness gave their neighbours the first idea that they were witches1 went to a shop to purchase herrings1 and were refused4 ,indignant at the prejudice against them1 they were not sparing of their abuse4 ,shortly afterward1 the daughter of the herring-dealer fell sick1 and a cry was raised that she was bewitched by the old women who had been refused the herrings4 ,this girl was subject to epileptic fits4 ,to discover the guilt of ,amy ,duny and ,rose ,cullender1 the girl's eyes were blinded closely with a shawl1 and the witches were commanded to touch her4 ,they did so1 and she was immediately seized with a fit4 ,upon this evidence they were sent to prison4 ,the girl was afterwards touched by an indifferent person1 and the force of her imagination was so great1 that1 thinking it was again the witches1 she fell down in a violent fit as before4 ,this1 however1 was not received in favour of the accused4 ,the following extract1 from the published reports of the trial1 will shew the sort of evidence which was received3 ,samuel ,pacey1 of ,leystoff 7a good1 sober man71 being sworn1 said that1 on ,thursday the #ajth of ,october last1 his younger daughter1 ,deborah1 about nine years old1 was suddenly taken so lame that she could not stand on her legs1 and so continued till the #agth of the same month1 when the child desired to be carried to a bank on the east side of the house1 looking towards the sea2 and1 while she was sitting there1 ,amy ,duny came to this examinant's house to buy some herrings1 but was denied4 ,then she came twice more1 but1 being as often denied1 she went away discontented and grumbling4 ,at this instant of time1 the child was taken with terrible fits1 complaining of a pain in her stomach1 as if she was pricked with pins1 shrieking out with a voice like a whelp1 and thus continued till the #cjth of the same month4 ,this examinant further saith1 that ,amy ,duny1 having long had the reputation of a witch1 and his child having1 in the intervals of her fits1 constantly cried out on her as the cause of her disorder1 saying1 that the said ,amy did appear to her and fright her2 he himself did suspect the said ,amy to be a witch1 and charged her with being the cause of his child's illness1 and set her in the stocks4 ,two days after1 his daughter ,elizabeth was taken with such strange fits1 that they could not force open her mouth without a tap2 and the younger child being in the same condition1 they used to her the same remedy4 ,both children grievously complained that ,amy ,duny and another woman1 whose habit and looks they described1 did appear to them and torment them1 and would cry out1 ',there stands ,amy ,duny6 ,there stands ,rose ,cullender6' the other person who afflicted them4 ,their fits were not alike4 ,sometimes they were lame on the right side2 sometimes on the left2 and sometimes so sore1 that they could not bear to be touched4 ,sometimes they were perfectly well in other respects1 but they could not hear2 at other times they could not see4 ,sometimes they lost their speech for one1 two1 and once for eight days together4 ,at times they had swooning fits1 and1 when they could speak1 were taken with a fit of coughing1 and vomited phlegm and crooked pins2 and once a great twopenny nail1 with above forty pins2 which nail he1 the examinant1 saw vomited up1 with many of the pins4 ,the nail and pins were produced in the court4 ,thus the children continued for two months1 during which time the examinant often made them read in the ,new ,testament1 and observed1 when they came to the words ,lord ,jesus1 or ,christ1 they could not pronounce them1 but fell into a fit4 ,when they came to the word ,satan1 or devil1 they would point1 and say1 ',this bites1 but makes me speak right well4' ,finding his children thus tormented without hopes of recovery1 he sent them to his sister1 ,margaret ,arnold1 at ,yarmouth1 being willing to try whether change of air would help them4 ,margaret ,arnold was the next witness4 ,being sworn1 she said1 that about the #cjth of ,november1 ,elizabeth and ,deborah ,pacey came to her house1 with her brother1 who told her what had happened1 and that he thought his children bewitched4 ,she1 this examinant1 did not much regard it1 supposing the children had played tricks1 and put the pins into their mouths themselves4 ,she therefore took all the pins from their clothes1 sewing them with thread instead of pinning them4 ,but1 notwithstanding1 they raised1 at times1 at least thirty pins in her presence1 and had terrible fits2 in which fits they would cry out upon ,amy ,duny and ,rose ,cullender1 saying1 that they saw them and heard them threatening1 as before2 that they saw things like mice running about the house2 and one of them catched one1 and threw it into the fire1 which made a noise like a rat4 ,another time the younger child1 being out of doors1 a thing like a bee would have forced itself into her mouth1 at which the child ran screaming into the house1 and before this examinant could come at her1 fell into a fit1 and vomited a twopenny nail1 with a broad head4 ,after that1 this examinant asked the child how she came by this nail1 when she answered1 ',the bee brought the nail1 and forced it into my mouth4' ,at other times1 the eldest child told this examinant that she saw flies bring her crooked pins4 ,she would then fall into a fit1 and vomit such pins4 ,one time the said child said she saw a mouse1 and crept under the table to look for it2 and afterwards1 the child seemed to put something into her apron1 saying1 ',she had caught it4' ,she then ran to the fire1 and threw it in1 on which there did appear to this examinant something like a flash of gunpowder1 although she does own she saw nothing in the child's hand4 ,once the child1 being speechless1 but otherwise very sensible1 ran up and down the house1 crying1 ',hush6 hush6' as if she had seen poultry2 but this examinant saw nothing4 ,at last the child catched at something1 and threw it into the fire4 ,afterwards1 when the child could speak1 this examinant asked her what she saw at the time8 ,she answered that she saw a duck4 ,another time the youngest child said1 after a fit1 that ,amy ,duny had been with her1 and tempted her to drown herself1 or cut her throat1 or otherwise destroy herself4 ,another time they both cried out upon ,amy ,duny and ,rose ,cullender1 saying1 ',why don't you come yourselves8 ,why do you send your imps to torment us8' ,the celebrated ,sir ,thomas ,brown1 the author of ,vulgar ,errors1 was also examined as a witness upon the trial4 ,being desired to give his opinion of the three persons in court1 he said he was clearly of opinion that they were bewitched4 ,he said there had lately been a discovery of witches in ,denmark1 who used the same way of tormenting persons1 by conveying crooked pins1 needles1 and nails into their bodies4 ,that he thought1 in such cases1 the devil acted upon human bodies by natural means1 namely1 by exciting and stirring up the superabundant humours2 he did afflict them in a more surprising manner by the same diseases their bodies were usually subject to2 that these fits might be natural1 only raised to a great degree by the subtlety of the devil1 co-operating with the malice of these witches4 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,thomas ,,brown4 ,the evidence being concluded1 ,sir ,matthew ,hale addressed the jury4 ,he said1 he would waive repeating the evidence1 to prevent any mistake1 and told the jury there were two things they had to inquire into4 ,first1 ,whether or not these children were bewitched2 secondly1 ,whether these women did bewitch them4 ,he said1 he did not in the least doubt there were witches2 first1 ,because the ,scriptures affirmed it2 secondly1 ,because the wisdom of all nations1 particularly our own1 had provided laws against witchcraft1 which implied their belief of such a crime4 ,he desired them strictly to observe the evidence1 and begged of ,god to direct their hearts in the weighty concern they had in hand1 since1 to condemn the innocent and let the guilty go free are both an abomination to the ,lord4 ,the jury then retired1 and in about half an hour returned a verdict of guilty upon all the indictments1 being thirteen in number4 ,the next morning the children came with their father to the lodgings of ,sir ,matthew ,hale1 very well1 and quite restored to their usual health4 ,mr4 ,pacey1 being asked at what time their health began to improve1 replied1 that they were quite well in half an hour after the conviction of the prisoners4 ,many attempts were made to induce the unfortunate women to confess their guilt2 but in vain1 and they were both hanged4 ,eleven trials were instituted before ,chief ,justice ,holt for witchcraft1 between the years #afid and #agja4 ,the evidence was of the usual character2 but ,holt appealed so successfully in each case to the common sense of the jury1 that they were every one acquitted4 ,a general feeling seemed to pervade the country that blood enough had been shed upon these absurd charges4 ,now and then1 the flame of persecution burnt up in a remote district2 but these instances were no longer looked upon as mere matters of course4 ,they appear1 on the contrary1 to have excited much attention2 a sure proof1 if no other were to be obtained1 that they were becoming unfrequent4 ,a case of witchcraft was tried in #agaa1 before ,lord ,chief ,justice ,powell2 in which1 however1 the jury persisted in a verdict of guilty1 though the evidence was of the usual absurd and contradictory character1 and the enlightened judge did all in his power to bring them to a right conclusion4 ,the accused person was one ,jane ,wenham1 better known as the ,witch of ,walkerne2 and the persons who were alleged to have suffered from her witchcraft were two young women1 named ,thorne and ,street4 ,a witness1 named ,mr4 ,arthur ,chauncy1 deposed1 that he had seen ,ann ,thorne in several of her fits1 and that she always recovered upon prayers being said1 or if ,jane ,wenham came to her4 ,he related1 that he had pricked the prisoner several times in the arms1 but could never fetch any blood from her2 that he had seen her vomit pins1 when there were none in her clothes or within her reach2 and that he had preserved several of them1 which he was ready to produce4 ,the judge1 however1 told him that was needless1 as he supposed they were crooked pins4 ,mr4 ,francis ,bragge1 another witness1 deposed1 that strange cakes of bewitched feathers having been taken from ,ann ,thorne's pillow1 he was anxious to see them4 ,he went into a room where some of these feathers were1 and took two of the cakes1 and compared them together4 ,they were both of a circular figure1 something larger than a crown piece2 and he observed that the small feathers were placed in a nice and curious order1 at equal distances from each other1 making so many radii of the circle1 in the centre of which the quill-ends of the feathers met4 ,he counted the number of these feathers1 and found them to be exactly thirty-two in each cake4 ,he afterwards endeavoured to pull off two or three of them1 and observed that they were all fastened together by a sort of viscous matter1 which would stretch seven or eight times in a thread before it broke4 ,having taken off several of these feathers1 he removed the viscous matter with his fingers1 and found under it1 in the centre1 some short hairs1 black and grey1 matted together1 which he verily believed to be cat's hair4 ,he also said1 that ,jane ,wenham confessed to him that she had bewitched the pillow1 and had practised witchcraft for sixteen years4 ,the judge interrupted the witness at this stage1 and said1 he should very much like to see an enchanted feather1 and seemed to wonder when he was told that none of these strange cakes had been preserved4 ,his lordship asked the witness why he did not keep one or two of them1 and was informed that they had all been burnt1 in order to relieve the bewitched person of the pains she suffered1 which could not be so well effected by any other means4 ,a man1 named ,thomas ,ireland1 deposed1 that hearing several times a great noise of cats crying and screaming about his house1 he went out and frightened them away1 and they all ran towards the cottage of ,jane ,wenham4 ,one of them he swore positively had a face very like ,jane ,wenham's4 ,another man1 named ,burville1 gave similar evidence1 and swore that he had often seen a cat with ,jane ,wenham's face4 ,upon one occasion he was in ,ann ,thorne's chamber1 when several cats came in1 and among them the cat above stated4 ,this witness would have favoured the court with a much longer statement1 but was stopped by the judge1 who said he had heard quite enough4 ,the prisoner1 in her defence1 said nothing1 but that she was a clear woman4 ,the learned judge then summed up1 leaving it to the jury to determine whether such evidence as they had heard was sufficient to take away the prisoner's life upon the indictment4 ,after a long deliberation they brought in their verdict1 that she was guilty upon the evidence4 ,the judge then asked them whether they found her guilty upon the indictment of conversing with the devil in the shape of a cat8 ,the sapient foreman very gravely answered1 ,we find her guilty of that4 ,the learned judge then very reluctantly proceeded to pass sentence of death2 but1 by his persevering exertions1 a pardon was at last obtained1 and the wretched old woman was set at liberty4 ,in the year #agaf1 a woman and her daughter--the latter only nine years of age--were hanged at ,huntingdon for selling their souls to the devil1 and raising a storm by pulling off their stockings and making a lather of soap4 ,this appears to have been the last judicial execution in ,england4 ,from that time to the year #agcf1 the populace raised at intervals the old cry1 and more than once endangered the lives of poor women by dragging them through ponds on suspicion2 but the philosophy of those who1 from their position1 sooner or later give the tone to the opinions and morals of the poor1 was silently working a cure for the evil4 ,the fear of witches ceased to be epidemic1 and became individual1 lingering only in minds fettered by inveterate prejudice or brutalising superstition4 ,in the year #agcf1 the penal statute of ,james ,i4 was finally blotted from the statute-book1 and suffered no longer to disgrace the advancing intelligence of the country4 ,pretenders to witchcraft1 fortune-tellers1 conjurors1 and all their train1 were liable only to the common punishment of rogues and impostors--imprisonment and the pillory4 ,in ,scotland1 the delusion also assumed the same phases1 and was gradually extinguished in the light of civilisation4 ,as in ,england1 the progress of improvement was slow4 ,up to the year #affe1 little or no diminution of the mania was perceptible4 ,in #afdc1 the ,general ,assembly recommended that the privy council should institute a standing commission1 composed of any understanding gentlemen or magistrates1 to try the witches1 who were stated to have increased enormously of late years4 ,in #afdi1 an act was passed1 confirmatory of the original statute of ,queen ,mary1 explaining some points of the latter which were doubtful1 and enacting severe penalties1 not only against witches themselves1 but against all who covenanted with them1 or sought by their means to pry into the secrets of futurity1 or cause any evil to the life1 lands1 or limbs of their neighbours4 ,for the next ten years1 the popular madness upon this subject was perhaps more furious than ever2 upwards of four thousand persons suffered for the crime during that interval4 ,this was the consequence of the act of parliament and the unparalleled severity of the magistrates2 the latter frequently complained that for two witches they burned one day1 there were ten to burn the next3 they never thought that they themselves were the cause of the increase4 ,in a single circuit1 held at ,glasgow1 ,ayr1 and ,stirling1 in #afei1 seventeen unhappy creatures were burned by judicial sentence for trafficking with ,satan4 ,in one day 7,november #g1 #affa71 the privy council issued no less than fourteen commissions for trials in the provinces4 ,next year1 the violence of the persecution seems to have abated4 ,from #affb to #affh1 although the understanding gentlemen and magistrates already mentioned1 continued to try and condemn1 the ,high ,court of ,justiciary had but one offender of this class to deal with1 and she was acquitted4 ,james ,welsh1 a common pricker1 was ordered to be publicly whipped through the streets of ,edinburgh for falsely accusing a woman of witchcraft2 a fact which alone proves that the superior court sifted the evidence in these cases with much more care and severity than it had done a few years previously4 ,the enlightened ,sir ,george ,mackenzie1 styled by ,dryden the noble wit of ,scotland1 laboured hard to introduce this rule into court1 that the confessions of the witches should be held of little worth1 and that the evidence of the prickers and other interested persons should be received with distrust and jealousy4 ,this was reversing the old practice1 and saved many innocent lives4 ,though a firm believer both in ancient and modern witchcraft1 he could not shut his eyes to the atrocities daily committed under the name of justice4 ,in his work on the ,criminal ,law of ,scotland1 published in #afgh1 he says1 ,from the horridness of this crime1 ,i do conclude that1 of all others1 it requires the clearest relevancy and most convincing probature2 and ,i condemn1 next to the witches themselves1 those cruel and too forward judges who burn persons by thousands as guilty of this crime4 ,in the same year1 ,sir ,john ,clerk plumply refused to serve as a commissioner on trials for witchcraft1 alleging1 by way of excuse1 that he was not himself good conjuror enough to be duly qualified4 ,the views entertained by ,sir ,george ,mackenzie were so favourably received by the ,lords of ,session1 that he was deputed1 in #afhj1 to report to them on the cases of a number of poor women who were then in prison awaiting their trial4 ,sir ,george stated that there was no evidence against them whatever but their own confessions1 which were absurd and contradictory1 and drawn from them by severe torture4 ,they were immediately discharged4 ,for the next sixteen years the ,lords of ,session were unoccupied with trials for witchcraft4 ,not one is entered upon the record4 ,but in #afig a case occurred which equalled in absurdity any of those that signalised the dark reign of ,king ,james4 ,a girl named ,christiana ,shaw1 eleven years of age1 the daughter of ,john ,shaw of ,bargarran1 was subject to fits2 and being of a spiteful temper1 she accused her maid-servant1 with whom she had frequent quarrels1 of bewitching her4 ,her story unfortunately was believed4 ,encouraged to tell all the persecutions of the devil which the maid had sent to torment her1 she in the end concocted a romance that involved twenty-one persons4 ,there was no other evidence against them but the fancies of this lying child1 and the confessions which pain had extorted from them2 but upon this no less than five women were condemned before ,lord ,blantyre and the rest of the commissioners1 appointed specially by the privy council to try this case4 ,they were burned on the ,green at ,paisley4 ,the warlock of the party1 one ,john ,reed1 who was also condemned1 hanged himself in prison4 ,it was the general belief in ,paisley that the devil had strangled him lest he should have revealed in his last moments too many of the unholy secrets of witchcraft4 ,this trial excited considerable disgust in ,scotland4 ,the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,bell1 a contemporary writer1 observed that1 in this business1 persons of more goodness and esteem than most of their calumniators were defamed for witches4 ,he adds1 that the persons chiefly to blame were certain ministers of too much forwardness and absurd credulity1 and some topping professors in and about ,glasgow4#cd #cd ,preface to ,law's ,memorials1 edited by ,sharpe4 ,after this trial1 there again occurs a lapse of seven years1 when the subject was painfully forced upon public attention by the brutal cruelty of the mob at ,pittenween4 ,two women were accused of having bewitched a strolling beggar who was subject to fits1 or who pretended to be so1 for the purpose of exciting commiseration4 ,they were cast into prison1 and tortured until they confessed4 ,one of them1 named ,janet ,cornfoot1 contrived to escape1 but was brought back to ,pittenween next day by a party of soldiers4 ,on her approach to the town she was unfortunately met by a furious mob1 composed principally of fishermen and their wives1 who seized upon her with the intention of swimming her4 ,they forced her away to the sea-shore1 and tying a rope around her body1 secured the end of it to the mast of a fishing-boat lying alongside4 ,in this manner they ducked her several times4 ,when she was half dead1 a sailor in the boat cut away the rope1 and the mob dragged her through the sea to the beach4 ,here1 as she lay quite insensible1 a brawny ruffian took down the door of his hut1 close by1 and placed it on her back4 ,the mob gathered large stones from the beach and piled them upon her till the wretched woman was pressed to death4 ,no magistrate made the slightest attempt to interfere2 and the soldiers looked on1 delighted spectators4 ,a great outcry was raised against this culpable remissness1 but no judicial inquiry was set on foot4 ,this happened in #agjd4 ,the next case we hear of is that of ,elspeth ,rule1 found guilty of witchcraft before ,lord ,anstruther1 at the ,dumfries circuit1 in #agjh4 ,she was sentenced to be marked in the cheek with a red-hot iron1 and banished the realm of ,scotland for life4 ,again there is a long interval4 ,in #agah1 the remote county of ,caithness1 where the delusion remained in all its pristine vigour for years after it had ceased elsewhere1 was startled from its propriety by the cry of witchcraft4 ,a silly fellow1 named ,william ,montgomery1 a carpenter1 had a mortal antipathy to cats2 and somehow or other these animals generally chose his back-yard as the scene of their catterwaulings4 ,he puzzled his brains for a long time to know why he1 above all his neighbours1 should be so pestered4 ,at last he came to the sage conclusion that his tormentors were no cats1 but witches4 ,in this opinion he was supported by his maid-servant1 who swore a round oath that she had often heard the aforesaid cats talking together in human voices4 ,the next time the unlucky tabbies assembled in his back-yard1 the valiant carpenter was on the alert4 ,arming himself with an axe1 a dirk1 and a broadsword1 he rushed out among them4 ,one of them he wounded in the back1 a second in the hip1 and the leg of a third he maimed with his axe2 but he could not capture any of them4 ,a few days afterwards1 two old women of the parish died2 and it was said1 that when their bodies were laid out1 there appeared upon the back of one the mark as of a recent wound1 and a similar scar upon the hip of the other4 ,the carpenter and his maid were convinced that they were the very cats1 and the whole county repeated the same story4 ,every one was upon the look-out for proofs corroborative2 a very remarkable one was soon discovered4 ,nanny ,gilbert1 a wretched old creature of upwards of seventy years of age1 was found in bed with her leg broken4 ,as she was ugly enough for a witch1 it was asserted that she also was one of the cats that had fared so ill at the hands of the carpenter4 ,the latter1 when informed of the popular suspicion1 asserted that he distinctly remembered to have struck one of the cats a blow with the back of his broadsword1 which ought to have broken her leg4 ,nanny was immediately dragged from her bed and thrown into prison4 ,before she was put to the torture1 she explained in a very natural and intelligible manner how she had broken her limb2 but this account did not give satisfaction4 ,the professional persuasions of the torturer made her tell a different tale1 and she confessed that she was indeed a witch1 and had been wounded by ,montgomery on the night stated2 that the two old women recently deceased were witches also1 besides about a score of others whom she named4 ,the poor creature suffered so much by the removal from her own home1 and the tortures inflicted upon her1 that she died the next day in prison4 ,happily for the persons she had named in her confession1 ,dundas of ,arniston1 at that time the king's advocate-general1 wrote to the sheriff-depute1 one ,captain ,ross of ,littledean1 cautioning him not to proceed to trial1 the thing being of too great difficulty1 and beyond the jurisdiction of an inferior court4 ,dundas himself examined the precognition with great care1 and was so convinced of the utter folly of the whole case1 that he quashed all further proceedings4 ,we find this same sheriff-depute of ,caithness very active four years afterwards in another trial for witchcraft4 ,in spite of the warning he had received that all such cases were to be tried in future by the superior courts1 he condemned to death an old woman at ,dornoch1 upon the charge of bewitching the cows and pigs of her neighbours4 ,this poor creature was insane1 and actually laughed and clapped her hands at sight of the bonnie fire that was to consume her4 ,she had a daughter who was lame both of her hands and feet1 and one of the charges brought against her was1 that she had used this daughter as a pony in her excursions to join the devil's sabbath1 and that the devil himself had shod her1 and produced lameness4 ,this was the last execution that took place in ,scotland for witchcraft4 ,the penal statutes were repealed in #agcf2 and1 as in ,england1 whipping1 the pillory1 or imprisonment1 were declared the future punishments of all pretenders to magic or witchcraft4 ,still for many years after this the superstition lingered both in ,england and ,scotland1 and in some districts is far from being extinct even at this day4 ,but before we proceed to trace it any further than to its legal extinction1 we have yet to see the frightful havoc it made in continental ,europe from the commencement of the seventeenth to the middle of the eighteenth century4 ,france1 ,germany1 and ,switzerland were the countries which suffered most from the epidemic4 ,the number of victims in these countries during the sixteenth century has already been mentioned2 but at the early part of the seventeenth1 the numbers are so great1 especially in ,germany1 that were they not to be found in the official records of the tribunals1 it would be almost impossible to believe that mankind could ever have been so maddened and deluded4 ,to use the words of the learned and indefatigable ,horst1#ce the world seemed to be like a large madhouse for witches and devils to play their antics in4 ,satan was believed to be at every body's call to raise the whirlwind1 draw down the lightning1 blight the productions of the earth1 or destroy the health and paralyse the limbs of man4 ,this belief1 so insulting to the majesty and beneficence of the ,creator1 was shared by the most pious ministers of religion4 ,those who in their morning and evening prayers acknowledged the one true ,god1 and praised him for the blessings of the seed-time and the harvest1 were convinced that frail humanity could enter into a compact with the spirits of hell to subvert his laws and thwart all his merciful intentions4 ,successive popes1 from ,innocent ,,viii4 downwards1 promulgated this degrading doctrine1 which spread so rapidly1 that society seemed to be divided into two great factions1 the bewitching and the bewitched4 #ce ,zauberbibliothek1 ,thiel #e4 ,the commissioners named by ,innocent ,,viii4 to prosecute the witch-trials in ,germany were1 ,jacob ,sprenger1 so notorious for his work on demonology1 entitled the ,malleus ,maleficarum1 or ,hammer to knock down ,witches2 ,henry ,institor1 a learned jurisconsult2 and the ,bishop of ,strasburgh4 ,bamberg1 ,trves1 ,cologne1 ,paderborn1 and ,wrzburg1 were the chief seats of the commissioners1 who1 during their lives alone1 condemned to the stake1 on a very moderate calculation1 upwards of three thousand victims4 ,the number of witches so increased1 that new commissioners were continually appointed in ,germany1 ,france1 and ,switzerland4 ,in ,spain and ,portugal the ,inquisition alone took cognisance of the crime4 ,it is impossible to search the records of those dark1 but now happily non-existing tribunals2 but the mind recoils with affright even to form a guess of the multitudes who perished4 ,the mode of trial in the other countries is more easily ascertained4 ,sprenger in ,germany1 and ,bodinus and ,delrio in ,france1 have left but too ample a record of the atrocities committed in the much-abused names of justice and religion4 ,bodinus1 of great repute and authority in the seventeenth century1 says1 ,the trial of this offence must not be conducted like other crimes4 ,whoever adheres to the ordinary course of justice perverts the spirit of the law1 both divine and human4 ,he who is accused of sorcery should never be acquitted1 unless the malice of the prosecutor be clearer than the sun2 for it is so difficult to bring full proof of this secret crime1 that out of a million of witches not one would be convicted if the usual course were followed6 ,henri ,boguet1 a witch-finder1 who styled himself ,the ,grand ,judge of ,witches for the ,territory of ,st4 ,claude1 drew up a code for the guidance of all persons engaged in the witch-trials1 consisting of seventy articles1 quite as cruel as the code of ,bodinus4 ,in this document he affirms1 that a mere suspicion of witchcraft justifies the immediate arrest and torture of the suspected person4 ,if the prisoner muttered1 looked on the ground1 and did not shed any tears1 all these were proofs positive of guilt6 ,in all cases of witchcraft1 the evidence of the child ought to be taken against its parent2 and persons of notoriously bad character1 although not to be believed upon their oaths on the ordinary occasions of dispute that might arise between man and man1 were to be believed1 if they swore that any person had bewitched them6 ,who1 when he hears that this diabolical doctrine was the universally received opinion of the ecclesiastical and civil authorities1 can wonder that thousands upon thousands of unhappy persons should be brought to the stake8 that ,cologne should for many years burn its three hundred witches annually8 the district of ,bamberg its four hundred8 ,nuremberg1 ,geneva1 ,paris1 ,toulouse1 ,lyons1 and other cities1 their two hundred8 ,a few of these trials may be cited1 taking them in the order of priority1 as they occurred in different parts of the ,continent4 ,in #aeie1 an old woman residing in a village near ,constance1 angry at not being invited to share the sports of the country people on a day of public rejoicing1 was heard to mutter something to herself1 and was afterwards seen to proceed through the fields towards a hill1 where she was lost sight of4 ,a violent thunder-storm arose about two hours afterwards1 which wet the dancers to the skin1 and did considerable damage to the plantations4 ,this woman1 suspected before of witchcraft1 was seized and imprisoned1 and accused of having raised the storm1 by filling a hole with wine1 and stirring it about with a stick4 ,she was tortured till she confessed1 and was burned alive the next evening4 ,illustration3 ,,city ,,of ,,lyons4 ,about the same time two sorcerers in ,toulouse were accused of having dragged a crucifix about the streets at midnight1 stopping at times to spit upon and kick it1 and uttering at intervals an exorcism to raise the devil4 ,the next day a hail-storm did considerable damage to the crops2 and a girl1 the daughter of a shoemaker in the town1 remembered to have heard in the night the execrations of the wizards4 ,her story led to their arrest4 ,the usual means to produce confession were resorted to4 ,the wizards owned that they could raise tempests whenever they pleased1 and named several persons who possessed similar powers4 ,they were hanged1 and then burned in the market-place1 and seven of the persons they had mentioned shared the same fate4 ,hoppo and ,stadlin1 two noted wizards of ,germany1 were executed in #aeii4 ,they implicated twenty or thirty witches1 who went about causing women to miscarry1 bringing down the lightning of heaven1 and making maidens bring forth toads4 ,to this latter fact several girls were found to swear most positively6 ,stadlin confessed that he had killed seven infants in the womb of one woman4 ,bodinus highly praises the exertions of a witch-finder named ,nider1 in ,france1 who prosecuted so many that he could not calculate them4 ,some of these witches could1 by a single word1 cause people to fall down dead2 others made women go with child three years instead of nine months2 while others1 by certain invocations and ceremonies1 could turn the faces of their enemies upside down1 or twist them round to their backs4 ,although no witness was ever procured who saw persons in this horrible state1 the witches confessed that they had the power and exercised it4 ,nothing more was wanting to ensure the stake4 ,at ,amsterdam a crazy girl confessed that she could cause sterility in cattle1 and bewitch pigs and poultry by merely repeating the magic words ,turius und ,shurius ,inturius6 ,she was hanged and burned4 ,another woman in the same city1 named ,kornelis van ,purmerund1 was arrested in consequence of some disclosures the former had made4 ,a witness came forward and swore that she one day looked through the window of her hut1 and saw ,kornelis sitting before a fire muttering something to the devil4 ,she was sure it was to the devil1 because she heard him answer her4 ,shortly afterwards twelve black cats ascended out of the floor1 and danced on their hind legs around the witch for the space of about half an hour4 ,they then vanished with a horrid noise1 and leaving a disagreeable smell behind them4 ,she also was hanged and burned4 ,at ,bamberg1 in ,bavaria1 the executions from the year #afaj to #afdj were at the rate of about a hundred annually4 ,one woman1 suspected of witchcraft1 was seized because1 having immoderately praised the beauty of a child1 it had shortly afterwards fallen ill and died4 ,she confessed upon the rack that the devil had given her the power to work evil upon those she hated1 by speaking words in their praise4 ,if she said with unwonted fervour1 ,what a strong man6 ,what a lovely woman6 ,what a sweet child6 the devil understood her1 and afflicted them with diseases immediately4 ,it is quite unnecessary to state the end of this poor creature4 ,many women were executed for causing strange substances to lodge in the bodies of those who offended them4 ,bits of wood1 nails1 hair1 egg-shells1 bits of glass1 shreds of linen and woollen cloth1 pebbles1 and even hot cinders and knives1 were the articles generally chosen4 ,these were believed to remain in the body till the witches confessed or were executed1 when they were voided from the bowels1 or by the mouth1 nostrils1 or ears4 ,modern physicians have often had cases of a similar description under their care1 where girls have swallowed needles1 which have been voided on the arms1 legs1 and other parts of the body4 ,but the science of that day could not account for these phenomena otherwise than by the power of the devil2 and every needle swallowed by a servant-maid cost an old woman her life4 ,nay1 if no more than one suffered in consequence1 the district might think itself fortunate4 ,the commissioners seldom stopped short at one victim4 ,the revelations of the rack in most cases implicated half a score4 ,illustration3 ,,bamberg4 ,of all the records of the witch-trials preserved for the wonder of succeeding ages1 that of ,wrzburg1 from #afbg to #afbi1 is the most frightful4 ,hauber1 who has preserved this list in his ,acta et ,scripta ,magica1 says1 in a note at the end1 that it is far from complete1 and that there were a great many other burnings too numerous to specify4 ,this record1 which relates to the city only1 and not to the province of ,wrzburg1 contains the names of one hundred and fifty-seven persons who were burned in two years in twenty-nine burnings1 averaging from five to six at a time4 ,the list comprises three play-actors1 four innkeepers1 three common councilmen of ,wrzburg1 fourteen vicars of the cathedral1 the burgomaster's lady1 an apothecary's wife and daughter1 two choristers of the cathedral1 ,gbel ,babelin1 the prettiest girl in the town1 and the wife1 the two little sons and the daughter of the councillor ,stolzenberg4 ,rich and poor1 young and old1 suffered alike4 ,at the seventh of these recorded burnings1 the victims are described as a wandering boy1 twelve years of age1 and four strange men and women found sleeping in the market-place4 ,thirty-two of the whole number appear to have been vagrants1 of both sexes1 who1 failing to give a satisfactory account of themselves1 were accused and found guilty of witchcraft4 ,the number of children on the list is horrible to think upon4 ,the thirteenth and fourteenth burnings comprised four persons1 who are stated to have been a little maiden nine years of age1 a maiden still less1 her sister1 their mother1 and their aunt1 a pretty young woman of twenty-four4 ,at the eighteenth burning the victims were two boys of twelve1 and a girl of fifteen2 at the nineteenth1 the young heir of the noble house of ,rotenhahn1 aged nine1 and two other boys1 one aged ten1 and the other twelve4 ,among other entries appear the names of ,baunach1 the fattest1 and ,steinacher1 the richest burgher in ,wrzburg4 ,what tended to keep up the delusion in this unhappy city1 and1 indeed1 all over ,europe1 was the number of hypochondriac and diseased persons who came voluntarily forward and made confession of witchcraft4 ,several of the victims in the foregoing list had only themselves to blame for their fate4 ,many again1 including the apothecary's wife and daughter already mentioned1 pretended to sorcery1 and sold poisons1 or attempted by means of charms and incantations to raise the devil4 ,but throughout all this fearful period the delusion of the criminals was as great as that of the judges4 ,depraved persons who in ordinary times would have been thieves or murderers1 added the desire of sorcery to their depravity1 sometimes with the hope of acquiring power over their fellows1 and sometimes with the hope of securing impunity in this world by the protection of ,satan4 ,one of the persons executed at the first burning1 a prostitute1 was heard repeating the exorcism which was supposed to have the power of raising the arch enemy in the form of a goat4 ,this precious specimen of human folly has been preserved by ,horst in his ,zauberbibliothek4 ,it ran as follows1 and was to be repeated slowly1 with many ceremonies and wavings of the hand3 ,lalle1 ,bachera1 ,magotte1 ,baphia1 ,dajam1 ,vagoth ,heneche ,ammi ,nagaz1 ,adomator ,raphael ,immanuel ,christus1 ,tetragrammaton ,agra ,jod ,loi4 ,knig6 ,knig6 ,the two last words were uttered quickly1 and with a sort of scream1 and were supposed to be highly agreeable to ,satan1 who loved to be called a king4 ,if he did not appear immediately1 it was necessary to repeat a further exorcism4 ,the one in greatest repute was as follows1 and was to be read backwards1 with the exception of the last two words3 ,anion1 ,lalle1 ,sabolos1 ,sado1 ,pater1 ,aziel ,adonai ,sado ,vagoth ,agra1 ,jod1 ,baphra6 ,komm6 ,komm6 ,when the witch wanted to get rid of the devil1 who was sometimes in the habit of prolonging his visits to an unconscionable length1 she had only to repeat the following1 also backwards1 when he generally disappeared1 leaving behind him a suffocating smell3 ,zellianelle ,heotti ,bonus ,vagotha ,plisos sother osech unicus ,beelzebub ,dax6 ,komm6 ,komm6 ,this nonsensical jargon soon became known to all the idle and foolish boys of ,germany4 ,many an unhappy urchin1 who in a youthful frolic had repeated it1 paid for his folly the penalty of his life4 ,three1 whose ages varied from ten to fifteen1 were burned alive at ,wrzburg for no other offence4 ,of course every other boy in the city became still more convinced of the power of the charm4 ,one boy confessed that he would willingly have sold himself to the devil1 if he could have raised him1 for a good dinner and cakes every day of his life1 and a pony to ride upon4 ,this luxurious youngster1 instead of being horsewhipped for his folly1 was hanged and burned4 ,the small district of ,lindheim was1 if possible1 even more notorious than ,wrzburg for the number of its witch-burnings4 ,in the year #afcc a famous witch1 named ,pomp ,anna1 who could cause her foes to fall sick by merely looking at them1 was discovered and burned1 along with three of her companions4 ,every year in this parish1 consisting at most of a thousand persons1 the average number of executions was five4 ,between the years #affj and #affd1 the number consumed was thirty4 ,if the executions all over ,germany had been in this frightful proportion1 hardly a family could have escaped losing one of its members4 ,in #afbg1 a ballad entitled the ,druten ,zeitung1 or the ,witches' ,gazette1 was very popular in ,germany4 ,it detailed1 according to the title-page of a copy printed at ,smalcald in #afbg1 ,an account of the remarkable events which took place in ,franconia1 ,bamberg1 and ,wrzburg1 with those wretches who from avarice or ambition have sold themselves to the devil1 and how they had their reward at last3 set to music1 and to be sung to the tune of ,dorothea4 ,the sufferings of the witches at the stake are explained in it with great minuteness1 the poet waxing extremely witty when he describes the horrible contortions of pain upon their countenances1 and the shrieks that rent the air when any one of more than common guilt was burned alive4 ,a trick resorted to in order to force one witch to confess1 is told in this doggrel as an excellent joke4 ,as she obstinately refused to own that she was in league with the powers of evil1 the commissioners suggested that the hangman should dress himself in a bear's skin1 with the horns1 tail1 and all the et-ceteras1 and in this form penetrate into her dungeon4 ,the woman1 in the darkness of her cell1 could not detect the imposture1 aided as it was by her own superstitious fears4 ,she thought she was actually in the presence of the prince of hell2 and when she was told to keep up her courage1 and that she should be relieved from the power of her enemies1 she fell on her knees before the supposed devil1 and swore to dedicate herself hereafter1 body and soul1 to his service4 ,germany is1 perhaps1 the only country in ,europe where the delusion was so great as to have made such detestable verses as these the favourites of the people3 ,man shickt ein ,henkersknecht ,zu ihr in ,gefngniss n'unter1 ,den man hat kleidet recht1 ,mit einer ,brnhaute1 ,als wenns der ,teufel wr2 ,als ihm die ,drut anschaute ,meints ihr ,buhl kam daher4 ,sie sprach zu ihm behende1 ,wie lsst du mich so lang ,in der ,obrigkeit ,hnde8 ,hilf mir aus ihren ,zwang1 ,wie du mir hast verheissen1 ,ich bin ja eben dein1 ,thu mich aus der ,angst entreissen ,o liebster ,buhle mein6#cf #cf ,they sent a hangman's assistant down to her in her prison2 they clothed him properly in a bear's skin1 as if he were the devil4 ,him1 when the witch saw1 she thought he was her familiar4 ,she said to him quickly1 ,why hast thou left me so long in the magistrate's hands8 ,help me out of their power1 as thou hast promised1 and ,i will be thine alone4 ,help me from this anguish1 ,o thou dearest devil or lover mine6 ,this rare poet adds1 that in making such an appeal to the hangman1 the witch never imagined the roast that was to be made of her1 and puts in1 by way of parenthesis1 was not that fine fun6--was das war fr ein ,spiel6 ,as feathers thrown into the air shew how the wind blows1 so this trumpery ballad serves to shew the current of popular feeling at the time of its composition4 ,all readers of history are familiar with the celebrated trial of the ,marchale d',ancre1 who was executed in ,paris in the year #afag4 ,although witchcraft was one of the accusations brought against her1 the real crime for which she suffered was her ascendency over the mind of ,mary of ,medicis1 and the consequent influence she exercised indirectly over the unworthy king1 ,louis ,,xiii4 ,her coachman gave evidence that she had sacrificed a cock at midnight in one of the churches1 and others swore they had seen her go secretly into the house of a noted witch named ,isabella4 ,when asked by what means she had acquired so extraordinary an influence over the mind of the ,queen ,mother1 she replied boldly that she exercised no other power over her than that which a strong mind can always exercise over the weak4 ,she died with great firmness4 ,in two years afterwards1 scenes far more horrible than any that had yet taken place in ,france were enacted at ,labourt1 at the foot of the ,pyrenees4 ,the parliament of ,bourdeaux1 scandalised at the number of witches who were said to infest ,labourt and its neighbourhood1 deputed one of its own members1 the noted ,pierre de l',ancre1 and its president1 ,espaignel1 to inquire into the matter1 with full powers to punish the offenders4 ,they arrived at ,labourt in ,may1 #afai4 ,de l',ancre wrote a book setting forth all his great deeds in this battle against the powers of evil4 ,it is full of obscenity and absurdity1 but the facts may be relied on as far as they relate to the number of trials and executions1 and the strange confessions which torture forced from the unhappy criminals4 ,de l',ancre states as a reason why so many witches were to be found at ,labourt1 that the country was mountainous and sterile6 ,he discovered many of them from their partiality to smoking tobacco4 ,it may be inferred from this that he was of the opinion of ,king ,james1 that tobacco was the devil's weed4 ,when the commission first sat1 the number of persons brought to trial was about forty a day4 ,the acquittals did not average so many as five per cent4 ,all the witches confessed that they had been present at the great ,domdaniel1 or ,sabbath4 ,at these saturnalia the devil sat upon a large gilded throne1 sometimes in the form of a goat2 sometimes as a gentleman1 dressed all in black1 with boots1 spurs1 and sword2 and very often as a shapeless mass1 resembling the trunk of a blasted tree1 seen indistinctly amid the darkness4 ,they generally proceeded to the ,domdaniel1 riding on spits1 pitchforks1 or broomsticks1 and on their arrival indulged with the fiends in every species of debauchery4 ,upon one occasion they had had the audacity to celebrate this festival in the very heart of the city of ,bourdeaux4 ,the throne of the arch fiend was placed in the middle of the ,place de ,gallienne1 and the whole space was covered with the multitude of witches and wizards who flocked to it from far and near1 some arriving even from distant ,scotland4 ,after two hundred poor wretches had been hanged and burned1 there seemed no diminution in the number of criminals to be tried4 ,many of the latter were asked upon the rack what ,satan had said when he found that the commissioners were proceeding with such severity8 ,the general reply was1 that he did not seem to care much about it4 ,some of them asserted that they had boldly reproached him for suffering the execution of their friends1 saying1 ,out upon thee1 false fiend6 thy promise was that they should not die6 ,look1 how thou hast kept thy word6 ,they have been burned1 and are a heap of ashes6 ,upon these occasions he was never offended3 he would give orders that the sports of the ,domdaniel should cease1 and producing illusory fires that did not burn1 he encouraged them to walk through1 assuring them that the fires lighted by the executioner gave no more pain than those4 ,they would then ask him1 where their friends were1 since they had not suffered2 to which the ,father of ,lies invariably replied1 that they were happy in a far country1 and could see and hear all that was then passing2 and that1 if they called by name those they wished to converse with1 they might hear their voices in reply4 ,satan then imitated the voices of the defunct witches so successfully that they were all deceived4 ,having answered all objections1 the orgies recommenced and lasted till the cock crew4 ,de l',ancre was also very zealous in the trial of unhappy monomaniacs for the crime of lycanthropy4 ,several who were arrested confessed1 without being tortured1 that they were weir-wolves1 and that at night they rushed out among the flocks and herds killing and devouring4 ,one young man at ,besanon1 with the full consciousness of the awful fate that awaited him1 voluntarily gave himself up to the commissioner ,espaignel1 and confessed that he was the servant of a strong fiend1 who was known by the name of ,lord of the ,forests3 by his power he was transformed into the likeness of a wolf4 ,the ,lord of the ,forests assumed the same shape2 but was much larger1 fiercer1 and stronger4 ,they prowled about the pastures together at midnight1 strangling the watch-dogs that defended the folds1 and killing more sheep than they could devour4 ,he felt1 he said1 a fierce pleasure in these excursions1 and howled in excess of joy as he tore with his fangs the warm flesh of the sheep asunder4 ,this youth was not alone in this horrid confession2 many others voluntarily owned that they were weir-wolves1 and many more were forced by torture to make the same avowal4 ,such criminals were thought to be too atrocious to be hanged first and then burned3 they were generally sentenced to be burned alive1 and their ashes to be scattered to the winds4 ,grave and learned doctors of divinity openly sustained the possibility of these transformations1 relying mainly upon the history of ,nebuchadnezzar4 ,they could not imagine why1 if he had been an ox1 modern men could not become wolves by ,divine permission and the power of the devil4 ,they also contended that1 if men should confess1 it was evidence enough1 if there had been no other4 ,delrio mentions that one gentleman accused of lycanthropy was put to the torture no less than twenty times2 but still he would not confess4 ,an intoxicating draught was then given him1 and under its influence he confessed that he was a weir-wolf4 ,delrio cites this to shew the extreme equity of the commissioners4 ,they never burned any body till he confessed2 and if one course of torture would not suffice1 their patience was not exhausted1 and they tried him again and again1 even to the twentieth time6 ,well may we exclaim1 when such atrocities have been committed in the name of religion1 ,quel lion1 quel tigre gale en cruaut1 ,une injuste fureur qu'arme la pit8 ,the trial of the unhappy ,urbain ,grandier1 the curate of ,loudun1 for bewitching a number of girls in the convent of the ,ursulines in that town1 was1 like that of the ,marchale d',ancre1 an accusation resorted to by his enemies to ruin one against whom no other charge could be brought so readily4 ,this noted affair1 which kept ,france in commotion for months1 and the true character of which was known even at that time1 merits no more than a passing notice in this place4 ,it did not spring from the epidemic dread of sorcery then so prevalent1 but was carried on by wretched intriguers1 who had sworn to have the life of their foe4 ,such a charge could not be refuted in #afcd3 the accused could not1 as ,bodinus expresses it1 make the malice of the prosecutors more clear than the sun2 and his own denial1 however intelligible1 honest1 and straightforward1 was held as nothing in refutation of the testimony of the crazy women who imagined themselves bewitched4 ,the more absurd and contradictory their assertions1 the stronger the argument employed by his enemies that the devil was in them4 ,he was burned alive1 under circumstances of great cruelty4#cg #cg ,a very graphic account of the execution of this unfortunate gentleman is to be found in the excellent romance of ,m4 ,alfred de ,vigny1 entitled ,cinq ,mars2 but if the reader wishes for a full and accurate detail of all the circumstances of one of the most extraordinary trials upon record1 he is referred to a work published anonymously1 at ,amsterdam1 in #afic1 entitled ,histoire des ,diables de ,loudun1 ou de la ,possession des ,religieuses ,ursulines1 et de la ,condemnation et du ,supplice d',urbain ,grandier4 ,a singular instance of the epidemic fear of witchcraft occurred at ,lille1 in #afci4 ,a pious but not very sane lady1 named ,antoinette ,bourignon1 founded a school1 or hospice1 in that city4 ,one day1 on entering the schoolroom1 she imagined that she saw a great number of little black angels flying about the heads of the children4 ,in great alarm she told her pupils of what she had seen1 warning them to beware of the devil whose imps were hovering about them4 ,the foolish woman continued daily to repeat the same story1 and ,satan and his power became the only subject of conversation1 not only between the girls themselves1 but between them and their instructors4 ,one of them at this time ran away from the school4 ,on being brought back and interrogated1 she said she had not run away1 but had been carried away by the devil2 she was a witch1 and had been one since the age of seven4 ,some other little girls in the school went into fits at this announcement1 and1 on their recovery1 confessed that they also were witches4 ,at last the whole of them1 to the number of fifty1 worked upon each other's imaginations to such a degree that they also confessed that they were witches--that they attended the ,domdaniel1 or meeting of the fiends--that they could ride through the air on broom-sticks1 feast on infants' flesh1 or creep through a key-hole4 ,the citizens of ,lille were astounded at these disclosures4 ,the clergy hastened to investigate the matter2 many of them1 to their credit1 openly expressed their opinion that the whole affair was an imposture--not so the majority2 they strenuously insisted that the confessions of the children were valid1 and that it was necessary to make an example by burning them all for witches4 ,the poor parents1 alarmed for their offspring1 implored the examining ,capuchins with tears in their eyes to save their young lives1 insisting that they were bewitched1 and not bewitching4 ,this opinion also gained ground in the town4 ,antoinette ,bourignon1 who had put these absurd notions into the heads of the children1 was accused of witchcraft1 and examined before the council4 ,the circumstances of the case seemed so unfavourable towards her that she would not stay for a second examination4 ,disguising herself as she best could1 she hastened out of ,lille and escaped pursuit4 ,if she had remained four hours longer1 she would have been burned by judicial sentence as a witch and a heretic4 ,it is to be hoped that1 wherever she went1 she learned the danger of tampering with youthful minds1 and was never again entrusted with the management of children4 ,the ,duke of ,brunswick and the ,elector of ,menz were struck with the great cruelty exercised in the torture of suspected persons1 and convinced1 at the same time1 that no righteous judge would consider a confession extorted by pain1 and contradictory in itself1 as sufficient evidence to justify the execution of any accused person4 ,it is related of the ,duke of ,brunswick that he invited two learned ,jesuits to his house1 who were known to entertain strong opinions upon the subject of witchcraft1 with a view of shewing them the cruelty and absurdity of such practices4 ,a woman lay in the dungeon of the city accused of witchcraft1 and the duke1 having given previous instructions to the officiating torturers1 went with the two ,jesuits to hear her confession4 ,by a series of artful leading questions the poor creature1 in the extremity of her anguish1 was induced to confess that she had often attended the sabbath of the fiends upon the ,brocken2 that she had seen two ,jesuits there1 who had made themselves notorious1 even among witches1 for their abominations2 that she had seen them assume the form of goats1 wolves1 and other animals2 and that many noted witches had borne them five1 six1 and seven children at a birth1 who had heads like toads1 and legs like spiders4 ,being asked if the ,jesuits were far from her1 she replied that they were in the room beside her4 ,the ,duke of ,brunswick led his astounded friends away1 and explained the stratagem4 ,this was convincing proof to both of them that thousands of persons had suffered unjustly2 they knew their own innocence1 and shuddered to think what their fate might have been if an enemy instead of a friend had put such a confession into the mouth of a criminal4 ,one of these ,jesuits was ,frederick ,spee1 the author of the ,cautio ,criminalis1 published in #afca4 ,this work1 exposing the horrors of the witch-trials1 had a most salutary effect in ,germany3 ,schonbrunn1 ,archbishop and ,elector of ,menz1 abolished the torture entirely within his dominions1 and his example was imitated by the ,duke of ,brunswick and other potentates4 ,the number of supposed witches immediately diminished1 and the violence of the mania began to subside4 ,the ,elector of ,brandenburg issued a rescript1 in #afed1 with respect to the case of ,anna of ,ellerbrock1 a supposed witch1 forbidding the use of torture1 and stigmatising the swimming of witches as an unjust1 cruel1 and deceitful test4 ,this was the beginning of the dawn after the long-protracted darkness4 ,the tribunals no longer condemned witches to execution by hundreds in a year4 ,wrzburg1 the grand theatre of the burnings1 burned but one where1 forty years previously1 it had burned three score4 ,from #affj to #afgj the electoral chambers1 in all parts of ,germany1 constantly commuted the sentence of death passed by the provincial tribunals into imprisonment for life1 or burning on the cheek4 ,illustration3 ,,rouen4 ,a truer philosophy had gradually disabused the public mind4 ,learned men freed themselves from the trammels of a debasing superstition1 and governments1 both civil and ecclesiastical1 repressed the popular delusion they had so long encouraged4 ,the parliament of ,normandy condemned a number of women to death1 in the year #afgj1 on the old charge of riding on broomsticks to the ,domdaniel2 but ,louis ,,xiv4 commuted the sentence into banishment for life4 ,the parliament remonstrated1 and sent the king the following remarkable request4 ,the reader will perhaps be glad to see this document at length4 ,it is of importance1 as the last effort of a legislative assembly to uphold this great error2 and the arguments they used and the instances they quoted are in the highest degree curious4 ,it reflects honour upon the memory of ,louis ,,xiv4 that he was not swayed by it4 ,,request ,,of ,,the ,,parliament ,,of ,,rouen ,,to ,,the ,,king1 ,,in #afgj4 ,,sire1--,emboldened by the authority which your majesty has committed into our hands in the province of ,normandy1 to try and punish offences1 and more particularly those offences of the nature of witchcraft1 which tend to the destruction of religion and the ruin of nations1 we1 your parliament1 remonstrate humbly with your majesty upon certain cases of this kind which have been lately brought before us4 ,we cannot permit the letter addressed by your majesty's command to the attorney-general of this district1 for the reprieve of certain persons condemned to death for witchcraft1 and for the staying of proceedings in several other cases1 to remain unnoticed1 and without remarking upon the consequences which may ensue4 ,there is also a letter from your secretary of state1 declaring your majesty's intention to commute the punishment of these criminals into one of perpetual banishment1 and to submit to the opinion of the procureur-general1 and of the most learned members of the parliament of ,paris1 whether1 in the matter of witchcraft1 the jurisprudence of the parliament of ,rouen is to be followed in preference to that of the parliament of ,paris1 and of the other parliaments of the kingdom which judge differently4 ,although by the ordinances of the kings your predecessors1 parliaments have been forbidden to pay any attention to lettres de cachet2 we1 nevertheless1 from the knowledge which we have1 in common with the whole kingdom1 of the care bestowed by your majesty for the good of your subjects1 and from the submission and obedience to your commandments which we have always manifested1 have stayed all proceedings1 in conformity to your orders2 hoping that your majesty1 considering the importance of the crime of witchcraft1 and the consequences likely to ensue from its impunity1 will be graciously pleased to grant us once more your permission to continue the trials1 and execute judgment upon those found guilty4 ,and as1 since we received the letter of your secretary of state1 we have also been made acquainted with the determination of your majesty1 not only to commute the sentence of death passed upon these witches into one of perpetual banishment from the province1 but to re-establish them in the possession of their goods and chattels1 and of their good fame and character1 your parliament have thought it their duty1 on occasion of these crimes1 the greatest which men can commit1 to make you acquainted with the general and uniform feelings of the people of this province with regard to them2 it being1 moreover1 a question in which are concerned the glory of ,god and the relief of your suffering subjects1 who groan under their fears from the threats and menaces of this sort of persons1 and who feel the effects of them every day in the mortal and extraordinary maladies which attack them1 and the surprising damage and loss of their possessions4 ,your majesty knows well that there is no crime so opposed to the commands of ,god as witchcraft1 which destroys the very foundation of religion1 and draws strange abominations after it4 ,it is for this reason1 sire1 that the ,scriptures pronounce the punishment of death against offenders1 and that the ,church and the holy fathers have fulminated their anathemas1 and that canonical decisions have one and all decreed the most severe punishments1 to deter from this crime2 and that the ,church of ,france1 animated by the piety of the kings your predecessors1 has expressed so great a horror at it1 that1 not judging the punishment of perpetual imprisonment1 the highest it has the power to inflict1 sufficiently severe1 it has left such criminals to be dealt with by the secular power4 ,it has been the general feeling of all nations that such criminals ought to be condemned to death1 and all the ancients were of the same opinion4 ,the law of the ',twelve ,tables1' which was the principal of the ,roman laws1 ordains the same punishment4 ,all juris-consults agreed in it1 as well as the constitutions of the emperors1 and more especially those of ,constantine and ,theodosius1 who1 enlightened by the ,gospel1 not only renewed the same punishment1 but also deprived1 expressly1 all persons found guilty of witchcraft of the right of appeal1 and declared them to be unworthy of a prince's mercy4 ,and ,charles ,,viii41 sire1 inspired by the same sentiments1 passed that beautiful and severe ordinance 7cette belle et svre ordonnance71 which enjoined the judges to punish witches according to the exigencies of the case1 under a penalty of being themselves fined or imprisoned1 or dismissed from their office2 and decreed1 at the same time1 that all persons who refused to denounce a witch1 should be punished as accomplices2 and that all1 on the contrary1 who gave evidence against one should be rewarded4 ,from these considerations1 sire1 and in the execution of so holy an ordinance1 your parliaments1 by their decrees1 proportion their punishments to the guilt of the offenders2 and your parliament of ,normandy has never1 until the present time1 found that its practice was different from that of other courts2 for all the books which treat upon this matter cite an infinite number of decrees condemning witches to be burnt1 or broken on the wheel1 or to other punishments4 ,the following are examples3--,in the time of ,chilperic1 as may be seen in ,gregory of ,tours1 b4 vi4 c4 #ce of his ,history of ,france2 all the decrees of the parliament of ,paris passed according to1 and in conformity with1 this ancient jurisprudence of the kingdom1 cited by ,imbert1 in his ,judicial ,practice2 all those cited by ,monstrelet1 in #adei1 against the witches of ,artois2 the decrees of the same parliament1 of the #acth of ,october #aegc1 against ,mary ,le ,fief1 native of ,saumur2 of the #bast of ,october #aeif1 against the ,sieur de ,beaumont1 who pleaded1 in his defence1 that he had only sought the aid of the devil for the purpose of unbewitching the afflicted and of curing diseases2 of the #dth of ,july #afjf1 against ,francis du ,bose2 of the #bjth of ,july #aehb1 against ,abel de la ,rue1 native of ,coulommiers2 of the #b;d of ,october #aeic1 against ,rousseau and his daughter2 of #afjh1 against another ,rousseau and one ,peley1 for witchcraft and adoration of the devil at the ,sabbath1 under the figure of a he-goat1 as confessed by them2 the decree of #dth of ,february #afae1 against ,leclerc1 who appealed from the sentence of the parliament of ,orleans1 and who was condemned for having attended the ,sabbath1 and confessed1 as well as two of his accomplices1 who died in prison1 that he had adored the devil1 renounced his baptism and his faith in ,god1 danced the witches' dance1 and offered up unholy sacrifices2 the decrees of the #fth of ,may #afaf1 against a man named ,leger1 on a similar accusation2 the pardon granted by ,charles ,,ix4 to ,trois ,echelles1 upon condition of revealing his accomplices1 but afterwards revoked for renewed sorcery on his part2 the decree of the parliament of ,paris1 cited by ,mornac in #aeie2 the judgments passed in consequence of the commission given by ,henry ,,iv4 to the ,sieur de l',ancre1 councillor of the parliament of ,bourdeaux2 of the #bjth of ,march #afai1 against ,etienne ,audibert2 those passed by the chamber of ,nerac1 on the #bfth of ,june #afbj1 against several witches2 those passed by the parliament of ,toulouse in #aegg1 as cited by ,gregory ,tolosanus1 against four hundred persons accused of this crime1 and who were all marked with the sign of the devil4 ,besides all these1 we might recal to your majesty's recollection the various decrees of the parliament of ,provence1 especially in the case of ,gaufrdy in #afaa2 the decrees of the parliament of ,dijon1 and those of the parliament of ,rennes1 following the example of the condemnation of the ,marshal de ,rays1 who was burned in #adda1 for the crime of witchcraft1 in presence of the ,duke of ,brittany2--all these examples1 sire1 prove that the accusation of witchcraft has always been punished with death by the parliaments of your kingdom1 and justify the uniformity of their practice4 ,these1 sire1 are the motives upon which your parliament of ,normandy has acted in decreeing the punishment of death against the persons lately brought before it for this crime4 ,if it has happened that1 on any occasion1 these parliaments1 and the parliament of ,normandy among the rest1 have condemned the guilty to a less punishment than that of death1 it was for the reason that their guilt was not of the deepest dye2 your majesty1 and the kings your predecessors1 having left full liberty to the various tribunals to whom they delegated the administration of justice1 to decree such punishment as was warranted by the evidence brought before them4 ,after so many authorities1 and punishments ordained by human and divine laws1 we humbly supplicate your majesty to reflect once more upon the extraordinary results which proceed from the malevolence of this sort of people2 on the deaths from unknown diseases1 which are often the consequences of their menaces1 on the loss of the goods and chattels of your subjects1 on the proofs of guilt continually afforded by the insensibility of the marks upon the accused1 on the sudden transportation of bodies from one place to another1 on the sacrifices and nocturnal assemblies1 and other facts1 corroborated by the testimony of ancient and modern authors1 and verified by so many eye-witnesses1 composed partly of accomplices1 and partly of people who had no interest in the trials beyond the love of truth1 and confirmed1 moreover1 by the confessions of the accused parties themselves2 and that1 sire1 with so much agreement and conformity between the different cases1 that the most ignorant persons convicted of this crime have spoken to the same circumstances1 and in nearly the same words1 as the most celebrated authors who have written about it1 all of which may be easily proved to your majesty's satisfaction by the records of various trials before your parliaments4 ,these1 sire1 are truths so intimately bound up with the principles of our religion1 that1 extraordinary although they be1 no person has been able to this time to call them in question4 ,if some have cited1 in opposition to these truths1 the pretended canon of the ,council of ,ancyre1 and a passage from ,st4 ,augustin1 in a treatise upon the ,spirit and the ,soul1 it has been without foundation2 and it would be easy to convince your majesty that neither the one nor the other ought to be accounted of any authority2 and1 besides that1 the canon1 in this sense1 would be contrary to the opinion of all succeeding councils of the ,church1 ,cardinal ,baronius1 and all learned commentators agree that it is not to be found in any old edition4 ,in effect1 in those editions wherein it is found1 it is in another language1 and is in direct contradiction to the twenty-third canon of the same council1 which condemns sorcery1 according to all preceding constitutions4 ,even supposing that this canon was really promulgated by the ,council of ,ancyre1 we must observe that it was issued in the second century1 when the principal attention of the ,church was directed to the destruction of paganism4 ,for this reason1 it condemns that class of women who said they could pass through the air1 and over immense regions1 with ,diana and ,herodias1 and enjoins all preachers to teach the falsehood of such an opinion1 in order to deter people from the worship of these false divinities2 but it does not question the power of the devil over the human body1 which is1 in fact1 proved by the holy ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ himself4 ,and with regard1 sire1 to the pretended passage of ,st4 ,augustin1 everybody knows that it was not written by him1 because the writer1 whoever he was1 cites ,boetius1 who died more than eighty years after the time of ,st4 ,augustin4 ,besides1 there is still more convincing proof in the fact1 that the same father establishes the truth of witchcraft in all his writings1 and more particularly in his ,city of ,god2 and in his first volume1 question the #beth1 wherein he states that sorcery is a communion between man and the devil1 which all good ,christians ought to look upon with horror4 ,taking all these things into consideration1 sire1 the officers of your parliament hope1 from the justice of your majesty1 that you will be graciously pleased to receive the humble remonstrances they have taken the liberty to make4 ,they are compelled1 for the acquittal of their own consciences and in discharge of their duty1 to make known to your majesty1 that the decrees they passed against the sorcerers and witches brought before them1 were passed after a mature deliberation on the part of all the judges present1 and that nothing has been done therein which is not conformable to the universal jurisprudence of the kingdom1 and for the general welfare of your majesty's subjects1 of whom there is not one who can say that he is secure from the malevolence of such criminals4 ,we therefore supplicate your majesty to suffer us to carry into effect the sentences we passed1 and to proceed with the trial of the other persons accused of the same crime2 and that the piety of your majesty will not suffer to be introduced during your reign an opinion contrary to the principles of that holy religion for which you have always employed so gloriously both your cares and your arms4 ,louis1 as we have already mentioned1 paid no attention to this appeal4 ,the lives of the old women were spared1 and prosecutions for mere witchcraft1 unconnected with other offences1 were discontinued throughout ,france4 ,in #afhj an act was passed for the punishment1 not of witches1 but of pretenders to witchcraft1 fortune-tellers1 divineresses1 and poisoners4 ,thus the light broke in upon ,germany1 ,france1 ,england1 and ,scotland about the same time1 gradually growing clearer and clearer till the middle of the eighteenth century1 when witchcraft was finally reckoned amongst exploded doctrines1 and the belief in it confined to the uttermost vulgar4 ,twice1 however1 did the madness burst forth again as furious1 while it lasted1 as ever it had been4 ,the first time in ,sweden1 in #affi1 and the second in ,germany so late as #agdi4 ,both these instances merit particular mention4 ,the first is one of the most extraordinary upon record1 and for atrocity and absurdity is unsurpassed in the annals of any nation4 ,it having been reported to the king of ,sweden that the little village of ,mohra1 in the province of ,dalecarlia1 was troubled exceedingly with witches1 he appointed a commission of clergy and laymen to trace the rumour to its source1 with full powers to punish the guilty4 ,on the #abth of ,august #affi1 the commissioners arrived in the bewitched village1 to the great joy of the credulous inhabitants4 ,on the following day the whole population1 amounting to three thousand persons1 assembled in the church4 ,a sermon was preached1 declaring the miserable case of those people that suffered themselves to be deluded by the devil1 and fervent prayer was offered up that ,god would remove the scourge from among them4 ,illustration3 ,,louis ,,xiv4 ,the whole assembly then adjourned to the rector's house1 filling all the street before it1 when the king's commission was read1 charging every person who knew any thing of the witchery1 to come forward and declare the truth4 ,a passion of tears seized upon the multitude2 men1 women1 and children began to weep and sob1 and all promised to divulge what they had heard or knew4 ,in this frame of mind they were dismissed to their homes4 ,on the following day they were again called together1 when the depositions of several persons were taken publicly before them all4 ,the result was that seventy persons1 including fifteen children1 were taken into custody4 ,numbers also were arrested in the neighbouring district of ,elfdale4 ,being put to the torture1 they all confessed their guilt4 ,they said they used to go to a gravel-pit1 that lay hard by the cross-way1 where they put a vest upon their heads1 and danced round and round and round about4 ,they then went to the cross-way1 and called three times upon the devil2 the first time in a low still voice2 the second1 somewhat louder2 and the third1 very loudly1 with these words1 ,antecessor1 come1 and carry us to ,blockula6 ,this invocation never failed to bring him to their view4 ,he generally appeared as a little old man1 in a grey coat1 with red and blue stockings1 with exceedingly long garters4 ,he had besides a very high-crowned hat1 with bands of many-coloured linen enfolded about it1 and a long red beard that hung down to his middle4 ,the first question he put to them was1 whether they would serve him soul and body8 ,on their answering in the affirmative1 he told them to make ready for the journey to ,blockula4 ,it was necessary to procure1 in the first place1 some scrapings of altars and filings of church clocks4 ,antecessor then gave them a horn with some salve in it1 wherewith they anointed themselves4 ,these preparations ended1 he brought beasts for them to ride upon1--horses1 asses1 goats1 and monkeys2 and giving them a saddle1 a hammer1 and a nail1 uttered the word of command1 and away they went4 ,nothing stopped them4 ,they flew over churches1 high walls1 rocks1 and mountains1 until they came to the green meadow where ,blockula was situated4 ,upon these occasions they carried as many children with them as they could2 for the devil1 they said1 did plague and whip them if they did not procure him children1 insomuch that they had no peace or quiet for him4 ,many parents corroborated a part of this evidence1 stating that their children had repeatedly told them that they had been carried away in the night to ,blockula1 where the devil had beaten them black and blue4 ,they had seen the marks in the morning1 but they soon disappeared4 ,one little girl was examined1 who swore positively that she was carried through the air by the witches1 and when at a great height she uttered the holy name of ,jesus4 ,she immediately fell to the ground1 and made a great hole in her side4 ,the devil1 however1 picked her up1 healed her side1 and carried her away to ,blockula4 ,she added 7and her mother confirmed her statement71 that she had till that day an exceeding great pain in her side4 ,this was a clencher1 and the nail of conviction was driven home to the hearts of the judges4 ,the place called ,blockula1 whither they were carried1 was a large house1 with a gate to it1 in a delicate meadow1 whereof they could see no end4 ,there was a very long table in it1 at which the witches sat down2 and in other rooms there were very lovely and delicate beds for them to sleep upon4 ,after a number of ceremonies had been performed1 by which they bound themselves body and soul to the service of ,antecessor1 they sat down to a feast composed of broth1 made of colworts and bacon1 oatmeal1 bread and butter1 milk and cheese4 ,the devil always took the chair1 and sometimes played to them on the harp or the fiddle while they were eating4 ,after dinner they danced in a ring1 sometimes naked1 and sometimes in their clothes1 cursing and swearing all the time4 ,some of the women added particulars too horrible and too obscene for repetition4 ,once the devil pretended to be dead1 that he might see whether his people regretted him4 ,they instantly set up a loud wail1 and wept three tears each for him2 at which he was so pleased1 that he jumped up among them1 and hugged in his arms those who had been most obstreperous in their sorrow4 ,such were the principal details given by the children1 and corroborated by the confessions of the full-grown witches4 ,any thing more absurd was never before stated in a court of justice4 ,many of the accused contradicted themselves most palpably2 but the commissioners gave no heed to discrepancies4 ,one of them1 the parson of the district1 stated in the course of the inquiry1 that on a particular night1 which he mentioned1 he had been afflicted with a headache so agonising1 that he could not account for it otherwise than by supposing he was bewitched4 ,in fact1 he thought a score of witches must have been dancing on the crown of his head4 ,this announcement excited great horror among the pious dames of the auditory1 who loudly expressed their wonder that the devil should have power to hurt so good a man4 ,one poor witch1 who lay in the very jaws of death1 confessed that she knew too well the cause of the minister's headache4 ,the devil had sent her with a sledge hammer and a large nail to drive into the good man's skull4 ,she had hammered at it for some time1 but the skull was so enormously thick1 that she made no impression upon it4 ,every hand was held up in astonishment4 ,the pious minister blessed ,god that his skull was so solid1 and he became renowned for his thick head all the days of his life4 ,whether the witch intended a joke does not appear1 but she was looked upon as a criminal more than usually atrocious4 ,seventy persons were condemned to death on these so awful1 yet so ridiculous confessions4 ,twenty-three of them were burned together in one fire in the village of ,mohra1 in the presence of thousands of delighted spectators4 ,on the following day fifteen children were murdered in the same manner1 offered up in sacrifice to the bloody ,moloch of superstition4 ,the remaining thirty-two were executed at the neighbouring town of ,fahluna4 ,besides these1 fifty-six children were found guilty of witchcraft in a minor degree1 and sentenced to various punishments1 such as running the gauntlet1 imprisonment1 and public whipping once a week for a twelvemonth4 ,long after the occurrence of this case1 it was cited as one of the most convincing proofs upon record of the prevalence of witchcraft4 ,when men wish to construct or support a theory1 how they torture facts into their service6 ,the lying whimsies of a few sick children1 encouraged by foolish parents1 and drawn out by superstitious neighbours1 were sufficient to set a country in a flame4 ,if1 instead of commissioners as deeply sunk in the slough of ignorance as the people they were sent amongst1 there had been deputed a few men firm in courage and clear in understanding1 how different would have been the result6 ,some of the poor children who were burned would have been sent to an infirmary2 others would have been well flogged2 the credulity of the parents would have been laughed at2 and the lives of seventy persons spared4 ,the belief in witchcraft remains in ,sweden to this day2 but happily the annals of that country present no more such instances of lamentable aberration of intellect as the one just cited4 ,in ,new ,england1 about the same time1 the colonists were scared by similar stories of the antics of the devil4 ,all at once a fear seized upon the multitude1 and supposed criminals were arrested day after day in such numbers1 that the prisons were found too small to contain them4 ,a girl named ,goodwin1 the daughter of a mason1 who was hypochondriac and subject to fits1 imagined that an old ,irish woman1 named ,glover1 had bewitched her4 ,her two brothers1 in whose constitutions there was apparently a predisposition to similar fits1 went off in the same way1 crying out that the devil and ,dame ,glover were tormenting them4 ,at times their joints were so stiff that they could not be moved2 while at others1 said the neighbours1 they were so flexible1 that the bones appeared softened into sinews4 ,the supposed witch was seized1 and as she could not repeat the ,lord's ,prayer without making a mistake in it1 she was condemned and executed4 ,but the popular excitement was not allayed4 ,one victim was not enough2 the people waited agape for new disclosures4 ,suddenly two hysteric girls in another family fell into fits daily1 and the cry of witchcraft resounded from one end of the colony to the other4 ,the feeling of suffocation in the throat1 so common in cases of hysteria1 was said by the patients to be caused by the devil himself1 who had stuck balls in the windpipe to choke them4 ,they felt the pricking of thorns in every part of the body1 and one of them vomited needles4 ,the case of these girls1 who were the daughter and niece of a ,mr4 ,parvis1 the minister of a ,calvinist chapel1 excited so much attention1 that all the weak women in the colony began to fancy themselves similarly afflicted4 ,the more they brooded on it1 the more convinced they became4 ,the contagion of this mental disease was as great as if it had been a pestilence4 ,one after the other the women fainted away1 asserting on their recovery that they had seen the spectres of witches4 ,where there were three or four girls in a family1 they so worked each upon the diseased imagination of the other1 that they fell into fits five or six times in a day4 ,some related that the devil himself appeared to them1 bearing in his hand a parchment-roll1 and promising that if they would sign an agreement1 transferring to him their immortal souls1 they should be immediately relieved from fits and all the ills of the flesh4 ,others asserted that they saw witches only1 who made them similar promises1 threatening that they should never be free from aches and pains till they had agreed to become the devil's4 ,when they refused1 the witches pinched1 or bit1 or pricked them with long pins and needles4 ,more than two hundred persons named by these mischievous visionaries were thrown into prison4 ,they were of all ages and conditions of life1 and many of them of exemplary character4 ,no less than nineteen were condemned and executed before reason returned to the minds of the colonists4 ,the most horrible part of this lamentable history is1 that among the victims there was a little child only five years old4 ,some women swore that they had seen it repeatedly in company with the devil1 and that it had bitten them often with its little teeth for refusing to sign a compact with the evil one4 ,it can hardly increase our feelings of disgust and abhorrence when we learn that this insane community actually tried and executed a dog for the same offence6 ,one man1 named ,cory1 stoutly refused to plead to the preposterous indictment against him4 ,as was the practice in such cases1 he was pressed to death4 ,it is told of the ,sheriff of ,new ,england1 who superintended the execution1 that when this unhappy man thrust out his tongue in his mortal agony1 he seized hold of a cane1 and crammed it back again into the mouth4 ,if ever there were a fiend in human form1 it was this sheriff3 a man who1 if the truth were known1 perhaps plumed himself upon his piety--thought he was doing ,god good service1 and ,hoped to merit heaven by making earth a hell6 ,arguing still in the firm belief of witchcraft1 the bereaved people began to inquire1 when they saw their dearest friends snatched away from them by these wide-spreading accusations1 whether the whole proceedings were not carried on by the agency of the devil4 ,might not the great enemy have put false testimony into the mouths of the witnesses1 or might not the witnesses be witches themselves8 ,every man who was in danger of losing his wife1 his child1 or his sister1 embraced this doctrine with avidity4 ,the revulsion was as sudden as the first frenzy4 ,all at once1 the colonists were convinced of their error4 ,the judges put a stop to the prosecutions1 even of those who had confessed their guilt4 ,the latter were no sooner at liberty than they retracted all they had said1 and the greater number hardly remembered the avowals which agony had extorted from them4 ,eight persons1 who had been tried and condemned1 were set free2 and gradually girls ceased to have fits and to talk of the persecutions of the devil4 ,the judge who had condemned the first criminal executed on this charge1 was so smitten with sorrow and humiliation at his folly1 that he set apart the anniversary of that day as one of solemn penitence and fasting4 ,he still clung to the belief in witchcraft2 no new light had broken in upon him on that subject1 but1 happily for the community1 the delusion had taken a merciful turn4 ,the whole colony shared the feeling2 the jurors on the different trials openly expressed their penitence in the churches2 and those who had suffered were regarded as the victims1 and not as the accomplices of ,satan4 ,it is related that the ,indian tribes in ,new ,england were sorely puzzled at the infatuation of the settlers1 and thought them either a race inferior to1 or more sinful than the ,french colonists in the vicinity1 amongst whom1 as they remarked1 the ,great ,spirit sent no witches4 ,returning again to the continent of ,europe1 we find that1 after the year #afhj1 men became still wiser upon this subject4 ,for twenty years the populace were left to their belief1 but governments in general gave it no aliment in the shape of executions4 ,the edict of ,louis ,,xiv4 gave a blow to the superstition1 from which it never recovered4 ,the last execution in the ,protestant cantons of ,switzerland was at ,geneva1 in #afeb4 ,the various potentates of ,germany1 although they could not stay the trials1 invariably commuted the sentence into imprisonment1 in all cases where the pretended witch was accused of pure witchcraft1 unconnected with any other crime4 ,in the year #agja1 ,thomasius1 the learned professor at the ,university of ,halle1 delivered his inaugural thesis1 ,de ,crimine ,magi which struck another blow at the falling monster of popular error4 ,but a faith so strong as that in witchcraft was not to be eradicated at once3 the arguments of learned men did not penetrate to the villages and hamlets2 but still they achieved great things2 they rendered the belief an unworking faith1 and prevented the supply of victims1 on which for so many ages it had battened and grown strong4 ,once more the delusion broke out2 like a wild beast wounded to the death1 it collected all its remaining energies for the final convulsion1 which was to shew how mighty it had once been4 ,germany1 which had nursed the frightful error in its cradle1 tended it on its death-bed1 and ,wrzburg1 the scene of so many murders on the same pretext1 was destined to be the scene of the last4 ,that it might lose no portion of its bad renown1 the last murder was as atrocious as the first4 ,this case offers a great resemblance to that of the witches of ,mohra and ,new ,england1 except in the number of its victims4 ,it happened so late as the year #agdi1 to the astonishment and disgust of the rest of ,europe4 ,illustration3 ,,view ,,in ,w,,rzburg4 ,a number of young women in a convent at ,wrzburg fancied themselves bewitched2 they felt1 like all hysteric subjects1 a sense of suffocation in the throat4 ,they went into fits repeatedly2 and one of them1 who had swallowed needles1 evacuated them at abscesses1 which formed in different parts of the body4 ,the cry of sorcery was raised1 and a young woman1 named ,maria ,renata ,snger1 was arrested on the charge of having leagued with the devil1 to bewitch five of the young ladies4 ,it was sworn on the trial that ,maria had been frequently seen to clamber over the convent walls in the shape of a pig--that1 proceeding to the cellar1 she used to drink the best wine till she was intoxicated2 and then start suddenly up in her own form4 ,other girls asserted that she used to prowl about the roof like a cat1 and often penetrate into their chamber1 and frighten them by her dreadful howlings4 ,it was also said that she had been seen in the shape of a hare1 milking the cows dry in the meadows belonging to the convent2 that she used to perform as an actress on the boards of ,drury ,lane theatre in ,london1 and1 on the very same night1 return upon a broomstick to ,wrzburg1 and afflict the young ladies with pains in all their limbs4 ,upon this evidence she was condemned1 and burned alive in the market-place of ,wrzburg4 ,here ends this frightful catalogue of murder and superstition4 ,since that day1 the belief in witchcraft has fled from the populous abodes of men1 and taken refuge in remote villages and districts too wild1 rugged1 and inhospitable to afford a resting-place for the foot of civilisation4 ,rude fishers and uneducated labourers still attribute every phenomenon of nature which they cannot account for1 to the devil and witches4 ,catalepsy1 that wondrous disease1 is still thought by ignorant gossips to be the work of ,satan2 and hypochondriacs1 uninformed by science of the nature of their malady1 devoutly believe in the reality of their visions4 ,the reader would hardly credit the extent of the delusion upon this subject in the very heart of ,england at this day4 ,many an old woman leads a life of misery from the unfeeling insults of her neighbours1 who raise the scornful finger and hooting voice at her1 because in her decrepitude she is ugly1 spiteful1 perhaps insane1 and realises in her personal appearance the description preserved by tradition of the witches of yore4 ,even in the neighbourhood of great towns the taint remains of this once widely-spread contagion4 ,if no victims fall beneath it1 the enlightenment of the law is all that prevents a recurrence of scenes as horrid as those of the seventeenth century4 ,hundreds upon hundreds of witnesses could be found to swear to absurdities as great as those asserted by the infamous ,matthew ,hopkins4 ,in the ,annual ,register for #agfj1 an instance of the belief in witchcraft is related1 which shews how superstition lingers4 ,a dispute arose in the little village of ,glen1 in ,leicestershire1 between two old women1 each of whom vehemently accused the other of witchcraft4 ,the quarrel at last ran so high that a challenge ensued1 and they both agreed to be tried by the ordeal of swimming4 ,they accordingly stripped to their shifts--procured some men1 who tied their thumbs and great toes together1 cross-wise1 and then1 with a cart-rope about their middle1 suffered themselves to be thrown into a pool of water4 ,one of them sank immediately1 but the other continued struggling a short time upon the surface of the water1 which the mob deeming an infallible sign of her guilt1 pulled her out1 and insisted that she should immediately impeach all her accomplices in the craft4 ,she accordingly told them that1 in the neighbouring village of ,burton1 there were several old women as much witches as she was4 ,happily for her1 this negative information was deemed sufficient1 and a student in astrology1 or white-witch1 coming up at the time1 the mob1 by his direction1 proceeded forthwith to ,burton in search of all the delinquents4 ,after a little consultation on their arrival1 they went to the old woman's house on whom they had fixed the strongest suspicion4 ,the poor old creature on their approach locked the outer door1 and from the window of an upstairs room asked what they wanted4 ,they informed her that she was charged with being guilty of witchcraft1 and that they were come to duck her2 remonstrating with her at the same time upon the necessity of submission to the ordeal1 that1 if she were innocent1 all the world might know it4 ,upon her persisting in a positive refusal to come down1 they broke open the door and carried her out by force1 to a deep gravel-pit full of water4 ,they tied her thumbs and toes together and threw her into the water1 where they kept her for several minutes1 drawing her out and in two or three times by the rope round her middle4 ,not being able to satisfy themselves whether she were a witch or no1 they at last let her go1 or1 more properly speaking1 they left her on the bank to walk home by herself1 if she ever recovered4 ,next day1 they tried the same experiment upon another woman1 and afterwards upon a third2 but1 fortunately1 neither of the victims lost her life from this brutality4 ,many of the ringleaders in the outrage were apprehended during the week1 and tried before the justices at quarter-sessions4 ,two of them were sentenced to stand in the pillory and to be imprisoned for a month2 and as many as twenty more were fined in small sums for the assault1 and bound over to keep the peace for a twelvemonth4 ,so late as the year #aghe1 says ,arnot1 in his collection and abridgment of ,criminal ,trials in ,scotland1 it was the custom among the sect of ,seceders to read from the pulpit an annual confession of sins1 national and personal2 amongst the former of which was particularly mentioned the ',repeal by parliament of the penal statute against witches1 contrary to the express laws of ,god4' ,illustration3 ,,lady ,,hatton',s ,,house1 ,,cross ,,street1 ,,hatton ,,garden4 ,many houses are still to be found in ,england with the horse-shoe 7the grand preservative against witchcraft7 nailed against the threshold4 ,if any over-wise philosopher should attempt to remove them1 the chances are that he would have more broken bones than thanks for his interference4 ,let any man walk into ,cross ,street1 ,hatton ,garden1 and from thence into ,bleeding-heart ,yard1 and learn the tales still told and believed of one house in that neighbourhood1 and he will ask himself in astonishment if such things can be in the nineteenth century4 ,the witchcraft of ,lady ,hatton1 the wife of the famous ,sir ,christopher1 so renowned for his elegant dancing in the days of ,elizabeth1 is as devoutly believed as the ,gospels4 ,the room is to be seen where the devil seized her after the expiration of the contract he had made with her1 and bore her away bodily to the pit of ,tophet3 the pump against which he dashed her is still pointed out1 and the spot where her heart was found1 after he had torn it out of her bosom with his iron claws1 has received the name of ,bleeding-heart ,yard1 in confirmation of the story4 ,whether the horse-shoe still remains upon the door of the haunted house1 to keep away other witches1 is uncertain4 ,a former inmate relates that1 about twenty years ago1 more than one old woman begged for admittance repeatedly1 to satisfy themselves that it was in its proper place4 ,one poor creature1 apparently insane1 and clothed in rags1 came to the door with a tremendous double-knock1 as loud as that of a fashionable footman1 and walked straight along the passage to the horse-shoe4 ,great was the wonderment of the inmates1 especially when the woman spat upon the horse-shoe1 and expressed her sorrow that she could do no harm while it remained there4 ,after spitting upon1 and kicking it again and again1 she coolly turned round and left the house1 without saying a word to any body4 ,this poor creature perhaps intended a joke1 but the probability is that she imagined herself a witch4 ,in ,saffron ,hill1 where she resided1 her ignorant neighbours gave her that character1 and looked upon her with no little fear and aversion4 ,more than one example of the popular belief in witchcraft occurred in the neighbourhood of ,hastings so lately as the year #ahcj4 ,an aged woman1 who resided in the ,rope-walk of that town1 was so repulsive in her appearance1 that she was invariably accused of being a witch by all the ignorant people who knew her4 ,she was bent completely double2 and though very old1 her eye was unusually bright and malignant4 ,she wore a red cloak1 and supported herself on a crutch3 she was1 to all outward appearance1 the very beau ideal of a witch4 ,so dear is power to the human heart1 that this old woman actually encouraged the popular superstition2 she took no pains to remove the ill impression1 but seemed to delight that she1 old and miserable as she was1 could keep in awe so many happier and stronger fellow-creatures4 ,timid girls crouched with fear when they met her1 and many would go a mile out of their way to avoid her4 ,like the witches of the olden time1 she was not sparing of her curses against those who offended her4 ,the child of a woman who resided within two doors of her was afflicted with lameness1 and the mother constantly asserted that the old woman had bewitched her4 ,all the neighbours credited the tale4 ,it was believed1 too1 that she could assume the form of a cat4 ,many a harmless puss has been hunted almost to the death by mobs of men and boys1 upon the supposition that the animal would start up before them in the true shape of ,mother ----4 ,in the same town there resided a fisherman1 who was the object of unceasing persecution1 because it was said that he had sold himself to the devil4 ,it was currently reported that he could creep through a keyhole1 and that he had made a witch of his daughter1 in order that he might have the more power over his fellows4 ,it was also believed that he could sit on the points of pins and needles and feel no pain4 ,his brother fishermen put him to this test whenever they had an opportunity4 ,in the alehouses which he frequented1 they often placed long needles in the cushions of the chairs in such a manner that he could not fail to pierce himself when he sat down4 ,the result of these experiments tended to confirm their faith in his supernatural powers4 ,it was asserted that he never flinched4 ,such was the popular feeling in the fashionable town of ,hastings a few years ago2 very probably it is the same now4 ,in the north of ,england1 the superstition lingers to an almost inconceivable extent4 ,lancashire abounds with witch-doctors1 a set of quacks who pretend to cure diseases inflicted by the devil4 ,the practices of these worthies may be judged of by the following case1 reported in the ,hertford ,reformer of the #bc;d of ,june #ahch4 ,the witch-doctor alluded to is better known by the name of the cunning man1 and has a large practice in the counties of ,lincoln and ,nottingham4 ,according to the writer in the ,reformer1 the dupe1 whose name is not mentioned1 had been for about two years afflicted with a painful abscess1 and had been prescribed for without relief by more than one medical gentleman4 ,he was urged by some of his friends1 not only in his own village but in neighbouring ones1 to consult the witch-doctor1 as they were convinced he was under some evil influence4 ,he agreed1 and sent his wife to the cunning man1 who lived in ,new ,st4 ,swithin's1 in ,lincoln4 ,she was informed by this ignorant impostor that her husband's disorder was an infliction of the devil1 occasioned by his next-door neighbours1 who had made use of certain charms for that purpose4 ,from the description he gave of the process1 it appears to be the same as that employed by ,dr4 ,fian and ,gellie ,duncan to work woe upon ,king ,james4 ,he stated that the neighbours1 instigated by a witch1 whom he pointed out1 took some wax and moulded it before the fire into the form of her husband1 as near as they could represent him2 they then pierced the image with pins on all sides1 repeated the ,lord's ,prayer backwards1 and offered prayers to the devil that he would fix his stings into the person whom that figure represented1 in like manner as they pierced it with pins4 ,to counteract the effects of this diabolical process1 the witch-doctor prescribed a certain medicine1 and a charm to be worn next the body1 on that part where the disease principally lay4 ,the patient was to repeat the #ajith and #aaith ,psalms every day1 or the cure would not be effectual4 ,the fee which he claimed for this advice was a guinea4 ,so efficacious is faith in the cure of any malady1 that the patient actually felt much better after a three weeks' course of this prescription4 ,the notable charm which the quack had given was afterwards opened1 and found to be a piece of parchment covered with some cabalistic characters and signs of the planets4 ,the next-door neighbours were in great alarm that the witch-doctor would1 on the solicitation of the recovering patient1 employ some means to punish them for their pretended witchcraft4 ,to escape the infliction1 they feed another cunning man1 in ,nottinghamshire1 who told them of a similar charm1 which would preserve them from all the malice of their enemies4 ,the writer concludes by saying1 that the doctor1 not long after he had been thus consulted1 wrote to say1 that he had discovered that his patient was not afflicted by ,satan1 as he had imagined1 but by ,god1 and would continue more or less in the same state till his life's end4 ,an impostor carried on a similar trade in the neighbourhood of ,tunbridge ,wells about the year #ahcj4 ,he had been in practice for several years1 and charged enormous fees for his advice4 ,this fellow pretended to be the seventh son of a seventh son1 and to be endowed in consequence with miraculous powers for the cure of all diseases1 but especially of those resulting from witchcraft4 ,it was not only the poor who employed him1 but ladies who rode in their carriages4 ,he was often sent for from a distance of sixty or seventy miles by these people1 who paid all his expenses to and fro1 besides rewarding him handsomely4 ,he was about eighty years of age1 and his extremely venerable appearance aided his imposition in no slight degree4 ,his name was ,okey or ,oakley4 ,in ,france1 the superstition at this day is even more prevalent than it is in ,england4 ,garinet1 in his history of ,magic and ,sorcery in that country1 cites upwards of twenty instances which occurred between the years #ahje and #ahah4 ,in the latter year no less than three tribunals were occupied with trials originating in this humiliating belief3 we shall cite only one of them4 ,julian ,desbourdes1 aged fifty-three1 a mason1 and inhabitant of the village of ,thilouze1 near ,bourdeaux1 was taken suddenly ill1 in the month of ,january #ahah4 ,as he did not know how to account for his malady1 he suspected at last that he was bewitched4 ,he communicated this suspicion to his son-in-law ,bridier1 and they both went to consult a sort of idiot1 named ,baudouin1 who passed for a conjuror or white-witch4 ,this man told them that ,desbourdes was certainly bewitched1 and offered to accompany them to the house of an old man named ,renard1 who1 he said1 was undoubtedly the criminal4 ,on the night of the #bc;d of ,january all three proceeded stealthily to the dwelling of ,renard1 and accused him of afflicting persons with diseases by the aid of the devil4 ,desbourdes fell on his knees and earnestly entreated to be restored to his former health1 promising that he would take no measures against him for the evil he had done4 ,the old man denied in the strongest terms that he was a wizard2 and when ,desbourdes still pressed him to remove the spell from him1 he said he knew nothing about the spell1 and refused to remove it4 ,the idiot ,baudouin1 the white-witch1 now interfered1 and told his companions that no relief for the malady could ever be procured until the old man confessed his guilt4 ,to force him to confession they lighted some sticks of sulphur which they had brought with them for the purpose1 and placed them under the old man's nose4 ,in a few moments he fell down suffocated and apparently lifeless4 ,they were all greatly alarmed2 and thinking that they had killed the man1 they carried him out and threw him into a neighbouring pond1 hoping to make it appear that he had fallen in accidentally4 ,the pond1 however1 was not very deep1 and the coolness of the water reviving the old man1 he opened his eyes and sat up4 ,desbourdes and ,bridier1 who were still waiting on the bank1 were now more alarmed than before1 lest he should recover and inform against them4 ,they therefore waded into the pond1 seized their victim by the hair of the head1 beat him severely1 and then held him under water till he was drowned4 ,they were all three apprehended on the charge of murder a few days afterwards4 ,desbourdes and ,bridier were found guilty of aggravated manslaughter only1 and sentenced to be burnt on the back1 and to work in the galleys for life4 ,the white-witch ,baudouin was acquitted on the ground of insanity4 ,m4 ,garinet further informs us that ,france1 at the time he wrote 7#ahah71 was overrun by a race of fellows who made a trade of casting out devils and finding out witches4 ,he adds also1 that many of the priests in the rural districts encouraged the superstition of their parishioners by resorting frequently to exorcisms whenever any foolish persons took it into their heads that a spell had been thrown over them4 ,he recommended1 as a remedy for the evil1 that all these exorcists1 whether lay or clerical1 should be sent to the galleys1 and felt assured that the number of witches would then very sensibly diminish4 ,many other instances of this lingering belief might be cited both in ,france and ,great ,britain1 and indeed in every other country in ,europe4 ,so deeply rooted are some errors1 that ages cannot remove them4 ,the poisonous tree that once overshadowed the land may be cut down by the sturdy efforts of sages and philosophers2 the sun may shine clearly upon spots where venomous things once nestled in security and shade2 but still the entangled roots are stretched beneath the surface1 and may be found by those who dig4 ,another king like ,james ,i4 might make them vegetate again2 and1 more mischievous still1 another pope like ,innocent ,,viii4 might raise the decaying roots to strength and verdure4 ,still it is consoling to think that the delirium has passed away2 that the raging madness has given place to a milder folly2 and that we may now count by units the votaries of a superstition which in former ages numbered its victims by tens of thousands1 and its votaries by millions4 ,illustration3 ,,floating ,a ,,witch4 ,illustration3 ,,place ,,de ,,greve4 ,,the ,,slow ,,poisoners4 ,pescara4 ,the like was never read of4 ,stephano4 ,in my judgment1 ,to all that shall but hear it1 'twill appear ,a most impossible fable4 ,pescara4 ,troth1 ,i'll tell you1 ,and briefly as ,i can1 by what degrees ,they fell into this madness4--,duke of ,milan4 ,the atrocious system of poisoning by poisons so slow in their operation as to make the victim appear1 to ordinary observers1 as if dying from a gradual decay of nature1 has been practised in all ages4 ,those who are curious in the matter may refer to ,beckmann on secret poisons1 in his ,history of ,inventions1 in which he has collected several instances of it from the ,greek and ,roman writers4 ,early in the sixteenth century the crime seems to have gradually increased1 till in the seventeenth it spread over ,europe like a pestilence4 ,it was often exercised by pretended witches and sorcerers1 and finally became a branch of education amongst all who laid any claim to magical and supernatural arts4 ,in the twenty-first year of ,henry ,,viii4 an act was passed rendering it high treason4 ,those found guilty of it were to be boiled to death4 ,one of the first in point of date1 and hardly second to any in point of atrocity1 is the murder by this means of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury2 which disgraced the court of ,james ,i4 in the year #afac4 ,a slight sketch of it will be a fitting introduction to the history of the poisoning mania1 which was so prevalent in ,france and ,italy fifty years later4 ,robert ,kerr1 a ,scottish youth1 was early taken notice of by ,james ,i41 and loaded with honours1 for no other reason that the world could ever discover than the beauty of his person4 ,james1 even in his own day1 was suspected of being addicted to the most abominable of all offences2 and the more we examine his history now1 the stronger the suspicion becomes4 ,however that may be1 the handsome ,kerr1 lending his smooth cheek even in public to the disgusting kisses of his royal master1 rose rapidly in favour4 ,in the year #afac1 he was made ,lord ,high ,treasurer of ,scotland1 and created an ,english peer by the style and title of ,viscount ,rochester4 ,still further honours were in store for him4 ,in this rapid promotion he had not been without a friend4 ,sir ,thomas ,overbury1 the king's secretary--who appears1 from some threats in his own letters1 to have been no better than a pander to the vices of the king1 and privy to his dangerous secrets--exerted all his backstair influence to forward the promotion of ,kerr1 by whom he was doubtless repaid in some way or other4 ,overbury did not confine his friendship to this--if friendship ever could exist between two such men--but acted the part of an entremetteur1 and assisted ,rochester to carry on an adulterous intrigue with the ,lady ,frances ,howard1 the wife of the ,earl of ,essex4 ,this woman was a person of violent passions1 and lost to all sense of shame4 ,her husband was in her way1 and to be freed from him she instituted proceedings for a divorce1 on grounds which a woman of any modesty or delicacy of feeling would die rather than avow4 ,her scandalous suit was successful1 and was no sooner decided than preparations on a scale of the greatest magnificence were made for her marriage with ,lord ,rochester4 ,sir ,thomas ,overbury1 who had willingly assisted his patron to intrigue with the ,countess of ,essex1 seems to have imagined that his marriage with so vile a woman might retard his advancement4 ,he accordingly employed all his influence to dissuade him from it2 but ,rochester was bent on the match1 and his passions were as violent as those of the countess4 ,on one occasion1 when ,overbury and the viscount were walking in the gallery of ,whitehall1 ,overbury was overheard to say1 ,well1 my lord1 if you do marry that base woman1 you will utterly ruin your honour and yourself4 ,you shall never do it with my advice or consent2 and if you do1 you had best look to stand fast4 ,rochester flung from him in a rage1 exclaiming with an oath1 ,i will be even with you for this4 ,these words were the death-warrant of the unfortunate ,overbury4 ,he had mortally wounded the pride of ,rochester in insinuating that by his 7,overbury's7 means he might be lowered in the king's favour2 and he had endeavoured to curb the burning passions of a heartless1 dissolute1 and reckless man4 ,overbury's imprudent remonstrances were reported to the countess2 and from that moment she also vowed the most deadly vengeance against him4 ,with a fiendish hypocrisy1 however1 they both concealed their intentions2 and ,overbury1 at the solicitation of ,rochester1 was appointed ambassador to the court of ,russia4 ,this apparent favour was but the first step in a deep and deadly plot4 ,rochester1 pretending to be warmly attached to the interests of ,overbury1 advised him to refuse the embassy1 which he said was but a trick to get him out of the way4 ,he promised1 at the same time1 to stand between him and any evil consequences which might result from his refusal4 ,overbury fell into the snare1 and declined the embassy4 ,james1 offended1 immediately ordered his committal to the ,tower4 ,he was now in safe custody1 and his enemies had opportunity to commence the work of vengeance4 ,the first thing ,rochester did was to procure1 by his influence at court1 the dismissal of the ,lieutenant of the ,tower1 and the appointment of ,sir ,jervis ,elwes1 one of his creatures1 to the vacant post4 ,this man was but one instrument2 and another being necessary1 was found in ,richard ,weston1 a fellow who had formerly been shopman to a druggist4 ,he was installed in the office of under-keeper1 and as such had the direct custody of ,overbury4 ,so far all was favourable to the designs of the conspirators4 ,in the mean time the insidious ,rochester wrote the most friendly letters to ,overbury1 requesting him to bear his ill-fortune patiently1 and promising that his imprisonment should not be of long duration2 for that his friends were exerting themselves to soften the king's displeasure4 ,still pretending the extreme of sympathy for him1 he followed up the letters by presents of pastry and other delicacies1 which could not be procured in the ,tower4 ,these articles were all poisoned4 ,occasionally1 presents of a similar description were sent to ,sir ,jervis ,elwes1 with the understanding that these articles were not poisoned1 when they were unaccompanied by letters3 of these the unfortunate prisoner never tasted4 ,a woman named ,turner1 who had formerly kept a house of ill-fame1 and who had more than once lent it to further the guilty intercourse of ,rochester and ,lady ,essex1 was the agent employed to procure the poisons4 ,they were prepared by ,dr4 ,forman1 a pretended fortune-teller of ,lambeth1 assisted by an apothecary named ,franklin4 ,both these persons knew for what purposes the poisons were needed1 and employed their skill in mixing them in the pastry and other edibles1 in such small quantities as gradually to wear out the constitution of their victim4 ,mrs4 ,turner regularly furnished the poisoned articles to the under-keeper1 who placed them before ,overbury4 ,not only his food but his drink was poisoned4 ,arsenic was mixed with the salt he ate1 and cantharides with the pepper4 ,all this time his health declined sensibly4 ,daily he grew weaker and weaker2 and with a sickly appetite craved for sweets and jellies4 ,rochester continued to condole with him1 and anticipated all his wants in this respect1 sending him abundance of pastry1 and occasionally partridges and other game1 and young pigs4 ,with the sauce for the game1 ,mrs4 ,turner mixed a quantity of cantharides1 and poisoned the pork with lunar-caustic4 ,as stated on the trial1 ,overbury took in this manner poison enough to have poisoned twenty men2 but his constitution was strong1 and he still lingered4 ,franklin1 the apothecary1 confessed that he prepared with ,dr4 ,forman seven different sorts of poisons1 viz4 aquafortis1 arsenic1 mercury1 powder of diamonds1 lunar caustic1 great spiders1 and cantharides4 ,overbury held out so long that ,rochester became impatient1 and in a letter to ,lady ,essex1 expressed his wonder that things were not sooner despatched4 ,orders were immediately sent by ,lady ,essex to the keeper to finish with the victim at once4 ,overbury had not been all this time without suspicion of treachery1 although he appears to have had no idea of poison4 ,he merely suspected that it was intended to confine him for life1 and to set the king still more bitterly against him4 ,in one of his letters he threatened ,rochester that unless he were speedily liberated1 he would expose his villany to the world4 ,he says1 ,you and ,i1 ere it be long1 will come to a public trial of another nature4 99 99 99 ,drive me not to extremities1 lest ,i should say something that both you and ,i should repent4 99 99 99 ,whether ,i live or die1 your shame shall never die1 but ever remain to the world1 to make you the most odious man living4 99 99 99 ,i wonder much you should neglect him to whom such secrets of all kinds have passed4 99 99 99 ,be these the fruits of common secrets1 common dangers8 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,thomas ,,overbury4 ,all these remonstrances1 and hints as to the dangerous secrets in his keeping1 were ill calculated to serve him with a man so reckless as ,lord ,rochester3 they were more likely to cause him to be sacrificed than to be saved4 ,rochester appears to have acted as if he thought so4 ,he doubtless employed the murderer's reasoning1 that dead men tell no tales1 when1 after receiving letters of this description1 he complained to his paramour of the delay4 ,weston was spurred on to consummate the atrocity2 and the patience of all parties being exhausted1 a dose of corrosive sublimate was administered to him in ,october #afac1 which put an end to his sufferings1 after he had been for six months in their hands4 ,on the very day of his death1 and before his body was cold1 he was wrapped up carelessly in a sheet1 and buried without any funeral ceremony in a pit within the precincts of the ,tower4 ,sir ,anthony ,weldon1 in his ,court and ,character of ,james ,i41 gives a somewhat different account of the closing scene of this tragedy4 ,he says1 ,franklin and ,weston came into ,overbury's chamber1 and found him in infinite torment1 with contention between the strength of nature and the working of the poison2 and it being very like that nature had gotten the better in this contention1 by the thrusting out of boils1 blotches1 and blains1 they1 fearing it might come to light by the judgment of physicians1 the foul play that had been offered him1 consented to stifle him with the bedclothes1 which accordingly was performed2 and so ended his miserable life1 with the assurance of the conspirators that he died by the poison2 none thinking otherwise than these two murderers4 ,the sudden death1 the indecent haste of the funeral1 and the non-holding of an inquest upon the body1 strengthened the suspicions that were afloat4 ,rumour1 instead of whispering1 began to speak out2 and the relatives of the deceased openly expressed their belief that their kinsman had been murdered4 ,but ,rochester was still all powerful at court1 and no one dared to utter a word to his discredit4 ,shortly afterwards1 his marriage with the ,countess of ,essex was celebrated with the utmost splendour1 the king himself being present at the ceremony4 ,it would seem that ,overbury's knowledge of ,james's character was deeper than ,rochester had given him credit for1 and that he had been a true prophet when he predicted that his marriage would eventually estrange ,james from his minion4 ,at this time1 however1 ,rochester stood higher than ever in the royal favour2 but it did not last long--conscience1 that busy monitor1 was at work4 ,the tongue of rumour was never still2 and ,rochester1 who had long been a guilty1 became at last a wretched man4 ,his cheeks lost their colour--his eyes grew dim2 and he became moody1 careless1 and melancholy4 ,the king1 seeing him thus1 took at length no pleasure in his society1 and began to look about for another favourite4 ,george ,villiers1 ,duke of ,buckingham1 was the man to his mind3 quick-witted1 handsome1 and unscrupulous4 ,the two latter qualities alone were sufficient to recommend him to ,james ,i4 ,in proportion as the influence of ,rochester declined1 that of ,buckingham increased4 ,a falling favourite has no friends2 and rumour wagged her tongue against ,rochester louder and more pertinaciously than ever4 ,a new favourite1 too1 generally endeavours to hasten by a kick the fall of the old one2 and ,buckingham1 anxious to work the complete ruin of his forerunner in the king's good graces1 encouraged the relatives of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury to prosecute their inquiries into the strange death of their kinsman4 ,james was rigorous enough in the punishment of offences when he was not himself involved4 ,he piqued himself1 moreover1 on his dexterity in unravelling mysteries4 ,the affair of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury found him congenial occupation4 ,he set to work by ordering the arrest of ,sir ,jervis ,elwes4 ,james1 at this early stage of the proceedings1 does not seem to have been aware that ,rochester was so deeply implicated4 ,struck with horror at the atrocious system of slow poisoning1 the king sent for all the judges4 ,according to ,sir ,anthony ,weldon1 he knelt down in the midst of them1 and said1 ,my lords the judges1 it is lately come to my hearing that you have now in examination a business of poisoning4 ,lord6 in what a miserable condition shall this kingdom be 7the only famous nation for hospitality in the world7 if our tables should become such a snare1 as that none could eat without danger of life1 and that ,italian custom should be introduced among us6 ,therefore1 my lords1 ,i charge you1 as you will answer it at that great and dreadful day of judgment1 that you examine it strictly1 without favour1 affection1 or partiality4 ,and if you shall spare any guilty of this crime1 ,god's curse light on you and your posterity6 and if ,i spare any that are guilty1 ,god's curse light on me and my posterity for ever6 ,illustration3 ,,duke ,,of ,,buckingham4 ,the imprecation fell but too surely upon the devoted house of ,stuart4 ,the solemn oath was broken1 and ,god's curse did light upon him and his posterity6 ,the next person arrested after ,sir ,jervis ,elwes1 was ,weston1 the under-keeper2 then ,franklin and ,mrs4 ,turner2 and lastly1 the ,earl and ,countess of ,somerset1 to which dignity ,rochester had been advanced since the death of ,overbury4 ,weston was first brought to trial4 ,public curiosity was on the stretch4 ,nothing else was talked of1 and the court on the day of trial was crowded to suffocation4 ,the ,state ,trials report1 that ,lord ,chief ,justice ,coke laid open to the jury the baseness and cowardliness of poisoners1 who attempt that secretly against which there is no means of preservation or defence for a man's life2 and how rare it was to hear of any poisoning in ,england1 so detestable it was to our nation4 ,but the devil had taught divers to be cunning in it1 so that they can poison in what distance of space they please1 by consuming the nativum calidum1 or humidum radicale1 in one month1 two or three1 or more1 as they list1 which they four manner of ways do execute1 viz4 haustu1 gustu1 odore1 and contactu4 ,illustration3 ,,lord ,,coke4 ,when the indictment was read over1 ,weston made no other reply than ,lord have mercy upon me6 ,lord have mercy upon me6 ,on being asked how he would be tried1 he refused to throw himself upon a jury of his country1 and declared that he would be tried by ,god alone4 ,in this he persisted for some time4 ,the fear of the dreadful punishment for contumacy#ch induced him at length to plead ,not guilty1 and take his trial in due course of law4 #ch ,the punishment for the contumacious was expressed by the words onere1 frigore1 et fame4 ,by the first was meant1 that the culprit should be extended on his back on the ground1 and weights placed over his body1 gradually increased1 until he expired4 ,sometimes the punishment was not extended to this length1 and the victim being allowed to recover1 underwent the second portion1 the frigore1 which consisted in his standing naked in the open air1 for a certain space1 in the sight of all the people4 ,the third1 or fame1 was more dreadful1 the statute saying1 ,that he was to be preserved with the coarsest bread that could be got1 and water out of the next sink1 or puddle1 to the place of execution2 and that day he had water he should have no bread1 and that day he had bread he should have no water2 and in this torment he was to linger as long as nature would hold out4 ,all the circumstances against him were fully proved1 and he was found guilty and executed at ,tyburn4 ,mrs4 ,turner1 ,franklin1 and ,sir ,jervis ,elwes were also brought to trial1 found guilty1 and executed between the #aith of ,october and the #dth of ,december #afae2 but the grand trial of the ,earl and ,countess of ,somerset did not take place till the month of ,may following4 ,on the trial of ,sir ,jervis ,elwes1 circumstances had transpired1 shewing a guilty knowledge of the poisoning on the part of the ,earl of ,northampton1 the uncle of ,lady ,somerset1 and the chief falconer ,sir ,thomas ,monson4 ,the former was dead2 but ,sir ,thomas ,monson was arrested and brought to trial4 ,it appeared1 however1 that he was too dangerous a man to be brought to the scaffold4 ,he knew too many of the odious secrets of ,james ,i41 and his dying speech might contain disclosures which would compromise the king4 ,to conceal old guilt it was necessary to incur new3 the trial of ,sir ,thomas ,monson was brought to an abrupt conclusion1 and himself set at liberty4 ,already ,james had broken his oath4 ,he now began to fear that he had been rash in engaging so zealously to bring the poisoners to punishment4 ,that ,somerset would be declared guilty there was no doubt1 and that he looked for pardon and impunity was equally evident to the king4 ,somerset1 while in the ,tower1 asserted confidently that ,james would not dare to bring him to trial4 ,in this he was mistaken2 but ,james was in an agony4 ,what the secret was between them will now never be known with certainty2 but it may be surmised4 ,some have imagined it to be the vice to which the king was addicted2 while others have asserted that it related to the death of ,prince ,henry1 a virtuous young man1 who had held ,somerset in especial abhorrence4 ,this prince died early1 unlamented by his father1 and1 as public opinion whispered at the time1 poisoned by ,somerset4 ,probably some crime or other lay heavy upon the soul of the king2 and ,somerset1 his accomplice1 could not be brought to public execution with safety4 ,hence the dreadful tortures of ,james when he discovered that his favourite was so deeply implicated in the murder of ,overbury4 ,every means was taken by the agonised king to bring the prisoner into what was called a safe frame of mind4 ,he was secretly advised to plead guilty1 and trust to the clemency of the king4 ,the same advice was conveyed to the countess4 ,bacon was instructed by the king to draw up a paper of all the points of mercy and favour to ,somerset which might result from the evidence2 and ,somerset was again recommended to plead guilty1 and promised that no evil should ensue to him4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,earl ,,of ,,somerset4 ,the countess was first tried4 ,she trembled and shed tears during the reading of the indictment1 and1 in a low voice1 pleaded guilty4 ,on being asked why sentence of death should not be passed against her1 she replied meekly1 ,i can much aggravate1 but nothing extenuate my fault4 ,i desire mercy1 and that the lords will intercede for me with the king4 ,sentence of death was passed upon her4 ,next day the earl was brought to trial4 ,he appears to have mistrusted the promises of ,james1 and he pleaded not guilty4 ,with a self-possession and confidence which he felt1 probably1 from his knowledge of the king's character1 he rigorously cross-examined the witnesses1 and made a stubborn defence4 ,after a trial which lasted eleven hours he was found guilty1 and condemned to the felon's death4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,countess ,,of ,,somerset4 ,whatever may have been the secrets between the criminal and the king1 the latter1 notwithstanding his terrific oath1 was afraid to sign the death-warrant4 ,it might1 perchance1 have been his own4 ,the earl and countess were committed to the ,tower1 where they remained for nearly five years4 ,at the end of this period1 to the surprise and scandal of the community1 and the disgrace of its chief magistrate1 they both received the royal pardon1 but were ordered to reside at a distance from the court4 ,having been found guilty of felony1 the estates of the earl had become forfeited2 but ,james granted him out of their revenues an income of #djjjl4 per annum6 ,shamelessness could go no further4 ,of the after-life of these criminals nothing is known1 except that the love they had formerly borne each other was changed into aversion1 and that they lived under the same roof for months together without the interchange of a word4 ,the exposure of their atrocities did not put a stop to the practice of poisoning4 ,on the contrary1 as we shall see hereafter1 it engendered that insane imitation which is so strange a feature of the human character4 ,james himself is supposed1 with great probability1 to have fallen a victim to it4 ,in the notes to ,harris's ,life and ,writings of ,james ,i41 there is a good deal of information on the subject4 ,the guilt of ,buckingham1 although not fully established1 rests upon circumstances of suspicion stronger than have been sufficient to lead hundreds to the scaffold4 ,his motives for committing the crime are stated to have been a desire of revenge for the coldness with which the king1 in the latter years of his reign1 began to regard him2 his fear that ,james intended to degrade him2 and his hope that the great influence he possessed over the mind of the heir-apparent would last through a new reign1 if the old one were brought to a close4 ,in the second volume of the ,harleian ,miscellany1 there is a tract1 entitled the ,forerunner of ,revenge1 written by ,george ,eglisham1 doctor of medicine1 and one of the physicians to ,king ,james4 ,harris1 in quoting it1 says that it is full of rancour and prejudice4 ,it is evidently exaggerated1 but forms nevertheless a link in the chain of evidence4 ,eglisham says1 ,the king being sick of an ague1 the duke took this opportunity1 when all the king's doctors of physic were at dinner1 and offered to him a white powder to take1 the which he a long time refused2 but1 overcome with his flattering importunity1 he took it in wine1 and immediately became worse and worse1 falling into many swoonings and pains1 and violent fluxes of the belly1 so tormented1 that his majesty cried out aloud of this white powder1 ',would to ,god ,i had never taken it6' ,he then tells us of the ,countess of ,buckingham 7the duke's mother7 applying the plaister to the king's heart and breast1 whereupon he grew faint and short-breathed1 and in agony2 that the physicians exclaimed that the king was poisoned2 that ,buckingham commanded them out of the room1 and committed one of them close prisoner to his own chamber1 and another to be removed from court2 and that1 after his majesty's death1 his body and head swelled above measure2 his hair1 with the skin of his head1 stuck to his pillow1 and his nails became loose on his fingers and toes4 ,clarendon1 who1 by the way1 was a partisan of the duke's1 gives a totally different account of ,james's death4 ,he says1 ,it was occasioned by an ague 7after a short indisposition by the gout71 which1 meeting many humours in a fat unwieldy body of fifty-eight years old1 in four or five fits carried him out of the world1--after whose death many scandalous and libellous discourses were raised1 without the least colour or ground1 as appeared upon the strictest and most malicious examination that could be made1 long after1 in a time of license1 when nobody was afraid of offending majesty1 and when prosecuting the highest reproaches and contumelies against the royal family was held very meritorious4 ,notwithstanding this confident declaration1 the world will hardly be persuaded that there was not some truth in the rumours that were abroad4 ,the inquiries which were instituted were not strict1 as he asserts1 and all the unconstitutional influence of the powerful favourite was exerted to defeat them4 ,in the celebrated accusations brought against ,buckingham by the ,earl of ,bristol1 the poisoning of ,king ,james was placed last on the list2 and the pages of history bear evidence of the summary mode in which they were1 for the time1 got rid of4 ,the man from whom ,buckingham is said to have procured his poisons was one ,dr4 ,lamb1 a conjuror and empiric1 who1 besides dealing in poisons1 pretended to be a fortune-teller4 ,the popular fury1 which broke with comparative harmlessness against his patron1 was directed against this man1 until he could not appear with safety in the streets of ,london4 ,his fate was melancholy4 ,walking one day in ,cheapside1 disguised1 as he thought1 from all observers1 he was recognised by some idle boys1 who began to hoot and pelt him with stones1 calling out1 ,the poisoner6 the poisoner6 ,down with the wizard6 down with him6 ,a mob very soon collected1 and the doctor took to his heels and ran for his life4 ,he was pursued and seized in ,wood ,street1 and from thence dragged by the hair through the mire to ,st4 ,paul's ,cross2 the mob beating him with sticks and stones1 and calling out1 ,kill the wizard6 kill the poisoner6 ,charles ,i41 on hearing of the riot1 rode from ,whitehall to quell it2 but he arrived too late to save the victim4 ,every bone in his body was broken1 and he was quite dead4 ,charles was excessively indignant1 and fined the city six hundred pounds for its inability to deliver up the ring-leaders to justice4 ,illustration3 ,,paul',s ,,cross2 ,,seventeenth ,,century4 ,but it was in ,italy that poisoning was most prevalent4 ,from a very early period1 it seems to have been looked upon in that country as a perfectly justifiable means of getting rid of an enemy4 ,the ,italians of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries poisoned their opponents with as little compunction as an ,englishman of the present day brings an action at law against any one who has done him an injury4 ,the writings of contemporary authors inform us that1 when ,la ,spara and ,la ,tophania carried on their infernal trade1 ladies put poison-bottles on their dressing-tables as openly1 and used them with as little scruple upon others1 as modern dames use ,eau de ,cologne or lavender-water upon themselves4 ,so powerful is the influence of fashion1 it can even cause murder to be regarded as a venial peccadillo4 ,in the memoirs of the last ,duke of ,guise1 who made a ,quixotic attempt1 in #afdh1 to seize upon the government of ,naples1 we find some curious particulars relative to the popular feeling with regard to poisoning4 ,a man named ,gennaro ,annese1 who1 after the short and extraordinary career of ,masaniello the fisherman1 had established himself as a sort of captain-general of the populace1 rendered himself so obnoxious to the ,duke of ,guise1 that the adherents of the latter determined to murder him4 ,the captain of the guard1 as the duke himself very coolly informs us1 was requested to undertake this office4 ,it was suggested to him that the poniard would be the most effectual instrument1 but the man turned up his eyes with pious horror at the proposition4 ,he was ready to poison ,gennaro ,annese whenever he might be called upon to do so2 but to poniard him1 he said1 would be disgraceful1 and unbecoming an officer of the guards6 ,at last1 poison was agreed upon1 and ,augustino ,molla1 an attorney in the duke's confidence1 brought the bottle containing the liquid to shew it to his master4 ,the following is the ,duke's own account3 ,augustino came to me at night1 and told me3 ',i have brought you something which will free you from ,gennaro4 ,he deserves death1 and it is no great matter after what fashion justice is done upon him4 ,look at this vial1 full of clear and beautiful water3 in four days' time1 it will punish all his treasons4 ,the captain of the guard has undertaken to give it him2 and as it has no taste at all1 ,gennaro will suspect nothing4' ,the duke further informs us that the dose was duly administered2 but that ,gennaro1 fortunately for himself1 ate nothing for dinner that day but cabbage dressed with oil1 which acting as an antidote1 caused him to vomit profusely1 and saved his life4 ,he was exceedingly ill for five days1 but never suspected that he had been poisoned4 ,in process of time1 poison-vending became a profitable trade4 ,eleven years after this period1 it was carried on at ,rome to such an extent1 that the sluggish government was roused to interference4 ,beckmann1 in his ,history of ,inventions1 and ,lebret1 in his ,magazin zum ,gebrauche der ,staaten ,kirche ,geschichte1 or ,magazine of ,materials for a ,history of a ,state ,church1 relates that1 in the year #afei1 it was made known to ,pope ,alexander ,,vii4 that great numbers of young women had avowed in the confessional that they had poisoned their husbands with slow poisons4 ,the ,catholic clergy1 who in general hold the secrets of the confessional so sacred1 were shocked and alarmed at the extraordinary prevalence of the crime4 ,although they refrained from revealing the names of the penitents1 they conceived themselves bound to apprise the head of the ,church of the enormities that were practised4 ,it was also the subject of general conversation in ,rome that young widows were unusually abundant4 ,it was remarked1 too1 that if any couple lived unhappily together1 the husband soon took ill and died4 ,the papal authorities1 when once they began to inquire1 soon learned that a society of young wives had been formed1 and met nightly1 for some mysterious purpose1 at the house of an old woman named ,hieronyma ,spara4 ,this hag was a reputed witch and fortune-teller1 and acted as president of the young viragos1 several of whom1 it was afterwards ascertained1 belonged to the first families of ,rome4 ,in order to have positive evidence of the practices of this female conclave1 a lady was employed by the government to seek an interview with them4 ,she dressed herself out in the most magnificent style2 and having been amply provided with money1 she found but little difficulty1 when she had stated her object1 of procuring an audience of ,la ,spara and her sisterhood4 ,she pretended to be in extreme distress of mind on account of the infidelities and ill-treatment of her husband1 and implored ,la ,spara to furnish her with a few drops of the wonderful elixir1 the efficacy of which in sending cruel husbands to their last long sleep was so much vaunted by the ladies of ,rome4 ,la ,spara fell into the snare1 and sold her some of her drops at a price commensurate with the supposed wealth of the purchaser4 ,the liquor thus obtained was subjected to an analysis1 and found to be1 as was suspected1 a slow poison2 clear1 tasteless1 and limpid1 like that spoken of by the ,duke of ,guise4 ,upon this evidence1 the house was surrounded by the police1 and ,la ,spara and her companions taken into custody4 ,la ,spara1 who is described as having been a little ugly old woman1 was put to the torture1 but obstinately refused to confess her guilt4 ,another of the women1 named ,la ,gratiosa1 had less firmness1 and laid bare all the secrets of the infernal sisterhood4 ,taking a confession extorted by anguish on the rack at its true value 7nothing at all71 there is still sufficient evidence to warrant posterity in the belief of their guilt4 ,they were found guilty1 and condemned1 according to their degrees of culpability1 to various punishments4 ,la ,spara1 ,gratiosa1 and three young women1 who had poisoned their husbands1 were hanged together at ,rome4 ,upwards of thirty women were whipped publicly through the streets2 and several1 whose high rank screened them from more degrading punishment1 were banished from the country1 and mulcted in heavy fines4 ,in a few months afterwards1 nine women more were hanged for poisoning2 and another bevy1 including many young and beautiful girls1 were whipped half naked through the streets of ,rome4 ,this severity did not put a stop to the practice1 and jealous women and avaricious men1 anxious to step into the inheritance of fathers1 uncles1 or brothers1 resorted to poison4 ,as it was quite free from taste1 colour1 and smell1 it was administered without exciting suspicion4 ,the skilful vendors compounded it of different degrees of strength1 so that the poisoners had only to say whether they wanted their victims to die in a week1 a month1 or six months1 and they were suited with corresponding doses4 ,the vendors were chiefly women1 of whom the most celebrated was a hag named ,tophania1 who was in this way accessory to the death of upwards of six hundred persons4 ,this woman appears to have been a dealer in poisons from her girlhood1 and resided first at ,palermo and then at ,naples4 ,that entertaining traveller1 ,father ,lebat1 has given1 in his letters from ,italy1 many curious particulars relating to her4 ,when he was at ,civita ,vecchia1 in #agai1 the ,viceroy of ,naples discovered that poison was extensively sold in the latter city1 and that it went by the name of aqueta1 or little-water4 ,on making further inquiry1 he ascertained that ,tophania 7who was by this time near seventy years of age1 and who seems to have begun her evil courses very soon after the execution of ,la ,spara17 sent large quantities of it to all parts of ,italy in small vials1 with the inscription1 ,manna of ,st4 ,nicholas of ,barri4 ,the tomb of ,st4 ,nicholas of ,barri was celebrated throughout ,italy4 ,a miraculous oil was said to ooze from it1 which cured nearly all the maladies that flesh is heir to1 provided the recipient made use of it with the due degree of faith4 ,la ,tophania artfully gave this name to her poison to elude the vigilance of the custom-house officers1 who1 in common with every body else1 had a pious respect for ,st4 ,nicholas de ,barri and his wonderful oil4 ,the poison was similar to that manufactured by ,la ,spara4 ,hahnemann the physician1 and father of the homoeopathic doctrine1 writing upon this subject1 says it was compounded of arsenical neutral salts1 occasioning in the victim a gradual loss of appetite1 faintness1 gnawing pains in the stomach1 loss of strength1 and wasting of the lungs4 ,the ,abb ,gagliardi says1 that a few drops of it were generally poured into tea1 chocolate1 or soup1 and its effects were slow1 and almost imperceptible4 ,garelli1 physician to the ,emperor of ,austria1 in a letter to ,hoffmann1 says it was crystallised arsenic1 dissolved in a large quantity of water by decoction1 with the addition 7for some unexplained purpose7 of the herb cymbalaria4 ,the ,neapolitans called it ,aqua ,toffnina2 and it became notorious all over ,europe under the name of ,aqua ,tophania4 ,although this woman carried on her infamous traffic so extensively1 it was extremely difficult to meet with her4 ,she lived in continual dread of discovery4 ,she constantly changed her name and residence2 and pretending to be a person of great godliness1 resided in monasteries for months together4 ,whenever she was more than usually apprehensive of detection she sought ecclesiastical protection4 ,she was soon apprised of the search made for her by the ,viceroy of ,naples1 and1 according to her practice1 took refuge in a monastery4 ,either the search after her was not very rigid1 or her measures were exceedingly well taken2 for she contrived to elude the vigilance of the authorities for several years4 ,what is still more extraordinary1 as shewing the ramifications of her system1 her trade was still carried on to as great an extent as before4 ,lebat informs us that she had so great a sympathy for poor wives who hated their husbands and wanted to get rid of them1 but could not afford to buy her wonderful aqua1 that she made them presents of it4 ,she was not allowed1 however1 to play at this game for ever2 she was at length discovered in a nunnery1 and her retreat cut off4 ,the viceroy made several representations to the superior to deliver her up1 but without effect4 ,the abbess1 supported by the archbishop of the diocese1 constantly refused4 ,the public curiosity was in consequence so much excited at the additional importance thus thrust upon the criminal1 that thousands of persons visited the nunnery in order to catch a glimpse of her4 ,the patience of the viceroy appears to have been exhausted by these delays4 ,being a man of sense1 and not a very zealous ,catholic1 he determined that even the ,church should not shield a criminal so atrocious4 ,setting the privileges of the nunnery at defiance1 he sent a troop of soldiers1 who broke over the walls1 and carried her away vi et armis4 ,the archbishop1 ,cardinal ,pignatelli1 was highly indignant1 and threatened to excommunicate and lay the whole city under interdict4 ,all the inferior clergy1 animated by the esprit du corps1 took up the question1 and so worked upon the superstitious and bigoted people1 that they were ready to rise in a mass to storm the palace of the viceroy and rescue the prisoner4 ,these were serious difficulties2 but the viceroy was not a man to be daunted4 ,indeed1 he seems to have acted throughout with a rare union of astuteness1 coolness1 and energy4 ,to avoid the evil consequences of the threatened excommunication1 he placed a guard round the palace of the archbishop1 judging that the latter would not be so foolish as to launch out an anathema which would cause the city to be starved1 and himself in it4 ,the market-people would not have dared to come to the city with provisions so long as it remained under the ban4 ,there would have been too much inconvenience to himself and his ghostly brethren in such a measure2 and1 as the viceroy anticipated1 the good cardinal reserved his thunders for some other occasion4 ,still there was the populace4 ,to quiet their clamour and avert the impending insurrection1 the agents of the government adroitly mingled with the people1 and spread abroad a report that ,tophania had poisoned all the wells and fountains of the city4 ,this was enough4 ,the popular feeling was turned against her immediately4 ,those who1 but a moment before1 had looked upon her as a saint1 now reviled her as a devil1 and were as eager for her punishment as they had before been for her escape4 ,tophania was then put to the torture4 ,she confessed the long catalogue of her crimes1 and named all the persons who had employed her4 ,she was shortly afterwards strangled1 and her corpse thrown over the wall into the garden of the convent from whence she had been taken4 ,this appears to have been done to conciliate the clergy1 by allowing them1 at least1 the burial of one who had taken refuge within their precincts4 ,after her death the mania for poisoning seems to have abated2 but we have yet to see what hold it took upon the ,french people at a somewhat earlier period4 ,so rooted had it become in ,france between the years #afgj and #afhj1 that ,madame de ,sevign1 in one of her letters1 expresses her fear that ,frenchman and poisoner would become synonymous terms4 ,as in ,italy1 the first notice the government received of the prevalence of this crime was given by the clergy1 to whom females of high rank1 and some among the middle and lower classes1 had avowed in the confessional that they had poisoned their husbands4 ,in consequence of these disclosures1 two ,italians1 named ,exili and ,glaser1 were arrested1 and thrown into the ,bastille1 on the charge of compounding and selling the drugs used for these murders4 ,glaser died in prison1 but ,exili remained without trial for several months2 and there1 shortly afterwards1 he made the acquaintance of another prisoner1 named ,sainte ,croix1 by whose example the crime was still further disseminated among the ,french people4 ,the most notorious of the poisoners that derived their pernicious knowledge from this man was ,madame de ,brinvilliers1 a young woman connected both by birth and marriage with some of the noblest families of ,france4 ,she seems1 from her very earliest years1 to have been heartless and depraved2 and1 if we may believe her own confession1 was steeped in wickedness ere she had well entered her teens4 ,she was1 however1 beautiful and accomplished2 and1 in the eye of the world1 seemed exemplary and kind4 ,guyot de ,pitaval1 in the ,causes ,clbres1 and ,madame de ,sevign1 in her letters1 represent her as mild and agreeable in her manners1 and offering no traces on her countenance of the evil soul within4 ,she was married in #afea to the ,marquis de ,brinvilliers1 with whom she lived unhappily for some years4 ,he was a loose1 dissipated character1 and was the means of introducing ,sainte ,croix to his wife1 a man who cast a blight upon her life1 and dragged her on from crime to crime1 till her offences became so great that the mind shudders to dwell upon them4 ,for this man she conceived a guilty passion1 to gratify which she plunged at once into the gulf of sin4 ,she was drawn to its most loathsome depths ere retribution overtook her4 ,she had as yet shewn a fair outside to the world1 and found but little difficulty in effecting a legal separation from her husband1 who had not the art to conceal his vices4 ,the proceeding gave great offence to her family4 ,she appears1 after this1 to have thrown off the mask completely1 and carried on her intrigues so openly with her lover1 ,sainte ,croix1 that her father1 ,m4 ,d',aubray1 scandalised at her conduct1 procured a lettre de cachet1 and had him imprisoned in the ,bastille for a twelvemonth4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,bastille4 ,sainte ,croix1 who had been in ,italy1 was a dabbler in poisons4 ,he knew something of the secrets of the detestable ,la ,spara1 and improved himself in them from the instructions of ,exili1 with whom he speedily contracted a sort of friendship4 ,by him he was shewn how to prepare1 not only the liquid poisons employed in ,italy1 but that known as succession powder1 which afterwards became so celebrated in ,france4 ,like his mistress1 he appeared amiable1 witty1 and intelligent1 and shewed no signs to the world of the two fierce passions1 revenge and avarice1 which were gnawing at his heart4 ,both these passions were to be sated on the unfortunate family of ,d',aubray2 his revenge1 because they had imprisoned him2 and his avarice1 because they were rich4 ,reckless and extravagant1 he was always in want of money1 and he had no one to supply him but ,madame de ,brinvilliers1 whose own portion was far from sufficient to satisfy his need4 ,groaning to think that any impediment should stand between him and wealth1 he conceived the horrid idea of poisoning ,m4 ,d',aubray her father1 and her two brothers1 that she might inherit the property4 ,three murders were nothing to such a villain4 ,he communicated his plan to ,madame de ,brinvilliers2 and she1 without the slightest scruple1 agreed to aid him3 he undertook to compound the poisons1 and she to administer them4 ,the zeal and alacrity with which she set to work seem hardly credible4 ,sainte ,croix found her an apt scholar2 and she soon became as expert as himself in the manufacture of poisons4 ,to try the strength of the first doses1 she used to administer them to dogs1 rabbits1 and pigeons4 ,afterwards1 wishing to be more certain of their effects1 she went round to the hospitals1 and administered them to the sick poor in the soups which she brought in apparent charity4#ci ,none of the poisons were intended to kill at the first dose2 so that she could try them once upon an individual without fear of murder4 ,she tried the same atrocious experiment upon the guests at her father's table1 by poisoning a pigeon-pie6 ,to be more certain still1 she next poisoned herself6 ,when convinced by this desperate essay of the potency of the draught1 she procured an antidote from ,sainte ,croix1 and all doubts being removed1 commenced operations upon her grey-headed father4 ,she administered the first dose with her own hands1 in his chocolate4 ,the poison worked well4 ,the old man was taken ill1 and his daughter1 apparently full of tenderness and anxiety1 watched by his bedside4 ,the next day she gave him some broth1 which she recommended as highly nourishing4 ,this also was poisoned4 ,in this manner she gradually wore out his frame1 and in less than ten days he was a corpse6 ,his death seemed so much the result of disease1 that no suspicions were excited4 #ci ,this is denied by ,voltaire in his ,age of ,louis ,,xiv42 but he does not state for what reason4 ,his words are1 ,il est faux qu'elle eut essay ses poisons dans les hpitaux1 comme le disait le peuple1 et comme il est crit dans les ,causes ,clbres1 ouvrage d'un avocat sans cause et fait pour le peuple4 ,when the two brothers arrived from the provinces to render the last sad duties to their sire1 they found their sister as grieved1 to all outward appearance1 as even filial affection could desire3 but the young men only came to perish4 ,they stood between ,sainte ,croix and the already half-clutched gold1 and their doom was sealed4 ,a man1 named ,la ,chausse1 was hired by ,sainte ,croix to aid in administering the poisons2 and1 in less than six weeks time1 they had both gone to their long home4 ,suspicion was now excited2 but so cautiously had all been done1 that it found no one upon whom to attach itself4 ,the marquise had a sister1 and she was entitled1 by the death of her relatives1 to half the property4 ,less than the whole would not satisfy ,sainte ,croix1 and he determined that she should die the same death as her father and brothers4 ,she was too distrustful1 however2 and1 by quitting ,paris1 she escaped the destruction that was lurking for her4 ,the marquise had undertaken these murders to please her lover4 ,she was now anxious to perpetrate another on her own account4 ,she wished to marry ,sainte ,croix2 but1 though separated from her husband1 she was not divorced4 ,she thought it would be easier to poison him than to apply to the tribunals for a divorce1 which might1 perhaps1 be refused4 ,but ,sainte ,croix had no longer any love for his guilty instrument4 ,bad men do not admire others who are as bad as themselves4 ,though a villain himself1 he had no desire to marry one1 and was not at all anxious for the death of the marquis4 ,he seemed1 however1 to enter into the plot1 and supplied her with poison for her husband2 but he took care to provide a remedy4 ,la ,brinvilliers poisoned him one day1 and ,sainte ,croix gave him an antidote the next4 ,in this manner he was buffeted about between them for some time1 and finally escaped1 with a ruined constitution and a broken heart4 ,but the day of retribution was at hand1 and a terrible mischance brought the murders to light4 ,the nature of the poisons compounded by ,sainte ,croix was so deadly1 that1 when working in his laboratory1 he was obliged to wear a mask1 to preserve himself from suffocation4 ,one day1 the mask slipped off1 and the miserable wretch perished in his crimes4 ,his corpse was found1 on the following morning1 in the obscure lodging where he had fitted up his laboratory4 ,as he appeared to be without friends or relatives1 the police took possession of his effects4 ,among other things1 was found a small box1 to which was affixed the following singular document3 ,i humbly beg1 that those into whose hands this box may fall1 will do me the favour to deliver it into the hands only of the ,marchioness de ,brinvilliers1 who resides in the ,rue ,neuve ,st4 ,paul1 as every thing it contains concerns her1 and belongs to her alone2 and as1 besides1 there is nothing in it that can be of use to any person but her4 ,in case she shall be dead before me1 it is my wish that it be burned1 with every thing it contains1 without opening or altering any thing4 ,in order that no one may plead ignorance1 ,i swear by the ,god that ,i adore1 and by all that is held most sacred1 that ,i assert nothing but the truth3 and if my intentions1 just and reasonable as they are1 be thwarted in this point by any persons1 ,i charge their consciences with it1 both in this world and that which is to come1 in order that ,i may unload mine4 ,i protest that this is my last will4 ,done at ,paris1 ,may #be1 #afgb4 7,signed7 ,,sainte ,,croix4 ,this earnest solicitation1 instead of insuring respect1 as was intended1 excited curiosity4 ,the box was opened1 and found to contain some papers1 and several vials and powders4 ,the latter were handed to a chemist for analysis1 and the documents were retained by the police1 and opened4 ,among them was found a promissory note of the ,marchioness de ,brinvilliers1 for thirty thousand francs1 to the order of ,sainte ,croix4 ,the other papers were of greater importance1 as they implicated both her and her servant1 ,la ,chausse1 in the recent murders4 ,as soon as she was informed of the death of ,sainte ,croix1 she made an attempt to gain possession of his papers and the box2 but1 being refused1 she saw that there was no time to be lost1 and immediately quitted4 ,next morning the police were on her trail2 but she succeeded in escaping to ,england4 ,la ,chausse was not so fortunate4 ,altogether ignorant of the fatal mischance which had brought his villanies to light1 he did not dream of danger4 ,he was arrested and brought to trial3 being put to the torture1 he confessed that he had administered poison to the ,messieurs d',aubray1 and that he had received a hundred pistoles1 and the promise of an annuity for life1 from ,sainte ,croix and ,madame de ,brinvilliers1 for the job4 ,he was condemned to be broken alive on the wheel1 and the marchioness was1 by default1 sentenced to be beheaded4 ,he was executed accordingly1 in ,march #afgc1 on the ,place de ,grve1 in ,paris4 ,la ,brinvilliers appears to have resided for nearly three years in ,england4 ,early in #afgf1 thinking that the rigour of pursuit was over1 and that she might venture to return to the ,continent1 she proceeded secretly to ,lige4 ,notwithstanding her care1 the ,french authorities were soon apprised of her return2 and arrangements were promptly made with the municipality of that city to permit the agents of the ,french police to arrest her within the limits of their jurisdiction4 ,desgrais1 an officer of the marchausse1 accordingly left ,paris for that purpose4 ,on his arrival in ,lige1 he found that she had sought shelter within the walls of a convent4 ,here the arm of the law1 long as it is said to be1 could not reach her3 but ,desgrais was not a man to be baffled1 and he resorted to stratagem to accomplish what force could not4 ,having disguised himself as a priest1 he sought admission to the convent1 and obtained an interview with ,la ,brinvilliers4 ,he said1 that being a ,frenchman1 and passing through ,lige1 he could not leave that city without paying a visit to a lady whose beauty and misfortunes were so celebrated4 ,her vanity was flattered by the compliment4 ,desgrais saw1 to use a vulgar but forcible expression1 that he had got on the blind side of her2 and he adroitly continued to pour out the language of love and admiration till the deluded marchioness was thrown completely off her guard4 ,she agreed1 without much solicitation1 to meet him outside the walls of the convent1 where their amorous intrigue might be carried on more conveniently than within4 ,faithful to her appointment with her supposed new lover1 she came1 and found herself1 not in the embrace of a gallant1 but in the custody of a policeman4 ,her trial was not long delayed4 ,the proofs against her were abundant4 ,the dying declaration of ,la ,chausse would have been alone enough to convict her2 but besides that1 there were the mysterious document attached to the box of ,st4 ,croix1 her flight from ,france1 and1 stronger and more damning proof than all1 a paper1 in her own handwriting1 found among the effects of ,st4 ,croix1 in which she detailed to him the misdeeds of her life1 and spoke of the murder of her father and brothers in terms that left no doubt of her guilt4 ,during the trial1 all ,paris was in commotion4 ,la ,brinvilliers was the only subject of conversation4 ,all the details of her crimes were published1 and greedily devoured2 and the idea of secret poisoning first put into the heads of hundreds1 who afterwards became guilty of it4 ,on the #afth of ,july1 #afgf1 the ,superior ,criminal ,court of ,paris pronounced a verdict of guilty against her1 for the murder of her father and brothers1 and the attempt upon the life of her sister4 ,she was condemned to be drawn on a hurdle1 with her feet bare1 a rope about her neck1 and a burning torch in her hand1 to the great entrance of the cathedral of ,notre ,dame1 where she was to make the amende honorable in sight of all the people2 to be taken from thence to the ,place de ,grve1 and there to be beheaded4 ,her body was afterwards to be burned1 and her ashes scattered to the winds4 ,after her sentence1 she made a full confession of her guilt4 ,she seems to have looked upon death without fear2 but it was recklessness1 not courage1 that supported her4 ,madame de ,sevign says1 that when on the hurdle1 on her way to the scaffold1 she entreated her confessor to exert his influence with the executioner to place himself next to her1 that his body might hide from her view that scoundrel ,desgrais1 who had entrapped her4 ,she also asked the ladies1 who had been drawn to their windows to witness the procession1 what they were looking at8 adding1 a pretty sight you have come to see1 truly6 ,she laughed when on the scaffold1 dying as she had lived1 impenitent and heartless4 ,on the morrow1 the populace came in crowds to collect her ashes to preserve them as relics4 ,she was regarded as a martyred saint1 and her ashes were supposed to be endowed1 by divine grace1 with the power of curing all diseases4 ,popular folly has often canonised persons whose pretensions to sanctity were extremely equivocal2 but the disgusting folly of the multitude1 in this instance1 has never been surpassed4 ,before her death1 proceedings were instituted against ,m4 de ,penautier1 treasurer of the province of ,languedoc1 and receiver-general for the clergy1 who was accused by a lady1 named ,st4 ,laurent1 of having poisoned her husband1 the late receiver-general1 in order to obtain his appointment4 ,the circumstances of this case were never divulged1 and the greatest influence was exerted to prevent it from going to trial4 ,he was known to have been intimate with ,sainte ,croix and ,madame de ,brinvilliers1 and was thought to have procured his poisons from them4 ,the latter1 however1 refused to say any thing which might implicate him4 ,the inquiry was eventually stifled1 after ,penautier had been several months in the ,bastille4 ,the ,cardinal de ,bonzy was accused by the gossips of the day of being an accomplice of ,penautier4 ,the cardinal's estates were burdened with the payment of several heavy annuities2 but1 about the time that poisoning became so fashionable1 all the annuitants died off1 one after the other4 ,the cardinal1 in talking of these annuitants1 afterwards used to say1 ,thanks to my star1 ,i have outlived them all6 ,a wit1 seeing him and ,penautier riding in the same carriage1 cried out1 in allusion to this expression1 ,there go the ,cardinal de ,bonzy and his star6 ,it was now that the mania for poisoning began to take hold of the popular mind4 ,from this time until the year #afhb1 the prisons of ,france teemed with persons accused of this crime2 and it is very singular that other offences decreased in a similar proportion4 ,we have already seen the extent to which it was carried in ,italy4 ,it was1 if possible1 surpassed in ,france4 ,the diabolical ease with which these murders could be effected1 by means of these scentless and tasteless poisons1 enticed the evil-minded4 ,jealousy1 revenge1 avarice1 even petty spite1 alike resorted to them4 ,those who would have been deterred1 by fear of detection1 from using the pistol or the dagger1 or even strong doses of poison1 which kill at once1 employed slow poisons without dread4 ,the corrupt government of the day1 although it could wink at the atrocities of a wealthy and influential courtier like ,penautier1 was scandalised to see the crime spreading among the people4 ,disgrace was1 in fact1 entailed1 in the eyes of ,europe1 upon the name of ,frenchman4 ,louis ,,xiv41 to put a stop to the evil1 instituted what was called the ,chambre ,ardente1 or ,burning ,chamber1 with extensive powers for the trial and punishment of the prisoners4 ,two women1 especially1 made themselves notorious at this time1 and were instrumental to the deaths of hundreds of individuals4 ,they both resided in ,paris1 and were named ,lavoisin and ,lavigoreux4 ,like ,spara and ,tophania1 of whom they were imitators1 they chiefly sold their poisons to women who wanted to get rid of their husbands2 and1 in some few instances1 to husbands who wanted to get rid of their wives4 ,their ostensible occupation was that of midwives4 ,they also pretended to be fortune-tellers1 and were visited by persons of every class of society4 ,the rich and poor thronged alike to their mansardes to learn the secrets of the future4 ,their prophecies were principally of death4 ,they foretold to women the approaching dissolution of husbands1 and to needy heirs the end of rich relatives1 who had made them1 as ,byron expresses it1 wait too1 too long already4 ,they generally took care to be instrumental in fulfilling their own predictions4 ,they used to tell their wretched employers that some sign of the approaching death would take place in the house1 such as the breaking of glass or china2 and they paid servants considerable fees to cause a breakage1 as if by accident1 exactly at the appointed time4 ,their occupation as midwives made them acquainted with the secrets of many families1 which they afterwards turned to dreadful account4 ,it is not known how long they had carried on this awful trade before they were discovered4 ,detection finally overtook them at the close of the year #afgi4 ,they were both tried1 found guilty1 and burned alive on the ,place de ,grve1 on the #bb;d of ,february1 #afhj1 after their hands had been bored through with a red-hot iron1 and then cut off4 ,their numerous accomplices in ,paris and in the provinces were also discovered and brought to trial4 ,according to some authors1 thirty1 and to others1 fifty of them1 chiefly women1 were hanged in the principal cities4 ,lavoisin kept a list of the visitors who came to her house to purchase poisons4 ,this paper was seized by the police on her arrest1 and examined by the tribunals4 ,among the names were found those of the ,marshal de ,luxembourg1 the ,countess de ,soissons1 and the ,duchess de ,bouillon4 ,the marshal seems only to have been guilty of a piece of discreditable folly in visiting a woman of this description1 but the popular voice at the time imputed to him something more than folly4 ,the author of the ,memoirs of the ,affairs of ,europe since the ,peace of ,utrecht1 says1 ,the miserable gang who dealt in poison and prophecy alleged that he had sold himself to the devil1 and that a young girl of the name of ,dupin had been poisoned by his means4 ,among other stories1 they said he had made a contract with the devil1 in order to marry his son to the daughter of the ,marquis of ,louvois4 ,to this atrocious and absurd accusation the marshal1 who had surrendered himself at the ,bastille on the first accusation against him1 replied with the mingled sentiment of pride and innocence1 ',when ,mathieu de ,montmorenci1 my ancestor1 married the widow of ,louis le ,gros1 he did not have recourse to the devil1 but to the states-general1 in order to obtain for the minor king the support of the house of ,montmorenci4' ,this brave man was imprisoned in a cell six feet and a half long1 and his trial1 which was interrupted for several weeks1 lasted altogether fourteen months4 ,no judgment was pronounced upon him4 ,the ,countess of ,soissons fled to ,brussels1 rather than undergo the risk of a trial2 and was never able to clear herself from the stigma that attached to her1 of having made an attempt to poison the ,queen of ,spain by doses of succession-powder4 ,the ,duchess of ,bouillon was arrested1 and tried by the ,chambre ,ardente4 ,it would appear1 however1 that she had nothing to do with the slow poisons1 but had merely endeavoured to pry into the secrets of futurity1 and gratify her curiosity with a sight of the devil4 ,one of the presidents of the ,chambre1 ,la ,reynie1 an ugly little old man1 very seriously asked her whether she had really seen the devil2 to which the lady replied1 looking him full in the face1 ,oh1 yes6 ,i see him now4 ,he is in the form of a little ugly old man1 exceedingly illnatured1 and is dressed in the robes of a ,counsellor of ,state4 ,m4 la ,reynie prudently refrained from asking any more questions of a lady with so sharp and ready a tongue4 ,the duchess was imprisoned for several months in the ,bastille2 and nothing being proved against her1 she was released at the intercession of her powerful friends4 ,the severe punishment of criminals of this note might have helped to abate the fever of imitation among the vulgar2--their comparative impunity had a contrary tendency4 ,the escape of ,penautier1 and the wealthy ,cardinal de ,bonzy his employer1 had the most pernicious effect4 ,for two years longer the crime continued to rage1 and was not finally suppressed till the stake had blazed1 or the noose dangled1 for upwards of a hundred individuals4#dj #dj ,slow poisoning is a crime which has unhappily been revived in ,england within the last few years1 and which has been carried to an extent sufficient to cast a stain upon the national character4 ,the poisoners have been principally women of the lowest class1 and their victims have been their husbands or their children4 ,the motive for the crime has in most instances been the basest that can be imagined1--the desire to obtain from burial-clubs to which they subscribed1 the premium1 or burial-money4 ,a recent enactment1 restricting the sale of arsenic and other poisons1 will1 it is to be hoped1 check1 if it do not extirpate this abominable crime4--#ahea4 ,illustration3 ,,palace ,,of ,,woodstock4 ,,haunted ,,houses4 ,here's a knocking indeed6444 ,knock6 knock6 knock6444 ,who's there1 i' the name o' ,beelzebub8444 ,who's there1 i' the devil's name8 ,knock6 knock6 knock6--,never at quiet8--,macbeth4 ,who has not either seen or heard of some house1 shut up and uninhabitable1 fallen into decay1 and looking dusty and dreary1 from which1 at midnight1 strange sounds have been heard to issue--aerial knockings--the rattling of chains1 and the groaning of perturbed spirits8--a house that people have thought it unsafe to pass after dark1 and which has remained for years without a tenant1 and which no tenant would occupy1 even were he paid to do so8 ,there are hundreds of such houses in ,england at the present day2 hundreds in ,france1 ,germany1 and almost every country of ,europe1 which are marked with the mark of fear--places for the timid to avoid1 and the pious to bless themselves at1 and ask protection from1 as they pass--the abodes of ghosts and evil spirits4 ,there are many such houses in ,london2 and if any vain boaster of the march of intellect would but take the trouble to find them out and count them1 he would be convinced that intellect must yet make some enormous strides before such old superstitions can be eradicated4 ,the idea that such houses exist is a remnant of the witch creed1 which merits separate notice from its comparative harmlessness1 and from its being not so much a madness as a folly of the people4 ,unlike other notions that sprang from the belief in witchcraft1 and which we have already dwelt upon at sufficient length1 it has sent no wretches to the stake or the gibbet1 and but a few to the pillory only4 ,many houses have been condemned as haunted1 and avoided by the weak and credulous1 from circumstances the most trifling in themselves1 and which only wanted a vigorous mind to clear up1 at once1 and dissipate all alarm4 ,a house in ,aix-la-,chapelle1 a large desolate-looking building1 remained uninhabited for five years1 on account of the mysterious knockings that there were heard within it at all hours of the day and night4 ,nobody could account for the noises2 and the fear became at last so excessive1 that the persons who inhabited the houses on either side relinquished their tenancy1 and went to reside in other quarters of the town1 where there was less chance of interruption from evil spirits4 ,from being so long without an inhabitant1 the house at last grew so ruinous1 so dingy1 and so miserable in its outward appearance1 and so like the place that ghosts might be supposed to haunt1 that few persons cared to go past it after sunset4 ,the knocking that was heard in one of the upper rooms was not very loud1 but it was very regular4 ,the gossips of the neighbourhood asserted that they often heard groans from the cellars1 and saw lights moved about from one window to another immediately after the midnight bell had tolled4 ,spectres in white habiliments were reported to have gibed and chattered from the windows2 but all these stories could bear no investigation4 ,the knocking1 however1 was a fact which no one could dispute1 and several ineffectual attempts were made by the proprietor to discover the cause4 ,the rooms were sprinkled with holy water2 the evil spirits were commanded in due form1 by a priest1 to depart thence to the ,red ,sea2 but the knockings still continued1 in spite of all that could be done in that way4 ,accident at last discovered the cause1 and restored tranquillity to the neighbourhood4 ,the proprietor1 who suffered not only in his mind but in his pocket1 had sold the building at a ruinously small price1 to get rid of all future annoyance4 ,the new proprietor was standing in a room on the first floor when he heard the door driven to at the bottom with a considerable noise1 and then fly open immediately1 about two inches and no more4 ,he stood still a minute and watched1 and the same thing occurred a second and a third time4 ,he examined the door attentively1 and all the mystery was unravelled4 ,the latch of the door was broken1 so that it could not be fastened1 and it swung chiefly upon the bottom hinge4 ,immediately opposite was a window1 in which one pane of glass was broken2 and when the wind was in a certain quarter1 the draught of air was so strong that it blew the door to with some violence4 ,there being no latch1 it swung open again2 and when there was a fresh gust1 was again blown to4 ,the new proprietor lost no time in sending for a glazier1 and the mysterious noises ceased for ever4 ,the house was replastered and repainted1 and once more regained its lost good name4 ,it was not before two or three years1 however1 that it was thoroughly established in popular favour2 and many persons1 even then1 would always avoid passing it1 if they could reach their destination by any other street4 ,a similar story is narrated by ,sir ,walter ,scott1 in his ,letters on ,demonology and ,witchcraft1 the hero of which was a gentleman of birth and distinction1 well known in the political world4 ,shortly after he succeeded to his title and estates1 there was a rumour among the servants concerning a strange noise that used to be heard at night in the family mansion1 and the cause of which no one could ascertain4 ,the gentleman resolved to discover it himself1 and to watch for that purpose with a domestic who had grown old in the family1 and who1 like the rest1 had whispered strange things about the knocking having begun immediately upon the death of his old master4 ,these two watched until the noise was heard1 and at last traced it to a small store-room1 used as a place for keeping provisions of various kinds for the family1 and of which the old butler had the key4 ,they entered this place1 and remained for some time without hearing the noises which they had traced thither4 ,at length the sound was heard1 but much lower than it seemed to be while they were farther off1 and their imaginations were more excited4 ,they then discovered the cause without difficulty4 ,a rat1 caught in an old-fashioned trap1 had occasioned the noise by its efforts to escape1 in which it was able to raise the trap-door of its prison to a certain height1 but was then obliged to drop it4 ,the noise of the fall resounding through the house had occasioned the mysterious rumours1 which1 but for the investigation of the proprietor1 would1 in all probability1 have acquired so bad a name for the dwelling that no servants would have inhabited it4 ,the circumstance was told to ,sir ,walter ,scott by the gentleman to whom it happened4 ,illustration3 ,,saint ,,louis4 ,but1 in general1 houses that have acquired this character have been more indebted for it to the roguery of living men than to accidents like these4 ,six monks played off a clever trick of the kind upon that worthy king1 ,louis1 whose piety has procured him in the annals of his own country the designation of the ,saint4 ,having heard his confessor speak in terms of warm eulogy of the goodness and learning of the monks of the order of ,st4 ,bruno1 he expressed his wish to establish a community of them near ,paris4 ,bernard de la ,tour1 the superior1 sent six of the brethren1 and the king gave them a handsome house to live in in the village of ,chantilly4 ,it so happened that from their windows they had a very fine view of the ancient palace of ,vauvert1 which had been built for a royal residence by ,king ,robert1 but deserted for many years4 ,the worthy monks thought the palace would just suit them2 but their modesty was so excessive that they were ashamed to ask the king for a grant of it in due form4 ,this difficulty was not to be overcome1 and the monks set their ingenuity to work to discover another plan4 ,the palace of ,vauvert had never laboured under any imputation upon its character until they became its neighbours2 but1 somehow or other1 it almost immediately afterwards began to acquire a bad name4 ,frightful shrieks were heard to proceed from it at night2 blue1 red1 and green lights were suddenly seen to glimmer from the windows1 and as suddenly to disappear2 the clanking of chains was heard1 and the howling as of persons in great pain4 ,these disturbances continued for several months1 to the great terror of all the country round1 and even of the pious ,king ,louis1 to whom1 at ,paris1 all the rumours were regularly carried with whole heaps of additions that accumulated on the way4 ,at last a great spectre1 clothed all in pea-green1 with a long white beard and a serpent's tail1 took his station regularly at midnight in the principal window of the palace1 and howled fearfully1 and shook his fists at the passengers4 ,the six monks at ,chantilly1 to whom all these things were duly narrated1 were exceedingly wrath that the devil should play such antics right opposite their dwelling1 and hinted to the commissioners sent down by ,saint ,louis to investigate the matter1 that if they were allowed to inhabit the palace1 they would very soon make a clearance of the evil spirits4 ,the king was quite charmed with their piety1 and expressed to them how grateful he felt for their disinterestedness4 ,a deed was forthwith drawn up1 the royal sign-manual was affixed to it1 and the palace of ,vauvert became the property of the monks of ,st4 ,bruno4 ,the deed is dated #abei4 ,the disturbances ceased immediately1 the lights disappeared1 and the green ghost 7so said the monks7 was laid at rest for ever under the waves of the ,red ,sea4#da #da ,garinet1 ,histoire de la ,magie en ,france1 p4 #ge4 ,in the year #aehj1 one ,gilles ,blacre had taken the lease of a house in the suburbs of ,tours1 but repenting him of his bargain with the landlord1 ,peter ,piquet1 he endeavoured to prevail upon him to cancel the agreement4 ,peter1 however1 was satisfied with his tenant and his terms1 and would listen to no compromise4 ,very shortly afterwards1 the rumour was spread all over ,tours that the house of ,gilles ,blacre was haunted4 ,gilles himself asserted that he verily believed his house to be the general rendezvous of all the witches and evil spirits of ,france4 ,the noise they made was awful1 and quite prevented him from sleeping4 ,they knocked against the wall1 howled in the chimneys1 broke his window-glass1 scattered his pots and pans all over his kitchen1 and set his chairs and tables a dancing the whole night through4 ,crowds of persons assembled round the house to hear the mysterious noises3 and the bricks were observed to detach themselves from the wall1 and fall into the streets upon the heads of those who had not said their paternoster before coming out in the morning4 ,these things having continued for some time1 ,gilles ,blacre made his complaint to the ,civil ,court of ,tours1 and ,peter ,piquet was summoned to shew cause why the lease should not be annulled4 ,poor ,peter could make no defence1 and the court unanimously agreed that no lease could hold good under such circumstances1 and annulled it accordingly1 condemning the unlucky owner to all the expenses of the suit4 ,peter appealed to the parliament of ,paris2 and after a long examination1 the parliament confirmed the lease4 ,not1 said the judge1 because it has not been fully and satisfactorily proved that the house is troubled by evil spirits1 but that there was an informality in the proceedings before the ,civil ,court of ,tours1 that rendered its decision null and of no effect4 ,a similar cause was tried before the ,parliament of ,bourdeaux1 in the year #aeie1 relative to a house in that city which was sorely troubled by evil spirits4 ,the parliament appointed certain ecclesiastics to examine and report to them1 and on their report in the affirmative that the house was haunted1 the lease was annulled1 and the tenant absolved from all payment of rent and taxes4#db #db ,ibid4 p4 #aef4 ,one of the best stories of a haunted house is that of the royal palace of ,woodstock1 in the year #afdi1 when the commissioners sent from ,london by the ,long ,parliament to take possession of it1 and efface all the emblems of royalty about it1 were fairly driven out by their fear of the devil1 and the annoyances they suffered from a roguish cavalier1 who played the imp to admiration4 ,the commissioners1 dreading at that time no devil1 arrived at ,woodstock on the #acth of ,october1 #afdi4 ,they took up their lodgings in the late king's apartments--turned the beautiful bedrooms and withdrawing-rooms into kitchens and sculleries--the council-hall into a brew-house1 and made the dining-room a place to keep firewood in4 ,they pulled down all the insignia of royal state1 and treated with the utmost indignity every thing that recalled to their memory the name or the majesty of ,charles ,stuart4 ,one ,giles ,sharp accompanied them in the capacity of clerk1 and seconded their efforts1 apparently with the greatest zeal4 ,he aided them to uproot a noble old tree1 merely because it was called the ,king's ,oak1 and tossed the fragments into the dining-room to make cheerful fires for the commissioners4 ,during the first two days1 they heard some strange noises about the house1 but they paid no great attention to them4 ,on the third1 however1 they began to suspect they had got into bad company2 for they heard1 as they thought1 a supernatural dog under their bed1 which gnawed their bed-clothes4 ,on the next day1 the chairs and tables began to dance1 apparently of their own accord4 ,on the fifth day1 something came into the bedchamber and walked up and down2 and fetching the warming-pan out of the withdrawing-room1 made so much noise with it that they thought five church-bells were ringing in their ears4 ,on the sixth day1 the plates and dishes were thrown up and down the dining-room4 ,on the seventh1 they penetrated into the bedroom in company with several logs of wood1 and usurped the soft pillows intended for the commissioners4 ,on the eighth and ninth nights1 there was a cessation of hostilities2 but on the tenth1 the bricks in the chimneys became locomotive1 and rattled and danced about the floors1 and round the heads of the commissioners1 all the night long4 ,on the eleventh1 the demon ran away with their breeches2 and on the twelfth filled their beds so full of pewter platters that they could not get into them4 ,on the thirteenth night1 the glass became unaccountably seized with a fit of cracking1 and fell into shivers in all parts of the house4 ,on the fourteenth1 there was a noise as if forty pieces of artillery had been fired off1 and a shower of pebble-stones1 which so alarmed the commissioners that1 struck with great horror1 they cried out to one another for help4 ,they first of all tried the efficacy of prayers to drive away the evil spirits2 but these proving unavailing1 they began seriously to reflect whether it would not be much better to leave the place altogether to the devils that inhabited it4 ,they ultimately resolved1 however1 to try it a little longer2 and having craved forgiveness of all their sins1 betook themselves to bed4 ,that night they slept in tolerable comfort1 but it was merely a trick of their tormentor to lull them into false security4 ,when1 on the succeeding night1 they heard no noises1 they began to flatter themselves that the devil was driven out1 and prepared accordingly to take up their quarters for the whole winter in the palace4 ,these symptoms on their part became the signal for renewed uproar among the fiends4 ,on the #ast of ,november1 they heard something walking with a slow and solemn pace up and down the withdrawing-room1 and immediately afterwards a shower of stones1 bricks1 mortar1 and broken glass pelted about their ears4 ,on the #b;d the steps were again heard in the withdrawing-room1 sounding to their fancy very much like the treading of an enormous bear1 which continued for about a quarter of an hour4 ,this noise having ceased1 a large warming-pan was thrown violently upon the table1 followed by a number of stones and the jawbone of a horse4 ,some of the boldest walked valiantly into the withdrawing-room1 armed with swords and pistols2 but could discover nothing4 ,they were afraid that night to go to sleep1 and sat up1 making fires in every room1 and burning candles and lamps in great abundance2 thinking that1 as the fiends loved darkness1 they would not disturb a company surrounded with so much light4 ,they were deceived1 however3 buckets of water came down the chimneys and extinguished the fires2 and the candles were blown out1 they knew not how4 ,some of the servants who had betaken themselves to bed were drenched with putrid ditch-water as they lay1 and arose in great fright1 muttering incoherent prayers1 and exposing to the wondering eyes of the commissioners their linen all dripping with green moisture1 and their knuckles red with the blows they had at the same time received from some invisible tormentors4 ,while they were still speaking1 there was a noise like the loudest thunder1 or the firing of a whole park of artillery1 upon which they all fell down upon their knees and implored the protection of the ,almighty4 ,one of the commissioners then arose1 the others still kneeling1 and asked in a courageous voice1 and in the name of ,god1 who was there1 and what they had done that they should be troubled in that manner4 ,no answer was returned1 and the noises ceased for a while4 ,at length1 however1 as the commissioners said1 the devil came again1 and brought with it seven devils worse than itself4 ,being again in darkness1 they lighted a candle and placed it in the doorway1 that it might throw a light upon the two chambers at once2 but it was suddenly blown out1 and one commissioner said that he had seen the similitude of a horse's hoof striking the candle and candlestick into the middle of the chamber1 and afterwards making three scrapes on the snuff to put it out4 ,upon this1 the same person was so bold as to draw his sword2 but he asserted positively that he had hardly withdrawn it from the scabbard before an invisible hand seized hold of it and tugged with him for it1 and prevailing1 struck him so violent a blow with the pommel that he was quite stunned4 ,then the noises began again2 upon which1 with one accord1 they all retired into the presence-chamber1 where they passed the night1 praying and singing psalms4 ,they were by this time convinced that it was useless to struggle any longer with the powers of evil that seemed determined to make ,woodstock their own4 ,these things happened on the ,saturday night2 and being repeated on the ,sunday1 they determined to leave the place immediately1 and return to ,london4 ,by ,tuesday morning early1 all their preparations were completed2 and1 shaking the dust off their feet1 and devoting ,woodstock and all its inhabitants to the infernal gods1 they finally took their departure4#dc #dc ,dr4 ,h4 ,more's ,continuation of ,glanvil's ,collection of ,relations in proof of ,witchcraft4 ,many years elapsed before the true cause of these disturbances was discovered4 ,it was ascertained at the ,restoration1 that the whole was the work of ,giles ,sharp1 the trusty clerk of the commissioners4 ,this man1 whose real name was ,joseph ,collins1 was a concealed royalist1 and had passed his early life within the bowers of ,woodstock2 so that he knew every hole and corner of the place1 and the numerous trap-doors and secret passages that abounded in the building4 ,the commissioners1 never suspecting the true state of his opinions1 but believing him to be revolutionary to the back-bone1 placed the utmost reliance upon him2 a confidence which he abused in the manner above detailed1 to his own great amusement and that of the few cavaliers whom he let into the secret4 ,quite as extraordinary and as cleverly managed was the trick played off at ,tedworth1 in #affa1 at the house of ,mr4 ,mompesson1 and which is so circumstantially narrated by the ,rev4 ,joseph ,glanvil1 under the title of ,the ,demon of ,tedworth1 and appended1 among other proofs of witchcraft1 to his noted work called ,sadducismus ,triumphatus4 ,about the middle of ,april1 in the year above mentioned1 ,mr4 ,mompesson1 having returned to his house at ,tedworth from a journey he had taken to ,london1 was informed by his wife1 that during his absence they had been troubled with the most extraordinary noises4 ,three nights afterwards he heard the noise himself2 and it appeared to him to be that of a great knocking at his doors1 and on the outside of his walls4 ,he immediately arose1 dressed himself1 took down a pair of pistols1 and walked valiantly forth to discover the disturber1 under the impression that it must be a robber2 but1 as he went1 the noise seemed to travel before or behind him2 and when he arrived at the door from which he thought it proceeded1 he saw nothing1 but still heard a strange hollow sound4 ,he puzzled his brains for a long time1 and searched every corner of the house2 but discovering nothing1 he went to bed again4 ,he was no sooner snug under the clothes than the noise began again more furiously than ever1 sounding very much like a thumping and drumming on the top of his house1 and then by degrees going off into the air4 ,these things continued for several nights1 when it came to the recollection of ,mr4 ,mompesson that some time before he had given orders for the arrest and imprisonment of a wandering drummer1 who went about the country with a large drum1 disturbing quiet people and soliciting alms1 and that he had detained the man's drum1 and that probably the drummer was a wizard1 and had sent evil spirits to haunt his house to be revenged of him4 ,he became strengthened in his opinion every day1 especially when the noises assumed1 to his fancy1 a resemblance to the beating of a drum1 like that at the breaking up of a guard4 ,mrs4 ,mompesson being brought to bed1 the devil1 or the drummer1 very kindly and considerately refrained from making the usual riot2 but1 as soon as she recovered strength1 began again in a ruder manner than before1 following and vexing the young children1 and beating their bedsteads with so much violence that every one expected they would fall in pieces4 ,for an hour together1 as the worthy ,mr4 ,mompesson repeated to his wondering neighbours1 this infernal drummer would beat ',roundheads and ,cuckolds1' the ',tat-too1' and several other points of war1 as cleverly as any soldier4 ,when this had lasted long enough1 he changed his tactics1 and scratched with his iron talons under the children's bed4 ,on the #eth of ,november1 says the ,rev4 ,joseph ,glanvil1 it made a mighty noise2 and a servant observing two boards in the children's room seeming to move1 he bid it give him one of them4 ,upon which the board came 7nothing moving it that he saw7 within a yard of him4 ,the man added1 ',nay1 let me have it in my hand2' upon which the spirit1 devil1 or drummer pushed it towards him so close that he might touch it4 ,this1 continues ,glanvil1 was in the day-time1 and was seen by a whole room full of people4 ,that morning it left a sulphureous smell behind it1 which was very offensive4 ,at night the minister1 one ,mr4 ,cragg1 and several of the neighbours came to the house on a visit4 ,mr4 ,cragg went to prayers with them1 kneeling at the children's bedside1 where it then became very troublesome and loud4 ,during prayer-time1 the spirit withdrew into the cock-loft1 but returned as soon as prayers were done2 and then1 in sight of the company1 the chairs walked about the room of themselves1 the children's shoes were hurled over their heads1 and every loose thing moved about the chamber4 ,at the same time1 a bed-staff was thrown at the minister1 which hit him on the leg1 but so favourably1 that a lock of wool could not have fallen more softly4 ,on another occasion1 the blacksmith of the village1 a fellow who cared neither for ghost nor devil1 slept with ,john the footman1 that he also might hear the disturbances and be cured of his incredulity1 when there came a noise in the room as if one had been shoeing a horse1 and somewhat came1 as it were1 with a pair of pincers1 snipping and snapping at the poor blacksmith's nose the greater part of the night4 ,next day it came panting like a dog out of breath2 upon which some woman present took a bed-staff to knock at it1 which was caught suddenly out of her hand and thrown away2 and company coming up1 the room was presently filled with a bloomy noisome smell1 and was very hot1 though without fire1 in a very sharp and severe winter4 ,it continued in the bed1 panting and scratching for an hour and a half1 and then went into the next room1 where it knocked a little1 and seemed to rattle a chain4 ,the rumour of these wonderful occurrences soon spread all over the country1 and people from far and near flocked to the haunted house of ,tedworth1 to believe or doubt as their natures led them1 but all filled with intense curiosity4 ,it appears1 too1 that the fame of these events reached the royal ear1 and that some gentlemen were sent by the king to investigate the circumstances1 and draw up a report of what they saw or heard4 ,whether the royal commissioners were more sensible men than the neighbours of ,mr4 ,mompesson1 and required more clear and positive evidence than they1 or whether the powers with which they were armed to punish any body who might be found carrying on this deception frightened the evil-doers1 is not certain2 but ,glanvil himself reluctantly confesses that all the time they were in the house the noises ceased1 and nothing was heard or seen4 ,however1 says he1 as to the quiet of the house when the courtiers were there1 the intermission may have been accidental1 or perhaps the demon was not willing to give so public a testimony of those transactions which might possibly convince those who he had rather should continue in unbelief of his existence4 ,as soon as the royal commissioners took their departure1 the infernal drummer recommenced his antics1 and hundreds of persons were daily present to hear and wonder4 ,mr4 ,mompesson's servant was so fortunate as not only to hear1 but to see this pertinacious demon1 for it came and stood at the foot of his bed4 ,the exact shape and proportion of it he could not discover2 but he saw a great body1 with two red and glaring eyes1 which1 for some time1 were fixed steadily on him1 and at length disappeared4 ,innumerable were the antics it played4 ,once it purred like a cat2 beat the children's legs black and blue2 put a long spike into ,mr4 ,mompesson's bed1 and a knife into his mother's2 filled the porringers with ashes2 hid a ,bible under the grate2 and turned the money black in people's pockets4 ,one night1 said ,mr4 ,mompesson1 in a letter to ,mr4 ,glanvil1 there were seven or eight of these devils in the shape of men1 who1 as soon as a gun was fired1 would shuffle away into an arbour2 a circumstance which might have convinced ,mr4 ,mompesson of the mortal nature of his persecutors1 if he had not been of the number of those worse than blind1 who shut their eyes and refuse to see4 ,in the mean time the drummer1 the supposed cause of all the mischief1 passed his time in ,gloucester gaol1 whither he had been committed as a rogue and a vagabond4 ,being visited one day by some person from the neighbourhood of ,tedworth1 he asked what was the news in ,wiltshire1 and whether people did not talk a great deal about a drumming in a gentleman's house there8 ,the visitor replied that he heard of nothing else2 upon which the drummer observed1 ,i have done it2 ,i have thus plagued him2 and he shall never be quiet until he hath made me satisfaction for taking away my drum4 ,no doubt the fellow1 who seems to have been a gipsy1 spoke the truth1 and that the gang of which he was a member knew more about the noises at ,mr4 ,mompesson's house than any body else4 ,upon these words1 however1 he was brought to trial at ,salisbury for witchcraft2 and1 being found guilty1 was sentenced to transportation2 a sentence which1 for its leniency1 excited no little wonder in that age1 when such an accusation1 whether proved or not1 generally insured the stake or the gibbet4 ,glanvil says that the noises ceased immediately the drummer was sent beyond the seas2 but that1 somehow or other1 he managed to return from transportation2 by raising storms and affrighting the seamen1 it was said2 when the disturbances were forthwith renewed1 and continued at intervals for several years4 ,certainly1 if the confederates of this roving gipsy were so pertinacious in tormenting poor weak ,mr4 ,mompesson1 their pertinacity is a most extraordinary instance of what revenge is capable of4 ,it was believed by many1 at the time1 that ,mr4 ,mompesson himself was privy to the whole matter1 and permitted and encouraged these tricks in his house for the sake of notoriety2 but it seems more probable that the gipsies were the real delinquents1 and that ,mr4 ,mompesson was as much alarmed and bewildered as his credulous neighbours1 whose excited imaginations conjured up no small portion of these stories1 ,which rolled1 and as they rolled grew larger visibly4 ,many instances of a similar kind1 during the seventeenth century1 might be gleaned from ,glanvil and other writers of that period2 but they do not differ sufficiently from these to justify a detail of them4 ,the most famous of all haunted houses acquired its notoriety much nearer our own time2 and the circumstances connected with it are so curious1 and afford so fair a specimen of the easy credulity even of well-informed and sensible people1 as to merit a little notice in this chapter4 ,the ,cock-,lane ,ghost1 as it was called1 kept ,london in commotion for a considerable time1 and was the theme of conversation among the learned and the illiterate1 and in every circle1 from that of the prince to that of the peasant4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,haunted ,,house ,,in ,,cock ,,lane4 ,at the commencement of the year #agfj1 there resided in ,cock ,lane1 near ,west ,smithfield1 in the house of one ,parsons1 the parish clerk of ,st4 ,sepulchre's1 a stockbroker1 named ,kent4 ,the wife of this gentleman had died in child-bed during the previous year1 and his sister-in-law1 ,miss ,fanny1 had arrived from ,norfolk to keep his house for him4 ,they soon conceived a mutual affection1 and each of them made a will in the other's favour4 ,they lived some months in the house of ,parsons1 who1 being a needy man1 borrowed money of his lodger4 ,some difference arose betwixt them1 and ,mr4 ,kent left the house1 and instituted legal proceedings against the parish-clerk for the recovery of his money4 ,while this matter was yet pending1 ,miss ,fanny was suddenly taken ill of the small-pox2 and1 notwithstanding every care and attention1 she died in a few days1 and was buried in a vault under ,clerkenwell church4 ,parsons now began to hint that the poor lady had come unfairly by her death1 and that ,mr4 ,kent was accessory to it1 from his too great eagerness to enter into possession of the property she had bequeathed him4 ,nothing further was said for nearly two years2 but it would appear that ,parsons was of so revengeful a character1 that he had never forgotten or forgiven his differences with ,mr4 ,kent1 and the indignity of having been sued for the borrowed money4 ,the strong passions of pride and avarice were silently at work during all that interval1 hatching schemes of revenge1 but dismissing them one after the other as impracticable1 until1 at last1 a notable one suggested itself4 ,about the beginning of the year #agfb1 the alarm was spread over all the neighbourhood of ,cock ,lane1 that the house of ,parsons was haunted by the ghost of poor ,fanny1 and that the daughter of ,parsons1 a girl about twelve years of age1 had several times seen and conversed with the spirit1 who had1 moreover1 informed her1 that she had not died of the small-pox1 as was currently reported1 but of poison1 administered by ,mr4 ,kent4 ,parsons1 who originated1 took good care to countenance these reports2 and1 in answer to numerous inquiries1 said his house was every night1 and had been for two years1 in fact1 ever since the death of ,fanny1 troubled by a loud knocking at the doors and in the walls4 ,having thus prepared the ignorant and credulous neighbours to believe or exaggerate for themselves what he had told them1 he sent for a gentleman of a higher class in life1 to come and witness these extraordinary occurrences4 ,the gentleman came accordingly1 and found the daughter of ,parsons1 to whom the spirit alone appeared1 and whom alone it answered1 in bed1 trembling violently1 having just seen the ghost1 and been again informed that she had died from poison4 ,a loud knocking was also heard from every part of the chamber1 which so mystified the not very clear understanding of the visitor1 that he departed1 afraid to doubt and ashamed to believe1 but with a promise to bring the clergyman of the parish and several other gentlemen on the following day1 to report upon the mystery4 ,on the following night he returned1 bringing with him three clergymen1 and about twenty other persons1 including two negroes1 when1 upon a consultation with ,parsons1 they resolved to sit up the whole night1 and await the ghost's arrival4 ,it was then explained by ,parsons1 that although the ghost would never render itself visible to any body but his daughter1 it had no objection to answer the questions that might be put to it1 by any person present1 and that it expressed an affirmation by one knock1 a negative by two1 and its displeasure by a kind of scratching4 ,the child was then put into bed along with her sister1 and the clergymen examined the bed and bed-clothes to satisfy themselves that no trick was played1 by knocking upon any substance concealed among the clothes4 ,as on the previous night1 the bed was observed to shake violently4 ,illustration3 ,,room ,,in ,,the ,,haunted ,,house ,,in ,,cock ,,lane4#dd #dd ,the woman whose ghost was said to manifest itself in ,cock ,lane was buried in the crypt or cloister of ,st4 ,john1 ,clerkenwell4 ,the vault is composed of two aisles1 that on the south being much narrower than the other1--it was here she was deposited4 ,about seven years since1 ,i was sketching a picturesque trefoil-headed door leading into this part of the vault2 and the place being at that time in great confusion with coffins1 remains of bodies1 some of which were dried like mummies1 c41 ,i could find no better seat than one of the coffins4 ,the sexton's boy1 who held my light1 informed me this was the coffin of ,scratching ,fanny1 which recalled the ,cock ,lane story to my mind4 ,i got off the lid of the coffin1 and saw the face of a handsome woman1 with an aquiline nose2 this feature remaining perfect1 an uncommon case1 for the cartilage mostly gives way4 ,the remains had become adipocere1 and were perfectly preserved4 ,she was said to have been poisoned by deleterious punch1 but this was legally disproved2 and1 if ,i remember rightly1 she was otherwise declared to have died of small-pox2 of this disease there was not the least sign2 but as some mineral poisons tend to render bodies adipocere1 here was some evidence in support of the former allegation4 ,i made particular inquiries at the time of ,mr4 ,bird1 churchwarden1 a respectable and judicious man2 and he gave me good assurance that this coffin had always been looked upon as the one containing the ,cock ,lane woman4 ,since that time the vault has been set in order1 and the above-mentioned coffin1 with others1 put away4 ,the niche near the window in the drawing of the ,ghost ,room is the place where the bed-head was1 and where the scratching1 knocks1 c4 were heard4 ,this is the tradition of the house4 ,mrs4 ,king1 who holds the premises1 informs me that her family has had the house about eighty years4--,j4 ,w4 ,,archer4 ,after some hours1 during which they all waited with exemplary patience1 the mysterious knocking was heard in the wall1 and the child declared that she saw the ghost of poor ,fanny4 ,the following questions were then gravely put by the clergyman1 through the medium of one ,mary ,frazer1 the servant of ,parsons1 and to whom it was said the deceased lady had been much attached4 ,the answers were in the usual fashion1 by a knock or knocks3 ,do you make this disturbance on account of the ill-usage you received from ,mr4 ,kent8--,yes4 ,were you brought to an untimely end by poison8--,yes4 ,how was the poison administered1 in beer or purl8--,in purl4 ,how long was that before your death8--,about three hours4 ,can your former servant1 ,carrots1 give any information about the poison8--,yes4 ,are you ,kent's wife's sister8--,yes4 ,were you married to ,kent after your sister's death8--,no4 ,was any body else1 besides ,kent1 concerned in your murder8--,no4 ,can you1 if you like1 appear visibly to any one8--,yes4 ,will you do so8--,yes4 ,can you go out of this house8--,yes4 ,is it your intention to follow this child about every where8--,yes4 ,are you pleased in being asked these questions8--,yes4 ,does it ease your troubled soul8--,yes4 ,here there was heard a mysterious noise1 which some wiseacre present compared to the fluttering of wings4 ,how long before your death did you tell your servant1 ,carrots1 that you were poisoned8 ,an hour8--,yes4 ,carrots1 who was present1 was appealed to2 but she stated positively that such was not the fact1 as the deceased was quite speechless an hour before her death4 ,this shook the faith of some of the spectators1 but the examination was allowed to continue4 ,how long did ,carrots live with you8--,three or four days4 ,carrots was again appealed to1 and said that this was true4 ,if ,mr4 ,kent is arrested for this murder1 will he confess8--,yes4 ,would your soul be at rest if he were hanged for it8--,yes4 ,will he be hanged for it8--,yes4 ,how long a time first8--,three years4 ,how many clergymen are there in this room8--,three4 ,how many negroes8--,two4 ,is this watch 7held up by one of the clergymen7 white8--,no4 ,is it yellow8--,no4 ,is it blue8--,no4 ,is it black8--,yes4 ,the watch was in a black shagreen case4 ,at what time this morning will you take your departure8 ,the answer to this question was four knocks1 very distinctly heard by every person present2 and accordingly1 at four o'clock precisely the ghost took its departure to the ,wheatsheaf public-house close by1 where it frightened mine host and his lady almost out of their wits1 by knocking in the ceiling right above their bed4 ,the rumour of these occurrences very soon spread over ,london1 and every day ,cock ,lane was rendered impassable by the crowds of people who assembled around the house of the parish clerk1 in expectation of either seeing the ghost or of hearing the mysterious knocks4 ,it was at last found necessary1 so clamorous were they for admission within the haunted precincts1 to admit those only who would pay a certain fee1 an arrangement which was very convenient to the needy and money-loving ,mr4 ,parsons4 ,indeed1 things had taken a turn greatly to his satisfaction2 he not only had his revenge1 but he made a profit out of it4 ,the ghost1 in consequence1 played its antics every night1 to the great amusement of many hundreds of people and the great perplexity of a still greater number4 ,unhappily1 however1 for the parish clerk1 the ghost was induced to make some promises which were the means of utterly destroying its reputation4 ,it promised1 in answer to the questions of the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,aldritch of ,clerkenwell1 that it would not only follow the little ,miss ,parsons wherever she went1 but would also attend him1 or any other gentleman1 into the vault under ,st4 ,john's ,church1 where the body of the murdered woman was deposited1 and would there give notice of its presence by a distinct knock upon the coffin4 ,as a preliminary1 the girl was conveyed to the house of ,mr4 ,aldritch near the church1 where a large party of ladies and gentlemen1 eminent for their acquirements1 their rank1 or their wealth1 had assembled4 ,about ten o'clock on the night of the first of ,february1 the girl having been brought from ,cock ,lane in a coach1 was put to bed by several ladies in the house of ,mr4 ,aldritch2 a strict examination having been previously made that nothing was hidden in the bed-clothes4 ,while the gentlemen in an adjoining chamber were deliberating whether they should proceed in a body to the vault1 they were summoned into the bedroom by the ladies1 who affirmed1 in great alarm1 that the ghost was come1 and that they heard the knocks and scratches4 ,the gentlemen entered accordingly1 with a determination to suffer no deception4 ,the little girl1 on being asked whether she saw the ghost1 replied1 ,no2 but she felt it on her back like a mouse4 ,she was then required to put her hands out of bed1 and they being held by some of the ladies1 the spirit was summoned in the usual manner to answer1 if it were in the room4 ,the question was several times put with great solemnity2 but the customary knock was not heard in reply in the walls1 neither was there any scratching4 ,the ghost was then asked to render itself visible1 but it did not choose to grant the request4 ,it was next solicited to give some token of its presence by a sound of any sort1 or by touching the hand or cheek of any lady or gentleman in the room2 but even with this request the ghost would not comply4 ,there was now a considerable pause1 and one of the clergymen went down stairs to interrogate the father of the girl1 who was waiting the result of the experiment4 ,he positively denied that there was any deception1 and even went so far as to say that he himself1 upon one occasion1 had seen and conversed with the awful ghost4 ,this having been communicated to the company1 it was unanimously resolved to give the ghost another trial2 and the clergyman called out in a loud voice to the supposed spirit1 that the gentleman to whom it had promised to appear in the vault was about to repair to that place1 where he claimed the fulfilment of its promise4 ,at one hour after midnight they all proceeded to the church1 and the gentleman in question1 with another1 entered the vault alone1 and took up their position alongside of the coffin of poor ,fanny4 ,the ghost was then summoned to appear1 but it appeared not2 it was summoned to knock1 but it knocked not2 it was summoned to scratch1 but it scratched not2 and the two retired from the vault1 with a firm belief that the whole business was a deception practised by ,parsons and his daughter4 ,there were others1 however1 who did not wish to jump so hastily to a conclusion1 and who suggested that they were perhaps trifling with this awful and supernatural being1 which1 being offended with them for their presumption1 would not condescend to answer them4 ,again1 after serious consultation1 it was agreed on all hands that if the ghost answered any body at all1 it would answer ,mr4 ,kent1 the supposed murderer2 and he was accordingly requested to go down into the vault4 ,he went with several others1 and summoned the ghost to answer whether he had indeed poisoned her4 ,there being no answer1 the question was put by ,mr4 ,aldritch1 who conjured it1 if it were indeed a spirit1 to end their doubts1 make a sign of its presence1 and point out the guilty person4 ,there being still no answer for the space of half an hour1 during which time all these boobies waited with the most praiseworthy perseverance1 they returned to the house of ,mr4 ,aldritch1 and ordered the girl to get up and dress herself4 ,she was strictly examined1 but persisted in her statement that she used no deception1 and that the ghost had really appeared to her4 ,so many persons had1 by their openly expressed belief of the reality of the visitation1 identified themselves with it1 that ,parsons and his family were far from being the only persons interested in the continuance of the delusion4 ,the result of the experiment convinced most people2 but these were not to be convinced by any evidence1 however positive1 and they therefore spread abroad the rumour1 that the ghost had not appeared in the vault because ,mr4 ,kent had taken care beforehand to have the coffin removed4 ,that gentleman1 whose position was a very painful one1 immediately procured competent witnesses1 in whose presence the vault was entered1 and the coffin of poor ,fanny opened4 ,their depositions were then published2 and ,mr4 ,kent indicted ,parsons and his wife1 his daughter1 ,mary ,frazer the servant1 the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,moor1 and a tradesman1 two of the most prominent patrons of the deception1 for a conspiracy4 ,the trial came on in the ,court of ,king's ,bench1 on the #ajth of ,july1 before ,lord ,chief-,justice ,mansfield1 when1 after an investigation which lasted twelve hours1 the whole of the conspirators were found guilty4 ,the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,moor and his friend were severely reprimanded in open court1 and recommended to make some pecuniary compensation to the prosecutor for the aspersions they had been instrumental in throwing upon his character4 ,parsons was sentenced to stand three times in the pillory1 and to be imprisoned for two years2 his wife to one year's1 and his servant to six months' imprisonment in the ,bridewell4 ,a printer1 who had been employed by them to publish an account of the proceedings for their profit1 was also fined fifty pounds1 and discharged4 ,the precise manner in which the deception was carried on has never been explained4 ,the knocking in the wall appears to have been the work of ,parsons' wife1 while the scratching part of the business was left to the little girl4 ,that any contrivance so clumsy could have deceived any body cannot fail to excite our wonder4 ,but thus it always is4 ,if two or three persons can only be found to take the lead in any absurdity1 however great1 there is sure to be plenty of imitators4 ,like sheep in a field1 if one clears the stile1 the rest will follow4 ,about ten years afterwards1 ,london was again alarmed by the story of a haunted house4 ,stockwell1 near ,vauxhall1 the scene of the antics of this new ghost1 became almost as celebrated in the annals of superstition as ,cock ,lane4 ,mrs4 ,golding1 an elderly lady1 who resided alone with her servant1 ,anne ,robinson1 was sorely surprised on the evening of ,twelfth-,day1 #aggb1 to observe a most extraordinary commotion among her crockery4 ,cups and saucers rattled down the chimney--pots and pans were whirled down stairs1 or through the windows2 and hams1 cheeses1 and loaves of bread disported themselves upon the floor as if the devil were in them4 ,this1 at least1 was the conclusion that ,mrs4 ,golding came to2 and being greatly alarmed1 she invited some of her neighbours to stay with her1 and protect her from the evil one4 ,their presence1 however1 did not put a stop to the insurrection of china1 and every room in the house was in a short time strewed with the fragments4 ,the chairs and tables joined1 at last1 in the tumult1 and things looked altogether so serious and inexplicable1 that the neighbours1 dreading that the house itself would next be seized with a fit of motion1 and tumble about their ears1 left poor ,mrs4 ,golding to bear the brunt of it by herself4 ,the ghost in this case was solemnly remonstrated with1 and urged to take its departure2 but the demolition continuing as great as before1 ,mrs4 ,golding finally made up her mind to quit the house altogether4 ,she took refuge with ,anne ,robinson in the house of a neighbour2 but his glass and crockery being immediately subjected to the same persecution1 he was reluctantly compelled to give her notice to quit4 ,the old lady thus forced back to her own house1 endured the disturbance for some days longer1 when suspecting that ,anne ,robinson was the cause of all the mischief1 she dismissed her from her service4 ,the extraordinary appearances immediately ceased1 and were never afterwards renewed2 a fact which is of itself sufficient to point out the real disturber4 ,a long time afterwards1 ,anne ,robinson confessed the whole matter to the ,reverend ,mr4 ,brayfield4 ,this gentleman confided the story to ,mr4 ,hone1 who has published an explanation of the mystery4 ,anne1 it appears1 was anxious to have a clear house1 to carry on an intrigue with her lover1 and resorted to this trick to effect her purpose4 ,she placed the china on the shelves in such a manner that it fell on the slightest motion1 and attached horse-hairs to other articles1 so that she could jerk them down from an adjoining room without being perceived by any one4 ,she was exceedingly dexterous at this sort of work1 and would have proved a formidable rival to many a juggler by profession4 ,a full explanation of the whole affair may be found in the ,every-day ,book4 ,the latest instance of the popular panic occasioned by a house supposed to be haunted1 occurred in ,scotland1 in the winter of the year #ahch4 ,on the #eth of ,december1 the inmates of the farm-house of ,baldarroch1 in the district of ,banchory1 ,aberdeenshire1 were alarmed by observing a great number of sticks1 pebble-stones1 and clods of earth flying about their yard and premises4 ,they endeavoured1 but in vain1 to discover who was the delinquent2 and the shower of stones continuing for five days in succession1 they came at last to the conclusion that the devil and his imps were alone the cause of it4 ,the rumour soon spread over all that part of the country1 and hundreds of persons came from far and near to witness the antics of the devils of ,baldarroch4 ,after the fifth day1 the shower of clods and stones ceased on the outside of the premises1 and the scene shifted to the interior4 ,spoons1 knives1 plates1 mustard-pots1 rolling-pins1 and flat-irons appeared suddenly endued with the power of self-motion1 and were whirled from room to room1 and rattled down the chimneys in a manner which nobody could account for4 ,the lid of a mustard-pot was put into a cupboard by the servant-girl in the presence of scores of people1 and in a few minutes afterwards came bouncing down the chimney1 to the consternation of every body4 ,there was also a tremendous knocking at the doors and on the roof1 and pieces of stick and pebble-stones rattled against the windows and broke them4 ,the whole neighbourhood was a scene of alarm2 and not only the vulgar1 but persons of education1 respectable farmers1 within a circle of twenty miles1 expressed their belief in the supernatural character of these events1 and offered up devout prayers to be preserved from the machinations of the ,evil ,one4 ,the note of fear being once sounded1 the visitors1 as is generally the case in all tales of wonder1 strove with each other who should witness the most extraordinary occurrences2 and within a week1 it was generally believed in the parishes of ,banchory-,ternan1 ,drumoak1 ,durris1 ,kincardine-,o',neil1 and all the circumjacent districts of ,mearns and ,aberdeenshire1 that the devil had been seen in the act of hammering upon the house-top of ,baldarroch4 ,one old man asserted positively that1 one night1 after having been to see the strange gambols of the knives and mustard-pots1 he met the phantom of a great black man1 who wheeled round his head with a whizzing noise1 making a wind about his ears that almost blew his bonnet off1 and that he was haunted by him in this manner for three miles4 ,it was also affirmed and believed1 that all horses and dogs that approached this enchanted ground were immediately affected2 that a gentleman1 slow of faith1 had been cured of his incredulity by meeting the butter-churn jumping in at the door as he himself was going out2 that the roofs of houses had been torn off1 and that several ricks in the corn-yard had danced a quadrille together1 to the sound of the devil's bagpipes re-echoing from the mountain-tops4 ,the women in the family of the persecuted farmer of ,baldarroch also kept their tongues in perpetual motion2 swelling with their strange stories the tide of popular wonder4 ,the goodwife herself1 and all her servants1 said that1 whenever they went to bed1 they were attacked with stones and other missiles1 some of which came below the blankets and gently tapped their toes4 ,one evening1 a shoe suddenly darted across a garret where some labourers were sitting1 and one of the men1 who attempted to catch it1 swore positively that it was so hot and heavy he was unable to hold it4 ,it was also said that the bearbeater 7a sort of mortar used to bruise barley in7--an object of such weight that it requires several men to move it--spontaneously left the barn and flew over the house-top1 alighting at the feet of one of the servant-maids1 and hitting her1 but without hurting her in the least1 or even causing her any alarm2 it being a fact well known to her1 that all objects thus thrown about by the devil lost their specific gravity1 and could harm nobody1 even though they fell upon a person's head4 ,among the persons drawn to ,baldarroch by these occurrences were the heritor1 the minister1 and all the elders of the ,kirk1 under whose superintendence an investigation was immediately commenced4 ,their proceedings were not promulgated for some days2 and1 in the mean time1 rumour continued to travel through all the ,highlands1 magnifying each mysterious incident the farther it got from home4 ,it was said1 that when the goodwife put her potato-pot on the fire1 each potato1 as the water boiled1 changed into a demon1 and grinned horribly at her as she lifted the lid2 that not only chairs and tables1 but carrots and turnips1 skipped along the floor in the merriest manner imaginable2 that shoes and boots went through all the evolutions of the ,highland fling without any visible wearers directing their motions2 and that a piece of meat detached itself from the hook on which it hung in the pantry1 and placed itself before the fire1 whence all the efforts of the people of the house were unable to remove it until it was thoroughly roasted2 and that it then flew up the chimney with a tremendous bang4 ,at ,baldarroch itself the belief was not quite so extravagant2 but the farmer was so convinced that the devil and his imps were alone the cause of all the disturbance1 that he travelled a distance of forty miles to an old conjuror1 named ,willie ,foreman1 to induce him1 for a handsome fee1 to remove the enchantment from his property4 ,there were1 of course1 some sensible and educated people1 who1 after stripping the stories circulated of their exaggeration1 attributed all the rest to one or other of two causes2 first1 that some gipsies1 or strolling mendicants1 hidden in the neighbouring plantation1 were amusing themselves by working on the credulity of the country people2 or1 secondly1 that the inmates of ,baldarroch carried on this deception themselves1 for some reason or other1 which was not very clear to any body4 ,the last opinion gained but few believers1 as the farmer and his family were much respected2 and so many persons had1 in the most open manner1 expressed their belief in the supernatural agency1 that they did not like to stultify themselves by confessing that they had been deceived4 ,at last1 after a fortnight's continuance of the noises1 the whole trick was discovered4 ,the two servant lasses were strictly examined1 and then committed to prison4 ,it appeared that they were alone at the bottom of the whole affair1 and that the extraordinary alarm and credulity of their master and mistress1 in the first instance1 and of the neighbours and country people afterwards1 made their task comparatively easy4 ,a little common dexterity was all they had used2 and1 being themselves unsuspected1 they swelled the alarm by the wonderful stories they invented4 ,it was they who loosened the bricks in the chimneys1 and placed the dishes in such a manner on the shelves1 that they fell on the slightest motion4 ,in short1 they played the same tricks as those used by the servant girl at ,stockwell1 with the same results1 and for the same purpose--the gratification of a love of mischief4 ,they were no sooner secured in the county gaol than the noises ceased1 and most people were convinced that human agency alone had worked all the wonder4 ,some few of the most devoutly superstitious still held out in their first belief1 and refused to listen to any explanation4 ,these tales of haunted houses1 especially those of the last and present century1 however they may make us blush for popular folly1 are yet gratifying in their results2 for they shew that society has made a vast improvement4 ,had ,parsons and his wife1 and the other contrivers of the ,cock ,lane deception1 lived two hundred years earlier1 they would not perhaps have found a greater number of dupes1 but they would have been hanged as witches1 instead of being imprisoned as vagabonds4 ,the ingenious ,anne ,robinson and the sly lasses of ,baldarroch would doubtless have met a similar fate4 ,thus it is pleasant to reflect1 that though there may be as much folly and credulity in the world as ever in one class of society1 there is more wisdom and mercy in another than ever were known before4 ,lawgivers1 by blotting from the statute-book the absurd or sanguinary enactments of their predecessors1 have made one step towards teaching the people4 ,it is to be hoped that the day is not far distant when lawgivers will teach the people by some more direct means1 and prevent the recurrence of delusions like these1 and many worse1 which might be cited1 by securing to every child born within their dominions an education in accordance with the advancing state of civilisation4 ,if ghosts and witches are not yet altogether exploded1 it is the fault1 not so much of the ignorant people1 as of the law and the government that have neglected to enlighten them4 ,,popular ,,follies ,,of ,,great ,,cities4 ,la faridondaine--la faridondon1 ,vive la faridondaine6--,beranger4 ,illustration3 ,t ,the popular humours of a great city are a never-failing source of amusement to the man whose sympathies are hospitable enough to embrace all his kind1 and who1 refined though he may be himself1 will not sneer at the humble wit or grotesque peculiarities of the boozing mechanic1 the squalid beggar1 the vicious urchin1 and all the motley group of the idle1 the reckless1 and the imitative that swarm in the alleys and broadways of a metropolis4 ,he who walks through a great city to find subjects for weeping1 may find plenty at every corner to wring his heart2 but let such a man walk on his course1 and enjoy his grief alone--we are not of those who would accompany him4 ,the miseries of us poor earth-dwellers gain no alleviation from the sympathy of those who merely hunt them out to be pathetic over them4 ,the weeping philosopher too often impairs his eyesight by his woe1 and becomes unable from his tears to see the remedies for the evils which he deplores4 ,thus it will often be found that the man of no tears is the truest philanthropist1 as he is the best physician who wears a cheerful face1 even in the worst of cases4 ,so many pens have been employed to point out the miseries1 and so many to condemn the crimes and vices1 and more serious follies of the multitude1 that ours shall not increase the number1 at least in this chapter4 ,our present task shall be less ungracious1 and wandering through the busy haunts of great cities1 we shall seek only for amusement1 and note as we pass a few of the harmless follies and whimsies of the poor4 ,and1 first of all1 walk where we will1 we cannot help hearing from every side a phrase repeated with delight1 and received with laughter1 by men with hard hands and dirty faces1 by saucy butcher lads and errand-boys1 by loose women1 by hackney coachmen1 cabriolet-drivers1 and idle fellows who loiter at the corners of streets4 ,not one utters this phrase without producing a laugh from all within hearing4 ,it seems applicable to every circumstance1 and is the universal answer to every question2 in short1 it is the favourite slang phrase of the day1 a phrase that1 while its brief season of popularity lasts1 throws a dash of fun and frolicsomeness over the existence of squalid poverty and ill-requited labour1 and gives them reason to laugh as well as their more fortunate fellows in a higher stage of society4 ,london is peculiarly fertile in this sort of phrases1 which spring up suddenly1 no one knows exactly in what spot1 and pervade the whole population in a few hours1 no one knows how4 ,many years ago the favourite phrase 7for1 though but a monosyllable1 it was a phrase in itself7 was ,quoz4 ,this odd word took the fancy of the multitude in an extraordinary degree1 and very soon acquired an almost boundless meaning4 ,when vulgar wit wished to mark its incredulity1 and raise a laugh at the same time1 there was no resource so sure as this popular piece of slang4 ,when a man was asked a favour which he did not choose to grant1 he marked his sense of the suitor's unparalleled presumption by exclaiming ,quoz6 ,when a mischievous urchin wished to annoy a passenger1 and create mirth for his comrades1 he looked him in the face1 and cried out ,quoz6 and the exclamation never failed in its object4 ,when a disputant was desirous of throwing a doubt upon the veracity of his opponent1 and getting summarily rid of an argument which he could not overturn1 he uttered the word ,quoz1 with a contemptuous curl of his lip1 and an impatient shrug of his shoulders4 ,the universal monosyllable conveyed all his meaning1 and not only told his opponent that he lied1 but that he erred egregiously if he thought that any one was such a nincompoop as to believe him4 ,every alehouse resounded with ,quoz2 every street-corner was noisy with it1 and every wall for miles around was chalked with it4 ,but1 like all other earthly things1 ,quoz had its season1 and passed away as suddenly as it arose1 never again to be the pet and the idol of the populace4 ,a new claimant drove it from its place1 and held undisputed sway till1 in its turn1 it was hurled from its pre-eminence1 and a successor appointed in its stead4 ,what a shocking bad hat6 was the phrase that was next in vogue4 ,no sooner had it become universal1 than thousands of idle but sharp eyes were on the watch for the passenger whose hat shewed any signs1 however slight1 of ancient service4 ,immediately the cry arose1 and1 like the war-whoop of the ,indians1 was repeated by a hundred discordant throats4 ,he was a wise man who1 finding himself under these circumstances the observed of all observers1 bore his honours meekly4 ,he who shewed symptoms of ill-feeling at the imputations cast upon his hat1 only brought upon himself redoubled notice4 ,the mob soon perceive whether a man is irritable1 and1 if of their own class1 they love to make sport of him4 ,when such a man1 and with such a hat1 passed in those days through a crowded neighbourhood1 he might think himself fortunate if his annoyances were confined to the shouts and cries of the populace4 ,the obnoxious hat was often snatched from his head and thrown into the gutter by some practical joker1 and then raised1 covered with mud1 upon the end of a stick1 for the admiration of the spectators1 who held their sides with laughter1 and exclaimed1 in the pauses of their mirth1 ,oh1 what a shocking bad hat6 ,what a shocking bad hat6 ,many a nervous poor man1 whose purse could but ill spare the outlay1 doubtless purchased a new hat before the time1 in order to avoid exposure in this manner4 ,the origin of this singular saying1 which made fun for the metropolis for months1 is not involved in the same obscurity as that which shrouds the origin of ,quoz and some others4 ,there had been a hotly contested election for the borough of ,southwark1 and one of the candidates was an eminent hatter4 ,this gentleman1 in canvassing the electors1 adopted a somewhat professional mode of conciliating their good-will1 and of bribing them without letting them perceive that they were bribed4 ,whenever he called upon or met a voter whose hat was not of the best material1 or1 being so1 had seen its best days1 he invariably said1 ,what a shocking bad hat you have got2 call at my warehouse1 and you shall have a new one6 ,upon the day of election this circumstance was remembered1 and his opponents made the most of it1 by inciting the crowd to keep up an incessant cry of ,what a shocking bad hat6 all the time the honourable candidate was addressing them4 ,from ,southwark the phrase spread over all ,london1 and reigned for a time the supreme slang of the season4 ,hookey ,walker1 derived from the chorus of a popular ballad1 was also high in favour at one time1 and served1 like its predecessor ,quoz1 to answer all questions4 ,in the course of time1 the latter word alone became the favourite1 and was uttered with a peculiar drawl upon the first syllable1 and a sharp turn upon the last4 ,if a lively servant girl was importuned for a kiss by a fellow she did not care about1 she cocked her little nose1 and cried ,walker6 ,if a dustman asked his friend for the loan of a shilling1 and his friend was either unable or unwilling to accommodate him1 the probable answer he would receive was1 ,walker6 ,if a drunken man was reeling about the streets1 and a boy pulled his coat-tails1 or a man knocked his hat over his eyes to make fun of him1 the joke was always accompanied by the same exclamation4 ,this lasted for two or three months1 and ,walker6 walked off the stage1 never more to be revived for the entertainment of that or any future generation4 ,the next phrase was a most preposterous one4 ,who invented it1 how it arose1 or where it was first heard1 are alike unknown4 ,nothing about it is certain1 but that for months it was the slang par excellence of the ,londoners1 and afforded them a vast gratification4 ,there he goes with his eye out6 or ,there she goes with her eye out6 as the sex of the party alluded to might be1 was in the mouth of every body who knew the town4 ,the sober part of the community were as much puzzled by this unaccountable saying as the vulgar were delighted with it4 ,the wise thought it very foolish1 but the many thought it very funny1 and the idle amused themselves by chalking it upon walls1 or scribbling it upon monuments4 ,but all that's bright must fade1 even in slang4 ,the people grew tired of their hobby1 and ,there he goes with his eye out6 was heard no more in its accustomed haunts4 ,another very odd phrase came into repute in a brief space afterwards1 in the form of the impertinent and not universally apposite query1 ,has your mother sold her mangle8 ,but its popularity was not of that boisterous and cordial kind which ensures a long continuance of favour4 ,what tended to impede its progress was1 that it could not be well applied to the older portions of society4 ,it consequently ran but a brief career1 and then sank into oblivion4 ,its successor enjoyed a more extended fame1 and laid its foundations so deep1 that years and changing fashions have not sufficed to eradicate it4 ,this phrase was ,flare up6 and it is1 even now1 a colloquialism in common use4 ,it took its rise in the time of the ,reform riots1 when ,bristol was nearly half burned by the infuriated populace4 ,the flames were said to have flared up in the devoted city4 ,whether there was any thing peculiarly captivating in the sound1 or in the idea of these words1 is hard to say2 but whatever was the reason1 it tickled the mob-fancy mightily1 and drove all other slang out of the field before it4 ,nothing was to be heard all over ,london but flare up6 ,it answered all questions1 settled all disputes1 was applied to all persons1 all things1 and all circumstances1 and became suddenly the most comprehensive phrase in the ,english language4 ,the man who had overstepped the bounds of decorum in his speech was said to have flared up2 he who had paid visits too repeated to the gin-shop1 and got damaged in consequence1 had flared up4 ,to put one's self into a passion2 to stroll out on a nocturnal frolic1 and alarm a neighbourhood1 or to create a disturbance in any shape1 was to flare up4 ,a lovers' quarrel was a flare up2 so was a boxing-match between two blackguards in the streets2 and the preachers of sedition and revolution recommended the ,english nation to flare up1 like the ,french4 ,so great a favourite was the word1 that people loved to repeat it for its very sound4 ,they delighted apparently in hearing their own organs articulate it2 and labouring men1 when none who could respond to the call were within hearing1 would often startle the aristocratic echoes of the ,west by the well-known slang phrase of the ,east4 ,even in the dead hours of the night1 the ears of those who watched late1 or who could not sleep1 were saluted with the same sound4 ,the drunkard reeling home shewed that he was still a man and a citizen1 by calling flare up6 in the pauses of his hiccough4 ,drink had deprived him of the power of arranging all other ideas2 his intellect was sunk to the level of the brute's2 but he clung to humanity by the one last link of the popular cry4 ,while he could vociferate that sound1 he had rights as an ,englishman1 and would not sleep in a gutter1 like a dog6 ,onwards he went1 disturbing quiet streets and comfortable people by his whoop1 till exhausted nature could support him no more1 and he rolled powerless into the road4 ,when1 in due time afterwards1 the policeman stumbled upon him as he lay1 that guardian of the peace turned the full light of his lantern on his face1 and exclaimed1 ,here's a poor devil who has been flaring up6 ,then came the stretcher1 on which the victim of deep potations was carried to the watch-house1 and pitched into a dirty cell1 among a score of wretches about as far gone as himself1 who saluted their new comrade by a loud1 long shout of flare up6 ,so universal was this phrase1 and so enduring seemed its popularity1 that a speculator1 who knew not the evanescence of slang1 established a weekly newspaper under its name4 ,but he was like the man who built his house upon the sand2 his foundation gave way under him1 and the phrase and the newspaper were washed into the mighty sea of the things that were4 ,the people grew at last weary of the monotony1 and flare up became vulgar even among them4 ,gradually it was left to little boys who did not know the world1 and in process of time sank altogether into neglect4 ,it is now heard no more as a piece of popular slang2 but the words are still used to signify any sudden outburst either of fire1 disturbance1 or ill-nature4 ,the next phrase that enjoyed the favour of the million was less concise1 and seems to have been originally aimed against precocious youths who gave themselves the airs of manhood before their time4 ,does your mother know you're out8 was the provoking query addressed to young men of more than reasonable swagger1 who smoked cigars in the streets1 and wore false whiskers to look irresistible4 ,we have seen many a conceited fellow who could not suffer a woman to pass him without staring her out of countenance1 reduced at once into his natural insignificance by the mere utterance of this phrase4 ,apprentice lads and shopmen in their ,sunday clothes held the words in abhorrence1 and looked fierce when they were applied to them4 ,altogether the phrase had a very salutary effect1 and in a thousand instances shewed young ,vanity that it was not half so pretty and engaging as it thought itself4 ,what rendered it so provoking was the doubt it implied as to the capability of self-guidance possessed by the individual to whom it was addressed4 ,does your mother know you're out8 was a query of mock concern and solicitude1 implying regret and concern that one so young and inexperienced in the ways of a great city should be allowed to wander abroad without the guidance of a parent4 ,hence the great wrath of those who verged on manhood1 but had not reached it1 whenever they were made the subject of it4 ,even older heads did not like it2 and the heir of a ducal house1 and inheritor of a warrior's name1 to whom they were applied by a cabriolet-driver who was ignorant of his rank1 was so indignant at the affront1 that he summoned the offender before the magisterial bench4 ,the fellow had wished to impose upon his lordship by asking double the fare he was entitled to2 and when his lordship resisted the demand1 he was insultingly asked if his mother knew he was out8 ,all the drivers on the stand joined in the query1 and his lordship was fain to escape their laughter by walking away with as much haste as his dignity would allow4 ,the man pleaded ignorance that his customer was a lord1 but offended justice fined him for his mistake4 ,when this phrase had numbered its appointed days1 it died away like its predecessors1 and ,who are you8 reigned in its stead4 ,this new favourite1 like a mushroom1 seems to have sprung up in a night1 or1 like a frog in ,cheapside1 to have come down in a sudden shower4 ,one day it was unheard1 unknown1 uninvented2 the next it pervaded ,london4 ,every alley resounded with it2 every highway was musical with it1 ,and street to street1 and lane to lane flung back ,the one unvarying cry4 ,the phrase was uttered quickly1 and with a sharp sound upon the first and last words1 leaving the middle one little more than an aspiration4 ,like all its compeers which had been extensively popular1 it was applicable to almost every variety of circumstance4 ,the lovers of a plain answer to a plain question did not like it at all4 ,insolence made use of it to give offence2 ignorance to avoid exposing itself2 and waggery to create laughter4 ,every new comer into an alehouse tap-room was asked unceremoniously1 ,who are you8 and if he looked foolish1 scratched his head1 and did not know what to reply1 shouts of boisterous merriment resounded on every side4 ,an authoritative disputant was not unfrequently put down1 and presumption of every kind checked by the same query4 ,when its popularity was at its height1 a gentleman1 feeling the hand of a thief in his pocket1 turned suddenly round and caught him in the act1 exclaiming1 ,who are you8 ,the mob which gathered round applauded to the very echo1 and thought it the most capital joke they had ever heard1 the very acm of wit1 the very essence of humour4 ,another circumstance of a similar kind gave an additional fillip to the phrase1 and infused new life and vigour into it just as it was dying away4 ,the scene occurred in the chief criminal court of the kingdom4 ,a prisoner stood at the bar2 the offence with which he had been charged was clearly proved against him2 his counsel had been heard1 not in his defence1 but in extenuation1 insisting upon his previous good life and character as reasons for the lenity of the court4 ,and where are your witnesses8 inquired the learned judge who presided4 ,please you1 my lord1 ,i knows the prisoner at the bar1 and a more honester feller never breathed1 said a rough voice in the gallery4 ,the officers of the court looked aghast1 and the strangers tittered with ill-suppressed laughter4 ,who are you8 said the judge1 looking suddenly up1 but with imperturbable gravity4 ,the court was convulsed2 the titter broke out into a laugh2 and it was several minutes before silence and decorum could be restored4 ,when the ushers recovered their self-possession1 they made diligent search for the profane transgressor2 but he was not to be found4 ,nobody knew him2 nobody had seen him4 ,after a while the business of the court again proceeded4 ,the next prisoner brought up for trial augured favourably of his prospects when he learned that the solemn lips of the representative of justice had uttered the popular phrase as if he felt and appreciated it4 ,there was no fear that such a judge would use undue severity4 ,his heart was with the people2 he understood their language and their manners1 and would make allowances for the temptations which drove them into crime4 ,so thought many of the prisoners1 if we may infer it from the fact that the learned judge suddenly acquired an immense increase of popularity4 ,the praise of his wit was in every mouth1 and ,who are you8 renewed its lease1 and remained in possession of public favour for another term in consequence4 ,but it must not be supposed that there were no interregna between the dominion of one slang phrase and another4 ,they did not arise in one long line of unbroken succession1 but shared with song the possession of popular favour4 ,thus1 when the people were in the mood for music1 slang advanced its claims to no purpose2 and when they were inclined for slang1 the sweet voice of music wooed them in vain4 ,about thirty years ago ,london resounded with one chorus1 with the love of which every body seemed to be smitten4 ,girls and boys1 young men and old1 maidens and wives and widows1 were all alike musical4 ,there was an absolute mania for singing2 and the worst of it was1 that1 like good ,father ,philip in the romance of ,the ,monastery1 they seemed utterly unable to change their tune4 ,cherry ripe6 ,cherry ripe6 was the universal cry of all the idle in the town4 ,every unmelodious voice gave utterance to it2 every crazy fiddle1 every cracked flute1 every wheezy pipe1 every street-organ was heard in the same strain1 until studious and quiet men stopped their ears in desperation1 or fled miles away into the fields or woodlands to be at peace4 ,this plague lasted for a twelvemonth1 until the very name of cherries became an abomination in the land4 ,at last the excitement wore itself away1 and the tide of favour set in a new direction4 ,whether it was another song or a slang phrase is difficult to determine at this distance of time2 but certain it is1 that very shortly afterwards people went mad upon a dramatic subject1 and nothing was to be heard of but ,tommy and ,jerry4 ,verbal wit had amused the multitude long enough1 and they became more practical in their recreation4 ,every youth on the town was seized with the fierce desire of distinguishing himself by knocking down the charlies1 being locked up all night in a watch-house1 or kicking up a row among loose women and blackguard men in the low dens of ,st4 ,giles's4 ,imitative boys vied with their elders in similar exploits1 until this unworthy passion 7for such it was7 had lasted1 like other follies1 its appointed time1 and the town became merry after another fashion4 ,it was next thought the height of vulgar wit to answer all questions by placing the point of the thumb upon the tip of the nose1 and twirling the fingers in the air4 ,if one man wished to insult or annoy another1 he had only to make use of this cabalistic sign in his face1 and his object was accomplished4 ,at every street-corner where a group was assembled1 the spectator who was curious enough to observe their movements would be sure to see the fingers of some of them at their noses1 either as a mark of incredulity1 surprise1 refusal1 or mockery1 before he had watched two minutes4 ,there is some remnant of this absurd custom to be seen to this day2 but it is thought low even among the vulgar4 ,about sixteen years ago1 ,london became again most preposterously musical4 ,the vox populi wore itself hoarse by singing the praises of ,the ,sea1 the ,sea6 ,if a stranger 7and a philosopher7 had walked through ,london1 and listened to the universal chorus1 he might have constructed a very pretty theory upon the love of the ,english for the sea-service1 and our acknowledged superiority over all other nations upon that element4 ,no wonder1 he might have said1 that this people is invincible upon the ocean4 ,the love of it mixes with their daily thoughts2 they celebrate it even in the market-place2 their street-minstrels excite charity by it2 and high and low1 young and old1 male and female1 chant lo pans in its praise4 ,love is not honoured in the national songs of this warlike race--,bacchus is no god to them2 they are men of sterner mould1 and think only of 'the ,sea1 the ,sea6' and the means of conquering upon it4 ,such would1 doubtless1 have been his impression if he had taken the evidence only of his ears4 ,alas1 in those days for the refined ears that were musical6 great was their torture when discord1 with its thousand diversities of tone1 struck up this appalling anthem--there was no escape from it4 ,the migratory minstrels of ,savoy caught the strain1 and pealed it down the long vistas of quiet streets1 till their innermost and snuggest apartments re-echoed with the sound4 ,men were obliged to endure this crying evil for full six months1 wearied to desperation1 and made sea-sick on the dry land4 ,several other songs sprang up in due succession1 afterwards1 but none of them1 with the exception of one1 entitled ,all round my ,hat1 enjoyed any extraordinary share of favour1 until an ,american actor introduced a vile song called ,jim ,crow4 ,the singer sang his verses in appropriate costume1 with grotesque gesticulations1 and a sudden whirl of his body at the close of each verse4 ,it took the taste of the town immediately1 and for months the ears of orderly people were stunned by the senseless chorus-- ,turn about and wheel about1 ,and do just so-- ,turn about and wheel about1 ,and jump1 ,jim ,crow6 ,street-minstrels blackened their faces in order to give proper effect to the verses2 and fatherless urchins1 who had to choose between thieving and singing for their livelihood1 took the latter course1 as likely to be the more profitable1 as long as the public taste remained in that direction4 ,the uncouth dance1 its accompaniment1 might be seen in its full perfection on market nights in any great thoroughfare2 and the words of the song might be heard1 piercing above all the din and buzz of the ever-moving multitude4 ,he1 the calm observer1 who during the hey-day popularity of this doggrel1 ,sate beside the public way1 ,thick strewn with summer dust1 and saw the stream ,of people there was hurrying to and fro1 ,numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam1 might have exclaimed with ,shelley1 that ,the million1 with fierce song and maniac dance1 ,did rage around4 ,the philosophic theorist we have already supposed soliloquising upon the ,english character1 and forming his opinion of it from their exceeding love for a sea-song1 might1 if he had again dropped suddenly into ,london1 have formed another very plausible theory to account for our unremitting efforts for the abolition of the slave-trade4 ,benevolent people6 he might have said1 how unbounded are your sympathies6 ,your unhappy brethren of ,africa1 differing from you only in the colour of their skins1 are so dear to you1 and you begrudge so little the twenty millions you have paid on their behalf1 that you love to have a memento of them continually in your sight4 ,jim ,crow is the representative of that injured race1 and as such is the idol of your populace6 ,see how they all sing his praises6 how they imitate his peculiarities6 how they repeat his name in their moments of leisure and relaxation6 ,they even carve images of him to adorn their hearths1 that his cause and his sufferings may never be forgotten6 ,oh1 philanthropic ,england6 oh1 vanguard of civilisation6 ,such are a few of the peculiarities of the ,london multitude1 when no riot1 no execution1 no murder1 no balloon1 disturbs the even current of their thoughts4 ,these are the whimsies of the mass--the harmless follies by which they unconsciously endeavour to lighten the load of care which presses upon their existence4 ,the wise man1 even though he smile at them1 will not altogether withhold his sympathy1 and will say1 ,let them enjoy their slang phrases and their choruses if they will2 and if they cannot be happy1 at least let them be merry4 ,to the ,englishman1 as well as to the ,frenchman of whom ,beranger sings1 there may be some comfort in so small a thing as a song1 and we may own with him that ,au peuple attrist ,ce qui rendra la gat1 ,c'est la ,,gaudriole6 ,o gu6 ,c'est la ,,gaudriole6 ,illustration3 ,,sherwood ,,forest4 ,,popular ,,admiration ,,of ,,great ,,thieves4 ,jack4 ,where shall we find such another set of practical philosophers1 who1 to a man1 are above the fear of death6 ,wat4 ,sound men and true6 ,robin4 ,of tried courage and indefatigable industry6 ,ned4 ,who is there here that would not die for his friend8 ,harry4 ,who is there here that would betray him for his interest8 ,mat4 ,shew me a gang of courtiers that could say as much6 ,dialogue of ,thieves in the ,beggar's ,opera4 ,whether it be that the multitude1 feeling the pangs of poverty1 sympathise with the daring and ingenious depredators who take away the rich man's superfluity1 or whether it be the interest that mankind in general feel for the records of perilous adventure1 it is certain that the populace of all countries look with admiration upon great and successful thieves4 ,perhaps both these causes combine to invest their career with charms in the popular eye4 ,almost every country in ,europe has its traditional thief1 whose exploits are recorded with all the graces of poetry1 and whose trespasses ,are cited up in rhymes1 ,and sung by children in succeeding tunes4#de #de ,shakspeare's ,rape of ,lucretia4 ,those travellers who have made national manners and characteristics their peculiar study1 have often observed and remarked upon this feeling4 ,the learned ,abb le ,blanc1 who resided for some time in ,england at the commencement of the eighteenth century1 says1 in his amusing letters on the ,english and ,french nations1 that he continually met with ,englishmen who were not less vain in boasting of the success of their highwaymen than of the bravery of their troops4 ,tales of their address1 their cunning1 or their generosity1 were in the mouths of every body1 and a noted thief was a kind of hero in high repute4 ,he adds that the mob1 in all countries1 being easily moved1 look in general with concern upon criminals going to the gallows2 but an ,english mob looked upon such scenes with extraordinary interest3 they delighted to see them go through their last trials with resolution1 and applauded those who were insensible enough to die as they had lived1 braving the justice both of ,god and men3 such1 he might have added1 as the noted robber ,macpherson1 of whom the old ballad says3 ,sae rantingly1 sae wantonly1 ,sae dauntingly gaed he3 ,he played a spring1 and danced it round ,beneath the gallows tree4 ,among these traditional thieves the most noted in ,england1 or perhaps in any country1 is ,robin ,hood1 a name which popular affection has encircled with a peculiar halo4 ,he robbed the rich to give to the poor2 and his reward has been an immortality of fame1 a tithe of which would be thought more than sufficient to recompense a benefactor of his species4 ,romance and poetry have been emulous to make him all their own2 and the forest of ,sherwood1 in which he roamed with his merry men1 armed with their long bows1 and clad in ,lincoln green1 has become the resort of pilgrims1 and a classic spot sacred to his memory4 ,the few virtues he had1 which would have ensured him no praise if he had been an honest man1 have been blazoned forth by popular renown during seven successive centuries1 and will never be forgotten while the ,english tongue endures4 ,his charity to the poor1 and his gallantry and respect for women1 have made him the pre-eminent thief of all the world4 ,among ,english thieves of a later date1 who has not heard of ,claude ,duval1 ,dick ,turpin1 ,jonathan ,wild1 and ,jack ,sheppard1 those knights of the road and of the town1 whose peculiar chivalry formed at once the dread and the delight of ,england during the eighteenth century8 ,turpin's fame is unknown to no portion of the male population of ,england after they have attained the age of ten4 ,his wondrous ride from ,london to ,york has endeared him to the imagination of millions2 his cruelty in placing an old woman upon a fire1 to force her to tell him where she had hidden her money1 is regarded as a good joke2 and his proud bearing upon the scaffold is looked upon as a virtuous action4 ,the ,abb le ,blanc1 writing in #agcg1 says he was continually entertained with stories of ,turpin--how1 when he robbed gentlemen1 he would generously leave them enough to continue their journey1 and exact a pledge from them never to inform against him1 and how scrupulous such gentlemen were in keeping their word4 ,he was one day told a story with which the relator was in the highest degree delighted4 ,turpin1 or some other noted robber1 stopped a man whom he knew to be very rich1 with the usual salutation--,your money or your life6 but not finding more than five or six guineas about him1 he took the liberty of entreating him1 in the most affable manner1 never to come out so ill provided2 adding that1 if he fell in with him1 and he had no more than such a paltry sum1 he would give him a good licking4 ,another story1 told by one of ,turpin's admirers1 was of a robbery he had committed upon a ,mr4 ,c4 near ,cambridge4 ,he took from this gentleman his watch1 his snuff-box1 and all his money but two shillings1 and1 before he left him1 required his word of honour that he would not cause him to be pursued or brought before a justice4 ,the promise being given1 they both parted very courteously4 ,they afterwards met at ,newmarket1 and renewed their acquaintance4 ,mr4 ,c4 kept his word religiously2 he not only refrained from giving ,turpin into custody1 but made a boast that he had fairly won some of his money back again in an honest way4 ,turpin offered to bet with him on some favourite horse1 and ,mr4 ,c4 accepted the wager with as good a grace as he could have done from the best gentleman in ,england4 ,turpin lost his bet and paid it immediately1 and was so smitten with the generous behaviour of ,mr4 ,c41 that he told him how deeply he regretted that the trifling affair which had happened between them did not permit them to drink together4 ,the narrator of this anecdote was quite proud that ,england was the birthplace of such a highwayman4#df #df ,the ,abb1 in the second volume1 in the letter ,no4 #gi1 addressed to ,monsieur de ,buffon1 gives the following curious particulars of the robbers of #agcg1 which are not without interest at this day1 if it were only to shew the vast improvement which has taken place since that period4 ,it is usual in travelling to put ten or a dozen guineas in a separate pocket1 as a tribute to the first that comes to demand them the right of passport1 which custom has established here in favour of the robbers1 who are almost the only highway surveyors in ,england1 has made this necessary2 and accordingly the ,english call these fellows the ',gentlemen of the ,road1' the government letting them exercise their jurisdiction upon travellers without giving them any great molestation4 ,to say the truth1 they content themselves with only taking the money of those who obey without disputing2 but notwithstanding their boasted humanity1 the lives of those who endeavour to get away are not always safe4 ,they are very strict and severe in levying their impost2 and if a man has not wherewithal to pay them1 he may run the chance of getting himself knocked on the head for his poverty4 ,about fifteen years ago1 these robbers1 with the view of maintaining their rights1 fixed up papers at the doors of rich people about ,london1 expressly forbidding all persons1 of whatsoever quality or condition1 from going out of town without ten guineas and a watch about them1 on pain of death4 ,in bad times1 when there is little or nothing to be got on the roads1 these fellows assemble in gangs1 to raise contributions even in ,london itself1 and the watchmen seldom trouble themselves to interfere with them in their vocation4 ,not less familiar to the people of ,england is the career of ,jack ,sheppard1 as brutal a ruffian as ever disgraced his country1 but who has claims upon the popular admiration which are very generally acknowledged4 ,he did not1 like ,robin ,hood1 plunder the rich to relieve the poor1 nor rob with an uncouth sort of courtesy1 like ,turpin2 but he escaped from ,newgate with the fetters on his limbs4 ,this achievement1 more than once repeated1 has encircled his felon brow with the wreath of immortality1 and made him quite a pattern thief among the populace4 ,he was no more than twenty-three years of age at the time of his execution1 and he died much pitied by the crowd4 ,his adventures were the sole topics of conversation for months2 the print-shops were filled with his effigies1 and a fine painting of him was made by ,sir ,richard ,thornhill4 ,the following complimentary verses to the artist appeared in the ,british ,journal of ,november #bhth1 #agbd3 ,thornhill6 'tis thine to gild with fame ,th' obscure1 and raise the humble name2 ,to make the form elude the grave1 ,and ,sheppard from oblivion save6 ,apelles ,alexander drew-- ,csar is to ,aurelius due2 ,cromwell in ,lilly's works doth shine1 ,and ,sheppard1 ,thornhill1 lives in thine6 ,this was a very equivocal sort of compliment1 and might have meant1 that if ,apelles were worthy to paint a monarch1 ,thornhill was worthy to paint a thief4 ,but the artist did not view it in that light1 nor did the public2 for they considered the verses to be very neat1 pointed1 and flattering4 ,so high was ,jack's fame1 that he was thought a very fit subject for the stage2 and a pantomime entertainment1 called ,harlequin ,jack ,sheppard1 was devised by one ,thurmond1 and brought out with considerable success at ,drury ,lane ,theatre4 ,all the scenes were painted from nature1 including the public-house that the robber frequented in ,clare ,market1 and the condemned cell from which he had made his escape in ,newgate4#dg #dg ,since the publication of the first edition of this volume1 ,jack ,sheppard's adventures have been revived4 ,a novel upon the real or fabulous history of the burglar has afforded1 by its extraordinary popularity1 a further exemplification of the allegations in the text4 ,the ,sixth ,report of the ,inspector of ,prisons for the ,northern ,districts of ,england contains a mass of information upon the pernicious effect of such romances1 and of the dramas founded upon them4 ,the ,inspector examined several boys attending the prison school in the ,new ,bailey at ,manchester1 from whose evidence the following passages bearing upon the subject are extracted3 ,j4 ,l4 7aged #ad74 ,the first time ,i was ever at the theatre was to see ,jack ,sheppard4 ,there were two or three boys near to the house who were going1 and they asked me4 ,i took sixpence from the money ,i used to lay up weekly for clothes4 ,the next time ,i went1 which was the week after1 ,i borrowed the money from a boy2 ,i returned it to him the ,saturday after4 ,i then went many times4 ,i took the money from my mother out of her pocket as she was sitting down1 and ,i beside her4 ,there was more than sixpence in her pocket4 ,i got a great love for the theatre1 and stole from people often to get there4 ,i thought this ,jack ,sheppard was a clever fellow for making his escape and robbing his master4 ,if ,i could get out of gaol1 ,i think ,i should be as clever as him3 but1 after all his exploits1 he got done at last4 ,i have had the book out of a library at ,dole ,field4 ,i had paid two-pence a book for three volumes4 ,i also got ,richard ,turpin1 in two volumes1 and paid the same4 ,i have seen ,oliver ,twist1 and think the ,artful ,dodger is very like some of the boys here4 ,i am here for picking a pocket of #bel4 ,h4 ,c4 7aged #ae74 ,when we came to ,manchester1 ,i went to the play1 and saw ,jack ,sheppard the first night it came out4 ,there were pictures of him about the streets on boards and on the walls2 one of them was his picking a pocket in the church4 ,i liked ,jack ,sheppard much4 ,i had not been in prison there4 ,i was employed in a warehouse at #fs4 #f;d4 a-week1 and was allowed #f;d4 out of it for myself1 and with that ,i went regularly to the play4 ,i saw ,jack ,sheppard afterwards four times in one week4 ,i got the money out of my money-bag by stealth1 and without my master's knowledge4 ,i once borrowed #ajs4 in my mother's name from ,mrs4 ----1 a shopkeeper1 with whom she used to deal2 ,i went to the play with it4 ,j4 ,m',d4 7aged #ae74 ,i have heard of ,jack ,sheppard3 a lad whom ,i know told me of it1 who had seen it1 and said it was rare fun to see him break out of prison4 ,j4 ,l4 7aged #aa74 ,has been to the play twice1 and seen ,jack ,sheppard4 ,went with his brother the first time1 and by himself the second4 ,i took the money to go a second time out of mother's house1 off the chimney-piece1 where she had left a sixpence4 ,it was the first night ,jack ,sheppard was played4 ,there was great talk about it1 and there were nice pictures about it all over the walls4 ,i thought him a very clever fellow2 but ,blueskin made the most fun4 ,i first went to the markets1 and begun by stealing apples4 ,i also knew a lad1 ----1 who has been transported1 and went with him two or three times4 ,the most ,i ever got was #ajs4 out of a till4 ,the ,inspector's ,report on ,juvenile ,delinquency at ,liverpool contains much matter of the same kind2 but sufficient has been already quoted to shew the injurious effects of the deification of great thieves by thoughtless novelists4 ,the ,rev4 ,mr4 ,villette1 the editor of the ,annals of ,newgate1 published in #aged1 relates a curious sermon1 which he says a friend of his heard delivered by a street-preacher about the time of ,jack's execution4 ,the orator1 after animadverting on the great care men took of their bodies1 and the little care they bestowed upon their souls1 continued as follows1 by way of exemplifying the position3--,we have a remarkable instance of this in a notorious malefactor1 well known by the name of ,jack ,sheppard4 ,what amazing difficulties has he overcome6 what astonishing things has he performed6 and all for the sake of a stinking1 miserable carcass1 hardly worth the hanging6 ,how dexterously did he pick the chain of his padlock with a crooked nail6 how manfully he burst his fetters asunder1 climb up the chimney1 wrench out an iron bar1 break his way through a stone wall1 make the strong door of a dark entry fly before him1 till he got upon the leads of the prison1 then1 fixing a blanket to the wall with a spike1 he stole out of the chapel6 ,how intrepidly did he descend to the top of the turner's house6 how cautiously pass down the stair1 and make his escape to the street-door6 ,oh1 that ye were all like ,jack ,sheppard6 ,mistake me not1 my brethren--,i don't mean in a carnal1 but in a spiritual sense2 for ,i propose to spiritualise these things4 ,what a shame it would be if we should not think it worth our while to take as much pains1 and employ as many deep thoughts to save our souls as he has done to preserve his body6 ,let me exhort ye1 then1 to open the locks of your hearts with the nail of repentance6 ,burst asunder the fetters of your beloved lusts1 mount the chimney of hope1 take from thence the bar of good resolution1 break through the stone wall of despair1 and all the strongholds in the dark entry of the valley of the shadow of death6 ,raise yourselves to the leads of divine meditation1 fix the blanket of faith with the spike of the ,church1 let yourselves down to the turner's house of resignation1 and descend the stairs of humility6 ,so shall you come to the door of deliverance from the prison of iniquity1 and escape the clutches of that old executioner the devil6 ,jonathan ,wild1 whose name has been immortalised by ,fielding1 was no favourite with the people4 ,he had none of the virtues which1 combined with crimes1 make up the character of the great thief4 ,he was a pitiful fellow1 who informed against his comrades1 and was afraid of death4 ,this meanness was not to be forgiven by the crowd2 and they pelted him with dirt and stones on his way to ,tyburn1 and expressed their contempt by every possible means4 ,how different was their conduct to ,turpin and ,jack ,sheppard1 who died in their neatest attire1 with nosegays in their button-holes1 and with the courage that a crowd expects4 ,it was anticipated that the body of ,turpin would have been delivered up to the surgeons for dissection2 and the people seeing some men very busily employed in removing it1 suddenly set upon them1 rescued the body1 bore it about the town in triumph1 and then buried it in a very deep grave1 filled with quicklime1 to hasten the progress of decomposition4 ,they would not suffer the corpse of their hero--of the man who had ridden from ,london to ,york in four-and-twenty hours--to be mangled by the rude hands of unmannerly surgeons4 ,the death of ,claude ,duval would appear to have been no less triumphant4 ,claude was a gentlemanly thief4 ,according to ,butler1 in the famous ode to his memory1 he ,taught the wild ,arabs of the road ,to rob in a more gentle mode2 ,take prizes more obligingly than those ,who never had been bred filous2 ,and how to hang in a more graceful fashion ,than e'er was known before to the dull ,english nation4 ,in fact1 he was the pink of politeness1 and his gallantry to the fair sex was proverbial4 ,when he was caught at last1 pent in stone walls and chains and iron grates1 their grief was in proportion to his rare merits and his great fame4 ,butler says1 that to his dungeon ,came ladies from all parts1 ,to offer up close prisoners their hearts4 ,which he received as tribute due-- 99 99 99 99 99 ,never did bold knight to relieve ,distressed dames1 such dreadful feats achieve1 ,as feeble damsels for his sake ,would have been proud to undertake1 ,and1 bravely ambitious to redeem ,the world's loss and their own1 ,strove who should have the honour to lay down1 ,and change a life with him4 ,among the noted thieves of ,france1 there is none to compare with the famous ,aimerigot ,ttenoire1 who flourished in the reign of ,charles ,,vi4 ,this fellow was at the head of four or five hundred men1 and possessed two very strong castles in ,limousin and ,auvergne4 ,there was a good deal of the feudal baron about him1 although he possessed no revenues but such as the road afforded him4 ,at his death he left a singular will4 ,i give and bequeath1 said the robber1 one thousand five hundred francs to ,st4 ,george's ,chapel1 for such repairs as it may need2 to my sweet girl1 who so loyally loved me1 ,i give two thousand five hundred2 and the surplus ,i give to my companions4 ,i hope they will all live as brothers1 and divide it amicably among them4 ,if they cannot agree1 and the devil of contention gets among them1 it is no fault of mine2 and ,i advise them to get a good strong sharp axe1 and break open my strong box4 ,let them scramble for what it contains1 and the devil seize the hindmost4 ,the people of ,auvergne still recount with admiration the daring feats of this brigand4 ,of later years1 the ,french thieves have been such unmitigated scoundrels as to have left but little room for popular admiration4 ,the famous ,cartouche1 whose name has become synonymous with ruffian in their language1 had none of the generosity1 courtesy1 and devoted bravery which are so requisite to make a robber-hero4 ,he was born at ,paris1 towards the end of the seventeenth century1 and broken alive on the wheel in ,november #agbg4 ,he was1 however1 sufficiently popular to have been pitied at his death1 and afterwards to have formed the subject of a much-admired drama1 which bore his name1 and was played with great success in all the theatres of ,france during the years #agcd1 #e1 and #f4 ,in our own day the ,french have been more fortunate in a robber2 ,vidocq bids fair to rival the fame of ,turpin and ,jack ,sheppard4 ,already he has become the hero of many an apocryphal tale--already his compatriots boast of his manifold achievements1 and express their doubts whether any other country in ,europe could produce a thief so clever1 so accomplished1 so gentlemanly1 as ,vidocq4 ,germany has its ,schinderhannes1 ,hungary its ,schubry1 and ,italy and ,spain a whole host of brigands1 whose names and exploits are familiar as household words in the mouths of the children and populace of those countries4 ,the ,italian banditti are renowned over the world2 and many of them are not only very religious 7after a fashion7 but very charitable4 ,charity from such a source is so unexpected1 that the people doat upon them for it4 ,one of them1 when he fell into the hands of the police1 exclaimed1 as they led him away1 ,ho fatto pi carit6--,i have given away more in charity than any three convents in these provinces4 ,and the fellow spoke truth4 ,in ,lombardy1 the people cherish the memory of two notorious robbers1 who flourished about two centuries ago under the ,spanish government4 ,their story1 according to ,macfarlane1 is contained in a little book well known to all the children of the province1 and read by them with much more gusto than their ,bibles4 ,schinderhannes1 the robber of the ,rhine1 is a great favourite on the banks of the river which he so long kept in awe4 ,many amusing stories are related by the peasantry#dh of the scurvy tricks he played off upon rich ,jews1 or too-presuming officers of justice--of his princely generosity1 and undaunted courage4 ,in short1 they are proud of him1 and would no more consent to have the memory of his achievements dissociated from their river than they would have the rock of ,ehrenbreitstein blown to atoms by gunpowder4 #dh ,for a full account of this noted robber1 and indeed of ,european thieves and banditti in general1 see the very amusing work upon the subject by ,mr4 ,charles ,macfarlane4 ,there is another robber-hero1 of whose character and exploits the people of ,germany speak admiringly4 ,mausch ,nadel was captain of a considerable band that infested the ,rhine1 ,switzerland1 ,alsatia1 and ,lorraine1 during the years #ahbd1 #e1 and #f4 ,like ,jack ,sheppard1 he endeared himself to the populace by his most hazardous escape from prison4 ,being confined at ,bremen1 in a dungeon on the third story of the prison of that town1 he contrived to let himself down without exciting the vigilance of the sentinels1 and to swim across the ,weser1 though heavily laden with irons4 ,when about half-way over1 he was espied by a sentinel1 who fired at him1 and shot him in the calf of the leg3 but the undaunted robber struck out manfully1 reached the shore1 and was out of sight before the officers of justice could get ready their boats to follow him4 ,he was captured again in #ahbf1 tried at ,mayence1 and sentenced to death4 ,he was a tall1 strong1 handsome man1 and his fate1 villain as he was1 excited much sympathy all over ,germany4 ,the ladies especially were loud in their regret that nothing could be done to save a hero so good-looking1 and of adventures so romantic1 from the knife of the headsman4 ,mr4 ,charles ,macfarlane1 in speaking of ,italian banditti1 remarks1 that the abuses of the ,catholic religion1 with its confessions and absolutions1 have tended to promote crime of this description4 ,but he adds more truly1 that priests and monks have not done half the mischief which has been perpetrated by ballad-mongers and story-tellers4 ,if he had said playwrights also1 the list would have been complete4 ,in fact1 the theatre1 which can only expect to prosper1 in a pecuniary sense1 by pandering to the tastes of the people1 continually recurs to the annals of thieves and banditti for its most favourite heroes4 ,these theatrical robbers1 with their picturesque attire1 wild haunts1 jolly1 reckless1 devil-may-care manners1 take a wonderful hold upon the imagination1 and whatever their advocates may say to the contrary1 exercise a very pernicious influence upon public morals4 ,in the ,memoirs of the ,duke of ,guise upon the ,revolution of ,naples in #afdg and #afdh1 it is stated1 that the manners1 dress1 and mode of life of the ,neapolitan banditti were rendered so captivating upon the stage1 that the authorities found it absolutely necessary to forbid the representation of dramas in which they figured1 and even to prohibit their costume at the masquerades4 ,so numerous were the banditti at this time1 that the duke found no difficulty in raising an army of them1 to aid him in his endeavours to seize on the throne of ,naples4 ,he thus describes them3#di ,they were three thousand five hundred men1 of whom the oldest came short of five-and-forty years1 and the youngest was above twenty4 ,they were all tall and well made1 with long black hair1 for the most part curled2 coats of black ,spanish leather1 with sleeves of velvet1 or cloth of gold2 cloth breeches with gold lace1 most of them scarlet2 girdles of velvet1 laced with gold1 with two pistols on each side2 a cutlass hanging at a belt1 suitably trimmed1 three fingers broad and two feet long2 a hawking-bag at their girdle1 and a powder-flask hung about their neck with a great silk riband4 ,some of them carried firelocks1 and others blunderbusses2 they had all good shoes1 with silk stockings1 and every one a cap of cloth of gold1 or cloth of silver1 of different colours1 on his head1 which was very delightful to the eye4 #di ,see also ,foreign ,quarterly ,review1 vol4 iv4 p4 #cih4 ,the ,beggar's ,opera1 in our own country1 is another instance of the admiration that thieves excite upon the stage4 ,of the extraordinary success of this piece1 when first produced1 the following account is given in the notes to ,the ,dunciad1 and quoted by ,johnson in his ,lives of the ,poets3 ,this piece was received with greater applause than was ever known4 ,besides being acted in ,london sixty-three days without interruption1 and renewed the next season with equal applause1 it spread into all the great towns of ,england2 was played in many places to the thirtieth and fortieth time2 at ,bath and ,bristol1 c4 fifty4 ,it made its progress into ,wales1 ,scotland1 and ,ireland1 where it was performed twenty-four days successively4 ,the ladies carried about with them the favourite songs of it in fans1 and houses were furnished with it in screens4 ,the fame of it was not confined to the author only4 ,the person who acted ,polly1 till then obscure1 became all at once the favourite of the town2#ej her pictures were engraved and sold in great numbers2 her life written1 books of letters and verses to her published1 and pamphlets made even of her sayings and jests4 ,furthermore1 it drove out of ,england1 for that season1 the ,italian ,opera1 which had carried all before it for ten years4 ,dr4 ,johnson1 in his life of the author1 says1 that ,herring1 afterwards ,archbishop of ,canterbury1 censured the opera1 as giving encouragement1 not only to vice1 but to crimes1 by making the highwayman the hero1 and dismissing him at last unpunished2 and adds1 that it was even said1 that after the exhibition the gangs of robbers were evidently multiplied4 ,the ,doctor doubts the assertion1 giving as his reason that highwaymen and housebreakers seldom frequent the playhouse1 and that it was not possible for any one to imagine that he might rob with safety1 because he saw ,macheath reprieved upon the stage4 ,but if ,johnson had wished to be convinced1 he might very easily have discovered that highwaymen and housebreakers did frequent the theatre1 and that nothing was more probable than that a laughable representation of successful villany should induce the young and the already vicious to imitate it4 ,besides1 there is the weighty authority of ,sir ,john ,fielding1 the chief magistrate of ,bow ,street1 who asserted positively1 and proved his assertion by the records of his office1 that the number of thieves was greatly increased at the time when that opera was so popular4 #ej ,lavinia ,fenton1 afterwards ,duchess of ,bolton4 ,we have another instance of the same result much nearer our own times4 ,schiller's ,ruber1 that wonderful play1 written by a green youth1 perverted the taste and imagination of all the young men in ,germany4 ,an accomplished critic of our own country 7,hazlitt71 speaking of this play1 says it was the first he ever read1 and such was the effect it produced on him1 that it stunned him1 like a blow4 ,after the lapse of five-and-twenty years1 he could not forget it2 it was still1 to use his own words1 an old dweller in the chambers of his brain1 and he had not even then recovered enough from it to describe how it was4 ,the high-minded1 metaphysical thief1 its hero1 was so warmly admired1 that several raw students1 longing to imitate a character they thought so noble1 actually abandoned their homes and their colleges1 and betook themselves to the forests and the wilds to levy contributions upon travellers4 ,they thought they would1 like ,moor1 plunder the rich1 and deliver eloquent soliloquies to the setting sun or the rising moon2 relieve the poor when they met them1 and drink flasks of ,rhenish with their free companions in rugged mountain passes1 or in tents in the thicknesses of the forests4 ,but a little experience wonderfully cooled their courage2 they found that real1 everyday robbers were very unlike the conventional banditti of the stage1 and that three months in prison1 with bread and water for their fare1 and damp straw to lie upon1 was very well to read about by their own firesides1 but not very agreeable to undergo in their own proper persons4 ,lord ,byron1 with his soliloquising1 high-souled thieves1 has1 in a slight degree1 perverted the taste of the juvenile rhymers of his country4 ,as yet1 however1 they have shewn more good sense than their fellows of ,germany1 and have not taken to the woods or the highways4 ,much as they admire ,conrad the ,corsair1 they will not go to sea1 and hoist the black flag for him4 ,by words only1 and not by deeds1 they testify their admiration1 and deluge the periodicals and music-shops of the land with verses describing pirates' and bandits' brides1 and robber adventures of every kind4 ,but it is the playwright who does most harm2 and ,byron has fewer sins of this nature to answer for than ,gay or ,schiller4 ,with the aid of scenery1 fine dresses and music1 and the very false notions they convey1 they vitiate the public taste1 not knowing1 ,vulgaires rimeurs6 ,quelle force ont les arts pour demolir les moeurs4 ,in the penny theatres that abound in the poor and populous districts of ,london1 and which are chiefly frequented by striplings of idle and dissolute habits1 tales of thieves and murderers are more admired1 and draw more crowded audiences1 than any other species of representation4 ,there the footpad1 the burglar1 and the highwayman are portrayed in their natural colours1 and give pleasant lessons in crime to their delighted listeners4 ,there the deepest tragedy and the broadest farce are represented in the career of the murderer and the thief1 and are applauded in proportion to their depth and their breadth4 ,there1 whenever a crime of unusual atrocity is committed1 it is brought out afresh1 with all its disgusting incidents copied from the life1 for the amusement of those who will one day become its imitators4 ,with the mere reader the case is widely different2 and most people have a partiality for knowing the adventures of noted rogues4 ,even in fiction they are delightful3 witness the eventful story of ,gil ,blas de ,santillane1 and of that great rascal ,don ,guzman d',alfarache4 ,here there is no fear of imitation4 ,poets1 too1 without doing mischief1 may sing of such heroes when they please1 wakening our sympathies for the sad fate of ,jemmy ,dawson1 or ,gilderoy1 or ,macpherson the ,dauntless2 or celebrating in undying verse the wrongs and the revenge of the great thief of ,scotland1 ,rob ,roy4 ,if1 by the music of their sweet rhymes1 they can convince the world that such heroes are but mistaken philosophers1 born a few ages too late1 and having both a theoretical and practical love for ,the good old rule1 the simple plan1 ,that they should take who have the power1 ,that they should keep who can2 the world may perhaps become wiser1 and consent to some better distribution of its good things1 by means of which thieves may become reconciled to the age1 and the age to them4 ,the probability1 however1 seems to be1 that the charmers will charm in vain1 charm they ever so wisely4 ,illustration3 ,,fight ,,between ,,du ,,guesclin ,,and ,,troussel4 ,,duels ,,and ,,ordeals4 ,there was an ancient sage philosopher1 ,who swore the world1 as he could prove1 ,was mad of fighting4--,hudibras4 ,most writers1 in accounting for the origin of duelling1 derive it from the warlike habits of those barbarous nations who overran ,europe in the early centuries of the ,christian era1 and who knew no mode so effectual for settling their differences as the point of the sword4 ,in fact1 duelling1 taken in its primitive and broadest sense1 means nothing more than combating1 and is the universal resort of all wild animals1 including man1 to gain or defend their possessions1 or avenge their insults4 ,two dogs who tear each other for a bone1 or two bantams fighting on a dunghill for the love of some beautiful hen1 or two fools on ,wimbledon ,common1 shooting at each other to satisfy the laws of offended honour1 stand on the same footing in this respect1 and are each and all mere duellists4 ,as civilisation advanced1 the best-informed men naturally grew ashamed of such a mode of adjusting disputes1 and the promulgation of some sort of laws for obtaining redress for injuries was the consequence4 ,still there were many cases in which the allegations of an accuser could not be rebutted by any positive proof on the part of the accused2 and in all these1 which must have been exceedingly numerous in the early stages of ,european society1 the combat was resorted to4 ,from its decision there was no appeal4 ,god was supposed to nerve the arm of the combatant whose cause was just1 and to grant him the victory over his opponent4 ,as ,montesquieu well remarks1#ea this belief was not unnatural among a people just emerging from barbarism4 ,their manners being wholly warlike1 the man deficient in courage1 the prime virtue of his fellows1 was not unreasonably suspected of other vices besides cowardice1 which is generally found to be co-existent with treachery4 ,he1 therefore1 who shewed himself most valiant in the encounter was absolved by public opinion from any crime with which he might be charged4 ,as a necessary consequence1 society would have been reduced to its original elements1 if the men of thought1 as distinguished from the men of action1 had not devised some means for taming the unruly passions of their fellows4 ,with this view1 governments commenced by restricting within the narrowest possible limits the cases in which it was lawful to prove or deny guilt by the single combat4 ,by the law of ,gondebaldus king of the ,burgundians1 passed in the year #eja1 the proof by combat was allowed in all legal proceedings in lieu of swearing4 ,in the time of ,charlemagne1 the ,burgundian practice had spread over the empire of the ,francs1 and not only the suitors for justice1 but the witnesses1 and even the judges1 were obliged to defend their cause1 their evidence1 or their decision at the point of the sword4 ,louis the ,debonnaire1 his successor1 endeavoured to remedy the growing evil by permitting the duel only in appeals of felony1 in civil cases1 or issue joined in a writ of right1 and in cases of the court of chivalry1 or attacks upon a man's knighthood4 ,none were exempt from these trials but women1 the sick and the maimed1 and persons under fifteen or above sixty years of age4 ,ecclesiastics were allowed to produce champions in their stead4 ,this practice in the course of time extended to all trials of civil and criminal cases1 which had to be decided by battle4 #ea ,esprit des ,loix1 liv4 xxviii4 chap4 xvii4 ,the clergy1 whose dominion was an intellectual one1 never approved of a system of jurisprudence which tended so much to bring all things under the rule of the strongest arm4 ,from the first they set their faces against duelling1 and endeavoured1 as far as the prejudices of their age would allow them1 to curb the warlike spirit1 so alien from the principles of religion4 ,in the ,council of ,valentia1 and afterwards in the ,council of ,trent1 they excommunicated all persons engaged in duelling2 and not only them1 but even the assistants and spectators1 declaring the custom to be hellish and detestable1 and introduced by the devil for the destruction both of body and soul4 ,they added also1 that princes who connived at duels should be deprived of all temporal power1 jurisdiction1 and dominion over the places where they had permitted them to be fought4 ,it will be seen hereafter that this clause only encouraged the practice which it was intended to prevent4 ,but it was the blasphemous error of these early ages to expect that the ,almighty1 whenever he was called upon1 would work a miracle in favour of a person unjustly accused4 ,the priesthood1 in condemning the duel1 did not condemn the principle on which it was founded4 ,they still encouraged the popular belief of divine interference in all the disputes or differences that might arise among nations or individuals4 ,it was the very same principle that regulated the ordeals1 which with all their influence they supported against the duel4 ,by the former1 the power of deciding the guilt or innocence was vested wholly in their hands2 while by the latter they enjoyed no power or privilege at all4 ,it is not to be wondered at that1 for this reason1 if for no other1 they should have endeavoured to settle all differences by the peaceful mode4 ,while that prevailed1 they were1 as they wished to be1 the first party in the state2 but while the strong arm of individual prowess was allowed to be the judge in all doubtful cases1 their power and influence became secondary to those of the nobility4 ,thus it was not the mere hatred of bloodshed which induced them to launch the thunderbolts of excommunication against the combatants3 it was a desire to retain the power1 which1 to do them justice1 they were in those times the persons best qualified to wield4 ,the germs of knowledge and civilisation lay within the bounds of their order2 for they were the representatives of the intellectual1 as the nobility were of the physical power of man4 ,to centralise this power in the ,church1 and make it the judge of the last resort in all appeals1 both in civil and criminal cases1 they instituted five modes of trial1 the management of which lay wholly in their hands4 ,these were1 the oath upon the evangelists2 the ordeal of the cross and the fire ordeal1 for persons in the higher ranks2 the water ordeal1 for the humbler classes2 and1 lastly1 the corsned1 or bread and cheese ordeal1 for members of their own body4 ,the oath upon the evangelists was taken in the following manner4 ,the accused who was received to this proof1 says ,paul ,hay1 ,count du ,chastelet1 in his ,memoirs of ,bertrand du ,guesclin1 swore upon a copy of the ,new ,testament1 and on the relics of the holy martyrs1 or on their tombs1 that he was innocent of the crime imputed to him4 ,he was also obliged to find twelve persons of acknowledged probity who should take oath at the same time that they believed him innocent4 ,this mode of trial led to very great abuses1 especially in cases of disputed inheritance1 where the hardest swearer was certain of the victory4 ,this abuse was one of the principal causes which led to the preference given to the trial by battle4 ,it is not at all surprising that a feudal baron1 or captain of the early ages1 should have preferred the chances of a fair fight with his opponent to a mode by which firm perjury would always be successful4 ,the trial by1 or judgment of1 the cross1 which ,charlemagne begged his sons to have recourse to1 in case of disputes arising between them1 was performed thus3--,when a person accused of any crime had declared his innocence upon oath1 and appealed to the cross for its judgment in his favour1 he was brought into the church1 before the altar4 ,the priests previously prepared two sticks exactly like one another1 upon one of which was carved a figure of the cross4 ,they were both wrapped up with great care and many ceremonies1 in a quantity of fine wool1 and laid upon the altar1 or on the relics of the saints4 ,a solemn prayer was then offered up to ,god1 that he would be pleased to discover1 by the judgment of his holy cross1 whether the accused person were innocent or guilty4 ,a priest then approached the altar1 and took up one of the sticks1 and the assistants unswathed it reverently4 ,if it was marked with the cross1 the accused person was innocent2 if unmarked1 he was guilty4 ,it would be unjust to assert1 that the judgments thus delivered were1 in all cases1 erroneous2 and it would be absurd to believe that they were left altogether to chance4 ,many true judgments were doubtless given1 and1 in all probability1 most conscientiously2 for we cannot but believe that the priests endeavoured beforehand to convince themselves by secret inquiry and a strict examination of the circumstances1 whether the appellant were innocent or guilty1 and that they took up the crossed or uncrossed stick accordingly4 ,although1 to all other observers1 the sticks1 as enfolded in the wool1 might appear exactly similar1 those who enwrapped them could1 without any difficulty1 distinguish the one from the other4 ,by the fire-ordeal the power of deciding was just as unequivocally left in their hands4 ,it was generally believed that fire would not burn the innocent1 and the clergy1 of course1 took care that the innocent1 or such as it was their pleasure or interest to declare so1 should be so warned before undergoing the ordeal1 as to preserve themselves without any difficulty from the fire4 ,one mode of ordeal was to place red-hot ploughshares on the ground at certain distances1 and then1 blindfolding the accused person1 make him walk barefooted over them4 ,if he stepped regularly in the vacant spaces1 avoiding the fire1 he was adjudged innocent2 if he burned himself1 he was declared guilty4 ,as none but the clergy interfered with the arrangement of the ploughshares1 they could always calculate beforehand the result of the ordeal4 ,to find a person guilty1 they had only to place them at irregular distances1 and the accused was sure to tread upon one of them4 ,when ,emma1 the wife of ,king ,ethelred1 and mother of ,edward the ,confessor1 was accused of a guilty familiarity with ,alwyn ,bishop of ,winchester1 she cleared her character in this manner4 ,the reputation1 not only of their order1 but of a queen1 being at stake1 a verdict of guilty was not to be apprehended from any ploughshares which priests had the heating of4 ,this ordeal was called the ,judicium ,dei1 and sometimes the ,vulgaris ,purgatio1 and might also be tried by several other methods4 ,one was to hold in the hand1 unhurt1 a piece of red-hot iron1 of the weight of one1 two1 or three pounds4 ,when we read not only that men with hard hands1 but women of softer and more delicate skin1 could do this with impunity1 we must be convinced that the hands were previously rubbed with some preservative1 or that the apparently hot iron was merely cold iron painted red4 ,another mode was to plunge the naked arm into a caldron of boiling water4 ,the priests then enveloped it in several folds of linen and flannel1 and kept the patient confined within the church1 and under their exclusive care1 for three days4 ,if1 at the end of that time1 the arm appeared without a scar1 the innocence of the accused person was firmly established4#eb #eb ,very similar to this is the fire-ordeal of the modern ,hindoos1 which is thus described in ,forbes's ,oriental ,memoirs1 vol4 i4 c4 xi43--,when a man1 accused of a capital crime1 chooses to undergo the ordeal trial1 he is closely confined for several days2 his right hand and arm are covered with thick wax-cloth1 tied up and sealed1 in the presence of proper officers1 to prevent deceit4 ,in the ,english districts the covering was always sealed with the ,company's arms1 and the prisoner placed under an ,european guard4 ,at the time fixed for the ordeal1 a caldron of oil is placed over a fire2 when it boils1 a piece of money is dropped into the vessel2 the prisoner's arm is unsealed and washed in the presence of his judges and accusers4 ,during this part of the ceremony the attendant ,brahmins supplicate the ,deity4 ,on receiving their benediction1 the accused plunges his hand into the boiling fluid1 and takes out the coin4 ,the arm is afterwards again sealed up until the time appointed for a re-examination4 ,the seal is then broken2 if no blemish appears1 the prisoner is declared innocent2 if the contrary1 he suffers the punishment due to his crime4444 ,on this trial the accused thus addresses the element before plunging his hand into the boiling oil3--,thou1 ,o fire6 pervadest all things4 ,o cause of purity6 who givest evidence of virtue and of sin1 declare the truth in this my hand6 ,if no juggling were practised1 the decisions by this ordeal would be all the same way2 but as some are by this means declared guilty1 and others innocent1 it is clear that the ,brahmins1 like the ,christian priests of the middle ages1 practise some deception in saving those whom they wish to be thought guiltless4 ,as regards the water-ordeal1 the same trouble was not taken4 ,it was a trial only for the poor and humble1 and1 whether they sank or swam1 was thought of very little consequence4 ,like the witches of more modern times1 the accused were thrown into a pond or river2 if they sank1 and were drowned1 their surviving friends had the consolation of knowing that they were innocent2 if they swam1 they were guilty4 ,in either case society was rid of them4 ,but of all the ordeals1 that which the clergy reserved for themselves was the one least likely to cause any member of their corps to be declared guilty4 ,the most culpable monster in existence came off clear when tried by this method4 ,it was called the ,corsned1 and was thus performed4 ,a piece of barley bread and a piece of cheese were laid upon the altar1 and the accused priest1 in his full canonicals1 and surrounded by all the pompous adjuncts of ,roman ceremony1 pronounced certain conjurations1 and prayed with great fervency for several minutes4 ,the burden of the prayer was1 that if he were guilty of the crime laid to his charge1 ,god would send his angel ,gabriel to stop his throat1 that he might not be able to swallow the bread and cheese4 ,there is no instance upon record of a priest having been choked in this manner4#ec #ec ,an ordeal very like this is still practised in ,india4 ,consecrated rice is the article chosen1 instead of bread and cheese4 ,instances are not rare in which1 through the force of imagination1 guilty persons are not able to swallow a single grain4 ,conscious of their crime1 and fearful of the punishment of ,heaven1 they feel a suffocating sensation in their throat when they attempt it1 and they fall on their knees1 and confess all that is laid to their charge4 ,the same thing1 no doubt1 would have happened with the bread and cheese of the ,roman ,church1 if it had been applied to any others but ecclesiastics4 ,the latter had too much wisdom to be caught in a trap of their own setting4 ,when1 under ,pope ,gregory ,,vii41 it was debated whether the ,gregorian chant should be introduced into ,castile1 instead of the ,musarabic1 given by ,st4 ,isidore of ,seville to the churches of that kingdom1 very much ill feeling was excited4 ,the churches refused to receive the novelty1 and it was proposed that the affair should be decided by a battle between two champions1 one chosen from each side4 ,the clergy would not consent to a mode of settlement which they considered impious1 but had no objection to try the merits of each chant by the fire-ordeal4 ,a great fire was accordingly made1 and a book of the ,gregorian and one of the ,musarabic chant were thrown into it1 that the flames might decide which was most agreeable to ,god by refusing to burn it4 ,cardinal ,baronius1 who says he was an eye-witness of the miracle1 relates1 that the book of the ,gregorian chant was no sooner laid upon the fire1 than it leaped out uninjured1 visibly1 and with a great noise4 ,every one present thought that the saints had decided in favour of ,pope ,gregory4 ,after a slight interval1 the fire was extinguished2 but1 wonderful to relate6 the other book of ,st4 ,isidore was found covered with ashes1 but not injured in the slightest degree4 ,the flames had not even warmed it4 ,upon this it was resolved1 that both were alike agreeable to ,god1 and that they should be used by turns in all the churches of ,seville4#ed #ed ,histoire de ,messire ,bertrand du ,guesclin1 par ,paul ,hay du ,chastelet1 liv4 i4 ch4 xix4 ,if the ordeals had been confined to questions like this1 the laity would have had little or no objection to them2 but when they were introduced as decisive in all the disputes that might arise between man and man1 the opposition of all those whose prime virtue was personal bravery1 was necessarily excited4 ,in fact1 the nobility1 from a very early period1 began to look with jealous eyes upon them4 ,they were not slow to perceive their true purport1 which was no other than to make the ,church the last court of appeal in all cases1 both civil and criminal3 and not only did the nobility prefer the ancient mode of single combat from this cause1 in itself a sufficient one1 but they clung to it because an acquittal gained by those displays of courage and address which the battle afforded1 was more creditable in the eyes of their compeers1 than one which it required but little or none of either to accomplish4 ,to these causes may be added another1 which was perhaps more potent than either in raising the credit of the judicial combat at the expense of the ordeal4 ,the noble institution of chivalry was beginning to take root1 and1 notwithstanding the clamours of the clergy1 war was made the sole business of life1 and the only elegant pursuit of the aristocracy4 ,the fine spirit of honour was introduced1 any attack upon which was only to be avenged in the lists1 within sight of applauding crowds1 whose verdict of approbation was far more gratifying than the cold and formal acquittal of the ordeal4 ,lothaire1 the son of ,louis ,i41 abolished that by fire and the trial of the cross within his dominions2 but in ,england they were allowed so late as the time of ,henry ,,iii41 in the early part of whose reign they were prohibited by an order of council4 ,in the mean time1 the ,crusades had brought the institution of chivalry to the full height of perfection4 ,the chivalric spirit soon achieved the downfall of the ordeal system1 and established the judicial combat on a basis too firm to be shaken4 ,it is true that with the fall of chivalry1 as an institution1 fell the tournament and the encounter in the lists2 but the duel1 their offspring1 has survived to this day1 defying the efforts of sages and philosophers to eradicate it4 ,among all the errors bequeathed to us by a barbarous age1 it has proved the most pertinacious4 ,it has put variance between men's reason and their honour2 put the man of sense on a level with the fool1 and made thousands who condemn it submit to it or practise it4 ,those who are curious to see the manner in which these combats were regulated1 may consult the learned ,montesquieu1 where they will find a copious summary of the code of ancient duelling4#ee ,truly does he remark1 in speaking of the clearness and excellence of the arrangements1 that1 as there were many wise matters which were conducted in a very foolish manner1 so there were many foolish matters conducted very wisely4 ,no greater exemplification of it could be given than the wise and religious rules of the absurd and blasphemous trial by battle4 #ee ,esprit des ,loix1 liv4 xxviii4 ch4 xxv4 ,in the ages that intervened between the ,crusades and the new era that was opened out by the invention of gunpowder and printing1 a more rational system of legislation took root4 ,the inhabitants of cities1 engaged in the pursuits of trade and industry1 were content to acquiesce in the decisions of their judges and magistrates whenever any differences arose among them4 ,unlike the class above them1 their habits and manners did not lead them to seek the battle-field on every slight occasion4 ,a dispute as to the price of a sack of corn1 a bale of broad-cloth1 or a cow1 could be more satisfactorily adjusted before the mayor or bailiff of their district4 ,even the martial knights and nobles1 quarrelsome as they were1 began to see that the trial by battle would lose its dignity and splendour if too frequently resorted to4 ,governments also shared this opinion1 and on several occasions restricted the cases in which it was legal to proceed to this extremity4 ,in ,france1 before the time of ,louis ,,ix41 duels were permitted only in cases of lse majest1 rape1 incendiarism1 assassination1 and burglary4 ,louis ,,ix41 by taking off all restriction1 made them legal in civil cases4 ,this was not found to work well1 and1 in #acjc1 ,philip the ,fair judged it necessary to confine them1 in criminal matters1 to state offences1 rape1 and incendiarism2 and in civil cases1 to questions of disputed inheritance4 ,knighthood was allowed to be the best judge of its own honour1 and might defend or avenge it as often as occasion arose4 ,among the earliest duels upon record1 is a very singular one that took place in the reign of ,louis ,,ii4 7,a4 ,d4 #hgh74 ,ingelgerius count of ,gastinois was one morning discovered by his countess dead in bed at her side4 ,gontran1 a relation of the count1 accused the countess of having murdered her husband1 to whom1 he asserted1 she had long been unfaithful1 and challenged her to produce a champion to do battle in her behalf1 that he might establish her guilt by killing him4#ef ,all the friends and relatives of the countess believed in her innocence2 but ,gontran was so stout and bold and renowned a warrior that no one dared to meet him1 for which1 as ,brantme quaintly says1 mauvais et poltrons parens estaient4 ,the unhappy countess began to despair1 when a champion suddenly appeared in the person of ,ingelgerius count of ,anjou1 a boy of sixteen years of age1 who had been held by the countess on the baptismal font1 and received her husband's name4 ,he tenderly loved his godmother1 and offered to do battle in her cause against any and every opponent4 ,the king endeavoured to persuade the generous boy from his enterprise1 urging the great strength1 tried skill1 and invincible courage of the challenger2 but he persisted in his resolution1 to the great sorrow of all the court1 who said it was a cruel thing to permit so brave and beautiful a child to rush to such butchery and death4 #ef ,mmoires de ,brantme touchant les ,duels4 ,illustration3 ,,duel ,,between ,,ingelgerius ,,and ,,gontran4 ,when the lists were prepared1 the countess duly acknowledged her champion1 and the combatants commenced the onset4 ,gontran rode so fiercely at his antagonist1 and hit him on the shield with such impetuosity1 that he lost his own balance and rolled to the ground4 ,the young count1 as ,gontran fell1 passed his lance through his body1 and then dismounting1 cut off his head1 which1 ,brantme says1 he presented to the king1 who received it most graciously1 and was very joyful1 as much so as if any one had made him a present of a city4 ,the innocence of the countess was then proclaimed with great rejoicings2 and she kissed her godson1 and wept over his neck with joy1 in the presence of all the assembly4 ,when the ,earl of ,essex was accused1 by ,robert de ,montfort1 before ,king ,henry ,,ii41 in #aafb1 of having traitorously suffered the royal standard of ,england to fall from his hands in a skirmish with the ,welsh at ,coleshill1 five years previously1 the latter offered to prove the truth of the charge by single combat4 ,the ,earl of ,essex accepted the challenge1 and the lists were prepared near ,reading4 ,an immense concourse of persons assembled to witness the battle4 ,essex at first fought stoutly1 but1 losing his temper and self-command1 he gave an advantage to his opponent which soon decided the struggle4 ,he was unhorsed1 and so severely wounded1 that all present thought he was dead4 ,at the solicitation of his relatives1 the monks of the ,abbey of ,reading were allowed to remove the body for interment1 and ,montfort was declared the victor4 ,essex1 however1 was not dead1 but stunned only1 and1 under the care of the monks1 recovered in a few weeks from his bodily injuries4 ,the wounds of his mind were not so easily healed4 ,though a loyal and brave subject1 the whole realm believed him a traitor and a coward because he had been vanquished4 ,he could not brook to return to the world deprived of the good opinion of his fellows2 he therefore made himself a monk1 and passed the remainder of his days within the walls of the abbey4 ,du ,chastelet relates a singular duel that was proposed in ,spain4#eg ,a ,christian gentleman of ,seville sent a challenge to a ,moorish cavalier1 offering to prove against him1 with whatever weapons he might choose1 that the religion of ,jesus ,christ was holy and divine1 and that of ,mahomet impious and damnable4 ,the ,spanish prelates did not choose that ,christianity should be compromised within their jurisdiction by the result of any such combat2 the ,moorish cavalier might1 perchance1 have proved to be the stronger1 and they commanded the knight1 under pain of excommunication1 to withdraw the challenge4 #eg ,histoire de ,messire ,bertrand du ,guesclin1 liv4 i4 ch4 xix4 ,the same author relates that1 under ,otho ,i41 a question arose among jurisconsults1 viz4 whether grandchildren1 who had lost their father1 should share equally with their uncles in the property of their grandfather1 at the death of the latter4 ,the difficulty of this question was found so insurmountable1 that none of the lawyers of that day could resolve it4 ,it was at last decreed that it should be decided by single combat4 ,two champions were accordingly chosen2 one for1 and the other against1 the claims of the little ones4 ,after a long struggle1 the champion of the uncles was unhorsed and slain2 and it was therefore decided that the right of the grandchildren was established1 and that they should enjoy the same portion of their grandfather's possessions that their father would have done had he been alive4 ,upon pretexts just as strange1 and often more frivolous that these1 duels continued to be fought in most of the countries of ,europe during the whole of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries4 ,a memorable instance of the slightness of the pretext on which a man could be forced to fight a duel to the death1 occurs in the ,memoirs of the brave ,constable1 ,du ,guesclin4 ,the advantage he had obtained1 in a skirmish before ,rennes1 against ,william ,brembre1 an ,english captain1 so preyed on the spirits of ,william ,troussel1 the chosen friend and companion of the latter1 that nothing would satisfy him but a mortal combat with the ,constable4 ,the ,duke of ,lancaster1 to whom ,troussel applied for permission to fight the great ,frenchman1 forbade the battle1 as not warranted by the circumstances4 ,troussel nevertheless burned with a fierce desire to cross his weapon with ,du ,guesclin1 and sought every occasion to pick a quarrel with him4 ,having so good a will for it1 of course he found a way4 ,a relative of his had been taken prisoner by the ,constable1 in whose hands he remained till he was able to pay his ransom4 ,troussel resolved to make a quarrel out of this1 and despatched a messenger to ,du ,guesclin1 demanding the release of his prisoner1 and offering a bond1 at a distant date1 for the payment of the ransom4 ,du ,guesclin1 who had received intimation of the hostile purposes of the ,englishman1 sent back word that he would not accept his bond1 neither would he release his prisoner until the full amount of his ransom was paid4 ,as soon as this answer was received1 ,troussel sent a challenge to the ,constable1 demanding reparation for the injury he had done his honour1 by refusing his bond1 and offering a mortal combat1 to be fought three strokes with the lance1 three with the sword1 and three with the dagger4 ,du ,guesclin1 although ill in bed with the ague1 accepted the challenge1 and gave notice to the ,marshal d',andreghem1 the king's lieutenant-general in ,lower ,normandy1 that he might fix the day and the place of combat4 ,the marshal made all necessary arrangements1 upon condition that he who was beaten should pay a hundred florins of gold to feast the nobles and gentlemen who were witnesses of the encounter4 ,the ,duke of ,lancaster was very angry with his captain1 and told him that it would be a shame to his knighthood and his nation if he forced on a combat with the brave ,du ,guesclin at a time when he was enfeebled by disease and stretched on the couch of suffering4 ,upon these representations1 ,troussel1 ashamed of himself1 sent notice to ,du ,guesclin that he was willing to postpone the duel until such time as he should be perfectly recovered4 ,du ,guesclin replied1 that he could not think of postponing the combat after all the nobility had received notice of it2 that he had sufficient strength left not only to meet1 but to conquer such an opponent as he was2 and that if he did not make his appearance in the lists at the time appointed1 he would publish him every where as a man unworthy to be called a knight1 or to wear an honourable sword by his side4 ,troussel carried this haughty message to the ,duke of ,lancaster1 who immediately gave permission for the battle4 ,on the day appointed1 the two combatants appeared in the lists1 in the presence of several thousand spectators4 ,du ,guesclin was attended by the flower of the ,french nobility1 including the ,marshal de ,beaumanoir1 ,olivier de ,mauny1 ,bertrand de ,saint ,pern1 and the ,viscount de la ,bellire2 while the ,englishman appeared with no more than the customary retinue of two seconds1 two squires1 two coutilliers or daggermen1 and two trumpeters4 ,the first onset was unfavourable to the ,constable4 ,he received so heavy a blow on his shield-arm1 that he fell forward to the left upon his horse's neck2 and being weakened by his fever1 was nearly thrown to the ground4 ,all his friends thought he could never recover himself1 and began to deplore his ill fortune2 but ,du ,guesclin collected his energies for a decisive effort1 and at the second charge aimed a blow at the shoulder of his enemy1 which felled him to the earth1 mortally wounded4 ,he then sprang from his horse1 sword in hand1 with the intention of cutting off the head of his fallen foe1 when the ,marshal d',andreghem threw a golden wand into the arena as a signal that hostilities should cease4 ,du ,guesclin was proclaimed the victor amid the joyous acclamations of the crowd1 and retiring1 left the field to the meaner combatants1 who were afterwards to make sport for the people4 ,four ,english and as many ,french squires fought for some time with pointless lances1 when the ,french gaining the advantage1 the sports were declared at an end4 ,in the time of ,charles ,,vi41 about the beginning of the fifteenth century1 a famous duel was ordered by the parliament of ,paris4 ,the ,sieur de ,carrouges being absent in the ,holy ,land1 his lady was violated by the ,sieur ,legris4 ,carrouges1 on his return1 challenged ,legris to mortal combat for the twofold crime of violation and slander1 inasmuch as he had denied his guilt by asserting that the lady was a willing party4 ,the lady's asseverations of innocence were held to be no evidence by the parliament1 and the duel was commanded1 with all the ceremonies4 ,on the day appointed1 says ,brantme1#eh the lady came to witness the spectacle in her chariot2 but the king made her descend1 judging her unworthy1 because she was criminal in his eyes till her innocence was proved1 and caused her to stand upon a scaffold to await the mercy of ,god and this judgment by the battle4 ,after a short struggle1 the ,sieur de ,carrouges overthrew his enemy1 and made him confess both the rape and the slander4 ,he was then taken to the gallows and hanged in the presence of the multitude2 while the innocence of the lady was proclaimed by the heralds1 and recognised by her husband1 the king1 and all the spectators4 #eh ,mmoires de ,brantme touchant les ,duels4 ,numerous battles of a similar description constantly took place1 until the unfortunate issue of one encounter of the kind led the ,french king1 ,henry ,,ii41 to declare solemnly that he would never again permit any such encounter1 whether it related to a civil or criminal case1 or the honour of a gentleman4 ,this memorable combat was fought in the year #aedg4 ,franois de ,vivonne1 lord of ,la ,chataigneraie1 and ,guy de ,chabot1 lord of ,jarnac1 had been friends from their early youth1 and were noted at the court of ,francis ,i4 for the gallantry of their bearing and the magnificence of their retinue4 ,chataigneraie1 who knew that his friend's means were not very ample1 asked him one day in confidence how it was that he contrived to be so well provided8 ,jarnac replied1 that his father had married a young and beautiful woman1 who1 loving the son far better than the sire1 supplied him with as much money as he desired4 ,la ,chataigneraie betrayed the base secret to the dauphin1 the dauphin to the king1 the king to his courtiers1 and the courtiers to all their acquaintance4 ,in a short time it reached the ears of the old ,lord de ,jarnac1 who immediately sent for his son1 and demanded to know in what manner the report had originated1 and whether he had been vile enough not only to carry on such a connexion1 but to boast of it8 ,de ,jarnac indignantly denied that he had ever said so1 or given reason to the world to say so1 and requested his father to accompany him to court and confront him with his accuser1 that he might see the manner in which he would confound him4 ,they went accordingly2 and the younger ,de ,jarnac1 entering a room where the dauphin1 ,la ,chataigneraie1 and several courtiers were present1 exclaimed aloud1 ,that whoever had asserted that he maintained a criminal connexion with his mother-in-law was a liar and a coward6 ,every eye was turned to the dauphin and ,la ,chataigneraie1 when the latter stood forward and asserted1 that ,de ,jarnac had himself avowed that such was the fact1 and he would extort from his lips another confession of it4 ,a case like this could not be met or rebutted by any legal proof1 and the royal council ordered that it should be decided by single combat4 ,the king1 however1 set his face against the duel1#ei and forbade them both1 under pain of his high displeasure1 to proceed any further in the matter4 ,but ,francis died in the following year1 and the dauphin1 now ,henry ,,ii41 who was himself compromised1 resolved that the combat should take place4 #ei ,although ,francis shewed himself in this case an enemy to duelling1 yet in his own case he had not the same objection4 ,every reader of history must remember his answer to the challenge of the ,emperor ,charles ,v4 ,the ,emperor wrote that he had failed in his word1 and that he would sustain their quarrel single-handed against him4 ,francis replied1 that he lied--qu'il en avait menti par la gorge1 and that he was ready to meet him in single combat whenever and wherever he pleased4 ,the lists were prepared in the court-yard of the chateau of ,st4 ,germain-en-,laye1 and the #ajth of ,july1 #aedg1 was appointed for the encounter4 ,the cartels of the combatants1 which are preserved in the ,mmoires de ,castelnau1 were as follow3 ,cartel of ,franois de ,vivonne1 lord of la ,chataigneraie4 ,,sire1 ,having learned that ,guy ,chabot de ,jarnac1 being lately at ,compiegne1 asserted that whoever had said that he boasted of having criminal intercourse with his mother-in-law was wicked and a wretch1 ,i1 sire1 with your good will and pleasure1 do answer that he has wickedly lied1 and will lie as many times as he denies having said that which ,i affirm he did say2 for ,i repeat1 that he told me several times1 and boasted of it1 that he had slept with his mother-in-law4 ,,fran,,ois ,,de ,,vivonne4 ,to this cartel ,de ,jarnac replied3 ,,sire1 ,with your good will and permission1 ,i say1 that ,franois de ,vivonne has lied in the imputation which he has cast upon me1 and of which ,i spoke to you at ,compiegne4 ,i therefore entreat you1 sire1 most humbly1 that you be pleased to grant us a fair field1 that we may fight this battle to the death4 ,,guy ,,chabot4 ,the preparations were conducted on a scale of the greatest magnificence1 the king having intimated his intention of being present4 ,la ,chataigneraie made sure of the victory1 and invited the king and a hundred and fifty of the principal personages of the court to sup with him in the evening1 after the battle1 in a splendid tent which he had prepared at the extremity of the lists4 ,de ,jarnac was not so confident1 though perhaps more desperate4 ,at noon1 on the day appointed1 the combatants met1 and each took the customary oath that he bore no charms or amulets about him1 or made use of any magic1 to aid him against his antagonist4 ,they then attacked each other1 sword in hand4 ,la ,chataigneraie was a strong robust man1 and over confident2 ,de ,jarnac was nimble1 supple1 and prepared for the worst4 ,the combat lasted for some time doubtful1 until ,de ,jarnac1 overpowered by the heavy blows of his opponent1 covered his head with his shield1 and1 stooping down1 endeavoured to make amends by his agility for his deficiency of strength4 ,in this crouching posture he aimed two blows at the left thigh of ,la ,chataigneraie1 who had left it uncovered1 that the motion of his leg might not be impeded4 ,each blow was successful1 and1 amid the astonishment of all the spectators1 and to the great regret of the king1 ,la ,chataigneraie rolled over upon the sand4 ,he seized his dagger1 and made a last effort to strike ,de ,jarnac3 but he was unable to support himself1 and fell powerless into the arms of the assistants4 ,the officers now interfered1 and ,de ,jarnac being declared the victor1 fell down upon his knees1 uncovered his head1 and1 clasping his hands together1 exclaimed3 ,o ,domine1 non sum dignus6 ,la ,chataigneraie was so mortified by the result of the encounter1 that he resolutely refused to have his wounds dressed4 ,he tore off the bandages which the surgeons applied1 and expired two days afterwards4 ,ever since that time1 any sly and unforeseen attack has been called by the ,french a coup de ,jarnac4 ,henry was so grieved at the loss of his favourite1 that he made the solemn oath already alluded to1 that he would never again1 so long as he lived1 permit a duel4 ,some writers have asserted1 and among others1 ,mezerai1 that he issued a royal edict forbidding them4 ,this has been doubted by others1 and as there appears no registry of the edict in any of the courts1 it seems most probable that it was never issued4 ,this opinion is strengthened by the fact1 that1 two years afterwards1 the council ordered another duel to be fought with similar forms1 but with less magnificence1 on account of the inferior rank of the combatants4 ,it is not anywhere stated that ,henry interfered to prevent it1 notwithstanding his solemn oath2 but that1 on the contrary1 he encouraged it1 and appointed the ,marshal de la ,marque to see that it was conducted according to the rules of chivalry4 ,the disputants were ,fendille and ,d',aguerre1 two gentlemen of the household1 who1 quarrelling in the king's chamber1 had proceeded from words to blows4 ,the council1 being informed of the matter1 decreed that it could only be decided in the lists4 ,marshal de la ,marque1 with the king's permission1 appointed the city of ,sedan as the place of combat4 ,fendille1 who was a bad swordsman1 was anxious to avoid an encounter with ,d',aguerre1 who was one of the most expert men of the age2 but the council authoritatively commanded that he should fight1 or be degraded from all his honours4 ,d',aguerre appeared in the field attended by ,franois de ,vendme1 ,count de ,chartres1 while ,fendille was accompanied by the ,duke of ,nevers4 ,fendille appears to have been not only an inexpert swordsman1 but a thorough coward2 one who1 like ,cowley1 might have heaped curses on the man1 7,death's factor sure71 who brought ,dire swords into this peaceful world4 ,on the very first encounter he was thrown from his horse1 and1 confessing on the ground all that his victor required of him1 slunk away ignominiously from the arena4 ,one is tempted to look upon the death of ,henry ,,ii4 as a judgment upon him for his perjury in the matter of duelling4 ,in a grand tournament instituted on the occasion of the marriage of his daughter1 he broke several lances in encounters with some of the bravest knights of the time4 ,ambitious of still further renown1 he would not rest satisfied until he had also engaged the young ,count de ,montgommeri4 ,he received a wound in the eye from the lance of his antagonist1 and died from its effects shortly afterwards1 in the forty-first year of his age4 ,in the succeeding reigns of ,francis ,,ii41 ,charles ,,ix41 and ,henry ,,iii41 the practice of duelling increased to an alarming extent4 ,duels were not rare in the other countries of ,europe at the same period2 but in ,france they were so frequent1 that historians1 in speaking of that age1 designate it as l'poque de la fureur des duels4 ,the parliament of ,paris endeavoured1 as far as in its power lay1 to discourage the practice4 ,by a decree dated the #bfth of ,june #aeei1 it declared all persons who should be present at duels1 or aiding and abetting in them1 to be rebels to the king1 transgressors of the law1 and disturbers of the public peace4 ,when ,henry ,,iii4 was assassinated at ,st4 ,cloud in #aehi1 a young gentleman1 named ,l',isle-,marivaut1 who had been much beloved by him1 took his death so much to heart1 that he resolved not to survive him4 ,not thinking suicide an honourable death1 and wishing1 as he said1 to die gloriously in revenging his king and master1 he publicly expressed his readiness to fight any body to the death1 who should assert that ,henry's assassination was not a great misfortune to the community4 ,another youth1 of a fiery temper and tried courage1 named ,marolles1 took him at his word1 and the day and place of the combat were forthwith appointed4 ,when the hour had come1 and all were ready1 ,marolles turned to his second1 and asked whether his opponent had a casque or helmet only1 or whether he wore a sallade1 or headpiece4 ,being answered a helmet only1 he said gaily1 ,so much the better2 for1 sir my second1 you shall repute me the wickedest man in all the world1 if ,i do not thrust my lance right through the middle of his head and kill him4 ,truth to say1 he did so at the very first onset1 and the unhappy ,l',isle-,marivaut expired without a groan4 ,brantme1 who relates this story1 adds1 that the victor might have done as he pleased with the body1 cut off the head1 dragged it out of the camp1 or exposed it upon an ass2 but that being a wise and very courteous gentleman1 he left it to the relatives of the deceased to be honourably buried1 contenting himself with the glory of his triumph1 by which he gained no little renown and honour among the ladies of ,paris4 ,illustration3 ,,henry ,,iv4 ,on the accession of ,henry ,,iv4 that monarch determined to set his face against duelling2 but such was the influence of early education and the prejudices of society upon him1 that he never could find it in his heart to punish a man for this offence4 ,he thought it tended to foster a warlike spirit among his people4 ,when the chivalrous ,crqui demanded his permission to fight ,don ,philippe de ,savoire1 he is reported to have said1 ,go1 and if ,i were not a king1 ,i would be your second4 ,it is no wonder that when such was known to be the king's disposition1 his edicts attracted but small attention4 ,a calculation was made by ,m4 de ,lomenie1 in the year #afjg1 that since the accession of ,henry1 in #aehi1 no less than four thousand ,french gentlemen had lost their lives in these conflicts2 which1 for the eighteen years1 would have been at the rate of four or five in a week1 or eighteen per month6 ,sully1 who reports this fact in his ,memoirs1 does not throw the slightest doubt upon its exactness2 and adds1 that it was chiefly owing to the facility and ill-advised good-nature of his royal master that the bad example had so empoisoned the court1 the city1 and the whole country4 ,this wise minister devoted much of his time and attention to the subject2 for the rage1 he says1 was such as to cause him a thousand pangs1 and the king also4 ,there was hardly a man moving in what was called good society1 who had not been engaged in a duel either as principal or second2 and if there were such a man1 his chief desire was to free himself from the imputation of non-duelling1 by picking a quarrel with somebody4 ,sully constantly wrote letters to the king1 in which he prayed him to renew the edicts against this barbarous custom1 to aggravate the punishment against offenders1 and never1 in any instance1 to grant a pardon1 even to a person who had wounded another in a duel1 much less to any one who had taken away life4 ,he also advised1 that some sort of tribunal1 or court of honour1 should be established1 to take cognisance of injurious and slanderous language1 and of all such matters as usually led to duels2 and that the justice to be administered by this court should be sufficiently prompt and severe to appease the complainant1 and make the offender repent of his aggression4 ,illustration3 ,,gallery ,,at ,,fontainebleau4 ,henry1 being so warmly pressed by his friend and minister1 called together an extraordinary council in the gallery of the palace of ,fontainebleau1 to take the matter into consideration4 ,when all the members were assembled1 his majesty requested that some person conversant with the subject would make a report to him on the origin1 progress1 and different forms of the duel4 ,sully complacently remarks1 that none of the councillors gave the king any great reason to felicitate them on their erudition4 ,in fact1 they all remained silent4 ,sully held his peace with the rest2 but he looked so knowing1 that the king turned towards him1 and said3--,great master6 by your face ,i conjecture that you know more of this matter than you would have us believe4 ,i pray you1 and indeed ,i command1 that you tell us what you think and what you know4 ,the coy minister refused1 as he says1 out of mere politeness to his more ignorant colleagues2 but1 being again pressed by the king1 he entered into a history of duelling both in ancient and modern times4 ,he has not preserved this history in his ,memoirs2 and1 as none of the ministers or councillors present thought proper to do so1 the world is deprived of a discourse which was1 no doubt1 a learned and remarkable one4 ,the result was1 that a royal edict was issued1 which ,sully lost no time in transmitting to the most distant provinces1 with a distinct notification to all parties concerned that the king was in earnest1 and would exert the full rigour of the law in punishment of the offenders4 ,sully himself does not inform us what were the provisions of the new law2 but ,father ,matthias has been more explicit1 and from him we learn1 that the marshals of ,france were created judges of a court of chivalry1 for the hearing of all causes wherein the honour of a noble or gentleman was concerned1 and that such as resorted to duelling should be punished by death and confiscation of property1 and that the seconds and assistants should lose their rank1 dignity1 or offices1 and be banished from the court of their sovereign4#fj #fj ,le ,pre ,matthias1 tome ii4 livre iv4 ,but so strong a hold had the education and prejudice of his age upon the mind of the king1 that though his reason condemned1 his sympathies approved the duel4 ,notwithstanding this threatened severity1 the number of duels did not diminish1 and the wise ,sully had still to lament the prevalence of an evil which menaced society with utter disorganisation4 ,in the succeeding reign the practice prevailed1 if possible1 to a still greater extent1 until the ,cardinal de ,richelieu1 better able to grapple with it than ,sully had been1 made some severe examples in the very highest classes4 ,lord ,herbert1 the ,english ambassador at the court of ,louis ,,xiii41 repeats1 in his letters1 an observation that had been previously made in the reign of ,henry ,,iv41 that it was rare to find a ,frenchman moving in good society who had not killed his man in a duel4 ,the ,abb ,millot says of this period1 that the duel madness made the most terrible ravages4 ,men had actually a frenzy for combating4 ,caprice and vanity1 as well as the excitement of passion1 imposed the necessity of fighting4 ,friends were obliged to enter into the quarrels of their friends1 or be themselves called out for their refusal1 and revenge became hereditary in many families4 ,it was reckoned that in twenty years eight thousand letters of pardon had been issued to persons who had killed others in single combat4#fa #fa ,elmens de l',histoire de ,france1 vol4 iii4 p4 #bai4 ,other writers confirm this statement4 ,amelot de ,houssaye1 in his ,memoirs1 says1 upon this subject1 that duels were so common in the first years of the reign of ,louis ,,xiii41 that the ordinary conversation of persons when they met in the morning was1 ,do you know who fought yesterday8 and after dinner1 ,do you know who fought this morning8 ,the most infamous duellist at that period was ,de ,bouteville4 ,it was not at all necessary to quarrel with this assassin1 to be forced to fight a duel with him4 ,when he heard that any one was very brave1 he would go to him1 and say1 ,people tell me that you are brave2 you and ,i must fight together6 ,every morning the most notorious bravos and duellists used to assemble at his house1 to take a breakfast of bread and wine1 and practise fencing4 ,m4 de ,valenay1 who was afterwards elevated to the rank of a cardinal1 stood very high in the estimation of ,de ,bouteville and his gang4 ,hardly a day passed but what he was engaged in some duel or other1 either as principal or second2 and he once challenged ,de ,bouteville himself1 his best friend1 because ,de ,bouteville had fought a duel without inviting him to become his second4 ,this quarrel was only appeased on the promise of ,de ,bouteville that1 in his next encounter1 he would not fail to avail himself of his services4 ,for that purpose he went out the same day1 and picked a quarrel with the ,marquis des ,portes4 ,m4 de ,valenay1 according to agreement1 had the pleasure of serving as his second1 and of running through the body ,m4 de ,cavois1 the second of the ,marquis des ,portes1 a man who had never done him any injury1 and whom he afterwards acknowledged he had never seen before4 ,cardinal ,richelieu devoted much attention to this lamentable state of public morals1 and seems to have concurred with his great predecessor ,sully1 that nothing but the most rigorous severity could put a stop to the evil4 ,the subject indeed was painfully forced upon him by his enemies4 ,the ,marquis de ,themines1 to whom ,richelieu1 then ,bishop of ,luon1 had given offence by some representations he had made to ,mary of ,medicis1 determined1 since he could not challenge an ecclesiastic1 to challenge his brother4 ,an opportunity was soon found4 ,themines1 accosting the ,marquis de ,richelieu1 complained1 in an insulting tone1 that the ,bishop of ,luon had broken his faith4 ,the ,marquis resented both the manner and matter of his speech1 and readily accepted a challenge4 ,they met in the ,rue d',angoulme1 and the unfortunate ,richelieu was stabbed to the heart1 and instantly expired4 ,from that moment the bishop became the steady foe of the practice of duelling4 ,reason and the impulse of brotherly love alike combined to make him detest it1 and when his power in ,france was firmly established1 he set vigorously about repressing it4 ,in his ,testament ,politique1 he has collected his thoughts upon the subject1 in the chapter entitled ,des moyens d'arrter les ,duels4 ,in spite of the edicts that he published1 the members of the nobility persisted in fighting upon the most trivial and absurd pretences4 ,at last ,richelieu made a terrible example4 ,the infamous ,de ,bouteville challenged and fought the ,marquis de ,beuvron2 and although the duel itself was not fatal to either1 its consequences were fatal to both4 ,high as they were1 ,richelieu resolved that the law should reach them both1 and they were both tried1 found guilty1 and beheaded4 ,thus did society get rid of one of the most bloodthirsty scoundrels that ever polluted it4 ,illustration3 ,,sully4 ,in #afcb two noblemen fought a duel in which they were both killed4 ,the officers of justice had notice of the breach of the law1 and arrived at the scene of combat before the friends of the parties had time to remove the bodies4 ,in conformity with the cardinal's severe code upon the subject1 the bodies were ignominiously stripped and hanged upon a gallows with their heads downwards1 for several hours1 within sight of all the people4#fb ,this severity sobered the frenzy of the nation for a time2 but it was soon forgotten4 ,men's minds were too deeply imbued with a false notion of honour to be brought to a right way of thinking3 by such examples1 however striking1 ,richelieu was unable to persuade them to walk in the right path1 though he could punish them for choosing the wrong one4 ,he had with all his acuteness1 miscalculated the spirit of duelling4 ,it was not death that a duellist feared2 it was shame1 and the contempt of his fellows4 ,as ,addison remarked more than eighty years afterwards1 ,death was not sufficient to deter men who made it their glory to despise it2 but if every one who fought a duel were to stand in the pillory1 it would quickly diminish the number of those imaginary men of honour1 and put an end to so absurd a practice4 ,richelieu never thought of this4 #fb ,mercure de ,france1 vol4 xiii4 ,sully says1 that in his time the ,germans were also much addicted to duelling4 ,there were three places where it was legal to fight2 ,witzburg in ,franconia1 and ,uspach and ,halle in ,swabia4 ,thither of course1 vast numbers repaired1 and murdered each other under sanction of the law4 ,at an earlier period in ,germany1 it was held highly disgraceful to refuse to fight4 ,any one who surrendered to his adversary for a simple wound that did not disable him1 was reputed infamous1 and could neither cut his beard1 bear arms1 mount on horseback1 or hold any office in the state4 ,he who fell in a duel was buried with great pomp and splendour4 ,in the year #afeb1 just after ,louis ,,xiv4 had attained his majority1 a desperate duel was fought between the ,dukes de ,beaufort and ,de ,nemours1 each attended by four gentlemen4 ,although brothers-in-law1 they had long been enemies1 and their constant dissensions had introduced much disorganisation among the troops which they severally commanded4 ,each had long sought an opportunity for combat1 which at last arose on a misunderstanding relative to the places they were to occupy at the council-board4 ,they fought with pistols1 and1 at the first discharge1 the ,duke de ,nemours was shot through the body1 and almost instantly expired4 ,upon this the ,marquis de ,villars1 who seconded ,nemours1 challenged ,hricourt1 the second of the ,duke de ,beaufort1 a man whom he had never before seen2 and the challenge being accepted1 they fought even more desperately than their principals4 ,this combat1 being with swords1 lasted longer than the first1 and was more exciting to the six remaining gentlemen who stayed to witness it4 ,the result was fatal to ,hricourt1 who fell pierced to the heart by the sword of ,de ,villars4 ,any thing more savage than this can hardly be imagined4 ,voltaire says such duels were frequent1 and the compiler of the ,dictionnaire d',anecdotes informs us that the number of seconds was not fixed4 ,as many as ten1 or twelve1 or twenty1 were not unfrequent1 and they often fought together after their principals were disabled4 ,the highest mark of friendship one man could manifest towards another1 was to choose him for his second2 and many gentlemen were so desirous of serving in this capacity1 that they endeavoured to raise every slight misunderstanding into a quarrel1 that they might have the pleasure of being engaged in it4 ,the ,count de ,bussy-,rabutin relates an instance of this in his ,memoirs4 ,he says1 that as he was one evening coming out of the theatre1 a gentleman named ,bruc1 whom he had not before known1 stopped him very politely1 and1 drawing him aside1 asked him if it was true that the ,count de ,thianges had called him 7,bruc7 a drunkard8 ,bussy replied that he really did not know1 for he saw the count very seldom4 ,oh1 he is your uncle6 replied ,bruc2 and1 as ,i cannot have satisfaction from him1 because he lives so far off in the country1 ,i apply to you4 ,i see what you are at1 replied ,bussy1 and1 since you wish to put me in my uncle's place1 ,i answer1 that whoever asserted that he called you a drunkard1 told a lie6 ,my brother said so1 replied ,bruc1 and he is a child4 ,horsewhip him1 then1 for his falsehood1 returned ,de ,bussy4 ,i will not have my brother called1 a liar1 returned ,bruc1 determined to quarrel with him2 so draw1 and defend yourself6 ,they both drew their swords in the public street1 but were separated by the spectators4 ,they agreed1 however1 to fight on a future occasion1 and with all the regular forms of the duello4 ,a few days afterwards1 a gentleman1 whom ,de ,bussy had never before seen1 and whom he did not know even by name1 called upon him and asked if he might have the privilege of serving as his second4 ,he added1 that he neither knew him nor ,bruc1 except by reputation1 but having made up his mind to be second of one of them1 he had decided upon accompanying ,de ,bussy as the braver man of the two4 ,de ,bussy thanked him very sincerely for his politeness1 but begged to be excused1 as he had already engaged four seconds to accompany him1 and he was afraid that if he took any more the affair would become a battle instead of a duel4 ,when such quarrels as these were looked upon as mere matters of course1 the state of society must have been indeed awful4 ,louis ,,xiv4 very early saw the evil1 and as early determined to remedy it4 ,it was not1 however1 till the year #afgi1 when he instituted the ,chambre ,ardente1 for the trial of the slow poisoners and pretenders to sorcery1 that he published any edict against duelling4 ,in that year his famous edict was promulgated1 in which he reiterated and confirmed the severe enactments of his predecessors ,henry ,,iv4 and ,louis ,,xiii41 and expressed his determination never to pardon any offender4 ,by this celebrated ordinance a supreme court of honour was established1 composed of the marshals of ,france4 ,they were bound1 on taking the office1 to give to every one who brought a well-founded complaint before them1 such reparation as would satisfy the justice of the case4 ,should any gentleman against whom complaint was made refuse to obey the mandate of the court of honour1 he might be punished by fine and imprisonment2 and when that was not possible1 by reason of his absenting himself from the kingdom1 his estates might be confiscated till his return4 ,every man who sent a challenge1 be the cause of offence what it might1 was deprived of all redress from the court of honour--suspended three years from the exercise of any office in the state--was further imprisoned for two years1 and sentenced to pay a fine of half his yearly income4 ,he who accepted a challenge was subject to the same punishment4 ,any servant or other person1 who knowingly became the bearer of a challenge1 was1 if found guilty1 sentenced to stand in the pillory and be publicly whipped for the first offence2 and for the second1 sent for three years to the galleys4 ,any person who actually fought1 was to be held guilty of murder1 even though death did not ensue1 and was to be punished accordingly4 ,persons in the higher ranks of life were to be beheaded1 and those of the middle class hanged upon a gallows1 and their bodies refused ,christian burial4 ,at the same time that ,louis published this severe edict1 he exacted a promise from his principal nobility that they would never engage in a duel on any pretence whatever4 ,he never swerved from his resolution to pursue all duellists with the utmost rigour1 and many were executed in various parts of the country4 ,a slight abatement of the evil was the consequence1 and in the course of a few years one duel was not fought where twelve had been fought previously4 ,a medal was struck to commemorate the circumstance1 by the express command of the king4 ,so much had he this object at heart1 that1 in his will1 he particularly recommended to his successor the care of his edict against duelling1 and warned him against any ill-judged lenity to those who disobeyed it4 ,a singular law formerly existed in ,malta with regard to duelling4 ,by this law it was permitted1 but only upon condition that the parties should fight in one particular street4 ,if they presumed to settle their quarrel elsewhere1 they were held guilty of murder1 and punished accordingly4 ,what was also very singular1 they were bound1 under heavy penalties1 to put up their swords when requested to do so by a priest1 a knight1 or a woman4 ,it does not appear1 however1 that the ladies or the knights exercised this mild and beneficent privilege to any great extent2 the former were too often themselves the cause of duels1 and the latter sympathised too much in the wounded honour of the combatants to attempt to separate them4 ,the priests alone were the great peacemakers4 ,brydone says1 that a cross was always painted on the wall opposite to the spot where a knight had been killed1 and that in the street of duels he counted about twenty of them4#fc #fc ,brydone's ,tour in ,malta1 #aggb4 ,in ,england the private duel was also practised to a scandalous extent1 towards the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries4 ,the judicial combat now began to be more rare1 but several instances of it are mentioned in history4 ,one was instituted in the reign of ,elizabeth1 and another so late as the time of ,charles ,i4 ,sir ,henry ,spelman gives an account of that which took place in ,elizabeth's reign1 which is curious1 perhaps the more so when we consider that it was perfectly legal1 and that similar combats remained so till the year #ahai4 ,a proceeding having been instituted in the ,court of ,common ,pleas for the recovery of certain manorial rights in the county of ,kent1 the defendant offered to prove by single combat his right to retain possession4 ,the plaintiff accepted the challenge1 and the ,court having no power to stay the proceedings1 agreed to the champions who were to fight in lieu of the principals4 ,the queen commanded the parties to compromise2 but it being represented to her majesty that they were justified by law in the course they were pursuing1 she allowed them to proceed4 ,on the day appointed1 the justices of the ,common ,pleas1 and all the counsel engaged in the cause1 appeared as umpires of the combat1 at a place in ,tothill-fields1 where the lists had been prepared4 ,the champions were ready for the encounter1 and the plaintiff and defendant were publicly called to come forward and acknowledge them4 ,the defendant answered to his name1 and recognised his champion with the due formalities1 but the plaintiff did not appear4 ,without his presence and authority the combat could not take place2 and his absence being considered an abandonment of his claim1 he was declared to be non-suited1 and barred for ever from renewing his suit before any other tribunal whatever4 ,illustration3 ,,lord ,,bacon4 ,the queen appears to have disapproved personally of this mode of settling a disputed claim1 but her judges and legal advisers made no attempt to alter the barbarous law4 ,the practice of private duelling excited more indignation1 from its being of every-day occurrence4 ,in the time of ,james ,i4 the ,english were so infected with the ,french madness1 that ,bacon1 when he was attorney-general1 lent the aid of his powerful eloquence to effect a reformation of the evil4 ,informations were exhibited in the ,star ,chamber against two persons1 named ,priest and ,wright1 for being engaged1 as principal and second1 in a duel1 on which occasion he delivered a charge that was so highly approved of by the ,lords of the ,council1 that they ordered it to be printed and circulated over the country1 as a thing very meet and worthy to be remembered and made known unto the world4 ,he began by considering the nature and greatness of the mischief of duelling4 ,it troubleth peace--it disfurnisheth war--it bringeth calamity upon private men1 peril upon the state1 and contempt upon the law4 ,touching the cause of it1 he observed1 that the first motive of it1 no doubt1 is a false and erroneous imagination of honour and credit2 but then1 the seed of this mischief being such1 it is nourished by vain discourses and green and unripe conceits4 ,hereunto may be added1 that men have almost lost the true notion and understanding of fortitude and valour4 ,for fortitude distinguisheth of the grounds of quarrel whether they be just2 and not only so1 but whether they be worthy1 and setteth a better price upon men's lives than to bestow them idly4 ,nay1 it is weakness and disesteem of a man's self to put a man's life upon such liedger performances4 ,a man's life is not to be trifled with2 it is to be offered up and sacrificed to honourable services1 public merits1 good causes1 and noble adventures4 ,it is in expense of blood as it is in expense of money4 ,it is no liberality to make a profusion of money upon every vain occasion1 neither is it fortitude to make effusion of blood1 except the cause of it be worth4#fd #fd ,see ,life and ,character of ,lord ,bacon1 by ,thomas ,martin1 ,barrister-at-,law4 ,the most remarkable event connected with duelling in this reign was that between ,lord ,sanquir1 a ,scotch nobleman1 and one ,turner1 a fencing-master4 ,in a trial of skill between them1 his lordship's eye was accidentally thrust out by the point of ,turner's sword4 ,turner expressed great regret at the circumstance1 and ,lord ,sanquir bore his loss with as much philosophy as he was master of1 and forgave his antagonist4 ,three years afterwards1 ,lord ,sanquir was at ,paris1 where he was a constant visitor at the court of ,henry ,,iv4 ,one day1 in the course of conversation1 the affable monarch inquired how he had lost his eye4 ,sanquir1 who prided himself on being the most expert swordsman of the age1 blushed as he replied that it was inflicted by the sword of a fencing-master4 ,henry1 forgetting his assumed character of an anti-duellist1 carelessly1 and as a mere matter of course1 inquired whether the man lived8 ,nothing more was said2 but the query sank deep into the proud heart of the ,scotch baron1 who returned shortly afterwards to ,england1 burning for revenge4 ,his first intent was to challenge the fencing-master to single combat2 but1 on further consideration1 he deemed it inconsistent with his dignity to meet him as an equal in fair and open fight4 ,he therefore hired two bravos1 who set upon the fencing-master1 and murdered him in his own house at ,whitefriars4 ,the assassins were taken and executed1 and a reward of one thousand pounds offered for the apprehension of their employer4 ,lord ,sanquir concealed himself for several days1 and then surrendered to take his trial1 in the hope 7happily false7 that ,justice would belie her name1 and be lenient to a murderer because he was a nobleman1 who on a false point of honour had thought fit to take revenge into his own hands4 ,the most powerful intercessions were employed in his favour1 but ,james1 to his credit1 was deaf to them all4 ,bacon1 in his character of attorney-general1 prosecuted the prisoner to conviction2 and he died the felon's death on the #bith of ,june1 #afab1 on a gibbet erected in front of the gate of ,westminster ,hall4 ,with regard to the public duel1 or trial by battle1 demanded under the sanction of the law1 to terminate a quarrel which the ordinary course of justice could with difficulty decide1 ,bacon was equally opposed to it1 and thought that in no case should it be granted4 ,he suggested that there should be declared a constant and settled resolution in the state to abolish it altogether2 that care should be taken that the evil be no more cockered1 nor the humour of it fed1 but that all persons found guilty should be rigorously punished by the ,star ,chamber1 and those of eminent quality banished from the court4 ,in the succeeding reign1 when ,donald ,mackay1 the first ,lord ,reay1 accused ,david ,ramsay of treason1 in being concerned with the ,marquis of ,hamilton in a design upon the crown of ,scotland1 he was challenged by the latter to make good his assertion by single combat4#fe ,it had been at first the intention of the government to try the case by the common law1 but ,ramsay thought he would stand a better chance of escape by recurring to the old and almost exploded custom1 but which was still the right of every man in appeals of treason4 ,lord ,reay readily accepted the challenge1 and both were confined in the ,tower until they found security that they would appear on a certain day appointed by the court to determine the question4 ,the management of the affair was delegated to the ,marischal ,court of ,westminster1 and the ,earl of ,lindsay was created ,lord ,constable of ,england for the purpose4 ,shortly before the day appointed1 ,ramsay confessed in substance all that ,lord ,reay had laid to his charge1 upon which ,charles ,i4 put a stop to the proceedings4 #fe ,see ,history of the ,house and ,clan of ,mackay4 ,but in ,england1 about this period1 sterner disputes arose among men than those mere individual matters which generate duels4 ,the men of the ,commonwealth encouraged no practice of the kind1 and the subdued aristocracy carried their habits and prejudices elsewhere1 and fought their duels at foreign courts4 ,cromwell's parliament1 however--although the evil at that time was not so crying--published an order in #afed for the prevention of duels1 and the punishment of all concerned in them4 ,charles ,,ii41 on his restoration1 also issued a proclamation upon the subject4 ,in his reign an infamous duel was fought--infamous not only from its own circumstances1 but from the lenity that was shewn to the principal offenders4 ,the worthless ,duke of ,buckingham1 having debauched the ,countess of ,shrewsbury1 was challenged by her husband to mortal combat in ,january #affh4 ,charles ,,ii4 endeavoured to prevent the duel1 not from any regard to public morality1 but from fear for the life of his favourite4 ,he gave commands to the ,duke of ,albemarle to confine ,buckingham to his house1 or take some other measures to prevent him from fighting4 ,albemarle neglected the order1 thinking that the king himself might prevent the combat by some surer means4 ,the meeting took place at ,barn ,elms2 the injured ,shrewsbury being attended by ,sir ,john ,talbot1 his relative1 and ,lord ,bernard ,howard1 son of the ,earl of ,arundel4 ,buckingham was accompanied by two of his dependents1 ,captain ,holmes and ,sir ,john ,jenkins4 ,according to the barbarous custom of the age1 not only the principals1 but the seconds engaged each other4 ,jenkins was pierced to the heart1 and left dead upon the field1 and ,sir ,john ,talbot severely wounded in both arms4 ,buckingham himself escaping with slight wounds1 ran his unfortunate antagonist through the body1 and then left the field with the wretched woman1 the cause of all the mischief1 who1 in the dress of a page1 awaited the issue of the conflict in a neighbouring wood1 holding her paramour's horse to avoid suspicion4 ,great influence was exerted to save the guilty parties from punishment1 and the master1 as base as the favourite1 made little difficulty in granting a free pardon to all concerned4 ,in a royal proclamation issued shortly afterwards1 ,charles ,,ii4 formally pardoned the murderers1 but declared his intention never to extend in future any mercy to such offenders4 ,it would be hard1 after this1 to say who was the most infamous1 the king1 the favourite1 or the courtesan4 ,in the reign of ,queen ,anne1 repeated complaints were made of the prevalence of duelling4 ,addison1 ,swift1 ,steele1 and other writers employed their powerful pens in reprobation of it4 ,steele especially1 in the ,tatler and ,guardian1 exposed its impiety and absurdity1 and endeavoured both by argument and by ridicule to bring his countrymen to a right way of thinking4#ff ,his comedy of ,the ,conscious ,lovers contains an admirable exposure of the abuse of the word honour1 which led men into an error so lamentable4 ,swift1 writing upon the subject1 remarked that he could see no harm in rogues and fools shooting each other4 ,addison and ,steele took higher ground2 and the latter1 in the ,guardian1 summed up nearly all that could be said upon the subject in the following impressive words3--,a ,christian and a gentleman are made inconsistent appellations of the same person4 ,you are not to expect eternal life if you do not forgive injuries1 and your mortal life is rendered uncomfortable if you are not ready to commit a murder in resentment of an affront2 for good sense1 as well as religion1 is so utterly banished the world1 that men glory in their very passions1 and pursue trifles with the utmost vengeance1 so little do they know that to forgive is the most arduous pitch human nature can arrive at4 ,a coward has often fought1 a coward has often conquered2 but a coward never forgave4 ,steele also published a pamphlet1 in which he gave a detailed account of the edict of ,louis ,,xiv41 and the measures taken by that monarch to cure his subjects of their murderous folly4 #ff ,see ,spectator1 ,nos4 #hd1 #ig1 and #ii2 and ,tatler1 ,nos4 #be1 #bf1 #bi1 #ca1 #ch1 and #ci2 and ,guardian1 ,no4 #bj4 ,on the #hth of ,may1 #agaa1 ,sir ,cholmely ,deering1 ,m4,p4 for the county of ,kent1 was slain in a duel by ,mr4 ,richard ,thornhill1 also a member of the ,house of ,commons4 ,three days afterwards1 ,sir ,peter ,king brought the subject under the notice of the legislature2 and after dwelling at considerable length on the alarming increase of the practice1 obtained leave to bring in a bill for the prevention and punishment of duelling4 ,it was read a first time that day1 and ordered for a second reading in the ensuing week4 ,about the same time1 the attention of the ,upper ,house of ,parliament was also drawn to the subject in the most painful manner4 ,two of its most noted members would have fought had it not been that ,queen ,anne received notice of their intention1 and exacted a pledge that they would desist2 while a few months afterwards two other of its members lost their lives in one of the most remarkable duels upon record4 ,the first affair1 which happily terminated without a meeting1 was between the ,duke of ,marlborough and the ,earl ,pawlet2 the latter and fatal encounter was between the ,duke of ,hamilton and ,lord ,mohun4 ,the first arose out of a debate in the ,lords upon the conduct of the ,duke of ,ormond in refusing to hazard a general engagement with the enemy1 in which ,earl ,pawlet remarked that nobody could doubt the courage of the ,duke of ,ormond4 ,he was not like a certain general1 who led troops to the slaughter1 to cause great numbers of officers to be knocked on the head in a battle1 or against stone walls1 in order to fill his pockets by disposing of their commissions4 ,every one felt that the remark was aimed at the ,duke of ,marlborough1 but he remained silent1 though evidently suffering in mind4 ,soon after the ,house broke up1 the ,earl ,pawlet received a visit from ,lord ,mohun1 who told him that the ,duke of ,marlborough was anxious to come to an explanation with him relative to some expressions he had made use of in that day's debate1 and therefore prayed him to go and take a little air in the country4 ,earl ,pawlet did not affect to misunderstand the hint1 but asked him in plain terms whether he brought a challenge from the duke4 ,lord ,mohun said his message needed no explanation1 and that he ,lord ,mohun would accompany the ,duke of ,marlborough4 ,he then took his leave1 and ,earl ,pawlet returned home and told his lady that he was going out to fight a duel with the ,duke of ,marlborough4 ,his lady1 alarmed for her lord's safety1 gave notice of his intention to the ,earl of ,dartmouth1 who immediately1 in the queen's name1 sent to the ,duke of ,marlborough1 and commanded him not to stir abroad4 ,he also caused ,earl ,pawlet's house to be guarded by two sentinels2 and having taken these precautions1 informed the queen of the whole affair4 ,her ,majesty sent at once for the duke1 expressed her abhorrence of the custom of duelling1 and required his word of honour that he would proceed no further4 ,the duke pledged his word accordingly1 and the affair terminated4 ,the lamentable duel between the ,duke of ,hamilton and ,lord ,mohun took place in ,november #agab1 and sprang from the following circumstances4 ,a lawsuit had been pending for eleven years between these two noblemen1 and they looked upon each other in consequence with a certain degree of coldness4 ,they met together on the #acth of ,november in the chambers of ,mr4 ,orlebar1 a master in ,chancery1 when1 in the course of conversation1 the ,duke of ,hamilton reflected upon the conduct of one of the witnesses in the cause1 saying that he was a person who had neither truth nor justice in him4 ,lord ,mohun1 somewhat nettled at this remark applied to a witness favourable to his side1 made answer hastily1 that ,mr4 ,whiteworth1 the person alluded to1 had quite as much truth and justice in him as the ,duke of ,hamilton4 ,the duke made no reply1 and no one present imagined that he took offence at what was said2 and when he went out of the room he made a low and courteous salute to the ,lord ,mohun4 ,in the evening1 ,general ,macartney called twice upon the duke with a challenge from ,lord ,mohun1 and failing in seeing him1 sought him a third time at a tavern1 where he found him1 and delivered his message4 ,the duke accepted the challenge1 and the day after the morrow1 which was ,sunday1 the #aeth of ,november1 at seven in the morning1 was appointed for the meeting4 ,at that hour they assembled in ,hyde ,park1 the duke being attended by his relative ,colonel ,hamilton1 and the ,lord ,mohun by ,general ,macartney4 ,they jumped over a ditch into a place called the ,nursery1 and prepared for the combat4 ,the ,duke of ,hamilton1 turning to ,general ,macartney1 said1 ,sir1 you are the cause of this1 let the event be what it will4 ,lord ,mohun did not wish that the seconds should engage1 but the duke insisted that ,macartney should have a share in the dance4 ,all being ready1 the two principals took up their positions1 and fought with swords so desperately1 that after a short time they both fell down mortally wounded4 ,the ,lord ,mohun expired upon the spot1 and the ,duke of ,hamilton in the arms of his servants as they were carrying him to his coach4 ,this unhappy termination caused the greatest excitement not only in the metropolis1 but all over the country4 ,the ,tories1 grieved at the loss of the ,duke of ,hamilton1 charged the fatal combat on the ,whig party1 whose leader1 the ,duke of ,marlborough1 had so recently set the example of political duels4 ,they called ,lord ,mohun the bully of the ,whig faction 7he had already killed three men in duels1 and been twice tried for murder71 and asserted openly that the quarrel was concocted between him and ,general ,macartney to rob the country of the services of the ,duke of ,hamilton by murdering him4 ,it was also asserted that the wound of which the duke died was not inflicted by ,lord ,mohun1 but by ,macartney2 and every means was used to propagate this belief4 ,colonel ,hamilton1 against whom and ,macartney the coroner's jury had returned a verdict of wilful murder1 surrendered a few days afterwards1 and was examined before a privy council sitting at the house of ,lord ,dartmouth4 ,he then deposed1 that seeing ,lord ,mohun fall1 and the duke upon him1 he ran to the duke's assistance2 and that he might with the more ease help him1 he flung down both their swords1 and as he was raising the duke up1 he saw ,macartney make a push at him4 ,upon this deposition1 a royal proclamation was immediately issued1 offering a reward of #ejjl4 for the apprehension of ,macartney1 to which the ,duchess of ,hamilton afterwards added a reward of #cjjl4 ,upon the further examination of ,colonel ,hamilton1 it was found that reliance could not be placed on all his statements1 and that he contradicted himself in several important particulars4 ,he was arraigned at the old ,bailey for the murder of ,lord ,mohun1 the whole political circles of ,london being in a fever of excitement for the result4 ,all the ,tory party prayed for his acquittal1 and a ,tory mob surrounded the doors and all the avenues leading to the court of justice for many hours before the trial began4 ,the examination of witnesses lasted seven hours4 ,the criminal still persisted in accusing ,general ,macartney of the murder of the ,duke of ,hamilton1 but in other respects1 say the newspapers of the day1 prevaricated foully4 ,he was found guilty of manslaughter4 ,this favourable verdict was received with universal applause1 not only from the court and all the gentlemen present1 but the common people shewed a mighty satisfaction1 which they testified by loud and repeated huzzas4#fg #fg ,post-,boy1 ,december #acth1 #agab4 ,as the popular delirium subsided1 and men began to reason coolly upon the subject1 they disbelieved the assertions of ,colonel ,hamilton that ,macartney had stabbed the duke1 although it was universally admitted that he had been much too busy and presuming4 ,hamilton was shunned by all his former companions1 and his life rendered so irksome to him1 that he sold out of the ,guards and retired to private life1 in which he died heart-broken four years afterwards4 ,general ,macartney surrendered about the same time1 and was tried for murder in the ,court of ,king's ,bench4 ,he was1 however1 found guilty of manslaughter only4 ,at the opening of the session of ,parliament of #agac1 the queen made pointed allusion in her speech to the frequency of duelling1 and recommended to the legislature to devise some speedy and effectual remedy for it4 ,a bill to that effect was brought forward1 but thrown out on the second reading1 to the very great regret of all the sensible portion of the community4 ,a famous duel was fought in #agfe between ,lord ,byron and ,mr4 ,chaworth4 ,the dispute arose at a club-dinner1 and was relative to which of the two had the largest quantity of game on his estates4 ,infuriated by wine and passion1 they retired instantly into an adjoining room1 and fought with swords across a table1 by the feeble glimmer of a tallow candle4 ,mr4 ,chaworth1 who was the more expert swordsman of the two1 received a mortal wound1 and shortly afterwards expired4 ,lord ,byron was brought to trial for the murder before the ,house of ,lords2 and it appearing clearly that the duel was not premeditated1 but fought at once1 and in the heat of passion1 he was found guilty of manslaughter only1 and ordered to be discharged upon payment of his fees4 ,this was a very bad example for the country1 and duelling of course fell into no disrepute after such a verdict4 ,in ,france more severity was exercised4 ,in the year #agfi1 the ,parliament of ,grenoble took cognisance of the delinquency of the ,sieur ,duchelas1 one of its members1 who challenged and killed in a duel a captain of the ,flemish legion4 ,the servant of ,duchelas officiated as second1 and was arraigned with his master for the murder of the captain4 ,they were both found guilty4 ,duchelas was broken alive on the wheel1 and the servant condemned to the galleys for life4 ,a barbarous and fiercely-contested duel was fought in ,november #aggh1 between two foreign adventurers1 at ,bath1 named ,count ,rice and the ,vicomte du ,barri4 ,some dispute arose relative to a gambling transaction1 in the course of which ,du ,barri contradicted an assertion of the other1 by saying ,that is not true6 ,count ,rice immediately asked him if he knew the very disagreeable meaning of the words he had employed4 ,du ,barri said he was perfectly well aware of their meaning1 and that ,rice might interpret them just as he pleased4 ,a challenge was immediately given and accepted4 ,seconds were sent for1 who1 arriving with but little delay1 the whole party1 though it was not long after midnight1 proceeded to a place called ,claverton ,down1 where they remained with a surgeon until daylight4 ,they then prepared for the encounter1 each being armed with two pistols and a sword4 ,the ground having been marked out by the seconds1 ,du ,barri fired first1 and wounded his opponent in the thigh4 ,count ,rice then levelled his pistol1 and shot ,du ,barri mortally in the breast4 ,so angry were the combatants1 that they refused to desist2 both stepped back a few paces1 and then rushing forward1 discharged their second pistols at each other4 ,neither shot took effect1 and both throwing away their pistols1 prepared to finish the sanguinary struggle by the sword4 ,they took their places1 and were advancing towards each other1 when the ,vicomte du ,barri suddenly staggered1 grew pale1 and1 falling on the ground1 exclaimed1 ,je vous demande ma vie4 ,his opponent had but just time to answer1 that he granted it1 when the unfortunate ,du ,barri turned upon the grass1 and expired with a heavy groan4 ,the survivor of this savage conflict was then removed to his lodgings1 where he lay for some weeks in a dangerous state4 ,the coroner's jury1 in the mean while1 sat upon the body of ,du ,barri1 and disgraced themselves by returning a verdict of manslaughter only4 ,count ,rice1 upon his recovery1 was indicted for the murder notwithstanding this verdict4 ,on his trial he entered into a long defence of his conduct1 pleading the fairness of the duel1 and its unpremeditated nature2 and1 at the same time1 expressing his deep regret for the unfortunate death of ,du ,barri1 with whom for many years he had been bound in ties of the strictest friendship4 ,these considerations appear to have weighed with the jury1 and this fierce duellist was again found guilty of manslaughter only1 and escaped with a merely nominal punishment4 ,a duel1 less remarkable from its circumstances1 but more so from the rank of the parties1 took place in #aghi4 ,the combatants on this occasion were the ,duke of ,york and ,colonel ,lenox1 the nephew and heir of the ,duke of ,richmond4 ,the cause of offence was given by the ,duke of ,york1 who had said in presence of several officers of the ,guards1 that words had been used to ,colonel ,lenox at ,daubigny's to which no gentleman ought to have submitted4 ,colonel ,lenox went up to the duke on parade1 and asked him publicly whether he had made such an assertion4 ,the ,duke of ,york1 without answering his question1 coldly ordered him to his post4 ,when parade was over1 he took an opportunity of saying publicly in the orderly-room before ,colonel ,lenox1 that he desired no protection from his rank as a prince and his station as commanding officer2 adding that1 when he was off duty he wore a plain brown coat like a private gentleman1 and was ready as such to give satisfaction4 ,colonel ,lenox desired nothing better than satisfaction2 that is to say1 to run the chance of shooting the duke through the body1 or being himself shot4 ,he accordingly challenged his ,royal ,highness1 and they met on ,wimbledon ,common4 ,colonel ,lenox fired first1 and the ball whizzed past the head of his opponent1 so near to it as to graze his projecting curl4 ,the duke refused to return the fire1 and the seconds interfering1 the affair terminated4 ,colonel ,lenox was very shortly afterwards engaged in another duel arising out of this4 ,a ,mr4 ,swift wrote a pamphlet in reference to the dispute between him and the ,duke of ,york1 at some expressions in which he took so much offence1 as to imagine that nothing but a shot at the writer could atone for them4 ,they met on the ,uxbridge ,road1 but no damage was done to either party4 ,the ,irish were for a long time renowned for their love of duelling4 ,the slightest offence which it is possible to imagine that one man could offer to another was sufficient to provoke a challenge4 ,sir ,jonah ,barrington relates1 in his ,memoirs1 that1 previous to the ,union1 during the time of a disputed election in ,dublin1 it was no unusual thing for three-and-twenty duels to be fought in a day4 ,even in times of less excitement1 they were so common as to be deemed unworthy of note by the regular chroniclers of events1 except in cases where one or both of the combatants were killed4 ,in those days1 in ,ireland1 it was not only the man of the military1 but of every profession1 who had to work his way to eminence with the sword or the pistol4 ,each political party had its regular corps of bullies1 or fire-eaters1 as they were called1 who qualified themselves for being the pests of society by spending all their spare time in firing at targets4 ,they boasted that they could hit an opponent in any part of his body they pleased1 and made up their minds before the encounter began whether they should kill him1 disable1 or disfigure him for life--lay him on a bed of suffering for a twelvemonth1 or merely graze a limb4 ,the evil had reached an alarming height1 when1 in the year #ahjh1 an opportunity was offered to ,king ,george ,,iii4 of shewing in a striking manner his detestation of the practice1 and of setting an example to the ,irish that such murders were not to be committed with impunity4 ,a dispute arose1 in the month of ,june #ahjg1 between ,major ,campbell and ,captain ,boyd1 officers of the #bast regiment1 stationed in ,ireland1 about the proper manner of giving the word of command on parade4 ,hot words ensued on this slight occasion1 and the result was a challenge from ,campbell to ,boyd4 ,they retired into the mess-room shortly afterwards1 and each stationed himself at a corner1 the distance obliquely being but seven paces4 ,here1 without friends or seconds being present1 they fired at each other1 and ,captain ,boyd fell mortally wounded between the fourth and fifth ribs4 ,a surgeon1 who came in shortly1 found him sitting in a chair1 vomiting and suffering great agony4 ,he was led into another room1 ,major ,campbell following1 in great distress and perturbation of mind4 ,boyd survived but eighteen hours1 and just before his death1 said1 in reply to a question from his opponent1 that the duel was not fair1 and added1 ,you hurried me1 ,campbell--you're a bad man4--,good ,god6 replied ,campbell1 will you mention before these gentlemen1 was not every thing fair8 ,did you not say that you were ready8 ,boyd answered faintly1 ,oh1 no6 you know ,i wanted you to wait and have friends4 ,on being again asked whether all was fair1 the dying man faintly murmured1 ,yes3 but in a minute after1 he said1 ,you're a bad man6 ,campbell was now in great agitation1 and ringing his hands convulsively1 he exclaimed1 ,oh1 ,boyd6 you are the happiest man of the two6 ,do you forgive me8 ,boyd replied1 ,i forgive you--,i feel for you1 as ,i know you do for me4 ,he shortly afterwards expired1 and ,major ,campbell made his escape from ,ireland1 and lived for some months with his family under an assumed name1 in the neighbourhood of ,chelsea4 ,he was1 however1 apprehended1 and brought to trial at ,armagh1 in ,august #ahjh4 ,he said while in prison1 that1 if found guilty of murder1 he should suffer as an example to duellists in ,ireland2 but he endeavoured to buoy himself up with the hope that the jury would only convict him of manslaughter4 ,it was proved in evidence upon the trial1 that the duel was not fought immediately after the offence was given1 but that ,major ,campbell went home and drank tea with his family before he sought ,boyd for the fatal encounter4 ,the jury returned a verdict of wilful murder against him1 but recommended him to mercy on the ground that the duel had been a fair one4 ,he was condemned to die on the ,monday following1 but was afterwards respited for a few days longer4 ,in the mean time the greatest exertions were made in his behalf4 ,his unfortunate wife went upon her knees before the ,prince of ,wales1 to move him to use his influence with the king in favour of her unhappy husband4 ,every thing a fond wife and a courageous woman could do she tried1 to gain the royal clemency2 but ,george ,,iii4 was inflexible1 in consequence of the representations of the ,irish viceroy that an example was necessary4 ,the law was therefore allowed to take its course1 and the victim of a false spirit of honour died the death of a felon4 ,the most inveterate duellists of the present day are the students in the ,universities of ,germany4 ,they fight on the most frivolous pretences1 and settle with swords and pistols the schoolboy disputes which in other countries are arranged by the more harmless medium of the fisticuffs4 ,it was at one time the custom among these savage youths to prefer the sword-combat1 for the facility it gave them of cutting off the noses of their opponents4 ,to disfigure them in this manner was an object of ambition1 and the ,german duellists reckoned the number of these disgusting trophies which they had borne away1 with as much satisfaction as a successful general the provinces he had reduced or the cities he had taken4 ,but it would be wearisome to enter into the minute detail of all the duels of modern times4 ,if an examination were made into the general causes which produced them1 it would be found that in every case they had been either of the most trivial or the most unworthy nature4 ,parliamentary duels were at one time very common1 and amongst the names of those who have soiled a great reputation by conforming to the practice1 may be mentioned those of ,warren ,hastings1 ,sir ,philip ,francis1 ,wilkes1 ,pitt1 ,fox1 ,grattan1 ,curran1 ,tierney1 and ,canning4 ,so difficult is it even for the superior mind to free itself from the trammels with which foolish opinion has enswathed it--not one of these celebrated persons who did not in his secret soul condemn the folly to which he lent himself4 ,the bonds of reason1 though iron-strong1 are easily burst through2 but those of folly1 though lithe and frail as the rushes by a stream1 defy the stoutest heart to snap them asunder4 ,colonel ,thomas1 an officer in the ,guards1 who was killed in a duel1 added the following clause to his will the night before he died3--,in the first place1 ,i commit my soul to ,almighty ,god1 in hope of his mercy and pardon for the irreligious step ,i now 7in compliance with the unwarrantable customs of this wicked world7 put myself under the necessity of taking4 ,how many have been in the same state of mind as this wise1 foolish man6 ,he knew his error1 and abhorred it1 but could not resist it for fear of the opinion of the prejudiced and unthinking4 ,no other could have blamed him for refusing to fight a duel4 ,the list of duels that have sprung from the most degrading causes might be stretched out to an almost indefinite extent4 ,sterne's father fought a duel about a goose2 and the great ,raleigh about a tavern-bill4#fh ,scores of duels 7many of them fatal7 have been fought from disputes at cards1 or a place at a theatre2 while hundreds of challenges1 given and accepted over-night1 in a fit of drunkenness1 have been fought out the next morning to the death of one or both of the antagonists4 #fh ,raleigh at one period of his life appeared to be an inveterate duellist1 and it was said of him that he had been engaged in more encounters of the kind than any man of note among his contemporaries4 ,more than one fellow-creature he had deprived of life2 but he lived long enough to be convinced of the sinfulness of his conduct1 and made a solemn vow never to fight another duel4 ,the following anecdote of his forbearance is well known1 but it will bear repetition3 ,a dispute arose in a coffee-house between him and a young man on some trivial point1 and the latter1 losing his temper1 impertinently spat in the face of the veteran4 ,sir ,walter1 instead of running him through the body1 as many would have done1 or challenging him to mortal combat1 coolly took out his handkerchief1 wiped his face1 and said1 ,young man1 if ,i could as easily wipe from my conscience the stain of killing you1 as ,i can this spittle from my face1 you should not live another minute4 ,the young man immediately begged his pardon4 ,two of the most notorious duels of modern times had their origin in causes no more worthy than the quarrel of a dog and the favour of a prostitute3 that between ,macnamara and ,montgomery arising from the former2 and that between ,best and ,lord ,camelford from the latter4 ,the dog of ,montgomery attacked a dog belonging to ,macnamara1 and each master interfering in behalf of his own animal1 high words ensued4 ,the result was the giving and accepting a challenge to mortal combat4 ,the parties met on the following day1 when ,montgomery was shot dead1 and his antagonist severely wounded4 ,the affair created a great sensation at the time1 and ,heaviside1 the surgeon who attended at the fatal field to render his assistance if necessary1 was arrested as an accessory to the murder1 and committed to ,newgate4 ,in the duel between ,best and ,lord ,camelford1 two pistols were used which were considered to be the best in ,england4 ,one of them was thought slightly superior to the other1 and it was agreed that the belligerents should toss up a piece of money to decide the choice of weapons4 ,best gained it1 and at the first discharge1 ,lord ,camelford fell mortally wounded4 ,but little sympathy was expressed for his fate2 he was a confirmed duellist1 had been engaged in many meetings of the kind1 and the blood of more than one fellow-creature lay at his door4 ,as he had sowed1 so did he reap2 and the violent man met an appropriate death4 ,it now only remains to notice the means that have been taken to stay the prevalence of this madness of false honour in the various countries of the civilised world4 ,the efforts of the governments of ,france and ,england have already been mentioned1 and their want of success is but too well known4 ,the same efforts have been attended with the same results elsewhere4 ,in despotic countries1 where the will of the monarch has been strongly expressed and vigorously supported1 a diminution of the evil has for a time resulted1 but only to be increased again1 when death relaxed the iron grasp1 and a successor appeared of less decided opinions on the subject4 ,this was the case in ,prussia1 under the great ,frederick1 of whose aversion to duelling a popular anecdote is recorded4 ,it is stated of him that he permitted duelling in his army1 but only upon the condition that the combatants should fight in presence of a whole battalion of infantry1 drawn up on purpose to see fair play4 ,the latter received strict orders1 when one of the belligerents fell1 to shoot the other immediately4 ,it is added1 that the known determination of the king effectually put a stop to the practice4 ,the ,emperor ,joseph ,,ii4 of ,austria was as firm as ,frederick1 although the measures he adopted were not so singular4 ,the following letter explains his views on the subject3 ,,to ,,general 99 99 99 99 99 ,,my ,,general1 ,you will immediately arrest the ,count of ,k4 and ,captain ,w4 ,the count is young1 passionate1 and influenced by wrong notions of birth and a false spirit of honour4 ,captain ,w4 is an old soldier1 who will adjust every dispute with the sword and pistol1 and who has received the challenge of the young count with unbecoming warmth4 ,i will suffer no duelling in my army4 ,i despise the principles of those who attempt to justify the practice1 and who would run each other through the body in cold blood4 ,when ,i have officers who bravely expose themselves to every danger in facing the enemy--who at all times exhibit courage1 valour1 and resolution in attack and defence1 ,i esteem them highly4 ,the coolness with which they meet death on such occasions is serviceable to their country1 and at the same time redounds to their own honour2 but should there be men amongst them who are ready to sacrifice every thing to their vengeance and hatred1 ,i despise them4 ,i consider such a man as no better than a ,roman gladiator4 ,order a court-martial to try the two officers4 ,investigate the subject of their dispute with that impartiality which ,i demand from every judge2 and he that is guilty1 let him be a sacrifice to his fate and the laws4 ,such a barbarous custom1 which suits the age of the ,tamerlanes and ,bajazets1 and which has often had such melancholy effects on single families1 ,i will have suppressed and punished1 even if it should deprive me of one half of my officers4 ,there are still men who know how to unite the character of a hero with that of a good subject2 and he only can be so who respects the laws4 ,august1 #agga4 ,,joseph4#fi #fi ,vide the ,letters of ,joseph ,,ii4 to distinguished ,princes and ,statesmen1 published for the first time in ,england in ,the ,pamphleteer for #ahba4 ,they were originally published in ,germany a few years previously1 and throw a great light upon the character of that monarch and the events of his reign4 ,in the ,united ,states of ,america the code varies considerably4 ,in one or two of the still wild and simple states of the far ,west1 where no duel has yet been fought1 there is no specific law upon the subject beyond that in the ,decalogue1 which says1 ,thou shalt do no murder2 but duelling every where follows the steps of modern civilisation2 and by the time the backwoodsman is transformed into the citizen1 he has imbibed the false notions of honour which are prevalent in ,europe and around him1 and is ready1 like his progenitors1 to settle his differences with the pistol4 ,in the majority of the ,states the punishment for challenging1 fighting1 or acting as second1 is solitary imprisonment and hard labour for any period less than a year1 and disqualification for serving any public office for twenty years4 ,in ,vermont the punishment is total disqualification for office1 deprivation of the rights of citizenship1 and a fine2 in fatal cases1 the same punishment as that of murderers4 ,in ,rhode ,island1 the combatant1 though death does not ensue1 is liable to be carted to the gallows1 with a rope about his neck1 and to sit in this trim for an hour exposed to the peltings of the mob4 ,he may be further imprisoned for a year1 at the option of the magistrate4 ,in ,connecticut the punishment is total disqualification for office or employ1 and a fine varying from one hundred to a thousand dollars4 ,the laws of ,illinois require certain officers of the state to make oath1 previous to their instalment1 that they have never been1 nor ever will be1 concerned in a duel4#gj #gj ,encyclopedia ,americana1 art4 ,duelling4 ,amongst the edicts against duelling1 promulgated at various times in ,europe1 may be mentioned that of ,augustus ,king of ,poland1 in #agab1 which decreed the punishment of death against principals and seconds1 and minor punishments against the bearers of a challenge4 ,an edict was also published at ,munich1 in #aggc1 according to which both principals and seconds1 even in duels where no one was either killed or wounded1 should be hanged1 and their bodies buried at the foot of the gallows4 ,the king of ,naples issued an ordinance against duelling in #ahch1 in which the punishment of death is decreed against all concerned in a fatal duel4 ,the bodies of those killed1 and of those who may be executed in consequence1 are to be buried in unconsecrated ground1 and without any religious ceremony2 nor is any monument to be erected on the spot4 ,the punishment for duels in which either1 or both1 are wounded1 and for those in which no damage whatever is done1 varies according to the case1 and consists of fine1 imprisonment1 loss of rank and honours1 and incapacity for filling any public situation4 ,bearers of challenges may also be punished with fine and imprisonment4 ,it might be imagined that enactments so severe all over the civilised world would finally eradicate a custom1 the prevalence of which every wise and good man must deplore4 ,but the frowns of the law never yet have taught1 and never will teach1 men to desist from this practice1 as long as it is felt that the lawgiver sympathises with it in his heart4 ,the stern judge upon the bench may say to the unfortunate wight who has been called a liar by some unmannerly opponent1 ,if you challenge him1 you meditate murder1 and are guilty of murder6 but the same judge1 divested of his robes of state1 and mixing in the world with other men1 would say1 ,if you do not challenge him1 if you do not run the risk of making yourself a murderer1 you will be looked upon as a mean-spirited wretch1 unfit to associate with your fellows1 and deserving nothing but their scorn and their contempt6 ,it is society1 and not the duellist1 who is to blame4 ,female influence too1 which is so powerful in leading men either to good or to evil1 takes in this case the evil part4 ,mere animal bravery has1 unfortunately1 such charms in the female eye1 that a successful duellist is but too often regarded as a sort of hero2 and the man who refuses to fight1 though of truer courage1 is thought a poltroon1 who may be trampled on4 ,mr4 ,graves1 a member of the ,american legislature1 who1 early in #ahch1 killed a ,mr4 ,cilley in a duel1 truly and eloquently said1 on the floor of the ,house of ,representatives1 when lamenting the unfortunate issue of that encounter1 that society was more to blame than he was4 ,public opinion1 said the repentant orator1 is practically the paramount law of the land4 ,every other law1 both human and divine1 ceases to be observed2 yea1 withers and perishes in contact with it4 ,it was this paramount law of this nation and of this ,house that forced me1 under the penalty of dishonour1 to subject myself to the code1 which impelled me unwillingly into this tragical affair4 ,upon the heads of this nation1 and at the doors of this ,house1 rests the blood with which my unfortunate hands have been stained6 ,as long as society is in this mood2 as long as it thinks that the man who refuses to resent an insult1 deserved that insult1 and should be scouted accordingly2 so long1 it is to be feared1 will duelling exist1 however severe the laws may be4 ,men must have redress for injuries inflicted2 and when those injuries are of such a nature that no tribunal will take cognisance of them1 the injured will take the law into their own hands1 and right themselves in the opinion of their fellows1 at the hazard of their lives4 ,much as the sage may affect to despise the opinion of the world1 there are few who would not rather expose their lives a hundred times than be condemned to live on1 in society1 but not of it--a by-word of reproach to all who know their history1 and a mark for scorn to point his finger at4 ,the only practicable means for diminishing the force of a custom which is the disgrace of civilisation1 seems to be the establishment of a court of honour1 which should take cognisance of all those delicate and almost intangible offences which yet wound so deeply4 ,the court established by ,louis ,,xiv4 might be taken as a model4 ,no man now fights a duel when a fit apology has been offered2 and it should be the duty of this court to weigh dispassionately the complaint of every man injured in his honour1 either by word or deed1 and to force the offender to make a public apology4 ,if he refused the apology1 he would be the breaker of a second law2 an offender against a high court1 as well as against the man he had injured1 and might be punished with fine and imprisonment1 the latter to last until he saw the error of his conduct1 and made the concession which the court demanded4 ,if1 after the establishment of this tribunal1 men should be found of a nature so bloodthirsty as not to be satisfied with its peaceful decisions1 and should resort to the old and barbarous mode of an appeal to the pistol1 some means might be found of dealing with them4 ,to hang them as murderers would be of no avail2 for to such men death would have few terrors4 ,shame alone would bring them to reason4 ,transportation1 the tread-wheel1 or a public whipping1 would perhaps be sufficient4 ,,relics4 ,a fouth o' auld knick-knackets1 ,rusty airn caps and jinglin' jackets1 ,wad hand the ,lothians three1 in tackets1 ,a towmond guid2 ,an' parritch pats1 and auld saut backets1 ,afore the flood4 ,,burns4 ,illustration3 ,t ,the love for relics is one which will never be eradicated as long as feeling and affection are denizens of the heart4 ,it is a love which is most easily excited in the best and kindliest natures1 and which few are callous enough to scoff at4 ,who would not treasure the lock of hair that once adorned the brow of the faithful wife now cold in death1 or that hung down the neck of a beloved infant now sleeping under the sward8 ,not one6 ,they are home-relics1 whose sacred worth is intelligible to all3 spoils rescued from the devouring grave1 which to the affectionate are beyond all price4 ,how dear to a forlorn survivor the book over whose pages he has pored with one departed6 ,how much greater its value1 if that hand1 now cold1 had written a thought1 an opinion1 or a name1 upon the leaf6 ,besides these sweet domestic relics1 there are others which no one can condemn3 relics sanctified by that admiration of greatness and goodness which is akin to love2 such as the copy of ,montaigne's ,florio1 with the name of ,shakspeare upon the leaf1 written by the poet of all time himself2 the chair preserved at ,antwerp1 in which ,rubens sat when he painted the immortal ,descent from the ,cross2 or the telescope1 preserved in the ,museum of ,florence1 which aided ,galileo in his sublime discoveries4 ,who would not look with veneration upon the undoubted arrow of ,william ,tell--the swords of ,wallace or of ,hampden--or the ,bible whose leaves were turned by some stern old father of the faith8 ,thus the principle of reliquism is hallowed and enshrined by love4 ,but from this germ of purity how numerous the progeny of errors and superstitions6 ,men1 in their admiration of the great1 and of all that appertained to them1 have forgotten that goodness is a component part of true greatness1 and have made fools of themselves for the jawbone of a saint1 the toe-nail of an apostle1 the handkerchief a king blew his nose in1 or the rope that hanged a criminal4 ,desiring to rescue some slight token from the graves of their predecessors1 they have confounded the famous and the infamous1 the renowned and the notorious4 ,great saints1 great sinners2 great philosophers1 great quacks2 great conquerors1 great murderers2 great ministers1 great thieves2 each and all have had their admirers1 ready to ransack earth1 from the equator to either pole1 to find a relic of them4 ,the reliquism of modern times dates its origin from the centuries immediately preceding the ,crusades4 ,the first pilgrims to the ,holy ,land brought back to ,europe thousands of apocryphal relics1 in the purchase of which they had expended all their store4 ,the greatest favourite was the wood of the true cross1 which1 like the oil of the widow1 never diminished4 ,it is generally asserted1 in the traditions of the ,romish ,church1 that the ,empress ,helen1 the mother of ,constantine the ,great1 first discovered the veritable true cross in her pilgrimage to ,jerusalem4 ,the ,emperor ,theodosius made a present of the greater part of it to ,st4 ,ambrose1 ,bishop of ,milan1 by whom it was studded with precious stones1 and deposited in the principal church of that city4 ,it was carried away by the ,huns1 by whom it was burnt1 after they had extracted the valuable jewels it contained4 ,fragments1 purporting to have been cut from it1 were1 in the eleventh and twelfth centuries1 to be found in almost every church in ,europe1 and would1 if collected together in one place1 have been almost sufficient to have built a cathedral4 ,happy was the sinner who could get a sight of one of them2 happier he who possessed one6 ,to obtain them the greatest dangers were cheerfully braved4 ,they were thought to preserve from all evils1 and to cure the most inveterate diseases4 ,annual pilgrimages were made to the shrines that contained them1 and considerable revenues collected from the devotees4 ,next in renown were those precious relics1 the tears of the ,saviour4 ,by whom and in what manner they were preserved1 the pilgrims did not inquire4 ,their genuineness was vouched by the ,christians of the ,holy ,land1 and that was sufficient4 ,tears of the ,virgin ,mary1 and tears of ,st4 ,peter1 were also to be had1 carefully enclosed in little caskets1 which the pious might wear in their bosoms4 ,after the tears the next most precious relics were drops of the blood of ,jesus and the martyrs1 and the milk of the ,virgin ,mary4 ,hair and toe-nails were also in great repute1 and were sold at extravagant prices4 ,thousands of pilgrims annually visited ,palestine in the eleventh and twelfth centuries1 to purchase pretended relics for the home market4 ,the majority of them had no other means of subsistence than the profits thus obtained4 ,many a nail1 cut from the filthy foot of some unscrupulous ecclesiastic1 was sold at a diamond's price1 within six months after its severance from its parent toe1 upon the supposition that it had once belonged to a saint or an apostle4 ,peter's toes were uncommonly prolific1 for there were nails enough in ,europe1 at the time of the ,council of ,clermont1 to have filled a sack1 all of which were devoutly believed to have grown on the sacred feet of that great apostle4 ,some of them are still shewn in the cathedral of ,aix-la-,chapelle4 ,the pious come from a distance of a hundred ,german miles to feast their eyes upon them4 ,at ,port ,royal1 in ,paris1 is kept with great care a thorn1 which the priests of that seminary assert to be one of the identical thorns that bound the holy head of the ,son of ,god4 ,how it came there1 and by whom it was preserved1 has never been explained4 ,this is the famous thorn1 celebrated in the long dissensions of the ,jansenists and the ,molenists1 and which worked the miraculous cure upon ,mademoiselle ,perrier3 by merely kissing it she was cured of a disease of the eyes of long standing4#ga #ga ,voltaire1 ,sicle de ,louis ,,xiv4 ,what traveller is unacquainted with the ,santa ,scala1 or ,holy ,stairs1 at ,rome8 ,they were brought from ,jerusalem along with the true cross1 by the ,empress ,helen1 and were taken from the house which1 according to popular tradition1 was inhabited by ,pontius ,pilate4 ,they are said to be the steps which ,jesus ascended and descended when brought into the presence of the ,roman governor4 ,they are held in the greatest veneration at ,rome3 it is sacrilegious to walk upon them4 ,the knees of the faithful must alone touch them in ascending or descending1 and that only after the pilgrims have reverentially kissed them4 ,europe still swarms with these religious relics4 ,there is hardly a ,roman ,catholic church in ,spain1 ,portugal1 ,italy1 ,france1 or ,belgium1 without one or more of them4 ,even the poorly endowed churches of the villages boast the possession of miraculous thigh-bones of the innumerable saints of the ,romish calendar4 ,aix-la-,chapelle is proud of the veritable chsse1 or thigh-bone of ,charlemagne1 which cures lameness4 ,halle has a thigh-bone of the ,virgin ,mary2 ,spain has seven or eight1 all said to be undoubted relics4 ,brussels at one time preserved1 and perhaps does now1 the teeth of ,st4 ,gudule4 ,the faithful1 who suffered from the toothache1 had only to pray1 look at them1 and be cured4 ,some of these holy bones have been buried in different parts of the ,continent4 ,after a certain lapse of time1 water is said to ooze from them1 which soon forms a spring1 and cures all the diseases of the faithful4 ,it is curious to remark the avidity manifested in all ages1 and in all countries1 to obtain possession of some relic of any persons who have been much spoken of1 even for their crimes4 ,when ,william ,longbeard1 leader of the populace of ,london in the reign of ,richard ,i41 was hanged at ,smithfield1 the utmost eagerness was shewn to obtain a hair from his head1 or a shred from his garments4 ,women came from ,essex1 ,kent1 ,suffolk1 ,sussex1 and all the surrounding counties1 to collect the mould at the foot of his gallows4 ,a hair of his beard was believed to preserve from evil spirits1 and a piece of his clothes from aches and pains4 ,in more modern days1 a similar avidity was shewn to obtain a relic of the luckless ,masaniello1 the fisherman of ,naples4 ,after he had been raised by mob favour to a height of power more despotic than monarch ever wielded1 he was shot by the same populace in the streets1 as if he had been a mad dog4 ,his headless trunk was dragged through the mire for several hours1 and cast at night-fall into the city ditch4 ,on the morrow the tide of popular feeling turned once more in his favour4 ,his corpse was sought1 arrayed in royal robes1 and buried magnificently by torch-light in the cathedral1 ten thousand armed men1 and as many mourners1 attending at the ceremony4 ,the fisherman's dress which he had worn was rent into shreds by the crowd1 to be preserved as relics2 the door of his hut was pulled off its hinges by a mob of women1 and eagerly cut up into small pieces1 to be made into images1 caskets1 and other mementos4 ,the scanty furniture of his poor abode became of more value than the adornments of a palace2 the ground he had walked upon was considered sacred1 and1 being collected in small phials1 was sold at its weight in gold1 and worn in the bosom as an amulet4 ,almost as extraordinary was the frenzy manifested by the populace of ,paris on the execution of the atrocious ,marchioness de ,brinvilliers4 ,there were grounds for the popular wonder in the case of ,masaniello1 who was unstained with personal crimes4 ,but the career of ,madame de ,brinvilliers was of a nature to excite no other feelings than disgust and abhorrence4 ,she was convicted of poisoning several persons1 and sentenced to be burned in the ,place de ,grve1 and to have her ashes scattered to the winds4 ,on the day of her execution1 the populace1 struck by her gracefulness and beauty1 inveighed against the severity of her sentence4 ,their pity soon increased to admiration1 and1 ere evening1 she was considered a saint4 ,her ashes were industriously collected2 even the charred wood1 which had aided to consume her1 was eagerly purchased by the populace4 ,her ashes were thought to preserve from witchcraft4 ,in ,england many persons have a singular love for the relics of thieves and murderers1 or other great criminals4 ,the ropes with which they have been hanged are very often bought by collectors at a guinea per foot4 ,great sums were paid for the rope which hanged ,dr4 ,dodd1 and for those more recently which did justice upon ,mr4 ,fauntleroy for forgery1 and on ,thurtell for the murder of ,mr4 ,weare4 ,the murder of ,maria ,marten1 by ,corder1 in the year #ahbh1 excited the greatest interest all over the country4 ,people came from ,wales and ,scotland1 and even from ,ireland1 to visit the barn where the body of the murdered woman was buried4 ,every one of them was anxious to carry away some memorial of his visit4 ,pieces of the barn-door1 tiles from the roof1 and1 above all1 the clothes of the poor victim1 were eagerly sought after4 ,a lock of her hair was sold for two guineas1 and the purchaser thought himself fortunate in getting it so cheaply4 ,so great was the concourse of people to visit the house in ,camberwell ,lane1 where ,greenacre murdered ,hannah ,brown1 in #ahcg1 that it was found necessary to station a strong detachment of police on the spot4 ,the crowd was so eager to obtain a relic of the house of this atrocious criminal1 that the police were obliged to employ force to prevent the tables and chairs1 and even the doors1 from being carried away4 ,in earlier times1 a singular superstition was attached to the hand of a criminal who had suffered execution4 ,it was thought that by merely rubbing the dead hand on the body1 the patient afflicted with the king's evil would be instantly cured4 ,the executioner at ,newgate formerly derived no inconsiderable revenue from this foolish practice4 ,the possession of the hand was thought to be of still greater efficacy in the cure of diseases and the prevention of misfortunes4 ,in the time of ,charles ,,ii41 as much as ten guineas was thought a small price for one of these disgusting relics4 ,when the maniac1 ,thom1 or ,courtenay1 was shot1 in the spring of #ahch1 the relic-hunters were immediately in motion to obtain a memento of so extraordinary an individual4 ,his long black beard and hair1 which were cut off by the surgeons1 fell into the hands of his disciples1 by whom they were treasured with the utmost reverence4 ,a lock of his hair commanded a great price1 not only amongst his followers1 but among the more wealthy inhabitants of ,canterbury and its neighbourhood4 ,the tree against which he fell when he was shot1 was stripped of all its bark by the curious2 while a letter1 with his signature to it1 was paid for in gold coins2 and his favourite horse became as celebrated as its master4 ,parties of ladies and gentlemen went to ,boughton from a distance of a hundred and fifty miles1 to visit the scene of that fatal affray1 and stroke on the back the horse of the mad knight of ,malta4 ,if a strict watch had not been kept over his grave for months1 the body would have been disinterred1 and the bones carried away as memorials4 ,among the ,chinese no relics are more valued than the boots which have been worn by an upright magistrate4 ,in ,davis's interesting description of the empire of ,china1 we are informed1 that whenever a judge of unusual integrity resigns his situation1 the people all congregate to do him honour4 ,if he leaves the city where he has presided1 the crowd accompany him from his residence to the gates1 where his boots are drawn off with great ceremony1 to be preserved in the hall of justice4 ,their place is immediately supplied by a new pair1 which1 in their turn1 are drawn off to make room for others before he has worn them five minutes1 it being considered sufficient to consecrate them that he should have merely drawn them on4 ,among the most favourite relics of modern times1 in ,europe1 are ,shakspeare's mulberry-tree1 ,napoleon's willow1 and the table at ,waterloo on which the emperor wrote his despatches4 ,snuff-boxes of ,shakspeare's mulberry-tree are comparatively rare1 though there are doubtless more of them in the market than were ever made of the wood planted by the great bard4 ,many a piece of alien wood passes under this name4 ,the same may be said of ,napoleon's table at ,waterloo4 ,the original has long since been destroyed1 and a round dozen of counterfeits along with it4 ,many preserve the simple stick of wood2 others have them cut into brooches and every variety of ornament2 but by far the greater number prefer them as snuff-boxes4 ,in ,france they are made into bonbonnires1 and are much esteemed by the many thousands whose cheeks still glow and whose eyes still sparkle at the name of ,napoleon4 ,bullets from the field of ,waterloo1 and buttons from the coats of the soldiers who fell in the fight1 are still favourite relics in ,europe4 ,but the same ingenuity which found new tables after the old one was destroyed1 has cast new bullets for the curious4 ,many a one who thinks himself the possessor of a bullet which aided in giving peace to the world on that memorable day1 is the owner of a dump1 first extracted from the ore a dozen years afterwards4 ,let all lovers of genuine relics look well to their money before they part with it to the ciceroni that swarm in the village of ,waterloo6 ,few travellers stopped at the lonely isle of ,st4 ,helena without cutting a twig from the willow that drooped over the grave of ,napoleon1 prior to the removal of the body by the government of ,louis ,philippe4 ,many of them have since been planted in different parts of ,europe1 and have grown into trees as large as their parent4 ,relic-hunters1 who are unable to procure a twig of the original1 are content with one from these4 ,several of them are growing in the neighbourhood of ,london4 ,but in relics1 as in every thing else1 there is the use and the abuse4 ,the undoubted relics of great men1 or great events1 will always possess attractions for the thinking and refined4 ,there are few who would not join with ,cowley in the extravagant wish introduced in his lines written while sitting in a chair made of the remains of the ship in which ,sir ,francis ,drake sailed round the world3 ,and ,i myself1 who now love quiet too1 ,almost as much1 as any chair can do1 ,would yet a journey take ,an old wheel of that chariot to see1 ,which ,phaeton so rashly brake4 ,,end ,,of ,,vol4 ,,ii4 ,,london3 ,,printed ,,by ,,levey1 ,,robson1 ,,and ,,franklyn1 ,,great ,,new ,,street1 ,,fetter ,,lane4 ,,index4 ,abraham1 ,noah1 and ,moses said to have been alchymists1 i4 #ie1 #aad4 ,acre besieged in the ,third ,crusade1 ii4 #fi2 its surrender to the ,christians1 #ga4 ,addison's account of a ,rosicrucian1 i4 #agg2 his opinion on duelling1 ii4 #bha4 ,agricola1 ,george1 the alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #ade4 ,agrippa1 ,cornelius1 memoir1 and portrait of1 i4 #ach2 his power of raising the dead and the absent1 #adb4 ,aislabie1 ,mr41 ,chancellor of the ,exchequer1 his participation in the ,south-,sea fraud1 i4 #gc1 #gh2 rejoicings on his committal to the ,tower1 #gi4 ,alain ,delisle4 7,see ,delisle47 ,albertus ,magnus1 his studies in alchymy1 i4 #ii2 portrait of1 #ajj2 his animated brazen statue destroyed by ,thomas ,aquinas1 #ajj2 his power to change the course of the seasons1 #aja4 ,,alchymists1 the1 or ,searches for the ,philosopher's ,stone and the ,water of ,life1 i4 #id-bbj2 natural origin of the study of ,alchymy1 its connexion with astrology1 c41 i4 #id2 alleged antiquity of the study1 #ie2 its early history1 #if2 ,memoirs of ,geber1 #if2 ,alfarabi1 #ig2 ,avicenna1 #ih2 ,albertus ,magnus1 with portrait1 ,thomas ,aquinas1 #ii2 ,artephius1 #ajb2 ,alain ,delisle1 #ajb2 ,arnold de ,villeneuve1 with portrait1 #ajc2 receipt for the elixir vit ascribed to him1 #ajc2 ,pietro d',apone1 #ajd2 ,raymond ,lulli1 with portrait1 #aje2 ,roger ,bacon1 #aaj2 ,pope ,john ,,xxii41 #aaa2 ,jean de ,meung1 #aab2 ,nicholas ,flamel1 #aac2 ,george ,ripley1 #aah2 ,basil ,valentine1 #aai2 ,bernard of ,treves1 #aai2 ,trithemius1 #abd2 ,marchal de ,rays1 #abe2 ,jacques ,coeur1 #acb2 inferior adepts of the #adth and #aeth centuries1 #ace2 progress of the infatuation in the #afth and #agth centuries1 #acg-ahi2 ,augurello1 #acg2 ,cornelius ,agrippa1 with portrait1 #ach2 ,paracelsus1 with portrait1 #adb2 ,george ,agricola1 #ade2 ,denis ,zachaire1 #adf2 ,dr4 ,dee1 with portrait1 and ,edward ,kelly1 #aeb2 ,dr4 ,dee's ,shewstone 7engraving71 #aed2 the ,cosmopolite1 #afc2 the ,rosicrucians1 #afg2 ,jacob ,bhmen1 #agg2 ,mormius1 #agh2 ,borri1 #agi2 inferior ,alchymists of the #agth century1 #ahe2 their impositions1 #ahh2 ,alchymy since that period1 #ahi-bbj2 ,jean ,delisle1 #ahi2 ,albert ,aluys1 #aig2 the ,count de ,st4 ,germain1 #bjj2 ,cagliostro1 #bjf2 present state of ,alchymy1 #bbj4 ,alexius ,i41 ,emperor1 his treatment of the ,crusaders1 ii4 #ag-ai2 imprisons the ,count of ,vermandois1 #bc2 is compelled to release him1 #bd2 his fear of the ,crusaders1 #be2 his treachery at ,nice1 #bh2 neglects the ,crusaders at ,antioch1 #ce1 #db4 ,alexius ,,iii41 usurping the ,greek empire1 is expelled by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #gg4 ,alexius ,,iv4 made ,emperor of the ,greeks by the aid of the ,crusaders1 ii4 #gg2 his deposition and murder1 #gh4 ,alexius ,ducas 7,murzuphlis7 chosen ,emperor instead of ,alexius ,,iv41 ii4 #gh2 defeated by the ,french and ,venetians1 #gi4 ,alfarabi1 the ,alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #ig4 ,almanac-makers3 ,lilly1 ,poor ,robin1 ,partridge1 ,francis ,moore1 ,matthew ,laensbergh1 i4 #bdj4 ,aluys1 ,albert1 the ,alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #ig4 ,american laws against duelling1 ii4 #bii4 ,amsterdam1 witches burnt at1 ii4 #afj4 ,animal ,magnetism4 7,see ,magnetism47 ,andrews1 ,henry1 the original of ,francis ,moore1 portrait1 i4 #bdd4 ,anna ,comnena1 her notices of the ,crusaders1 ii4 #bb1 #be4 ,anne1 ,queen1 duels in her reign1 ii4 #bhi2 her efforts to suppress them1 #bib4 ,antioch1 besieged by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #bi2 is taken by treachery1 #cb2 sufferings of the ,crusaders from famine and pestilence1 #ce2 pretended discovery of the ,holy ,lance 7engraving71 #cg2 battle1 and defeat of the ,turks1 #ch2 retaken by ,saladin1 #fc4 ,aquinas1 ,thomas1 his studies in ,alchymy1 i4 #ii2 he destroys an animated brazen statue1 #ajj2 his magical performances1 #aja4 ,arabia1 the chief seat of the ,alchymists1 i4 #if4 ,arnold de ,villeneuve4 7,see ,de ,villeneuve47 ,arras1 view of the ,town-hall1 ii4 #aja2 persecution of the ,waldenses at1 #aae4 ,art1 works of1 destroyed by the ,crusaders at ,constantinople1 ii4 #gi4 ,artephius1 his extravagant pretensions as an ,alchymist1 i4 #ajb4 ,astrology1 its prevalence in ,england1 i4 #bdc2 account of ,lilly's prophecies1 #bdd2 its connexion with ,alchymy4 7,see the ,alchymists1 ,dr4 ,dee1 c47 ,augurello the ,alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #acg4 ,augury1 an almost exploded study1 i4 #bgb4 ,aurea-crucians1 a sect founded by ,jacob ,bhmen1 i4 #agg4 ,avicenna the ,alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #ih4 ,bacon1 ,lord1 portrait of1 ii4 #bhf2 his opposition to duelling1 #bhe1 #bhg4 ,bacon1 ,roger1 his pursuit of ,alchymy1 i4 #aaj2 his scientific discoveries1 #aaa4 ,bagnone1 ,francisco1 the magnetiser1 i4 #bgb4 ,bailly1 ,m41 his account of ,mesmer's experiments1 i4 #bha1 #bic4 ,baldarroch ,farm-house1 haunted1 ii4 #bce2 investigation by the elders of the kirk2 the noises caused by servant-girls1 #bcg4 ,baldwin 7,king of ,jerusalem71 joins the ,crusaders at ,nice1 ii4 #bg2 becomes prince of ,edessa1 #cj1 #da2 succeeds ,godfrey as ,king of ,jerusalem1 #dh2 bible of his queen 7engraving71 #ej4 ,baldwin1 ,count of ,flanders1 chosen ,emperor of the ,greeks1 ii4 #hj4 ,ballads4 7,see ,songs47 ,bamberg1 view in2 witches executed there1 ii4 #afb4 ,banditti in ,italy1 ii4 #bef4 ,banking schemes of ,john ,law1 i4 #d4 ,bank of ,england1 its competition with the ,south-,sea ,company1 i4 #dh1 #ff4 ,baptism mocked in the witches' ,sabbaths1 ii4 #aji4 ,barbarin1 ,chevalier de1 his experiments in animal magnetism1 i4 #bhf4 ,barbarossa1 the ,emperor1 commences the ,third ,crusade2 his death1 ii4 #fc1 #fd4 ,barthelemy1 ,peter1 his pretended vision and discovery of the holy lance2 its effect on the ,crusaders2 battle of ,antioch1 the ,turks defeated1 ii4 #ce-dj2 charged with falsehood1 subjected to the fiery ordeal1 and burnt to death1 #da4 ,bastille1 the4 7,see ,paris47 ,bavaria1 ordinance against moustaches1 i4 #cjb4 ,beards forbidden to be worn2 religious and political prejudices1 i4 #bif-cjc4 7,see ,hair47 ,beckmann's remarks on the tulip1 i4 #hf4 ,beggar's ,opera1 its popularity and immoral influence1 ii4 #beh4 ,beranger's ,song1 ,thirteen at ,table1 i4 #beg4 ,bernard of ,treves1 the ,alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #aai4 ,best and ,lord ,camelford1 their fatal duel1 ii4 #big4 ,bethlehem1 ,shrine of the ,nativity 7engraving71 ii4 #dc2 ,richard ,i4 arrives there2 view of the city1 ii4 #gc4 ,bible of the ,queen of ,baldwin1 ,king of ,jerusalem1 7engraving71 ii4 #ej4 ,blue ,beard1 the ,marchal de ,rays his supposed prototype1 i4 #acb4 ,blunt1 ,sir ,john1 ,chairman of the ,south-,sea ,bubble1 his share in the fraud1 i4 #fc1 #gd1 #gg2 his examination by ,parliament1 #ge2 his property confiscated1 #ha2 ,pope's sketch of him1 #gd4 ,bodinus1 his persecution of witches1 ii4 #aei4 ,boerhave1 his belief in ,alchymy1 i4 #ahe4 ,bohemund1 his courage displayed in the ,crusades1 ii4 #ba1 #bh1 #cj1 #ca1 #ce1 #ch1 #ci2 takes ,antioch1 by treachery in the garrison1 #cb2 is made ,prince of ,antioch1 #cb1 #da4 ,bhmen1 ,jacob1 the ,alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #agg4 ,bonfires on ,tower ,hill1 on the committal of the ,south-,sea schemers1 i4 #gi4 ,booker1 an astrologer1 notice of1 i4 #bdd4 ,boots1 torture of the 7engraving71 ii4 #aca4 ,borri1 the ,alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #agi4 ,bourdeaux1 haunted house at1 ii4 #bba4 ,bourges1 house of ,jaques ,coeur 7engraving71 i4 #acd4 ,boyd1 ,captain1 killed in a duel1 ii4 #bic4 ,brabant ,screen1 the1 a caricature of the ,south-,sea ,bubble1 i4 #gf4 ,breda1 siege of1 i4 #bgj4 ,bremen1 ,nadel's escape from prison1 ii4 #beg4 ,brinvilliers1 ,madame de1 her atrocious murders2 escape from ,france2 subsequent trial and execution1 ii4 #bjh-bad2 relics of her fate anxiously sought after1 #cje4 ,brown1 ,sir ,thomas1 portrait of2 his belief in witchcraft1 ii4 #aea4 ,bubble ,companies1 contemporaneously with the ,south-,sea ,scheme1 their extravagant character1 i4 #eb2 profits of the promoters1 #ec2 declared unlawful1 #ee1 #hf2 companies dissolved1 #eg4 ,bubble ,cards1 or ,caricatures1 i4 #fj1 #fa4 ,buckingham1 ,villiers1 ,duke of1 his rise in the favour of ,james ,i41 ii4 #aig2 portrait of1 #aih2 suspected to have poisoned the king1 #bja4 ,byron1 ,lord1 his trial for the murder of ,mr4 ,chaworth in a duel1 ii4 #bib4 ,byron1 ,lord1 his poetical villains1 ii4 #bei4 ,cagliostro1 memoir of1 i4 #bjf2 his adventures in ,london1 #bji2 view of his house1 #bae2 implicated in the theft of the diamond necklace1 tried and acquitted1 #baf-bbj2 again in ,london1 imprisonment and death at ,rome1 #bbj4 ,cagliostro1 the ,countess1 i4 #bjh2 his accomplice2 her wit1 beauty1 and ingenuity1 #bac-baf4 ,cambridge ,university1 annual sermon against witchcraft1 ii4 #abg4 ,camelford1 ,lord1 killed in a duel1 ii4 #big4 ,camhel1 ,sultan1 his generosity to the ,christians1 ii4 #hd1 #he4 ,campbell1 ,major1 his duel with ,capt4 ,boyd1 and execution1 ii4 #bic4 ,candlemas ,eve1 superstitious customs1 i4 #beh4 ,cant phrases4 7,see ,popular follies47 ,cards4 7,see ,fortune-telling47 ,caricatures1 referring to the ,mississippi ,scheme 7four engravings71 i4 #be1 #bi1 #cg1 #dj1 #dd4 ,caricatures of the ,south-,sea ,bubble 7seven engravings71 i4 #fj1 #fa1 #fh1 #gj1 #gf1 #hb1 #hd4 ,casaubon1 his account of ,dr4 ,dee's intercourse with spirits1 i4 #aee4 ,chambre ,ardente1 instituted by ,louis ,,xiv4 for the trial of poisoners1 ii4 #bad1 #bhc4 ,change ,alley during the ,south-,sea ,bubble 7engraving71 i4 #fj4 ,charlemagne1 his edicts against witches1 ii4 #aji4 ,charles ,i4 prevents a duel1 ii4 #bhg4 ,charles ,,ii41 his disgraceful conduct in reference to a duel1 ii4 #bhh4 ,charles ,,vi4 of ,france1 his studies in ,alchymy1 i4 #aag2 his work on that subject1 #acf4 ,charles ,,ix4 of ,france1 his patronage of ,nostradamus1 i4 #bdf2 portrait of1 ii4 #aai2 his belief in witchcraft1 #abj4 ,chaworth1 ,mr41 killed by ,lord ,byron in a duel1 ii4 #bib4 ,chemistry1 its connexion with ,alchymy2 valuable discoveries of the ,alchymists1 i4 #bjg1 #bba4 ,children in the ,crusades2 their personal bravery1 ii4 #de2 are sold to slavery1 #ha4 ,children executed for witchcraft1 ii4 #afc1 #agi1 #aha4 ,christina1 ,queen of ,sweden1 her patronage of ,alchymy1 i4 #ahc1 #ahe4 ,clermont1 ,urban ,,ii4 preaches the ,crusade there2 cathedral of 7engraving71 ii4 #i4 ,cock-,lane ,ghost1 history of the deception2 views of the haunted house1 ii4 #bbh1 #bcj4 ,coeur1 ,jaques1 memoir of1 i4 #acb2 his house at ,bourges 7engraving71 #acb4 ,cohreddin1 ,sultan1 his generosity to the ,christians1 ii4 #hd1 #he4 ,coke1 ,chief ,justice1 portrait of1 ii4 #aii2 the poisoners of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury tried by him1 #aih4 ,collins1 ,joseph1 contriver of mysterious noises at ,woodstock ,palace1 ii4 #bbd4 ,comets regarded as omens1 i4 #bbc1 #bbe2 actually dangerous1 #bbh4 ,conrad1 ,emperor of ,germany1 joins the ,crusades1 ii4 #ef2 reaches ,jerusalem1 #fj2 returns to ,europe1 #fb4 ,constance1 view of the town gate1 ii4 #aaf2 witches executed there1 #aag1 #afj4 ,constantinople during the ,crusades1 ii4 #ag1 #bc-bf1 #ef1 #gg-hj2 view of1 #gh4 ,contumacy 7refusing to plead to a criminal charge72 its severe punishment1 ii4 #aii4 ,cornhill at the time of the ,south-,sea ,bubble 7engraving71 i4 #ea4 ,cosmopolite1 the1 an anonymous alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #afc4 ,cowley's poetical description of the tulip1 i4 #hf2 his lines on relics of great men1 ii4 #cjh4 ,craggs1 ,mr4 ,secretary1 portrait of1 i4 #fd2 his participation in the ,south-,sea ,bubble1 #fd1 #ga1 #gc1 #gg1 #gh2 his death1 #hj4 ,craggs1 ,mr41 father of the above1 his participation in the fraud2 his death1 i4 #hj4 ,criminals1 anxiety to possess relics of their crimes1 ii4 #cjf4 7,see ,thieves47 ,cromwell1 ,sir ,samuel1 his persecution of ,the ,witches of ,warbois1 ii4 #abf4 ,cross1 trial or ordeal of the1 ii4 #bfd4 ,cross1 the true4 7,see ,relics47 ,,crusades1 ,the1 ii4 #a-ajj2 differently represented in history and in romance2 pilgrimages before the ,crusades1 ii4 #b2 encouraged by ,haron al ,reschid2 pilgrims taxed by the ,fatemite caliphs2 increase of pilgrimages in anticipation of the millenium1 #c2 oppressions of the ,turks2 consequent indignation of the pilgrims1 #d2 ,peter the ,hermit espouses their cause2 state of the public mind in ,europe1 #e2 motives leading to the ,crusades1 #f2 ,peter the ,hermit stimulates the ,pope2 his personal appearance1 #g2 council at ,placentia1 #h2 the ,pope preaches the ,crusade at ,clermont1 #i2 enthusiasm of the people1 #aj2 increased by signs and portents1 #aa2 zeal of the women1 #ab2 crowds of ,crusaders1 #ac2 ,the truce of ,god proclaimed2 dissipation of the ,crusaders1 #ad2 popular leaders2 ,walter the ,penniless1 and ,gottschalk1 #ae2 conflicts with the ,hungarians1 #ae1 #af2 ,peter the ,hermit defeated2 arrives at ,constantinople1 #ag2 the ,emperor ,alexius2 dissensions and reverses of the first ,crusaders1 #ah2 ,peter the ,hermit assisted by ,alexius1 #ai2 fresh hordes from ,germany and ,france2 their cruelty to the ,jews1 #bj2 defeated in ,hungary2 fresh leaders2 ,godfrey of ,bouillon1 ,hugh count of ,vermandois1 ,robert duke of ,normandy1 ,robert count of ,flanders and ,bohemund1 #ba2 the immense number of their forces2 ,hugh of ,vermandois imprisoned1 #bc2 his release obtained by ,godfrey of ,bouillon1 #bd2 insolence of ,count ,robert of ,paris2 weakness of ,alexius1 #be2 the siege of ,nice1 #bf2 barbarity of the ,crusaders and ,musselmen2 anecdote of ,godfrey of ,bouillon1 #bg2 ,nice surrenders to ,alexius2 battle of ,doryloeum1 #bh2 improvidence and sufferings of the ,crusaders1 #bi1 #cj2 the siege of ,antioch1 #bi1 #ca2 ,crusaders reduced to famine1 #cj2 ,antioch taken by treachery in the garrison 7engraving71 #cb2 the city invested by the ,turks1 #cd2 increasing famine and desertion1 #ce2 ,peter ,barthelemy1 his pretended vision1 and discovery of the ,holy ,lance 7engraving71 #ce-cg1 #dj2 revival of enthusiasm1 #ch2 battle of ,antioch1 and defeat of the ,turks1 #ch2 dissensions1 #dj2 fate of ,peter ,barthelemy1 #da2 ,marah taken by storm1 #db2 shrine of the nativity at ,bethlehem1 7engraving71 #dc2 first sight of ,jerusalem 7engraving71 #dd2 the city besieged and taken1 #de2 ,peter the ,hermit's fame revives1 #df2 ,jerusalem under its ,christian kings1 #dh2 ,godfrey of ,bouillon succeeded by ,baldwin2 continual conflicts with the ,saracens2 ,edessa taken by them1 #ej4 ,second ,crusade3--,society in ,europe at its commencement1 #eb2 ,st4 ,bernard's preaching2 ,louis ,,vii4 joins the ,crusaders1 #ec-ee2 receives the cross at ,vezelai 7engraving71 #ed2 is joined by ,conrad emperor of ,germany and a large army1 #ef2 their reception by ,manuel ,comnenus1 #eg2 losses of the ,german army1 #eh2 progress to ,nice1 and thence to ,jerusalem1 #fj2 jealousies of the leaders2 siege of ,damascus1 #fa2 further dissensions2 the siege abandoned1 #fb4 ,third ,crusade3--,progress of chivalry1 #fb2 successes of ,saladin1 #fc2 ,barbarossa defeats the ,saracens1 #fd2 ,crusade joined by ,henry ,,ii4 and ,philip ,augustus1 #fd2 they meet at ,gisors 7engraving71 #fe2 the ,crusade unpopular1 #ff2 delayed by war between ,france and ,england1 death of ,henry ,,ii42 ,richard and ,philip proceed to ,palestine1 #fg2 ,richard attacks the ,sicilians1 #fh2 arrives at ,acre1 #fi2 siege and surrender of the city1 #ga2 dissensions1 ,philip returns to ,france1 ,saladin defeated at ,azotus1 #gb2 ,crusaders reach ,bethlehem 7engraving71 retreat agreed on1 #gc2 ,jaffa attacked by ,saladin and rescued by ,richard1 peace concluded1 ,richard's imprisonment and ransom1 #gd4 ,fourth ,crusade1 undertaken by the ,germans2 its failure1 #ge4 ,fifth ,crusade3--,foulque1 ,bishop of ,neuilly1 enlists the chivalry of ,france2 assisted by the ,venetians2 siege of ,zara1 #gf2 ,crusaders expel ,alexius ,,iii4 from ,constantinople1 #gg2 ,alexius ,,iv4 deposed1 #gh2 ,murzuphlis defeated by the ,crusaders and ,venetians1 #gi2 ,baldwin count of ,flanders1 elected emperor2 ,pilgrimages to ,jerusalem2 children undertaking the ,crusade are betrayed to slavery1 #hj4 ,sixth ,crusade1 prompted by the ,pope1 #ha2 undertaken by the ,king of ,hungary2 pursued in ,egypt2 ,damietta taken1 #hb2 ,cardinal ,pelagius and ,john of ,brienne1 #hc2 dissensions and reverses2 ,damietta abandoned1 #hd4 ,seventh ,crusade3--,undertaken by ,frederick ,,ii4 of ,germany1 #hd2 intrigues against him2 he is excommunicated1 #he2 crowns himself ,king of ,jerusalem1 #hf2 supported by the ,templars and ,hospitallers 7engraving71 #hf2 returns to ,germany1 #hg4 ,eighth ,crusade1 commenced in ,france1 #hg3 battle of ,gaza2 ,richard earl of ,cornwall2 truce agreed on2 the ,korasmins take ,jerusalem1 #hh2 they subdue the ,templars1 but are extirpated by the ,syrian sultans1 #ij4 ,ninth ,crusade1 began by ,louis ,,ix41 #ij2 joined by ,william ,longsword 7engraving71 #ia2 the ,crusade unpopular in ,england1 #ia-ig2 ,damietta taken1 #ic2 battle of ,massoura2 ,louis taken prisoner by the ,saracens2 his ransom and return1 #id2 excitement in ,france1 #ie4 ,tenth ,crusade1 by ,louis ,,ix4 and ,prince ,edward of ,england1 #ie2 ,louis dies at ,carthage1 #if2 ,edward arrives at ,acre1 #ig2 defeats the ,turks at ,nazereth2 is treacherously wounded2 the legend of ,queen ,eleanor1 #ih2 her tomb at ,westminster 7engraving72 a truce concluded2 ,edward returns to ,england2 subsequent fate of the ,holy ,land1 #ii2 civilising influence of the ,crusades1 #ajj4 ,currency in ,france1 the ,mississippi scheme1 i4 #d4 ,d',aguesseau1 ,chancellor of ,france1 his opposition to the ,mississippi scheme1 i4 #aa2 portrait of2 his financial measures1 #cc4 ,damascus1 besieged by the ,crusaders 7engraving71 ii4 #fa4 ,damietta besieged by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #hc1 #ic4 ,dances of witches and toads1 ii4 #ajh1 #aji4 ,d',ancre1 the ,marchale1 executed for witchcraft1 ii4 #aff4 ,dandolo1 ,doge of ,venice1 his encouragement of the ,crusaders1 ii4 #gf4 ,d',apone1 ,pietro1 his studies in alchymy2 his command of money2 charged with heresy1 is tortured1 and dies in prison1 i4 #ajd2 portrait of1 ii4 #adj4 ,d',argenson1 ,french minister of finance1 a supporter of the ,mississippi scheme1 i4 #aa1 #db2 portrait of1 #db4 ,dead1 the4 7,see ,raising the ,dead47 ,de ,bouteville1 a famous duellist1 temp4 ,louis ,,xiii41 ii4 #bhj2 beheaded by the justice of ,richelieu1 #bha4 ,dee1 ,dr41 memoir and portrait of1 i4 #aeb2 his shew-stone in the ,british ,museum 7engraving71 #aed4 ,de ,jarnac and ,la ,chataigneraie1 their famous duel1 ii4 #bgc4 ,deleuze1 ,m41 his absurd theories on animal magnetism1 i4 #bia4 ,delisle1 ,alain1 an alchymist1 i4 #ajb4 ,delisle1 ,jean1 the alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #ahi2 his success in transmuting metals1 attested by the ,bishop of ,senes1 #aic2 his imprisonment and death1 #aig4 ,delrio1 his persecution of witches1 ii4 #aei4 ,de ,meung1 ,jean1 author of the ,roman de la ,rose1 his study of alchymy1 his libel on the fair sex1 i4 #aab4 ,demons1 popular belief in1 ii4 #aje2 their powers and propensities1 #ajf1 #ajg2 their meetings or ,sabbaths1 #ajg4 7,see ,witchcraft and the ,alchymists47 ,de ,nogent1 his description of ,peter the ,hermit1 ii4 #g2 of the enthusiasm of the first ,crusaders1 #ab1 #bc4 ,de ,rays1 ,marchale1 the alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #abe4 ,de ,rohan1 ,cardinal1 his patronage of ,cagliostro1 i4 #bac-bae2 his connexion with ,marie ,antoinette and the diamond necklace1 #baf-bbj4 ,d',eslon1 a pupil of ,mesmer1 i4 #bgf1 #bhj4 ,desmarets1 ,minister of ,france1 his belief in alchymy1 i4 #aib4 ,devil1 the1 old popular notions of1 ii4 #ajc2 various forms assumed by him1 #ajf1 #ajg2 presided at the witches' ,sabbath1 #ajh2 his appearance to ,de ,rays and ,agrippa1 i4 #abi1 #adb4 ,de ,villeneuve1 ,arnold1 his skill as a physician1 astrologer and alchymist 7with portrait71 i4 #ajc4 ,d',horn1 ,count1 murders a broker1 and steals his ,mississippi bonds 7engraving71 i4 #ba2 efforts to save his life1 inflexibility of the ,regent1 his execution1 #bb1 #bc4 ,diamond1 famous1 purchased by the ,regent ,orleans1 i4 #bg4 ,diamond ,necklace of ,marie ,antoinette1 history of the theft1 i4 #bjf-bbj4 ,diamonds worn by the ,count ,st4 ,germain1 i4 #bjc2 his power of removing flaws in1 #bjd4 ,digby1 ,sir ,kenelm1 a believer in the virtues of weapon-salve1 i4 #bfe4 ,diseases cured by imagination1 i4 #bfb1 #bgb2 pretended influence of magnetism1 #bfb4 7,see the ,,magnetisers47 ,divination1 its popularity2 by cards1 the tea-cup1 the palm of the hand1 the rod1 and other modes1 i4 #bea4 ,domdaniel1 or ,witches' ,sabbath4 7,see ,witchcraft47 ,dorylum1 battle of1 ii4 #bh4 ,dowston1 ,john1 an ,english alchymist1 i4 #acf4 ,dramas on the adventures of thieves2 their popularity and evil influence1 ii4 #bec1 #beg-bfj4 ,dreams1 interpretation of1 i4 #bec4 ,dreams on particular nights1 i4 #beh4 ,dream-books1 their extensive sale1 i4 #bed4 ,du ,pompadour1 ,madame1 and the ,count de ,st4 ,germain1 i4 #bja4 ,dupotet1 ,m41 his account of ,mesmer's experiments1 i4 #bgi1 #bhe4 ,drummer of ,tedworth4 7,see ,haunted ,houses47 ,du ,barri1 ,vicomte1 killed in a duel at ,bath1 ii4 #bic4 ,,duels ,,and ,,ordeals1 ii4 #bfa-cja2 the ordeal by combat1 or trial by battle1 its natural origin2 authorised by law1 #bfb2 discouraged by the clergy1 #bfc2 the oath upon the ,evangelists1 #bfd2 judgment by the cross1 #bfd2 fire-ordeal1 #bfe2 ordeals used by modern ,hindoos1 #bfe2 water ordeal1 #bfe2 the corsned1 or bread and cheese ordeal1 #bff2 ordeals superseded by judicial combats1 #bfg2 duels of ,ingelgerius and ,gontran 7engraving71 #bfi2 ,de ,montfort and the ,earl of ,essex1 #bgj2 ,du ,guesclin and ,troussel 7engraving71 #bfa1 #bga2 ,carrouges and ,legris1 #bgb2 ,la ,chataigneraie and ,de ,jarnac1 #bgc2 ,l',isle-,marivaut and ,marolles1 #bgf2 the ,dukes de ,beaufort and de ,nemours1 #bhb2 ,count de ,bussy and ,bruc1 #bhb2 frivolous causes of duels1 #bgj1 #bga1 #bgf1 #bhb1 #bib1 #bif2 their prevalence in ,france1 #bgf1 #bgg1 #bgi1 #bhj1 #bhb2 the custom opposed by ,sully and ,henry ,,iv42 council at ,fontainebleau 7engraving71 and royal edict1 #bgg-bgi2 efforts of ,richelieu to suppress duelling1 #bhj2 ,de ,bouteville1 a famous duellist1 beheaded by the justice of ,richelieu2 opinion of ,addison on duelling1 #bha2 duels in ,germany1 #bhb2 severe edict by ,louis ,,xiv41 #bhc2 singular laws of ,malta1 #bhd2 judicial combat in the reign of ,queen ,elizabeth2 ,lord ,bacon opposes duelling1 #bhe2 ,lord ,sanquir's duel with ,turner2 his execution for murder2 combat between ,lord ,reay and ,david ,ramsay prevented by ,charles ,i41 #bhg2 ,orders of the ,commonwealth and ,charles ,,ii4 against the practice2 ,duke of ,buckingham's duel with ,earl ,shrewsbury2 disgraceful conduct of ,charles ,,ii41 #bhh2 practice of seconds in duels fighting as well as principals1 #bhj1 #bhh2 arguments of ,addison1 ,steele1 and ,swift1 #bhh2 duels in ,england2 ,sir ,c4 ,deering and ,mr4 ,thornhill2 ,duke of ,marlborough and ,earl ,pawlet2 ,duke of ,hamilton and ,lord ,mohun2 trial of ,general ,macartney1 #bhi-bib2 ,wilson killed by ,john ,law1 i4 #c2 ,mr4 ,chaworth killed by ,lord ,byron1 ii4 #bib2 ,vicomte ,du ,barri by ,count ,rice1 the ,duke of ,york and ,colonel ,lennox1 #bic2 ,irish duels1 #bid2 ,major ,campbell executed for the death of ,captain ,boyd1 #bif2 ,macnamara and ,montgomery2 duels of ,german students1 #big2 ,best and ,lord ,camelford1 #big2 ,frederick the ,great and ,joseph ,,ii4 of ,austria opposed to duelling1 #bih2 other ,european edicts2 laws of ,america1 #bii2 general reflections1 #cjj4 ,du ,guesclin and ,troussel1 their duel 7engraving17 ii4 #bfa1 #bga4 ,du ,fresnoy's history of the ,hermetic ,philosophy1 i4 #ie1 #if4 ,duncan1 ,gellie1 and her accomplices tried for witchcraft2 their absurd confessions1 ii4 #abi-ace4 ,duval1 ,claude1 popular admiration of2 ,butler's ode to his memory1 ii4 #bee4 ,earthquakes prophesied in ,london1 i4 #bbd1 #bcj4 ,edessa taken by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #cj2 retaken by the ,saracens1 #ej4 ,edward ,i41 his great seal 7engraving71 ii4 #ig4 ,edward ,,ii4 joins the last ,crusade1 ii4 #ie2 arrives at ,acre1 #ig2 treacherously wounded1 #ih2 his patronage of ,raymond ,lulli the alchymist1 i4 #ajh2 its supposed motive1 #ace4 ,edward ,,iv41 his encouragement of alchymy1 i4 #ace4 ,edward ,,vi41 his patronage of ,dr4 ,dee1 i4 #aeb4 ,egypt1 the ,crusaders in1 ii4 #hc1 #hd1 #ij1 #ib1 #ic4 ,elias claimed as a ,rosicrucian1 i4 #age4 ,elixir ,vit4 7,see ,alchymists47 ,eleanor1 ,queen of ,edward ,,ii41 her tomb at ,westminster 7engraving71 ii4 #ii4 ,elizabeth1 ,queen1 her patronage of ,dr4 ,dee1 i4 #aec1 #afb4 ,elwes1 ,sir ,jervis1 his participation in the poisoning of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury1 his execution1 ii4 #aid1 #aig1 #aii4 ,end of the world prophesied in the year #iii1 i4 #bbb2 by ,whiston in #agcf1 #bbc4 ,epigrams on ,john ,law and the ,mississippi ,scheme1 i4 #bd1 #cg4 ,essex1 ,countess of1 afterwards ,countess of ,somerset4 7,see ,somerset47 ,executions for witchcraft4 7,see ,witchcraft47 ,ezekiel claimed as a ,rosicrucian1 i4 #age4 ,falling stars regarded as omens1 i4 #bbc2 falling stars and other meteors before the ,crusades1 ii4 #aa4 ,faria1 the ,abb1 the magnetiser1 i4 #bid4 ,fashion of short and long hair1 beards1 and moustaches1 i4 #bif-cjc4 ,female ,crusaders4 7,see ,women47 ,feudalism at the commencement of the ,crusades1 ii4 #e4 ,fian1 ,dr41 tortured for witchcraft1 ii4 #aca4 ,finance in ,france2 the ,mississippi scheme1 i4 #b1 #f4 ,fire-ordeal4 7,see ,duels and ,ordeals47 ,flamel1 ,nicholas1 the alchymist1 memoir of i4 #aac4 ,florimond on the prevalence of witchcraft1 ii4 #aae4 ,flowers1 fruits1 and trees1 their significance in dreams1 i4 #bed4 ,fludd1 ,robert1 the father of the ,english ,rosicrucians1 memoir of1 i4 #agc2 introduces weapon-salve in ,england1 #bfe4 ,follies of great cities2 cant1 or slang phrases1 ii4 #bci-bdh4 ,fontainebleau1 council held by ,henry ,,iv4 and edict against duelling 7engraving71 ii4 #bgh4 ,food1 its necessity denied by the ,rosicrucians1 i4 #agf4 ,forman1 ,dr41 his participation in the poisoning of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury1 ii4 #aid4 ,,fortune-,,telling1 i4 #bdb-beh2 presumption of man2 his anxiety to penetrate futurity1 #bdb4 ,judicial astrologers3 ,lilly1 #bdc4 ,astrology in ,france1 ,louis ,,xi41 ,catherine de ,medicis1 ,nostradamus 7portrait71 #bdf2 the ,medici family1 #bdg2 ,antiochus ,tibertus1 #bdg2 horoscope of ,louis ,,xiv4 #bdi2 ,kepler's excuse for astrology1 #bdi4 ,necromancy1 ,geomancy1 ,augury1 ,divination1 #bej2 various kinds of divination2 cards1 the palm1 the rod1 c41 #bea2 interpretation of dreams1 #bec4 ,foulque1 ,bishop of ,neuilly1 promoter of the fifth ,crusade1 ii4 #gf4 ,france1 its finances in the eighteenth century2 the ,mississippi scheme1 i4 #e1 #f2 the ,crusade preached there1 ii4 #h2 the cathedral of ,clermont 7engraving71 ii4 #i2 executions for witchcraft1 ii4 #aai1 #abb1 #agd2 existing belief in witchcraft there1 ii4 #ahi2 the slow poisoners in1 ii4 #bjh2 immense rage for duelling in ,france1 #bgf1 #bgg1 #bgi1 #bhj2 alchymy in ,france4 7,see the ,alchymists1 ,paris1 ,tours1 c47 ,franklin1 an apothecary1 his participation in the murder of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury1 ii4 #aie1 #aih1 #aii4 ,frederick the ,great1 his opposition to duelling1 ii4 #bih4 ,frederick ,,ii41 ,emperor of ,germany1 undertakes the ,crusade1 ii4 #hd2 crowns himself king at ,jerusalem1 #hf2 returns to ,germany1 #hg4 ,frederick ,,iii4 of ,denmark1 his patronage of alchymy1 i4 #ahc4 ,gambling speculations4 7,see ,mississippi ,scheme and ,south-,sea ,bubble47 ,garinet1 ,jules1 his ,histoire de la ,magie en ,france1 ii4 #aje1 #aji1 #abb1 #ahi1 #bba4 ,gateway of ,merchant-,tailors' ,hall1 with ,south-,sea speculators 7engraving71 i4 #fb4 ,gay1 the poet1 his shares in the ,south-,sea ,company1 i4 #fe4 ,geber1 the alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #if2 his scientific discoveries2 ,english translation of his work1 #ig4 ,geomancy described1 i4 #bej4 ,geoffrey1 ,m41 his exposure of the tricks of alchymists1 i4 #ahh4 ,george ,i41 his speeches and proclamation on the ,south-,sea ,bubble1 i4 #dg-ee1 #fi2 his grief on the death of the ,earl of ,stanhope1 i4 #ge4 ,george ,,iii4 refuses to pardon ,major ,campbell for the death of ,capt4 ,boyd in a duel1 ii4 #bic4 ,germany1 executions for witchcraft1 ii4 #aah2 duelling in1 #bhb1 #bih2 alchymy in1 encouraged by the emperors1 i4 #aai1 #ace1 #aeh2 the ,rosicrucians in1 #agh2 animal magnetism in1 #bij4 ,gesner1 ,conrad1 the first tulip cultivator1 portrait of1 i4 #he4 ,ghosts4 7,see ,haunted ,houses47 ,gibbon1 ,edward1 grandfather of the historian1 his participation in the ,south-,sea fraud1 i4 #gc1 #gg2 heavily fined1 #ha2 his grandson's account of the proceedings1 #ha4 ,gisors1 meeting there of ,henry ,,ii4 and ,philip ,augustus 7engraving71 ii4 #fe4 ,glanvill1 ,rev4 ,j41 his work on witchcraft1 ii4 #adh1 #bbd4 ,glauber1 an alchymist1 i4 #ahg4 ,glen1 ,lincolnshire1 belief in witches there1 ii4 #ahe4 ,gnomes4 7,see the ,rosicrucians47 ,godfrey of ,bouillon1 his achievements in ,palestine 7engraving71 ii4 #ba-bd1 #bf1 #bg1 #bi1 #ca1 #cc1 #ce1 #ch1 #ci1 #db1 #df1 #dh4 ,gold1 sought by the ,alchymists4 7,see ,alchymists47 ,gottschalk1 a leader of the ,crusaders1 ii4 #ae1 #bj4 ,gowdie1 ,isabel1 her confession of witchcraft1 ii4 #acf4 ,grafton's ,chronicle1 account of ,peter of ,pontefract1 i4 #bce4 ,greatraks1 ,valentine1 his wonderful cures1 i4 #bfi-bgb4 ,great ,seal of ,edward ,i4 7engraving71 ii4 #ig4 ,gregorian chant1 its merit tested by the ordeal of fire1 ii4 #bff4 ,guise1 the ,duke of1 his attempt to poison ,gennaro ,annese1 ii4 #bjb4 ,guizot1 ,m41 his remarks on the ,crusades1 ii4 #ea4 ,gustavus ,adolphus an alchymist1 i4 #ahg4 ,guy of ,lusignan1 ,king of ,jerusalem1 besieges ,acre1 ii4 #fi4 ,hair1 its length influenced by religious and political prejudices2 legislative enactments1 i4 #bif2 short hair of the ,normans 7engraving71 i4 #big1 #cjc2 ,st4 ,wulstan's antipathy to long hair1 #big2 ,serlo cuts off the hair of ,henry ,i4 7engraving71 #bif1 #bih2 ,louis ,,vii4 and his queen1 #bii2 ,william ,longbeard1 #cjj2 ,roundheads and ,cavaliers1 #cja2 ,peter the ,great taxes beards1 #cja4 ,hale1 ,sir ,matthew1 portrait of1 ii4 #adh2 his belief in witchcraft1 #aeg4 ,hamilton1 ,duke of1 his duel with ,lord ,mohun1 ii4 #bij4 ,harcouet1 his receipt for the ,elixir ,vit1 i4 #ajc4 ,harley1 ,earl of ,oxford1 the originator of the ,south-,sea ,company1 portrait of1 i4 #df4 ,haroun al ,reschid1 the ,caliph1 his encouragement of ,christian pilgrims1 ii4 #c4 ,hastings1 recent belief in witchcraft there1 ii4 #ahg4 ,hatton1 ,lady1 her reputation for witchcraft2 her house in ,hatton ,garden1 7engraving71 ii4 #ahf4 ,,haunted ,,houses1 popular belief in1 ii4 #bag-bch2 a house at ,aix la ,chapelle1 cause of the noises discovered1 ii4 #bah2 alarm caused by a rat1 #bai2 the monks of ,st4 ,bruno1 their trick to obtain the haunted palace of ,vauvert1 #bbj2 houses at ,tours and ,bordeaux1 #bba2 the story of ,woodstock ,palace1 #bbb2 ,mr4 ,mompesson's house at ,tedworth1 #bbd2 the ,cock ,lane ,ghost1 history of the deception2 believed in by the learned 7engravings71 #bbh2 the ,stockwell ghost1 #bcd2 ,baldarroch farm-house1 #bce2 effect of education and civilisation1 #bch4 ,hawkins1 ,mr41 engravings from his ,collection of ,caricatures1 i4 #bi1 #dd4 ,haygarth1 ,dr41 his exposure of ,perkins's ,metallic ,tractors1 i4 #bhi4 ,hell1 ,father1 his magnetic cures2 his connexion with ,mesmer1 i4 #bhc4 ,henry ,i41 his hair cut short by ,serlo1 his chaplain 7engraving71 i4 #bfb1 #bfd4 ,henry ,,ii4 joins the third crusade 7engraving71 ii4 #fd4 ,henry ,,vi4 issues patents to encourage alchymy1 i4 #aah1 #ace4 ,henry ,,viii41 his invitation to ,cornelius ,agrippa1 i4 #adj4 ,henry1 ,prince1 son of ,james ,i4 suspected to have been poisoned1 ii4 #bjj4 ,henry ,,ii4 of ,france1 his patronage of ,nostradamus1 i4 #bdf2 said to have prohibited duelling1 ii4 #bgc1 #bge2 his death in the lists1 #bgf4 ,henry ,,iv4 of ,france1 portrait of1 ii4 #bgg2 his opposition to duelling1 #bgg1 #bgi4 ,hermes ,trismegistus1 the founder of alchymy1 i4 #ie4 ,hermetic ,philosophy4 7,see the ,alchymists47 ,heydon1 ,john1 an ,english ,rosicrucian1 i4 #age4 ,heywood1 his life and prophecies of ,merlin1 i4 #bcc4 ,highwaymen4 7,see ,thieves47 ,hogarth's caricature of the ,south-,sea ,bubble 7engraving71 i4 #hb4 ,holland1 the tulip mania4 7,see ,tulip ,mania47 ,holloway's lectures on animal magnetism1 i4 #bhg4 ,holt1 ,chief ,justice1 his opposition to the belief in witchcraft1 ii4 #aeb4 ,holy ,lance1 the1 its pretended discovery 7engraving71 ii4 #cg4 ,hopkins1 ,matthew1 the witch-finder general1 his cruelty and retributive fate1 7engraving71 ii4 #adc-adf4 ,horoscope of ,louis ,,xiv41 i4 #bdi4 ,hugh count of ,vermandois imprisoned at ,constantinople1 ii4 #ba1 #bc2 at the siege of ,nice1 #bf2 quits the ,crusaders1 #db4 ,human remains ingredients in charms and nostrums1 i4 #bgb4 ,hungary plundered by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #ae1 #af1 #bj1 #ba4 ,hutchinson1 ,dr41 his work on witchcraft1 ii4 #abc4 ,imps in the service of witches4 7,see ,demons and ,witchcraft47 ,ingelgerius count of ,anjou1 his duel with ,gontran 7engraving71 ii4 #bfi4 ,innocent ,,iii4 and ,,iv41 promoters of the ,crusades1 ii4 #ge1 #hj1 #ha4 ,innocent ,,viii41 his bull against witchcraft1 ii4 #aag4 ,innspruck1 view of 7engraving71 i4 #aha4 ,invisibility pretended by the ,rosicrucians1 i4 #afi1 #agh4 ,isaac ,comnenus attacked by ,richard ,i41 ii4 #fi4 ,isaac of ,holland1 an alchymist1 i4 #acf4 ,isnik1 the ,crusaders defeated at 7with view of ,isnik71 ii4 #ai4 ,italy1 slow poisoning in 7see ,poisoning72 the banditti of1 ii4 #bef4 ,jaques ,coeur the alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #acb4 ,jaffa besieged by ,saladin1 and saved by ,richard ,i41 ii4 #gd2 view of1 ii4 #hi2 defended by the ,templars against the ,korasmins1 ii4 #ij4 ,james ,i41 his belief in the virtue of weapon salve1 i4 #bff2 portrait of1 ii4 #acd2 charges ,gellie ,duncan and others with witchcraft1 #abi2 their trial1 confessions and execution1 #abi-ace2 his work on ,demonology1 #aci2 his supposed secret vices2 his favoritism to the ,earl of ,somerset1 the poisoner of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury2 himself thought to have died by poison1 #aic-bjb2 his severity against duelling1 #bhg4 ,jean ,de ,meung4 7,see ,de ,meung47 ,jerusalem 7and see ,crusades71 engravings1 ii4 #dd1 #dg1 #di2 first pilgrims to1 ii4 #b2 besieged and taken by the ,crusaders1 #de2 its state under the ,christian kings1 #dh1 #di2 council of the second ,crusade there1 #fj2 captured by ,saladin1 #fc4 ,jewell1 ,bishop1 his exclamations against witchcraft1 ii4 #abd4 ,jews plundered and murdered by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #bj4 ,joan of ,arc1 her execution 7engraving71 ii4 #aad4 ,john ,,xxii4 7,pope71 his study of ,alchymy1 i4 #aaa4 ,johnson1 ,dr41 on the ,beggar's ,opera1 ii4 #beh4 ,joseph ,,ii4 of ,austria1 his opposition to duelling1 ii4 #bih4 ,judicial astrology4 7,see ,astrology47 ,judicial combats4 7,see ,duels47 ,karloman1 ,king of ,hungary1 his contest with the ,crusaders1 ii4 #bj4 ,kelly1 ,edward1 the ,alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #aeb4 ,kendal1 ,duchess of1 her participation in the ,south-,sea fraud1 i4 #gf1 #gg4 ,kent1 ,mr41 accused of murder by the ,cock ,lane ,ghost1 ii4 #bbi4 ,kepler1 his excuse for astrology1 i4 #bej4 ,kerbogha1 leader of the ,turks defeated at ,antioch1 ii4 #cd1 #ch1 #ci4 ,kerr1 ,robert1 afterwards ,earl of ,somerset4 7,see ,somerset47 ,kircher abandons his belief in alchymy1 i4 #ahe1 #ahc2 his belief in magnetism as a remedy for disease1 #bfd4 ,knight1 ----1 ,treasurer of the ,south-,sea ,company1 his apprehension and escape1 i4 #gf4 ,knox1 ,john1 portrait of2 accused of witchcraft1 ii4 #abh4 ,koffstky1 a ,polish alchymist1 i4 #acf4 ,labourt1 ,france1 #bjj witches executed1 ii4 #aff4 ,la ,chataigneraie and ,de ,jarnac1 their famous duel1 ii4 #bgc4 ,la ,chausse1 the accomplice of ,madame de ,brinvilliers1 his execution1 ii4 #bab4 ,lady-day1 superstitions on1 i4 #beh4 ,lamb1 ,dr41 the poisoner1 attacked and killed in the streets 7engraving71 ii4 #bjb4 ,lancashire witches executed1 ii4 #ada4 ,laski1 ,count ,albert1 his reception by ,queen ,elizabeth1 his studies in alchymy1 i4 #aee2 is victimised by ,dee and ,kelly1 #aeg4 ,lavigoreux and ,lavoisin1 the ,french poisoners executed1 ii4 #bae4 ,law1 ,j41 projector of the ,mississippi scheme1 his romantic history1 i4 #a2 his house in the ,rue de ,quincampoix1 ,paris 7engraving71 i4 #ac4 ,law1 ,wm41 his participation in the ,mississippi scheme1 i4 #i1 #db4 ,le ,blanc1 the ,abb1 on the popularity of ,great ,thieves1 ii4 #bea4 ,lennox1 ,col41 his duel with the ,duke of ,york1 ii4 #bic4 ,lige1 ,madame de ,brinvilliers arrested there1 ii4 #bac4 ,lille1 singular charges of witchcraft at1 ii4 #afi4 ,lilly1 the astrologer1 account of1 i4 #bdc4 ,lipsius1 his passion for tulips1 i4 #hf4 ,london1 the plague of #affe1 i4 #bbh2 inundation prophesied in #aebd1 i4 #bbh2 the ,great ,fire1 #bcj4 7,see also ,cagliostro1 ,change ,alley1 ,cornhill1 ,merchant ,taylors' ,hall1 ,tower1 ,westminster47 ,longbeard1 ,william1 cause of his name1 i4 #cjj4 ,longsword1 ,william 7engraving71 joins the ninth ,crusade1 ii4 #ia4 ,loudun1 the curate of1 executed for witchcraft1 ii4 #afh4 ,louis ,,vii4 cuts short his hair1 and loses his queen1 i4 #bii2 joins the ,crusaders1 ii4 #ec2 is consecrated at ,st4 ,denis1 #ee2 reaches ,constantinople and ,nice1 #eh2 his conflicts with the ,saracens1 #ei2 arrival at ,jerusalem1 #fj2 his sincerity as a ,crusader1 #fa2 returns to ,france1 #fb4 ,louis ,,ix4 undertakes the ninth ,crusade1 ii4 #ij2 his valour at the battle of ,massoura1 #id2 taken prisoner1 #id2 his ransom and return1 #id2 his second ,crusade1 #ie2 effigy of 7engraving71 #bbj4 ,louis ,,xi41 his encouragement of astrologers1 i4 #bdf4 ,louis ,,xiii41 prevalence of duelling in his reign1 ii4 #bhj4 ,louis ,,xiv41 his bigotry and extravagance1 i4 #e1 #f2 remonstrated with by his ,parliament on his leniency to supposed witches1 ii4 #aga2 portrait of1 #agg2 establishes the chambre ardente for the trial of poisoners1 #bad1 #bhc2 his horoscope1 #bdi2 his severe edict against duelling1 #bhc4 ,louis ,,xv41 his patronage of the ,court ,st4 ,germain1 i4 #bja1 #bjd4 ,loup-garou executed in ,france1 ii4 #abj4 ,loutherbourg1 the painter1 his alleged cures by animal magnetism1 i4 #bhh4 ,lulli1 ,raymond1 a famous alchymist1 his romantic history1 with portrait1 i4 #aje2 his treatment by ,edward ,,ii41 #ace4 ,lyons1 view of1 ii4 #afj4 ,macartney1 ,general1 second to ,lord ,mohun1 his trial for murder1 ii4 #bib4 ,mackenzie1 ,sir ,george1 portrait of1 ii4 #ach2 his enlightened views on witchcraft1 #acg4 ,macnamara and ,montgomery1 frivolous cause of their fatal duel1 ii4 #big4 ,,magnetisers1 the1 i4 #bfb-bie2 effect of imagination in the cure of diseases1 i4 #bfb1 #bgb4 ,mineral ,magnetism3 ,paracelsus its first professor1 #bfc2 diseases transplanted to the earth2 ,kircher2 weapon-salve1 #bfd2 controversy on its merits1 #bfe2 ,sir ,kenelm ,digby's powder of sympathy1 #bff2 other delusions1 #bfh4 ,animal ,magnetism3 wonderful cures by ,valentine ,greatraks1 i4 #bfi-bgb2 ,francisco ,bagnoni1 ,van ,helmont1 ,gracian1 ,baptista ,porta1 c41 #bgb2 ,wirdig1 ,maxwell1 #bgc2 the convulsionaires of ,st4 ,medard1 i4 #bgc2 ,father ,hell1 #bgd2 ,anthony ,mesmer1 his history and theory1 #bge2 ,mesmer1 #bgf-bhc2 ,d',eslon adopts his views1 #bgh1 #bhj1 #bha2 encouragement to depravity afforded by his experiments1 #bhb1 #bic2 exposures by ,,mm4 ,dupotet and ,bailly1 #bgi1 #bha2 ,marquis de ,puysegur1 #bhc2 ,chevalier de ,barbarin1 #bhf2 ,mainauduc1 ,holloway1 ,loutherbourg1 #bhg1 #bhh2 ,perkins's ,metallic ,tractors exposed by ,dr4 ,haygarth1 #bhi2 absurd theories of ,deleuze1 #bia2 the ,abb ,faria1 fallacies of the theory of1 #bid4 ,mainauduc1 ,dr41 his experiments in animal magnetism1 i4 #bhg4 ,malta1 its singular laws on duelling1 ii4 #bhd4 ,mansfield1 ,lord1 trial of the ,cock-lane ,ghost conspirators before him1 ii4 #bcd4 ,manuel ,comnenus1 his treatment of the ,crusaders1 ii4 #ef1 #eh1 #ei4 ,marie ,antoinette1 history of the diamond necklace1 i4 #baf-bbj4 ,marlborough1 ,duke of1 his duel with ,earl ,pawlet1 ii4 #bhi4 ,massaniello1 relics of his fate treasured by the populace1 ii4 #cje4 ,massoura1 battle of1 the ,saracens defeated1 ii4 #id4 ,mayer1 ,michael1 his report on the ,rosicrucian doctrines1 i4 #afh4 ,maxwell1 ,william1 the magnetiser1 i4 #bgc4 ,medicis1 ,catherine di1 her encouragement of astrologers1 i4 #bdf4 ,medici family1 predictions respecting them1 i4 #bdg4 ,merchant ,taylors' ,hall1 view of gateway1 i4 #fb4 ,merlin1 his pretended prophecies1 i4 #bcb2 his miraculous birth1 #bcf2 ,spenser's description of his cave1 #bcg4 ,mesmer1 ,anthony1 the founder of animal magnetism1 his history and theory1 i4 #bge2 his theory and practice1 #bgf2 elegance of his house at ,paris1 #bgh2 infatuation of his disciples1 #bhb4 ,metals1 transmutation of4 7,see ,alchymists47 ,meteoric phenomena1 their effect in inciting to the ,crusades1 ii4 #c1 #aa4 ,meteors regarded as omens1 i4 #bbc4 ,milan1 plague of #afcj prophesied1 i4 #bbe2 fear of poisoners1 ,mora and others executed1 #bbf2 appearance of the devil1 #bbg4 ,millenium1 the1 universally expected at the end of the tenth century1 ii4 #c4 ,,mississippi ,,scheme1 the1 its history1 i4 #a-dd2 financial difficulties in ,france1 expedients of the ,regent ,orleans1 i4 #f2 official peculation and corruption1 #g2 ,john ,law's propositions2 his ,french cognomen1 ,lass2 his bank established1 #i2 his notes at a premium2 branch banks established2 ,mississippi trading company established2 bank made a public institution2 extensive issue of notes1 #aj2 opposition of the ,parliament1 #aa2 the ,regent uses coercion2 ,mississippi shares rise1 #ab2 the ,company of the ,indies formed2 magnificent promises2 immense excitement and applications for shares2 ,law's house in the ,rue de ,quincampoix 7engraving71 #ac2 hunchback used as a writing-desk 7engraving71 #ae2 enormous gains of individuals1 #ad1 #af1 #ai1 #bj1 #bf2 ,law's removal to the ,place ,vendme1 #ad2 continued excitement1 #ae2 removal to the ,hotel de ,soissons 7engraving71 #ae2 noble and fashionable speculators1 #ag2 ingenious schemes to obtain shares 7engraving71 #ah2 avarice and ambition of the speculators2 robberies and murders1 #bj2 a broker murdered by ,count d',horn1 and robbed of shares 7engraving71 #ba2 temporary stimulus to trade1 and illusive prosperity2 ,law purchases estates1 and turns ,catholic1 #bd2 his charity and modesty1 #be2 caricatures of him1 as ,atlas1 #be2 ,lucifer's new row barge1 #bi2 in a car drawn by cocks1 #dj2 increase of luxury in ,paris1 #bf2 the ,regent purchases the great diamond1 #bg2 symptoms of distrust2 coin further depreciated1 #bh2 use of specie forbidden1 at ,law's suggestion1 #bi2 popular hatred excited1 #cj2 fall of shares1 #ca2 conscription for the ,mississippi gold mines 7engraving71 #ca2 further issue of notes1 and increased distrust and distress1 #cb2 payment stopped1 and ,law dismissed from the ministry1 #cc2 his danger from the populace1 #cc1 #ce1 #ch2 ,d',aguesseau's measures to restore credit 7portrait71 #cd2 run on the ,bank1 #cd2 fatal accidents in the crowd1 #cd2 the ,mississippi and ,india companies deprived of their privileges1 #ci2 ,law leaves ,france1 #dj2 ,d',argenson's dismissal and unpopularity1 #db2 ,law's subsequent history and death1 #dc2 caricatures of the scheme in its success and failure1 #be1 #bi1 #cg1 #dj1 #dd4 ,modern prophecies1 i4 #bbb-bda4 ,mohra1 in ,sweden1 absurd charges of witchcraft1 and numerous executions1 ii4 #agg4 ,mohun1 ,lord1 his duel with the ,duke of ,hamilton1 ii4 #bij4 ,mompesson1 ,mr41 his haunted house at ,tedworth1 ii4 #bbd4 ,money ,mania4 7,see the ,mississippi ,scheme and ,south-,sea ,bubble47 ,montesquieu ,esprit des ,loix1 ii4 #bfb-bfg4 ,montgomery and ,macnamara1 frivolous cause of their fatal duel1 ii4 #big4 ,more1 ,hannah1 on animal magnetism1 i4 #bhg4 ,mormius1 the alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #agh4 ,mortlake1 ,dr4 ,dee's house at1 i4 #aec1 #afb4 ,moses cited by alchymists as an adept1 i4 #ie2 claimed as a ,rosicrucian1 #age4 ,moustaches1 fashion of wearing1 i4 #cjb4 ,mummies1 an ingredient in charms and nostrums1 i4 #bga4 ,munting's history of the tulip mania1 i4 #hg4 ,nadel1 ,mausch1 a ,german robber1 ii4 #beg4 ,naiades4 7,see the ,rosicrucians47 ,nantwich1 ,nixon's prophecy of its fate1 i4 #bdj4 ,naples1 arrest and execution of ,la ,tophania1 the slow poisoner1 ii4 #bjg4 ,napoleon's willow at ,st4 ,helena and other relics1 ii4 #cjg4 ,naud1 ,gabriel1 his exposure of the ,rosicrucians1 i4 #agc4 ,necromancy1 its connexion with alchymy1 i4 #abi2 danger of its practice1 #bej4 ,new ,england1 women1 a child1 and a dog1 executed as witches1 ii4 #ahj4 ,nice besieged by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #bf4 ,nixon1 ,robert1 the ,cheshire prophet1 i4 #bch4 ,noah1 the patriarch1 a successful alchymist1 i4 #ie4 ,noises4 7,see ,haunted ,houses47 ,normandy1 witches in1 ii4 #agb4 ,nostradamus1 the astrologer2 his prophecies 7portrait71 i4 #bdf4 ,oath on the ,evangelists and holy relics1 a test of innocence1 ii4 #bfd4 ,odomare1 a ,french alchymist1 i4 #acf4 ,official peculation in ,france under the ,regent ,orleans1 i4 #g4 ,omens3 winding-sheets1 howling dogs1 death-watch1 coffins1 shivering1 walking under ladders1 upsetting salt1 thirteen at table1 piebald horses1 sneezing1 dogs1 cats1 bees1 itching2 ,oriental belief in omens1 i4 #bee4 7,see ,comets1 ,falling ,stars1 and ,meteors47 ,oneiro-criticism2 interpreting dreams4 7,see ,dreams47 ,ordeals4 7,see ,duels and ,ordeals47 ,orleans1 ,duke of4 7,regent of ,france7 portrait of2 his patronage of the ,mississippi ,scheme1 i4 #e2 his financial errors1 #aj1 #ab1 #cc1 #da2 enforces the execution of ,count ,d',horn for murder1 #bc2 his purchase of the celebrated diamond1 #bg2 his ill-treatment of ,law1 #cc4 ,orleans1 ,duchess of1 her remarks on the ,mississippi scheme1 i4 #e1 #ai1 #bd1 #ce1 #cf4 ,ortholani1 a ,french alchymist1 i #acf4 ,overbury1 ,sir ,thomas1 portrait of1 ii4 #aie2 poisoned by the ,earl and ,countess of ,somerset and their accomplices1 #aic-bja4 ,palestine4 7,see the ,crusades47 ,palmistry4 7,see ,fortune-,telling47 ,paper currency1 introduced in ,france by ,john ,law1 i4 #d4 ,paracelsus1 memoir and portrait of1 i4 #adb2 his singular doctrines1 #ade2 the first of the magnetisers1 #bfb4 ,paris1 the ,palais ,royal 7engraving71 i4 #ab2 ,john ,law's house1 ,rue de ,quincampoix 7engraving71 #ac2 ,hotel de ,soissons 7engraving71 #af2 incidents of the ,mississippi scheme 7four engravings71 i4 #ae1 #ah1 #ba1 #ca2 the ,place de ,grve 7engraving71 ii4 #aib2 the ,bastile 7engraving71 ii4 #bji2 house of ,nicholas ,flamel1 in the rue de ,marivaux1 i4 #aah2 the ,rosicrucians in1 i4 #agj-agc2 ,mesmer's house2 his experiments1 #bgh4 ,parsons and his family1 concoctors of the ,cock ,lane ,ghost deception1 ii4 #bbh4 ,paul's ,cross1 ,dr4 ,lamb1 the poisoner1 attacked and killed there 7engraving71 ii4 #bjb4 ,persecution of alleged witches4 7,see ,witches47 ,peter the ,great taxes beards 7portrait71 i4 #bfg4 ,peter the ,hermit4 7,see the ,crusades47 ,peter of ,lombardy1 an alchymist1 i4 #acf4 ,peter of ,pontefract1 his false prophecies described by ,grafton1 i4 #bcd4 ,petronella1 the wife of ,nicholas ,flamel1 i4 #aaf4 ,philalethes1 ,eugenius1 a ,rosicrucian1 i4 #age4 ,philip ,i4 excommunicated1 ii4 #h4 ,philip ,augustus joins the third crusade 7engraving71 ii4 #fd1 #ff2 his jealousy of ,richard ,i41 #fi1 #ga2 returns to ,france1 #gb4 ,philip ,,iv41 portrait of1 ii4 #aab2 his persecution of the ,templars1 ii4 #aac4 ,philosopher's stone1 searchers for the4 7,see ,alchymists47 ,pietro ,d',apone4 7,see ,d',apone47 ,pigray on witchcraft in ,france1 ii4 #abb4 ,pilgrimages to ,jerusalem before the ,crusades1 ii4 #b4 ,pilgrim's staff 7engraving71 ii4 #ef4 ,place de ,grve 7engraving71 ii4 #aib2 ,madame de ,brinvilliers2 ,la ,chausse and others executed there for poisoning1 #bab1 #bac1 #bae4 ,plague at ,milan prophesied1 i4 #bbe4 ,plays on the adventures of thieves1 their evil influence1 ii4 #bec1 #beg4 ,,poisoning1 in ,greece and ,rome2 its spread in ,europe in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries2 declared high treason in ,england1 ii4 #aib2 ,sir ,thomas ,overbury poisoned2 full history of his case1 with portraits of ,overbury1 the ,earl and ,countess of ,somerset1 ,lord ,coke1 and ,villiers1 ,duke of ,buckingham1 #aic-bja2 suspicious death of ,prince ,henry1 son of ,james ,i41 #bjj2 ,buckingham said to have poisoned ,james ,i41 #bja2 fate of ,dr4 ,lamb1 the poisoner 7engraving71 #bjb2 slow poisoning in ,italy1 its general prevalence2 employed by the ,duke of ,guise2 much used by ,roman ladies to poison husbands1 #bjc2 trial and execution of ,la ,spara and others2 other women punished1 #bjd2 atrocious crimes of ,la ,tophania2 the nature of her poison2 protected in sanctuary by the clergy of ,naples2 seized by the viceroy1 tried1 and executed1 #bjf-bjh4 ,in ,france3 ,exili1 ,glaser1 and ,sainte ,croix1 the first criminals1 #bjh2 ,madame de ,brinvilliers and ,sainte ,croix2 their crimes and punishment1 #bjh-bad2 ,m4 de ,penautier charged with poisoning2 popular mania for the crime1 #bad2 ,lavoisin and ,lavigoreux executed1 #bae2 charges against the ,marshal de ,luxembourg and the ,countess of ,soissons2 recent revival of the crime in ,england1 #baf4 ,pope1 his sketch of ,sir ,john ,blunt1 ,chairman of the ,south-,sea ,company1 i4 #gd4 ,,popular ,,follies ,,of ,,great ,,cities1 ii4 #bci-bdh4 ,cant or slang phrases3 ,quoz1 #bdj2 ,what a shocking bad hat1 #bdj2 ,hookey ,walker1 #bda2 ,there he goes with his eye out1 #bdb2 ,has your mother sold her mangle8 #bdb2 ,flare up1 #bdb2 ,does your mother know you're out8 #bdd2 ,who are you8 #bdd4 ,songs3 ,cherry ripe1 #bdf2 ,the ,sea1 #bdg2 ,jim ,crow1 #bdg4 ,,portraits4--,john ,law1 i4 #a2 the ,regent ,orleans1 #e2 ,d',aguesseau1 #cd2 ,d',argenson1 #db2 ,earl of ,sunderland1 #hj2 ,harley ,earl of ,oxford1 #df2 ,sir ,robert ,walpole1 #di2 ,mr4 ,secretary ,craggs1 #fd2 ,conrad ,gesner1 the first tulip cultivator1 #he2 ,albertus ,magnus1 #ajj2 ,arnold de ,villeneuve1 #ajc2 ,raymond ,lulli1 #aje2 ,cornelius ,agrippa1 #ach2 ,panacelsus1 #adb2 ,dr4 ,dee1 #aeb2 ,philip ,,iv41 ii4 #aab2 ,charles ,,ix41 #aai2 ,john ,knox1 #abh2 ,james ,i41 #acd2 ,sir ,george ,mackenzie1 #ach2 ,pietro d',apone1 #adj2 ,sir ,matthew ,hale1 #adh2 ,sir ,thomas ,brown1 #aea2 ,louis ,,xiv41 #agg2 ,henry ,andrews1 the original of ,francis ,moore1 i4 #bdd2 ,nostradamus1 #bdf2 ,peter the ,great1 #bfg2 ,sir ,thomas ,overbury1 ii4 #aie2 ,villiers duke of ,buckingham1 #aih2 ,lord ,chief ,justice ,coke1 #aii2 ,earl and ,countess of ,somerset1 #bjj1 #bja2 ,henry ,,iv4 of ,france1 #bgg2 ,lord ,bacon1 #bhf4 ,political prejudices and enactments against long hair and beards1 i4 #bif-cjc4 ,poetry and romance1 their obligations to the ,rosicrucians1 i4 #agi4 ,powell1 ,chief ,justice1 his opposition to the belief in witchcraft1 ii4 #aeb4 ,,prophecies3 ,plague of ,milan1 i4 #bbe2 plague of ,london1 #affe1 inundation of ,london1 #aebh1 #bbh2 great fire1 #afff2 earthquake1 #ahdb1 #bcj2 ,mother ,shipton1 with view of her cottage1 #bcb1 #bda2 ,merlin1 #bcb-bch2 ,peter of ,pontefract1 #bcd2 ,robert ,nixon the ,cheshire prophet1 #bch2 almanac-makers1 #bdj 7see ,fortune-,telling72 end of the world1 #bbb1 #bbd2 earthquakes1 #bbd4 7,see ,modern ,prophecies1 the ,crusades1 ,peter ,barthelemy1 c47 ,puysegur1 the ,marquis de1 his discovery of clairvoyance2 his magnetic elm1 i4 #bhc-bhf4 ,raising the dead and absent1 a power ascribed to ,cornelius ,agrippa1 i4 #adb2 and ,cagliostro1 #bag4 ,raleigh1 ,sir ,walter1 an inveterate duellist1 abandons the custom1 ii4 #big4 ,raymond of ,toulouse1 a leader of the first crusade1 ii4 #ba1 #bf1 #bi1 #ca1 #cd1 #de1 #df2 his supposed collusion with ,peter ,barthelemy1 #ce1 #cg1 #da2 at the siege of ,jerusalem1 #df4 ,raymond ,lulli4 7,see ,lulli47 ,reinaldo1 a leader of the first crusade1 ii4 #ah4 ,,relics1 brought by the early pilgrims from ,palestine1 ii4 #b2 swearing on1 a test of innocence1 #bfd2 fragments of the true cross2 bones of saints2 tears of the ,saviour2 tears and milk of the ,virgin2 ,santa ,scala at ,rome2 relics of ,longbeard1 ,massaniello1 ,la ,brinvilliers1 ,dr4 ,dodd1 ,fauntleroy1 ,thurtell1 ,corder1 ,greenacre1 ,thom1 ,shakspere1 ,napoleon1 ,waterloo1 #cjb-cjh4 ,religious prejudices and ordinances against long hair and beards1 i4 #bif-cjc4 ,rhodes1 ,richard ,i4 at 7engraving71 ii4 #fi4 ,rice1 ,count1 tried for killing ,du ,barri in a duel1 ii4 #bic4 ,richard ,i4 sets out for ,palestine1 ii4 #fg2 attacks the ,sicilians1 #fh2 arrives at ,rhodes 7engraving71 #fi2 his queen ,berengaria 7engraving71 #gj2 captures ,acre1 #ga2 reaches ,bethlehem 7engraving71 #gc2 his concern on being obliged to retreat1 #gd2 his reputation in ,palestine1 #gd4 ,richelieu an alchymist1 i4 #aih2 his opposition to duelling1 ii4 #bgi1 #bhj4 ,ripley1 ,george1 the alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #aah4 ,robert duke of ,normandy1 a leader of the ,crusades1 ii4 #ba1 #ca1 #ci1 #df4 ,robert count of ,flanders1 a leader of the first ,crusade1 ii4 #ba1 #cj1 #ca4 ,robert of ,paris 7,count71 his insolence to the ,emperor ,alexius1 ii4 #be2 killed at the battle of ,dorylum1 #bi4 ,robin ,hood1 popular admiration of1 ii4 #bej4 ,robinson1 ,ann1 the ,stockwell ,ghost1 ii4 #bcd4 ,rochester1 ,viscount1 afterwards ,earl of ,somerset4 7,see ,somerset47 ,roger ,bacon4 7,see ,bacon47 ,romance and poetry1 their obligations to the ,rosicrucians1 i4 #agi4 ,rosenberg 7,count71 a patron of ,dr4 ,dee1 i4 #aei4 ,rosicrucians1 the1 their romantic doctrines2 history of their progress1 i4 #afg2 their poetical doctrines1 sylphs1 naiades1 gnomes1 and salamanders1 #agb1 #agi4 ,rouen1 view in1 ii4 #aga2 the ,parliament remonstrate with ,louis ,,xiv4 on his leniency to suspected witches1 #agb4 ,rudolph 7,i4 and ,,ii471 ,emperors1 their encouragement of alchymy1 i4 #aeh1 #afe4 ,rupecissa1 ,john de1 a ,french alchymist1 i4 #acf4 ,russia1 tax on beards imposed by ,peter the ,great1 i4 #cja4 ,sabbaths1 or meetings of witches and demons1 ii4 #ajg1 #acc4 7,see ,witchcraft47 ,sainte ,croix1 the slow poisoner in ,france1 his crimes and death1 ii4 #bjh1 #baa4 ,saints1 relics of1 ii4 #cjd4 ,saladin1 his military successes1 ii4 #fc2 his defence of ,acre1 #fi1 #ga2 defeated at ,azotus1 #gb2 and at ,jaffa1 #gd4 ,saladin's tithe1 a tax enforced by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #fe4 ,salamanders4 7,see the ,rosicrucians47 ,santa ,scala1 or ,holy ,stairs1 at ,rome1 ii4 #cjd4 ,schinderhannes1 the ,german robber1 ii4 #bef4 ,scotland1 witchcraft in4 7,see ,witchcraft47 ,scott1 ,sir ,walter1 his anachronisms on the ,crusades1 ii4 #gd1 #ih4 ,scratching ,fanny1 or the ,cock ,lane ,ghost2 her remains in the vault of ,st4 ,john's ,church1 ,clerkenwell1 ii4 #bcj4 ,seal of ,edward ,i4 7engraving71 ii4 #ig4 ,seifeddoulet1 the ,sultan1 his reception of ,alfarabi1 the alchymist1 i4 #ih4 ,semlin attacked by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #ae4 ,sendivogius1 a ,polish alchymist1 i4 #afd1 #afe4 ,sens1 ,bishop of1 his report on ,jean ,delisle's success in alchymy1 i4 #aic4 ,serlo cuts off the hair of ,henry ,i4 7engraving71 i4 #bif1 #bih4 ,seton1 the ,cosmopolite1 an alchymist2 memoir of1 i4 #afc4 ,sevign1 ,madame1 her account of ,madame de ,brinvilliers1 ii4 #bjh1 #bac4 ,shakespere's ,mulberry-tree1 ii4 #cjg4 ,sharp1 ,giles1 contriver of mysterious noises at ,woodstock ,palace1 ii4 #bbd4 ,shem1 the son of ,noah1 an alchymist1 i4 #ie4 ,sheppard1 ,jack1 his popularity--lines on his portrait by ,thornhill1 ii4 #beb2 evil effect of a novel and melo-dramas representing his career1 #bec4 ,sherwood ,forest1 and ,robin ,hood 7engraving71 ii4 #bdi1 #bej4 ,shipton1 ,mother1 her prophecy of the fire of ,london1 i4 #bcj2 her popularity1 #bca2 view of her cottage1 #bda4 ,simeon1 the ,patriarch1 a promoter of the ,crusades1 ii4 #g4 ,slang phrases4 7,see ,popular ,follies47 ,slow ,poisoners1 the4 7,see ,poisoning47 ,smollett1 on history and the ,south-,sea ,bubble1 i4 #fg4 ,soliman the ,sultan1 his conflict with the ,crusaders1 ii4 #ah4 ,somerset1 the ,earl of 7poisoner of ,sir ,thos4 ,overbury71 portrait of1 ii4 #bjj2 his origin and rise at court2 supposed vicious connexion with ,james ,i42 his intrigue and marriage with the ,countess of ,essex2 the murder of ,overbury2 the earl's trial and sentence1 #aic-bja4 ,somerset1 the ,countess of1 her participation in the murder of ,sir ,thos4 ,overbury1 with portrait1 ii4 #bja4 ,songs3 on the ,mississippi scheme1 i4 #cf2 on the ,south-,sea ,bubble1 #ej2 on famous thieves1 ii4 #bfj2 on witchcraft1 popular in ,germany1 #afe2 popularity of ,cherry ,ripe1 ,the ,sea1 ,jim ,crow1 #bdf4 ,songs1 ,beranger's ,thirteen at ,table1 i4 #beg4 ,songs of the ,rosicrucians1 i4 #afh1 #bjd4 ,sorcery4 7,see ,witchcraft and ,alchemy47 ,sorel1 ,agnes1 her patronage of ,jacques ,coeur1 the alchymist1 i4 #acb4 ,,south-,,sea ,,bubble1 history of1 i4 #de-hd2 the ,company originated by ,harley1 ,earl of ,oxford2 its primary object1 #de2 visionary ideas of ,south-,sea trade2 restrictions imposed by ,spanish ,government1 #df2 proposals to ,parliament to reduce the debt2 capital increased to twelve millions2 success of the ,company1 #dg2 its application to take the whole state debt2 counter application by the ,bank of ,england2 the former adopted by ,parliament2 stock rises from #acj to #cjj1 #dh2 ,sir ,r4 ,walpole's warning2 directors' exertions to raise the prices1 #di2 bill passed2 great demand for shares1 #ej2 other bubble schemes started and encouraged1 #ea1 #eb2 eighty-six of them dissolved1 #ee1 #eg2 shares at #djj2 fall to #bij1 but raised by the directors' schemes1 #ea2 dividend declared2 increased excitement1 #eb2 ,swift' lines on ,change ,alley2 extent of the delusion2 frauds of schemers1 #ed2 fears of the judicious2 bubble companies proclaimed unlawful1 #ee2 continued excitement2 stock at #ajjj1 #fb1 #fc2 ,sir ,john ,blunt1 the chairman1 sells out2 stock falls2 meeting of the company2 ,mr4 ,secretary ,craggs supports directors1 #fc2 increased panic2 negociation with ,bank of ,england1 #fd1 #fe2 they agree to circulate the company's bonds1 #ff2 total failure of the company2 social and moral evils of the scheme1 #fg2 arrogance of the directors2 petitions for vengeance on them2 ,king's speech to ,parliament1 #fi2 debates thereon1 #fi1 #ga2 punishment resolved on1 #gj2 ,walpole's plan to restore credit2 officers of the company forbidden to leave ,england1 #ga2 ministers proved to have been bribed by shares1 #gc1 #gg2 directors apprehended2 treasurer absconds1 #gc2 measures to arrest him1 #gc1 #gd2 directors expelled from ,parliament1 #gd2 chairman's examination1 #ge2 treasurer imprisoned at ,antwerp1 but escapes1 #gf2 reports on the details of the fraud1 #gf2 ,mr4 ,stanhope1 ,secretary to ,treasury1 charged but acquitted2 dissatisfaction thereon1 #gh2 ,mr4 ,aislabie1 ,chancellor of the ,exchequer1 committed to the ,tower1 and consequent rejoicings 7engraving71 #gi2 ,sir ,george ,caswall punished2 the ,earl of ,sunderland acquitted2 death of ,mr4 ,secretary ,craggs1 and his father1 participators in the fraud1 #hj2 heavy fines on the directors2 account of these proceedings by ,gibbon the historian1 #ha2 measures adopted to restore credit1 #hc2 caricatures by ,hogarth and others 7seven engravings71 #fj1 #fa1 #fh1 #gj1 #gf1 #hb1 #hd4 ,south-,sea ,house1 view of1 i4 #de4 ,spara1 ,hieronyma1 the slow poisoner of ,rome1 her trial and execution1 ii4 #bje4 ,speculations4 7,see ,money ,mania1 the ,mississippi ,scheme1 ,south-,sea ,bubble1 and ,bubble ,schemes47 ,spenser1 his description of ,merlin and his cave1 i4 #bcb1 #bcg4 ,spirits4 7,see ,demons1 ,witchcraft1 ,cornelius ,agrippa1 ,paracelsus1 c47 ,sprenger1 a ,german witch-finder2 his persecutions1 ii4 #aah-aei4 ,st4 ,bernard preaches the second ,crusade1 ii4 #ec1 #ee2 his miracles1 #ef2 failure of his prophecies1 #fb4 ,st4 ,dunstan and the devil1 ii4 #ajc4 ,st4 ,evremond1 his account of the impositions of ,valentine ,greatraks1 i4 #bgj4 ,st4 ,germain 7,count de71 the alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #bjj2 his profusion of jewels1 #bjc2 his pretensions to long life1 #bje4 ,st4 ,john's ,eve1 ,st4 ,mark's ,eve1 ,st4 ,swithin's ,eve1 superstitious customs1 i4 #beh4 ,stanhope1 ,earl1 supports the proposition to punish the directors of the ,south-,sea ,company1 i4 #gb1 #gc2 is stigmatised in ,parliament1 and dies suddenly1 #ge4 ,stanhope1 ,charles1 secretary to ,treasury2 his participation in the ,south-,sea fraud1 i4 #gg1 #gh2 his acquittal by parliament1 and consequent disturbances1 #gh4 ,stedinger1 the1 a section of the ,frieslanders2 their independence2 accused of witchcraft by the ,pope1 and exterminated by the ,german nobles1 ii4 #aaj1 #aaa4 ,stephen1 king of ,poland1 his credulity and superstition1 i4 #aei4 ,stock jobbing4 7,see ,south-,sea ,bubble47 ,stock ,jobbing ,cards1 or caricatures of the ,south-,sea ,bubble 7two engravings71 i4 #fj1 #fa4 ,stonehenge ascribed to ,merlin1 i4 #bcg4 ,suger dissuades ,louis ,,vii4 from the ,crusade1 ii4 #ee-fb4 ,sully1 his wise opposition to duelling1 ii4 #bgi ,sunderland1 ,earl of1 portrait of1 i4 #hj2 his participation in the ,south-,sea ,bubble1 i4 #ej1 #gg1 #gh2 discontent at his acquittal1 #hj4 ,superstitions on the #ast of ,january1 ,valentine ,day1 ,lady ,day1 ,st4 ,swithin's ,eve1 ,st4 ,mark's ,eve1 ,candlemas ,eve1 ,midsummer1 ,st4 ,john's ,eve1 #bith ,february1 #beh4 ,surrey and the fair ,geraldine2 the vision shewn by ,cornelius ,agrippa1 i4 #adb4 ,sweden1 executions for witchcraft1 ii4 #agg4 ,sylphs4 7,see the ,rosicrucians47 ,syria4 7,see the ,crusades47 ,tancred1 his achievements in the first ,crusade1 ii4 #bf1 #ce1 #ch1 #ci1 #de4 ,tax on beards imposed by ,peter the ,great1 i4 #cja4 ,tedworth1 ,wiltshire1 the haunted house there2 narrative of the deception1 ii4 #bbd4 ,tempests caused by witches1 ii4 #ajb1 #ajf1 #acc1 #acd4 ,templars1 ,knights1 subdued by ,saladin1 ii4 #fc2 support ,frederick ,,ii4 in the seventh ,crusade1 #hf2 their subsequent reverses1 #hg1 #ij1 #ii2 accused of witchcraft1 #aab2 persecuted by ,philip ,,iv42 the grand master burnt1 #aac4 ,ttenoire1 a famous ,french thief1 ii4 #bee4 ,theatrical productions1 on the lives of robbers2 their pernicious influence1 ii4 #bec-beg4 ,,thieves1 ,,popular ,,admiration ,,of ,,great1 ii4 #bdi-bfj2 ,robin ,hood1 ii4 #bej2 ,dick ,turpin1 #bea2 ,jack ,sheppard1 #beb2 ,jonathan ,wild1 #bed2 ,claude ,duval1 #bee2 ,aimerigot ,ttenoire1 #bee2 ,cartouche2 ,vidocq1 #bef2 ,italian banditti1 #bef1 #beg2 ,schinderhannes and ,nadel1 #beg2 evil influence of the ,beggars' ,opera and other plays on the subject of thieves #bec1 #beg1 #beh2 ,lord ,byron's ,corsair and ,schiller's ,robber1 #bei4 ,thomas ,aquinas4 7,see ,aquinas47 ,tiberias1 battle of1 ii4 #fc4 ,tibertus1 ,antiochus1 his wonderful prophecies1 i4 #bdh4 ,toads dancing at the witches' ,sabbaths1 ii4 #ajh4 ,tophania1 ,la1 a famous poisoner in ,italy1 her crimes and execution2 the nature of her potions1 ii4 #bjf4 ,torture1 its cruelty exposed by the ,duke of ,brunswick1 ii4 #agj4 7,see ,witchcraft47 ,toulouse1 witches burnt at1 ii4 #afj4 ,tournaments and judicial combats4 7,see ,duels47 ,tours1 haunted house at1 ii4 #bba4 ,tower ,hill1 bonfires on the committal of participators in the ,south-,sea ,bubble 7engraving71 i4 #gi4 ,tower of ,london1 ,raymond ,lulli the alchymist said to have practised there1 i4 #aji2 poisoning of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury1 ii4 #aie4 ,transmutation of metals4 7,see ,alchymists47 ,trees1 their significance in dreams1 i4 #bed2 susceptible of magnetic influence1 #bhd4 ,trial by ,battle4 7,see ,duels and ,ordeals47 ,trithemius1 the alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #abd4 ,trois-,echelles executed for witchcraft1 ii4 #abj4 ,troussel1 ,william1 his duel with the ,constable ,du ,guesclin 7engraving71 ii4 #bfa1 #bga4 ,truce of ,god1 the1 proclaimed by the first ,crusaders1 ii4 #ad4 ,true ,cross1 fragments of the1 ii4 #c1 #ga4 7,see ,relics47 ,,tulip ,,mania2 the flower first introduced into ,europe by ,gesner1 portrait of ,gesner1 i4 #he2 great demand for plants in ,holland and ,germany1 introduced in ,england from ,vienna1 the flower described and eulogised by ,beckmann and ,cowley1 #hf2 rage for bulbs in ,holland and their enormous prices1 #hg2 amusing errors of the uninitiated1 #hh2 marts for the sale of bulbs1 jobbing and gambling1 ruinous extent of the mania and immense profits of speculators1 #hi2 tulip-notaries appointed1 sudden loss of confidence and fall of prices1 meetings1 deputation to the government1 #ij2 unfulfilled bargains repudiated by the law courts1 #ia2 the mania in ,england and ,france1 #ia2 subsisting value of choice bulbs1 #ib4 ,tunis invaded by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #if4 ,tunbridge ,wells1 a witch doctor there in #ahcj1 ii4 #ahi4 ,turner1 ,mrs4 her participation in the poisoning of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury1 ii4 #aid1 #aih1 #aii4 ,turpin1 ,dick1 popular admiration of1 ii4 #bea4 ,undines4 7,see the ,rosicrucians47 ,urban ,,ii4 preaches the ,crusade 7frontispiece71 ii4 #g4 ,valentine1 ,basil1 the alchymist1 memoir of1 i4 #aai4 ,valentine's ,day superstitions1 i4 #beh4 ,vauvert1 the ruined palace at1 haunted1 ii4 #bbj4 ,vezelais1 cathedral of 7engraving71 ii4 #ed4 ,villars1 ,marshal1 his opposition to the ,mississippi scheme1 i4 #af4 ,vulgar phrases4 7,see ,popular ,follies47 ,visions1 pretended4 7,see ,barthelemy1 ,agrippa1 and ,dr4 ,dee47 ,waldenses1 the1 persecuted and burnt at ,arras1 ii4 #aae4 ,walpole1 ,sir ,robert1 his warning of the evils of the ,south-,sea bubble1 portrait of him1 i4 #di-ee2 his measures to restore credit1 #gj1 #ga4 ,walter the ,penniless1 a leader of the first ,crusade1 ii4 #ae1 #ah4 ,warbois1 the witches of1 absurd charges against them1 their execution1 ii4 #abe4 ,water of ,life1 searchers for4 7,see ,alchymists47 ,water ordeal4 7,see ,duels and ,ordeals47 ,weapon-salve1 controversy respecting1 i4 #bfe4 ,wehr-wolves executed1 ii4 #abj1 #afh4 ,westminster ,abbey1 ,raymond ,lulli1 the alchymist1 said to have practised there1 i4 #aji2 tomb of ,queen ,eleanor 7engraving71 ii4 #ii4 ,weston1 ,richard1 an accomplice in the poisoning of ,sir ,thomas ,overbury1 ii4 #aid1 #aih1 #aii4 ,wharton1 ,duke of1 his speeches on the ,south-,sea ,bubble1 i4 #ej1 #ge4 ,whiston1 his prophecy of the end of the world1 i4 #bbc4 ,william of ,tyre preaches the ,crusade1 ii4 #fc1 #fe4 ,wilson1 ----1 killed in a duel by ,john ,law1 i4 #c4 ,wirdig1 ,sebastian1 the magnetiser1 i4 #bgc4 ,,witchcraft3--,account of the witch mania1 ii4 #aja-aia2 popular belief in witches1 ii4 #ajb2 their supposed compacts with the devil2 popular notions of the devil and demons1 #ajc2 witches could secure their services1 #ajg2 their meetings or ,sabbaths1 #ajg1 #acc1 #aff1 #afi1 #aga2 frequent persecution on the pretext of witchcraft1 #aaj2 the ,stedinger1 a section of the ,frieslanders1 exterminated on that charge1 #aaj2 the ,templars accused of witchcraft2 the ,grand ,master and others burnt2 execution of ,joan of ,arc 7engraving71 #aac2 combined with heresy as a charge against religious reformers1 #aad2 the ,waldenses persecuted at ,arras2 their confessions under torture2 belief common to ,catholics and ,reformers2 ,florimond on the prevalence of witchcraft1 #aae2 witches executed at ,constance2 ,bull of ,pope ,innocent ,,viii42 general crusade against witches1 #aag2 ,sprenger's activity in ,germany2 ,papal commissions1 #aah2 executions in ,france2 sanctioned by ,charles ,,ix41 #aai1 #abb2 ,trois ,echelles1 his confessions and execution1 #abj2 men-wolves1 executed1 #aba2 ,english statutes against witchcraft1 #abc2 ,bishop ,jewell's exclamations1 #abd2 the witches of ,warbois2 absurd charges and execution of the victims1 #abe2 annual sermon at ,cambridge1 ii4 #abg2 popular belief and statutes in ,scotland1 #abg1 #aed2 charges against the higher classes2 against ,john ,knox1 #abh2 numerous executions2 trial of ,gellie ,duncan and others1 #abi2 ,james ,i41 his interest in the subject2 ,dr4 ,fian tortured 7engraving71 #aca2 confessions of the accused1 #acb2 their execution2 further persecution1 #ace2 case of ,isabel ,gowdie1 #acf2 opinions of ,sir ,george ,mackenzie 7portrait71 #acf1 #aee2 death preferred to the imputation of witchcraft1 #acg1 #aci2 ,king ,james's ,demonology1 #aci2 the ,lancashire witches executed1 #ada2 ,matthew ,hopkins1 the witch-finder general 7engraving71 #adc2 his impositions1 cruelty1 and retributive fate1 #adh2 common prickers in ,scotland1 #adf2 ,mr4 ,louis1 a clergyman1 executed1 #adg2 ,glanville's ,sadducismus ,triumphatus1 #adh2 witches tried before ,sir ,matthew ,hale 7portrait72 ,sir ,thomas ,brown's evidence 7portrait72 conviction and execution1 #adh-aeb2 trials before ,chief ,justices ,holt and ,powell1 #aeb1 #aec2 the last execution in ,england1 in #agaf1 #aec2 ,scotch laws on the subject1 #aed2 various trials in ,scotland #aee-aeh2 last execution in ,scotland1 in #agbb1 #aeh2 proceedings of ,sprenger in ,germany1 ,bodinus and ,delrio in ,france1 #aei2 executions at ,constance1 ,toulouse1 ,amsterdam1 and ,bamberg1 #afj-afb2 numerous executions at ,wurtzburg1 including many children1 #afc2 others at ,lendheim1 #afd2 the ,witches' ,gazette1 a ,german ballad1 #afe2 the ,marchale ,d',anere executed1 #aff2 #bjj executions at ,labourt1 #aff2 weir-wolves1 belief in1 #afh2 ,urbain ,grandier1 curate of ,loudun1 executed1 #afi2 singular cases at ,lisle1 #afi2 the ,duke of ,brunswick's exposure of the cruelty of torture1 #agj2 diminution of charges in ,germany1 #aga2 singular remonstrance from the ,french ,parliament to ,louis ,,xiv4 on his leniency to witches1 #aga2 executions at ,mohra1 in ,sweden1 #agg2 atrocities in ,new ,england2 a child and a dog executed1 #ahj2 the last execution in ,switzerland in #afeb1 #ahb2 the latest on record1 in #agdi1 at ,wurtzburg1 #ahd2 witches ducked in #agfj1 #ahe2 ,lady ,hatton's reputation for witchcraft2 her house in ,cross ,street1 ,hatton ,garden1 7engraving71 #ahf2 the horse-shoe a protection against witches1 #ahg2 belief in witchcraft recently and still existing1 #ahg2 witch-doctors still practising1 #ahi2 prevalence of the superstition in ,france1 #ahi2 floating a witch 7engraving71 #aia4 ,women accompanying the ,crusades in arms1 ii4 #ab1 #eg1 #fg4 ,woodstock ,palace a haunted house2 account of the noises1 and their cause1 ii4 #bbb2 view of1 #bag4 ,wulstan1 ,bishop1 his antipathy to long hair1 i4 #big4 ,wurtzburg1 numerous executions for witchcraft1 ii4 #afb1 #ahd2 view in1 #ahc4 ,york1 ,duke of1 his duel with ,col4 ,lennox1 ii4 #bic4 ,zara besieged by the ,crusaders1 ii4 #gf4 ,zachaire1 ,denis1 the ,alchymist1 his interesting memoir of himself1 i4 #adf4 ,,the ,,end4 ,,london3 ,,printed ,,by ,,levey1 ,,robson1 ,,and ,,franklyn1 ,great ,new ,street1 ,fetter ,lane4